Gilliam's tendency for hyperbole notwithstanding, I think it's what killed films like Warcraft, and is why the early Harry Potter films are so comparatively lacklustre.
What he means, in context, is that an irreverent book must be filmed irreverently, a grim book must be filmed grimly, a cynical book must be filmed cynically.
If you film an irreverent, or grim, or cynical book, but you film it earnestly, you've lost the book by being faithful to it.
@BESW I haven't heard anyone accuse the early Harry Potter films of being lacklustre before - the series as a whole, certainly, but why the early films in particular?
@Miniman They were overlong and underbright; attempting to stick too closely to the books made it difficult for them to indulge in the books' playfulness as films.
It wasn't until they got Alfonso Cuarón to direct the third film that the wizarding world was allowed to become true to itself as a cinematic world, rather than as a transliteration of a book world.
@BESW I may have to rewatch them with this in mind - it's been a long time, but this definitely doesn't mesh with what I remember.
If anything, I would've said that the films took themselves more seriously as the series went on, losing the "kids' movie" feel without really gaining anything to replace it.
I have mentioned it in one chat or another a couple of times now, but my dad had been reading us every book because my siblings and I had been fighting over who got to read them first, so instead the compromise was that we would all get a chapter read to us at a rate of usually one a night before bed
by the time my siblings finally successfully rebelled against the idea (we were just about to start the fifth book) ... they both got it first because I wasn't interested in fighting over it anymore, and by the time they finished it I had lost all interest in the series
I went to one more movie because it was a thing people wanted me to do with them, and then after that I didn't go to see any more of them because no one asked me to, so I had literally no personal reason to
also, to be fair, the books had already started to go in a direction I didn't like by then too
Harry started being written as an angsty teen, and while I get that he literally lost his parents and certainly had more reason than some to be upset by that, as well as the whole thing of people trying to kill him,.... his attitude, or maybe just the way J.K. Rowling decided to write him, started to rub me the wrong way.
@trogdor You're definitely not the only person to react this way. I can't say I enjoyed the later books as much as the early ones, but I'm the kind of person who can't stand having started a series and not finished it.
and the way I heard that the books ended,... was certainly not something that sounded fulfilling,... it sorta sounded like it was a half baked fan-fiction where everyone just gets with the person they like
@Miniman oh I am like that too, it was not easy to just drop a series like that,.. but that just accentuates for me how much I had grown to dislike it
because I do happen to have that same character trait
@trogdor The Sword of Truth series is a constant itch in my mind - I read the first one as a kid, and even though I don't remember it being particularly good, and even though there are something like 20 books in the series, I still keep thinking about going and finishing it.
@trogdor What did you get into the series for? Not to sound too harsh, but as a kid I was very much undiscriminating about my choice of reading material, so if I remember it not being very good I have to assume it really wasn't.
I look at my bookshelf, and a lot of the things I chose to buy as a kid I can't bring myself to read anymore.
@trogdor Ah, right. Yeah, I remember thinking "Wow, they do that to a person just to get them to tell the truth? What if they turn out to be innocent?"
I was interested in that, but then at a certain point it kept devolving into this same theme that was not in the first few books
@Miniman yeah exactly, that was interesting
I don't quite remember which book it started at, but at some point every story arc was "oh look another person or group of people who just randomly decided to pick on the main characters"
usually for really stupid or under explained reasons
like, the first villain was a horrible guy, he did some pretty disgusting stuff, but at least I sort of felt like I could understand why he was like that
but the antagonists who come after him are either just idiots doing the wrong thing for inexplicable reasons, or straight up monsterous hypocrites who aren't even trying to really pretend to be good people in any way shape or form
@Miniman this is a terrible name to give your son, yes
Hmmm, this gives me an idea for a thing to do to my players - give some perfectly innocent NPC the most evil, dramtic-sounding name I can think of, and see what happens.
Let's face it, there is strong evidence to suggest that every person in the Star Wars universe will, at some point in their life, lose a hand/tentacle/appendage and need to have it replaced with a prosthesis.
(I've seen some amazing lightweight "my eyes are empty glowing holes" masks with near-perfect visibility for the wearer; Ren's mask can't be too hard.)
