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Robocop
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subego
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Sep 6, 2013, 02:47 PM
 
RoboCop - Movie Trailers - iTunes

Robocop is one of the best movies ever (that's not hyperbole), so I was doubtful this was going to work, but I'm impressed.

What made me go "okay, you win" was the in-universe explanation for the look of the new suit (which I don't much care for yet) vs. the look of the original, which was more than awesome.

IIRC, the original movie cost $14MM, and the suit cost half of it.

Worth every penny.
     
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Sep 6, 2013, 03:33 PM
 
Looks good. Stellar cast, and Joel Kinnaman is a truly inspired choice.

Not completely feeling the black suit, but the silver suit looks fantastic.

They've clearly reinvented the story significantly, which is a good thing: citizens are wary of drone policing, so the corporation creates a drone cop who only appears to have free will. Brilliant.

The original RoboCop was obvious satire. This film seems to tell it straight. Time will tell if that reformulation works.

I wonder who the "bad guys" are this time? (Since were know OmniCorp are the real bad guys.) I'm kinda tired of terrorists as villains, but the bombing and drone elements of the story seem to make that a lock.
     
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Sep 6, 2013, 03:35 PM
 
Yep, the original is an all-time great. This trailer doesn't quite sell me - my only hope for this remake was when the rumour that Michael Fassbender would play Murphy was circulating. THAT would have made me buy a ticket.
     
The Final Dakar
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Sep 6, 2013, 03:35 PM
 
No idea who the guy is, not impressed by the suit, not a fanatic about the original (I like it, but its over-the-top, yes I know that's the point), pessimistic of all remakes.

I think that sums it all up.
     
subego  (op)
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Sep 6, 2013, 03:43 PM
 
As I said, I don't like the suit either, but I liked them admitting up-front it's marketing.

Also, as much as I love Ronny Cox, I think Michael Keaton is perfect for the villain.
     
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Sep 6, 2013, 03:44 PM
 
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar View Post
No idea who the guy is...
This should help: The Killing (TV Series 2011– ) - IMDb

Like everything on AMC, The Killing is fantastic television.
     
lpkmckenna
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Sep 6, 2013, 03:45 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
As I said, I don't like the suit either, but I liked them admitting up-front it's marketing.
What do you mean?
     
The Final Dakar
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Sep 6, 2013, 03:47 PM
 
Originally Posted by lpkmckenna View Post
This should help: The Killing (TV Series 2011– ) - IMDb

Like everything on AMC, The Killing is fantastic television.
I googled him. Haven't seen the show, so it's kinda irrelevant. And I didn't hear great things about it.
     
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Sep 6, 2013, 06:19 PM
 
Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

My sig is 1 pixel too big.
     
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Sep 6, 2013, 07:31 PM
 
It's probably going to be pg-13
It's probably not going to have anything CLOSE to Boddicker
It's probably going to beat us over the head with some free will bullshit
It's probably also going to SUCK

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subego  (op)
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Sep 7, 2013, 12:59 AM
 
Originally Posted by lpkmckenna View Post
What do you mean?
From what I can gather, he starts out the original colors, and then Keaton does some corporate meddling and makes it "tactical" black.
     
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Sep 7, 2013, 05:09 AM
 
It looks better than I thought it would be, the suit looks better when it's silver. It's one of those 'tell the whole story in a very short time' trailers though, explaining a lot of things before you see the film, not a teaser to bring you in and find things out when you watch it (yes I know it's a remake).

It'll be much easier if you just comply.
     
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Sep 7, 2013, 07:58 AM
 
Originally Posted by lpkmckenna View Post
I wonder who the "bad guys" are this time? (Since were know OmniCorp are the real bad guys.) I'm kinda tired of terrorists as villains, but the bombing and drone elements of the story seem to make that a lock.
Commies.
     
lpkmckenna
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Sep 7, 2013, 08:25 AM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
From what I can gather, he starts out the original colors, and then Keaton does some corporate meddling and makes it "tactical" black.
Oh. I thought you meant they changed the colour to black for movie marketing purposes, not story-driven reasons.
     
