BATTLESHIP - Post Release Thread - Page 3

I don't get Peter Berg. Or more specifically, I am struggling to define him given the first I'd heard about him he was described as Michael Mann's protege.

Now, I'll freely admit I'm a total bitch for the "Mann-ster" so my perspective on Berg was skewed mightily by the prospect that Mann himself was schooling someone who would be his successor. Now, though, I am really struggling to identify anything in Berg's work thus far that (a) would make a director with Mann's sensibilities and talent look to him as someone to whom wisdom should be passed and patronage extended or (b) that shows in any meaningful way that an iota of Mann's technique, characterisation, sense of drama or thematic heft has rubbed off on Berg.

Does anyone have insight on this? It boils down to a non-point in a way but my curiosity is peaked by the huge gap between reputation and reality, or at least foreshadowed reputation and reality. 

I think the only thing Berg has in common with Mann is they're both actor's directors...Berg being an actor himself, this doesn't surprise me.  I'm sure they share a love of acting and bond over it.

But Berg is still a meat head and likes stupid shit...Spielberg and Brian DePalma are best friends (DePalma is Max Spielberg's godfather) and often swap movie tips...but they couldn't be more different as men and directors.  Same with Lucas and Scorsese.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lloyd Dobler 

Projected budget for Universals Del Toro directed At the mountains of madness = $120 million. Result: cancelled.

Actually, wasn't the projected budget supposed to be much higher?

Anyway, Peter Berg will always be Irish Terry Conklin to me.

I'm pretty sure Guillermo wanted $150M.  

Looks like Asylum is finally being sued, as they wanted to release AMERICAN BATTLESHIP.

http://foywonder.livejournal.com/213273.html?mode=reply#add_comment

"Just how worried are the execs at Universal that their mega budget BATTLESHIP movie might sink at the box office? Apparently they’re worried enough that they’ve actually filed a lawsuit against The Asylum over its AMERICAN BATTLESHIP mockbuster.

I remember writing an article for Dread Central years ago after The Asylum announced their When a Killer Calls mockbuster, stunned they weren’t being sued into oblivion since the film was damn near the exact same movie as the remake of When a Stranger Calls with only a single word in the title changed. I also remember being stunned that producing movies titled Universal Soldiers and The Terminators didn’t result in major lawsuits. I believe the producers of the big screen movies mockbusted by The Asylum via Snakes on a Train and The Day the Earth Stopped flirted with similar lawsuits, and there have been other rumblings of possible legal action over the years, but this is, as far I can recall, the biggest legal incident to date, certainly the most public.

TMZ first reported that Universal Pictures has filed a lawsuit against The Asylum for "unspecified damages" (i.e., big bucks) claiming their American Battleship (hitting DVD/VOD May 22nd, four days after Battleship opens on US movie screens) is "stepping all over its business".

Honestly, if The Asylum could ever produce a mockbuster that legitimately cut into the profit margin of a $200 million studio blockbuster, they probably would no longer need to be in the business of producing mockbusters.

TMZ: According to the lawsuit, Universal spent $100 million producing its film ... and $30 million promoting it in the U.S. alone -- and Asylum's trying to piggy back on its hard work.

I’m going to assume that $100 million is just the portion of the budget Universal sunk into the movie because by all previously reported accounts the Battlefield budget is upwards of $200 million.

Can’t really blame the Universal execs for being nervous. Even though Battleship has already been released internationally and grossed over $100 million worldwide already, they still need the film to be a huge hit domestically, and the buzz has been bad pretty much from the moment it was announced, not to mention word-of-mouth trickling in from those that have already seen overseas isn't exactly stellar. You know they have to be feeling extra jittery over this one after Disney whacked the head of its movie division in the wake of the John Carter fiasco, and he wasn't even the executive who greenlit that $250+ million bomb.

It’ll be interesting to see if anything actually comes of this lawsuit. Will there be an injunction against the release of American Battleship? Will The Asylum lose millions in a lawsuit? Or will it fizzle out as seems to have been the case with previous Asylum legal wrangling?

Personally, I say the best way to settle this is with a pay-per-view boxing match between Battleship star Liam Neeson and American Battleship star Carl Weathers.

