This is topic V For Vendetta (2006) in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 03-16-2006, 06:07 AM:
 
Based on the trailer and hearing random bits from random people before seeing the film, my understanding was of a cross between Batman and 1984. I'm not familiar at all with the original graphic novel, but when I was told that the original author does not have his name anywhere near this film, I got the impression that even if that comparison were true, this movie wouldn't necessarily reflect that ... so I took the movie on its own terms.

If there's one thing I know for sure coming out of this movie, it's that I will never be the same again. My life has been changed, and definitely for the better. My mind is expanded and I'm a stronger person ... because I have been exposed to images of Natalie Portman in a little girl outfit, complete with bows in her hair. I need that poster! They have to make a poster!

Seriously, I thought the movie was good, but it's nothing new. Political overtones were inevitable (or at least too easy not to tie in), and the sentiments behind the script's message, if a clear one was even intended, are typical "think for yourself", "let ideas live", "power in words", and above all "beware the Brave New World" angles that any well-read science-fiction fan is all too familiar with. On a larger scale, though, I don't think this movie did anything original with it, or took the idea anywhere, or developed it as effectively as it maybe could have; as if the core ideas driving it were revolutionary enough for its audience.

The story held my interest, though. I wasn't bored. It was good.

The IMAX DMR job on this one looked great. No better than the past several DMR's particularly, but they all looked great.

Not much else to mention about this one ... except, did I mention Natalie Portman with pig-tails and pink bows?
 

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Posted by Dan Suomi (Member # 2585) on 03-16-2006, 10:33 AM:
 
I am a big fan of DMR but I didn't think that this movie needed to be in IMAX. I rather have seen Ice Age 2 be DMR'd.
 

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Posted by Stephen LaPadula (Member # 3050) on 03-16-2006, 12:19 PM:
 
Much like Brian, I went into this blind, not really knowing what it was about besides watching the trailer. I also wasn't particularly interested in seeing it, but had the opportunity to tech our digital print and said why not.

It definitely held my interest, and although I think its a little over 2 hours, it really didn't seem that long. I'm not familiar with the comic, but something doesn't seem original about the story-line, though I can't place it either.

If anything it makes you think about the future, and then it hit me: superpowers don't live forever....The Greeks, Romans, and English once ruled what they knew as the world. How much longer will the states have influence over the modern world???

The digital print looked great and for the action scenes towards the end, I only wish our digital screen was bigger.

4/5 for me
 

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Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 03-17-2006, 05:20 AM:
 
There's an exchange between Finch and Creedy about an hour into the movie. One quick cut to Finch was OBVIOUSLY time-stretched and looped, or (unsuccessfully) forced into a different bit of dialog. Anyway, it is SO distracting, and it only happened for a brief few seconds, but it made my heart jump ... since things going out of synch on our system CAN happen, indicating a problem somewhere.

Anyway, just wanted to mention it. How obvious was it to anyone else?
 

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Posted by Robert Burtcher (Member # 3227) on 03-17-2006, 05:31 AM:
 
I quite enjoyed V for Vendetta. It held my attention like no other movie in some time.

Did any of you get your 35mm prints shipped to you wet? Ours was slightly moist, but not too bad. Also, our print seems to have a noticable amount of negative dust throughout the entire print... Anyone here have any problems with that?
 

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Posted by Don Anderson (Member # 397) on 03-17-2006, 11:33 AM:
 
I found this film to be entertaining. I've never heard of V prior to the film. The mask was a little creepy at times. I would highly recommend the film to anybody, it has impact. Too bad they couldn't have trimmed a bit of the blood and got it a PG13 rating.
 

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Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 03-18-2006, 02:23 AM:
 
Brian noticed the dialogue problem too. I thought it was a print specific hitch, but it looks like it's in every print.

Regal Hacienda Crossing 20 w/Imax.

Driving home from Los Vegas after attending ShoWest, I decided to take in V for Vendetta in DMR Imax. I also wanted to avoid 80-miles of urban rush hour traffic.

I have peeked in on an Imax DMR presentation but I haven't sat through one. In looking at DMR presentations I thought that something might not be quite right, and I was right.

First the movie:

I liked it but didn't love it. I liked how they pointed up the fallacy of US foreign policy without bludgeoning you over the head with it. I liked the way Natalie Portman transitioned in her character. I thought it was very interesting the way V acted in his mask. I liked the way Stephen Rea came to understand what was happening. But something about the story didn't stick together.

