🚀 go-pugleaf

On 6 Jun 2016 15:45:22 GMT, Urbin <urbin@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>Well, I mentioned it some weeks ago, the Warcraft movie launched over here
>last week, but I only go around to seeing it today. It pretty much met my
>expectations (i.e. it was about as bad as I expected).

Thanks for letting us know your thoughts; I've been wondering what
people think of it but most forum threads on MMO-C and the like are a
bit too polarised to get much actual idea!

>The only good thing about the movie that I can say is that they really
>managed to make almost all of the places instantly recognizable to anyone
>who has played vanilla WoW or BC. I also like the little side jokes they
>added to the movie (a lonely murloc spearing a fish guuurrrrgling while the
>party crosses a bridge; a blue/red fishing bobber floating in a river).

Ah great, I was hoping for little touches like that :-) It wouldn't be
warcraft without a murloc somewhere, glad there's one!

>Other than that, most everything is pretty cheesy. The Orcs are so overblown
>in their muscularity (basically the Horde consists of the Hulk multiplied)
>that they're a caricature of themselves, the dwarves and elves have brief
>appeareances only and look totally out of place. The story is roughly based
>on the lore but butchered so a love interest could be added and I think they
>picked every lousy actor they managed to find.

Hehe I'd heard the story was altered a bit, necessary I guess but
still disappointing; I'd seen enough photos of the orcs to have an
idea what to expect... oh well. 

>In short, whereas Peter Jackson managed to bring Lord of the Rings to the
>screen in a way that - at least for me - portraied what the books and
>previous artwork had instilled in my perfectly, Warcraft: The Beginning left
>me totally untouched, any of the the cut scenes in game (and much of the
>quest dialogs that were part of the game play) had more depthy and
>credibility.

That's a shame, the ingame cutscenes are often so well-done that I'd
love to see a whole movie done that way, by Blizzard themselves!

>I expected things to end up like that and I still had to go see. I doubt
>that there is going to be a sequel, it's the movies second week and there
>were four (!) people in the theatre. I don't think we'll miss much.

Lol, if there's THAT few going then I actually might give it a try...
I hate crowds and as a result have never even been to a cinema, can't
imagine any fun in trying to watch something while surrounded by other
people, but if there's only a few then it'll be less bad. 

I was expecting to have to wait till the DVD release to see it - maybe
that'll come sooner too if it's not that good... although I'd like it
to be successful enough to have a sequel, as I think the whole
Arthas/Scourge story would make a great film. Probably a better one
than trying to create a plot out of the original Warcraft, which was
really just "evil orcs invade good humans".

On 6 Jun 2016 15:45:22 GMT, Urbin <urbin@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>The only good thing about the movie that I can say is that they really
>managed to make almost all of the places instantly recognizable to anyone
>who has played vanilla WoW or BC. I also like the little side jokes they
>added to the movie (a lonely murloc spearing a fish guuurrrrgling while the
>party crosses a bridge; a blue/red fishing bobber floating in a river).

My other half downloaded a dodgy copy of it over the weekend, we
decided the quality wasn't good enough to want to watch it that way
(rather see the details properly!) but we saw enough of the scenery to
totally agree there, it looked amazing, and much of it was totally
recognisable :-) Karazhan was a bit bigger and more impressive than I
imagined, but otherwise pretty much everything we saw while skipping
through and not really watching (trying to get an idea of the scenery
without spoiling everything) was accurate, and loved the murloc ;-) 

Hope the DVD comes out realtively early, I want to watch it now but
hate crowds so cinema isn't ideal, plus from the clips we saw half the
actors seem to mumble most their lines, so I'll likely need subtitles
to actually follow it properly (part of why I don't watch films is I
can't follow half of what's being said and I can't figure out who's
who... it's hard to enjoy a story when you've no idea what's going on
:-P ); I'll very much buy the DVD though, seeing the game come to life
is pretty awesome, whether it's a great film or not. I saw a video
clip of Chris Metzen wandering around in Stormwind a few weeks back,
that must've been amazing for him seeing the world he created like
that!

I think it was Catriona R <catrion...@totalise.co.uk> that wrote
something like...