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Sep 7, 2013, 02:05 PM
 
Cool! Side note: The Killing sucks.
Mankind's only chance is to harness the power of stupid.
     
subego  (op)
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Sep 7, 2013, 05:01 PM
 
Originally Posted by lpkmckenna View Post
Oh. I thought you meant they changed the colour to black for movie marketing purposes, not story-driven reasons.
I think it's both. They (the producers) changed it to "update" the look, and they have the asshole corporate dude "update" the look in the movie.

I'm positive this was meant to be reflexive.
     
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Sep 7, 2013, 05:04 PM
 
Also, Keaton might be the Miguel Ferrer character rather than the Ronny Cox character.

Shit. Those are two great actors. This movie has its work cut out for it.
     
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Sep 7, 2013, 05:05 PM
 
I used to call the old man funny names. "Iron Butt." "Boner." Once I even called him..."asshole."
     
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Sep 7, 2013, 08:44 PM
 
I've been thinking about the original, and just a little touch I recall is there are no opening credits. This, along with how much of the budget they dedicated to the suit, are both indications about how much the people involved cared about the movie.

That's not to say credit isn't important, only it has it's time and place, and proper placement was more important to them.
     
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Sep 7, 2013, 08:56 PM
 
I get the feeling that Sam Jackson is the Ronny Cox character this time.

I'm on the fence with this. While I liked the original, it was about how the story was told, not the setting, nor Verhoeven's satire. Never have thought much of Verhoeven overall anyway, as he tended to throw all sorts of weirdness into things that should have stood on their own without his take on them. Check out "Starship Troopers" (the movie) for how thoroughly he could trash what was a fairly cerebral story by turning it into a "bug hunt." Anyway, Weller, Cox and the rest of the cast made what should have been a crappy B movie into a real piece of art through acting and playing it all straight. It remains to be seen whether the upcoming film can pull that off.

I hope the new movie doesn't include the stupid "commercials" Verhoeven's movie had. "I'd buy that for a dollar." Talk about cheesy (and irritating) tag lines!

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Sep 7, 2013, 10:27 PM
 
I think Verhoeven can be really good. Like with Robocop and Total Recall. I agree Starship Troopers sucked.

I also liked the commercials and I'd buy that for a dollar. It was supposed to be annoying.

Weller, Cox, Ferrer, and the That 70's Show guy are all really good actors, who I like a lot. It's a little sad Weller stopped, but it's cool he decided to stop to become a history professor.
     
subego  (op)
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Sep 7, 2013, 10:38 PM
 
Fantastic Verhoeven touch from Total Recall:

When Arnold runs through the security sensor, before he jumps through the screen, there's a quick cut to the two guards who are manning the station. Verhoeven (I assume) directed them to behave like they had never seen this before and had no idea what to do.

That's a brilliant little piece of storytelling. It's showing you that security sensor is so good it has eliminated people trying to sneak weapons through it, and these guards spend their whole day doing nothing.

All in a two second shot.
     
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Sep 7, 2013, 11:04 PM
 
I liked "Starship Troopers" a lot.

It was *supposed* to be a trashy satire on B-Movie space flicks even more than a satire sci-Fi dystopia.
     
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Sep 8, 2013, 12:02 AM
 
I'll fully admit I wasn't on that wavelength when I saw the movie.

They spent an insane amount of money on it, I was kinda expecting more than a B-movie.
     
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Sep 8, 2013, 12:16 AM
 
The black suit looks nice, MUCH better than the grey suit.
     
subego  (op)
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Sep 8, 2013, 12:18 AM
 
Maybe someday they'll do Starship Troopers with suits.

They'll probably be black.
     