Deadline has done a story on the Asylum/Universal lawsuit. Turns out in addition to compensatory damages, Universal also "wants the court to stop all Stateside distribution of American Battleship with an injunction and all American Battleship DVDs, posters, trailers and everything else seemingly related to the movie destroyed."

The Global Asylum issued a defiant reply to Deadline regarding the merits of Universal's lawsuit.

"The Global Asylum has promoted the feature film American Battleship for nearly a year while Universal raised no concerns. The timing of Universal’s recently filed lawsuit coincides with mixed reviews of its big-budget film Battleship — the first movie based on a board game since Clue. Looking for a scapegoat, or more publicity, for its pending box-office disaster, the executives at Universal filed this lawsuit in fear of a repeat of the box office flop John Carter of Mars. The Universal action is wholly without merit, and we will vigorously defend their claims in Court. Nonetheless, we appreciate the publicity."

The best part about this lawsuit, I wonder if the execs at Universal are aware that the day after Battleship opens in American theaters, American Battleship is slated to premiere at 9/8 Central on Syfy, a network owned and operated by NBCUniversal, the parent company of Universal Pictures? Are they also going to sue themselves?"

Just watched HBO's 15-minute "making of" EPK for this last night, and holy crap the dumb.

I did get a good laugh at how they managed to work in the game's mechanics at one point. CGI grid lights up on a glass wall, one square flares red. "That's a hit!"

I'm convinced Battleship was a stealth parody of Micheal Bay, with the fuckup hero and alien invaders who actually aren't aggressive at all, going out of their way to avoid making innocent casualties and their main scheme being to communicate with their homeworld which just as easily could have been a call for a rescue.

Berg had a really awkward interview with an Israeli reporter, and he made himself look like a bit of an idiot in the process:

http://www.tmz.com/2012/05/15/battleship-director-peter-berg-israel-draft-dodger/

I don't know how rambling Berg usually is, but it looks like he could be drunk here. 

Holy crap. What does an entertainment "reporter" have to do with Israeli foreign policy?

If only someone had the balls to hold Billy Bush responsible for the atrocities at Abu Graib!

Was just heading over to post that.  Yikes.

Whoa...

Berg is a Neocon?  That makes sense.

I enjoyed this review:

http://silverscreensaucers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/battleship-silver-screen-saucers-review.html

"It's the most important issue facing our planet today. Far more so than my movie Battleship..."

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Prankster 

"It's the most important issue facing our planet today. Far more so than my movie Battleship..."

Which is the second most important issue facing our world today.

Of Course!

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommy five-tone 

 

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

No one says "You sunk my battleship!"

 

 

Seriously? Fuck this movie. My wife is going to write Liam Neeson an angry letter. I'm dead serious.

Hah, this movie.

After the first hour, I wasn't really enjoying it, but I felt like I got it. Berg was half making a dumb action movie, and half making a parody. So it moved well, and the alien ship was neat, and the effects were cool. Alright, whatever.

And then this thing just slows to a crawl. The damn thing's over two hours, but everything you need to know happens in the first hour. I am surprised that this is the second blockbuster in the last few weeks where there's an alien invasion, and no one seems at all curious about them. Hell, they at least had an autopsy in Battle: LA. I liked that they looked like Ed Asner playing Doomsday, and that they were sorta humanoid, but beyond that, you never learn much, and no one seems to care, because fuck science, let's blow up those satellites! People are overplaying the weakness to sun, by the way, the humans really can only beat them by blowing them the fuck up. Don't worry, no one is denied explosions.

Liked the real life soldier with no legs. Yeah, it's dumb and far-fetched, but how can you hate that? Guy loses his legs in battle, then gets to beat up aliens in a blockbuster. Not glamorous, but he seemed like the one likable character in this thing.

Taylor Kitsch doesn't really have a character beyond stoner jackass, and I was surprised they spent the first half hour of the movie making him look like King Asshole - I don't think he recovers. But as far as heroes, Tadanobu Asano for the save.

