Dredd

I quite like what I've heard of the score. That said, it helps already having a thing for lo-fi, bit crushed, industrial.



Not sure about seeing the film, though.

Well, despite what Harms says, I would liken it to Verhoeven. Really Verhoeven meets Carpenter. There's an edge of satire to it. It's stylish. You do have to get into the extreme ultraviolence, but I like that in my movies if it's in the kind of extreme 80s action movie tone that this is in. I dunno, everything I like about it is certainly something I could see someone else hating. If you do see it, see it in 3D as the visuals are quite well done. Doesn't hurt to have a pre-existing fondness for those 2000 AD comics.

It's not deep. They don't try to Nolan it and give Dredd some kind've big character arc or deeper meaning or character psychology. It's surface level. It's popcorn, but fun and extreme popcorn for adults. It's not trying to do a whole story arc from a comic, it's more like a single issue. A get-in-and-get-out plot. On paper the characters are pretty one dimensional but the cast is really quite good so they all seem to have very vivid inner lives that really sells them.

Dunno, Sharky. It's so tough for me to predict what you like as your standards, such as they are, tend to be rather fluid and relative. You could see it and praise its simplicity or you could see it and call "hipster nihilism!" like you do at everything you don't like. Tough to say.

It's too bad the 3D is so good, because otherwise is certainly the kind of movie that would be really better appreciated when it's in second run, with the tickets cheaper and the film all scratched up. It has grindhouse sensibilities at times. It's too bad that. y'know, film projection doesn't exist anymore so you'll never get an old, scratched up screening of this.

Pretty much the only barometer I have of whether you'll dislike something is usually that I like it, and I like this quite a lot so the safe bet is probably to stay away. Also, as has been noted, as an objectivist and a comic book fan I clearly have no taste at all and no right to any kind of artistic expression or opinion.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Disappointed you disliked it, Harms. I really enjoyed myself and found it totally in the Verhoeven spirit, true kin to RoboCop and a fine adaptation of the source material.

ROBOCOP has humor, feeling, and excitement. In comparison, I found DREDD to be joyless, hollow, and dull.

Disagreed on all counts. I suspected that I'd hear it be called "joyless and hollow" on these boards, but I suspected it would be Sharky saying it, not you.

We all have Sharky moments, I guess. But I think it's pretty true in the case of DREDD.

More than anything, I was just bored. DREDD has no suspense, no exciting set-pieces, no interesting characters, and no good jokes.

Must admit I laughed at Dredd's response to Anderson's reason for not wearing a helmet, and at Dredd's 'Why?' when the gun-toting teens tell him to freeze (it's the look of contempt on what you can see of Urban's face that sells that one).

I make no claims of being a big Judge Dredd fan, but I enjoyed DREDD. I wished it was longer, but the length of DREDD was perfect for the story it told.

While DREDD isn't doing so hot right now, Lionsgate didn't go out of it's way to promote the film a lot. DREDD's opening weekend is less of an indication on people not wanting to watch it, but more likely that people didn't know it was coming out. I was excited because of all the positive reviews coming out of the UK earlier this month and ended up bring most of my friends to the show as well. One didn't know DREDD was coming out until Friday.

Regardless, DREDD should do well on Blu Ray and DVD. If that will be enough to bankroll a sequel remains to be seen.

On an unrelated note, the US release schedule is picking up quite a bit over the next month and change. We have DREDD and END OF WATCH this week, LOOPER next week, followed by TAKEN 2, FRANKENWEENIE, ARGO, and CLOUD ATLAS in October and WRECK IT RALPH and SKYFALL opening up November.

Finally caught up with Dredd on DVD last night. It's not nearly as bad as some of the reviews in this thread suggest.

Amusing to see that Mega City One post-apocalypse is not too far removed from today's modern cities (reminds me why I moved to Albania in the first place), and the electronic score is well integrated rather than the usual afterthought. However, the male cast is a bit nondescript, the appropriately-named Karl Urban playing Dredd as Eastwood-light. Fortunately, the women are up to scratch with Olivia Thirlby not too glamourous as Judge Anderson and Lena 'Scarface' Headey playing Ma-Ma as the Whore from Whell. (Good to see the Brit filmmakers ignoring the BBC memo that all women are saints.)

