Van Helsing

[Glacophane]

If a movie is "iffy", I just wait about a month or so after its initial release. The mall near me plays second-run movies for $1.50. If it's the first showing of the day, it's a whole dollar. Many times I've paid with change.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

Unfortunately, our local second run theater can't afford to fix its speakers, so, in one theater, you get the right channel, in the other, you get the left... after sitting through a film, and not being able to hear one sound track, I decided not to come back.

 

[AntonyF]

Tickets generally cost £6.50 around here.

But with DVDs generally dropping in price to £9 - £10 after a few months of release, it's just often so much better to invest in them. Plus as Odeon films sometimes seem to be projected by chimps, the quality is better on DVD. And 5.1 sound at home... all is good.

The cinema holds less power over me these days.

 

[KoshN]

Tickets generally cost £6.50 around here.

But with DVDs generally dropping in price to £9 - £10 after a few months of release, it's just often so much better to invest in them.

You could just rent the DVDs, probably for a lot less than £9 - £10, right?

 

[Vonbloodbath]

Ah yes, but then the danger is, if you like the DVD and want to buy it, you've just wasted £3.50...

VB.

 

[AerynSun]

This was the best movie I have seen in a while. It was good. There were some predictable parts, but my friend and I really enjoyed it.

 

[GKarsEye]

Dates are nice. But I go as much alone as I do with people.
Anyway, aren't you a girl? So it's cheaper for you if you do go with a date.

I've recently began to relish the cliched traditional movie going experience of honkering down with some popcorn and watching a flick. I went to see Kill Bill 2 alone, got the snacks, paid too much, and had a blast.

As for DVDs, I don't buy anymore, but it's just not the same as seeing it in a theater. I only go 2 or 3 times a month, if even that, so it's still kind of special to me.

 

[Elenopa]

Anyway, aren't you a girl? So it's cheaper for you if you do go with a date.

I'm an equalitist. That means paying my own way.

I'd rather go on my own anyway as a friend I go with sometimes buys tickets right at the back if I let him. I like to be just behind the expensive seats.

 

[AntonyF]

Renting is indeed cheaper, but I tend to just buy DVDs. And sell them if I really hate them.

GKE, I did the same with Kill Bill 2. I went to a luxury cinema (couple of quid more, so worth it, and makes the event a bit special again) and I even bought cinema food... which I never do normally. Vastly overpriced mind you.

But in many ways I prefer DVD just because the quality is so much better.

 

[PillowRock]

But in many ways I prefer DVD just because the quality is so much better.

There are still movies where the sheer size and immerssion factor of a movie theater is worth a lot. At least for those of us who don't have a 9 foot by 16 foot screen for a home theater.

There are more movies where that doesn't matter much. However, that doesn't mean that it doesn't matter for any movie.

 

[LondosHair]

Cheesy? Yes.
Corny? You betcha.
Do I wish it hadn't been? Couldn't have hurt...

Visually entertaining? Most definitely.
Good music? The best I've heard since LOTR and Matrix Revolutions. Van Helsing's soundtrack is the first CD I've actually bought, in a store, in about 5 years.
Production value? Other than the corny dialogue, they didn't spare a cent on making this flick, and it has some of the best CGI I've seen to date. The CGI Mr. Hyde was fantastic.

Was it worth $8? Yeah, one time. I'll still get the DVD, but I won't see it again in the theater.

Bottom line is, I didn't expect a lot going in, due to the over-commercialization of this flick already, but I did have fun watchin' it. If it's not your bag, then it's not your bag... but a $54 million dollar opening weekend can't be ignored, especially with the diminished sales the industry has seen in recent months. This movie did pretty well for itself, I'd say...

 

[GKarsEye]

$54 mil is about right for a movie this big, this hyped.

Opening weekend shouldn't be taken as a sign of quality or even popularity. After all, no one saw it yet, so how can their attendance alone indicate how much they liked it? Opening weekend is an indicator of how good the marketing for the film is. For this movie, it was excellent- the previews looked cool, it has a snappy name, a liekable leading actor, an exotic and hot looking chick.

The returns for the following few weeks determine popularity, once the word of mouth kicks in.

 

[AntonyF]

Yep. I think they're expecting a Matrix Revolutions here. Just throw it out there and try and get as much money ASAP.

 

[KoshN]

Renting is indeed cheaper, but I tend to just buy DVDs. And sell them if I really hate them.

