Messages

Cookie was a good laugh.

I think they should cast Speak as Dredd.


http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xd6NZf1YK ... re=related

I found that deeply moving.

Not sure The Pit would work as the first movie, great though it is. Too many characters - it might work as some sort of sequel.

The more I think about it, adapting America makes more and more sense. It would definitely suit the brooding, Dark Knight feel Hollywood is so enamoured with at the moment. It would also function as an introduction of sorts, as you could expand the scenes set in Ami and Beeny's school lessons talking about the history of America and the Judges etc. You also get very brief glimpses of things like the Apocalypse War and the Democratic March (in flashback) later on in the story - key events in Judge Dredd history. It also would lend itself to a smaller budget as there's no huge set-pieces, and there's a typically Dredd offbeat twist in the ending. The casting of Ami would be key - she'd have to be really attractive and  charismatic.

As I said before, they'd need to tweak the story a little to make Dredd appear a little more heroic - not that I'm saying there should be no ambiguity - it would be interesting if the audience's sympathies were constantly flitting between the Judges and the Dems. I'd also maybe expand the role of Kurd - have Ami personify the idealistic freedom fighter side of Total War, have Kurd as the darker side. You could give Dredd a personal interest in the case by having Morphy or Giant among the victims of the Total War massacre. I think seeing Colin's wonderful Dredd's monologue sequences rendered on film would send a shiver down my back! And that ending - "America is Dead. This is the real world".

For a sequel I'd like to see an adaptation of America 2, but up the stakes and bring in elements of Total War. I love the ending of America 2 as well.

I guess it all depends on what you want from the movie - there seems to be a lot of more casual fans who just want to see old-school Dredd like The Apoc War or the Dark Judges realised on screen - personally I'd much rather see the film reflect how Dredd has been post-Wilderlands - more mature and gritty.

I'd like a mix of old and new school Dredd. I think you're idea is a really good one if they go in the direction of later Dredd but I'd still like to see a lot of satire and crazy fads and so on. I was thinking Brazil meets Sin City meets The Good the Bad and the Ugly myself but I'd be pretty excited with this America idea and the ending would be bang on, unless that 'Yes we Can' guy goes and fixes everything and the Dredd movie ends up missing the zeitgeist.

"I don't see Dredd as a Hero's Journey type. If he has an emotional or psychological arc it should be fairly subtle, like a small sign of compassion or something at the end. Small things often hold more power anyway."

Yes that is absolutely exactly it really.My thoughts exactly.They dont happen very often those sort of psychological /emotional arcs but i love it when they do especially when it takes you by surprise and you think i never thought that they had it in them etc.

Even when I was a kid watching The Good The Bad and the Ugly I picked up on the unspoken sympathy Blondie had for Tuco after they met with Tuco's morally superior monk brother. Blondie didn't say anything, he just listened as Tuco told pathetic lies about how fond his brother was of him. The sympathy was conveyed very subtly in the way Blondie listened to Tuco without telling him he knew he was talking b.s.

Blondie was an unchanging moral constant in the movie, Tuco was conflicted (a bit like a Mega City Citizen), and Angel Eyes was pretty evil (although there is a deleted scene in the DvD extras where even Angel Eyes shows subtle but distinct disgust at the waste of life caused by the American Civil War). The three characters have their inevitable show down and the film ends with Blondie's 'judgment' of Tuco. This judgment is a source of great suspense and you could say it is what the whole film was building toward. Like the occasional Dredd tale, I think this is proof that an emotional story can be told without a main character having 'issues' like Spidey or Hulk, or undergoing a profound change in attitude like Iron Man. Watching a Dredd movie, the audience could even be made think that Dredd is a bit of an austere fundamentalist loon but then he could do something subtle or give a final judgment that surprises everyone like you say. In the film Dredd may need a more emotionally demonstrative supporting cast but that's always been the case in the comics. As long as it isn't a touchy feely Judge Hershey or an impossible to warm to Rob Schneider.

Have to say though, the way Angel Eyes left Tuco at the end wasn't exactly compassionate but it was perversely merciful and true to the characters.

