FalcFans Forums

This movie could be a surprise I'll still give it a B+ before it comes out.

From Yahoo



The Early Word - G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
At first there was doubt that this Hasbro toy line could make the jump to the big screen as successfully as the Transformers did. Paramount Pictures, the studio releasing the movie, has been fighting mixed reactions to the trailers from fans of the original cartoon, along with false rumors of creative disputes and bad reactions from test screenings.

Now Paramount is causing a stir by not screening the movie for critics before it goes into theaters. According to the Associated Press, the studio doesn't want a repeat of the unfavorable reviews that "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" received earlier this summer.
On the surface, this negative buzz does not bode well for "G.I. Joe" But the few online journalists invited to screen the movie last week say that these "real American heroes" deliver a fun, exciting popcorn flick that gives those giant robots a run for their money.
"'G.I. Joe' is the superior film to 'Transformers' in every way," proclaims LatinoReview.com. "It is, hands down, the most action packed movie of the summer." HitFix.com says the movie is "big, ridiculous, and way more fun than I would have thought possible." AintItCool.com sums it up this way: "You will be thoroughly entertained by this movie that simply never lets up on the action."
"G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" opens on Friday. To preview the movie's over-the-top action, take a look at these clips.

Not screening a movie to critics is usually an indicator of being a bad movie. I wouldn't be so quick to praise.

I can go to Buford higway and get it 'screened for you' in a flash..I'm amazed. My Moth in Law wanted to see 'Julie Julia' , it was on dvd in fairly good form on the day of the ATL release:-)

The funny thing is, now, they have the spanish 'subtitles' on the bottom so I think I;m actually educating myself through osmosis, which makes it okay

Interesting, a few critics that some how saw the movie said it was good so I don't know what to think but hoping for the best. People like movies with alot of action and I hope the plot isn't to far fetched. Hey Gus , now that your learning Spanish through osmosis can yo usay BIG MARKETS VS SMALL MARKETS in regards to baseball?

It's at 79% at Rotten Tomatoes currently.

I think GI Joe will be considered good by most, but probably because it'll have relatively lower expectations because it's the first in the franchise. IMO, that's what killed Transformers 2 more so than it being an actually bad movie. For the record I enjoyed the sequel. I think super-high expectations really killed the movie. It's what hurt Ocean's 12 as well. People expected it to be better than the first one. Unfortunately, people don't quite grasp the cardinal rules of sequels.

Sequels are almost never better than the first one, unless they are part of a pre-planned trilogy. And by pre-planned trilogy, I mean that going into the first one, there was a planned story arch for 3 movies, not just that they decided to make 3 movies because the first one was so successful. Obvious examples of this are Star Wars, Lord of the Rings. But in unplanned trilogies like Pirates of the Caribbean, Matrix show that while the 2nd one can be a pretty decent movie, it doesn't surpass the first one.

One of the rare exceptions of this rule is Spider-Man 2.

It's the curse of the Sequel, because people get too hyped because they stupidly assume the 2nd one is going to be better than the first.

So G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra will be well-liked. But the sequel, G.I. Joe: Revenge of Serpentor (or whatever) won't be as well-liked.

It's ironic Transformers 2 is grossing over $400 million but the movie critics didn't like the movie. I am not sure in all cases sequels are bad. Rambo,Jason, Halloween the Mission Impossible movies must have done well enough to keep the sequels coming however not all sequels are well made movies. I never liked the Jason movies,Halloween and some of the Rambo movies but they keep making them.The Spiderman 3 movie I thought was not very good and wondered what the director was smoking.Half the movie was decent the other half belonged in the toilet.

I wonder how Iron Man 2 will do? I think at worst will make alot of money due to the first movie's success.Usually when you make money you can expect more movies so it can be difficult to predict. The quality of the movie seems to suffer when you get sequels for the most part but they can make alot of money.

I'm not saying sequels are bad, I'm saying that the 2nd movie is rarely as good or better than the 1st. To me the Matrix Trilogy illustrates this perfectly:

Everybody loved the first Matrix. It was a Hong Kong-style movie slapped with American SciFi. Since most Americans circa 1999 were completely unfamiliar with Hong Kong style movies, it was a rude and pleasant awakening for them.

But the 2nd (and 3rd) movies come along, and in order to continue the story as it should have been, there needed to be less Hong Kong and more SciFi. Unfortunately, that was unable to contain the same "essence" and "intrigue" that the first had. Now, personally I think the Matrix Reloaded is pretty good. Not as good as the 1st, but still good. The 3rd movie IMHO was a clunker.

But IMO that illustrates exactly what happens with the 2nd movies in franchises. They can't copy what the first movie did or had. Otherwise you end up with a clunker like Blade 2, which is basically the exact same plot and story as the first one. And if you venture too far from the 1st movie, then people don't like it because they are wrongly expected it to be just as good as the original.

I can go all day about the strengths and flaws of a movie trilogy. And when it's pre-planned, it can be brilliant. But if you're playing it by ear, then there are usually going to be more flaws than anything else.

As for Iron Man 2, I'm not saying it'll suck. But it'll probably not have you leaving the theater with the same feeling you did with the first one. And if you go into the theater expecting that, then more than likely you will be able to enjoy to a much greater degree than most people. But unfortunately, too often people have the false expectations that the sequel is going to improve upon its predecessor.

Frankly, it's no different than a team repeating after a Super Bowl year or any team with a winning record getting better the following year. It can happen, but it's not a common occurrence in this day and age. I could be wrong, but I'd bet the odds of a team that won 11 or 12 games in the previous year is at best 50/50 for them to improve their record. They could still manage to win 9 or 10 games the following year, but technically they won't be as good as they were the year.

Well, I'll take a stab at it why 2nd movies(sequel) are not as good. People want to see something new in the 2nd movie and keeping an audience guessing is what movie goers come to see.Unfortunately, if you go to far to leftfield people end up not liking the movie.It's a delicate balancing act. The first movie gets the audience familiar with the characters and the 2nd movie needs to develp the character but also have a plot that is enjoyable to watch.

You know there's an easy formula for success it's called T & A. Provide enough of that and at least the males will enjoy the movie. How many movies did Marilyn Monroe make and were good story plots? Jayne Mansfield? I always enjoyed Some Like It Hot but many of the movies these pinups played were forgetable. I think Scarlett Johansson is today's modern version of the T & A but she is a good actress.She isn't Meryl Streep b ut she is young and could develo. Then there are the flavor of the month types like Megan Fox and Paris Hilton minus the T part. Pretty women who just are not very good.could be because of the roles they play but I am betting they couldn't do more serious roles since they haven't either developed acting chops or don't seem to put the work in it takes to be a s erious actress.

What did you think of the Die Hard series? I think to a point provide enough action,explosions,car chase scenes audiences seem to eat those movies up resulting in big box office appeal. Sure you need a plot but the audience pretty much knows there is a bad guy and good guy and the bad guy usually loses.