Teh Golden Compass

[phyco126]

Can't wait, but I figured this would happen.

http://www.hisdarkmaterials.org/news/hi ... er-compass

But Donahue's protest got the attention of James Dobson's evangelical Christian behemoth Focus on the Family, the moral activists who review films and books for an audience of 5 million -- though even that group's protests of Fox Searchlight's 2004 film on pioneering sex researcher "Kinsey" and the TV cartoon "SpongeBob Squarepants" didn't significantly affect viewership of either. That group expects to take a stand on the film and the trilogy next month.

HEY! I work there!

[ilovemyguitar]

Wait... they have an issue with Spongebob Squarepants? What sort of issue could they possibly have with Spongebob?

[phyco126]

It's square? *shrugs*

FotF is, uh, an intresting place to work. I love working there, but it has its moments.

[ilovemyguitar]

You work for these people? In what capacity?

[Ozone]

LMFAO!

[phyco126]

I'm teh securitz gardz

[ilovemyguitar]

So, if I show up with some of my friends to picket the place, you'll be the person who tells us to go away?


... ... ...


ROAD TRIP!

[Werefrog]

Do they give you tasers to keep the college students in their place?

[phyco126]

No Werefrog, I am a security officer, not a cop. =P

We are allowed to carry guns (not this site, they have their own in-house gun carrying security as well as cops on campus) but only at certain sites. Everything else is illegal. If I buy a pair of kinky handcuffs and I take them with me, I can lose my job for having an illegal weapon, and even face prosecution by the city.

No large flashlites, battons, pepperspray, handcuffs, ropes, string, taserz, etc as its all considered illegal weapons (for us at least. =/) That's the laws that we have to abide by, not the clients rules.

And Ilove, we won't tell you to go away, the real security that carry guns will, and so will the police.

[NallOne]

....you work for Focus on the Family?

That makes me sad.

And for crying out loud leave The Golden Compass alone. They have already BUTCHERED the story - No mention of the Church, Christianity or anything of the like. That's the entire POINT of the books.

I'll still see the movie - mainly for armored Polar Bears - but I'm not expecting to like it. Too much taken out of the books.

...and THIS is why it was taken out. Because we can make movies bashing everything under the sun, but if someone makes a movie even subjectively bashing organized religion, the evangelicals call out a Jihad on it.

Bleh.

[Old Jericho]

Quite honestly, the evangelicals aren't the reason the movie is so heavily altered: it's the Catholic Church. While FotF may not make a huge effect by picketing the movie, the Catholic League probably can.

But seriously, while I don't agree with Philip Pullman's views, I think that freedom of speech and fidelity to source material is much more important in this case.

[MetalFRO]

I'm a born-again Christian, and my wife & I will probably go see at least the first one. We like fantasy movies, and this certainly qualifies, even if the guy has an agenda. As long as we know that going in, we won't be disappointed if there's more overt references in there than we expected. Besides, I'm not going to lose my faith just by seeing a movie based on a book written by a vehement atheist.

And what in the world could FotF possibly have against Spongebob? I'll have to look that one up...

[Werefrog]

Oh, that's an easy one. They think that Spongebob is gay and pushing some sort of gay agenda unto children. Absolutely insane, isn't it?

[phyco126]

Oh, by the way... I saw the movie Friday 7th (release day here in the springs) and saw the 10:40 am show (Went home, changed out of uniform, got my little brother dressed, then hauled over to the theater!)

It was... disappointing. I'm sure it was good for those who never read the books, but for those of us that did... *cry*

Seriously, I'm about ready to shoot some executives in Hollywood. Appearently, the second script that was written was very good, fairly faithful to the books, extra scenes inserted, some taken out, but overall every fan's dream movie.

The third (and final) script was heavily edited, shortened, beaten, dowsed with gasoline and lit on fire. What the heck happened? Apparently, for a 180 million dollar budget, everyone was afraid to make it too long. Freaks.

If someone doesn't want to sit through a 4 hour movie, they can just go away. Titanic was well over 2 hours. So was Gangs of New York. So was LotR. All very popular block buster hits.

OMG!!! A movie that is so true to the book it will last 3 hours? RUSSIA WILL LAUNCH TEH NUKZ AT US!!!!! LOLOlolololoLOLOLWQWQOLOLQWEOORLO4OOO9O0OL0L0L0L0L0L!!!!

