Simon Pegg Has A Lot To Say These Days

[spacecaps]

Anyone have an opinion on Pegg's recent comments on the state of Sci-Fi in general? Personally I think he's right on.

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/simon-pegg-trashes-man-steel-transformers-following-f-223511484.html

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/simon-pegg-f-you-if-you-think-star-trek-darkness-sucks-112241

[Hector]

BTW, I loved Star Trek Into Darkness.

But hating on Man of Steel is pure penis envy, lol.

[Nostalgiabuff]

I loved both movies too but Pegg is still absolutely correct in what he said. I thought the same things watching MOS, about the buildings coming down and the lack of mention that 10's of thousands of people just died

[Hector]

All the people who died were escaped prisoners and street criminals, the Kryptonians did us a huge favor, lol.

[Iron Mego]

I loved both movies too but Pegg is still absolutely correct in what he said. I thought the same things watching MOS, about the buildings coming down and the lack of mention that 10's of thousands of people just died

I felt the same way with The Avengers. Realistically how many people would die in an attack like that? Hundreds? Thousands? But hey, let's go get shawarma afterward!

[Hector]

Exactly, lol.

[ctc]

>the Kryptonians did us a huge favor, lol.

That's not a very Superman thing to say.... sounds more Batman. Are you secretly a Bat-fanatic?

>Realistically how many people would die in an attack like that?

When I was a kid THAT was the main reason I didn't like superheroes. It felt like a cheat; that they could have their mayhem and not have to actually deal with it. 'Course, I grew up with the undergrounds and import comics from Britain, Japan and France.... so I got a taste of consequence real early on. I do think we're at a peak for that sort of thing too. Most action movies are pretty shallow (it IS the 80's again....) and you never see the collateral effects of anything. (Imagine the insurance premiums in the DC universe.) It's also one of the reasons I wince when I hear folks talking about how the comics aren't "fun" anymore, or how inappropriate they are for kids.... 'cos it feels like people WANT to take that step back to the safe, shallow, sanitized kind of writing.

One of the reasons I love the Damage Control comic is that it's one of the few times the collateral effects have ever been acknowledged in a superhero setting.

Don C.

[sprytel]

I really like Pegg, and usually think he has some great insights... but come on! Into Darkness had the exact same city-leveling carnage as Man of Steel, And his movie is about spaceships, so you really have to work at it to put in a scene like that.

So I can only assume it gets down to this quote:

"Was 'Man of Steel' a metaphor for 9/11?" Pegg asked rhetorically. "No. It was just us seeing buildings falling down."


So, Into Darkness gets a pass because it was a 9/11 metaphor? I call b.s.

[kingdom warrior]

I don't cry when, a building collapses on people in a movie.......I cry when it Happens in reality.......people need to get a grip on what's real and what is not......smh

Two superpowered guys fighting in their long johns.....oh yeah BUT don't let the buildings fall on the passerby's...

[Gorn Captain]

Captain, the Pegg canna take anymore! He's gonna blow!
I guess he's disappointed that ST Darkness didn't appeal to many fans. I have to admit, I haven't seen it yet as...it didn't appeal to me. It thought the first movie was ok, but hated stuff like Spock&Uhura.

Is he right about movies like Transformers being bad?
I would agree with him. I'm tired of too much CG mayhem.

Should we feel bad about people "dying" off-screen because Hulk smashed a building?
Well, if we took notes of every movie fatality in every movie, we'd be weeping bitter tears from start to finish.

Whenver we see a car chase, dozens of cars get smashed. People will have been hurt, by the actions of John McClane, Dirty Harry, Batman, just about every hero out there.
Once you start thinking too much, every movie becomes a nightmare.

Paying attention to "collateral damage" is good at times, it's sometimes a vital part of the movie (in Gamera III a girl wants Gamera to pay for unknowingly taking out her family in a Kaiju brawl), but once you start keeping score, it's just not going to be much fun anymore.

[ctc]

>once you start keeping score, it's just not going to be much fun anymore

But that depends on how you define "fun." It won't be EASY eany more, for the writers OR the audience; but sometimes a challenge is good. We don't get challenging things in movies any more. Producers are terrified of ANYTHING that doesn't provide rampant warm fuzzies. It limits the story 'cos it removes a lot of elements that COULD be utilized to forward the story, setting or character. I don't even mean just the death; there's all sorts of economic concerns that come of such things. ("So, you want to insure your Prius.... that's $150 a month, with the standard Gotham City $10,000 deductable.")

Sometimes we need a shock. Sometimes we need to get shaken up. Action movies have become absolute pablum. No edge, no bite. No risk.

>Once you start thinking too much, every movie becomes a nightmare.

THAT'S an idea that scares me. How "thinking" becomes a bad word. We should just "turn off our brains and enjoy the movie." It wouldn't be so bad, but we don't get any entertainment that encourages us to turn ON our brains.

Don C.

[Bruce Banner]

Pegg annoys me. He always has.

[enyawd72]

It's also one of the reasons I wince when I hear folks talking about how the comics aren't "fun" anymore, or how inappropriate they are for kids.... 'cos it feels like people WANT to take that step back to the safe, shallow, sanitized kind of writing.

I constantly say this, and I'll continue saying it, because it's true. It's not being shallow, or sanitized...it's called being wholesome and responsible. There's enough horror, death, and destruction on the news and in real life robbing our children of their innocence. Comics and superheroes don't need to do it also.
There was a time when the emphasis was on ACTION, not violence. Look at the difference in superhero cartoons these days. Even characters like Batman are routinely slammed into brick walls so hard they leave body imprints, yet they simply get up and continue fighting. They pummel each other and blood is sprayed across the screen. It's like that in comics and video games too, and yet we wonder why kids are so violent today compared with 30 years ago.

You can't ignore the FACTS. Kids simply did not walk into schools and kill people 30 years ago. It just didn't happen. Now it's commonplace, so SOMETHING within society changed, and I believe that something is the violent entertainment. I heard two very young children once in Wal-Mart discussing the Batman "Red Hood" animated movie, talking about how awesome it was when the Joker beat someone to death with a crowbar. That is just disturbing to me, and it should be frightening to EVERYONE. Superheroes should inspire by their actions and morals...instead we have dark conflicted heroes who often have more in common with the villains they fight, and those villains have become monsters.

[LadyZod]

I'm still mourning the folks that died during Godzilla's first rampage.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

instead we have dark conflicted heroes who often have more in common with the villains they fight, and those villains have become monsters

Well said. I think that everyone thinking that the hero needs flaws has gone on way too far. Indiana Jones' character was full of flaws, but he didn't brood about it. We saw what they were in context to the story. Thinking that being a "boyscout" is bad or unpopular is getting annoying to me these days.

MOS could have been helped simply by some voice over of a news reporter saying that most of Metropolis was a ghost town due to the battle or something like that.