Now about watching it Imax:

I bought the ticket a couple of hours before the show. I went to eat sushi at the restaurant across the street from the theatre. They screwed up and delivered Sashimi instead of my sushi order then they insisted on charging me the higher price. Oh well, the waiter just screwed himself out of a tip.

Because of the delay, I arrived right before the start of the show. I had to sit in the lower cross isle about 3 rows from the screen. Perhaps the crick in the neck will be off set buy the extra legroom. DMR movies are letter-boxed on the screen. I swear that the light spill on the extra screen kills some contrast. For this they charge $13. Then being down low, I think the horns weren't aimed at me and I feel that the sound suffered some. The effect of watching the movie from so close was like the effect of John Hurt's Chancellor character on that big video screen. It was just too close and too big. I don't want to be that close to Natalie Portman unless I am having intimate relations with her. (and no, I wouldn't mind.)

During the intro tag, it stated that watching a movie in Imax is a “Digital” experience. I'm guessing that they are referring to making the print from a 4K digital interpositive. I saw some digital video breakup during some effect scenes like the explosion at the end. Also at the end of the movie the credit crawl looked like it was video that wasn't scrolled correctly. It was like the edges were blinking during the crawl. Credits without motion, didn't have this effect. I'm not sure if it was the single opening of the shutter per frame, or actual video problems. All in all, I would rather watch it in a real movie theatre.

Let's see, it's 11:46, I have to stop in Windsor to post this, then go to the all night grocery store to get some food. I need to pick up some eggs, bread and butter so I can make an Eggy Basket.
 

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Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 03-18-2006, 03:38 AM:
 

quote: Ian Price

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the single opening of the shutter per frame

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The shutter effect produced by the rotor still flashes each frame twice. The "digital" in the tag refers to the digital remastering process, converting and processing the original into 15/70 via whatever sophisticated digital technology they've employed. The "video" effect during the credits is presumedly an artifact of this. I've noticed it, too; particularly heavily in the end credits to Spiderman 2 IMAX DMR. The scrolling-pixelated flutter was quite noticeable.

And yes, IMAX (even peripheral-filling 3D) should not be viewed that close. The BACK rows for these DMR transfers is the optimal location, whereas true IMAX format stuff I find is ideal around seven or eight rows from the front. Sorry it was a lousy $13 experience for you. That's what we're charging, too, and the first week's shows tend to fill up quickly, so those extreme seats have to go to SOMEONE.
 

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Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 03-18-2006, 12:50 PM:
 
Saw it at the Grand Lake last night. The audience loved it, with a huge applause at the end. Although this theatre and the patrons is famous for being anti-government and anti-Bush.

I give it an A-. I think it will definitely be a cult status film going forward!

Ian, the sound in that IMAX screen in Dublin has always muffled and crappy the 2 times I've been there.
 

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Posted by Jennifer Pan (Member # 2035) on 03-18-2006, 01:18 PM:
 
I enjoyed it, but I didn't like how they turned up the volume a lot more than usual. I had to over my ears in some parts because it was so loud. The V character creeps me out but I grew to like him when he showed that he really cared for Natalie's character.

I was partly expecting it to be kind of cheesy like the Spiderman films but this was darker and in my opinion way better acting.
 

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 03-18-2006, 04:29 PM:
 
CINEMA: Century 20 at Jordan Creek, West Des Moines, IA
AUDITORIUM: 9
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital/THX
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None
RATING: Three stars (out of four)

WARNING: Remember, Remember the Spoilers of November

Image quality was above average for this venue today. Very nice.

Okay. Here's what annoys me about the THX "Cow Can" trailer. There's obviously a "cow" in there that is just some guy mooing, and mooing badly. It's just one of the moos on the right side, but it's sounds stupid. Actually, the last sound at the end before the logo starts shaking ALSO might be the same guy badly mooing, but I can't determine if that's supposed to be a "moo" or Tex voicing his opinion.

Right. Our hero is a sort of pissed off dude in Britain twenty years into the future. Virtually nothing went in to making anything look futuristic. Even the computer monitors at the police station were today's black 4:3 Dell's. This movie put even less effort into its futuristic visuals than "The Island" did.

We get a big explosion early on, a big explosion at the end, a whole lot of blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah in between (this movie spends more time explaining itself than actually being a movie), and some lesbian poetry. It's really a romance novel loosely transcribed for film.

And yet, it works. Totally.
 

