Well as I said yesterday, I sent four of my best friends to go see ARMAGEDDON in my place, and they did. As usual they did not all agree. In fact half of them didn't like it, and the other half did. Here let me tell you what their reviews tell me.
First off an introduction to the commentators...
Glen Oliver- Former and Future head of Coaxial News on the site. Glen and I met because he had the Abyss Special Edition on Laser Disc and I didn't. Soon thereafter we became the best of friends, agreeing on our mutual love of Carpenter, James Cameron, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. Glen and I do however seem to disagree quite a bit when concerning modern movies. For exhample. He hates TRUE LIES and loves GOLDENEYE. I'm the exact opposite and for the life of me I can't understand his reaction, as he can't understand mine. We share similar points of view on life etc... If he likes a film but has a few tiny problems, I tend to love it.
Johnny Wad- I met him at City Wide Garage Sale, he was hunting for Star Wars, Empire and Jedi one-sheet movie posters and he bought them from me. We began talking film, and pretty soon he kept coming back to talk at every City Wide. He loves films like Conan the Barbarian, any and all Johnny Depp flicks, Terry Gilliam, rauncy weird stuff,etc. I take Johnny to the Alamo Draft House a lot, because he loves cool cult films. His first appearance on the site was standing in line with me at the John Holmes 3-D Film at Dobie. We tend to disagree and agree fairly often, though with cult films we side up exactly.
Copernicus - The newest friend out of the group. He's a world famous scientist that loves malt liquoir and cool films. He, like all my friends, loves the Star Wars films, and gave me a 12 inch Ackbar for Christmas. He and I tend to talk science, conspiracy theories (which he is out to disprove) and science fiction. He loved CONTACT, didn't care too much for Deep Impact, and has been picking on Armageddon for some science stuff he's been hearing for a while. I knew he wouldn't like this film at the get go, but I sent him, because I wanted to see if the movie was so super good that it would change a preconceived opinion. Copernicus hated the film. Hmmm...
ROBOGEEK- I have been keeping Robogeek away from the script for months. I wanted him to be a complete Armageddon virgin going in. Robogeek met me because he could print passes to get me into every screening at one of Austin's coolest theaters. He found out about me on the site, and wanted to enter this world of mine. He tends to think about world issues, classic films, etc. Robogeek would be most at home in a 1930's society filled with Apple Computers and 70inch HDTVs, with the most advance weapon being a yo-yo. He and I tend to talk about film history, foreign film and how the world of film will play out.
WHAT THIS ALL MEANS....
I just saw OUT OF SIGHT with Copernicus and Johnny Wad this past Monday, they loved that film, as did I. So them disliking ARMAGEDDON does concern me a bit, but the mere fact that both Glen and Robogeek really really like the film. Well that gives me quite a bit of confidence.
And then there is the curious factoid that the last time Robogeek and Hallenbeck wrote reviews this strong... well the film was TITANIC. However, I do have to note that at the same time, I was getting zero anti-Titanic reviews, and here it's coming in at about 70% Absolutely Loving it, and 30% hating it.
Well, personally I believe I'm gonna love it. No, not because I'm going to the World Premiere in Florida, but because I believe the following.
After reading the script and seeing 55 minutes of Armageddon, I decided that what this movie will be.... Remember when you were 12 years old, imagine if you had all the absolute coolest toys in the world, and you went into the backyard to the huge sand lot. Your Dad just bought you tons of fireworks, and you decided to have the most fun you could have for 2 and a half hours. So you set up all the figures, you had cherry bombs, pinwheels, Black Cats and Roman Candles. You had sparklers in all the cool colors. And you had the bestest war ever. You melted those plastic toys and you had a blast. You were that evil Sid in the backyard having an ejaculatory great time. That's what I want from ARMAGEDDON... an ejaculatory great time. I can't wait for MONDAY!!!
