Atlas Shrugged: Part I (The Movie)

[PosImpos]

Will the movie be as heavy handed as the book is in explaining and demonstrating the merits of its internal philosophy?

If so, it'll be closer to a propaganda piece than a really good movie.

I say this even though I enjoyed the book.  I just had to read the book with a sort of suspension of judgment.  I took the book at its word, so to speak, while I read it, and just enjoyed it for what it was as a story. 

[indeedproceed]

Will the movie be as heavy handed as the book is in explaining and demonstrating the merits of its internal philosophy?

If so, it'll be closer to a propaganda piece than a really good movie.

I say this even though I enjoyed the book.  I just had to read the book with a sort of suspension of judgment.  I took the book at its word, so to speak, while I read it, and just enjoyed it for what it was as a story. 

I like the cast that I recognized.

[PosImpos]

Will the movie be as heavy handed as the book is in explaining and demonstrating the merits of its internal philosophy?

If so, it'll be closer to a propaganda piece than a really good movie.

I say this even though I enjoyed the book.  I just had to read the book with a sort of suspension of judgment.  I took the book at its word, so to speak, while I read it, and just enjoyed it for what it was as a story. 

I like the cast that I recognized.

It looked okay, but from the trailer the movie seemed like it didn't have great production values...plus I'm just not really sold on the story's viability as a movie.  I especially question whether people will have enough interest in it to warrant making it a 2 part feature.  Seems like the sort of thing that's destined to be a failed series-starter (e.g. Golden Compass).

[indeedproceed]

Will the movie be as heavy handed as the book is in explaining and demonstrating the merits of its internal philosophy?

If so, it'll be closer to a propaganda piece than a really good movie.

I say this even though I enjoyed the book.  I just had to read the book with a sort of suspension of judgment.  I took the book at its word, so to speak, while I read it, and just enjoyed it for what it was as a story. 

I like the cast that I recognized.

It looked okay, but from the trailer the movie seemed like it didn't have great production values...plus I'm just not really sold on the story's viability as a movie.  I especially question whether people will have enough interest in it to warrant making it a 2 part feature.  Seems like the sort of thing that's destined to be a failed series-starter (e.g. Golden Compass).

Don't ya just hate those? Constantine was the one I really hated (never read the Golden Compass books, my brother did though and loved them). I really, really wanted to see the constantine movies work out.

But, I suppose I got my freebie in Chronicles of Riddick.

[Fan from VT]

Will the movie be as heavy handed as the book is in explaining and demonstrating the merits of its internal philosophy?

If so, it'll be closer to a propaganda piece than a really good movie.

I say this even though I enjoyed the book.  I just had to read the book with a sort of suspension of judgment.  I took the book at its word, so to speak, while I read it, and just enjoyed it for what it was as a story. 

I like the cast that I recognized.

It looked okay, but from the trailer the movie seemed like it didn't have great production values...plus I'm just not really sold on the story's viability as a movie.  I especially question whether people will have enough interest in it to warrant making it a 2 part feature.  Seems like the sort of thing that's destined to be a failed series-starter (e.g. Golden Compass).

Don't ya just hate those? Constantine was the one I really hated (never read the Golden Compass books, my brother did though and loved them). I really, really wanted to see the constantine movies work out.

But, I suppose I got my freebie in Chronicles of Riddick.

Going off topic...

It astonishes me and angers me when they blatantly screw up a comic book adaptation. I mean, it's not that hard to make a comic book into a pleasing, "75 out of a 100 at least" satisfying movie experience. The characters are there, the stories are there, you should never ever get less than "well that was satisfying and entertaining." That said, I can't believe they blew constantine so epicly. And it was doomed from the start. Constantine is a fatalistic, sarcastic wise-cracking supremely intelligently clever person who is a never reluctant but certainly depressedly guilt ridden user and manipulator of people and a dirty blonde brit. So yeah, let's cast the "my single acting emotion is looking stunned and overwhelmed" dark brown haired american with no acting range, no ability to act the slightest bit clever as the above character. People should have lost their jobs then and there.
Who would be better? Picture the character done by any of:

Jason Statham
Clive Owen
Daniel Craig

Even without improving an awful script, it's instantly a better movie. Any of those guys I could actually picture as a perpetual plotter and schemer, a guy who's always trying to plan 5 steps ahead and does so with a scathing sharp quick wit. Not Mr. Reeves. Ever.

[KCattheStripe]

Man, the production value seems to be somewhere just above a SyFy movie. Or a really good episode of Dr. Who.

[looseball]

I read Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead years ago, and more recently, The Romantic Manifesto.  I enjoyed them all, as I agree with a lot of what she has to say.

I'll probably watch the movie when it get's to Netflix.

In the meantime, this movie's release now, is good timing for the tea party crowd.

