...also wondering how many films Jihae is contracted for and whether she knows what's in store for her character.

@M. LeMarchand said:

I'm finding it hard to believe that they'll scar someone as pretty as Hera, but we'll see.

You were right! They gave her a pretty scar. I read the book and was excited to see the film until I saw the trailer.

@MirrorMask said:

You were right! They gave her a pretty scar. I read the book and was excited to see the film until I saw the trailer.

The film's enjoyable - every "real" person I know who's seen it liked it. (A mixture of book fans and newbies, but no"sacred text" type fans). It doesn't look like it's going to matter how many films the cast are contracted for, though. I'm trying to take solace in the fact that if they bottled Hester's scar, they'd be unlikely to keep the ending intact - though the voice-over at the start suggested that at least part of it may have held true to the books.

@M. LeMarchand said:

@MirrorMask said:

You were right! They gave her a pretty scar. I read the book and was excited to see the film until I saw the trailer.

The film's enjoyable - every "real" person I know who's seen it liked it. (A mixture of book fans and newbies, but no"sacred text" type fans). It doesn't look like it's going to matter how many films the cast are contracted for, though. I'm trying to take solace in the fact that if they bottled Hester's scar, they'd be unlikely to keep the ending intact - though the voice-over at the start suggested that at least part of it may have held true to the books.

I hated it. [Spoilers].

There was no world building to make you understand why people were against each other. There was no reason given why the mobile cities thought that people from static cities were the bad guys and terrorists. The motivations of Valentine and those in London make no sense at all. They didn't even explain why there was a need for large roving cities when it is established that static cities exist. The battle scenes should have been epic, however 85% of the time it was hidden by shaky cams and close ups of people's faces (so you could only hear what was going on). WTF Peter Jackson, I expected better from you. There was also that weird moment they tried to make you feel for Shrike, but up to the point of his death you only got a feeling that he was an immortal death machine that wanted to assimilated Hester. The flash backs during his death scene came too late to make you feel anything for him, and just came off as strange. This movie was terrible, and if I had seen it in IMAX (as I'm apt to with event movies like this) I would have been pissed off just by the number of closeups in this movie alone (I don't go to IMAX showing just to look up people's noses).

Most of the cast is unknown to me. But god job. I liked this movie. I also really enjoyed John Carter, and Jupiter Riding, oh, and Valerian also. Critics pawned those movies. I liked them cuz they were visually original, well done, and pretty good script. This movie is just the same. I LIKE it!

@Damienracer said:

Hugo Weaving but the film looks like a car crash the cast looks like they'll need casts from this trainwreck. Cities on wheelbarrows? Christ!

Go back to watching "the Guiding Light", "Dallas", "As the world Turns", etc. Never turn those off!!! NEVER! Otherwise you will be disappointed again.

@TalisBriedis said:

Most of the cast is unknown to me. But god job. I liked this movie. I also really enjoyed John Carter, and Jupiter Riding, oh, and Valerian also. Critics pawned those movies. I liked them cuz they were visually original, well done, and pretty good script. This movie is just the same. I LIKE it!

I do find that too many people follow the lead of the critics blindly, and quote Rotten Tomatoes ratings as if they're holy scripture. I will read reviews if I'm on the fence about a film and maybe wait until a movie is released to one of the film channels etc rather than go to the cinema, but if I've decided a film looks like one I'll enjoy, I'll see it. I see very few films I dislike this way.

Like you, there are films I loved that critics and audiences rejected: Tarzan and A Winter's Tale spring to mind. People should make up their own minds.

I have to admit that I'm slightly bemused by some of the criticisms of Mortal Engines which take to task parts of the film that were present in the original award winning books!

Seems like we agree on something Phillippe.I thoroughly enjoyed the movie .

@Nexus71 said:

Seems like we agree on something Phillippe.I thoroughly enjoyed the movie .

Seriously, read the books. The author even broadly agrees with your dismissal of "Picard" (though he does praise Chabon as a writer): https://philipreeveblog.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-waste-of-space.html . However, he has been known to get things wrong, such as the time he dismissed Steampunk as a moribund genre until it was pointed out that the ME series was Steampunk. (He later went full Steampunk for his Larklight trilogy). The post was swiftly deleted, but traces of it still linger: http://steampunkscholar.blogspot.com/2010/06/larklight-by-philip-reeve.html .

Chabon may be good in books that largely revolve around historical issues or historical based fine but writing SF for a 50 years old franchise without first thoroughly exame things (or hire someone else to check if things make sense continuity wise and chronolgical wise)you write for such a franchise known for it's fanbase that like to nitpick about the tinniest details and stuff is another thing Phillippe. Considering these fact there was always going to be criticism certainly if you are only a temporary custodian of the franchise that largely still exist because of that same nitpicking fanbase making it even possible for people like Kurtzman ,Chabon and Goldsman to make shows for the franchise.

But here is comes the crux Chabon is not only being ill prepared or at least incompetent for the job he was hired for he had to act like a small child when people were critical about Picard on were not liking his screenplay (althoug Kurtzman still has a large finger in the story writing as well)he had to used (the tried and now so predictable route of insulting the decades old fanbase in various articles by repeating the same old boring tropes that people didn't like the because they don't like the shows (token) diversity or that thye are crying manbabies who hate their (so called) version of stong females inthe show or being genderphobic while most of the characters are cliché cardboard cut -outs but that are unsympathetic hardly developed and some times even racist stereotypes (Raffi for example). In these articles it show that either how very little Chabon knows about Star Trek and Trek culture or that he simplly doesn't care because it is just ameans for him to do a series he really wants to do (The Cavelier And Clay series or something like that).And even if he wa hired I can understand that he doesn't want to stick out with being too creative because from what I understood from what happened awarded African American writer Walter Mosley the writers room is of Star Trek is toxic and so overly sensitive that it kills anything creative or diferent because it doesn't conform to their agenda.

And then there is another thing in another article the same Chabon and Goldsman confess to have actually writen stuff into Picard because they knew it would piss off the fans so that they can later use this to perpetuate the continuing myth of toxic fandom.And that Philllippe is something I and a large chunk of the fanbase cannot ignore.So from now on we decide to vote by not paying for the shit from Kurtzman,Chabon and Goldsman are churning out or claiming that is in production so thye can pretend to the outside guard that everything is hunky dory while in facr they are strugling to find financers for any new Star Trek show. .A good indication was The Lower Decks(TLD)trailer that was released last week on YouTube .were comments and likes /dislikes ratio were blocked after only two days because CBS didn't dig the comments people were making about the show and the number of dislikes it got