First reviews for Pearl Harbour

[Force Master Hunter]

Action = Obviously CGI for the sake of CGI

Story = bad

I want to see some more reviews first.... but let me predict there will be a handful of "Wild ride!!!" reviews to prop up the balance. Still wont prevent PH to 0wn Memorial day tho.

I personally say the trailer was one of the worst I've seen. cute visuals make not a good moive.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I still think it was the best trailer I've seen this year but that is just my opinion. I will defently see this movie this weekend and I can't wait, and I could care less what the critics say, in fact those are some of the same remarks that many of them said about TPM, so it shows what they know, nothing.

[Darth23]

rottentomatoes had 4 reviews - all bad.

Unfortunately the negative comment seem like what I expect from the flick.

[Jedi Master Kyle]

Doesn't it seem that every movie that has over a year's worth of mega-hype is bashed by the critics? I think we saw tons of this in for TPM, so we should expect at the very least an entertaining movie from Pearl Harbor. :)

[Darth23]

That depends on what they say.

I read 1 review that was pretty vicious - then I read about 4 or 5 other reviews they guy wrote for movies I'd seen, and I pretty much agreed with him on those. Plus, his review of PH confirmed my expectations (fears?) about the movie.

[CMJ]

I've had that suspicion for some time now. Michael Bay directing was the reason. Anyways...this might be giving away some of my potential advantage in the Box Office contest...BUT I thought this was an interesting article. PEARL HARBOR is gonna be massive.

From Inside.com
Just How Big Will Pearl Harbor Be? Hollywood Braces for Record-Shattering Weekend
Wednesday May 23 10:47 AM ET


By Andrew Hindes

''Huge. Fuckin' huge.'' That's how one rival studio executive sums up his prediction for this weekend's opening of Disney's Pearl Harbor. ''I'll be shocked if it doesn't do $100 million.''

While it doesn't take an advanced degree in demographics to figure out that Pearl Harbor looks like a hit, the executive's opinion -- shared by many in the industry -- is based on more than just the deafening media buzz surrounding the film. The guy's seen the tracking.

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Distribution veterans say they have literally never laid eyes on pre-release market research reports as promising as the ones for director Michael Bay's $140 million historical epic. According to survey results released to studios Monday by market research firm National Research Group, an unheard-of 75 percent of all respondents said they were ''definitely interested'' in seeing the film. Even more impressive, the definite interest numbers in each of the four demographic ''quadrants'' (young male, older male, young female and older female) were all over 70 percent.

Overall awareness of the film is a staggering 95 percent, according to a studio source who has seen the report. As the distribution veteran puts it, ''that's as high as you can go for a non-sequel.'' In other words, virtually everyone in America has heard of this film.

But it's the ''first choice'' number -- generally seen as the best indicator of a film's box-office appeal -- that has industry veterans slack-jawed. Forty-three percent of all those surveyed said Pearl Harbor was their top-pick film for this weekend. By comparison, only 6 percent of respondents said their top pick was Sony's The Animal, which is due out the following weekend.

While studio executives hate to make on-the-record box-office predictions, virtually all of those Inside spoke with thought the film had a good shot at grossing $100 million or more over the four-day Memorial Day weekend. That would shatter the all-time four-day opening record of $90.2 million, set in 1997 by Universal's The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

If anything could torpedo Pearl Harbor's chances to become the biggest opener ever, it would be its roughly three-hour running time. Long running times limit the number of times a film can play during peak viewing hours in a given auditorium. But Pearl Harbor will get a boost from the fact that it's opening early enough in the movie summer season that there are relatively few films competing with it for theater space.

Disney has not yet announced in how many theaters the film will play, but it is expected to be between 3,400 and 3,500, slightly less than the all-time record of 3,653 set by Mission: Impossible 2 last Memorial Day. The studio is said to be making roughly 6,400 prints, so the film can play on multiple screens in many locations. The net result: In many top markets, Pearl Harbor will be playing every half hour.

The film has relatively little competition for audiences as well. DreamWork's Shrek, which opened wide May 18, is almost sure to be the second-place film over the weekend. Given its excellent $4.2 million Monday gross, the animated feature will probably bring in between $35 million and $45 million for the four-day period. The only other serious competition is Sony's A Knight's Tale and Universal's The Mummy Returns. Last Memorial Day, total ticket sales for all films came to $184.8 million. It could go even higher this year, which means that even if all other films in the market manage to pull in $85 million, there's still room for Pearl Harbor to gross well over $100 million.

Disney executives, nearly all of whom were returning to Los Angeles following the film's Hawaiian premiere, were unavailable for comment Tuesday.

NRG doesn't comment on its findings, which it distributes only to its paying clients, but one studio source says NRG representatives have told him Pearl Harbor's numbers are the highest they've ever seen.

As one executive put it, ''Once you get past a certain number, it almost doesn't matter anymore.''

