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THE ROAD Trailer Is Bleak And Brutal! But Is It THE ROAD?
Beaks here...
When John Hillcoat's THE ROAD missed its November 2008 release date, many of us began fearing the worst. Though Hillcoat seemed an ideal choice to adapt Cormac McCarthy's grim novel about a father and son journeying through a post-apocalyptic landscape (his 2005 feature debut, THE PROPOSITION, was not a cheerful viewing experience), it all started going south last October when we began hearing word of major changes to the narrative and, worse, negative feedback from a New York City test screening. So when the movie was bumped to 2009, it just seemed like an abandon-all-hope situation.
Well, things may be starting to look up for THE ROAD. First off, the film has a confident mid-October release date (which, historically, is better than a September release date - at least for prestige pictures). Then there's Tom Chiarella's advance rave in Esquire, which praises Hillcoat's film as "...a brilliantly directed adaptation of a beloved novel, a delicate and anachronistically loving look at the immodest and brutish end of us all".
And now there's this just-released theatrical trailer, which, if you can get past the necessary hard-sell, looks kinda right. Okay, Charlize Theron's role has certainly been beefed up (this is acknowledged in Chiarella's piece), but, slight narrative changes aside, I can see McCarthy's THE ROAD lurking underneath the marketing bombast (according to Chiarella, the DAY AFTER TOMORROW nonsense that opens the trailer is not in the movie). Granted, I'm not sold on the film's brilliance just yet, but I'm certainly much more upbeat than I was eight months ago.
What do you think?
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...film. Otherwise it looks pretty damn good.
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Seriously. Looks "great".
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if the movie is even halfway faithful, it's got to be relentlessly grim.
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I agree that the opening to the trailer is a bit DAY AFTER TOMORROW-ish. Hopefully, this stuff works in context.
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...the rest makes for a pretty powerful trailer.
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and he kicked all the rednecks' asses with badass kung fu and throwing knives and gun kataa and spikey swinging log traps.
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If it's good enough for Ray Liotta, it's good enough for me.
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Seriously, they make it look like a cheap "day after tomorrow" straight-to-dvd ripoff.
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Bringing in all the apocalypse stuff into the foreground will compromise the story. We also don't need the wife. I thought with releasing this so close to Oscars they would focus more on the father/son relationship and the emotional rollarcoaster that left so many of the book's readers stunned. Instead, we see a cheap-ass action movie. Is this going to put asses in the seats?
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Just spent 4 hours on Fallout 3, then I came on here and saw this. Man, a Fallout movie would kick all amounts of ass.
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I meant "Season for Oscar Nominations";
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What the f*CK is going on?
One would think this adaptation starred Steven Seagal, with that quick cutting cheese with all the buzz words thrown in.
Shit, if Terminator Salvation is More The Road than The Road, then its all gone to hell.
Ironic, that this bleak ass condescending trailer instills my expectations with fear and desolation... much like the book, but for all the wrong reasons.
On the plus side if it bombs hopefully Neal 'The Deal' Moritz can do a reboot with cyborg ninjas and moon bloodgood's boobs. -
If you read the article in Esquire he explains that Weintstein randomly picked between two trailers, both of which featured the "explanation" crap in the beginning, but is NOT actually used in the film. Hollywood thinks we're all idiots and we wont like a post-apocalyptic movie unless we see some sort of explanation for how it all happens.
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...hear too much, but doesn't it say that there is disaster type setup in the trailer that doesn't appear in the final film?
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... basically says the trailer is shit and unrepresentative of the final film. He then calls it an amazing film and gives it an unqualified rave review. I have high hopes. Viggo was perfect casting.
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I have very high hopes, rather than expectations, for this movie. I've been disappointed too many times, so I know that they'll *never* make the movie I saw in my head on reading the book. That movie was fantastic, this trailer has me feeling slightly nervous. Unconvincing CG, a lot of Charlize, kid looks pretty healthy... I dunno, it just left me feeling uneasy. I was hoping for goosebumps, but - nothing. It picked up a little half-way through, but this trailer almost makes "The Road" seem like yet another run-of-the-mill, been-there-done-that, post-apocalypse Hollywood movie. In a word, ordinary. And all of you who've read the book know it's anything but that...
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This is one of those times trying to avoid letting my expectations run away with me (potentially ruining the eventual film, in doing so) just won't cut it. I am fucking excited for this!
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Are indeed a Bob Weinstein addition. Don't hold it against Hillcoat or the film.
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The last Cormac McCarthy novel produced by the Weinstein's was "All the Pretty Horses". Nuff said.
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i like to see 'what happened', assuming it's not just a bunch of stock footage, as appears to be the case here
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So maybe the movie delivers after all.. Fingers crossed. PS Weinstein you're a tool
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Those Wily Weinsteins and their upchuck factory. Is it wrong to wish they'd open the Arc from Indiana Jones 1? -
...trailer. You know they put every possible second of Charlese Theron in there that they could to pretty it up a bit...doesn't mean she has a big role. Then subtract the DAY AFTER TOMORROW stuff and it looks good...
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I'm not sure it could be though which worried me when I heard they were translating it to film. Part of the enjoyment of the book is that EVERYTHING was nondescript. No mention of the disaster that brought about the apocalypse (here it seems it's global warming which is reductive), no mention of where anything was or specifics of location (no maps, just head west). No names of gas stations or cities. Because of the vagaries, it took on this poetic quality. Like most books - only limited by your imagination. Now that all of that ether and open endedness is gone, you're reduced to a singularity of vision which makes it more and more, just a genre movie. Of course, a lot of this could just be "the sell" of the movie - you know, the hacks in marketing aren't big on imagination. Maybe the experience of the movie will be different.
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that wasn't in the book. of if they were pursued after shooting the one guy, the book NEVER describes them as being THAT CLOSE to being caught up to...
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...since my law suit against "THE NEVER ENDING STORY."
The film might be a loyal adaptation to THE ROAD, but man, they have taken ten minutes of Charlize Theron material and made it look like she is in it for an hour.
Actually, this trailer reminds me of the old 70's exploitation trailers when they would have all kinds of shit in the teasers that wouldn't be in the movie. -
weinstein HANDPICKED a trailer that showed the environmental shit AND edited to look like an action movie. sure, it's doing the movie a GREAT disservice, but anyone who has read early reviews says it's paced as slow as the book. no need to worry. that rising action ending is bullshit. no fear.
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was pregnant when the shit went down, and left when the kid was very young. am i remembering wrong? i just read the book again like two weeks ago when the power went out.
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The production designer, etc. on this flick should have been used on T4.
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Every film that isn't a comedy has every single second of it that could vaguely be considered "Action" edited together in the trailer. They're all the same: dialogue establishing a mood or fleeting exposition (or sometimes outright narration), a scene meant to make you go 'wow', then a swift montage of 'actiony' scenes jumbled together leading to a rising swell in the score of some sort, and then the abrupt title card and initial credits.
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at the 47 second mark.
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also directed GHOSTS OF THE CIVIL DEAD. THE PROPOSITION was not his debut.
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When I'll be fucking my avatar's eyeballs this year?
I think I'm not doing this right.
Anyway, I've not read this book yet. Should I read it before seeing the film, or will I be disappointed? -
opens the trailer, much like Day After Tomorrow, Knowing, and National Treasure 2. And it just makes the movie look cheap. Using drums in the end, not a good idea. I know they need to cater to everyone, but the stupid people who don't know how to read probably won't see the movie anyway. They should have sold it as a big oscar contender, and not another post-apoc thriller. You know, like exactly what the movie is, and not what it isn't.
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May 14, 2009 6:49:47 PM CDT
Did I just read a 'No Escape' reference on this site?!?!?!?!
by ryanmurray
MY LIFE IS COMPLETE
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Don't get me wrong, clearly there is trailer trickery going on all over that thing. Look beyond it though and I'm pretty confident I'll be getting The Road.
