The Song Fight Bulletin Board

I'm looking forward to this quite a bit, and so far it has just about every reason not to be a disaster. I've only played some of Silent Hill 3, which was excellent, and the atmosphere appears to be very accurately translated to the film with a great attention to detail. Overall, the movie looks pretty evil. I will find out tomorrow night.

Calfborg wrote:so far it has just about every reason not to be a disaster.

Except the production company refused to let it be screened for critics, which is the biggest "Shit" warning a movie can give.

All the movies that weren't screened for critics this year (and their Rotten Tomatoes scores):
Grandma's Boy - 17%
Underworld: Evolution - 16%
The Benchwarmers - 13%
When a Stranger Calls - 10%
Ultraviolet - 9%
Date Movie - 8%
BloodRayne - 7%
Stay Alive - 6%
Doogal - 5%
Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector - 4%
Silent Hill - ???

I like the trailer a lot. I'm looking forward to the movie too.

I just saw it. Looks fantastic. Not quite the mood of the game, but the mood works perfectly inits own right. Great design, costumes are great, camera angles very game-like at times, sound / music perfect. Also (nerdy theatrical thing) some fantastic blocking - great use of space and positions of actors to convey mood. More Silent Hill 3 than Silent Hill 1 probably, but that's no bad thing.

Story? Well within the limits of adaptions, pretty spot-on. Some things don't work, more do. Tries hard to convey a nighmarish, not quite making sense feel, which it almost manages until the big fat butter block of exposition about twenty minutes before the end.

I liked this but for two things - mainly I came away enjoying it without feeling involved like I do when i play the games. Also strangely only two of those moments like you get in the games when you know it's a bit shit and unscary but you still bolt when a strange noise precedes the arrival of, say, a flaming hillbilly.

PS there are no flaming hillbillies in the film.

PPS Sean Bean is looking terrible in this film. The women look perfect, like humanised versions of computer characters. More grown up than Resident Evil: the Movie but maybe slightly less fun.

PPPS And it is a little long for what it is. They could have trimmed.

PPPPS There's an 'interesting' debate as to whether this is a feminist film or actually a woman-hating film. Once other people have seen it, I will bring it up again, maybe, seeing as it would involve huge spoilerage.

j$ wrote:the big fat butter block of exposition about twenty minutes before the end.

Yeah, that's what I liked the least about this movie. The rest was decent, though.

Actually, I pretty much echo your sentiments, especially the lack of immersion, though I could probably blame that on the projector breaking partway through the movie, then they forgot to turn off the lights after they got it working again.

The beginning is spot-on Silent Hill, but lost the feeling somewhere along the line. And Pyramid Head needed more screentime.

I'll put it in the same category as V for Vendetta: Not quite faithful to the source material, but not horrible, and pretty much the best you can expect for a Hollywood adaptation. B+

For future reference, "Post Post Post Post Script" will now be replaced with the fuel efficient "Quad Post Script," or "QPS."

QPS - I can't remember the last time a videogame-to-movie transition was successful. Or movie-to-videogame, for that matter.

videogame to movie-- depends whether you think the first Resident Evil movie was successful. Otherwise, you'll probably have to go back to Tomb Raider.

movie to videogame-- the most criticially acclaimed movie tie in was Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. I've also seen a bunch of good reviews for the King Kong game.

Yeah, I've heard that about Buther Bay, too. Haven't played it yet, though.

I think I was just being cynical. There are certainly some noteworthy exceptions. Spider-Man on the N64 was pretty rad... but that might've been comic book--videogame. I can't remember.

As for Silent Hill - I have two friends who are serious Silent Hill fans. I'll have to hear what they say about it.

Tonamel wrote: Actually, I pretty much echo your sentiments, especially the lack of immersion, though I could probably blame that on the projector breaking partway through the movie, then they forgot to turn off the lights after they got it working again.

Request free passes for your compatriots to catch it on a more successful night. They pulled that exact shit when I caught Ed Wood and nerdy mildly organized thronging ensued. Remind them that you want "to be taken to a dream-world of magic."

Butcher Bay is excellent, though short.

As for Video Game --> Movie, I'm going to stand by Mortal Kombat as the most faithful adaptation I've seen.

Not Super Mario Bros.?

(Pfffttahahahahahaha)

More like Double Dragon.

Hahaha, Scott Wolf looks like he'd make a good Lee. I need to see this.

Double Dragon and Super Mario Bros. were fun the first time I saw them. Super Mario Bros. wasn't so fun the second time I saw it. Haven't caught Double Dragon again. Isn't Alyssa Milano in that? At one point they're in a fight and she punches some guy out and says "Who's the boss NOW!?" It's that kind of movie.

That kind of movie being... the best kind of movie?

Silent Hill gets a B+ for style and a D for story/acting. So, I guess it's a C. It has a kind of weird beauty, but it doesn't even try to make sense for those of us who haven't played the game. I like the ending, though.

The more I think about it, the more I agree with review I read which said that the movie's biggest failing is that it's too true to the games. Poor storytelling elements like finding the chunk of the hotel sign in the janitor's mouth are very much in the spirit of the games, but make no sense in the context of a movie.

Eventually, someone will be able to strike the balance between being true to the game, and being true to the movie format. I have high hopes for the Halo movie (go go Peter Jackson), but until then, we're stuck with adaptations like this (not horrible, but not great), or Uwe Boll (O God, make it stop).

Yeah, I was like "Did I miss something?" with the hotel key, but when I realized I was asking that a lot, I kind of let it go. But it was very item-y. "I have a knife, I used it for something, and whoops!, I just dropped it down a chasm! Shaaaa-rooooon! SHAAAAAA-ROOOOOONNNNNN!!!"

seriously, people, this movie was _awful_. i liked how all the other actors stared intently at the main chick hoping she'd make it through her lines. that was pretty much the high point of the deal for me.

it was way too long, it wasn't scary, the "itemy" bit as rxw put it bothered the hell out of me. it was obvious from the first encounter that she had some kind of guardian spirit, and once you know she's not gonna get brutilated, the rest of it is just looking for a place to stretch your legs while waiting for the credits to roll.