Posted on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 by Peter Sciretta
DivX and CinemaNow are giving away a free digital copy of Terminator Salvation. I’m sure the /Film readers will be quick to comment that “it’s not worth that much”, but a deal is a deal. All you have to do is click here, enter coupon code TS201023, and sign up for a CinemaNow account. You’ll need to have DivX player to play the movie file.
Posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009 by Devindra Hardawar
Expect to be overloaded on James Cameron and Avatar news this weekend folks. Dave will have an interview with the King of the World up later this morning — but for now, let’s take a look at his thoughts on McG’s Terminator Salvation. Also, there’s a little tidbit about how he sold the rights to the first film for $1.
Posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 by Adam Quigley
This Week in DVD & Blu-ray is a column that compiles all the latest info regarding new DVD and Blu-ray releases, sales, and exclusive deals from stores including Target, Best Buy and Fry’s.
TERMINATOR SALVATION
There’s a certain expectation of quality that comes with viewing a sequel to an established franchise. In Terminator Salvation, the director of Charlie’s Angels joins forces with the screenwriters of Catwoman to remind us why those expectations usually result in the metaphorical equivalent of a grown man gleefully defecating all over our most cherished memories. It’s the type of film where it’s much easier to pinpoint what it does well, if only because it gets everything else so disastrously wrong. The positives can be counted on a single hand, with the action sequences being the primary standout—and the sole reason the film is being listed under the “Rent it” section. If you can separate yourself from the rest of the series, and view the film as no more than CGI-heavy eye candy and a compilation of Transformers-esque robotic mayhem, Terminator Salvation is watchable enough to please those undeterred by studio-manufactured Summer blockbuster silliness. The only other highlights worth mentioning are stars Sam Worthington and Anton Yelchin, who manage to do an admirable job breathing life into characters otherwise completely devoid of personality. The rest of the cast doesn’t fare as well, with literally every other role barely even registering enough to make an impression. Christian Bale in particular disappoints, reducing the should-be-badass John Connor into “military guy who shouts a lot”. Meanwhile, any opportunity the film may have had to redeem itself in the story/storytelling department is quickly thwarted by an embarrassingly illogical and self-defeating central conflict (Spoiler alert: Skynet is stupid), as well as a non-stop array of cringe-inducing lines and shamelessly flagrant callbacks to previous Terminator entries.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: DVD – Includes the theatrical cut of the film, along with a Moto-Terminator featurette. Blu-ray – Includes the theatrical and directors cuts of the film, along with featurettes (”Re-Forging the Future”, “The Moto-Terminator”), a “Resist or Be Terminated” Video Archive, a Terminator Salvation Official Movie Prequel Digital Comic Issue #1, a WB Maximum Movie Mode, Focus Points, and a digital copy of the theatrical version.
| BEST DVD PRICE | ||
|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Fry’s |
| $15.99 | $15.99 | $14.77 |
| Amazon – $9.99 | ||
| BEST BLU-RAY PRICE | ||
|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Fry’s |
| $19.99 | $19.99 | N/A |
| Amazon – $16.99 | ||
Posted on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 by David Chen
In this week’s /Filmcast, Dave Chen, Devindra Hardawar and Adam Quigley reflect on Disney’s absorption of Marvel Entertainment, wonder if Terminator Salvation could be improved with some R-rated action, get excited about some action movie sequels, and assess the state of the Redbox legal battle. Special guest Anne Thompson from Indiewire joins us for this episode.
You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993. Join us next Monday at 9 PM EST / 6 PM PST at Slashfilm’s live page as we review Gamer.
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Posted on Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 by Brendon Connelly
That man McG seems to change his story an awful lot. I can’t even unravel all of the threads of argument about the rating for Terminator Salvation (something… about… pizza?) but I do recall that, at various times, it was either fully intentional or fully unintentional that Moon Bloodgood’s infamous breast-baring not be part of the final cut. And how much violence or gore was snipped from the picture to get it into theatres with a tween-friendly rating?
Posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 by Russ Fischer
A handful of sites got to visit the set of Clash of the Titans over the last weekend, and Devin at CHUD took the chance to talk to star Sam Worthington about some of his recent projects. In a pair of pieces published last night, Worthington defends some of Terminator: Salvation (”It was dark. There is no humor. That’s what we set out to do.”) while at the same time recognizing that some things could have been done better. He also has great things to say about James Cameron and working on green screen for Avatar. It’s all after the break. Read More »
Posted on Thursday, June 4th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Warner Bros has released a new television spot for Terminator Salvation which actually promotes Arnold Schwarzenegger’s CG appearance in the film. I thought that Arnold requested that WB not promote the movie with his image, since he only appears in the film for a short scene. Watch the tv spot after the jump.
We somehow missed this music video when it was released last week. Mark Lee had the idea of doing a schmaltzy Terminator love song, in the style of “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” or “Everything I Do (I Do It For You).” Watch the video and read the lyrics after the jump.
Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
During this week’s episode of the Totally Rad Show, Alex Albrecht theorized that one of the many reasons Terminator Salvation didn’t work for him was because he believes that the concept of machines or technology rising up against humanity has been done so many times before, that it is no longer valid (I’ve included an excerpt from the show after the jump).
How can a story work on the same level of the first Terminator film, when the machines and technology are no longer scary. Even in the critically acclaimed Battlestar Galactica television series, the Cylons weren’t even scary (It should be noted that the show worked on many other dramatic levels, but it never tried to be a thriller).
Or could it be that we’ve reached a place where both the animatronic and computer generated machines no longer look real? And maybe the same could be said about technology. We now live in a technology-infused world, and the evil tech in films like Eagle Eye just ring false.
Terminator Salvation aside, lets have a discussion. In this post-Matrix world, is the story of humans having to defend themselves against scary machines and evil technology a thing of the past?
Read More »
McG’s Terminator Salvation hits theaters tomorrow, and so far it seems like the reaction is violently mixed. I screened the film earlier this week, and hope to write a review over the weekend, or maybe even appear on the /Filmcast, but here are my quick thoughts. If you’re expecting the movie to reach the bar set by Terminator and T2, you need to lower your expectations. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed this movie. The franchise does get Salvation, as the title implies, and the film is a HUGE improvement over Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
The action scenes are pretty damn cool, with McG paying homage to Children of Men/Alfonso Curon with a series of one-shot single camera sequences (which obviously aren’t one-shot, but stitched together in post) that will have you drooling. That said, the character development is almost non existent, the pacing is a mess and the dialogue could’ve been written by a 10-year-old. Overall, I enjoyed the film.
I know I might be in the minority. I understand how people might not think this is a good movie, but I’m surprised at some of the violently negative reaction the film has gotten in some of the early reviews. I think general audiences will like this film a lot more than critics. The film is getting an 8.4 out of 10 on IMDb with over 2000 votes (I expect this to go down to the 6.5-7.5 range) but only 34% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. I have compiled a bunch of excerpts from the early reviews after the jump.
Discuss: Did you see Terminator Salvation? What did you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