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LOL, I hope they got Lindsey Buckingham to do the soundtrack. . . seriously, looks good.
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it was an acclaimed bestselling novel. it was on oprah's book club (okay, well...that doesn't help my stance, but)----so the people that have read the road are sure to see the road....and that's A LOT of people...so why do they still have to dumb down the trailer to the absolute lowest fucking denominator? it looks like a bad fan-edit project- like when people make the shining look like a comedy, patch adams look like a horror movie, etc... DRAMA does not equal ACTION.
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the THE ART OF TERMINATOR SALVATION today...they should have gone with a lot of their first ideas. interesting book
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Is something I get so sick of hearing in these cases. Isn't better that the movie adds somethign new and original to the story? I'd be pissed if they didn't because then I'm paying for the exact same story twice.
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For the dumbed down start of that trailer. Fuck you for not having the balls to leave the Charlize Theron role as a small footnote. Fuck you for making it look like a run of the mill post-apocalyptic action movie.
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More dialogue in the 2 min. trailer then the entire book
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The father and son come across a billboard that reads "SEE ROCK CITY" before they pass through the ruins of a large city. Those billboards are outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Also, the rough distance he estimates and the talk of major highways would put "the coast" somewhere on the Florida/Alabama portion of the Gulf. -
Anyone who has read the book can tell that there are only really a few ways this particular apocalypse could have been caused. ie a comet hits causing the earth to heat up and burn, followed by the sun being blocked out by dust in the atmosphere, causing the earth to cool dramatically. (Or something along those lines). In the trailer there's like a hurricane and some other bullshit. I guess Weinstein wanted to keep the trailer dumbed down to make it appeal to the widest possible audience while at the same time trying to steer clear of the comet-apocalypse cliche. But I thought part of the brilliance of the book (like a lot of Cormac's books) was that it took a lame, overused premise and turned it into a realistic, brutal, truthful story of what the reality of the apocalypse may actually be like. Im still holding out for a good movie though. I just hate fucking harvey Weinstein. Fuck "The Reader" and his oscar campaigns.
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was amazing. I'll go see this regardless of the trailer. Here's hoping Harvey Scissorhands hasn't butchered this. Keep your fingers crossed!
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...but it sure smells good!
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I read the book in one sitting on a 6 hours flight, and it was amazing. That trailer sells a completely different story and it worries me. Even "action film" editing aside, the world doesn't look bleak enough, the kid looks too old, and EVERYONE looks way too healthy. I dunno. I'll wait and see but this has cast some doubts on my expectations.
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I was actually one of the people who attended the first screening of the film last year. I had read that Esquire article the other day saying that the trailer was going to beef it up a bit, but damn, this is a lot.
First of all, the film is the same as the book and that opening news footage is not in the film nor is there ever an explanation as to what happened to the world.
Also, Charlize Theron's role is beefed up from the book but she takes up MAYBE ten minutes of screen time. She is just a face to sell the film, which is why they are putting her so up front in the trailer. The same can be said for Robert Duvall, who is also only in the film about ten minutes. Guy Pearce is in the film about three minutes.
I assure you that the film did not pump up the action or anything like that. I won't say the film is slow because there are plenty of moments of great suspense when they are hiding or on the run. BUt overall the film does take its time and is not a thriller or anything like that.
I am sure a lot of you will doubt me so if anyone has questions about the film I wil be more than happy to answer them. The only huge change I saw in the actual footage was that the special effects look ten times better than they did when I saw the film. -
May 14, 2009 7:40:01 PM CDT
If Day After Tomorrow and I am Legend fucked and had a kid...
by benlovescoolnews
... They would give birth to this trailer. The I am Legend trailer has the exact same thing where the day is planned out. It goes "Morning - exercise - eat breakfast - recreation, noon - hunt - gather, night - survive." This trailer has: "Wake - Search - Move - Hide." Add that to the Day After Tomorrow-like start and you have the bastard child of those two trailers.
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Thanks for posting that I am a lot more hopeful now.
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Explaining every frame that's being shown.
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I've been waiting for this movie since months before its original release date and I've even held off on reading the book because I didn't want it to tarnish my movie experience since films tend to disappoint after reading the novel. For me, I always find it more fulfilling to watch the film, then read the book and get an even more flushed out version of the story in its original form. However, after seeing this trailer, regardless of what people are saying about the finished product, I think I'll read the book now because my anticipation of this film just went from a 10 to about a 6 or 7. I loved the Proposition and I'll still see the movie at some point, but probably not in theaters.
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but I'm so hoping everyone's right about the trailer being dumbed down for Joe Public. It's funny to see the McCarthy's novel credited and hearing a whole lot of dialogue not written by McCarthy.
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not fuck this up. Brilliant book. Read it 3 times. It's inspiring and relevant. Casting looks good. Not thrilled with "the wife" role getting beefed up but will wait to pass judgement. God forbid they "explain" what happened. I will walk straight out of the theater. And I pray they leave my favorite part of the book in. No spoiler but let's just say there can be no more poignent a moment between two people let alone a father and his child.
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May 14, 2009 8:08:01 PM CDT
Anyone Else Notice John Henry from Sarah Connor Chronicles?
by takeiteasymon
And Omar from "The Wire?"
Shit trailer. This is not supposed to be an action movie.... -
they totally used it in there... this was the last book i read and i loved it... i'm not impressed with this trailer and why the f is the wife in it so much??
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Part of the reason I was so looking forward to this film was the casting. Garret Dillahunt and Michael Wiliams are both such great underrated actors and I tend to really enjoy bleak films that don't compromise their vision for the mass audience. However, this trailer looks like a complete compromise to me. Disaster footage, ramped up suspense music, and explanations of the epidemic seem like the opposite of the tone Hillcoat accomplished so well with The Proposition. I guess we'll see.
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this trailer. And I'm praying that it's very non-representative of the final film. FlickaPoo, I hope you're right and they put every last second of Charlize's time in the move in the trailer. They make it look like the 3 of them are traveling thru the whole g-damn movie...I guess they expanded the wife's role somewhat, but I really hope it's minimal. As for the rest, I'll hold my breath and hope it stays as close to the book as possible, but the trailer looks to have a number of departures (aside from the lame beginning...)...
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The movie will be amazing. The trailer is just meant to appeal to the masses per usual Weinstein "genius" intuition.
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May 14, 2009 8:22:02 PM CDT
Beaks - From the 00:23 second mark to the 1:23 mark...
by mr. nice gaius
...it was good enough to give me goosebumps. There are nightmarish images there that look exactly like the ones conjured up by the book. The ambient music at the appearance of the "WAKE" card is a nice touch, too.As a huge fan of the book, I can honestly say that I'm not (yet) worried about the beefing up of Theron's role as the Wife. If it's handled well and holds true to the spirit of McCarthy, then I think it can be pulled off. What I don't like is Weinstein's choice to go with a trailer that includes opening stock elements that won't even be seen in the film. Dude, the book is a HUUUGGGEEE bestseller. It's a McCarthy adaption coming right on the heels of NCFOM. You've got to trust your audience on this one. Give them more of something that relays the tone of the book - eerie and unsettling - not a trailer that closes out on drama-drums which give the impression of an action movie.As noted by the Esquire article, it's clear that Weinstein didn't know what to do with the trailers he had. That being said, I'm still seeing enuogh of what I want and I'm really looking forward to October 16th.
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...was the father and son(and shopping cart!) just walking down that beat up 8 mile strip of abandoned turnpike... all's quiet, squeeking wheels of the cart maybe..."you OK?", "i'm OK" "OK?" "OK". or something. not fucking Day After Tomorrow's just fucked I am Legend and had a mutant trailer. still, i see The Road in there and i'm psyched.
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I assume that's Theron in the chase scene in the field...but that doesn't look like the kid does it? too blonde? one of the things i liked in the book was her fate was open to the imagination. hopefully they don't show one of the gangs doing what she was afraid would happen to them...and it was ALOT worse than just "if they catch us they'll kill us". the dude with the axe i assume is one of the guys from the house.
