Ender's Game

[hamhock]

Anybody going to see it/actively boycott it? I'm boycotting and seeing "Bad Grandpa" instead.

Aaaand someone is way butthurt because he said some things that some people did not like so they called him on it.
He wanted to be able to say his things and NOT be called on them. Wah.

[smitten]

Mr s and I are probably going to go see it next weekend. I don't want to encourage this sleaze, but it's a book mr s lent to me when we were dating, so it has some sentimental meaning to us.

I do take comfort in the fact that Card won't make any money off the movie and mr s's copy of the book was from a used bookstore.

[LAX]

Same here, Smitten, despite OSC's personal terribleness I do have some sentimental fondness for Ender. That he's not getting extra $$ from my ticket purchase makes it easier to swallow. I just hope they haven't ruined it too much.

[GoldenFleece]

I think the bigger issue for the movie's financial success won't be Orson Scott Card's controversial beliefs, but the generic advertising and the YA lit adaptation boon making Ender's Game seem kind of "old hat" as a new movie, even though this book was around first. In the mid-eighties big-budget movies based on YA fantasy/sci-fi books weren't a "thing", so it lingered in development hell while a huge market for YA books/movies sprang up.

Also, the Ender kid creeps me out.

[Atreides]

The commercials look so boring and generic. They are also majorly hiding the main character (you know, Ender!) in favour of the adult stars.

[petitesuite]

Well, I suppose I am the lonely cheese on this one, but I'm super excited for it and can't wait to see it. I think Asa Butterfield is a great actor with a hilarious name and I'm excited about the rest of the cast as well. The book is one of my favorites. I'm not sure when it comes out here, but I'll definitely be seeing it.

[Deleted]

I'm looking forward to it too, but for the adult cast. I'm loving Harrison Ford's resurgence.

[Hamatron]

The reviews coming in (I know a few film critics) have been pretty scathing so far. Apparently it's really boring and flat.

I had a boyfriend in college who was a hard core fan of the book. He made me read it like it was sacred text. Lol, youth. All I remember about it is the end, the weird incest vibe going on between the brother and sister, and sensing some degree of misogyny from the author.

Oh, and I have another friend who is a former fan of the book. We recently found out about the author being a raging homophobe. Yikes. He sounds like a volatile piece of work. I want the movie to fail just because he's vaguely attached to it in that he wrote the source text... though the cast looks excellent. Poor Hailee Stanfeld is having a rough go of this Hollywood career thing.

[GoldenFleece]

Ender's Game is fresh on Rotten Tomatoes so far, though the top critics seem to like it a little less. It's going to be #1 for the weekend, but quickly overshadowed by the bigger releases later in the month.

[FiggyPudding]

I enjoyed it, and I'm unfamiliar with the book. It was probably smart of them to focus most of the advance press on the adult actors, especially Ford. Maybe they finally learned you can't hype these movies as the next big young adult thing and expect readers of the book to just automatically come out.

The graphics were fine and it was more thought-provoking than I expected, but not preachy. I like Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld, so I hope they keep finding work.  The casting for Bonzo was perfect, since I always found that actor intensely creepy on The Middle.

Viola Davis' interviews were cute; when she went on about her crush on Ford and her brief inclination to somehow work in a kiss during a rehearsal scene.