The VM movie was fun but not really very well-written.
Also, your day was not nearly as long as mine.
To be more specific, I think Veronica's decision-making throughout the movie seemed more than a little irrational and out of character. We're supposed to accept that she was away for 9 years working hard to start a new career and one day with Logan is enough for her to throw it all away? I don't buy it.
The VM movie was fun but not really very well-written.
Did they let the Kickstarter backers write it?
Just don't tell me who shot JR. I still haven't got that yet.
I did love the movie, because it accomplished making me feel like I was reunited with longlost friends. The dialogue felt legitimate. It felt like a solid episode.
I did not love the whole addiction-model of being a detective, which is pretty similar to essear's complaint.
Also, I wish Logan had been a little more complicated. He's pretty straightforward in the movie - it would have been nice if Veronica had an actual question mark in her mind over his guilt.
Also, your day was not nearly as long as mine.
Shall we compare the quality of our day?
6: You shot JR in a drunken blackout. Since everybody hated the bastard, the police refused to arrest you, the DA refused to prosecute you, and prospective jurors vowed never to convict you.
The quality of my day had large parts that were just fine, to be fair.
7: [Full-fledged spoiler alert]: The end was clearly setting up further installments which might include some darkness for Logan. Specifically, I think he is involved in some way in the police corruption. After the car crash in the end, he places a call. Then later, he asks someone else to call an ambulance.
Also, after Logan's first call, doesn't the other vehicle come around again to finish the job? I'd have to rewatch it to be sure.
I'm not sure what kind of next installment they are setting up. I heard Rob Thomas say that he doesn't want to work with Kickstarter again, because it was such a pain in the ass.
There's a sequel novel coming out soon, and supposedly more on the way.
After the car crash in the end, he places a call. Then later, he asks someone else to call an ambulance.
I totally missed this.
I pre-ordered the novel already! It comes out at the end of the month. "The Thousand Dollar Tan Line". He said in an email to the backers that it was the original plot for the movie, but when they sat down to write the movie, it became clear that too much of the movie needed to be occupied reintroducing characters and bringing everyone up to date.
14: I missed it, too. Molly caught it.
15: Man, there were a lot of minor characters to remember. The only reason I remembered Gia was that I looked up Krysten Ritter (man, is she hot) after seeing her on Breaking Bad and noticing that she had a minor part on Veronica Mars.
Airedale caught a lot of people's backstories - Susan and Carrie, but also Gia's fiancee - he's from a few of the very first episodes, when Logan, Troy (early love interest), and Luke are running steroids from Mexico.
Oh, one thing that bugged me was that I was thinking Susan Knight had dropped out of school after the history teacher got her pregnant, but the movie talked about her graduating. Am I remembering wrong? I guess I should rewatch the episode.
(Also also, given that Carrie Bishop had no speaking role in the movie, could they really not have gotten permission to use Leighton Meester's image?)
They mentioned in the movie that she gave up her baby, but I don't remember if that conflicts with the storyline from the series.
Another thing I may have missed: were we to think that V and Piz had been together for nine year continuously, or had they been more recently reunited? Because her behavior seems even nuttier if she'd been with him for that long.
They resumed their relationship after an 8 year break. They've been together for about a year.
Ah, okay, I missed that.
I also thought the party scene really clearly telegraphed that something was very weird about Martin Starr's character's relationship with Gia and whatshisface from the Mexico episode, in a way that detracted a bit from the ending.
Hmm, I didn't catch that, even on the second watch with Jammies and my parents. I just thought they all had something nebulous to hide.
Also I love that Dick is the one who can really sell the lie.
Also I love when VM says "Words with friends?" to Dick and he says "Most people just call it texting."
The number of in-jokes and things that were there just to amuse fans seemed a little excessive, although I enjoyed most of them. Things like Leo saying he was sure he had heard she was in the FBI, or the mention of Kickstarter.
James Franco didn't have any prior VM connection, did he? That bit was amusing but pretty random.
There was also a bit of lampshade-hanging about Kristen Bell's breasts that seemed a little too fourth-wall-breaking.
There was also a bit of lampshade-hanging about Kristen Bell's breasts that seemed a little too fourth-wall-breaking.