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Sep 8, 2013, 04:18 AM
 
The production was A-movie. The storytelling and all of the lines most definitely were satire.
     
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Sep 8, 2013, 09:22 AM
 
Starship Troopers is a god dang masterpiece. It's a damn shame Verhoeven couldn't benefit from the modern production techniques/quality dung like Elysium or Prometheus so flippantly waste.

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Sep 8, 2013, 10:16 AM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
I hope the new movie doesn't include the stupid "commercials" Verhoeven's movie had. "I'd buy that for a dollar." Talk about cheesy (and irritating) tag lines!
Wasn't that line from The Running Man? I think Robocop had the animated commercials for steroids and whatever.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
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Sep 8, 2013, 10:20 AM
 
Starship Troopers has two big problems:

1) They used that title for a movie that has absolutely nothing to do with the book, because that book could have made a very interesting movie.
2) Denise Richards. She has exactly two facial expressions.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
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Sep 8, 2013, 12:22 PM
 
One shot in the trailer is reminiscent of Revenge of the Sith. My friends call me Murphy. You call me Darth RoboCop
45/47
     
subego  (op)
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Sep 8, 2013, 01:27 PM
 
I remember Verhoeven talking about the fleet getting attacked.

He said he wanted it to be like a freeway pileup.

You're in space for **** sake. You don't "drive" in space like it's the freeway.
     
subego  (op)
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Sep 8, 2013, 01:28 PM
 
Originally Posted by P View Post
Starship Troopers has two big problems:

1) They used that title for a movie that has absolutely nothing to do with the book, because that book could have made a very interesting movie.
Starting with the Mobile Infantry not being, umm... mobile.
     
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Sep 8, 2013, 01:41 PM
 
The entire point about the military in Starship Troopers is that it's absolutely tiny but extremely advanced. They drop a platoon to take over a planet, win and go to the next. When dropping, they're spaced with 2km between each soldier. They win because they have highly advanced armor and training, and the result is that they very rarely die. It's the genesis of the entire space marine thing. The movie is the opposite - huge armies that basically get slaughtered because they're incompetent, and the "win" is because Barney Stinson turns out to be a telepath.

Note that the threequel tries to get it back onto the powerful suits track, but I don't think anyone saw that movie.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
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Sep 8, 2013, 02:10 PM
 
I need to bring this back on topic.

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Sep 8, 2013, 03:44 PM
 
Before returning to topic: P has essentially capsulized the whole wrongness of Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers." It was his story, but he wanted to get the benefit of Heinlein's track record. Up until a few weeks before its release, the movie was titled "Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers," but his estate killed that as soon as they saw the film. On the other hand, the Heinlein story is almost entirely NOT about combat, but about the reasoning and essentially the philosophy behind why combat is needed, when and where. It's a thought provoking, as well as entertaining read. Oh, and Denise's facial expressions were not why she was cast in that role...

Did they use "I'd buy that for a dollar" in Running Man? Because it's in many of the irritating in-film commercials in Robocop.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
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Sep 8, 2013, 06:01 PM
 
Originally Posted by P View Post
Starship Troopers has two big problems:

1) They used that title for a movie that has absolutely nothing to do with the book, because that book could have made a very interesting movie.
2) Denise Richards. She has exactly two facial expressions.
1) that may be the case. "Inspired by" would probably have been appropriate, from what you've explained.
2) She was perfect. B-Movie all the way. Matched the stylized dialogue and cliché characters.

I'm sorry. I really like that movie. I'm unaffected by expectations, though.
     
subego  (op)
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Sep 8, 2013, 07:19 PM
 
Here's another great Robocop quote:

"BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!"
     
subego  (op)
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Sep 9, 2013, 04:22 AM
 
"Robo, excuse me, Robo, any special message for all the kids watching at home?"

"Stay out of trouble."
     
subego  (op)
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Sep 9, 2013, 04:28 AM
 
"Okay Miller! Don't hurt the mayor! We'll give you what you want!"