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Skip past the pointless opening montage of foreshadowing natural disasters (thanks, Weinstein, you fucking idiot) and it's nothing BUT The Road. Sure, it was heavy on footage of Charlize, but that was expected -- probably the majority of her scenes we just watched. Viggo's already Oscar-nominated in the near future. Looked faithful all the way to me. I got goosebumps, actually. Can't wait.
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That, my friends, is not a Wilhelm scream:http://tinyurl.com/6zt6mv
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This trailer is complete crap. It is awful and looks nothing like the book. That written ... I'm there opening day!
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will they be this movies SQUID?!?!?!
OK, they show it 1:40 into the trailer but still. Goddamn Weinstein. And what's with the goddamn explosion?!?! from the flaregun? still psyched. want a quieter trailer. OK? OK. -
That footage that looks like they are explaining the end makes me weary of this.
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May 14, 2009 8:41:22 PM CDT
Just read the book last month, the trailer doesn't match
by doctorzoidberg
Hopefully the movie is as bleak, desolate, and heartbreaking as the book. That is what allows the father-son relationship to be the ONLY warmth you derive from the experience. I think the trailer is more a gimmick than a true representation of the film. I personally would have shot it though a dark filter and made the perpetual ashen sky/snow/rain more prominent. The colors here look too much like a typical winter day in the midwest.
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Maybe they'll digitally darken it. Or not. I'm there either way.
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That's what I thought the Wilhelm scream was, too, before I actually looked it up and heard the real one. The Not-Wilhelm Scream (heard at 2:02 in the trailer) is way more ubiquitous than the actual WS, so what's the story behind that one? It always sounded to me like Zach De La Rocha from part of "Freedom," but it's THE go-to cheap sound effect for ridiculous trailer screaming, apparently.
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literally just started looking for this trailer tonight. Nothing on Google. Pop on AICN and what do you know. Thanks AICN, you give my life epic meaninglessness
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Viggo, and Charlize, my old lady will love this movie.
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Due to one of its most famous uses being in 'Broken Arrow' when Howie Long was thrown off a moving train, but I've seen clips that seem to predate it. The original, as near as I can tell, is from a low budget 80's movie I've never actually seen, but caught clips from on youtube. In it, a man screams ridiculously in a bathroom at witnessing something that apparently displeases him.
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i don't recall that final explosion being in the book...weed4504 maybe you can tell us what that's about?
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...man, fuck Bob Weinstein. What kind of soulless marketing prick takes a movie with a story like The Road and hype it with a trailer that tries it's damnedest to seem like a fucking braindead action movie? Whoever cut this trailer should be ashamed of themselves. But they were probably just following Weinstein's money grubbing orders. Just like whoever expanded Charlize Theron's role into a character who, from what I got in the trailer, I will be rooting for to die as soon as she starts spouting her anti-motivational speeches. Fuck. I still think this will be a great movie but this trailer makes me hope Bob Weinstein gets terminal herpes from Tom Rothman at their next "Down with Film" co-op bukakke bash.
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And that's not a good thing.
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This seems to be the original: http://tinyurl.com/prcksw It's at the 4:05 mark; good stuff!
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It doesn't feel anything like the book. I hope they've done this well. The Proposition did nothing for me whatsoever - and I'm an Australian who wanted it to work.
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I need cheering up and this trailer looks like this film is the one to do it. The hair, the beards, Jack Black always makes me laugh........wait.........what talkback is this?
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The movie does look promising though. Too bad this trailer is going to turn alot of people away. The people who read The Road do not want hollywood cheese... and average joe doesn't want a b-grade looking end-of-world film. Fail.
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So hard to say. It looks like one of those joke trailers like "Shining" where someone took a movie of The Road and recut it to look like an action film. I'm conflicted... there could be a good movie buried in there. I don't know.
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Still expect good things from the film, though.
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Fucking Game over, man! Game Over!
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They turned the novel into an action-thriller? Bummer. This movie should of had about 20 lines of dialogue at the most. Sorry Cormac...
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squeal like a pig, boy! (And then they rape and eat the father's son)ouch.
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one of the best aspects of the novel was that why the world turns out the way it does...is not explained
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Did you even bother to read any of this Talkback before posting?! Those issues have been addressed both by the Esquire article and people who have already seen the movie.
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...was NOT Hillcoat's feature debut, you ill-informed fucknuts!
Try Ghosts Of The Civil Dead, or To Have And To Hold. Jees, do your homework, or quit pretending to be a cutting-edge website.Sheesh! -
I'll have to check the book, but I'm remembering it like she killed herself to avoid any of the horrible fates out there.
'This door in the floor is locked. There must be something in there.'
Heh. RUN! -
Cliched and completely not in tone with the book at all. The story isn't about action apart from a few small parts. Most of it is about a relationship, perhaps one of the last true relationships, at the end of the world.
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hey that clip from the ninth configuration has another stock scream- at 3:02ish!
http://tinyurl.com/prcksw -
Nice work! Apparently that scream sound effect is called "Screams 3; Man, Gut-wrenching Scream And Fall Into Distance," I found more info at http://www.freewebs.com/notthewilhelmscream/history.html I don't know why I'm so interested in this, but you hear that scream in damn near everything, and finding out about that little bit of trivia is way more interesting than this trailer itself. Also, Stacy Keach is a bad motherfucker in that clip, even if it does look like he's fighting Will Ferrell as Mugatu from Zoolander in that scene. One of those comments made a good point, too... bikers in movies are ALWAYS getting the shit kicked out of them, even worse than Nazis. I bet if there's a movie with Nazi bikers in it, you can pretty much count on them getting their asses kicked in spectacular fashion.
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i got the vibe of toecutter and his gang from mad max too, but you were even closer with your observation, Ebonic-plague
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People are gonna go to this thinking it's some exciting edge-of-your seat post-apocalyptic adventure. Boy, are they going to be surprised. That is, unless, the filmmakers have turned McCarthy's bleak, meditative story into an action movie. Not a very good trailer...
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Good show, if there were nazi bikers in a movie they'd be marked targets indeed. Those two groups are bar-none the most vilified in film; lawyers, politicians, even zombies are depicted with more sympathy! I love how shamelessly hedonistic bikers are always shown as--horny, rape-happy, drunk bearded hoodlums, like modern vikings or pirates.
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I might attempt a "bikers getting their asses kicked" movie marathon some weekend, and try to find as many variants (nazi, zombie, lawyer) of bikers as possible. I've got T2, Road Warrior and Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, just off the top of my head. I wonder if there will be any human zombie bikers in this action movie version of The Road? My money's on Viggo.
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I am a ten year casual daily reader of AICN, but even I have to interject here. The Weinsteins, with this trailer, have taken a steamy corn-filled dump on the best novel of the last 25 years. Even if the trailer represents nothing of the actual movie, what they've done is criminal.
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Seriously. That's the end of world scenario I don't want to be a part of. Time to stock up on guns and water.
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...as the release date on yahoo? Just wondering... Anyway the trailer does look promising, even if as was mentioned the wife's role seems to have been upped.
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A lot of people confuse that with the Wilhelm (which sounds more like "AaaaaAAAAAAahhhh!!!" spelled phonetically). Yeah, hearing one of those goofy stock screams in a trailer for what should be one of the year's big "prestige" pictures is downright lame, but not as lame as taking Cormac McCarthy's gut-punch of a novel and editing the trailer to look like a generic disaster movie (that stock footage at the head had BETTER not be in the actual movie...).
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And even more that haven't even HEARD of it. Oprah's book club doesn't mean shit guys. Its just a trailer for the masses. But don't assume they're "dumbing it down" for all us retards that haven't read it. Because there are far more of us retards that have not read it than you who are fans of it, I guarantee. And I bet you that's the case for every damn book that's ever been written.