I didn't even know her breasts were a thing, and entirely missed that we were being obviously re-titillated with them. I did speculate that she was a bit pregnant during the filming, though.
I think they started filming shortly after she gave birth, but maybe it was before that. In any case, some character made a remark about how her breasts had become bigger, or something along those lines.
And there was the scene with Dax Shepard as the creepy guy trying to pick her up in the bar, as another moment where I was wondering if the fan service to actual plot ratio was a bit too high.
It was good to see that Francis Capra's skin had recovered from whatever happened in season 3.
Very carefully smooshing my eyebrows down so I can only see the comment window to type: I want to see it in the theater and am not streaming it. Bave will laugh since I am perfectly willing to watch Gone with the Wind on my fucking phone, but it's more that I want a communal experience than that I am expecting dazzling visual composition.
I want a communal experience
That's a weird way of saying you want Veronica's breasts to be really huge, Mr. Smearcase. The canonical express is, "Titties! Hooray!"
I would laugh but I read your comment while squinting really tight in case there were spoilers so I can't tell if it's funny.
WOLVERINE!
the fan service to actual plot ratio was a bit too high.
This basic point is absolutely true, but given the context of my first viewing, the fan service was pretty dang fun. I would not recommend the movie to someone who wasn't already a fan, though.
He said in an email to the backers that it was the original plot for the movie, but when they sat down to write the movie, it became clear that too much of the movie needed to be occupied reintroducing characters and bringing everyone up to date.
In other words, it became clear that too much of the movie needed to be occupied by fan servicing.
That's ok. As a fan, I like to be serviced every now and then.
Wolverines!
The number of in-jokes and things that were there just to amuse fans seemed a little excessive, although I enjoyed most of them. Things like Leo saying he was sure he had heard she was in the FBI, or the mention of Kickstarter.
The theme tune busker was over-the-top, but other than I didn't mind them. It wasn't great as a standalone film, but I enjoyed it a lot as an extended episode, despite the ending being kind of annoying and too obviously setting up further stories. I was a bit confused by the way they presented Wallace and Mac - I just assumed they were together until about two thirds of the way through when something someone said ruled that out.
36: Molly and I also thought they were together until a comment at the party. I decided I just must of understood the comment, since they were obviously together.
35 might also be a Michigan fan excited to make the Sweet 16. (Or is that just my house?)
Wallace says something about seeing someone with whom he had an "if we're both still single..." promise.
Also I welled up when the busker started playing.
On the road trip part, the total trip cost us about $300 for eight days. Jesus flying costs a lot. I think we saved about $1700. And it took an extra 8 hours each way, roughly.
Plus wear and tear on the car.
@ helpy-chalk
I don't get what's so appealing about Rytter. Sure she is attractive, but in a bland manufactured by Hollywood way.
The movie made just under 2 million and cost 6. Even with the Kickstarter money I don't see how they can break even.
Make that under 3 million.
I think the kickstarter campaign brought in over 5 million.
Okay, I thought it was just 2 million.
Just looked it up, it's actually around 5.7 mil. Not bad.
So, having not watched much in the way of movies: is VM representative of how they handle texting these days, with the text just popping up on the big screen?
I thought it was decently seamless. It would have irritated me if VM had read them out loud or something.
The movie made just under 2 million and cost 6. Even with the Kickstarter money I don't see how they can break even.
How do you know what it made? Surely a lot of fans (myself included) will have watched it online, which won't be captured in the usual box office numbers.
43: Her appeal really comes out when she was playing Jane on Breaking Bad, and they were presenting her as an art student slash girl next door. In her work as a model she just looks like a model.
@ Ginger Yellow
I looked the number up in wikipedia. But you are of course right.
@ 51 Fair enough. I'm hopelessly behind in my TV-watching and haven't started Breaking Bad yet. One of the reasons is that I don't have a TV, so I use my notebook and DVDs. The other is that it cuts into my reading time. I mostly only watch The Daily Show and Colbert report these days.
A guy at Forbes is calling it a big win for investors and for Warner Brothers, because they get all the profits and didn't have to put in much money. It doesn't have to earn back the full 5.7 million for Hollywood to count it as a success. Most of that money came from people like us, who are just happy that the movie exists.
Whether this means that there is a long term trend for Hollywood to transfer investment risk to the audience remains to be seen.
