Hey folks, Harry here with the latest looks at THE CORE... the film has had a shaky set of screenings with viewers that either choose to believe the premise or those that remain hostile to the premise. The most heartening reviews I've seen are the two below which bring up the issue of "Fun" and apparently they claim that THE CORE is exactly that. That's all that I really want from the film. That's all I ever asked from AT THE EARTH'S CORE or JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH... Just a bunch of fun. We'll see, but I get the idea the audience of geeks will get a bit divided on this one... Here ya go with Nips...
Just wanted to submit my tidbit on a test screening I just attended for the upcoming flick, The Core.
Nips
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Hey everyone in AICN-land, Nips here, just wanted to tell you about a test screening I attended for The Core tonight. I went into the theater wanting to rip this flick a new asshole. I'm sick of disaster flicks with paper thin plots and no scientific backing. I came out of the theater having actually enjoyed myself. Don't get me wrong; there were still some plot and science holes the size of Texas, but over all I enjoyed myself. This is science "fiction", right?
I'm not going to give you a point by point spoiler because I actually want some of you to go see this movie. The only spoilers I'm giving will be in my bitching about the scientific fallacies. This did a lot better in the suspension of disbelief department then some of those asteroid flicks, and it shows that someone really did their homework here, but some problems are too glaring to overlook. I would have to say about 80% of the science is plausible.
Here come the spoilers:
All the disaster scenes were cool. Expect to see Boston, London, Rome, and San Fran get some punishment. Everything from some killer bird action to insane lightning, and that was all plausible.
HereÃs my first hang-up, the "space shuttle" scene. Growing up I wanted to work for NASA. I've landed a few shuttle simulations in Houston, Huntsville, and Cape Canaveral. One of the things I know is that Edwards Air Force Base is not the primary landing site of the shuttle, it's White Sands or Cape Canaveral. Also, after the Challenger incident a number of procedures were put into place, one of which was an abort procedure into the Ocean. And last, the Shuttle makes three "S" turns to slow down before it lands. All of these facts were overlooked when some satellites fucked up and pointed a landing space shuttle straight at downtown LA, and Mission Control just sits on their hands while the :young, hot, female pilot, who just got chastised" saves the day. Don't get me wrong, great scene, awesome effects, but this is like a doctor watching ER or an F-16 pilot watching Top Gun, you just want to grab whomever is responsible for the scene and shake some sense into them.
Next big bitch, the lack of redundancy systems in the Virgil. The US government spent 3 months building this 15 billion dollar craft, a huge international effort, with some of the greatest minds in the world, and I'm sure NASA had no small hand in the construction. If I know one thing about NASA, especially after Apollo 1, Apollo 13, and Challenger, they like to cover their asses. They were bright enough to include suits to go outside, yet no way to cool the hatch down. They make the Virgil able to separate into sections, yet no easily accessible override switch to jettison the compartments. You include a bundle of five nuclear warheads, yet no way to override them and remotely detonate each individually. The hull of the motherfucker converts heat to energy yet we never think to power the ship off of it. There is not a single reserve power system on the craft, not even an emergency backup radio. When Hillary Swank says that "NASA could use a few good men" she wasn't lying!
Next gripe, the "geode" scene. I'm no genius in geology, but my guess is that the gas inside is what's keeping the geode from collapsing. Now the main character figures most shit out in under a minute, yet it takes hot magma pouring in for him to figure out that they just pricked this bubble. And it is mighty convenient that the oxygen hookups for the suits and the welder match up!
Finally the ending was very clichÈ. Who wasn't expecting the derelict craft to ride the magma wave up! How about those "x hours later" inserts, I mean why show what's going on when you can just use a cheesy insert. What pissed me off the most was the lack of a Moonraker inspired sex scene. I know if I had just saved the world and I was trapped in a powerless pod with Hillary Swank and had 12 minutes to live I would treat myself to a quickie!
On a side note, play dumb when the people come around and ask you questions. We made the mistake of telling the moronic woman who was looking for people to question after the show that I had attended film school for a year and that my girlfriend was an aspiring model/actress. At first the woman was happy to have us, we fit into that mid twenties college demographic, but my girl opens her mouth about acting, and then the I chime in about my aspirations as a writer/director, and all of the sudden we're not the mindless sheep she's looking for.
Go see this flick; it beats Deep Impact, Armageddon, and Contact with a candlestick in the billiard room.
Peace,
Nips
Alright, now on with a review from a Bunny with a Knife...
Hey Harry, Moriarty, or whoever else'll read this:
I've submitted some stuff in the past that I thought was cool but never got posted. However this time I have something that I'm pretty sure you're going to want to post. A review of The Core test screening this evening in Tempe, AZ.
Let it be known: I walked into this movie ready to hate it. It looked stupid from the trailers, and I thought it was gonna be a hackjob version of Armageddon (a hackjob version of a hackjob movie? Wow!) I've read Darth Siskel's thorough pummeling of the movie, and I've gotta tell you, I was thoroughly surprised by how much I liked this movie.
I was told this movie was going to be a work print, so I expected incomplete effects or a temp sound track or what have you. Again, pleasantly surprised. Everything was intact, special effects were great - save a few instances - and the sound kicked ass. Bass was booming and the soundtrack lent itself nicely to the story at hand.
Now the story - which everyone should already know - might seem really implausible, but here's my opinion. I'm 19, and except from what I learned in Geology 101, I don't know shit about science. Who am I to say how unrealistic the plot point is? Movies are all about suspension of disbelief, and this movie is a perfect example of it. It all sounds scientific, and for purposes of the movie, it works well. I DON'T CARE whether it could really happen. It was fun to watch. Simple.
There are some really, really cool parts in this film. The scenes where bad stuff happens all over the world as a result of the stopped core were frickin' cool. Most of these scenes, especially the one with the birds (you'll know exactly what I mean when you see it) were jaw-dropping. Just made me think "HOLY SHIIIIIT!!!!!" Basically, the entire first hour of the movie was great. Just the right amount of action and story to make you smile.
Having said that, I didn't like everything about the film. The story did slow down a little after the crew start their trip to the center of the earth. There are a lot of shots of the ship tunneling through the earth, which slowed the pacing of the film a bit. Great CG, but just a little overuse of the shots. Character development was also kept to a minimum, which I guess can be expected from an end-of-the-world action flick. Regardless, I did find myself liking all the characters I was supposed to, and not liking the ones I wasn't. Also, I do have to agree with Darth Siskel, and even John Rogers, the Colosseum exploding was cool, but a little much. However **SPOILER ALERT** the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge was far out. That was another one of those "holy shit" parts.
I could say more, but most of it has been said already by the few other reviews you've gotten. Romance was alluded to but never happened. The sixteen-hour jump at the end of the movie was dumb, and I don't recall anyone ever explaining that "unobtanium" created energy when heated, but oh well.
The general consensus at the end of the movie from the audience was "That wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be," so there you have it. The Core is a fun flick, definitely worth some of your cash. I'll see it again when it comes out in two months. If you do post this, which I hope you do, call me Bunny with a Knife. Hope you like it.
Time for Baywatch