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Is this about cannibals? Never heard of the book, but that's the impression I get from the trailer. I think I'll try to stay away from knowing anything about this until it comes out. Seems learning too much would ruin it for something like this.
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This attempt to appeal to a mass audience will backfire, as people I know who've read the book have decided against seeing the film based on this cliche-ridden trailer. Statistically speaking, that represents a large part of the audience. Factor in the release of 2012, and you'll have people who won't see it, based on it being a similar subject, post-apocalyptic etc. Have the fucking balls to make a trailer that's haunting.
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Trying WAY too hard. "An Epic Journey"? SERIOUSLY?
That being said, I have no doubts that the film will be good. I sense a gem under a not-so-great trailer. -
I hope to god this movie hasn't gotten the same treatment that this trailer has. i can understand them trying to appeal to all the fucking idiots out there, but if the movie is ANYTHING like this trailer then they have totally missed the mark.
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...but that trailer takes two away for me.I have read the book three times now and I thinks it's an amazing piece of work, but based on that trailer, I'm not sure now tha I want to go and see a movie version. Especially not THIS movie versionExplanation? Cataclysmic set-pieces? More of 'the wife'? Oh dear. This is supposed to be a harrowing, yet uplifting, character story, not fucking 'Day After Tomorrow' part deux...
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This should be the most bleak, monotone, decayed, post-post apocalyptic fable ever rendered to screen. Dialogue should be sparse and minimal, more reductive than a Sergio Leone film. Instead this looks like a side story to a fucking McG movie about cyborgs. I find it hard to think that Viggo would've taken part in something less than the poetical horrorshow and desperate optimism the book has, but this trailer is so hideously wrong... Look at what they managed to do with No Country for Old Men, which was NOT an Oprah book club selection. The Weinsteins are fucking OVER. They've got this and the sure to be box office dissapointment that is Inglorious Basterdds. The first fat one can go work on his fucking fashion tv shows and the other one can learn to be a nice fucking human being, but get the fuck out of the movie business cause it's obvious you have no idea what you're doing. I quote Guillermo Del Toro: "The time in my life my father was kidnapped was better than the time I worked for Dimension".
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I am looking forward to this, have been since it was originally slated to release last year. I haven't read the book, but I like the premise, and I loved McCarthy's No Country, he has such a weird, dark poetry to his writing. I'll forego the book until I've seen the movie though, as reading the source first usually kills the movie for me.
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You think a squidless Watchmen was bad? How about a made for Syfy Road that wastes the talents of both Viggo and Charlize? This is like taking the novel of Nights in Rodanthe and letting Gaspar Noe cut the trailer.
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but the book is awesome, lets just hope it transends.
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That's huuuuuuuuuuge mistake number one. And I love me some Nick Cave (last track to Assasination of Jesse james may be the most underrated bit of score in years) but this is the fucking Road. This is the book that made The Road Warrior look like an episode of Friends. This is the book that made Lone Wolf and Cub play like an episode of Dora The Explorer. This is the book that keeps Jared Diamond up at night in the fetal position.
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Anyone heard of To Have and to Hold and Ghosts of the Civil Dead (1988!!). He's a solid director.
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I've realized 95.23% of all the people who comment on this site are self involved assfaces. I'm not going to name names cause I'm sure they know who they are.
Seriously People, it's a trailer, don't freak out. Sure I didn't like the first 25 seconds or so, it was very typical, but after that it seemed good. Had a great kind of Deliverance feel to it. Viggo is an amazing actor and I look forward to see him again. People need to remember this isn't the book, it's the movie. Movies cost a hell of a lot more money to make then books, so they need to play it a bit safe to make it's money back. That's called being wise. I'm not saying this will be good or bad, I'm just saying people need to stop being such whinny little pillow huggers. -
Yes the trailer is edited with some ad execs idea of what will fill seats BUT the core of the movie looks all there. I smell an Oscar in Viggo's future. He looks balls to the wall on this one.
CANT WAIT!!! -
cuz people woulda walked out at the end of the movie, and blown their fucking heads off the road is the most depressing book i have ever read
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May 15, 2009 12:17:23 AM CDT
NO NO NO!!! Weinstein, read this (or rather, your assistant)
by badmrwonka
Weintein, you said that you were gonna trash this horrible trailer!!!look, you're a coldly unfeeling asshole (no offense), so let me break it down for you:
say the entire moviegoing public is 100 people.
you show this trailer, and you get 40 people to see this: 30 from this misleading and terrible trailer, and 10 from their dedication to the PULITZER PRIZE WINNING novel. the 30 are disappointed because the AMAZING movie is not the shitty apocalypse Michael Bay movie they were expecting, they badmouth it to friends, it tanks. the 10 that loved the novel, love the adaptation, casting choice, acting, etc. and have no venue to tell it. it tanks.you release an ACTUAL trailer, one that shows the true nature of the film. of the original 100, 50 are intrigued by the bleak and weird nature of the film. they go to see it. 10 people that love the book convince friends to go, and bring 5 more. 65 people see the film. it's a big hit, and everyone thinks it's great (because it is). Weinstein, which one did you choose? the best part? it's not too late.AICN was your test balloon. pop it, and take my advice. this one will FUCK you. it won the Pulitzer Prize. make a real trailer, have the confidence in your filmmaker that you had when you HIRED him, and rake in the money. the movie, the story, the acting, and the idea are that good.the best producer...ahem, excuse me, executive...knows when to step out of the way and let the movie, the hype, and the smart ones make the money for him. -
It's Garrett Dillahunt. Throw some Bruce Greenwood in and I am sold. And I know NOTHING about the book.
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My most anticipated movie of the last several years now looks like a bad straight to DVD, Scifi channel shitfest. Hopefully the movie is much, much better and this was a misguided attempt to fool people into thinking that this will be a Mad max type shoot em up. Much like the recent Adventureland, the marketing people have their heads up their asses again. Bravo, you clueless bastards!
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Reading The Road felt like a homework assignment. The book was self-indulgent, miserablist bullshit. One-note, pretentious, misanthropic drivel just doesn't appeal to me. Needless to say, I was incredibly disappointed because I love the genre, the idea. Sadly, it was failure of epic proportions. The only way to make this film work it to change the narrative somewhat and to inhabit it with actual, living, breathing human beings rather than jackals with claws and zero motivation.
Though Nick Cave is a badass. -
Terminator and McG will OWN the road
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All that static shit at the beginning, and then all those quick cuts toward the end.
I'm betting the film is good though - just a bad trailer, I mean its not supposed to be action movie. -
I've never read the book, but i did see the Proposition which i absolutely fucking loved. Hillcoat definitely has me sold an every thing he touches.
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If the movie is as good as the Esquire guy says all they gotta do is be honest. They're so good at promoting Oscar bait they got a shitty movie about a Nazi pedophile learning how to read nominated for best picture last year. And yet they have this possibly great movie and they seem to think it's PHANTOMS or some shit they gotta just dump out there and get rid of. It's infuriating.
Guess what? The people that you are trying to trick into seeing this movie will DEFINITELY say it is the worst movie they've ever seen. Because they don't want to see a sad, quiet movie about a father and son walking. That's if they go see it, which is unlikely since as a trailer for a "zombie action movie" it's not very impressive. Meanwhile, the people who would love the movie are gonna see this moronic trailer and think some asshole ruined The Road and turned it into a low budget action movie.
I'm calling Viggo for an Oscar anyway but man it's gonna be sweet when those idiots go bankrupt in a couple years and have to abandon their lifestyle of going around ruining everything. -
And it warned that the movie is nothing like the trailer portrays it to be. To which I say, thank god because this trailer looks like crap. More fitting for a summer disaster movie than an adaptation of McCarthy's book.
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Mercury Rising was bad enough. Bruce taking down zombies would have been cool though....
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...with a bit of 'Stalker' on the side.
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that stupid crap at the start about storms and disasters.... fuck off. none of that was necessary in the book. the whole beauty of McCarthy's book was the AMBIGUITY. Something movie execs don't understand at all, due to their copious intake of white powder, presumably.