Bunch of new aged dictator communist pricks is what they are.

The acting was a little dry for the performances that the allstars usually give in other movies, but not too bad. My overall biggest beef is 1. Some small yet VERY important plot twists where changes, 2. TOO. FREAKING. SHORT!

Now if the Director's Cut is truely put for sale like the director is planning, then maybe my disappointment with the extended scenes will be lowered, but until then... no.

I mean, I sat through the movie smacking my freaking head at the things they changed, which made the story not nearly as powerful as the books are.

[GhaleonOne]

I saw it last Sunday night. I read some about the whole religion aspect before going in, but if you didn't know about that going into the movie, you wouldn't even have a clue there were undertones.

As for the movie, it was alright. I'd rate it above Eragon, but below Narnia, and way below Lord of the Rings. For the record, it underperformed by quite a bit at the box office. Whether that was from the boycotting or not, who knows, though I'd be inclined to think not, considering how little of an effect previous boycotting from controversial movies was.

And personally, even as a Christian, I wish the movie was faithful to the books. Instead of renaming things, etc. they should have left it alone. It would be truer to the source material, plus, it's not deceptive in it's nature.

[phyco126]

You sure G1? I mean, the books don't attempt to hint at things. It flat out tells it.

The church is the church, flat out and told, there is a pope and everything.

Still, I read the trilogy twice and The Golden Compass at least 4 times, and I still think the plot and story is very well done... extremly well done... heck, it's my favorite trilogy for a reason. Then again, I am against organized religion too.

Still, I still believe in God, Jesus, and blasphemies and all that. I still love the book, and I still loved the "War on God" plot that led to "God's" death.

[GhaleonOne]

I think you misunderstand me. What I'm saying is, they shouldn't have changed all of these things for the sake of toning down the movie. To me, if parents take their kids to see the movie, and decide to get the books, they can be easily misled. At least if the movies are like the books, you know what you're getting and can decide.

Me personally, I'm a bit like you. It seems like a good fantasy story, and it's not like there haven't been plenty of RPGs where god is killed in the stories (granted, it's not nearly so blatant). I don't agree with the author on so many levels (first being his attitude towards C.S. Lewis), but a good fantasy is a good fantasy.

[AnimeJei]

The are doing that with a lot of these "book movies" like the last few Harry Potter movies... OoTP is one of the longest books yet it was the shortest of the movies. >< I think the movie would have been better if they kept a lot in it, should have been like 3 hrs. long.. but I know they enter kids sitting through a movie into their calculations when editing. I really have no prblem sitting through a movie that is 3 1/2 hours long as long as they keep it good and true to the books. Like LOTRs.. I am watching the Fellowship as I type this.. (I must have seen them all over 100 times). Many complained that Return of the King was too long but they left things out and could have easily been like 4 1/2 hours long, I would have been fine with that ^^ But if they are going to do these books they need to do them right and if possible...long!

[phyco126]

Well, The Golden Compass, and the other two books, really SHOULDN'T be made for kids, the books where written for basically teens and young adults. Trust me, the books are a bit graphical in some areas. Hell, even the movie showed the bear's jaw being completly ripped off his head and his tongue just dangling there.

G1, I understand. However, I won't hold a grudge against a book because of the author.

Still, in the books they make war against the church, and against Heaven itself. God, according to the books, had his power ripped from him because he became too old (the angel Metadon(?) took control of heaven.) However, the book hinted that the sin of Adam and Eve was actually good (and a result of the rebellion angels getting revenge against the Kingdom of Heaven.) The book hinted that Metadon might actually have had plans to have God killed himself (as he was a far strict and power hungry ruller anyway) after the war anyway (though God isn't innocent either, purposfully casting everyone who died into a netherworld of nothing.) The book also hinted that there was still plenty of room in the books for there to be a real God, the true God.

It's not like the books just say "God dies, deal with it." It allows for plenty of thinking, plenty of ideas, plenty of "what if's"

G1. by the way, they changed most of the religious overtones in the book because the studio wanted to make money on it, and everyone involved agreed that if they didn't it might not have done so well. Guess they should have contacted me, I was prepared to spend hundreds of dollars to see the movie as often as I could to do my part to get the other books made. Now I'm not so sure.