TERMINATOR GENISYS - 6/26/15 - Cameron Approved

[Eric W.]

My review is up --

http://andyfilm.com/2015/07/01/7-7-15-s ... y-rundown/

This is probably my least favorite film of the series, but I did still find it entertaining. I also admit I loved Emilia Clarke. Sorry Linda Hamilton!

Fits my expectations.


Earlier in the thread, not surprisingly, I have to co-sign David Banner's post as well.

[Monterey Jack]

7.5/10

Pretty much agree with Andy, here...while Genisys is essentially a "greatest hits" mixtape of iconic moments from the previous films, it's also cleverly-plotted (if somewhat convoluted), amusing, and jammed with well-choreographed mayhem. I especially enjoyed the pinpoint-accurate recreations of scenes from the original (wish they could have digitally de-aged Bill Paxton so he could reprise his "I think this dude's a couple cans short of a six-pack!" punk cameo, though ). It suffers in some ways by not being allowed to truly bring the story full-circle (gotta shill for the hoped-for Terminator Six in the obligatory Credit Cookie! ), but it continues to strike me how a thirty-year-old franchise with huge gaps in-between films can continue to turn out entertaining sequels and even come up with fairly solid ways to justify the presence of the increasingly-craggy but still game Ahnuld.


And as for Emilia Clarke, "Yuoh clothez...gib dem doo me."

[AndyDursin]

Gotta shill for the hoped-for Terminator Six in the obligatory Credit Cookie!

The one thing I did like, and was a little surprised by, was that they actually came to as much of an ending as they did on it. As in, it felt pretty definitive. The mid-credits bit is fine to set up another one, but they were always talking about a trilogy from the very beginning with this new film, and to end it the way they did -- and in fairly conclusive fashion if this doesn't make enough dough -- was pretty welcome.

And as for Emilia Clarke, "Yuoh clothez...gib dem doo me."

Yessss. I think we have a new candidate to invite to the barbeque along with Elisabeth and Mary Elizabeth. lol.

[Monterey Jack]

And as for Emilia Clarke, "Yuoh clothez...gib dem doo me."

Yessss. I think we have a new candidate to invite to the barbeque along with Elisabeth and Mary Elizabeth. lol.

I'm looking forward to seeing her as the young Jean Grey in next summer's X-Men: Apocalypse now (speaking of aging franchises that have had a time-travel reboot...).

EDIT: Oh wait, it's Sophie Clark as Jean Grey in Apocalypse. Darn.

[mkaroly]

TERMINATOR GENISYS - 8/10 - I really enjoyed the movie and was legitimately moved by it - I really liked how it chose to do some shot for shot remakes of the original (and I agree with MJ that they missed a golden opportunity for a Bill Paxton cameo); the time travel thing got a bit convoluted for me as I found myself paying more attention to how hot Emilia Clarke was than to the story...lol...geez! If she wanted to rescue me from a Terminator I would go without hesitation! Anyway, I suppose once I view the movie again when it comes to Blu-Ray that the timelines might make more sense. I also felt the story moved too slow in some places but moved too fast in others. I liked the new Terminator (though I felt no shock when we found out), and the film did a good job overall in making the Terminators fearsome and menacing.

The acting in this film was much better than the other four Terminator films; the music unfortunately was just as generic as the other films (thanks again Hans Zimmer!). There is enough story and "heart" to it that I can say this was much better than T3 (thankfully!). Ah-nuld held his own, and it was nice to see him in something decent (IMO) again. I also felt there was enough development of relationships and humor throughout the film to make the ending moving and, at least for me, satisfying. Overall I am excited about the franchise again and hope moving forward that they can continue to build on what they started here.

Emilia Clarke...dear God in heaven!

[AndyDursin]

Saw an interview with Emilia Clarke in which it says she is making the Terminator sequels presumably back to back in 2016 for release in 2017 and 2018. I'd think they will wait for the foreign money to roll in before making a decision on them. US opening is OK but they might struggle to hit $100 mil domestic.

[AndyDursin]

Good news, foreign market might save it:

Overseas coin, however, the likely reason that anyone revisted making another Terminator in the first place, looks like it might save the day. Grosses came in at $74M from 44 markets over the weekend and an $85M international cume.