>
>On 6 Jun 2016 15:45:22 GMT, Urbin <urbin@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
>>The only good thing about the movie that I can say is that they really
>>managed to make almost all of the places instantly recognizable to anyone
>>who has played vanilla WoW or BC. I also like the little side jokes they
>>added to the movie (a lonely murloc spearing a fish guuurrrrgling while the
>>party crosses a bridge; a blue/red fishing bobber floating in a river).
>
>My other half downloaded a dodgy copy of it over the weekend, we
>decided the quality wasn't good enough to want to watch it that way
>(rather see the details properly!) but we saw enough of the scenery to
>totally agree there, it looked amazing, and much of it was totally
>recognisable :-) Karazhan was a bit bigger and more impressive than I
>imagined, but otherwise pretty much everything we saw while skipping
>through and not really watching (trying to get an idea of the scenery
>without spoiling everything) was accurate, and loved the murloc ;-) 
>
>Hope the DVD comes out realtively early, I want to watch it now but
>hate crowds so cinema isn't ideal, plus from the clips we saw half the
>actors seem to mumble most their lines, so I'll likely need subtitles
>to actually follow it properly (part of why I don't watch films is I
>can't follow half of what's being said and I can't figure out who's
>who... it's hard to enjoy a story when you've no idea what's going on
>:-P ); I'll very much buy the DVD though, seeing the game come to life
>is pretty awesome, whether it's a great film or not. I saw a video
>clip of Chris Metzen wandering around in Stormwind a few weeks back,
>that must've been amazing for him seeing the world he created like
>that!

Howard Taylor gave it a pretty good review.  His point of view was
from someone whose last Warcraft Game was the 2nd RTS.
So it sounds like it'd be a fun enough film so long as you're not
carrying too much baggage from the game storylines.

I read somewhere that in China it was absolutely massive opening week.

I'd guess it might let you down if you'd gotten your hopes up for
something super awesome, but otherwise it sounds like a reasonable
solid film.  I'm guessing I should be able to go watch it in the
cinema's this Sunday, so I may have a more accurate opinion next week.
:)



Ashen Shugar
-- 
The lions sing and the hills take flight.
The moon by day, and the sun by night.
Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool.
Let the Lord of Chaos rule!

On Tue, 14 Jun 2016 08:02:52 GMT, Ashen Shugar wrote:
>  I'm guessing I should be able to go watch it in the
>  cinema's this Sunday, so I may have a more accurate opinion next week.

I'm looking forward to hearing what you thought of it.

Cheers
Urbin

-- 
Dun Morogh-EU (PvE)   | Taalas   (85), Shaman      | Juran      (65), Druid
Urbin  (100), Hunter  | Sunh     (81), Priest      | Vargal     (42), Warrior
Greeta  (90), Rogue   | Surana   (75), Mage        | Gera       (26), Paladin
Mymule  (85), Warlock | Kordosch (75), Deathknight | Tunyatgong (12), Monk

In message <ds91m8...@mid.individual.net> 
  Catriona R <catrion...@totalise.co.uk> wrote:

> On 6 Jun 2016 15:45:22 GMT, Urbin <urbin@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>>The only good thing about the movie that I can say is that they really
>>managed to make almost all of the places instantly recognizable to anyone
>>who has played vanilla WoW or BC. I also like the little side jokes they
>>added to the movie (a lonely murloc spearing a fish guuurrrrgling while the
>>party crosses a bridge; a blue/red fishing bobber floating in a river).

> My other half downloaded a dodgy copy of it over the weekend, we
> decided the quality wasn't good enough to want to watch it that way
> (rather see the details properly!) but we saw enough of the scenery to
> totally agree there, it looked amazing, and much of it was totally
> recognisable :-) Karazhan was a bit bigger and more impressive than I
> imagined, but otherwise pretty much everything we saw while skipping
> through and not really watching (trying to get an idea of the scenery
> without spoiling everything) was accurate, and loved the murloc ;-) 

The scenery was very well done. There is no question where the action is
taking place, and even someone as lore-adverse as I am knew some of the
names. A couple of the names.

> Hope the DVD comes out realtively early,

Probably this fall. Rumor has it it will be one of the first UltraHD
BluRays.

-- 
Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.

In message <575fb8b8...@News.Individual.NET> 
  Ashen Shugar <death...@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
> I think it was Catriona R <catrion...@totalise.co.uk> that wrote
> something like...