Producer Dive-Bombs Pearl Harbor Director Bay With Suit Over Script Deal Gone Awry

[Jedi Master Carr]

By the way Darth which reviewer was it that you mentioned? Was it Newsweek if so I can't stand that guy, he bashed TPM so bad that I was shocked, the guy is an idiot he wrote that piece just to give his magazine more press. That is why I don't read reviews in magazines half time they have no clue about movies but are more interested in getting there readership up and bashing popular movies they think help. I still will see it but I am surprised it is 3 hours long, I doubt that will hurt that much on Memorial day thought it might hurt it after that it will depend on how good it is.

[ReaperFett]

I bash Matrix a lot. Its because I HATE THE FILM. Maybe some of them do too?

[Darth23]

Nah, it was the Film Critic.com guy, Christopher Null. Through parts of the review I thouht he was reviewing Armageddon - because it sounds like a lit of the things I didn't like about that movie wil be in PH as well. Another critic used the words "sledgehammer poignancy" which really hit the way I felt about the Big Asteroid movie.

[JonathanLB]

haha, yeah, right. One of the worst trailers ever. *rolls eyes*.

Well, one of the great things about America and about the Internet is freedom of expression and opinions. Even if your opinion sucks! haha.

Pearl Harbor has the greatest trailer I have seen since The Matrix, and before that Trailer A and Trailer B.

Pearl Harbor's trailer is just unquestionably one of the greatest ever. I have heard so many people rave about it and when it first came out, everyone on the forums I visit said if the movie is half as good as the trailer, it'll be one of the best war movies ever. I agree.

I think Pearl Harbor the movie will still kick butt. I can't wait. The story is already there, and it's a great story. Beyond that, the "creative" parts of the story, that is, are not that important. It already has every element that guarantees it 3 stars. No film with great effects and a plot of that nature can be less than a three-star film. Now I just want to see how much over it goes.

[Darth23]

This should be interesting.

I'm sure it will make a ton of money, at least the first weekend. And it's probably not bad enough to completely flop after that. The war stuff is apparently very good, and there are apparently a few good performances. I'm just interested to see if the movie overall with click with most people.

(rt is up to 9/9 bad reviews).

[Force Master Hunter]

BS Pearl Harbour is the one of the best trailers ever! It's something I can do on my editing PC at home - seriously. Render the planes and my PC could have done the rest in about 24 hours running time.

Is'nt a pointer the Tomato rating ( which was 56% for TPM) is showing all rotten so far? Not all critics are idiots. All Pearl Harbour has for it is what CMJ posted - a huge cultural recognition. Oh yeah, it will open big... but it could go down faster than a two dollar hooker too. It's a pity cause if they had done it right, this could have beaten Titanic given it's cultural ties.

[Jedi Master Carr]

actually most of the critics that they have listed I wouldn't count most are people on internet sites who have little credibility and I don't want to go into Newsweek again. The bigies won't be posted until Friday. I am interested in Ebert because he is one of the few critics I respect (maybe its because he have gave all great reviews for Star Wars :) but I won't say) Stil, I despise most Critics and don't listen to a thing they say, its a job anybody can do and you need no creditials to do except maybe being a journalist major in college or something and I can't believe they get paid for which is nuts. I mean its just their opinion and everybody has one and if I like a movie I don't want some stuck up person who does no work for a living to tell me it sucked and I shouldn't like it and instead tell me to watch some stupid art house film like Moulin Rouge, looks really stupid by the way.

[JonathanLB]

Ok, please don't be an idiot. That is all I ask.

Pearl Harbor has some of the greatest effects ILM has ever created, so don't tell me you could do them on your home PC until you have the experience and the super computers they do. As I said, you have the right to your opinions, but just don't be an idiot. That's not a hard thing to ask.

Do you ever read TheForce.net? Do you ever pay attention to the movie industry? Then you should know Pearl Harbor boasts some of the most impressive effects ever seen. I'd like to see you try to make an effect like the bomb dropping from the sky, view from the bomb, right down until it collides with a ship. Tell me when you finish doing it photorealistically as it appears in the movie.

[Force Master Hunter]

Do you know anything about PC based film editing? At all?

Do you have any idea that it's the power of the software that allows you to create such effects? Do you have any idea how easily accessible PC that are powerful enough to create such effects are? Do you know that to create the bomb shot would take about 72 hours of rendering time at 720 * 420 for DV quality, roughly 3 times that for 1000 scan lines quality, convert to 24 frames? Thats render time, the actual image creation is shorter. You define how you want the graphic to use moves and then letyou PC at it. High resolution shots The only reason why supercomputers are used is time taken to render is far quicker, in the magnitude of 10 times faster or more? No other reason than just pure number crunch. $5000 dollars will get you a superb edit program that will do superb work if you spend the time doing the number crunching. You start with a good image, vector engine with a lighting engine, set ballistic arcs, insert other images and let rip.

No, you pipe down this time. I know what I'm talking about because it more than a hobby to me and I know what it takes to create such shots. If your prepared to spend the time to do it, it's very possible. In the end, it's straight number crunching and texture creations that take the time. Real time effects are possible on a 1Gz PC with a decent disk array and decent memory and bloody good ones too. The fact is, ILM can do it faster than I can and have the graphic artists people who are experienced, so I have a graphic learning curve.