Terminator Genisys opened at #1 in Russia ($12.5M at 1,150 locations), Korea ($11.1M from 1,275 venues), Mexico ($6.2M from 670 locations), India ($2.8M from 600 venues), Malaysia ($2.3M at 131 sites), Taiwan ($2.1M at 80 locations), Hong Kong ($1.9M from 44 venues), and Ukraine ($666K from 235 locations). Though not landing at the #1 spot it has also opened in the UK ($5.6M from 536 sites), France ($3.8M at 680 locations), Brazil ($4M from 549 cinemas), Australia ($4.7M at 258 cinemas), the Philippines ($1.4M at 149 sites), and Venezuela ($2.4M at 75 venues).

It has yet to open in Germany and Italy, which it does on July 9th and the next day in Spain and Japan. A release date has yet to be chosen for China.

At Genisys's reported pre-advertising cost of $155M it will be the international markets that dictate whether we will be hearing of Skynet and Judgment Day in the near future. Given that Paramount has two more Terminator films slated to go, in 2016 and 2017, all eyes will be on those rollouts.

[Eric W.]

It might save it by the skin of its teeth but a lot of these reviews have been brutal.

[AndyDursin]

The reviews for this movie are a flat out farce. There's no difference between this picture and, say, JURASSIC WORLD, yet Chris Pratt is "cool" so the critics -- and most of them are just online people nobody reads, they're not exactly Roger Ebert -- were kinder to it. Frankly it's a much better movie than JURASSIC WORLD. It's certainly a better movie than the crappy AGE OF ULTRON and yet even that got certified as "fresh" by this crew!

The in-thing amongst the "Rotten Tomatoes crowd" is to dump on this series and Arnold's age. Look at most of the negative reviews, nearly all of them snarkily mention both elements and just dismiss the movie as being "tired", "confusing" and "dumb." "Dumb" is a charge that could be leveled at every film that got released this summer! Instead of reviewing what's in front of them, they try to be as sarcastic and sassy as possible and review the "headline" (Arnold's old, nobody cares) instead of the actual FILM.

It's why I have little respect for most of the people who review movies today. I think many of them are in a race to see who can review a film and crack wise as much as possible. It's like that's the point of their reviews -- providing an entertaining read, instead of an objective analysis. And many of them are "entertainment journalists" on top of it, or have websites like AICN where that crew has lost all credibility altogether after some of the embarrassing reviews they've churned out over the years.

Reviewing "what's in" or "what's hot" is a major point for them. Chris Pratt is hot. Marvel is hot. Arnold isn't. There you go. I really think that's what drives the reviews here, because for sheer entertainment, this Terminator installment is more fun than either AVENGERS or JURASSIC WORLD. It's not great, but it sure as hell ain't a WORSE movie than them!

What's interesting to me is that when you look at different boards and people who ACTUALLY SAW it -- it's a whole different story. I'd say the majority, by far, liked it. Fans seemed to like it just fine. I've seen plenty of people say they liked it better than 3 and 4, which I wouldn't agree with, but the sentiment is out there. The people dumping on it haven't actually seen it.

IMDB users have it as a 7/10 with 35,000 votes -- I hate even citing that, but it shows the average viewer likes the film a lot more than critics. Amazon users have it at 4 stars, admittedly only with 18 votes...but you get the picture.

No matter where you go, what viewers think and what critics think don't sync up on this movie. There's a clear disconnect.

As far as its U.S. box-office performance -- it's no great surprise to me. Arnold's career is playing to diminishing returns. SALVATION didn't do that great domestically and that had Christian Bale who was at least a hotter, modern draw than the stars of this installment. It should be able to get to $70 mil domestic -- not great, but enough that they'll keep going if the foreign dollars are there. They could release the sequels in the spring or fall, and out of the summer time, which might help it in the U.S. as well. It'll all come down to what it does overseas. It's off to a good start but time will tell.

[Monterey Jack]

It's why I have little respect for most of the people who review movies today. I think many of them are in a race to see who can review a film and crack wise as much as possible. It's like that's the point of their reviews -- providing an entertaining read, instead of an objective analysis.

