Hardcore Henry - Best review ever?
16New York Daily News, on "Hardcore Henry"
You could go see "Hardcore Henry" - or you could gulp down a pint of vodka, load in "Grand Theft Auto," then strap the TV to your face and throw yourself down the stairs.
If the movie is as half as entertaining as this review I'd consider seeing it (for free in 8 months on cable).
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I saw the preview at the Deadpool. Two minutes of it made me nauseous.
Quite of fewhat of my students have done nothing else, but talk about Hardcore Henry for the past month or so.
A few of my favorite student quotes..
"This movie defines a generation, will be considered one of the best movies of all time!"
"Having the whole first person view point is pretty amazing. Glad that the movies finally realized that people like first person like in video games."
@studerc I recall there was a an homage to that in the DOOM movie, but it worked there (I guess?) as short sequence, rather than the entire movie.
How do you respond to your students when they talk about "defining a generation"?
@ACraigL Interestingly enough, I actually enjoyed the brief first person Doom clip. Hardcore Henry looks nauseating.
Typically my go-to remark for many of my students is that "defining a generation" isn't always a good thing.
@studerc I think shaky cam is an abomination to the movie industry and when combined with 1st person view it is positively unwatchable. "Blair Witch Project" was one of the first movies to attempt this approach, and in that movie, at least the conceit made sense as you were watching it under the guise that it was found footage.
But contrary to what film-makers believe, shaky cam does NOT make it more "realistic", it only augments your awareness that this was recorded and makes it impossible for you to be immersed with the illusion that it is actually happening around you (at least it does for me)
@DrWorm Unfortunately Blair Witch Project was a financial hit. So everyone schmuck with a camcorder decided to produce a feature film.
@studerc Are these the kind of kids who sit online and believe women are a corrupting influence in video game development and journalism?
@kevlar51
They were doing found footage in that genre long before Blair Witch - it was just a matter of time until someone found the right distributor, at the right time.
http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/107494/7-found-footage-horror-movies-that-predate-the-blair-witch-project/
Other films that pre-date Blair that used "found footage" (horror or otherwise) are MUCH better films - it was (and still is and forever shall be) all in the marketing.
@Pavlov
Havent seen those other films, but i thought the genius of Blair Witch was that, if you bought into the "found" premise, they got the real movie to happen inside your head, not on screen. As you watched the footage, you made up scary un-filmed shit to go along with it.
The end was a letdown. Never watched it a second time, suspect it would be tough watching, even if you had a valid reason (class assignment or whatever).
Here's the trailer for those that haven't heard of this movie (opens this weekend).
@ACraigL There is a shorter trailer that has been playing on television that is 100 times more incomprehensible than that one. At least now I have some sort of general idea what the heck I am seeing and a vague idea of the movie premise. I had seen the shorter TV version a few dozen times and wasn't even sure what I was looking at.
Just got through this 'making of' article. It's actually a pretty good read:
http://io9.gizmodo.com/inside-the-worlds-first-pov-action-movie-everybody-has-1769394094
I've seen it. Personally, it was Meh. I am not a fan of watching other people's video game footage (although my son does so for hours on YouTube) and this is basically a first person shooter with production value. Watching it, I almost expected a narrator to tell me how to cheat and beat the game. The gimmick gets old quick - and don't look for much cerebral content - but for 14-32 year old males, it is a slam dunk box office grab.
Although, I must admit that I was surprised by what they were able to pull off with a shoe-string budget. Filming / production in Russia without union labor and without being subject to guild guidelines helped . . .
I was more impressed by the opening long shot of Better Call Saul season 2, episode 8 (Fifi) than I was by this movie. That shot was fucking epic, BTW.
@Pavlov you're right. Way more impressive than the movie looks. I was paying attention when I watched it last night because you'd said this. Wow. As a layman, that shot was incredible. I think it might be even more so if you know the ins and outs of filming.
At first, parts of it made me think it had to be a multirotor camera rig, then it went inside and up close. No matter how it was done, it was spectacular.
@djslack Brief discussion here. The oner is also outlined in detail on the BCS Insider Podcast.
@Pavlov Thanks! Interesting community there!
@therealjrn - and here he is in all his animated majestic glory . . .
Fifi has made 5 or 6 passes directly over my house this morning.
I wonder how why promoters of this movie are so lazy not to jump of recent bandwagon of VR hype. Single VR screening of this (master)"piece" would attract news headlines all over the Internet.
@wishod I've been thinking the same thing. This movie was clearly made for VR; it's the only thing that might make it a half decent movie. But I've yet to hear any mention of the two together in the same sentence. Terrible marketing.
@Signorino actually, most Russian movies are made for sole purpose of "making" the movie, in other words, for the process of "making" it (sometimes it's state money, sometimes it's laundering, sometimes it's tax evasion schemes and so on).
a movie I'll never be able to watch, FPS's give me extreme motion sickness.
@earlyre
Knew a guy who had to set a timer. He could do Doom for 2 min at a time.
@f00l i tried the original halo ONCE. After about 5 minutes, i was nauseated, with cold sweats. Lasted for a couple hours after i stopped.
Had a similar reaction to an imax film @ the ft.worth science museum( probably nowhere near the right name), back in the late 90's. They were showing an imax indycar movie, with mario andretti. I made it through the film ok, but as soon as i stood up, i nearly fell over, and felt on the verge of vomit for about an hour afterwards( during which time we had lunch at the snack bar...) Managed to keep it down, whoo!
@earlyre Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Currently showing Tornado Alley, National Parks Adventure, Coral Reef Adventure, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens @ the Omni Imax
Saw this article on how the lifepod freefall scene was made using Blender:
https://www.blender.org/development/release-notes/user-stories/hardcore-henry-using-blender-for-vfx/
@dashcloud One of our current projects involves video game asset creation, and between 3ds Max, Maya and Blender, Blender wins. Hard to beat free and extremely well supported.