Beowulf Movie

[Andy]

Is anyone thinking about going to see that new Beowulf movie? IMO, the actual poem doesn't seem in-depth enough for a movie. Judging by the trailers, they're going to be putting sex appeal into it. As well as Angelina Jolie. :doh:

Since LOTR was heavily influenced by Beowulf, I'm going to be really disappointed if this movie doesn't seem worthy enough to be on the same DVD shelf.

[Crocolyle]

It looks pretty cool, I'm planning on going to see it.

[Andy]

I agree, the visuals do look fantastic. I guess it's just my tendency to think movies won't be as good as their stories. :) I think I'll go see it, if it gets at least a B- rating at Yahoo.

Here are some trailers:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/beowulf/

[Shaun]

Well LOTR was actually more influenced by Wagner's Ring Cycle than anything else since a lot of the central ideas in LOTR are present in Wagner's work. There are certainly plenty of influences from Beowulf, but I suppose that's something you could say about a lot of fantasy.

Actually there is a lot in Beowulf that can go into a film since its poetic devices tell us a lot about the world it's based in and the characters. The problem with this crapshack of a film is that it takes way too many liberties with the story, making the poem seem like it is more than it actually is and turning it into a media circus that bastardizes literature. But then...that's Hollywood.

I won't be seeing it. If not because of what I said above, it will be because it has Jolie in it. She ruins just about everything for me these days...it's sad because I was hoping this was going to be good :(

[jordanisonfire]

I wanted to start a thread about this, but oh well. :rolleyes: Yeah, I'm going to see it today, possibly. Why did they make an animated one and a real people one? :confused:

[Shaun]

Because they can milk as much out of it as possible with two versions even though the story has already been retold about a few times on film anyway...

[Imelda]

It's written by Neil Gaiman, of course it's going to be awesome! I just wish it didn't have Jolie in it, and a load of CG.

I didn't think there were two versions, though. There's been no mention on Gaiman's blog, at least. I thought they grafted the real-lfe heads on CG bodies or something. I dunno. It looks visually rubbish to me, but the script has to be good ...

[jordanisonfire]

Wait! The non-animated version is only in America? O_o

[Imelda]

Where the heck did you get that from?

[jordanisonfire]

Well, Vue and Odeon both have only the animated one in their cinemas.

[The Grinning Man]

According to the almighty Wikipedia, there's only an animated version.

"It is an adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem of the same name and was created through motion capture, a technique similar to that used by Zemeckis in The Polar Express." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf_%282007_film%29)

[Crocolyle]

Yeah, that's been my understanding, too (mainly because I also checked wikipedia). It's been hard to tell from the trailers though. I was assuming they did something like Sky Captain or 300, because some of it looks like CGI and some of it looks very realistic - though it could just be realistic looking CGI...

EDIT: Quote from Wiki that explains it all:

The cast members of Beowulf were filmed on a motion capture stage. They were altered on screen using computer-generated imagery, but their animated counterparts bear much resemblance to themselves.

So, it's all CGI, just very realistic... I think...

[jordanisonfire]

Don't let Shaun hear you talk about Wikipedia that way. He'll be veeeery angry. :P

[The Grinning Man]

Don't let Shaun hear you talk about Wikipedia that way. He'll be veeeery angry. :P

For entertainment mediums there's no better infosite on the web.

That's right, I went there.

[Imelda]

Yeesh. That's what I said in my post. :rolleyes:

No one listens to me ... no one ...

'Cept Car ...

[Andy]

According to the almighty Wikipedia, there's only an animated version
Really? It's animated stuff based on real stuff? Very cool. I couldn't tell from the trailers. Except Grendel and friends, obviously. :rolleyes: The people didn't seem animated at all.

[Imelda]

They do when you see them up close.

But, as I said, the heads aren't CG.

[Shaun]

Actually there are better media sites that Wiki. Everyone just goes to Wiki because it's flouted as this magical place where all knowledge is right. It's a sham and it is disgusting how dependent our society has become on that website. Find new places to get your news...Wiki is evil.

[Rafael Domination]

Yup, Lord Shaun has spoken...

and Woooooo, graphics! I love the look of the creatures! :D

[Shaun]

Yes...I have spoken. I should put a thing on the site that changes any mentioned of Wiki to "poopoopedia"...

[Imelda]

But that would be immature.

I would never do such a thing to say ... 'lol' ... :angel:

[Shaun]

No, no you wouldn't :P. Wiki is just so evil I wish it would die a painful death...

