Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

I also liked Land of the Lost and The Happening. Do you have a problem with that? ;)

I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking it was a fun movie! Ebert's review was pretty spot on actually.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

I don't understand how anybody, ANYBODY, could like The Happening. What a terrible, terrible movie.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

Some people like terrible, terrible movies. It's their right too.
I didnt care for the Happening but at least it was laughable bad and better than LAdy in the Water.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

I was turned off by the trailer, but now I'm psyched. These are the kind of odds that make me want to jump into the game. White and I have been agreeing on an awful lot of stuff lately.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

I liked The Happening cause it was sooo bad. Like we started laughing uncontrollably through the serious death scenes.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

I understand people may like it because they feel it is "so bad its good", but that is no excuse for a once respected critic like Ebert to give it 3 stars (who likes it not because its so bad its good, but because he actually thinks its good!)

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

He liked the idea of the movie, it happens. (I've never seen it and don't intend to)

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

I don't think that Ebert should be discussing other critic's reviews of a movie in his review either. That's just seems unprofessional somehow and makes his opinions seem reactionary.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

I read his review. I think he mentioned other reviews in an effort of fairness, i.e., he kind of liked it but that might have been a very idiosyncratic response since a number of others hated it.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

Basically, I think this sounds correct. He's an odd duckling here. And so am I apparently.

And yes, I REALLY do like The Happening. To me it is good B-Movie fun with clever direction. And while it's my least favorite M. Night film, the almost equally panned Lady in the Water is one of my all time favorites. People have their tastes and those tastes do not always agree with each other (thereby, there exists differences of opinion). I happened to think Land of the Lost was silly, strange fun and I gather Ebert felt similarly. It's by no means a great film, or even a particularly good one, but it's creative and fun and ultimately it's worth watching for what it is.

Like Ebert said in his review I too got pleasure out of watching a film where literally the characters travel through a desert, forest, etc. as though nothing was weird about it. It's super... weird. And that can make an enjoyable experience. The direction in this movie was creative and that made it a lot more fun. The acting was also pretty good, if not amazing, with some good comedic moments sprinkled throughout the film. Some parts were great... other parts weren't.

If I had to single out a weakest link to this movie's success it's that is suffers by it's weak script. Whoever the two guys are wrote this movie's script - well, they didn't exactly do an amazing job. And some scenes do seem improvised in a way that you do wonder how bad the dialog was - because I'm betting it was bad.

Will Ferrell was actually pretty funny in this. I think it was one of his better roles in recent years. But then I have always been a fan, dating back to his SNL years. Though I'll be amoung the first to admit he's made some TERRIBLE movies (Bewitched being one of them). I also really liked Anna Friel in this. She was a great addition to the cast, with a solid tough character that seemed both strong and confident. As if that's not enough, as I mentioned earlier, she is absolutely gorgeous. Anyone who enjoyed her as Chuck on Pushing Daisies may find her performance reason enough to check this film out at least once.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

Any critic (or individual) is going to like films you don't like. Merely picking a few off the list and using them to trash the guy is patently unfair.

One thing about Ebert: even though I don't always agree with him I can generally read any of his reviews and based on the content have a good idea of whether I'd like the movie, regardless of his opinion. That, for me, is the mark of a good critic. The "star ratings" he gave on this movie or that are irrelevant.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

I look at Will and crack up so I will probably like this very much. What can I say I admit I'm a Will fanboy :D

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

Your description is exactly what I was thinking how this would play and why I want to see it... I can understand why people wont like it and why it will be panned, but Im a Ferrell and McBride mark so Ill support it based on that.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

Don't waste your money on this one, guys. Aside from a few scattered funny lines, and Anna Friel in shorts, this movie is utterly boring. Danny McBride pretty much corners the market on the humor, although Will Ferrell certainly tries and generally does not succeed. The Matt Lauer interview might have been funny had it not been shown pretty much in its entirety in the trailer. Just a thoroughly bland experience.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

Is it worth seeing for about $1? I have the $7.50 off movie cash from buying the Land of the Lost complete series last week.

Not really one of the movies this summer that I was really looking forward to, but if it's a decent time waster, then I may make the trip.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

Reading this quote from DVDTalk's Brian Orndorf disappoints me.

