io9 
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San Francisco, 3:29 AM
Mon Nov 9
12 posts in the last 24 hours
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08/10/09
08/10/09
08/11/09
08/10/09
i hope that y'all like pork, cause speilberg is about to ham it up
this shit will be soo corny
08/11/09
08/11/09
That's just not kosher.
08/10/09
08/10/09
08/10/09
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08/10/09
As for finding an actor willing to take on the role, well, first of all if you've read the book the script is adapted from, he's not wearing a helmet for "90%" of the movie. Secondly, there's recent precedent for actors taking on roles in which they are almost, if not totally obscured, like Hugo Weaving in V for Vendetta, Ray Park in LOTR and GI Joe, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt in GI Joe, and Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (I still can't watch that movie, see Joker, and recognize Ledger.) Now, obviously, those aren't typical A-List actors, but would the Master Chief character require one? He's conscripted into the UNSC at age 6, so he has no past. After training, his entire life consists of his job. There's no wife, there's no kids, he only interacts with military personnel, the Cortana AI, and hordes of soon to be dead aliens. I don't need to see who he is, it's not relevant. Master Chief isn't an alter-ego and the MJOLNIR armor isn't a costume to hide his identity, it's who he is.
Hell, Darth Vader, one of the most iconic characters in movie history, was David Prowse in the suit, James Earl Jones doing the voice, and Sebastian Shaw in his dying moments. You could even throw in Bob Anderson for all of the lightsaber fight scenes. Still not going to count Hayden Christensen though...
08/10/09
08/10/09
08/10/09
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08/10/09
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08/10/09
Now that a I think about it, there wasn't much good about anything in that movie, but that scene was the worst!
08/10/09
08/10/09
I'm pretty sure I remember seeing Prowse credited in the movies, though I could be mistaken, and I still have to disagree with you about Chief - yes, he's one of the most iconic video game characters today, but all he really is, is a voice of a guy in a suit. Maybe I'm an outlier, but as a fan of the Halo series (games/books/etc) I really don't care who the actor is, I'm okay with it being some random guy in a suit with someone else, the big name if necessary, doing a voice.
08/10/09
08/10/09
so you think GI Joe is a great movie? After all, it's #1 at the moment and saw a considerable leap in sales from Friday to Saturday. I thought it was alright, but I also think of the people who bought those 25 million copies of the games, there's enough who will go see it regardless to make it worthwhile in the eyes of the studio to release it.
08/10/09
08/10/09
And I just couldn't stand to have the helmet come off and find out Master Chief is a chick. Once was enough.
08/10/09
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08/10/09
It was all in jest, I was highlighting the fact that we don't need a movie that provides flashbacks to the Chief's formative years or a love story (where one participant isn't an AI). But Hollywood...
And of course the helmet coming off was in reference to one Samus Aran. It was a painful revelation back in the days when girls couldn't be cool.
08/10/09
08/10/09
I know. I went out on a limb.
One (seemingly) good thing has come from this mess though: District 9. The mech catching the rocket out of the sky is still one of the coolest things I've seen. I hope it exceeds my expectations.
08/10/09
07/19/09
07/19/09
07/19/09
I agree, GI Joe looks bad, but you can't place blame entirely on the person who writes the script. The director and producers are also at fault.
As you can see, he isn't obviously what makes or breaks a movie. He wrote a good script for Pirates, and Pirates was well directed. I'm sure he wrote a...worse, but not horrible script, for GI Joe, and it got directed by the piece of shit Sommers, whose last movie was, ugh, Van Helsing. Sure, his Mummy movies started good, but they got worse and worse.
Just saying. I, for one, think the fact that this guy is a HUGE fan of Halo is a good thing. It's better than hiring a writer who doesn't give a shit and just wants to get a paycheck. This guy wrote an entire movie script, for free, because he loves Halo. Even if it ends up sucking, it would at least be accurate. And I think if they get the story of Halo accurate, it can't suck. The story is just incredibly crafted. Sure, not original. But well defined and thought out.
So just give it a chance, and do some research before you bash. It would have saved me a lot of time.
07/19/09
07/19/09
But then nothing for ages.....Then suddenly Max Pain comes out. Its crap in every way. Not remotely loyal to the game, unless you count a leather jacket and shotgun!! And this revelation brought me on to a disturbing fact. Most computer games ive played either borrow heavily from the sci-fi movie/film genre or they supprise us with intellegent and new concepts that we would love to see on the silver screen. But the worrying and disturbing fact is most computer game to film..films, have frankly been shit. Why is this? Does the studio not feel the crossover genre should get its well deserved makeover. Are they handing game/film concepts to shitty writters and directors (Uwe Boll has masacred a few) and hoping for the best? I just cant place my finger on it. Its not like you can argue that game concepts are unfilmable because some of the cgi cutscenes are movie quality (see Star Wars MMO). So why has such a large game liscence been handed over to the writter of GI JOE...God knows! I want to disbelieve its about the quick cash in..but im going to have to bow to the fact that it probably is!! Especially with ODST and Reach on the way!
That said, with all the remakes and reimaginings of original material being done (this i the worst concept in the history of bad concepts), why dont they start to fall back on good computer games with great original storys and really truely put some effort and cash into this sub genre. Hollywood will get its money back in spades....just look at the computer game fanbase..its bigger than an interplanetary war!!!
07/19/09
As for why video game franchises are just handed off to incapable production teams, it's probably all a concern of money. If you want to take your favorite video game and make it into a good film, it will likely take a lot of money to do so. Halo, for instance, would require millions of dollars of effects work. To make a good Halo movie would likely cost the studio $100 million.
As of yet, there haven't been any very successful video game to movie crossovers. This means a studio is not going to be willing to shell out $100 million, because there is no record of success, and that's a big bomb. Further, no competent director is likely to attach himself/herself to the project for the same reason. Good directors are just as good at discerning what films can be successful as they are at actually directing.
So if we really want to see a good video game movie, we'll probably have to see a bunch of shit movies first. Once one or two are well-received, studios will start treating video games the same way they're treating comics. And if this is the way its going to happen, you probably don't want the Halo movie to be made soon. Don't put your best franchises on the front-lines.
07/20/09
07/19/09
07/19/09
07/19/09
Also, "It’s like our generation’s Star Wars"? Hyperbole much?
07/19/09
07/19/09