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The movie’s good though

I hadn't even heard of The Mortal Engines until all of the articles came out about it being a bomb. So I can't help but think that somehow played into it (though the trailer I just watched suggests it's a piece of shit, so that could have more to do with it).

As a kind of live-action steampunk anime world that we haven't really seen before in a Hollywood movie, I kind of appreciated Mortal Engines. Fantastic prologue, really fun technical and design elements and world-building. Unfortunately the script is riddled with cliches and has major structural issues and the only character that really connects and makes a strong impression is a mo-cap Terminator zombie played by Stephen Lang. I enjoyed the book and while the changes to the story aren't massive here, almost every single change they did make only served to weaken the story or make it more predictable.

But yeah, if you don't have big names and you're not a popular property and you don't have critics or WOM on your side, I mean, I'm not really sure what Mortal Engines' hope was to make money. Both it and Marwen were poorly marketed though apparently the studio somehow spent (wasted) a lot of money on the advertising for both films, Mortal Engines especially. From what I've seen of Marwen it looks like Zemeckis in full-on insufferable mode, so I--like the vast majority, apparently--have no intention of seeing it.

cdnchris wrote: Fri Dec 28, 2018 3:59 am I hadn't even heard of The Mortal Engines until all of the articles came out about it being a bomb. So I can't help but think that somehow played into it (though the trailer I just watched suggests it's a piece of shit, so that could have more to do with it).

S Same with me.

I'm only seeing Welcome to Marwen because Robert Zemeckis directed it. But I just know it won't be on par with the brilliant Jeff Malmberg 2010 documentary Marwencol that no doubt inspired the Zemeckis film.

Well the at least the real life subject of the film likes it. A lot. Excerpt from Ebert's site and from an interview with Carrell and Zemeckis.

He's seen "Welcome to Marwen" though, right?

SC: You know what, he has. So I need to call him later. He had seen the trailer and he called me, and left a really cryptic message. “Hi Steve, it’s Mark. Can you give me a call?” And I called him right back, and he said, “I’ve seen it 12 times. I’ve cried every time. That’s my life. You guys did it. That’s me.”

I like Carell but he's very much in the late 90s Carrey phase of "I'm a serious actor too, please give me an Oscar".

Well Carrey did star in a few bone fide masterpieces during that phase
EDIT: Just checked and he didn't really. Just a few dramatic roles between his usual schtick

Carrey is perhaps doing his very best work on television now, I think his performance on Kidding is everything people were hoping from him in movies like The Truman Show and Man On The Moon.

Welcome To Marwen is like Zemeckis' version of that car Homer Simpson designed that ended up bankrupting his billionaire half-brother Herb's company.



This was GHASTLY.

Does this make Spielberg Herb?

flyonthewall2983 wrote: Fri Dec 28, 2018 8:33 pm Does this make Spielberg Herb?

I don't think he had anything to do with Marwen (lucky him).

What an odd duck this movie is. There are a million different thematic strands that the filmmakers could have chosen to develop and build the movie around - Monterey Jack's comparison to the Homer-designed car is amusingly appropriate, because there's an "everything including the kitchen sink" feeling to this. But none of those strands are really developed beyond a very superficial treatment, if even that - one story thread involving Mann's character is simply abandoned.

But what I really think happened here is that Zemeckis saw Marwencol (which I have not seen), and thought "hey this would make a good movie!" But instead of thinking how to adapt the character and his story to a feature film, his mind got to whirring about how the special effects would work. A lot of this is just really kind of repulsive, especially in the way that it coasts on condescending pity for its lead character and its complete lack of regard for any characters. I mean, did the documentary propose that all-consuming, shameless objectification of women is an effective treatment for PTSD?

Monterey Jack wrote: Fri Dec 28, 2018 4:44 pm Welcome To Marwen is like Zemeckis' version of that car Homer Simpson designed that ended up bankrupting his billionaire half-brother Herb's company.



This was GHASTLY.

Some company made a Homer car just like Zemeckis made a Marwencol (I think).

Brian C wrote: Sun Dec 30, 2018 8:26 pm I mean, did the documentary propose that all-consuming, shameless objectification of women is an effective treatment for PTSD?

It did not.

I mean, in the doc he wears ladies' shoes to his gallery opening and identifies with the women he's "objectifying," something it sounds like got nixed from this adaptation

No, that’s all there, basically from the first minute of the movie.

Ah, I stand corrected!