Is WB entitled to a bigger portion of the profits than the percent that it backed? How does this work? I should probably click the link.
Maybe it gets the profits because WB rented out the theaters?
Having now read the link. (I'm hanging out in the car while hokey pokey sleeps)
Is WB entitled to a bigger portion of the profits than the percent that it backed? How does this work? I should probably click the link.
Halford can no doubt elaborate (and may even have inside knowledge), but there's no particular reason why WB's cut should in this case be tied to the proportion of financing it provided. It's not like Kickstarter entered into a joint production contract with Warner. A bunch of nerds chucked money at Rob Thomas. Warner Brothers could negotiate whatever deal they liked with him.
Why did Rob Thomas need WB at all?
59: distribution! That's what the studios actually do, fundamentally; distribution and marketing.
But he could have contracted out to them or whoever, since he doesn't actually need their deep pockets, and still kept the power. Or maybe not.
I'm pretty sure we're not going to figure out the precise details and implications of Hollywood studio accounting in a series of blog comments.
I would guess that it has something to do with rights. Also, heebs, can we have a dedicated book / what-are-you-reading-at-the-moment thread? There wasn't one in ages (Or I simply missed it).
I don't get what's so appealing about Rytter.
Goth-cute, vampiress next door. Kitten with a whip. And, of course, smart.
I mean, she plays it, with black underliner.
But she is no Mia Kirshner.
Actually Ritter's better, always a little scary.
Mila Kunis is not waifish enough.
Ahem.
Actually Ritter's better
Take THAT back.
I'm pretty sure we're not going to figure out the precise details and implications of Hollywood studio accounting in a series of blog comments.
Is this the new blog standard? We're in trouble.
Mila Kunis is not waifish enough...
tell us more about how you learned feminism from the japanese!
I forgot about Ritter, Kirshner, and Kunis:
Black underliner, straight black hair, and bangs
Watch the fuck out!
Actually no, real femme fatales really advertise, you know? They look like Zehetner in Brick. The ones like Ritter and Kirshner end up dying on you.
Someone could ask:So that's why Japan?
I don't think so. I think straight black hair (say past shoulders) in Japan is not kawaii and very coded as aristocratic (up or down), and snobbish standoffish unapproachable*. Or boring.
*As in the West, there was the pattern of long hair til puberty then up or cut. So long straight hair also coded as prepubescent.
On an adult woman, long straight hair down coded as wild and crazy independent. Or very available.
In any case, in my memory, the Rytter-Kirshner look is relatively unusual.
69 gutless fuck of 69 couldn't even put a psuedonym
36.last gets it exactly right. I was happy for them until I wasn't.
|| Google search now seems to consider the word "unfogged" a synonym for the word "uncensored". |>
63: I finally finished The Luminaries and it was fantastic! I just wish I had more time to read, but having Z sleeping in the dressing room whenever she has a cold has cut into any bedtime book time but seriously upped the night commenting here, so basically a net loss on all fronts.
75: I also thought it was great, and that was without trying to puzzle out how the story mapped onto the theoretical device she was structuring it around. Some of the details of how stuff happened were a little too far-fetched, but I enjoyed the characters.
It's like 4:00 there. Did somebody come on early just to send out the rejections?
Who wouldn't want to start their day by rejecting a paper?
For a movie like VM, at least traditionally (no idea about this flick's budget or how it's actually doing financially) distribution and marketing costs are about 200-300% of the production budget of the movie, which is what the Kickstarter money went to (I think).
Also, in general, the way movies are financed (and have been since about 1910) is that stars and studios always get paid first, but try to shift as much of the risk as possible onto suckers with spare money to invest who want a little glamour. The suckers generally (but not always) lose their shirts. In this case the Kickstarter folks were the suckers, but at least you knew you all knew you were suckers paying for other people to take your money in exchange for a little taste of Hollywood.
Sorry about the peer review Moby. Btw, the band is The Lumineers.
Thorn, I like your comments and don't consider them a loss fwiw.
I recently read Scalzi's The Human Divison and it is the thing you like if you like this sort of thing which in my case it was. I also started the Flashman series which both disgusts and amuses me. I probably will begin a compilation of 1950's American crime novels put out by Library of America.
