A Sad Day in Movie History -- Terminator Salvation

manasecret · 05-18-2009, 05:23 PM

That's right, the new Terminator Can't-Find-Salvation has been critically panned, with a preliminary TomatoMeter score of 20%.

It doesn't look good on this sad, sad day.

That's 1 for 2 for summer blockbusters that I care about -- Star Trek & Terminator Get-to-the-Choppaaa!!!-Less Salvation.

KillerGremlin · 05-18-2009, 05:28 PM

That's only with 5 reviews, none from topic critics. The one positive review mentions T1 and says that Salvation is in similar vein. Also, for some reason people seem to love T2 which I thought had great suspense and special effects but was lacking the spirit and story of the first movie. I'm not ready to dismiss the movie as crappy, at least not yet. I'll wait for more reviews.

manasecret · 05-18-2009, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

That's only with 5 reviews, none from topic critics. The one positive review mentions T1 and says that Salvation is in similar vein. Also, for some reason people seem to love T2 which I thought had great suspense and special effects but was lacking the spirit and story of the first movie. I'm not ready to dismiss the movie as crappy, at least not yet. I'll wait for more reviews.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/terminator_salvation/

No, 3 Top Critics. But still, coming up from 20% to something respectable is unlikely.

But, you're right, it's still early. Angels & Demons started off at a very good ~80%, and look where it's at now! (38%)

Which, I forgot about. I hoped despite knowing there was no way Ron Howard would pull out a decent sequel after the crappy first one that he would somehow make this a great adventure movie. So that's 1 for 3 on my list.

BreakABone · 05-18-2009, 05:28 PM

I wasn't really looking forward to any movie this summer aside from the new Harry Potter flick, and honestly didn't have any faith in Terminator.

It was a one movie thing, that miraculously pulled out a really great sequel. But then the 3rd hit, and well yeha.

And now this just... and its supposed to be the start of a new trilogy.

Bond · 05-18-2009, 05:28 PM

What about Transformers 2?

BreakABone · 05-18-2009, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bond

What about Transformers 2?

The original Transformers was by no stretch of the imagination what I would dub a good movie.

It was the picture perfect popcorn flick. Something you enjoy, and that's it. I expect the same from the sequel so yeah I will see it, doesn't mean looking forward to it.

KillerGremlin · 05-18-2009, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bond

What about Transformers 2?

Yeah Transformers was really dumb. It was highly enjoyable because it had humor and fun actors and the sexy Megan Fox. It was the type of movie that could be enjoyed if you turned off your brain for 2 hours and bought a big bucket of popcorn and went with some friends.

I would hardly reference it as good cinema though. Definitely a good popcorn flick. Maybe the epitome of what a popcorn flick is supposed to be.

I will go see Salvation, although I never had the expectation that it would top T1 or T2. T1 and T2 are ultra top-tier films.

Angrist · 05-18-2009, 06:39 PM

As long as it's better than T3, it's fine with me. I always was a bit unsure about how much good you can do after Judgment Day.

Typhoid · 05-20-2009, 04:41 AM

I'm still excited to see this movie.
Since when did a movie-critics review actually make a movie bad, and change your personal opinion.
For me, never.

manasecret · 05-20-2009, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Typhoid

I'm still excited to see this movie.
Since when did a movie-critics review actually make a movie bad, and change your personal opinion.
For me, never.

That's not the point and I see this comment so often (not at GT) that I have to reply.

The point is saving myself $15 or more (for the me and the gf) by not seeing in theater a movie that in all likelihood will be terrible. I will eventually see this movie, but only when I can rent it for $1 from Blockbuster.

I have gone against the consensus before with Vantage Point. Worst. Decision. EVAR.

KillerGremlin · 05-20-2009, 02:49 PM

To further elaborate, I have like 4-5 critics that I always read because they write good reviews and usually they are right when I see a film. I don't have a strict methodology for criteria to see a movie, but if a movie is getting mixed reviews (50-65%) and I am interested in the film then usually I'll go see it without hesitation. If a movie is getting higher than 65% than I'm not so concerned with reviews because regardless if the movie is good, it all comes down to what you personally enjoy. If a movie is getting bad reviews I usually am cautious when I go see it, but I'll still go see movies that get bad reviews if I like the premise behind the film.

Critics are a companion guide. I also try to read user reviews on Amazon and other websites, because your Joe-average often has good thoughts and opinions that critics do not.

I read this painfully boring book in my freshman English class (my teacher was a film/english major) called Film/Genre by this douche bag guy, Rick Altman. It was full of a bunch of jargon and references to other works so it was a sucky read. He basically set up this model where critics influence the movies. But I thought the model was missing the $$$ factor aka "reason Michael Bay is successful."

It's funny as fuck. Rick Altman wrote this long, drawn-out book explaining movies, probably took him hours out of his life. Matt Stone and Trey Parker accomplished the same thing in a few South Park episodes making fun of the popcorn flick/Michael Bay archetype.

Anyway, back on topic, Terminator Salvation is still getting bad reviews. 33% from top critics, 35% from everyone else. That's still not terrible odds for Terminator fans - 1 in 3 people enjoy the film. I'll probably go see it. I mean I'm obligated to. If the movie turns out to be shit then we know the REAL reason Bale got upset on set.

Edit: Vantage Point was awful, btw. After the fourth cut back to the beginning everyone in the audience was groaning. That's what I call audience participation!

Angrist · 05-20-2009, 02:04 PM

I didn't expect anything from Vantage Point and I enjoyed it. Nothing special though (and it's hard to see why Denzel Washington acted in it).

This is Terminator, so of course I expect more. I guess I'll wait for the DVD release.

Angrist · 05-20-2009, 05:34 PM

The bad reviews of Terminator Salvation had like a 3/5 score. Even if it's 2/5, that's not too shabby from critics... I hope.

manasecret · 05-20-2009, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angrist

The bad reviews of Terminator Salvation had like a 3/5 score. Even if it's 2/5, that's not too shabby from critics... I hope.

What you want to look at is that Average Score in small font at the top, which is sitting at 5.4/10. Closer to 3/5 than 2/5, yes. Still pretty low.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

Edit: Vantage Point was awful, btw. After the fourth cut back to the beginning everyone in the audience was groaning. That's what I call audience participation!

Ahahaha yes, that was the same for our audience, and there were only about 10 people in the whole theater so I can only imagine how it would have been if the theater were packed. It might have just as good as seeing Snakes On a Plane in theaters.

It was a terribly lazy plot device that also had the plus-side of treating your audience like morons! "They probably won't know what's going on here. We'd better count back down to 12:00 every single time or those poor little people might get confused!" They should have watched Memento or hell, an episode of Lost, before they decided to use that moronic countdown.

Typhoid · 05-20-2009, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manasecret

What you want to look at is that Average Score in small font at the top, which is sitting at 5.4/10. Closer to 3/5 than 2/5, yes. Still pretty low.

That's a terrible formula though.
3/5 = 60%. Which seems like you'd be watching someone stab Bambi for an hour and a half while you're heavily sedated.
Even a 4/5 = 80% makes it seem like you're watching Star Wars Episode 1 while being waterboarded.

This is why I don't think "professional" reviews are worth two shits in a burlap sack.

The reviews you want are people who have already seen it, who give you details on why it's good, or why it's not - and don't end it with any numerical or star system rating.

If I'm excited to see something and think it would be worth my 10 dollars, and suddenly a newspaper says it's not good because it doesn't pay enough homage to the original movie/series/book - that doesn't mean I'd personally want to see it any less. It just means that specific person didn't like it. Reviewers are people too.