>>
>>On 6 Jun 2016 15:45:22 GMT, Urbin <urbin@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>>The only good thing about the movie that I can say is that they really
>>>managed to make almost all of the places instantly recognizable to anyone
>>>who has played vanilla WoW or BC. I also like the little side jokes they
>>>added to the movie (a lonely murloc spearing a fish guuurrrrgling while the
>>>party crosses a bridge; a blue/red fishing bobber floating in a river).
>>
>>My other half downloaded a dodgy copy of it over the weekend, we
>>decided the quality wasn't good enough to want to watch it that way
>>(rather see the details properly!) but we saw enough of the scenery to
>>totally agree there, it looked amazing, and much of it was totally
>>recognisable :-) Karazhan was a bit bigger and more impressive than I
>>imagined, but otherwise pretty much everything we saw while skipping
>>through and not really watching (trying to get an idea of the scenery
>>without spoiling everything) was accurate, and loved the murloc ;-) 
>>
>>Hope the DVD comes out realtively early, I want to watch it now but
>>hate crowds so cinema isn't ideal, plus from the clips we saw half the
>>actors seem to mumble most their lines, so I'll likely need subtitles
>>to actually follow it properly (part of why I don't watch films is I
>>can't follow half of what's being said and I can't figure out who's
>>who... it's hard to enjoy a story when you've no idea what's going on
>>:-P ); I'll very much buy the DVD though, seeing the game come to life
>>is pretty awesome, whether it's a great film or not. I saw a video
>>clip of Chris Metzen wandering around in Stormwind a few weeks back,
>>that must've been amazing for him seeing the world he created like
>>that!

> Howard Taylor gave it a pretty good review.  His point of view was
> from someone whose last Warcraft Game was the 2nd RTS.
> So it sounds like it'd be a fun enough film so long as you're not
> carrying too much baggage from the game storylines.

> I read somewhere that in China it was absolutely massive opening week.

Yes. It killed in China. $144 million of its $305 million has come from
China. The next highest country total is Russia at $19 million.
(Boxofficemojo lists Russia as Russia - CIS, I don't know what CIS is,
unless they are still combining former Soviet states into one box office
number?)

> I'd guess it might let you down if you'd gotten your hopes up for
> something super awesome, but otherwise it sounds like a reasonable
> solid film.  I'm guessing I should be able to go watch it in the
> cinema's this Sunday, so I may have a more accurate opinion next week.

Like I said elsewhere, I saw it with 12 people only 4 of whom had ever
played WoW and everyone enjoyed it. No one said it was great, but no one
hated it.

-- 
"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial."
Irvin S. Cobb

On 6/14/2016 11:35 AM, Lewis wrote:
> In message <575fb8b8...@News.Individual.NET>
>   Ashen Shugar <death...@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>> I think it was Catriona R <catrion...@totalise.co.uk> that wrote
>> something like...
>
>>>
>>> On 6 Jun 2016 15:45:22 GMT, Urbin <urbin@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>>> The only good thing about the movie that I can say is that they really
>>>> managed to make almost all of the places instantly recognizable to anyone
>>>> who has played vanilla WoW or BC. I also like the little side jokes they
>>>> added to the movie (a lonely murloc spearing a fish guuurrrrgling while the
>>>> party crosses a bridge; a blue/red fishing bobber floating in a river).
>>>
>>> My other half downloaded a dodgy copy of it over the weekend, we
>>> decided the quality wasn't good enough to want to watch it that way
>>> (rather see the details properly!) but we saw enough of the scenery to
>>> totally agree there, it looked amazing, and much of it was totally
>>> recognisable :-) Karazhan was a bit bigger and more impressive than I
>>> imagined, but otherwise pretty much everything we saw while skipping
>>> through and not really watching (trying to get an idea of the scenery
>>> without spoiling everything) was accurate, and loved the murloc ;-)
>>>
>>> Hope the DVD comes out realtively early, I want to watch it now but
>>> hate crowds so cinema isn't ideal, plus from the clips we saw half the
>>> actors seem to mumble most their lines, so I'll likely need subtitles
>>> to actually follow it properly (part of why I don't watch films is I
>>> can't follow half of what's being said and I can't figure out who's
>>> who... it's hard to enjoy a story when you've no idea what's going on
>>> :-P ); I'll very much buy the DVD though, seeing the game come to life
>>> is pretty awesome, whether it's a great film or not. I saw a video
>>> clip of Chris Metzen wandering around in Stormwind a few weeks back,
>>> that must've been amazing for him seeing the world he created like
>>> that!
>
>> Howard Taylor gave it a pretty good review.  His point of view was
>> from someone whose last Warcraft Game was the 2nd RTS.
>> So it sounds like it'd be a fun enough film so long as you're not
>> carrying too much baggage from the game storylines.
>
>> I read somewhere that in China it was absolutely massive opening week.
>
> Yes. It killed in China. $144 million of its $305 million has come from
> China. The next highest country total is Russia at $19 million.
> (Boxofficemojo lists Russia as Russia - CIS, I don't know what CIS is,
> unless they are still combining former Soviet states into one box office
> number?)
>
>> I'd guess it might let you down if you'd gotten your hopes up for
>> something super awesome, but otherwise it sounds like a reasonable
>> solid film.  I'm guessing I should be able to go watch it in the
>> cinema's this Sunday, so I may have a more accurate opinion next week.
>
> Like I said elsewhere, I saw it with 12 people only 4 of whom had ever
> played WoW and everyone enjoyed it. No one said it was great, but no one
> hated it.
>
I haven't played now in years, but I got talked into going with my old 
raiding tank who still lives nearby.  I had no expectations going in as 
not to be disappointed.  It was ok more or less.   I more enjoyed 
picking out things that I know would have no meaning to those who have 
never seen the film.  My main that I raided with was my mage, so I did 
enjoy some of that aspect like the ice block and such.  He managed to 
cast a portal in the middle of a fight without getting interrupted which 
I chuckled at.  I did appreciate the sheeping of the guard and cried 
bulls#!t when he created a portal that exited right where he wanted to 
go in Stormwind...He should have come out in the mage tower and had to 
run his ass off like the rest of us had to do...heh.  As a former player 
I would have like to seen an elaborated Dal, which at the setting of the 
movie should have been at it's old location, and not in Northrend as 
well as an expanded Ironforge....A quick visit to the auction house 
would have been amusing.  Maybe the expanded Blueray set will have some 
extended / cut scenes....Overall, it was an enjoyable trip down memory 
lane for me, but can see how some people might have been "meh" about 
it...Good to see there are a still the few stalwarts posting every now 
and then!  I know your still alive!  :)