I wanted to take my 5 year old to see this since he has loved the original Land Of The Lost since he could sit up to watch TV (just like I was growing up...I loved this show from the time I was a toddler), but it looks like he will have to skip it. Why in the world did they go this way with the movie? The original show has tons to make fun of and plenty of humor could be mined out of it without making it a mindless crass film.

Granted I love mindless crass films but I agree with Orndorf that it is puzzling why they would do it for this show.

Thanks for the warning Brian! You saved me 10 bucks for his ticket and the uncomfortableness of a lot of strange questions that could be asked of me. :)

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

Only YOU can prevent forest fires.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

You mean $1 plus the price of gas? :)

And I was also surprised by the amount of sexual humor in the film.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

I caught an early matinee of this today.

As this thread has already stated, I would've loved for a serious attempt at a Land of the Lost movie. We did not get that here, I would still like for that idea to be made, but whatever.

However, with that in mind, I was entertained by what we ended up getting. It reminded me a lot of Evolution. A mainstream sci-fi comedy that's too "weird" for the mainstream that six people besides myself will enjoy and it will tank as of day one at the box office.

Yes, the film is very ballsy with it's PG-13 rating. It's not for kids at all despite Universal hinting it's advertising that way. There's gay, sex and masturbation jokes galore with a few ethnic slurs thrown in for good measure. They sometimes feel out of place in the realm of a sci-fi comedy based off a seventies kid show, but I still laughed as I'm a cold hearted bastard. However, if you're a fan of Ferrell or McBride's humor, you'll enjoy it.

At least catch a matinee or rent it on Blu-ray just to hear Matt Lauer call Will Ferrell a son of a bitch.

One additional note, Giacchino has put together another great score. This man can do no wrong.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

I saw a lot of kids at the show I saw today.

Didn't enjoy it. I didn't think it was weird. Just predictable and made for Will Ferrell fanatics.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

:eyebrow:

Sorry, I really couldn't resist. I'm that helpless on that subject.

I agree with the comparison made to Evolution, Matthew. Both are weird movies, quirky, and not really for the mainstream in general.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

I just got back from seeing this. It was probably the worst movie I've seen in the theater for at least 2 or 3 years. I'm pretty sure that in quite a few parts, the writers/director/actors were intentionally trying to make the plot and dialog so bad that it was funny, but it didn't even hit that note for me. I've enjoyed Danny McBride in everything he's done and Will Ferrell is usually amusing, at a minimum, but there was just nothing for them to do here. The dirty jokes were on a middle school level. The dialog was horrendous. The special effects were terrible and I have to disagree with Ebert's contention that they were done that way on purpose to add to the movie. All in all, I completely regret wasting my time with this instead of catching The Hangover or maybe Star Trek for a third time.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

I might give this a shot on DVD some day. I like Will Ferrel in some things (Stranger than Fiction, Winter Passing) and some of comedies aren't that bad (Elf, Anchorman) but I think that this was a serious poor choice of casting in this movie. It's like Jim Carey in Fun with Dick and Jane. FWDAJ could have been an excellent satire and an intelligent comedy, but they sign Jim Carey and they make him do the typical Jim Carey goofiness and it dragged the movie down.

Without seeing it, and basing it on clips I've seen and reviews I read, it's clear to me that Will Ferrel drags this movie down. First, there was no reason we needed some big goof ball type character in that situation. If they wanted to play it for laughs, Rick Marshall should have been played by a straight man and the comic relief played off of that. In the movie, I am expected to believe that a bumbling moron is a scientist who figures out how to get to other dimensions? Why have him be a scientist at all? He couldn't be a park ranger?

It's mainly because of him that I don't want to see it. It's going to take me some time to get over the fact that he's in it, and that it might have turned into a great movie if they weren't just writing gags for Will Ferrel to act like a big, tall moron. Kind of like how Brendan Frasier brought the suck to Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

Gonna check this out tonight. I am a Will Ferrell fanatic so if I don't like it it's because it was horrible.

Re: Land of the Lost Thread
 

Just got back from watching Land and although it wasn't awesome there were many laughs and I had a good time watching it. When watching these types of movies that all I can ask for.