I didn't even know this was going to be a movie until about 2 weeks ago, now I'm reading through it before going to see it (at least read through Part I). Part I opens tonight, and from what I've heard, Part II and Part III will each be released on April 15 of 2012 and 2013 respectfully, but that may be incorrect.

4/14/2011 10:03:58 PM

directed by and starring some guy from one tree hill

based on the almost universally loathed book

it's aaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiyn rand's ATLAS SHRUGGED

4/14/2011 10:11:41 PM

I doubt they would have found the funding for 3 full-length features if no one had faith in what the movies could accomplish.

4/14/2011 10:25:28 PM

Quote :

"It takes a lot to get a 0% at the mass market critics' consensus site Rotten Tomatoes. Pick an awful movie you can think of and it probably managed a 5% or maybe even a 25%. Somehow, Atlas Shrugged, Part I (yes! more to look forward to!), which opens Friday, has at this writing achieved the rare feat. In other words, not a single critic to date, from major and minor outlet, high or lowest of low of lowbrow, likes it one bit. I like the headline over the Chicago Tribune review: "Taxing Indeed." Here's a sampling of commentary: Carrie Ricket, Philadelphia Inquirer: "Atlas Shrugged. I arched eyebrow, scrunched forehead, yawned." Roger Ebert: "The most anticlimactic non-event since Geraldo Rivera broke into Al Capone’s vault. I suspect only someone very familiar with Rand’s 1957 novel could understand the film at all, and I doubt they will be happy with it. For the rest of us, it involves a series of business meetings in luxurious retro leather-and-brass board rooms and offices, and restaurants and bedrooms that look borrowed from a hotel no doubt known as the Robber Baron Arms." Kurt Loder, the former Rolling Stone writer, for the Libertarian, Reason Online: "Sitting through this picture is like watching early rehearsals of a stage play that's clearly doomed." Peter Dubruge, Variety: "Part one of a trilogy that may never see completion, this hasty, low-budget adaptation would have Ayn Rand spinning in her grave." Loren King, Boston Globe: "Even fans of Rand’s 1957 antigovernment manifesto may balk at having to endure dialogue that would be banal on the Lifetime channel, along with wooden performances...""

ouch

4/14/2011 10:26:07 PM

Hurray, an undeniably shitty film based on the first 1/3 of an undeniably shitty book.

4/14/2011 10:35:01 PM

I'm looking forward to it. But then again, I'm not a liberal like most people here.

I'm not saying the book was the best thing ever. Far from it. But I agree with a bunch of it's economic philosophies

And from the couple of clips I've seen, the dialog is spot on with the book. And as stated, it's part 1 of 3. So unless they changed some things around with the script/screenplay (and from what I've read from people who have seen it, it stays true to the book with the exception of the time period), then there isn't going to be a big climax at the end of the movie. Just a good stopping point.

I am really glad they didn't go with Angelina Jolie though. So thats one + from having a small budget

[Edited on April 14, 2011 at 11:35 PM. Reason : more stuff]

4/14/2011 11:29:11 PM

The general consensus of the reviews is that, even if you agree with Rand's morally abhorrent, poorly thought out philosophy, this is such a shittily made film that it will still piss you off.

4/15/2011 12:12:05 AM

honestly, that poster looks like something I might've made in 10th grade with adobe photoshop. all that small text at that bottom is a trick to make you think it's legit.

4/15/2011 12:41:47 AM

Quote :

"And as stated, it's part 1 of 3. So unless they changed some things around with the script/screenplay (and from what I've read from people who have seen it, it stays true to the book with the exception of the time period), then there isn't going to be a big climax at the end of the movie. Just a good stopping point."

No one is expecting a huge climax. Good storytelling is not too much to ask, though. Off the top of my head, I can think of three great films that are first parts of a trilogy and don't feature huge climaxes, yet manage to not suck (The Godfather, Star Wars, The Fellowship of the Ring). Rand was a shitty storyteller, and the fact that it's taken fifty years to make a movie out of this shitshow of a novel and they still can't do anything decent with it is a testament to that fact.

4/15/2011 3:50:17 AM

Quote :

"The Godfather, Star Wars, The Fellowship of the Ring"

I'd say all three of these have clearly defined climaxes.

4/15/2011 4:16:50 AM

True enough, but that's because good stories ebb and flow.

Look, Ayn Rand fucking sucks, and if there were a good movie to be made with this material, someone would've made it between the day after the book was released in 1957 and now.