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I look forward to the day when the Weinsteins have to save up their money to buy Times Square bootlegs of Asian movies, then bring them home and paste new English titles on the front and hide them under the couch for a couple years pretending nobody gets to see them.
Also I would like to bring up the theory that this is actually a "viral marketing" strategy, they have made a trailer so blatantly boneheaded that we're all talking about it. -
The thing about the book is that you are never actually clear what causes the devastation. A sensible person can put two and two together and realise it’s probably a nuclear winter, but the ambiguity is what makes it absorbing. Nothing is fully explained because McCarthy sees the reader as intelligent enough to make their own ideas up. Show, don’t tell! And the intro of the movie appears to be for lowest common denominator audiences. I hope the rest of it is less patronising, because I hold out high hopes for this.
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i thought this was going to be set a few hundred years ago...didn't realise it was present day. i am disappoint
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2 seconds before it got good. lol at the tie fighter sound when that dude flew like raiden
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I like end of the world flicks.
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But the images look beautiful. I think we're in for something special. I LOVE the book. Think its a masterpiece. If the film is half as good it'll be a success in my eyes. I'm very much looking forward to finding out.
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to bacci40. This book is about hope and perseverance. Yeah depressing shit happens all over the place but this book (and hopefully movie) is the most inspirational book I've ever read.
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Waking up in the morning and breathing also make me want Fury Road. Post-apocalyptic motoring the way it was meant to be!
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May 15, 2009 5:50:43 AM CDT
I can see The Road in there somewhere
by i_am_not_the_droid_you_are_looking_for
This trailer is completely fucked and misrepresents what the book and hopefully final film is. Theron is all over this trailer, but it all looks like it's from one, maybe two scenes. Going on what the Esquire article said, everythings okay with the final product. Fuck the Weinsteins pathetic efforts at trying to dupe the non-informed into seeing this.
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skellngtn up there pretty much summed up how I saw the trailer in my head as well. What's up with all the dialogue? fast cuts? drummy action movie soundtrack? EXPLODING FUCKING BUILDINGS?
0:20-1:00 had the right idea but the whole thing turned into die hard (DH5: die hard, emaciated, hopeless and grey) after that. -
Great book. It appears judging from that trailer that the filmmakers didn't read it. I am still stoked for this and will go see it with my fingers crossed that the trailer is a poor representation of the film. The Esquire article was reassuring enough for me to give it the benfit of the doubt.
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as the book hints and the trailer shows, they are going East, not West
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umm didn't John Hillcoat do ghosts of the civil dead in 1988 which i think Nick Cave was also involved in (did he act in it or something?)... Anyway I looked it up on imdb and John Hillcoat did direct Ghosts of the civil dead in 1986. So I don't think he the Proposition was his feature debut. But I could be wrong I'm not a physicist I don't know much about time and shit.
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bah and I was being all high and mighty making a point about accuracy.. bleh. I need a sleep
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Just read that you confirmed the original posters inaccuracy. Anyway I don't think they'll correct it.
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a bunch of guys posting in this talkback are actually more well informed the the self proclaimed expert who posted this. I've seen 4 or so people point out an factually that still hasn't been corrected. Damn I think I'll avoid any AICN news regarding this movie, because well whoever posted this doesn't know what the fuck they are talking about. Damn 4 posts. I'm really mad.
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"Here's a treat for you"
"Wow, dad, this is cool and refreshing. Everybody should stock up on this Coke before the end of the world. Run, don't walk, to your nearest grocery store...or lobby" *wink* *wink* -
The book was horribly depressing-publishers should've had free anti-depressant meds in the dust cover. The trailer is even more depressing. Someone out there, with all the remakes, retakes and reboots going should find Stephen King's "The Stand" and do that up right.
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Yikes. If ever a film needed a mysterious, poetic trailer maybe with some oblique narration from a main character...
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i loved the trailer from :23 on at first, but now it annoys me because it's not buzz worthy. This being said, you know that the trailer in our head was made, but the jackasses in charge of the money didn't pick it. The Esquire article basically said that...not enough action, teenage boys will think it looks boring, not enough Charlize, not enough evil rednecks(i live in PA so i know if all goes to shit the rednecks will take over)...and let's show EVERY location in the trailer that looks cool-did they NEED to show the sunken boat? maybe the next one'll be more on target. yeah, people are bitching that fans of the book are bitching but this should've been fucking cool if it's Oscar-worthy...not SyFy worthy. Nothing should be exploding. Is this Mike Bays Road???
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But it's not the Road either. The coke scene's in the book. Early on. And like every scene, it's used to MASSIVE effect. When I finished this book, I was a shell of myself for about three days. I don't think I've read a book like this––ever. I don't know who thought they knew better that Cormac McCarthy. This is one where it seems to me nobody should mess with the book. It's an odyssey book. It's a journey. PLENTY of narrative juice to drive a movie and PLENTY of insane crap to sell popcorn. But in a lot of ways, if they had done it right, this would have to be marketed like a horror movie, not "Taken 2: The Apocalypse." Highly skeptical.
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Samll wonder the fans of the book are so pissed. Rightly so! And form what i have read form the people who have seen the movie in the rare previews, itr seems to be a complete misrepresentation o the finished movie.I dn't care about this trailer. I trust John Hillcoat. This is, bar none, the movie i most want to see this year. More then Avatar. And i'm going to see it, and no trashy trailer is going to deter me.
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As some have pointed outbefore, John Hillcoat has made two films before The Proposition. They are "Ghosts Of The Civil Dead" and "To Have And To Hold". I haven't seen the late,r but i saw the former, and it's an incredibly powerful very well made movie. As far i can tell, John Hillcoat has only made very good movies.And by the way, Ghosts Of The Civil Dead was released in 1988, which just makes MrBeak's failure even harsher and harder. MrBeaks should stick with Michael Bay movies and kissing the ass of JJ Abrams.
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The book's story stands on its own.
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you utter cockbag.
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then may I remind you of your splendid track record judging things on a trailer- viz AvP:Rectum where you said "I don't care, this christmas I'm booking myself a seat with Mr. Alien, Mr. Predator and lots and lots of Mr. and Mrs. Dead people"
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Which was Hillcoat's debut film, not The Proposition, that was Hillcoat's debut feature. The latter was in fact his third film. Now I haven't ever been able to track down To Have and To Hold, which is the second film that Hillcoat directed, but just on the sheer strength and take no prisoners style of both Ghosts of the Civil Dead and The Proposition I have absolute faith in Hillcoat's ability to bring this story successfully and uncompromisingly to screen...unless the Weinsteins have somehow fucked him over and altered/re-edited the film. I don't care what the trailer shows, Hillcoat is the shit, and has already made two legitimately great films in my book, so my money is already down.
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I've yet to see this film but I understand its outstanding. Didn't the Bad Seeds and/or Neubauten do the music or something?
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Yeah Nick Cave co-wrote Ghosts of the Civil Dead (alongside Hillcoat and some others), along with acting in it in a supporting role, and providing the score with longtime Boys Next Door/Birthday Party/Bad Seeds members Mick Harvey and Blixa Bargfeld. And it is a great fucking film.Likewise Nick Cave wrote the screenplay for The Proposition, and also did the score for that as well, this time alongside Dirty Three founding member Warren Ellis (no, not [i]that[/i] one). Cave is also providing the scrore for The Road, once again alongside Ellis.
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In the book, constant reference was made to how bone thin they were...Don't know how they would've pulled that off short of starving everyone, but hey, Christian Bale did it...
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Terminator Salvation? This trailer sucks ass.
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I've been looking forward to this movie for what's going on a year now and I feel like Weinstein just took a dump on me. The cause of the apocalypse is NEVER explained in the book, but, given the fact that the landscape is described as dead and burned and covered with constantly falling ASH always led me to believe it was some sort of nuclear catastrophe. That tornado shit at the beginning was horrible. I understand it's all about getting asses in seats, but the book was a BESTSELLER! It's one of the most spare, grim, and depressing books ever written, and people read it in droves. Bullshit.