The alien motivation seems pretty clearly not to kill humans, but to find a way to communicate with their home planet. Also, to play Sonic Spinball with buildings and bridges and such. But they do specifically show that the aliens don't want to hurt humans. The humans, however, clearly want to destroy these fuckers.

The low point is when they actually start playing Battleship to kill the enemies, with F11 and B4 and all that shit. It played exactly how you'd expect - like watching someone play Battleship.

It's more stupid than bad, if that makes sense. But it's really bad.

I don't even know where to begin with this. I fucking hated this movie. I'd say it's a giant Navy recruitment video, but it's worse than that; I'd say it's a big, moronic, lethargic, boring blockbuster, but it's worse than that; I'd say it was made in association with Hasbro, but it's worse than that. Nothing about this works in any way that's significant enough to offset the perfect storm of fucking awfulness swirling at this film's center (and I'm reticent to acknowledge this as a film); even plucky non-actor, Sergeant Legless, doesn't save the day for me, even though there's something inherently glorious (if somewhat condescending) about watching a big, badass military man with prosthetic legs duking it out with a horrible CGI alien. I strangely gave more of a shit about him than I did about Kitsch's character. Berg, frankly, goes way too far trying to give Hopper something to redeem himself over, and honestly-- stealing a fucking chicken burrito and being kind of a punk? Really? That's all he could think of?

Maybe there's a story about 20 somethings today being directionless and irresponsible or something, but it just feels really trite. I didn't really want him to be the hero, or care. I would rather have had Tadanobu Asano, a dude who's been awesome for more than a decade, be the protagonist here, but I liked him in the limited capacity he was used.

That's really it. I don't know what Berg was thinking. Dollars and cents, maybe, but that puts me in a catch 22-- I want this thing to fail because it's bad, but I want it to do well because I want Berg to do well.

After seeing that interview clip, I'm not in the Berg camp anymore.  Betcha this will still make gobs of money.

I don't really understand why anyone was ever in Berg's camp. 

I kinda liked his turn on Chicago Hope.  Friday Night Lights? Yeah, that's all I got.

That's all you got?
 

I was talking about his directing, not acting. I haven't liked any of his movies.

I keep forgetting no one around here watched Friday Night Lights.
 

I'm pretty sure Berg has never served in the military. Seems like a major douche move to be lecturing someone else about it. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parker 

I don't really understand why anyone was ever in Berg's camp. 

Very Bad Things, The Rundown, The Kingdom. All solid movies. Apparently Friday Night Lights (Television Flavor) is very good, but I've never been arsed enough to tune in.

I don't know if I was "in his camp" but I liked the guy quite well and I honestly don't get his logic in associating himself with this horrid steaming pile of refuse.

Also, Berg was IRISH TERRY CONKLIN.

btw, I love Skarsgaard's name in this movie. STONE HOPPER.

Friday Night Lights buys an awful lot of good will, but his past few have been real stinkers.

I haven't seen the show, but I didn't know he was that involved with it. I've also never seen the original film, so it's quite possible both of those things are his biggest triumphs (I do hear that both are very good) but I really don't like Very Bad Things, The Rundown, Kingdom or Hancock (sorry, Agracu). 

From the reviews coming on here, and now Devin's, Battleship sounds bafflingly muddled in tone.

The aliens are an allegory for imperialism?  Great!  That's classic Wells, I can get behind that!   But then it still sounds awful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parker 

I haven't seen the show, but I didn't know he was that involved with it. I've also never seen the original film, so it's quite possible both of those things are his biggest triumphs (I do hear that both are very good) but I really don't like Very Bad Things, The Rundown, Kingdom or Hancock (sorry, Agracu). 

I can understand that. I certainly wouldn't consider them essential viewing or anything of the sort-- they're just really solid films, nothing more, nothing less, which sounds much less complimentary than I mean it.

Hancock, though, is terrible, I agree.

The Friday Night Lights movie is a pretty solid companion piece to The Last Picture Show, both in terms of quality and content. Not sure what's up with the rest of Berg's filmography, however. Very Bad Things is something of a guilty pleasure, but the rest of his stuff ranges from skippable to terrible.

But bottom line, you earn yourself no goodwill after fucking HANCOCK.

