Oz: The Great and Powerful Review Thread (Use Spoiler Tags!)

[Scorpion Soldier]

Well since this didn't have its own thread yet, figured i'd make one.



IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1623205/

[PopcornBandit]

Nice poster. Great cast. Sam Raimi. I'm in.

[Beast]

Hopefully it's good. And not a hot mess like Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland film.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Beast

Hopefully it's good. And not a hot mess like Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland film.

And doesn't try to fan-channel "Wicked" like Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland film--That one's already got its own project, or so Universal keeps promising.

[Brightstar]

Mila Kunis will be in it !!!!!!!!!! yippee

[The Mad Kiwi]

Originally Posted by EricJ

And doesn't try to fan-channel "Wicked" like Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland film--That one's already got its own project, or so Universal keeps promising.

How was Burton's Alice anything like Wicked? If anything, it felt more like Spielberg's Hook mixed with Chronicles of Narnia.

Anyway, I was someone who loved everything about Burton's Alice...except the screenplay, and since a screenplay is the foundation everything else rests on, the other elements suffered because of it. I thought the production design, costume design, effects, score, and performances were all strong, but they all didn't have much to work with content-wise. Had the screenplay been given a thorough revision by someone else other than Woolverton, we would've had something really special.

Early reviews of Oz's script say it was very strong, but it's since gone through re-writes, and who knows if those are for better or worse. I'm still excited for the film because I'm a huge Oz fan, and I enjoy Sam Raimi's quirkiness. I would've preferred if Robert Downey Jr. had remained the lead, but I'm still cautiously optimistic about Franco since Raimi should know his strengths and weaknesses by now.

Oh, and that poster is gorgeous. Hopefully the Comic Con footage is officially released later in the month.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by The Mad Kiwi

How was Burton's Alice anything like Wicked?

Okay, first of all, it's annoying when people keep confusing Alice with Dorothy in the first place--

But Carroll's White Queen and Red Queen (who technically weren't in Alice anyway) WEREN'T sisters.
Nor were they at war for the kingdom
Nor was Red always "jealous" of White growing up for being the Good One.



(Keep tellin' ya about Tim....Showtunes, Wicked fan, friend of Dorothy, what more evidence do ya need? )

Early reviews of Oz's script say it was very strong, but it's since gone through re-writes, and who knows if those are for better or worse. I'm still excited for the film because I'm a huge Oz fan, and I enjoy Sam Raimi's quirkiness. I would've preferred if Robert Downey Jr. had remained the lead, but I'm still cautiously optimistic about Franco since Raimi should know his strengths and weaknesses by now.

Don't want to say RDJ's been too "typecast" as Tony Stark, but if RDJ's going to keep indulging himself off-script, at least Tony gets to make contemporary wisecracks.
The future Wizard is going to be more from the 1890's, and Franco seems like he could play Midwest Humbug/Carny more realistically without spoiling the universe of the story. I'm sure Downey could be serious enough to play period, as he did with Chaplin, but we haven't seen any evidence of that since Chaplin.
(Although he might have managed "Cowboys vs. Aliens", but we'll never know.)

[Pixelfox]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Okay, first of all, it's annoying when people keep confusing Alice with Dorothy in the first place--

But Carroll's White Queen and Red Queen (who technically weren't in Alice anyway) WEREN'T sisters.
Nor were they at war for the kingdom
Nor was Red always "jealous" of White growing up for being the Good One.

I couldn't agree more, I got such a Wizard of Oz vibe from that film. I remember watching the beginning of Burton's Alice and being utterly confused as to why they were doing the whole thing with 'real world' characters interacting with Alice that are clearly parallels to characters in the world she enters (the twins, for example). Although I really can't comment on the film much... turned it off about 20 minutes in, I recall. Gave away the DVD to a friend the next day.

Anyway, I actually am really looking forward to Oz the Great and Powerful after watching that trailer. Some tragically unsubtle "look at me, I'm in 3D" moments and some very un-Ozian looking creatures, but loving the scenery and that ratio shift after entering Oz. It would be nice if only the scenes in Oz were made 3D, but I highly doubt that will happen.