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Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 03-18-2006, 08:51 PM:
 
Entertaining the old fashioned way with high action, tension and romance, V haunted me all day & night after our first Friday show. The film banks its sets of characters into their own fifteen minute development segments that might either lead one into frustration over the absence of such a great palate of characters, or to play into their unknown paths. That said, I enjoyed the later type of tension & how those brief flash-forwards in the third act helped center me on the finale rather than the outcome. Totally stellar.

What a sound design too! Play those fireworks scenes for all their worth.
 

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Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 03-19-2006, 09:04 PM:
 
This for me was just all right and ok, but nothing to caw about. I have wondered why the studio keeps plugging this as "from the makers of the Matrix Trillogy", as if that was something to be proud about! Most people still feel ripped off from those last two train wrecks, why would anyone spill their money again for the wachowski bros and anything they want to do.

I saw this out of pure curiosity, that maybe these two idiots of video garbage can somehow redeem themselves. Well it is not as good as the Matrix, but it is a scant better than the two follow ups.

The original authors and the film makers have all said that this film is SUPPOSED to openly advocate anarchy as a form of governance, and anyone that doesn't get that really is missing the point. It has some of it aimed somewhat at the bush administration, but really it is more a cautionary tale that ANY government is open to the possibility of corruption, so you should get involved and know what is going on. You know, anarchy.

I didn't jump up and down for this picture, and don't particularly reccomend it either, although it is a well crafted yarn that has no basis in actual reality. Let's face it, if we really were living in a facious regime, would they be able to actually put this thing out? PLEASE!!!

Ciao
 

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Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 03-22-2006, 11:01 AM:
 
I watched V for Vendetta on a much smaller screen up here in Cloverdale. I couldn't see the digital artifacts that I saw in Imax. But on the first Tuesday night of the run, they didn't sell any admissions. I watched it with two employees.

On Thursday they also recorded no ticket sales and didn't run the film. I was there to see Failure to Launch. That's two days in the first week where nobody came to see the film. This is the #1 film in the country, $30M so far and nobody comes to see it in Cloverdale. Is it a wonder that some small town theatres can't cut it?

[ 03-23-2006, 10:58 PM: Message edited by: Ian Price ]
 

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Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 03-24-2006, 12:55 PM:
 

quote: Brian Michael Weidemann

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Anyway, just wanted to mention it. How obvious was it to anyone else?

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quote: Ian Price

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On Thursday they also recorded no ticket sales and didn't run the film. I was there to see Failure to Launch. That's two days in the first week where nobody came to see the film. This is the #1 film in the country, $30M so far and nobody comes to see it in Cloverdale. Is it a wonder that some small town theatres can't cut it?

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The small town audience (at least my small town) has different tastes then the country at large. I also opened V for Vendetta last week and it tanked big time, my lowest grossing movie. WARNING TO SMALL TOWN THEATRE OWNERS: DO NOT PLAY V FOR VENDETTA.

But on the other hand, Dukes of Hazzard was my number two movie last year and it only grossed 85 mil nationally. And I think I'll do well with Larry the Cable Guy this weekend.
 

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Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 03-25-2006, 11:03 AM:
 
All small towns are not the same.

We open "V" next Friday and even though it's the last weekend of ski season (Party Time!!) in this resort town of 3000-4000, I expect it to fly pretty high. (I'll let you know.)

Horror/slasher films don't do squat here and I'm almost proud to say we didn't even consider playing "Dukes" (but I won't because it wouldn't have done any business here anyway.) To each his own.....
 

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Posted by Matt Fields (Member # 3211) on 03-25-2006, 12:05 PM:
 
You are right Jim, not all towns are the same. I guess I'm talking about the southern and midwest NASCAR country where I live. - Matt
 

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Posted by Trevor Key (Member # 3496) on 03-25-2006, 08:10 PM:
 
Hey Matt, I hope "Larry" brings in the crowd. It has for us so far. "Git-r-Done"
 

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Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 03-26-2006, 02:05 PM:
 
Saw it at a Regal Perimeter POint10 , Atlanta. Very slightly out of focus and slight jitteriness in the picture(noticable during the credits). This is an unbelievably dense management team. They put this movie in the biggest house and another house while they put INside Man in second biggest house(which is maybe 250 seats max). The result: Inside Man sells out way too early forcing these people to cancel one of the screens showing V.
Could they not predict this? They have done similar scheduling mistakes in the past.

I liked the movie. It could have used some finetuning in some places, but it was still effective overall. Hugo Weaving was a blast with his dialog delivery.
 

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Posted by Diane Linton (Member # 3711) on 03-27-2006, 08:40 PM:
 
I watched it on Saturday, and i enjoyed it.