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It happens to be a Coke in the book. Maybe if McCarthy took money to put the soda in the book, it would be. I WOULD be interested in finding out if they got cash from Coke anyway, maybe saying 'We'll make it a generic soda unless you pony up some dough....'?
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I think the trailer is cut to make it look like Theron stays in the movie longer, because if she's in anything other than flashbacks the story will be ruined. It's about the man and the boy. But if they use the flashbacks to build characters a bit, I can live with it. Also, I get the impression from early reviews that none of that news footage is actually in the movie. I hope it's not, because the Weinsteins can eat a dick if it is.
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people who haven't read the book should keep from commenting about the purpose behind a scene. the coke scene WAS in the book- and like someone else said- to great effect. our lives are inundated with coke and coke advertising now. but it that world, with all semblance of society gone and 99% of the food looted long ago- the singular coke can is THE last footnote of the world that was, and it is a treat for the kid who has never had one before, and for the father who remembers what a simple and common pleasure they once were. now, why did cormac choose coke instead of just saying it was a can of soda? because it was the one time in the book where anything specifically from the past was mentioned by brand name. calling it soda would have just made it another thing they scavenged. calling it coke made it something that was now dead to the world.
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well, they are wearing freaking layers of winter clothes the entire trailer...! viggo's face looks pretty damn bad- beyond dirt and makeup. i'm betting there are the bathing/clothes changing scenes where we will be shocked at how much weight viggo lost. they aren't going to endanger the kid and make him lose weight- but he's probably pretty thin and ribby anyway.
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They have to sell this movie...I read the book and I wouldn't want to sit through an utterly depressing film for two hours...if they are honest with the marketing, no one will show up.
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Thats what the trailer for the Road should be more like. Quiet. Lots of images. A few lines of dialogue. Not this wannabe "i am legend" crap. Thank goodness the actual film is nothing like this trailer.
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Look what happend to Protect and Serve. If you lie to the audience by making them think they are going to see one movie but it turns out to be something else they tend to get pissed. Rarely do they say "hey that was smarter than I expected." I for one was pleasantly surprised by P&S but I wish I knew what I was getting into before going in.
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of nuanced, detailed filmmaking and acting with typical trailer "In a land..." bullshit. It's so weird I almost have to give serious consideration to the idea that Vern is correct, this was intentionally done just to get people riled up. The movie itself looks pretty great, though. At least the look of it is right.
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Watch Christian Bale in The Machinist..that is gaunt...I agree they aren't going to endanger the health of the child just for the film, but i wish they would have tried something to make that work...If they can make Brad Pitt ugly they sure as hell can make people look gaunt and thin. I'm sure it won't ruin the film for me but it would have been something different and would have made the movie all the more harrowing to watch.
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in some of those scenes. You actually see light produced by the sun. The book has none of that. None at all. Still, I'm looking forward to this. I loved the book. Its desperation. Hopelessness. Complete lack of optimism. I'm all about these things. Love ya, Viggo.
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It may come across as product placement, but it's not. If you read it, you'll know why that scene is such a big deal.
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I agree with the comment by Abominable Snowcone. When I read the book, the writer was very explicit with his details of how the world was absolutely bleak. There was a heavy layer of clouds, almost constant rain, low sunlight, and almost constant ash fall. It appears that the look they went with was dictated by a lack of budget enough to realize a truly devastated world. I think of how Ridley Scott loves to put debris in the air (think of the ash falling upon the Roman camp midway through Gladiator as an example) when I think of how this movie SHOULD have looked. I'm very disappointed so far, and the use of Charlize Theron is gratuitous and completely unnecessary. The wife in the book was NOT the story. The desperation of the man, and his love for his son, were the story. I love Viggo's work, so I'm concerned that this will not be the product I'd hoped for.
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...for the trailer. According to the Esquire article, the intro (especially the COMPLETELY unnecessary part about natural disasters) was dictated by Weinstein. The book never, ever explains how the disaster occurred--was it natural? was it a nuclear war?--and the author was never lazy enough to specify. This is some crap producer sticking his bloated face where it doesn't belong.
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Get that man in a decent Viking movie now!!
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This trailer is more like one of those joke trailers, like goofy "The Shining" or spooky "Titanic", than an actual trailer for "The Road". My only consolation is the Nelson-laugh 'Haha!' I will get for people who end up in the film only because of the trailer.
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...to seeing this. No two people read a book the same way, and certainly the images created in their minds will be unique, fuelled by a lifetime's experinces. So, to imagine that a filmmaker's version of a beloved book is going to tick boxes is ridiculous. I'll judge the film on the film's merits, not on what the book was like, nor a trailer shaped by executive interference.
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Really curious to see if the delicious leftovers of the camper's dinner are in the movie or not.
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But I have faith in the movie.
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read the esquire piece. the trailer is not AT ALL indicative of the tone of the movie. And the footage looks terrific, it's just out of context. They chose the perfect director and cast for this film, have some faith.
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been there....done that.
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It mentions a flash in the sky and then a distant explosion, and Cormac himself has said it was an impact event, a meteor or comet striking the earth. If it was nuclear then radiation would have been an issue. It's not the point of the book but people suggesting that NO cause was given are not truthful or didn't read very carefully.
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as mentioned above, ash should be falling all the time. And everyone should have their mouths covered - breathing in that stuff is a big danger in the book.
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...that they taken a good, albeit grim story, and "punched it up" into something overblown. I hope not. It looks right, although I agree...should be ash falling. I also noticed the first shot of the highway tunnel is almost identical to "Death Toll" in Left 4 Dead.
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but I say the same thing everyone else in this talkback says.
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This looks as bad as Defcon 4 actually was.
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Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms, yo.
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Lets see: One is about Japanese orphans of WWII trying to survive and the other is about a man and a boy trying to survive the apocalypse. I suppose the survival theme is somewhat similar, but other than that, they bare more or less no relation to each other whatsoever. To suggest otherwise is kinda, well, dumb.
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I can say that the cast and director and source material are all brilliant.
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To anyone who loved the book, this trailer is an abortion. That said, when you remove the jump editing, the music, the intro, etc., theres nothing that makes me think the movie is gonna suck. I understand they want butts in seats, but I think a dif marketing approach wouldve been better.
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....but from the look of it, if there aren't crazy zombies all over the place or anything like that, this might be pretty boring. Maybe.
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Whoever mentioned the video footage of the tornado and shit is right on the money. Although it isn't explicitly stated, it's quite obvious the earth was scorched by either nuclear holocaust or the only other plausible explanation, an asteroid impact. This fuckign tornado bullshit is an abomination that makes me relive the horror of The Day After Tommorrow all over again.
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That's a re-boot of MAD MAX.
God, why do they make movies of things by turning them into other things?
Yeah, yeah - I know. "Books is books, and movies is movies," says the dullard, diminishing the potential of both. -
And, it's not full of action.
Oh, may I ask those hoping and "having faith" that the trailer doesn't reflect the tone of the movie one simple question?
When has that ever been the case with any movie since 1970-something?
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i guess the trailer appeals to the likes of 'ecm', four posts above me here. you boneheaded arsehole.
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Wow, hyperbole. It hardly looks like a re-boot of MAD MAX.As for your question, the difference here is that there are people who have already seen it and have stated that the trailer does not properly represent the finished film. That, combined with Hillcoat's previous efforts, is where the hope comes from.
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The book had it all, plus a relentless pace. This is NOT an "unfilmable" or "unmarketable" book adaptation by any means. And Im talkin AS IS. With the exception of 2 or 3 scenes in the novel when the narrator goes off on tangents, the shooting script shouldve been fairly straightforward.
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My most antecipated movie of the whole year. This is the one i'm waiting tom watch, bar none. Not even Avatar or Public Enemies are this close in my must see list.
