Movie debates! :)

[Oniya]

That said, is it really a rip-off if the new production acknowledges the source material?

[Inkidu]

That said, is it really a rip-off if the new production acknowledges the source material?

Yes, a special kind of accepted ripoff called an homage (pronounced all French and junk). XD

[Caehlim]

I love Dungeons and Dragons 2: The Elemental Might. (I think it was called Wrath of the Dragon God or something similar in American releases).

Now I hated the first and third movies in the series, but this one actually worked for me even though none of the others did.

It wasn't a great movie, the acting was fairly B-grade and the production values weren't very high. However unlike the other movies, I felt like I could point at it and go, "Yep that's what D&D is like." All of the criticisms you could give it, would apply equally to what you normally see around my gaming table when we have a D&D game.

Plus it won massive bonus points from me when it got the material components for the Vision spell correct "I need four sticks of ivory and some incense... the expensive kind".

[TheGlyphstone]

I remember renting that. The first movie was way more fun to watch, this one was more 'game-accurate', but for its mediocrity was actually rather boring to me. It wasn't the hilarious terrible camp of the first, but wasn't an actually good movie either, so it ended up as Meh.

But I do remember the commentary/bonus feature tracks, which mentioned copies of the Player's Handbook being given to the actors as supplementary reading material. So they definitely knew the game, and were looking to make as accurate a reproduction of a live-action campaign as they could.

[Inkidu]

The D&D movies are totally so-bad-they're-good movies. I like the original one to this day, because I saw it as a kid and everything's awesome when you're a kid. Plus, if you didn't care about D&D it was pretty good in its own right.

[Beorning]

Avatar (the film) rips off a Russian novel. The authors of that book were rather cordial about it. I think they should have sued personally.

Out of curiosity, which novel is this?

BTW. Regarding YA novels being ripoffs, don't you think that Scott Westerfeld's Uglies might be a ripoff of a Twilight Zone episode named Number 12 Looks Just Like You?

[Oniya]

The similarity between the two is noted in the Wikipedia article on the episode, and the author himself commented that he had seen the episode when younger and forgot the details.

[TheGlyphstone]

Speaking of Twilight Zone episodes, what about the TZ episode Steel, which became the sci-fi boxing movie Real Steel? I loved Real Steel because it didn't make any bones about what it was; a movie about robots punching each other, wrapped in a father-son bonding narrative, and seasoned with a sports story. Referred to as Rock Em Sock Em Robots: The Movie, but more like Rocky With Robots. It was utterly formulaic, but it took its formula and did it right. Not a breakout blockbuster or innovative movie, but a fun one.

[Inkidu]

Out of curiosity, which novel is this?

BTW. Regarding YA novels being ripoffs, don't you think that Scott Westerfeld's Uglies might be a ripoff of a Twilight Zone episode named Number 12 Looks Just Like You?

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jan/13/james-cameron-avatar-plagarism-claim

They'll give you the authors to look up, and everything to hunt down.

EDIT: Glyph: Both the TZ episode and Real Steel are based off of (and probably loosely, looser in the latter case) on a Richard Matheson short story dubbed Steel.

So once again Richard Matheson ghost writes for Hollywood. :)

[Beorning]

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jan/13/james-cameron-avatar-plagarism-claim

They'll give you the authors to look up, and everything to hunt down.

Thank you :) Although I don't need to look the Strugatskis up... I've read a few of their books. They've created some fantastic stories (Roadside Picnic is brilliant, for once).

Anyway, I haven't seen Avatar (strange, I know), so I didn't notice the connection. Interesting...

[Oniya]

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jan/13/james-cameron-avatar-plagarism-claim

They'll give you the authors to look up, and everything to hunt down.

EDIT: Glyph: Both the TZ episode and Real Steel are based off of (and probably loosely, looser in the latter case) on a Richard Matheson short story dubbed Steel.

So once again Richard Matheson ghost writes for Hollywood. :)

Richard Matheson is one of the best-known unknown authors. 

[TheGlyphstone]

EDIT: Glyph: Both the TZ episode and Real Steel are based off of (and probably loosely, looser in the latter case) on a Richard Matheson short story dubbed Steel.

So once again Richard Matheson ghost writes for Hollywood. :)

Yeah, I knew that, but didn't think it was worth mentioning for some reason. Oops.