I loved the Benny Hillish skit Evies(sp?)friend Gordon put into his show. And how articulate, but kick ass V was.

Alot of things I have watched have been pretty bad. I wasen't expecting much from V4V, so maybe I came out happier because of it.
 

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Posted by Jason Winn (Member # 3568) on 03-29-2006, 02:07 AM:
 
I enjoyed V for Vendetta. It didn't have as much action as I thought it would, but it didn't matter. The story was very intriguing and it kept my interest. I liked the fact that they never showed V's face. It added more mystique to his character. Good movie! I would recommend it to anyone.

Plus, Natalie Portman is hot! Even with a shaved head!
 

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Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 03-30-2006, 09:28 PM:
 
I'm with Dave on this one - it was nothing special. I found it unbelievable that a man that suffered severe burns over his entire body still had crazy strength and mad skillz with the blades. I don't care if it had been 10 years or 20; not gonna happen. Obviously the creators took great strides make real-world connections here in effort to push political agenda, so I can make that one.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-01-2006, 02:05 PM:
 
I watched V For Vendetta last night (Carmike 8, Lawton, Screen 2, DTS).

Pretty good show. Three out of four stars. It had some good action stuff and a decent bit of thought-provoking political stuff -although certain bits of this film won't play well to some of the folks living in my conservative "red state."

The Benny Hill style bit was out of place though. The setting was obviously a fascist police state. I couldn't see a TV show producer airing something like that without fully knowing such an act would be suicidal.

Natalie Portman is gorgeous, whether she is in pig tails or not. She was still sexy with her head shaved. Very good actress though (but her English accent wasn't quite on). I think she really helped carry this movie. One day she'll win an Oscar, not for this film, but one day... Hugo Weaving was good as well, as was Stephen Rae. With lesser actors, this movie might have collasped on itself.

quote: Chad Souder

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I found it unbelievable that a man that suffered severe burns over his entire body still had crazy strength and mad skillz with the blades. I don't care if it had been 10 years or 20; not gonna happen.

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quote: Ian Price

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Also at the end of the movie the credit crawl looked like it was video that wasn't scrolled correctly. It was like the edges were blinking during the crawl.

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quote: Wolff King Morrow

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They even called themselves socialists for crying out loud

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quote: Paul Linfesty

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Hitler's Germany was a fully industrial-capitalist nation.

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quote:

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Krupp was initially hostile to the policies of Nazi Party. However, after a meeting on 20th February, 1933, he was persuaded by Adolf Hitler and Hjalmar Schacht that the Nazi government would destroy the trade unions and the political left in Germany. Schacht also pointed out that a Hitler government would considerably increase expenditure on armaments. Once converted, Krupp, as chairman of the Association of German Industrialists, was in a good position to encourage other business leaders to contribute to Hitler's election fund.

In May 1933 Hitler appointed Krupp as Chairman of the Adolf Hitler Spende, an industrialist fund administered by Martin Bormann. The money went to the Nazi government in return for special favours for the industrialists who had contributed.

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quote:

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Krupp contributed from the treasury of the main Krupp company 4,738,446 marks to the Nazi Party fund. In June 1935 he contributed 100,000 marks to the Nazi Party out of his personal account.

The Nazi Party did not succeed in obtaining control of Germany until it obtained support of the industrial interests, largely through the influence of Krupp. Alfried first became a Nazi Party member and later Von Bohlen did also. The Krupp influence was powerful in promoting the Nazi plan to incite aggressive warfare in Europe.

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quote:

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Hitler’s financiers
Many industrials bankrolled the Nazis, including allegedly:

· Hjalmar Schacht, Head of the Reichsbank, organised fund-raising parties for Hitler.

· Fritz von Thyssen, the German steel businessman

· Alfred Krupp, the owner of Krupp steel firm

· Emil Kirdorf, the coal businessman

· IG Faben, the German chemicals firm, gave half the funds for the 1933 elections

· The German car firm Opel (a subsidiary of General Motors)

· Schroeder Bank – on Jan. 3, 1933, Reinhard Schroeder met Hitler and asked him to form a government.

And many foreign firms including:

· Henry Ford of Ford Motors. Hitler borrowed passages from Ford's book The International Jew to use in Mein Kampf and had a picture of Ford on the wall of his office.

· Union Banking Corporation, New York (George Bush’s great-grandfather was president of the Corporation)

· WA Harriman and Co., the American shipping and railway company (George Bush’s grandfather was vice-president)

· Irenee du Pont, head of the American firm General Motors; he advocated the creation of a super-race by spinal injections to enhance children of ‘pure’ blood.