I used to do that, too, but got some real stinkers that a lot of people said were good {e.g. Dr. T & the Women (2000), Ghosts of Mars (2001), Mighty Aphrodite (1995), etc.}. Now, I make sure I rent before I buy, if I haven't seen the movie at the theaters. I hate musicals. Gah! <shudder>

 

[A_Ranger]

I thought the movie was pretty mediocre. It was one non stop action sequence and it got old. And the film was so relently jarring, there were never any quiet/static moments. The camera was always panning, dollying, trucking, tilting, and canting the entire film. There were so few static camera points that all the movement just negated itself. You have to have some quiet, slow moments in a film, at least if you want me to care about the characters. I wanted to laugh out loud at the end when the chick died and Vel Helsing was being all weepy. I didn't give a rat's ass about it because the whole movie beforehand was nothing but mindless action. Now I'm supposed to care about the characters? Please. Drama can't be sprinkled on top; it's got to be part of the recipe

 

[colonyearth]

I thought the movie was pretty mediocre. It was one non stop action sequence and it got old. And the film was so relently jarring, there were never any quiet/static moments. The camera was always panning, dollying, trucking, tilting, and canting the entire film. There were so few static camera points that all the movement just negated itself. You have to have some quiet, slow moments in a film, at least if you want me to care about the characters. I wanted to laugh out loud at the end when the chick died and Vel Helsing was being all weepy. I didn't give a rat's ass about it because the whole movie beforehand was nothing but mindless action. Now I'm supposed to care about the characters? Please. Drama can't be sprinkled on top; it's got to be part of the recipe

Amen! Bravo! And well said! And people who keep accepting such Hollywood crap and making excuses for it are the very reason why we keep getting it.

Other films of this type have done it correctly, where I did like the characters and did care. SPIDERMAN, X1 and X2, just to name a few. Nope, Sommers is just a mediocre director who just keeps getting a lot of studio bucks to make flashy, empty crap. How he's doing this I don't know.

Ahhh, what I could do with the budget he had on that. I could make 3 or more films with more passion, character, excitment and vision...that would last longer in the box office race and stand more of a test of time, instead of being forgotten in a year or so (which, let's be honest, Van Helsing will be) at least until the sequel comes out and we're given even worse fair like MUMMY RETURNS.

I mean really, why does Hollywood give these horrid directors so much money? $200 million to make VAN HELSING, yet Jackson makes LOTR, the entire trilogy on only $300 million and blows the doors off any film made in the last 20 years. For half the cost of VH, Jackson made each of the LOTR films. And people keep excusing this junk?

Why?

Demand better and perhaps, just perhaps, Hollywood might start giving us better.

CE

 

[Vonbloodbath]

Well, I can't speak for everyone, but for me, sometimes it's good to watch a flashy, empty movie. Sometimes I don't want to invest myself in an Epic like LotR (which I do absolutely love!)...sometimes I want to just sit back, disengage my brain and have fun.

It's like eating... when you eat out, you buy nice, rich food. Sometimes when you cook at home you put some effort in and make something equally complex.

But sometimes, all you want is beans on toast/fishfingers etc.

That's what Van Helsing (and its ilk) are, to me. Cinematic beans on toast.

VB.

 

[Glacophane]

...sometimes I want to just sit back, disengage my brain and have fun.

I'm the exact same way. Sure I do hate seeing the same movie shown over and over again with no real plot or characters. But sometimes I just go to the theater to escape the world around me and what better place to do that than with a movie that doesnt encourage you to think?

I watched a movie where in it a director was saying how he made "Popcorn movies", not art movies. That's exactly what most of these are. And I'll admit it, I get sucked into them with the flashy, cut scene trailers and huge promo posters in the theater. But then again I also love more complex, deeper involved movies as well.

 

[colonyearth]

Well, I can't speak for everyone, but for me, sometimes it's good to watch a flashy, empty movie. Sometimes I don't want to invest myself in an Epic like LotR (which I do absolutely love!)...sometimes I want to just sit back, disengage my brain and have fun.

It's like eating... when you eat out, you buy nice, rich food. Sometimes when you cook at home you put some effort in and make something equally complex.

But sometimes, all you want is beans on toast/fishfingers etc.

That's what Van Helsing (and its ilk) are, to me. Cinematic beans on toast.

VB.

I'm talking about popcorn movies. There are epics like LOTR, but even for popcorn, unplug the brain films, there are good and bad. To me, X1, X2, SPIDERMAN, hell even SW are such films. But the ones above (except the last two SW films) are well done and have characters I like and want to see and care about as well as a great plotline that's fun to watch unfold. There is good summer fair and bad summer fair. VH was icky, bad summer fair.

I want my fun films too, but I still want them made well.

CE

 

[crofootski]

I agree with LondosHair, I noticed the music, too, and it was wonderful. I also liked seeing David Wenham again (Faramir). He's pretty cute.

And, he provided the comic relief. Did anyone else think of 'Q' from the 007 movies, when friar Carl was showing van Helsing his inventions? Too cool.