I should say that the details of precisely how the suckers get fleeced, and how the stars and studios divide up what's left between them, are genuinely esoteric arts that can take a lifetime to truly master.
83.2: I meant to joke, not sound desperate. The nighttime division of labor is a huge stress and point of contention for other reasons, but insufficient baths and books are fairly low on the list. And I have no idea what to read next, so a thread would help!
You guys better not still be talking about books over here.
Pssst...
[whisper]: secret book thread! [/whisper]
Ah, so this is the thread where we talk about the books we're not reading.
The option on my screenplay, six months in the negotiating, is about to fall through because the producer (who has otherwise worked with us in good faith -- he's a turkey, not a jerk) seriously does not understand negotiating, and I am seriously considering producing it myself. I know not a goddamned thing about producing, but a) it seems like an excellent way to procrastinate writing, b) my writing partner is very good at getting shit done, and c) I have a pretty good network to ask for help.
So, get ready for my kickstarter, is what I'm saying. If it happens, you can certainly count on me hitting you up for cash, but I will also need help coming up with good premiums, like hand-crafted ghost-written blog comments.
I will also need help coming up with good premiums
Nude selfies, of course. And sloths!
So I watched the Veronica Mars TV show through the first two episodes of season 2, and I think I'm going to quit there. The first season satisfied whatever curiosity I had about the setting.
That said, Veronica Mars is one of the greatest characters in the history of television, and Kristen Bell is amazing in it. Teenage girl as implacable instrument of revenge for her dead friend is such a compelling story. Stories about high school naturally tends to be about ultimately petty things, particularly stories about girls, so a story about a girl who largely runs over high school obstacles to destroy her enemies is automatically interesting. But it's not a story that needs 64 episodes to tell. It should end with her in jail for her many illegal actions, but her enemies dead.
They should remake the first season of VM as the next season of True Detective. Kirsten Bell is just a mysteriously old looking teenager.
So when I bittorrent movies I am actually stealing from crooks?
It should end with her in jail for her many illegal actions, but her enemies dead.
Yeah, and this is actually where I think the third season is strongest, in that she (and arguably more importantly the people she cares about) finally starts to suffer real consequences from her monomania and her flaunting of the law in pursuit of what she deems to be justice.
I'm not reading this thread because I haven't seen it yet due to very poorly timed travel (flew out before the fan screenings on one continent, arrived after the fan screenings on the other continent). I'll be watching it in the theater in the next couple days.
I hope you all are talking about the clusterfuck that is Ultraviolet/Flixster. The newest FAQ for downloads is really amazing. It's remarkable just how badly big media wants people to have broken awful versions of their products. (I'm not actually mad at WB, because the buy on apple/amazon and get reimbursed option is impressively reasonable, and what I'll do. Mostly just boggled at what a piece of shit it sounds like ultraviolet is.)
94: flouting the law, goddammit. I swear I never made that mistake until I saw it listed somewhere as a common error.
95.2: What's so bad about it? I had never used it before but the movie downloaded and played with no problems.
I think reading the FAQ gives a pretty clear picture. There are all sorts of weird random compatibility problems (you can't download HD in England, it won't play if your computer has an external monitor, it's not compatible with apple TV, etc.). On top of that there's the fact that you have to set up accounts on two different services, and that many of the workarounds involve setting up accounts on a third or fourth service.
But I think the external monitor thing is really the killer non-app, especially given that you might want to watch it on your TV instead of a laptop screen.
I was shocked to learn last week that AOL will not let you (ie my parents) be logged into more than one device at a time. They share an email account, and a constant refrain is "Are you logged in? I want to check something on my phone." "Don't kick me off, I'm downloading something." (Because you get kicked off your whole AOL browser, see? omg the whole thing was crazy-making.)
My main worry is that the "Flixster Digital Copy app" won't exist in 5 years when I want to rewatch the movie. I'd like an actual file that I own.
I was shocked to learn just now that people are still on AOL. Dear God, get them on a proper ISP ASAP.
Finally watched the movie. I thought it was quite good. Better than I was expecting, though I agree with many of the criticisms in this thread. Obviously it's not comparable to the best VM, but it was way better than Season 3.
On the money front I'm surprised that no one mentioned all the Samsung product placement.