Do you know how many movies they've made of Jane Eyre? Do you know how many good people have worked on those movies?

There's one Atlas Shrugged movie, and it was made by a guy who was an also-ran on a drama on the fucking WB. Fuck this movie.

4/15/2011 4:22:07 AM

I dunno about the Godfather being in that category

[Edited on April 15, 2011 at 4:31 AM. Reason : woops, that has been addressed]

4/15/2011 4:31:03 AM

The Godfather has a climax...but it is not the climax of the story, it's the climax of that particular film.

BECAUSE THE POINT OF MAKING A FILM IS TO TELL A GODDAMN STORY, EVEN IF SAID STORY IS BUT A PART OF A LARGER ARC.

4/15/2011 4:32:40 AM

We were disagreeing in a way that still reaches the conclusion of Atlas Shrugged sucking.

But Godfather has sicily explosion, james caan getting lit up, etc etc

it's a movie that stands on it's own if need be.

If the first installment of a trilogy has the climax of the trilogy then there's something wrong with that trilogy.

4/15/2011 4:36:27 AM

Never read the book, but this what I immediately thought of. Watch until the end if you haven't seen it.

4/15/2011 6:35:32 AM

I, too, hate Ayn Rand.

4/15/2011 1:48:52 PM

Quote :

"Do you know how many movies they've made of Jane Eyre?"

pwnt

this film got a 0% on RT and yet some people have convinced themselves that it was "spectacular"

http://www.atlas-shrugged-movie.com/2011/02/earlybird-reviews-of-the-full-atlas-shrugged-movie-spectacular-solid-faithful/

[Edited on April 15, 2011 at 2:11 PM. Reason : asdfasd]

4/15/2011 2:11:41 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzPDEirVTZk

4/15/2011 2:22:02 PM

Hey now, they did get ONE positive review... Up to 6%.

Quote :

"Though a bit stiff in the joints and acted by an undistinguished cast amid TV-movie trappings, this low-budget adaptation of Ayn Rand's novel nevertheless contains a fire and a fury that makes it more compelling than the average mass-produced studio item."

Of course, this is from the New York Post, so it almost feels like he's searching for something positive to say just to spite the Times.

Seriously though, if the Wall Street Journal and Reason Online are puking over this movie, then there probably is no hope.

4/15/2011 5:02:56 PM

^^ Holy shit. Holy fucking shit.

BTW, there are over 25 film versions of Jane Eyre.

4/15/2011 5:38:18 PM

^watch the soup, don't be 2 years behind on funny

4/15/2011 5:56:52 PM

I can only take 22 minutes of Joel McHale a week, and I'd prefer those to include Alison Brie.

4/15/2011 6:01:57 PM

so is the book as boring as the film?

4/15/2011 6:05:18 PM

only reason anybody gives a shit about ayn rand or this book is because she wrote it towards the end of the Second Red Scare and was a well-known advocate of capitalism. fuck her anti-intellectual bullshit.

Atlas Shrugged definitely fucking blows. probably the worst novel ever written.

4/15/2011 6:51:10 PM

Sounds like I gotta read it!

4/15/2011 11:06:10 PM

Dude, I'm so much of an intellectual that I will just raise my nose at Atlas Shrugged and look the other way.

IN

TELL

ECT

U

AL

4/16/2011 12:01:35 AM

Quote :

"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzPDEirVTZk"

No way, I thought this was an episode of Children's Hospital.

4/16/2011 2:12:17 AM

Quote :

"I doubt they would have found the funding for 3 full-length features if no one had faith in what the movies could accomplish."

Excuse me sir, Ayn Rand.

Her lackey institution haggled almost every state education board in the nation into making her books part of a standard literature education.

A lot of stupid things can happen with a little grit.

4/16/2011 2:43:26 AM

They didn't get Indiana; all my school had was a poster advertising the ARI's essay contest and a couple teachers who couldn't even pronounce her name correctly.

4/16/2011 10:28:16 AM

Quote :

"Dude, I'm so much of an intellectual that I will just raise my nose at Atlas Shrugged and look the other way. IN TELL ECT U AL"

i agree with you

i love transformers, but i hated the transformers movies

4/16/2011 10:57:38 AM

as a fan of the book, I dont think the movie was well done. I dont see this winning over anyone who was interested in the book, but didnt want to put in the time to read it. Without reading the book, I think you would be lost/bored. Oddly enough, they figured out a way to rush things and blow over important events. Oh well, I doubt 2 and 3 get made, unless a studio steps in.