"First, don't **** with me. I'm a desperate man! And second, I want some fresh coffee. And third, I want a recount! And no matter how it turns out, I want my old job back!"

"Okay."

"And I want a bigger office! And I want a new car! And I want the city to pay for it all!"

"What kind of car, Miller?"

"Something with reclining leather seats, that goes really fast, and gets really shitty gas mileage! Alright?"
     
subego  (op)
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Sep 9, 2013, 07:22 PM
 
Someone pointed out the extra reflexivity of Keaton being the guy who started "suits" being black in Batman.
     
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Sep 16, 2013, 04:07 PM
 
Originally Posted by P View Post
Wasn't that line from The Running Man?
Nope, that was Robocop.
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subego  (op)
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Sep 17, 2013, 07:05 PM
 
I just watched the trailer a few more times. One problem I have is the shape of Murphy's head.

I'd be shocked if one of the key reasons Weller was cast wasn't because he has this ridiculous, thin head, which you can put robocrap on and have it look like a normal head.

This actor has a normal head, which looks bulbous when roboed.


In the observation department I noticed they don't "lose the arm" in this version.

God, that was a ****ing good movie.
     
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Sep 17, 2013, 07:11 PM
 
I'm pretty confident that the helmet with the flip back visor is removable and we will see the "robohead" at some point in the film.
     
subego  (op)
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Sep 17, 2013, 07:44 PM
 
Oh, no doubt. The thing is Weller has a head shaped in a way you can pull it off, and because there was no flip visor*, when the helmet came off, it was a "thing", which again, was helped by Weller's misshapen skull.

With this, we get the flipped up visor in the trailer. It's probably not a "thing".

This isn't a problem in and of itself, the problem is this actor has a normal shaped head. When the visor is flipped up he looks... goofy. Like his face is trying to squeeze out.

Now that I think about it, Weller was wiry, which I think helped as well. This guy seems more built, making the rest of the suit too big for his face.



*I like the visor. I feel it has some of the same lineage as the Egyptian armor from Stargate, which was by far the best part of that movie. More importantly however, nifty Verhoeven grade storytelling when he chokes the doctor and the visor flips down as he's doing it. He's (presumably) just woken up. No one has taught him to use the visor. He's "born" knowing it. He doesn't think "visor down", it's wired into his emotions.

This segues nicely into the "who's in control" theme they're exploring. In one sense his emotions triggered the visor, in another, his ability to translate emotion into action has been 100% manufactured. He didn't make that happen, his creators built him that way.

That's two tons of shit in a two second shot.
     
lpkmckenna
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Sep 17, 2013, 07:57 PM
 
We have CGI now. The robohead will look fine.
     
subego  (op)
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Sep 17, 2013, 08:22 PM
 
Probably. I can only comment on what they did to the footage in the trailer, which was goofy lookin.

Speaking of CG, ED-209 looked totally fake, but it was still cool to see it 15' tall.

That's like, 5 meters!
     
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Sep 17, 2013, 11:42 PM
 
Originally Posted by lpkmckenna View Post
I'm pretty confident that the helmet with the flip back visor is removable and we will see the "robohead" at some point in the film.
He looks more man in the version. In the original he was just head and spine.
45/47
     
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Sep 18, 2013, 02:26 PM
 
"Lose the arm!"
     
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Sep 19, 2013, 09:58 PM
 
I think ED 209 was stop-motion in the original; it had that feel, and for a robot it sort of worked, much like the Walkers in the Star Wars frachise (which were definitely stop-motion).

On the other hand, the CGI opportunities for a new ED 209 are just plain limitless. Think about the "other power armor" video Tony Stark called up in his Congressional testimony in Iron Man 2; the one where the head and torso rotate in opposite directions at the same time was priceless! "In our defense, the pilot survived!" Gold!

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
 
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