On 6/14/2016 2:19 PM, IYM wrote:
>   I more enjoyed picking out things that I know would have no meaning to
> those who have never seen the film.

I meant "to those who never played the game"...brain fart...

On Tue, 14 Jun 2016 15:35:21 -0000 (UTC), Lewis wrote:
>  (Boxofficemojo lists Russia as Russia - CIS, I don't know what CIS is,
>  unless they are still combining former Soviet states into one box office
>  number?)

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) formed when the former Soviet
Union (now called Russia) totally dissolved in 1991. At its conception it
consisted of ten former Soviet Republics: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and
Uzbekistan. (www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/cis.htm)

Cheers
Urbin

-- 
Dun Morogh-EU (PvE)   | Taalas   (85), Shaman      | Juran      (65), Druid
Urbin  (100), Hunter  | Sunh     (81), Priest      | Vargal     (42), Warrior
Greeta  (90), Rogue   | Surana   (75), Mage        | Gera       (26), Paladin
Mymule  (85), Warlock | Kordosch (75), Deathknight | Tunyatgong (12), Monk

On Tuesday, June 14, 2016 at 12:22:39 PM UTC-6, IYM wrote:
> On 6/14/2016 2:19 PM, IYM wrote:
> >   I more enjoyed picking out things that I know would have no meaning to
> > those who have never seen the film.
> 
> I meant "to those who never played the game"...brain fart...

I went in there kind of the same way. I thought the trailers looked bad and the initial reviews were expected.

It was entertaining enough to spot artifacts from the games amidst a largely isolated WoW-esque plot, which was surprisingly engaging.

You won't see me seeing this much, but I think the film has its advantages in 3D because I think some of the spotty actor-compositing amongst CG that made your eyes itch in the trailer is minimized when you see it through the glasses.

The cinematography was suspect in some parts, jumping around scenes and locations for only moments as if they say "okay, enough here, we really need to plop the watcher out to this event" as if you were literally in the middle of a quest chain in the game. It was like they made a concerted effort to punctuate different scenes as minimally as possible in fear of losing the viewer.

And maybe that was a good thing. The material is anything but mainstream, and they also have to deal with a boulder in terms of appearing to improv a LotR/Harry Potter/Mystical fiction world-type movie experience.

I had seen rumblings that it was on par with Battlefield: Earth, which almost gouged me out of a viewing (my girlfriend actually talked me into it), but I can safely say that it was in no way near that magnitude of failure. The movie did just fine.