The Kingdom and The Rundown are badass and Friday Night Lights, both the series and the show, are great.  Hancock did suck, though.  So, sadly, I'm not surprised to hear Battleship sucks, too.  It looks like his jump to big, blockbuster movies (I mean, The Kingdom wasn't cheap, but it wasn't a summer blockbuster style thing) is just not his style.  He was better when he imitated Mann, not Bay.

Spoilers (even though it's a post release, but yeahh..)

As soon as things start exploding the film goes way downhill.  Also, the physics of the enemy ships are extremely inconsistent (first attack on the ships is laughably unsuccessful, yet later in the movie they are destroyed with ease).  The ending scene with the old veterans coming to save the day could've been a nice moment, but they over milk the scene and Kitsch ruins it with some patronizing dialogue.  Ironically, the character work isn't all that bad, light years better than anything Bay would do, but the film is cut so lean there isn't any character development after the first 20 minutes and we're left with things exploding and pointless cutaways to a board room somewhere.  Due to the short running time I'm guessing that a lot was left on the cutting room floor, which make most characters seem superfluous (Rihanna).  Hancock looked like a masterpiece compared to this.

Did Liam Neeson work for one day on this film?

I've never been a fan of Berg.  I liked Very Bad Things, but I can leave everything else.  This guy's judgement is...off.  A copy of The Kingdom was lying around at a friends one night and I started listening to the commentary.  Berg actually compared the main Muslim police guy to Deniro in Raging Bull, I shit you not.

Oh, he also bragged about showing the movie to his Navy Seal buddies and them telling him the shooting sequences were accurate.

This movie can fuck itself. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draco Senior 

Berg had a really awkward interview with an Israeli reporter, and he made himself look like a bit of an idiot in the process:

 

http://www.tmz.com/2012/05/15/battleship-director-peter-berg-israel-draft-dodger/

 

I don't know how rambling Berg usually is, but it looks like he could be drunk here. 

I wanna see Berg's military credentials.

I want that sentiment to pick up just so I can start referring to the people holding it as the Berger Movement.

There's a swift boat/battleship joke in there somewhere, but I can't get the bat off my shoulder.

The highlight of The Kingdom is the opening credits sequence. I barely remember the rest.

Now I don't know what to believe:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/18/showbiz/movies/battleship-review/index.html?iref=allsearch

This review cracks me up.

I saw this and I'm ashamed. I hoped it would be more of an Emmerich effort, with 90% of the planet being taken out, but it was not meant to be. If we don't see the total destruction of at least two major cities, then it's all a complete waste of time.

The best thing about this film was the fact that the aliens were humanoid and not squid-like. Everything else was fucking awful. I'm married to a Navy guy, and I walked away thinking, fuck the Navy. 

Liam Neeson is taking advantage of my irrational devotion to him. 

The Grey happened this year. His quota for being awesome has been quite well met.

Neeson wasn't exactly bad in this, he's just on screen for less than ten minutes. For a big budget film, it still felt pretty small.

As much as I like to play devil's advocate for universally derided films, this is fucking awful.  Early contender for worst of the year. 

http://shloggshorrorblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/jesus-h-christ-battleship.html

I can't believe there's already three pages devoted to this turd, and yet here I am adding to it.

OK, so I just realized that the guy who plays the amputee Army soldier (Gregory Gadson) is someone I knew.   More specifically he was my first company commander during my stint in the US Military.  Definitely one of the "good" officers I encountered during my 5 years in service.

Now I'm torn though...I kinda want to go see the movie because he's in it...but the movie is almost certainly crap.  What to do, what to do?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Clark 

The Grey happened this year. His quota for being awesome has been quite well met.

And for that amazing Gervais clip.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jmacq1 

OK, so I just realized that the guy who plays the amputee Army soldier (Gregory Gadson) is someone I knew.   More specifically he was my first company commander during my stint in the US Military.  Definitely one of the "good" officers I encountered during my 5 years in service.

 

Now I'm torn though...I kinda want to go see the movie because he's in it...but the movie is almost certainly crap.  What to do, what to do?

he was the only somewhat likeable character