[Andy]

No, no you wouldn't :P. Wiki is just so evil I wish it would die a painful death...
So does this mean you're not going to donate to it? :P

[Shaun]

Nope, never will. It doesn't deserve my money. I'll donate to more useful places :P

[jordanisonfire]

Shaun, I've just had a thought: you were complaining that the people on the Anti-Shur'tugal waste their time complaining about Eragon, because it's so vastly popular. So, aren't you doing the same thing about Wikipedia, except not on the website-creating degree? *gets ready to be ridiculed*

[Imelda]

The Religion of Complete Awesomnosity is accepting donations to spread the holy word of chocolate.

I'm sorry, I'm spamming. :(

[Shaun]

Shaun, I've just had a thought: you were complaining that the people on the Anti-Shur'tugal waste their time complaining about Eragon, because it's so vastly popular. So, aren't you doing the same thing about Wikipedia, except not on the website-creating degree? *gets ready to be ridiculed*

The difference: I don't have a website dedicated to anti-wiki. I simply mention my hatred for it here. I'm not going to write a book about it or anything, that would be absurd.

Oh, and on a side note, Anti-Shurtugal wasn't the site I was thinking of when I originally went on a tirade on TW and then here and also on my blog. Turns out it was a different Anti-Eragon site. Though the AS people are still too obsessed. The fact is they are giving Paolini free advertising by having websites and blogs dedicated to it.

Wiki is evil. Accept that and you will be infinitely more intelligent.

[Imelda]

Wiki is fun and ejucatonal!!!!!!! i use it 4 al my hmwrk lol!!!!!!

You mad at me yet? :D

[Shaun]

You don't even have homework...

[jordanisonfire]

The Religion of Complete Awesomnosity is accepting donations to spread the holy word of chocolate.

I'm sorry, I'm spamming. :(

I spam all the time. According to Andrew, spam is good for the site, for now! :D I'm not sure if that's still true, since he said it about a month ago...

The difference: I don't have a website dedicated to anti-wiki. I simply mention my hatred for it here. I'm not going to write a book about it or anything, that would be absurd.

Oh, and on a side note, Anti-Shurtugal wasn't the site I was thinking of when I originally went on a tirade on TW and then here and also on my blog. Turns out it was a different Anti-Eragon site. Though the AS people are still too obsessed. The fact is they are giving Paolini free advertising by having websites and blogs dedicated to it.

Wiki is evil. Accept that and you will be infinitely more intelligent.

Well, I'm just saying that, even though you may complain, millions of people across the world use Wikipedia for their knowledge, so it'll be hard to bring it down. But, where would we get all this knowledge we get from Wiki on another site? I just mainly use Wiki to look up film plots. I got interesting in Christianity (I'm still an atheist, don't worry, I'm just interested in the religion), by reading the back-story to The Omen.

[Shaun]

I'm going to be a teacher and I will tell you this: any student of mine who uses wikipedia as a source for their paper will get an F. Period. It's unacceptable. My hatred for wiki is rational because it is single handedly destroying modern society. It's undoing everything that Western civilization has been creating for thousands of years single handedly and allowing our society to become a pile of uneducated flesh. If I wanted to live in the land of idiots I would be a neoconservative. Read a damned book or go to a news website like the Guardian, or actually cross reference what has been said somewhere. You can get encyclopedias for cheap these days. If you want a set I have one and I'll sell it for 30 USD plus shipping. Full set...

[Andy]

Wikipedia's got a lot of things that encyclopedias will never have information on. Granted, a lot of its stuff is plain wrong, but it's a great place to go for information on stuff which is more for entertainment purposes than educational ones. Like seeing a big list of all the movies a company has made, or music, or stuff like that. Instead of searching Google, you could search Wikipedia. No written encyclopedia will ever have info on all the things Wikipedia does, so it does contribute some good.

But yeah, anyone who ever sites Wikipedia in a report should get an F. Some guy cited it in a debate tournament, and me and my partner screwed him over it, since we said we could easily go onto the internet during his speech and change the information he referenced. :D

[jordanisonfire]

I would so love to buy Wikipedia and make it a fully-factual site where it has just as many articles as before. But that will take a lot of research, time, effort and money, so I very much doubt I'll ever do it.

[Shaun]

Wikipedia contributes nothing. Anything that is as factually incorrect as Wiki is nothing but a bane on society. If I wrote a book about World War 2 and everything was right except that I said that Hitler was actually a Ninja from Mars...would you all consider that a legit source?

[jordanisonfire]

You sound like you're gonna bomb it's headquarters or something, Shaun.

[Shaun]

I might. Believe me, I've considered it. It's a terrible place. I think the people that run it eat live babies...