http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/01/31/are-you-excited-about-duncan-joness-warcraft-movie Comments On: Are You Excited About Duncan Jones's Warcraft Movie? by Paul Constant en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Sun, 19 May 2013 06:15:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
But Source Code... Did Mr. Constant watch the same movie as the rest of us? The one that has a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes? The Hugo award nominee? Richard Roper's favorite movie of the year?

It's fine to disagree with critical and/or popular opinion, but you should frame your comment that way ("I never figured out what people saw in 'Source Code'") rather than just assuming the rest of the world is objectively wrong about their taste in art.
Posted by CGW]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:19:39 -0800 The Stranger
Video games don't have stories the way movies have stories. They have a lot of story elements, but the basic story structure isn't there. So the only way to take those elements and turn them into a good movie is to invent the structure. I think it could probably be done, but it would have to be a scriptwriter who understood what the actual problem was.
Posted by McJulie]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 20:46:41 -0800 The Stranger Posted by robotslave]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:43:54 -0800 The Stranger Posted by mkyorai]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:37:58 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Wandergeist]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:19:24 -0800 The Stranger
And I liked Source Code.
Posted by Simone]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:06:11 -0800 The Stranger
Now, if only they would make a movie adaptation of Soul Calibur! :-)
Posted by dianasquiver]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:52:27 -0800 The Stranger
The first Resident Evil movie was an excellent horror/suspense film.
Posted by Lack Thereof]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:24:35 -0800 The Stranger
Nope. There's a lot of shit films out there from a variety of sources!

But the majority of games out there are pretty shallow, and that is the standard that most producers aim for, and most consumers are comfortable with. For every game that tries to deal with adult themes, there are a dozen more that don't even make the attempt. But hey, it's what sells, so.
Posted by Zebes]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:07:40 -0800 The Stranger Posted by zivilisierter Wurm]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:55:28 -0800 The Stranger Posted by ArtBasketSara]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:47:34 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:01:41 -0800 The Stranger
I'm not a fan, but the Pokemon series has been very successful.
Posted by Mattini]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:59:00 -0800 The Stranger Posted by DeaconBlues]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:54:32 -0800 The Stranger
i too found moon to be subject of overhype. i thought it was in the ok-good range, definitely not in the home run range. mortal kombat, however, is definitely in that home run range.
Posted by captain underpants]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:44:32 -0800 The Stranger
The target audience of the video game market will shell out whatever it costs to see these shitty movies. The movie producers don't need to make it good, they just need the rights to the video game's title to be profitable.
Posted by Urgutha Forka]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:38:10 -0800 The Stranger Posted by DeaconBlues]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:35:07 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Will in Seattle]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:32:05 -0800 The Stranger
It could be a fun movie, especially if it's in 3D.

Will critics like it? Nope. Will the audience care? Nope. Will it do record box office? Probably.
Posted by Will in Seattle]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:29:58 -0800 The Stranger Posted by nicholaus]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:29:37 -0800 The Stranger
I'm guessing that the only thing that would work for the likely desired film trilogy to translate for audiences is a condensed version of the story of Arthas:

http://www.wowwiki.com/Arthas_Menethil

Film 1: hero, champion, knight, versus the undead zombie plague threatening his land. End with Stratholme's fall, and tie it into the fall of Lordaeron altogether somehow, since you need that. Brutal, bittersweet end, highlighting the corruption of him already underway that others can't see, and the whispers of the Lich King in his fracturing mind. As much a horror story as a fantasy film, like the best Warcraft stories. This would be the hardest to build into a coherent and doesn't-suck film. All the major people like Tiorin, the Kirin Tor people, Jaina, etc. need to be here. I suppose work Thrall in.... somehow.

Film 2: Mal Ganis. Frostmourne. Lich King. Quel'thalas. The Scourge. The iconic CGI film where Arthas walks back into Lordaeron with the falling roses. Add in him putting on The Famous Armor. Everyone crapping their pants when they all realize the big surprise of who/what he is now. Dum dum dum.

Film 3: The whole Northrend thing and Frozen Throne story (taking the ring to Mount Doom) while the Scourge goes South (War of the Ring). It could work.

Yes, someone will cry that they should do the very, very good Thrall story, or a hundred others. Which would be more accessible for a $300+ million box office per film? I think just Arthas.
Posted by Joe Szilagyi]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:25:22 -0800 The Stranger
Seems like most slog polls these days are ruined by witty commentary in the options.
Posted by cliche]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:23:45 -0800 The Stranger
There are a lot of stories there and there is a lot of freedom. The kung fu pandas you speak of (Pandaran is the name of the race) were actually created as an April Fools joke many years ago. When the fanbase decided they loved the concept, Pandarans became canon.

I don't know from where they will pull this move from, but there are several fairly incredible storylines in the universe. There are also a myriad of godawful ones that will likely be chosen.

I feel no excitement for this movie.
Posted by Pick1]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:16:08 -0800 The Stranger games do the exact same thing, and this is what cynical producers try to translate to the screen.

Maybe we'll see a good video game movie someday, but video games themselves need to grow up first before they expect to be represented well in other mediums.
Posted by Zebes]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:11:34 -0800 The Stranger
Anyway, this will probably suck.
Posted by DeaconBlues]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:11:28 -0800 The Stranger