[indeedproceed]

Will the movie be as heavy handed as the book is in explaining and demonstrating the merits of its internal philosophy?

If so, it'll be closer to a propaganda piece than a really good movie.

I say this even though I enjoyed the book.  I just had to read the book with a sort of suspension of judgment.  I took the book at its word, so to speak, while I read it, and just enjoyed it for what it was as a story. 

I like the cast that I recognized.

It looked okay, but from the trailer the movie seemed like it didn't have great production values...plus I'm just not really sold on the story's viability as a movie.  I especially question whether people will have enough interest in it to warrant making it a 2 part feature.  Seems like the sort of thing that's destined to be a failed series-starter (e.g. Golden Compass).

Don't ya just hate those? Constantine was the one I really hated (never read the Golden Compass books, my brother did though and loved them). I really, really wanted to see the constantine movies work out.

But, I suppose I got my freebie in Chronicles of Riddick.

Going off topic...

It astonishes me and angers me when they blatantly screw up a comic book adaptation. I mean, it's not that hard to make a comic book into a pleasing, "75 out of a 100 at least" satisfying movie experience. The characters are there, the stories are there, you should never ever get less than "well that was satisfying and entertaining." That said, I can't believe they blew constantine so epicly. And it was doomed from the start. Constantine is a fatalistic, sarcastic wise-cracking supremely intelligently clever person who is a never reluctant but certainly depressedly guilt ridden user and manipulator of people and a dirty blonde brit. So yeah, let's cast the "my single acting emotion is looking stunned and overwhelmed" dark brown haired american with no acting range, no ability to act the slightest bit clever as the above character. People should have lost their jobs then and there.
Who would be better? Picture the character done by any of:

Jason Statham
Clive Owen
Daniel Craig

Even without improving an awful script, it's instantly a better movie. Any of those guys I could actually picture as a perpetual plotter and schemer, a guy who's always trying to plan 5 steps ahead and does so with a scathing sharp quick wit. Not Mr. Reeves. Ever.

What about James Macavoy? He's been getting a ton a play lately..maybe Cillian Murphy? Neither has blond hair, but, both are exactly the types of protagonists you're looking for.

[Witch-King]

Lol, well it's not like Ayn Rand is directing the film, however I'm sure that Paul Johansson and  John Aglialoro (the director and writer of this screenplay) will have to stay true to the novel while they help re-interpret the original work on the silver-screen 

It is a two part film so there is a chance that the movie could end up being a little preachy if the story is retold with that much detail; I haven't done much research on the upcoming film though I did read the book a few years ago and I understand where you are coming from when you compare Rand's style of writing to propaganda. I wonder is someone will do a re-make of 'The Fountainhead' after these movies come out.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480239/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041386/

[looseball]

Lol, well it's not like Ayn Rand is directing the film, however I'm sure that Paul Johansson and  John Aglialoro (the director and writer of this screenplay) will have to stay true to the novel while they help re-interpret the original work on the silver-screen 

It is a two part film so there is a chance that the movie could end up being a little preachy if the story is retold with that much detail; I haven't done much research on the upcoming film though I did read the book a few years ago and I understand where you are coming from when you compare Rand's style of writing to propaganda. I wonder is someone will do a re-make of 'The Fountainhead' after these movies come out.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480239/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041386/

My guess would be The Fountainhead remake is already in the works, and the box office results for Atlas will determine if it ever sees the light of libertarian day.

[looseball]

I just read a story (that originally appeared in Forbes magazine) claiming that the Chevy Volt was being manufactured  by Atlas Shrugged Motors.

[JSD]

Now OnDemand, and it was better than I expected.

[Roy H.]

Now OnDemand, and it was better than I expected.

I'm scared to watch it, but I'm sure I will eventually.

[indeedproceed]

It got a 12% on rotten tomatoes. That usually means its god-awful.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

While I agree with her that there is no personal God and we are left to our own devices in terms of establishing ethics and morality, I don't embrace her ruthless elitism, the same issue I have with Nietzsche. I believe our moral code is inherent to us as a result of living with other human beings and the necessities of that.

There's a crucial contradiction here: first you say that "we are left to our own devices in terms of establishing ethics and morality," but then you say that "our moral code is inherent to us." It can't be both. In fact, if there is no personal God, the former is true; if there IS a personal God, the latter is true (though morality's inherent nature, in that case, would be due to God, not to us). The root issue here, though, is that atheism (or even agnosticism or humanism) disallows an objective standard of morality and ethics, meaning that not only are each person's actions right in his own sight, regardless of what others think -- thus leading to much chaos and confusion -- but also that there's no fair way of determining who should be listened to, or whose morality should be given the most weight (or if it should be given any at all). Faithfulness to the one true God (one of Whose chief attributes, by the way, is His personal nature) and to His one standard is the solution.