Even professional studios are beginning to use off the shelf hardware and programs. DV2000 real time was a real life PC based video effects editor that came out over a year ago and has been superseded by better, for cheaper by now. My own DVRaptor and Premier 5.1c is two generations out of date and it was SOA two years ago.

CGI is all about ability to crunch numbers when you boil it down. The availibility of programs to take advantage of that number crunching just makes it better. When Toy Story was rendered, it too 86 SPARCS clusters to give the power to do it in a good time. Now, 10 can do the same at the same speed (maybe even less PC's, condiering MHZ has jumped from 200 to 1Gz in that time), let alone a better render engine.

Pearl Harbour effects are within your grasp if you want them. How much time are you prepared to use to do it?

I personally am far more impressed with camera based special effects. Knowing what it takes in CG just leaves me cold for CG

* Clarification - Premiere 6 on a 1Gz PC with a array of SCSI 3 disks and with my poor skillz would probably need three weeks to render the whole bomb sequence (Crunch time)after I've created the graphic (give a week at least), ran it by the vector and 3d engines (Give that a week in pure crunch time).

[ReaperFett]

I dont think the effects are that good. Especially not for that cost

[CMJ]

Well the movie cost alot because of the physical effects(like blowing up mock ships) not the CGI. I'm still holding out hope...but these first reviews are prety grim. I've only seen like 3 positive and about 10 negative.

[Darth23]

I guess there's like 80 more reviews coming from rottentomatoes.

[Jedieb]

I liked the trailer and I think PH has the POTENTIAL to be a 3 or 4 star film. But no matter how good a trailer is, a movie can still suck. As for plot, if the director can't execute the plot then the film could easily stink up the joint. Don't believe me? Consider this, Casablanca and Pamela Anderson's Barbwire have virtually the SAME plot. And Barbwire was one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I'm surprised people are bashing the effects. If you forgot ILM is doing this movie. ILM is the best special effect company in the world. These are the same people that created the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park and all the effects in TPM, I think the effects look great. Still, that should not be the issue I think the effects will rock, the question is how good the story will be. I am sure the 40 minutes they show the bombing of Pearl Harbor will be incredible and horrifying experience if we have any worries it will be with the rest of the film.

[ReaperFett]

I dont care who does the effects. If I dont like them, I say so


KNB is more fun too:)

[Jedi Master Carr]

Not to criticize you but I don't think you can really tell how good the effects are from watching a 2 minute preview, though from what I saw they looked very realistic. Besides that ILM rarely does a bad job when they have there best people working on it which is the case with Pearl Harbor. I remember even reading on theforce.net how Lucas was raving about how good they looked and I think that is a really good person to trust.

[Darth23]

I could tell in 3 seconds that the Anaconda fx sucked.

:D

[Darth23]

Casablanca and Pamela Anderson's Barbwire have virtually the SAME plot. And Barbwire was one of the worst movies I've ever seen.


I always loved that scene where Pamela sings the La Marseillaise.

;)

[Jedieb]

I always loved that scene where Pamela sings the La Marseillaise.

I've purged everything from the movie from my mind, except the scene where she steps out of her tub and strolls across the room naked. That stays in a special place. ;)

[Darth23]

Actually, that was a Casablanca joke.

:p

[Force Master Hunter]

17% on the meter and 23 reviews.

[JonathanLB]

What do you mean Darth? I love the cheesy effects in Anaconda, haha. ;)


Ok, you know what, I don't want to argue with someone who is obviously off in his own world. You are right. I am wrong. You are better than everyone at ILM and you could do it all yourself in two weeks. Of course I should have known better, the best SFX company in the entire world is not capable of doing anything an amateur like you couldn't do.

Believe what you want, but you are the one who looks like an idiot whenever you criticize effects by ILM. That's just how it is.

[Force Master Hunter]

Why dont you understand what I said? I SAID that effects that are CG are only a matter of time and computer punch, especially given the editing and vector programs availible, even to people like me. The point is YOU are fully capable on doing comparable CG if you give yourself the time. ILM can do these effect much faster, their systems can render a scence in seconds where mine would take days. I did point that out you know. Those shortcut programs vector and do all the rendering for you. My points are entirely valid even given my status as an amateur and deference to ILM

No doubt ILM are good, but I am more impressed with camera tricks and modelling tricks than straight CG. I've seen a 30 second film where a Pepsi can was hurled off a bridge with similar detail and lovely ballistics, entirely CG with a system that cost $5000, inculding software to a scan rate of 760 scan lines (Broadcast) quality. It took the PC however 1 week to render. A studio can render the same shot in about 30 minutes, only differene being the hardware is far more powerful. THAt is what your paying for with ILM, ballistic hardware and state of the art rendering engines.

You no longer need million dollar machines to create CG. Even production houses are switching to off the shelf software cause it's so damn good. It will just take a bit longer.

That's the trade off. You pay for speed. What do you want, ILM who can render in minutes or me who can render in two weeks? The eye candy result will be the same, maybe some more clarity from ILM via better brightness / contrast ability.