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i couldnt finish it and its one of the worst books i attempted to read and I dont know why people like that crap and i hope the movie fails and it will because its based on shit and the books seemed empty to me and the relationship between the boy and his daddy wasnt interesting at all.
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I'm sure the large-font version of THE ARTWORK OF STARGATE was more to your liking...
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you are entitled to your opinion but you do yourself no favors with your grammar, punctuation, and lack of points. maybe you couldn't finish it because you are near-illiterate? because it was as easy to read as a children's book.
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so you can relate, but otherwise the story is just boring. The whole book is them starving and looking for food. and there is only the slightest exaggeration there.
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it was a joke, i was poking fun at the book's stupid writing. you obviously didnt read that boring book.
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tell me about it. i expected alot from such a shitty book, i wanted to read something with a story not poetry.
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it should be darker, like the book. charles theron is the worst choice but who cares anyway.
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the writer was challenging himself, testing to see if he can write about nothing. like in Seinfeld.
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That was an insightful comment about the Coke. Thanks.
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So, because the style of THE ROAD can be likened to a poetic fable starring two near-archetypal characters, you want to liken Cormac McCarthy to Seinfeld?Sounds to me like you're being intentionally thick.
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The trailer is just to get asses in the seats..as always. dont you whinging fucks get how this works by now?..you do?..ok good
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and dioxholster, just because it didnt hold your attention, doesnt mean it was boring. I loved it. Does that make me boring or you thick? Mmmmmm
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Sorry guys, rough day, i love all you crazy fucks really!
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was the funnest thing on TV. the road isnt. surely you know that. i compared it to something that was played out on Seinfeld, not the actual show.
THE ROAD was interesting boring and not stupid boring, but i emphasize the boring. this book was a filler. -
children of men was realistic but this, i dont know what this is. what can be the cause of such chaos? nuclear war? famine? no there is nothing, history proved countless times that humanity is at its best when faced with danger and forced into survival mode. but a writer can do whatever i guess with no logic needed.
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How big is Will Smiths part? Do bullshit me, I know he's in it.
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it doesnt have the only element in the book that was remotely interesting, which was the madness and despair, the tragedy of it all. the movie just shows the basics without with memorable atmosphere presented in the book. it looks like the War of the Worlds to me, they focused on some epic journey that wasnt the focus of the book and where is the gloom and doom? man the movie looks terrible, and charles theron is just wrong, his wife was just there for history not for a live rendezvous. the book was bad but this ones worse, the book had the atmosphere just about right and thats the only thing i find okay about it. other than that, shit is more interesting.
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For starters, stating that Seinfeld was the "funnest thing on TV" automatically makes you full of shit. And considering the fact that you never finished reading THE ROAD, well...it renders your dubious assessments void.Now, your post at 04:44:47 PM is quite laughable. How is THE ROAD not realistic?! And how is CHILDREN OF MEN more so? I'm dying to hear your take on this but I have a feeling that you're being intentionally obtuse.Troll on!
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the book wasnt gonna get interesting. i usually give every book the a chance to show its merits but after reading half way through you cant help but think that it missed its chance already.
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I always get THE ROAD and DAMNATION ALLEY mixed up. You see my predicament.
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May 15, 2009 7:33:32 PM CDT
The book and the truth (because not too many will say it)
by criticalbliss
The Road was didactic, derivative, miserablist, shallow, repetitive, monochromatic and depressing. Other than that, it was a joy. The prose was so labored and the characterizations so thin it felt more like a homework assignment than an inspiring or satisfying experience. Granted, the wretched book surprised me because it's normally a genre I enjoy.
Still, the film could be good if they flesh things out and dig a bit deeper than the novel.
And Nick Cave is still a badass. -
I was sympathetic to your Philip K Dick talkback identity dilemma until you started trolling this TB. Now I want to give that guy a hi-five.
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after reading the book, I was expecting a more monochromatic look. the quick shot of the grounded ship has the look I expected, albeit CGI. But the rest of the shots have more color than what I saw. Regardless, I can't wait. I love this story.
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I read it in like three hours, man.
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I'm not a father i can find myself not having any difficult at all identifying with the story. It's called emphaty.
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Typo correction, before the grammar police arrives.
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dioxholster problem is not so much his grammar but his his mind, if you get my meaning.
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May 16, 2009 2:45:04 AM CDT
"history proved countless times that humanity is at its best...
by asimovlives
... when faced with danger and forced into survival mode"That has to be one of the most ignorant bulshit i ever read about mankind's history. and i findit triple funny because it's coming from a person who has al the benefits from modern civilization like running water, electyricity, and easy acess to food. This survivalist fantasies bullshit are always hillarious. "humanity is at its best when faced with danger and forced into survival mode". This shit is hysterical!!!
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Two good books do not a bad book make. The Road and I Am Legend are both very good books, and the merits of one do not rob the other's.
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dioxholster is not trolling, he's just presenting some pretty dumb ideas one post at a time. I had to admit, there's some entertaiming to get from such type of mindlessness, like watching car-crashes, if you understand me.
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Of course, trailers never are very representative of the movie, but the tone seemed way off. I expected Mel Gibson to appear at some point in a V8 Interceptor. Wrong wrong wrong.
That said, the book was an immense downer, so I suppose they do have to trick the audience into the theatre in some way. Good luck to them. -
From everything i have read about the movie, the trailer seems to be a complete misrepresentation of the finished movie, and also, it seems it was made with unfinished images from the movie, of which, they are still doing final post-production effects. So, i wouldn't be too worired about it as yet. This movie might very well literally be finished just the day before it's release.
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I liked the book, but regarded a fully honest film adaption of it to be impossible. Let's see if they can achieve the impossible. And make their money back in the process. Because taking this kind of risk deserves reward.
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i was looking at the trailer on youtube, and all the comments are just glowing. I couldn't believe it. And then i came here, and found my people.......ok?
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I agree with most poeple here...this trailer is misrepresenting the book. I think as well as awards for movies there should be awards for trailer. Most misleading trailer...etc. Just so people who make crappy trailers can get some sort official recognition. That said I have more faith in the filmmakers in this case than I do in the marketting team. I think what must have happenined is that the film they have is just as bleak and adult in tone as the book is and that scares the small minded marketting guys who only seem to know how to market things as wizz bang type affairs. Stupid marketting. Deserves a stupid award or something.
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exactly...making your money back on a film that is faithful to the book would involve a budget of about $3 million...no one wants to sit through 2 hours of such a bleak and depressing story. If they are extremely faithful to the book, see it as an act of charity (or madness) by the Weinsteins.
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I think The Road is going to make a very good movie, and I think if you look closely enough between the lines of the trailer, you'll see it. But the trailer is really disappointing by itself, because it gives people an entirely false idea of the film.
Hey, I understand the necessities of marketing. If it would actually help the film to market it as some sort of 28 Days Later heir: fine, whatever. But this trailer does a bad job doing that. It looks like a low-budget crappy zombie movie that lucked into some high-grade talent. So it won't draw the mass audiences it's going for, and it won't draw fans of the book, who think based on this trailer that the movie is ruined.
We need a more contemplative trailer that shows what the movie's really about. That doesn't mean boring. That means show us more of the great cinematography, show us more of the father and son in the empty landscape, and then yeah, fine, include all the gunfire and explosions to reassure the masses that it'll be entertaining. I watched this trailer on YouTube first, and with the low resolution it felt like a direct-to-video movie. Recut this puppy and put it up on Apple.com in HD.