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quote: Bobby Henderson

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The Benny Hill style bit was out of place though. The setting was obviously a fascist police state. I couldn't see a TV show producer airing something like that without fully knowing such an act would be suicidal.

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quote: James R. Hammonds, Jr

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I agree that the Benny Hill style bit was out of place

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quote: Wolff King Morrow

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I found the movie to be quite offensive. It was clearly a "lets compare conservatives to nazis" bash-fest. Gays and lesbians are arrested and executed, people owning the koran are arrested, etc. all at the hands of the "evil" conservatives led by Hitler-esk John Hurt.

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As a matter of fact, fascist police state nations like Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy did indeed round up "undesireables" like gays, the mentally disabled and others of non-white race for the purposes of extermination.

I'll also add that those on both the far right and far left extremes of politics are very close to meeting each other at the wrong end join of a circle.

Level headed, reasonable, moderates are on one end of the circle. On the other 180 degree end, you'll find the nasty, sadistic, hateful, nutjob, sociopathic fascists and communists. They are both cut from the same piece of smelly, filth ridden cloth. The extremists have no room whatsoever for other people to have the freedom to make up their own minds. The extremists demand to make the choices for everyone else, even at gunpoint. Whether it is "state run socialism" or "corporate driven fascism" makes no difference to me. Both extremes are designed to remove freedom from everybody else. My salute to both of them is:


Ultimately, I think that is also a big point V For Vendetta tries to make.

Sure, V For Vendetta pushes some liberal tones -particularly tolerance for gays to have the freedom to be gay without retribution from other people. That's the main point where I felt some people in my "Red State" (in more ways than one) of Oklahoma would have a problem with the movie.

Really, I don't understand why a number of people, particularly guys, in my state have a problem with homosexuals. It reminds me of a talk I had with one of my art school classmates. Back at SVA in New York, a friend of mine complained about the orientation of some folks there. My response was, "look at the math, you don't want those guys to be straight." A lot of these guys were better looking than us, they knew how to dress, they really knew how to talk to women, they were up on fashion, their cooking skills were probably better than ours and on and on and on. One of these guys could cock-block us from an eligible lady easily. If two of those fellows decide to become a couple, don't hate. Rejoice. Both are no longer your competition!

I really wish a few fellows in this state would pick up on that simple bit of mathematics. But then the United States really tends to suck ass in math and science anyway. And for those deficits, I have no problem with V for Vendetta painting a futuristic world where the United States is a wasteland eradicated of much of its population from disease over its short sighted business, pop and political cultures. That seems plasible to me because we, as a nation, only want to be told what we want to hear. We don't want to work toward solving any problems, especially if it involves any change or sacrifice in lifestyle. In the end, we only react to disaster.
 

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Posted by Robert Burtcher (Member # 3227) on 04-08-2006, 04:25 AM:
 

quote:

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Really, I don't understand why a number of people, particularly guys, in my state have a problem with homosexuals. It reminds me of a talk I had with one of my art school classmates. Back at SVA in New York, a friend of mine complained about the orientation of some folks there. My response was, "look at the math, you don't want those guys to be straight." A lot of these guys were better looking than us, they knew how to dress, they really knew how to talk to women, they were up on fashion, their cooking skills were probably better than ours and on and on and on. One of these guys could cock-block us from an eligible lady easily. If two of those fellows decide to become a couple, don't hate. Rejoice. Both are no longer your competition!

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I like the way you think.

I've never understood the hate myself. I don't get how being attracted to the same sex somehow "undermines traditional family values" or is a threat to the "sacred institution of marriage". Both face a monumental threat, to be sure: "quickie" marriages and the high divorce rate. But I guess that's not shocking enough for the televangelists.

I was almost brought to tears by the jail cell letter scene. With the hatred that spews forth from the political and religious extremists, sometimes I catch myself worrying that a situation like that might actually happen in real life.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-08-2006, 12:48 PM:
 
I especially think it is curious for our state of Oklahoma to weigh in on things like gay marriage bans. Oklahoma doesn't even have its act together when it comes to traditional marriage.

This state constantly competes for the lead in the nation's divorce rate. We're usually #1 in the nation or just behind Nevada on marriage break ups. It would seem many of us should pay more attention to what needs to be improved in ourselves and less attention in the lives of others.
 

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Posted by Matt Fields (Member # 3211) on 04-09-2006, 12:23 AM:
 

quote: Bobby Henderson

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corporate driven fascism

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