It's like that line in Ratatouille, where Peter O'Toole's food critic Anton Ego says "Negative criticism is fun to write and fun to read". Everyone wants to critically dog-pile on easy targets, either due to extreme popularity or a perceived notion of something being old-hat, and while some certainly earn their derision (Twilight, say), sometimes it's obvious that everyone just wants to top everyone else's snarky put-downs. Even as bad as the Twilight movies were, after a while all the grousing about sparkly vampires was like spitting in an ocean of vitriol...okay, we KNOW they suck, already. With Genisys, everyone was sharpening their knives from the second the film was announced, and everyone had the same tired soundbites at the ready ("Arnie's too old! He only did it because he needed a hit! If Cameron's not directing, it's not a 'real' Terminator movie! Too much CGI!"). The sad thing is, in the internet era where EVERYONE's an amateur movie critic, it's become virtually IMPOSSIBLE to form a completely unbiased opinion on something. Remember, back in the 80's and early 90's, when the only critical opinions on a film you'd encounter would usually be the critic in your local paper or national magazine, Siskel & Ebert, and what your family and close friends thought of it? And that would be IT. You could EASILLY avoid all of this and go into a movie completely "blind". Nowadays, with every frame of new footage parsed over with a magnifying glass for up to a year or more before the film is it, you often go into a film feeling like you've already seen the damn thing. It's why I refuse to watch movie trailers anymore, and I barely skim reviews until the film is actually out. Genisys is no classic, but it's certainly fun and clever and good summer movie escapism, and that was totally worth ten bucks for me.

[AndyDursin]

China to the rescue!

http://variety.com/2015/film/box-office ... 201576476/

Chinese audiences are breathing fresh life into the Terminator franchise.

“Terminator: Genisys,” the fifth film in the cyborg series, failed to draw big crowds in the U.S., but overseas it’s a different story. The Paramount Pictures and Skydance release scored the fourth-biggest opening day for a U.S. release in the country, picking up $27.4 million after debuting Sunday across 25,000 locations. That pushes its worldwide total to $335.1 million, with roughly three quarters of that haul coming from abroad.

[AndyDursin]

Arnie will be back!! lol

After opening in China last Sunday, Terminator: Genisys made a big return to the offshore charts, landing at No. 1 for the second weekend in a row. With $23.6M from 25 markets total this frame, the overseas cume is now $320.1M. China’s portion of that is $23.4M this session with $82.8M total after eight days.

TERMINATOR: GENISYS 0 With a global cume through Sunday of $409.5M, the latest pic in the Terminator franchise is benefitting from a strong China run. The first film import allowed into the Middle Kingdom after the summer blackout, it now has an $82.8M cume there. The weekend was worth $23.6M in total with $23.4M from China. There, it’s currently running 12% ahead of Iron Man 3 and 10% ahead of The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies over the same number of days. The international take is now $320.1M.

http://deadline.com/2015/08/terminator- ... 201510404/

[Monterey Jack]

Watched it again today (Best Buy has a surprisingly substantive "exclusive" bonus disc, BTW...it adds a full NINETY MINUTES of documentaries! ), and Genisys is fun, fun, fun. Don't know WHAT the hell everybody else was grousing about. Check out Drew McWeeney's ridicuous "D" review at Hitfix...he was clearly amped up to hate on the film for months beforehand (and this from the man who gave an "A+" to such cinematic classics as Man Of Steel and The Muppets ). Yeah, the shifting timelines still don't make much sense (and who the hell sent Arnie's "Pops" back to 1973 in the first place? I know they're probably saving that info for the hoped-for additional sequels, but still), but the movie moves fast, is funny, and Emilia Clarke...Good God! I'd be totally up for a sixth installment if they can fund it.

[DavidBanner]

I watched it a couple of nights ago, finally. I had seen Jurassic World and Avengers 2 earlier.

To be honest, all three movies are completely silly. Jurassic World is a strange reboot of the Jurassic Park series that makes very little sense if you tug on the threads of its plot sweater. Avengers 2 is a strange mess - some good scenes here and there with James Spader's fun voiceover and other overly heavy scenes about impending doom that make no sense.

Terminator Genisys was an odd attempt to reboot this series by retroactively undoing the earlier movies. But when you think about it, the only movie that really makes any sense is the first one. How the heck would the machines know to send back multiple Terminators of different generations of technology to different times? The only thing that makes sense is that they sent back what they could in the first movie. And that movie makes chillingly clear that the doomsday future is unavoidable. All else that follows is blissfully strange. The newest Terminator movie is certainly more palatable than the last two, but that isn't saying much.

My understanding is that the movie simply didn't make enough overseas to justify spending any more money on the series, so any future installments have been delayed "indefinitely". Meaning that this should be the last installment we'll see. Which is fine with me - I'm happy to just enjoy the first movie and the action beats of the overpraised second movie from 1991.