[vegeta88]

Now that this movie has its own thread: Anyone else see what looks like a wheel to a bicycle just above and to the right of "Oz"?

I look forward to seeing more about this one. Franco has me wondering.

[kristoffer]

Looks like a big cg mess. Disappointed.

[Walts Ghost]

Just a heads up, guys, the film is embargoed to the press until march 8, but the film has begun screening for critics.

[Chaotic]

Originally Posted by Walts Ghost

Just a heads up, guys, the film is embargoed to the press until march 8, but the film has begun screening for critics.

well thats bad news

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Walts Ghost

Just a heads up, guys, the film is embargoed to the press until march 8, but the film has begun screening for critics.

Okay, we've been hearing that term a lot these past weeks (AGDTDie Hard, Escape from Planet Earth)--
What is a "press embargo", and how does it apparently differ from the good ol' fashioned stinkeroo "Not screened for press critics", as this apparently was?

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Okay, we've been hearing that term a lot these past weeks (AGDTDie Hard, Escape from Planet Earth)--
What is a "press embargo", and how does it apparently differ from the good ol' fashioned stinkeroo "Not screened for press critics", as this apparently was?

An embargo simply means they can't publish reviews until premiere day. It doesn't mean that it wasn't screened for the press. If they violate the embargo the studios don't invite them to any more screenings. Newspapers have always been pretty good about waiting until release day. But "anything goes" on the web and since sites want clicks, etc., they violate the embargo.

IMO, whether web or print, reviews don't mean that much anymore. Fewer and fewer people read traditional media and it's really all the tweets and Facebook postings that determine whether a movie is going to succeed or not. The studios probably figure that all the overwhelming ads they play on TV are going to have more of an impact than any reviews anyway.

Personally, I think the studios would do themselves a favor by marketing less. The same spots, repeated over and over, are incredibly annoying and they play them so far in advance of the film's release, by the time the film does get released, I usually think it's come and gone. If they spent less on marketing, more films would be profitable. Those TV spots cost a fortune.

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

IMO, whether web or print, reviews don't mean that much anymore. Fewer and fewer people read traditional media and it's really all the tweets and Facebook postings that determine whether a movie is going to succeed or not. The studios probably figure that all the overwhelming ads they play on TV are going to have more of an impact than any reviews anyway.

Then why bother with press embargoes? If people are gonna see what they want to see regardless of reviews, it seems pointless to "hide" bad reviews until a day or two before the movie opens. All that does is make people who do trust movie critics wary that Movie X doesn't have a single review on Rotten Tomatoes less than a week before it opens.

[Sean B.]

It looks like Oz: the Great and Powerful's approximate running time has been revealed ! Here is a website that now has its approximate running time listed, already on the webpage that shows what its approximate running time is.....
> http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/oz-gr...owerful-2013-0

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

Then why bother with press embargoes? If people are gonna see what they want to see regardless of reviews, it seems pointless to "hide" bad reviews until a day or two before the movie opens. All that does is make people who do trust movie critics wary that Movie X doesn't have a single review on Rotten Tomatoes less than a week before it opens.

I never said they were consistent. They want to control the flow of information about a movie - they want the reviews published on premiere day. I realize that's inconsistent with hyping a movie long before its release, but it's the way the industry currently works, logical or not.

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by Chaotic

well thats bad news

Not really. It's very common now. I'm noticing more and more, whether the movie is bad or not, they embargoes are very close to release date now. Part of it, for this, is they don't want any spoilers getting released before the movie lands. Understandable.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by Walts Ghost

Not really. It's very common now. I'm noticing more and more, whether the movie is bad or not, they embargoes are very close to release date now. Part of it, for this, is they don't want any spoilers getting released before the movie lands. Understandable.

Yeah, but in this case, it'll be bad.

[Walts Ghost]

Originally Posted by Foggy

Yeah, but in this case, it'll be bad.

No reason to assume that, Foggs. It's easy to assume stuff will be bad. But lets not forget, Disney has had some pretty terrible marketing for their films lately.