Ender's Game (SPOILER ALERT)

[filkertom]

Yesterday I posted this on Facebook:

So, tomorrow I'm going with Anne to see Ender's Game.

We're going to make a day of it: iMAX, lunch at Uno Chicago Grill. I've never read the book, and it's one of Anne's favorites, and we're both EXTREMELY aware of the issues (including Orson Scott Card's various issues), and are going to follow up with donations to LGBT causes.

I am going in with no prejudice against the movie itself. I will let you know if I think it's actually a good movie or not. And, bluntly, I'll spoil the hell out of it, unless I think it's such a must-see that I think you, erm, must see it.

Suffice it to say, I'm rather relaxed about this one. As opposed to THOR: THE DARK WORLD, about which I am SO FREAKIN' JACKED....

What upcoming films have you revved up? Obvious choices include THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE, BIRTH OF THE LIVING DEAD, and THE HOBBIT 2: DRACONIC BOOGALOO.

And today I posted this:

Okay. Spoilers ahead.

Ender's Game.

I liked it a lot.

If you like the book, you should definitely see it, as it's apparently as close as we're likely to get to a good adaptation. Anne says some things were compressed or truncated, but it's largely all in there.

Casting: excellent. Acting: excellent. Special effects: really really good. Script: tight as a drum, neither dumbing things down nor explaining any more than necessary. Direction: solid. Themes: covered concisely and mostly completely.

Ben Kingsley: very good. (These things are always up in the air with Sir Ben. It's about a one-third chance for disaster: For every Gandhi and Dave, there's a The Sound of Thunder.)

Harrison Ford: extremely good. You watch him slide into Jack D. Ripper-hood, and the confrontation between him and Ender is brief and perfect.

Asa Butterfield: In the grand tradition of Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Anne Hathaway, Haley Joel Osment, and Christina Ricci, the kid had to carry a movie, and he shrugged, hoisted it up on his shoulders, and that was that. Just marvelous. Thanks to him, I was invested in the movie in the first two minutes, and easily rode that to the end.

If you want to protest the movie, make a donation equal to your ticket price + popcorn to your favorite LGBT organization. Because, as much as I despise Card's sanctimonious hatred and uncut bullshit, the movie of his novel Ender's Game is pretty darn good.

Okay. Da Rules: first, normal Friends Of Tom rules -- be polite, link if ya got 'em. Comment ONLY on the movie -- not on why you decided to see it or not see it, not on OSC's mad homophobic rantings, not on how anyone who sees it obviously sucks as a human being. I will block FIRST OFFENSES -- no messing around on this one.

(Oh, and, Uno Chicago Grill. We had a Prima Pepperoni pizza and salmon with a barbecue sauce, and we decided to split everything, and the waitress brought the portions out split for us, and the farro side salad was excellent, and it was all really great.)

Thoughts?