One detail I enjoyed: Dredd's pitched battle takes place in the Peach Trees block, which the screenwriter named after my favourite restaurant in Shrewsbury; I used to eat there twice a week in the days when I had an expense account. Fuck the bankers.*

(*From 'Cunt: 10,000 Insults to Use Before You Die' by Erica Ambler, Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 26,591)

I do wish I had caught this in theaters. I gave it another viewing a few weeks ago and enjoyed it much more. Sort of a cross between DIE HARD and ROBOCOP. It's a shame that it didn't do all that well at the box office, because I thought this would make a nice series of films.

2000AD have launched a poll to try to get a sequel made -

http://2000adonline.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=a6e40236aa24d482cfff600d2&id=62906ebdcc

If there's a second one, I'll catch it in the theater. Really enjoyed the first one with Urban, possibly even one to own, though a part of me wants to get the Stallone on B-R too, just for the MegaCity shots at the beginning, getting to hear Mitchell Ryan shout 'dredd no!' and seeing Armand Assante practically fist the cloning machine.

trevanian wrote:

Armand Assante practically fist the cloning machine.  

There's not enough of that sort of thing in SF.

Python wrote:

I do wish I had caught this in theaters.

I'm glad I didn't.

Loomis wrote:

Python wrote:

I do wish I had caught this in theaters.

I'm glad I didn't.

I'm ashamed that I did.

What's more a shame is that another one with Urban won't likely happen.

Erica Ambler wrote:

trevanian wrote:

Armand Assante practically fist the cloning machine.  

There's not enough of that sort of thing in SF.

Perhaps if Silva had had a little more time to spend with Bond in SF ...

Don't know if anyone here remembers a dearly departed member called Sharky, but this review might have been written by him:

Quote :

Very strong humanist, nihilistic worldview that includes a character with genetically mutated, occult, psychic abilities to read and manipulate minds; more than 200 obscenities and profanities (including many “f” words); unrelenting and unspeakably graphic violence, carried out by both the villains and the ostensible heroes, including two car chases in which driving recklessly through traffic of innocent bystanders leads to shooting between bad guys and cops on motorcycles, numerous people being thrown off the roof or out the windows of a 200-story skyscraper, graphic eye gouging, stabbings both threatened and carried out, slicing with knives, punching, kicking, and beating people, setting people on fire with gun-fired projectiles, a giant door splattering a homeless man who was haplessly sitting in its path, and (worst of all) several shots of people being skinned while alive, with as much blood and bodily fluids as possible in 3D flying off the screen and at the audience; fantasy sex scene with sado-masochistic overtones, including implied oral sex; no nudity; drunkenness throughout; abuse of a drug called Slo-Mo throughout, with the plot centering on a drug kingpin and her evil gang; and, very strong miscellaneous immorality includes kidnappings, gratuitous brutality, lying and deception by the bad guys against every form of goodness that might exist even momentarily onscreen, and young children are nearly killed or forced to see much of the violence.

Quote :

The plot and dialogue in Dredd are bare bones. The movie looks as dirty as its message, with graphic, gory violence and brutality as well as abundant foul language. There’s no glimmer of humanity from either the heroes or the villains. Dredd is an abhorrent movie on almost every level.

http://www.movieguide.org/reviews/dredd.html

Great review, I should add. Made me want to see the film again.

If you'd been watching Channel 4 between 10:00 and 11:55 tonight, you could've done just that. Terrestrial premiere.

From now on, it's fluffy kittens and Spielberg all the way for me. Jesus saves!

Dredd was a very pleasant surprise when I first saw it. Probably should watch it again soon.

DREDD is what makes up for a lack of flavor in stuff like that ROBOCOP remake. Too bad it didn't perform well. FS made a good point that there are too many nerds out there that demand these kind of movies, but don't bother to pay up because they're too busy torrenting them.

What I liked about it was its faithfulness to the source ... violent and bloody, with a streak of jet-black humour. No 'watering-down' of content to get a 12A/PG-13.

The classic Burger Wars series is being reprinted.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/02/judge-dredds-the-cursed-earth-published

A strikingly accurate portrayal.