I saw this post from dynamotv in the Clone Wars thread and it's inspired this topic:
...which inspires me to ask - what's your franchise? The one thats closer to you heart than any other?
I was a Star Wars kid like most of my generation, I was an Indy one as well (because how can a boy born in '76 with a dad in love with adventure films not be?) and those films will always be very close to my heart as a consequence.
I'm even a massive fan of the entire Matrix Saga as the depth of all the philosophical and spiritual layering along with the amazing action and visuals that truly were the epitome of 'live-action manga' the Wachowskis blended together, I simply adore.
But from the age of 9, sitting down for the first time to a little book called The Hobbit, there has only been one fantastical world and story that has been closer to my heart than any other.
Yep, Im a Tolkienite and proud. As a younger man when my passion was to become a famous movie maker, up until 1998 my life dream was to adapt The Lord of the Rings to the screen 'and do it properly'; three films, giving the story the gravitas it deserved, treating it like the alternate mythical history it was written as - "The Godfather of fantasy if you do it right' was how I used to refer to it.
Then one of my favourite kiwi b-movie directors got the gig out of nowhere.
I'll be honest, at first I was devestated, simply because I saw my shot at adapting the tale disappear whether this film series ended up bombing or being a classic - and as silly as it seems now, plenty of people were incredibly worried (Zac Snyder doing Watchmen-style) about this unknown, untested Jackson guy tackling the holy grail of epic fantasy adventure tales.
Then I read an interview with Jackson, then heard he had hired two of my favourite Tolkien artists in Alan Lee and John Howe to design the look of the film, then another bit of news and another and another.
I was backpacking around Europe while all this was happening, and I'd started sourcing and pricing tickets to go to New Zealand and offer myself up to Jackson and co. in whatever working capacity they'd have me. Unfortunately (to a degree, because I spent the next 12 months having the time of my life), the trip to NZ wasn't doable, but finally, after following every bit of information leading up to the film, I sat down to it on Boxing Day 2001.
I had always said "If I can't make these films, I only ask they could be made as good or better as I would make them", and sitting down to FOTR for the first time, I simply sat in awe of the near-3 hours as it unspooled before me.
Now, many have waxed lyrical about Jacksons take on the "unfilmable" Lord of the Rings, but as the next two years happened and I got to enjoy each new installment, and then finally the extended saga in full, I can honestly say no film series has hit me deeper and on more levels than that one.
Perfectly capturing the spirit of the originals, while still working completely as films in their own right, the films work for me on so many levels, nostalgic, geeky, emotional, epic, as adaptations, as a inematic tale in its own right, that I very much doubt I'll have as profound an emotional reaction to a film series - a reaction I still have when I sit down to watch the extended saga one every 1.5 to 2 years to this day - ever again.
In fact Nicks reviews of the three films mirrored mine almost to a "T" back in the day
So, your turn - what film franchise gets you sweatier tan any other?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by dynamotv
 I think you're being too tough on Drew McWeeney. It's true that Clone Wars review read like a guy who's hormones are off but I'm willing to believe there might be some other shit in the mix we don't know about. Plus Mori's a big time Star Wars fanboy. I think all of us have one property we're a little gay over. For me it's SW, for Mori it's SW, and for Devin it's Harry Potter. So if he gets a little emotional about the whole embargo thing, then so be it.
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I was a Star Wars kid like most of my generation, I was an Indy one as well (because how can a boy born in '76 with a dad in love with adventure films not be?) and those films will always be very close to my heart as a consequence.
I'm even a massive fan of the entire Matrix Saga as the depth of all the philosophical and spiritual layering along with the amazing action and visuals that truly were the epitome of 'live-action manga' the Wachowskis blended together, I simply adore.
But from the age of 9, sitting down for the first time to a little book called The Hobbit, there has only been one fantastical world and story that has been closer to my heart than any other.
Yep, Im a Tolkienite and proud. As a younger man when my passion was to become a famous movie maker, up until 1998 my life dream was to adapt The Lord of the Rings to the screen 'and do it properly'; three films, giving the story the gravitas it deserved, treating it like the alternate mythical history it was written as - "The Godfather of fantasy if you do it right' was how I used to refer to it.
Then one of my favourite kiwi b-movie directors got the gig out of nowhere.
I'll be honest, at first I was devestated, simply because I saw my shot at adapting the tale disappear whether this film series ended up bombing or being a classic - and as silly as it seems now, plenty of people were incredibly worried (Zac Snyder doing Watchmen-style) about this unknown, untested Jackson guy tackling the holy grail of epic fantasy adventure tales.
Then I read an interview with Jackson, then heard he had hired two of my favourite Tolkien artists in Alan Lee and John Howe to design the look of the film, then another bit of news and another and another.
I was backpacking around Europe while all this was happening, and I'd started sourcing and pricing tickets to go to New Zealand and offer myself up to Jackson and co. in whatever working capacity they'd have me. Unfortunately (to a degree, because I spent the next 12 months having the time of my life), the trip to NZ wasn't doable, but finally, after following every bit of information leading up to the film, I sat down to it on Boxing Day 2001.
I had always said "If I can't make these films, I only ask they could be made as good or better as I would make them", and sitting down to FOTR for the first time, I simply sat in awe of the near-3 hours as it unspooled before me.
Now, many have waxed lyrical about Jacksons take on the "unfilmable" Lord of the Rings, but as the next two years happened and I got to enjoy each new installment, and then finally the extended saga in full, I can honestly say no film series has hit me deeper and on more levels than that one.
Perfectly capturing the spirit of the originals, while still working completely as films in their own right, the films work for me on so many levels, nostalgic, geeky, emotional, epic, as adaptations, as a inematic tale in its own right, that I very much doubt I'll have as profound an emotional reaction to a film series - a reaction I still have when I sit down to watch the extended saga one every 1.5 to 2 years to this day - ever again.
In fact Nicks reviews of the three films mirrored mine almost to a "T" back in the day
So, your turn - what film franchise gets you sweatier tan any other?