By the way, for those of you concerned about the beefed-up role of the wife: the trailer obviously shows basically every scene she's in. It's a classic case of the marketers trying to fool people into thinking a bit part is a lead role. I'm not worried about it; Theron herself has said her role is tiny. -
May 16, 2009 2:09:20 PM CDT
Terminator Salvation is gonna win an Oscar, better than this sec
by dioxholster
i said it first. the Road is nothing compared to Bale's fight against the machines. heck i remember tearing up when i first watched the Terminator Salvation trailer because it talks about real stuff, issues that our grandsons will face or grievances that we already experienced but in a different way. fuck the road i dont remember anyone ever eating someone else coz they are hungry and i sure dont know any father who would let his wife, mother of his child kill herself like that unless hes doing someone else then i understand. and honestly there is nothing to discuss about the book mainly because i dont remember there being anything happening in the book other than father and son communicating telepathically which is total bullshit. it wouldve been a good twist if he turned out to be not his father but his molesting uncle who knows his mother intimately-- thats gold material right there. beats the hell out of reading about picking food from trash and collecting stuff you might need later. thats like, the book is like BIOSHOCK game but without the story, action, setting, character....The road only shows the similar part where the character collects chocolate bars and bottles and gas containers and whatever is salvageable. snooze feast. i rather listen to sacha grey tell me why there is no meaning in the world and why there is meaning in giving blowjobs to 20 guys simultaneously.
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I don't think it's impossible to turn such books as THe Road into artistically sucessful movies. All it takes is for a studio and their accountants not interfere with the work of truly talented filmmakers.
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Welcome here, friend. Bring with you the warm of your friendship, the happiness in your heart and the glow of your thoughs.
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You mean, a razzie for trailers. I agree with that though. Bad trailers should be severely castigated and humiliated. speaking of bad trailers for good movies, i got this close to not see Master & Commander, on account of how bad that trailer was. What made me watch the movie was the fact Peter Weir directed it. And lo and behold, i got totally enthralled with the movie from the very first minutes, which never let go until it was finished. Which just proves, sometiems a bad trailer is not representative of a movie. Well, sometimes. Actually, most movies whio have bad trailers are themselves pretty bad movies. It's actually easy to tell them apart in fact, with enough experience.
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The Road's production budget is 20 million dollars. It is, by far, John Hillcoat's most expensive movie to date.
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In the article it seemed like they were taking their time choosing a good trailer. Instead we get this bullshit? It's THE ROAD not TRANSFORMERS or a typical mediocre flick. I hope the world is more grey/dark than we're seeing in preview, what I saw looks like any other zombie post-apocalyptic movie WHICH THE ROAD IS NOT! Shit! This better not be what we're getting cause I'll be pissed and I'm sure Cormac won't be happy and HAVE YOU READ HIS BOOKS? I would never want to make that man angry...
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The Road is repetitive and a slog to read. Never has such a short novel been so difficult and painful to finish for me--and this in a genre I normally enjoy. There's no deeper theme or purpose. Granted, I think the father/son dynamic got a few people; more through their own empathy than actual writerly skill or execution. Cormac's prose is simply self-indulgent and the structure a downright disaster. I'm not trying to "troll", but I really don't understand the whole "outrage" over a "shitty" trailer for a shitty book. Perhaps the novel is so "loved" because people think it's "art"; because McCarthy has been strangely annointed despite the fact that his books are typically thematically threadbare, full of "literary" gimmickry, and--at times--embarassing in terms of prose and needless, misused adjectives--nevermind the biggest, most glaring weaknesses throughout every one: awful plotting. I think The Road is merely loved because it is SHORT and wannabe "intellectuals" can say they've "read and loved" McCarthy. God forbid someone not enjoy the novel or point out its many flaws. The film, if anything like the novel, will be a shallow, souless misanthropic meditation; is that a good thing? I don't think it is. I don't think there's anything to be gleaned by such an existential, didactic exercise in futility and despair. Though at least we don't have to wade through pseudo-poetic and aimless prose to "get" there. Someone please take McCarthy's thesaurus--I don't think mendicant means what he thinks it means.
Worst of all, I think the man COULD write if he wanted to. There are times when things do sing on the page (when he is most stark and when characters are ACTING rather than mumbling and mourning to one another). The problem is that he's a lazy writer--especially in terms of plotting. So, I wish people would call him out so we can see what he could do if he gave a damn about delving deeper, about exploring the people who inhabit his world rather than just killing everything off randomly in the name of "literature".
But at least Nick Cave is attached to a film again. -
...i loved the book, not out of any mindless McCarthy worship (i always assumed his other books were all Westerns and have no interest in the genre), not because Oprah said it was good(that would've stopped me from reading it) but because, like you, it's a genre i enjoy. This one put me in the head of the father in a completely horrific but believably f-ed up world. I didn't think about writing styles, misuse of words or adjectives. I was in someone's head and that's how he thought. Lump me in with the empathic ones. You didn't like it. Fair enough, and you've presented lots of literary reasons why. Is it chock full of futility and despair? Yes. Is the plot god-awful? Well, I thought that if it didn't have that repetitive and random nature to it, the story would have felt too "plotted out" and "written for the screen". It added to it's believability for me. So, a great number of people liked it and want the movie to be good. The first marketing push for it missed the mark and should've been more representative of the book. That's all...
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I agree with you man, from one troll to another, you gave a true review for a shitty over-rated book. you guys should read something like Ender's Game or The Golden Compass and then tell me if The Road compares to these two giants or not.
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artsy fartsy people think that story's are better off without a plot, they think plots ruin it. i like to give these people the finger from time to time coz they are full of shit.
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The book is loved because its a good book! Jesus Christ you people crack me up! If you didnt like it fine but why do you feel the need to have to justify it by making out that fans of the book are in some way misguided? If you found it boring and slow thats cool n the gang..i didnt..end of
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Not as good as Blood Meridian, but still an excellent read.
Unfortunately, the screenwriter and director have completely thrown out McCarthy's novel when constructing this so-called adaptation. It's obvious from the trailer how far they have strayed from the novel, both in overall tone as well as plotline.
Really disappointing. This could have been something special- best picture material. Looks like it will be a standard Hollywood chase movie (set in a Global-Warming-induced apocalypse no less).
Who wants to bet that they end up finding a green pasture at the end, complete with a pristine log cabin and a cold, clear stream at the end.
Fuck you Hilcoat. Fuck you Hollywood. Please leave McCarthy's material alone if this is the best you can do with it. -
I agree. Ender's Game and The Golden Compass (as well as Armor by John Steakley and I Am Legend by Matheson) are all vastly superior books in every conceivable way.
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Especially not this one. Yes, Vigo is great casting for the father. I don't know what charlize is doing in there - nor all of the gigantic doomsday crap. that isn't in the book.
I knew when I saw how well no country for old men was doing that they would try this and i knew it would be a mistake. the road is a quiet scary book with not a great deal of "action". it doesn't give to much away to say that the father and son spend most of the book just walking and hiding. it works as a novel because of the writing, but it shouldn't have been a screenplay, or, if it had to be, stick to the story, keep the budget low and let it make the arthouse run. -
i am neither "artsy, fartsy" or pretentious. i liked the book. you and criticalbliss didn't. do i think it's "art". no, it was a good read that stayed with me long afterwards. end of story. The fact that it's overrated you could attribute to Oprah. i didn't say it was better than any other book...though Golden Compass and I am Legend(which i loved when i read it back before you were probably born) made great movies now, didn't they? I hope The Road doesn't follow the same cinematic path to nowheresville those two took.
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Trailers are never representative of the movie as a whole, and it's clear the it was tampered with by the stupid montage at the front, which if reading the article you would know isn't in the movie.
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Hillcoats the shit. Vigo is the shit.
The book was the shit. Nice. -
Shut the fuck up, right now.
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Good to see that you've returned, sir.Once again, you tell it like it is.
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The book is shit. I agree.
Damned straight The Northern Lights (or Golden Compass) is a much better novel than The Road. By a fucking mile. -
we ALL know criticalpiss and dioxholwhatever think the book sucks. they've made that ABUNDANTLY clear. AND they've made it clear they've read lots of books that are MUCH better than the Road. so until you two get your Golden Compass sequel or Ender's Game flick, troll elsewhere.
Just finished watching Hillcoat and Cave's The Proposition. Bleak, violent...they're a good team for this movie. OK? OK.
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