4/16/2011 8:12:54 PM

I thought Atlas Shrugged was for intellectuals. Come up with some life philosophy that works in fiction but embarrasses you in real life.

4/17/2011 12:34:53 AM

I definitely want to see this movie but after seeing Wall Street II which was one of the worst movies I've ever seen Im just not in the mood for movies about anything political, economic, financial, etc.

Of course the liberal idiot film critics hate this movie, they get paid to be eat popcorn, get fat, and steer America's public opinion toward evil. But I'd like to at least hear someone I respect say it's a good movie before I pay $7 to sit through an intolerable movie in an antiquated theater.

I'd much rather watch a DVD in my living room on my big screen while I drink expensive scotch and pause to take a piss. Ah, capitalism.

4/17/2011 1:01:44 AM

Face if you havent read it, I dont think you would enjoy it. It is very rushed and emotionless. They breeze over the govt passing The Equal Opportunities act, which means that you can only own ONE business, so the govt takes Reardens businesses, just signs them over, but it is so short that you dont really care or feel for the guy being robbed of his work.

They also dont show how hard Dagny struggles to get her own business going. Just a cut scene of people shaking their heads no when asking for money... Again, you dont really get a scense of struggle or care.

4/17/2011 8:51:17 AM

Quote :

"based on the almost universally loathed book"

this...it's fucking awful

FUCKING AWFUL

4/17/2011 9:54:31 AM

Budget was ~$15 million, weekend box office estimate is $683,000 ($2276 per location, which is pretty poor performance even for an indie film).

4/17/2011 12:12:53 PM

^capitalism at its finest.

[Edited on April 17, 2011 at 12:17 PM. Reason : IT'S]

4/17/2011 12:17:01 PM

Boxofficemojo reports $1.6 million, 300 sites, and $5590/site and production budget of $10 million.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/

4/17/2011 2:19:01 PM

<-- Derp. IndieWire updated their numbers to match with that now. But hey, they still lost money, so I'm cool with it.

4/17/2011 3:35:59 PM

Quote :

"I doubt they would have found the funding for 3 full-length features if no one had faith in what the movies could accomplish."

IIRC, they are being almost single-handedly financed by the CEO of Cybex exercise equipment. Did any of the characters run on a treadmill?

4/17/2011 4:51:58 PM

I'm not the biggest fan of Atlas Shrugged

but even aside from that, it's not a book that would translate well into a movie...the plot is just a vehicle for A.R.'s philosophy, and consequently it pretty much sucks as a story

4/19/2011 7:51:12 PM

they'll make it up in dvd sales

4/19/2011 8:17:33 PM

more like critics shrugged, amirite?

4/20/2011 6:15:56 AM

^ okay, i laffed

4/20/2011 8:30:03 AM

I kind of want to read the book so i can understand why it (and ayn rand) suck through context, but it's also a really long book to devote my time to when i could read a lot of other things i'd enjoy in the same time span

4/21/2011 9:22:24 AM

Check out the Ayn Rand story from Action Philosophers!

http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/744775.html

4/21/2011 9:27:54 AM

Rat Soup, the book is divided into three sections. You could take a break if you wanted.

4/21/2011 12:16:03 PM

Ayn Rand admired a body-chopping child killer.

Quote :

"What did Rand admire so much about Hickman? His sociopathic qualities: “Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should,” she wrote, gushing that Hickman had “no regard whatsoever for all that society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. He has the true, innate psychology of a Superman. He can never realize and feel ‘other people.’” This echoes almost word for word Rand’s later description of her character Howard Roark, the hero of her novel The Fountainhead: “He was born without the ability to consider others.” "

http://exiledonline.com/atlas-shrieked-why-ayn-rands-right-wing-followers-are-scarier-than-the-manson-family-and-the-gruesome-story-of-the-serial-killer-who-stole-ayn-rands-heart/

4/21/2011 1:25:07 PM

Quote :

"I kind of want to read the book so i can understand why it (and ayn rand) suck through context, but it's also a really long book to devote my time to when i could read a lot of other things i'd enjoy in the same time span "

Dude, don't even bother. She was a crazy person with crazy beliefs that conservatives use to justify their lack of empathy.

[Edited on April 21, 2011 at 1:28 PM. Reason : *was]

4/21/2011 1:27:57 PM

^ :thumbsup:

4/21/2011 1:31:29 PM