Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[Muppet fan 123]

That's L. Frank Baum. And there is no book titled "Oz the Great and Powerful" among the fourteen Oz books he wrote, or fifteen if you count Little Wizard Stories of Oz. What book are you referring to?

(Hardcore Oz fan here, and author of A Refugee in Oz, link in my sig.)

You mean there's no story about the wizard and how he came to Oz?

 

[Slackbot]

Baum did not write a book about the Wizard's arrival in Oz, no. It's mentioned as backstory in his books, but that's all. And the backstories are inconsistent (The Wizard is a showman, so he might just be telling the story that sounds the best) so we don't know what "really" happened, whether he's the one who got Ozma out of the way by having Mombi transform her into a boy and wipe her memory, or if someone else did that and he was stepping into a power vacuum. In any case, Baum certainly didn't represent the Wizard as a playa. I can only think of one of his Oz books in which he included a romantic subplot--The Scarecrow of Oz--and that was among one-book characters who would not be seen again.

You may be thinking of Maguire's The Wicked Years series, which are about as non-canon as it gets.

 

[jvcarroll]

Well, I wanted to like the new Oz and the title sequence was stunning, but then the wheels fell off the wagon.

The film lacked brains. I've seen much better performances by all the actors involved. There is no lack of talent, yet Rachael Weisz was the only appropriately-cast actor. The story is also a rather dull and predictable cut and paste. Oz is supposed to be a place where anything can happen, not a place where you know exactly what's coming next.

Except for the China Girl, the movie lacked the heart of actual character development. I didn't really care about anybody in the film or what happened to them except for the China Girl.

This film lacked Raimi's courage to make his mark. There are a lot of goodies planted in the film for Baum fans, but it fails to cultivate a real darkness, sense of wonder or the legitimate feel of character growth that a modern audience can relate to. It's certainly better than Tim Burton's Wonderland, but not by much. That's probably why he's marked his disinterest in the sequels.

I give this a solid C for the effort. I'm glad this did well. Theaters needed a hit, cinema needed a hit and Disney needed this to not be John Carter. I hope it goes on to make another $150 million and maybe even gives us better sequels. I just won't be buying this on Blu-Ray when it comes out this summer.

 

[Drtooth]

Y'know... I might as well see the Croods after all, but only if I have extra money. it doesn't look terrible. I might as well watch one Dreamworks film this year, since they postponed Peabody and Sherman (bet Rise of the Guardians was to blame).... It really looks like Thanksgiving Weekend is losing its appeal for studios. Seems that the week after pretty much kills any blockbuster they plan. Also Turbo looks like crap. They've gone back to their terrible film with big name star cast Sharktale roots.

 

[Muppet fan 123]

I am definetley not going to see the Croods. The humor looks so...crude.
(No pun intended.)

 

[Drtooth]

It doesn't look too impressive, but then again, whenever I say that I end up enjoying it because of something they didn't ruin in the trailers. I'm very ambivalent about seeing it, and only if I have the extra cash after seeing the thing I actually want to.

Considering it was to be a completely different (and John Cleese writen) movie, I really don't know what to expect. Really seems like Rise of the Guardians was their last really good film for a while. But the fact they want to turn Turbo into a massive franchise to rival Cars ups my dander.

 

[jvcarroll]

The initial full-length Croods ads looked terrible. The new one has me wanting to see it now.

 

[Drtooth]

That's some nice scenery porn, you have to admit. It's probably something I should see in 3-D, but I'll skip that option. There are some things that generally seem a little Ice Agey... but with humans. There's something about the fact this was a different movie in its inception that raises too many what could have beens for my taste. But it looks pretty enjoyable, I guess.

 

[Muppet fan 123]

The only thing I really enjoyed about that video was hearing the narrator.
I hear these people in all the different trailers. I recognize their voices.

As for the movie, I still see no interest in it. I could be wrong though, but I'm usually right for the Dreamworks movies.

 

[jvcarroll]

That's some nice scenery porn, you have to admit. It's probably something I should see in 3-D, but I'll skip that option. There are some things that generally seem a little Ice Agey... but with humans. There's something about the fact this was a different movie in its inception that raises too many what could have beens for my taste. But it looks pretty enjoyable, I guess.

They had me with "belt!"