Has anyone seen this yet? Iâm a bit disheartened that the reviews are panning it already â going to see it for myself and hope theyâre wrong!
I havenât yet seen it, but I think it all boils down to expectations. My initial impression after watching early trailers was a very âShort Circuitâ sort of movie, where a loveable robot finds his humanity. But from what Iâve read of reviews, it is more of a âRobocopâ blow up the bad guys oh and maybe get some feelings along the way sort of movie.
I quite liked District 9 and had some hopes for this one. But the NPR review I heard this morning was far and away the harshest Iâve ever heard from Kenneth Taran.
The BEST review Iâve seen had ârips off themes from better flicks like RoboCop and Short Circuit, adds language, violence and his unique style. If itâs your thing, itâs not bad.â
Sounds like a wait 'til netflix to me.
I think another thing too is that sci-fi movies tend to get judged more harshly, because what could live up to your cherished childhood memories of [flash gordon / planet of the apes / starwars / ET / terminator 2 / fifth element]?
My friend went to the midnight premier of this last night somewhere in San Francisco and was alone in the theater.
Yea that NPR review was painful - heard it on the drive to work. Iâll still go see it I think, since I always liked the short (Tetra Vaal) itâs somewhat based on.
this exactly.
Saw advanced screening Wednesday. (Disclosure; I have the most raging dual boner for both DieAntwoord as well as Blomkamp)
My beef with CHAPPiE is that itâs INfuckingSANE how Die Antwoord this movie is. It is steeped in and reeks of all things DA. Which is good!- for a DA vehicle! I love this shit! Iâve seen them live 4 times! I listen regularly! I am ridiculously a DA fan, but weâre talking every song. every costume, every piece of graffiti. All Watkin Tudor Jones, all the time. With each new scene, my brother (also a dual fan) just looked at each other in amazement. And laugh.
Because we were seeing the new NEILLfuckingBLOMKAMP movie!
If this were promoted as a DA movie, then it would hit all the notes!
Shit, I would TOTALLY go see the new 2 hour DieAntwoord video. Twice! In fact, I will watch it again!
Maybe internet virgins, totally new to Ninja and Yolandi, wouldnât be so torn from the story precisely BECAUSE they wouldnât recognize all the ZEF- but I did, and therefore couldnât see past itâŚ
Sometimes critics forget that not only are they not the target audience, but that their approval might just indicate that the creator failed his intention.
So far it appears the critics arenât too favorable, but the average audience likes it quite a bit more on rotten tomatoes.
As of 03-06-2015 Fri:
I think weâll go see it and make up our own minds. Iâve seen plenty of good flicks where the critics donât like it and I love it. For example.
yeah, unfortunately Transformers and GI movies have similar disparity of critic vs. audience.
this actually makes me much more interested. I can get how the crazyass zef thing could cause a lot of pain of entry for someone. Still holding out hope Blomkamp will make a movie from Zoo City.
In case itâs not obvious, I had already seen the film before this interviewâand I fuckin loved it.
Well, youâre the person that got me to start watching Breaking Bad after reading your raving posts on it in the past while the series was still in its infancy and relatively obscure.
I thought that show was amazing and I watched every episode to the glorious end.
And, this is coming from someone who hadnât watched much TV up to that point (were talking about a decade), much less an entire series of television. Literally in my entire life up to that point, I had never watched an entire series of TV until Breaking Bad.
So, yep⌠Iâm now much more eager to watch CHAPPiE than I was previously. But, if it sucks, Iâll certainly blame you.
Have you ever watched any Die Antwoord videos?
So if some variation on the word âfuckâ makes up 1/3 of your vocabulary, you are certifiably hip, right?
Ninja tries way too hard to be street-worthy; heâs going to wind up a pretty sad old man if he lives long enough.
Die Antwoord should be banned to a desert island along with the Kardashian clan, Kanye, and that Minaj creature. Being famous for being famous is not quite the same as being known for artistry and talent. Anybody can put on a freak show and titilate a crowd of wannabe hipsters. Ninja is no Bob Dylan, John Lennon, or Gil Scott Heron. Yolandi is no Joni Mitchell, Bjork, or Kate Bush. Die Antwoord is a mediocre assemblage of people trying to use shock value as a substitute for talent. No different from Kim other than the intended audience.
Just saw it myself - as in âmy ears are still cold after walking homeâ. I liked it. Kind of weird. Sporadically brutal, but didnât wallow.in it. Real computer people must have had a hand in the computery parts (watch the filenames). Chappie himself was neat and suitably cute/charming/relateable. Die Antwoord as gangsters was ⌠quite a thing.
In the end? Itâs a âkid grows up, is fooled into crime as a young teen, has a disillusioned late teen phase, grows up a bit in the endâ coming of age story with really odd trappings.
I have seen a couple of different trailers for Chappie. One makes it look like Robocop, and the other like Short Circuit, both robot-gets-knowledge-or-heart 80s films, one infinitely better than the other. I liked District 9, but I confess to having no great interest in seeing this movie, except for it starring Die Antwoord. But even then, the idea of a South African man putting on an Ali G-like act teaching a robot how to be âgangsterâ seems kind of cringeworthy to me. As is the interviewerâs fawning sycophancy towards Watkin Tudor Jones. There is no critical distance here whatsoever, and Xeni Jardin comes across, embarrassingly, like a breathy giggly female teenage fan.
I read recently that she basically helped break the band. Cool. But does she have to go on and on about âthe early daysâ and âWEâVE come a long way, my friendâ (my emphasis - she is not in the band and doesnât own them) and such tiresome tripe? Who cares? We get it. You broke them. Youâre being their (hopefully unwilling and unwitting, in some ways) PR person. Theyâre âcoolâ for right now, because they have basically helped to reflect America back at itself vapid empty narcissist self again, using worthless American rap tropes and slanguage, but with some Afrikaans threaded through for a slight twist on a very tired old âbullets booty bling bitches breasts Barettasâ bullshit formula. Though âNinjaâ is not cool, apparently, from what I have been reading about his behavior on the film.
I must admit, I couldnât care less about how cool or otherwise âNinjaâ is. I donât want or need him to be my friend, and will never meet him. I just want entertainment from him, and anybody would be a fool to demand anything more from him and his band. Heâs a character actor, playing a character, to slightly disturbing lost-in-method-acting impersonation extremes, and my enjoyment of their music will not be affected by any revelations about his characterâs character. If that makes sense. I love Die Antwoord, I really do. Their tunes are bouncy as hell. But this âone big inbred fuckfestâ of puff piece media doesnât do anybody any favors, ultimately. Just comes across as cynical, paid PR, with a bandgaga megafangirl hyperbolically gushing to try and sell the kids on this new, crap-looking movie her do-no-wrong South African idols are in. I guess I really shouldnât expect much more these days from the mainstream media. Itâs probably just because I love the music, flow-flaws and faux-raw warts and all, that this chap(pie)s my hide here.
Just my opinion.
[quote=ârider, post:15, topic:53115, full:trueâ]
Have you ever watched any Die Antwoord videos?
[/quote]Yep. Doesnât really affect my opinion of a film I havenât seen yet one way or another.
Iâve seen it before, thanks.
