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Poll: Forbes: "Maleficent" a disaster; bleak misfire
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View Poll Results: Will you be seeing "Maleficent" this weekend?
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After the underwhelming reviews, I'm definitely skipping "Maleficent" this weekend.
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32 |
9.04% |
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I'm still going to see "Maleficent" this weekend, regardless of the reviews.
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242 |
68.36% |
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I was never going to see "Maleficent" to begin with.
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80 |
22.60% |
Member Since: 5/25/2010
Posts: 23,013
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Forbes: "Maleficent" a disaster; bleak misfire
Angelina Jolie's 'Maleficent' Is A Bleak Misfire
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The film is a tonal disaster...
Scott Mendelson
Forbes Film Critic, California
@ScottMendelson
As of now, Walt Disney’s Maleficent is unofficially on track to open with around $60 million this weekend. At a cost of $175m to produce, the Angelina Jolie vehicle basically has to gross as much as Oz: The Great and Powerful ($493m worldwide) to make a real profit. Although a final gross close to the $396m haul of Snow White and the Huntsman would arguably put on the eventual path to profitability. A strong opening is guaranteed, but the rest will depend on how the general audiences reacted to the picture. The phrase “quick-kill blockbuster” sadly comes to mind.
Maleficent is a mishmash of seemingly random scenes and incidents, with barely a story to tell and little to say. For a film primarily aimed at children, there is shockingly little narrative coherency and little actual onscreen dialogue. In its place is arbitrary doom and gloom that won’t so much frighten children as depress them. It isn’t scary or even all that exciting. It’s not overtly violent as much as just mournful and patently un-fun.
The visuals are often washed out and muddy. The special effects look expensive but they never look real. The picture is painfully stage-bound, as if it were intended to be a play but also lacking in any worthwhile dialogue.
That the film is barely stitched-together with voice-over and duct tape would be more excusable if the result were at least entertaining and enjoyable. That the film is arguably far too emotionally and psychologically bleak for its target audience would be excusable, even laudable, if it were a better film. The story makes little sense from moment to moment, and the film feels like a clothesline on which to hang certain “big” or iconic moments.
There is almost no memorable dialogue [and] with little entertainment value, thin characters, no real forward momentum, and a dismal tone that will depress your kids and possibly you, Maleficent just doesn’t work.
Read the rest of the article here.
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Oh, dear -- what an awkward situation. "Maleficent" really is getting skewered in the reviews.
So, what do you think? Will you be watching "Maleficent" this weekend? Enlighten me.
...Vin
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Banned
Member Since: 4/13/2011
Posts: 18,738
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Member Since: 6/20/2011
Posts: 18,905
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Gonna go see X-Men again tbh
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Member Since: 8/31/2013
Posts: 17,456
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It can't be worse than Snow White & The Huntsmen... that was truly a disaster.
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Member Since: 4/4/2014
Posts: 2,599
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I don't really ever let reviews skewer my thoughts on something. Just ruins the experience. I'm still gonna see it.
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Member Since: 2/2/2014
Posts: 6,765
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Sucks, I'm going to watch on Friday
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Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 15,700
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I will still be seeing "Maleficent" in theaters.
...Yzma
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Member Since: 3/22/2012
Posts: 9,573
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The effects looked real as **** and the movies was fine overall, beyter than Oz and Snow. Why all the buzz
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 31,020
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Oop
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Member Since: 9/7/2011
Posts: 7,766
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I'll not be paying to see it thats for sure.
It will make a profit. People forget that its not just box office receipts it also has a lucrative afterlife on streaming, dvd and blu-ray etc.
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Member Since: 2/27/2012
Posts: 20,342
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I wanted to watch but not anymore after all these bad reviews. 
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Member Since: 1/2/2014
Posts: 82
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Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 9,673
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Im still excited. Angie is pretty much pulling it along.
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Member Since: 12/4/2010
Posts: 37,894
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That's upsetting. I had hopes that they'd do Queen justice.
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 10,987
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Quote:
Originally posted by Yzma
I will still be seeing "Maleficent" in theaters.
...Yzma |
This!
...MetalHausOfJosh
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Member Since: 4/10/2012
Posts: 14,394
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Wow definitely not gonna watch this, would much rather see a real feel good family film, like "Blended" starring Bella Thorne, Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore in theaters now.
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Member Since: 11/28/2011
Posts: 10,662
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I don't let critics decide my opinions for me 
I think the movie looks good and will definitely be seeing it, though prolly not this week.
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Member Since: 5/25/2010
Posts: 23,013
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Quote:
Originally posted by Girlicious
It can't be worse than Snow White & The Huntsmen... that was truly a disaster.
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"Snow White and the Huntsman" is a Universal Pictures film and didn't benefit with having a massive $100 million DISNEY promotional campaign like "Maleficent." Meanwhile, "Snow White and the Huntsman" opened with $56 million, but "Maleficent" is only expected to open with just $60 million? It's borderline disastrous, coming from an Angelina Jolie-helmed DISNEY film.
...Vin
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Member Since: 3/13/2011
Posts: 19,555
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oh whatever. I liked Alice and Snow White and the Huntsman (Oz is crap though) so I'll watch it with low expectations.
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Member Since: 5/25/2010
Posts: 23,013
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Let's get into No$tradamus' prophecies on "Maleficent."
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Originally posted by Vin
"Maleficent" is not going to be well-received by critics.
...Vin |
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Originally posted by Vin
"Maleficent" is an Angelina Jolie film, of course the plot will be mundane.
...Vin |
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Originally posted by Vin
Now, it doesn't matter how good a [promotional] campaign "Maleficent" has, the movie will be a
mess, and critics will pan it. It will probably get a C+ score at best. I'll promise you that.
...Vin |
Quote:
Originally posted by Vin
"Maleficent" really is going to perform like "ARTPOP" -- a very brief moment
of relevancy before shooting down the box office Top 10.
...Vin |
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Originally posted by Vin
Angelina Jolie fits the role of Maleficent visually, but seeing as Angelina Jolie is such a bad actress, the movie will most likely be panned by critics. But it'll have a solid opening just based on hype, and then be quickly forgotten like every other Angelina Jolie movie. Notice how in every single trailer released for "Maleficent" you barely hear any dialogue whatsoever from the film? That's a red flag, telling an acute viewer or critic to expect the writing in this film to be cheesy and clichéd.
...Vin |
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Originally posted by Vin
I can tell you what "Maleficent" will be about without knowing anything about the film. "Maleficent" and The King
had an affair, and the whole "Sleeping Beauty" debacle is just a way to get back at him for "breaking her heart."
Very out of the box storytelling, no?
...Vin |
Quote:
Originally posted by Vin
You can tell "Maleficent" is going to be a series of nice visuals, [but] everything Maleficent will say in the movie will be uninspired and redundant: "There is evil in this world." OK. Got it. We haven't heard that line before.
Angelina Jolie as Maleficent [won't] give us anything close to great dialogue, but at least the film will look great. But then again, the majority of Angelina Jolie's films are sustained only by her beautiful face to begin with, and not by her talent or a good story, so "Maleficent" should be no different.
...Vin |
The masses never learn, do they.
...Vin
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