For decades the Hero's Journey formula has been seen by marketing people and filmmakers themselves as the plot structure that must be adhered to. It's in Star wars, it's in Rocky, it's in a lot of very successful movies and many good ones too. These days though it has become a bit familiar, I see it coming a mile off at least. Stallone constructed his Dredd that way, with the hero being cast out, becoming dejected, rediscovering his mojo, and finally kicking ass.

The Hero's Journey is not always a bad thing, it does work sometimes but there are an endless stream of goons holding screenwriting seminars that teach that the Hero's Journey, bound in a 3 act structure, is the only way to go. There are an endless amount of film making people attending those seminars too. I don't see Dredd as a Hero's Journey type. If he has an emotional or psychological arc it should be fairly subtle, like a small sign of compassion or something at the end. Small things often hold more power anyway.

I think something visceral and satirical and imaginative would come of trusting the original material but, as has been said, the cost of film making makes it hard to trust instinct and so trusty old formulas are sought and yes, that damages creativity.

I'm not sure Dredd will be passing the baton to Rico. Didn't Rico have a cup of tea in Vienna's house? Dolman pointed out the dangers of the stimulant for a man in uniform doing his duty but Rico was very dismissive. He may not have been on duty right there and then, but a cup of tea!! Even the older self-questioning Dredd would skip the tea. I don't think this bit of dialogue was in there for no reason and I reckon when it comes to Rico it might be deja vu all over again.

Also we now have a number of Puerto-Rican street gangs round here and you're gonna have to join up with one of them if you want to survive.

Puerto Rican street gangs? Where? I'll put a cap in their asses or, failing that, write a letter to the Daily Mail complaining about lackadaisical border  controls on beautiful British forums. For shizzle etc.

[r]

He's talking about Novar from The Cursed Earth, Batson.  Good question though, there's got to be mileage for a Dredd/Anderson story there, although would it have to be Pat that wrote any follow-up (a la Satanus)?  Or am I wrong and Novar is from the Wagner episodes?   If it was Pat, I withdraw my support.  I loves me my Mills, but keep him out of the Dreddverse these days, please Tharg.

NovaR, that's the gentleman. It is a pity about Pat Mills' protective attitude. I think Pat's influence on comics is underrated and he is one of the greats but, ...let Novar go Pat. He should come back.

I'm glad to see Novar's doing well with the xmas tree business in the meantime anyway.

Whatever happened to Nova, that powerful telekenetic kid from the Cursed Earth? Did he ever show up again, maybe even in one of those 'What Ever Happened To..." stories? He seemed like a good soul but what if he showed up wanting in to the Meg or having a conflict of interest with the chin? Maybe he has a load of followers and a pet Satanus. What if he built a new mutant meg out of twisted metal trees? Or maybe he... OK, I'll cut it out, but did he ever get a mention again?

Hello to you. I hated BJ and the Bear.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?cli ... &ct=title#

Awful isn't it?

Hello Mikey, and thanks for saying hi to me. I'm planning on doing a bit more lurking myself before posting. No idea what you missed here but I bet a Dredd movie does not go into 'production' in 09.

Sorry, I ain't a U.S. reader though. Just created a persona to honour the greatest TV show ever and salute Snoop's refusal to let derelict houses go unused. I worked in Murderland though, in the genteel country mainly, but I made deliveries to Bodymore
The Wire is the truth!

Wake can you turn of those translating options on posts so it just comes up in plain English.

I don't think Ignatzmonster (who I was talking to) would need the translation but here goes: I'm talking about a TV show called The Wire. Murderland is Maryland in the US where The Wire is set and I once worked. Bodymore is Baltimore which is the rough city in the state of Maryland where I made deliveries. Snoop is a character in The Wire I named myself after on this site and I won't tell you what the derelict house thing means in case you ever rent the show which I recommend. Hello to you to by the way.

A lot of brain washed filmmakers seem to think the central character in a film must learn something about life from their 'Hero's Journey'. I find this pretty trite myself and unsuitable to Dredd. Dredd's more of a Leone 'man with no name' type, or Dirty Harry type, or even a James Bond type, in that, psychologically, he starts out the story and finishes the story in the same place. He may have the odd doubt and occasionally show compassion but this is usually shown in a fairly subtle way and not in an overwrought, swelling music, punch the air, way.

I'm glad it's a production company that might understand this and not some Hollywood churn em out garbage factory that's compelled to transpose their inane formula on everything they touch.

Do the various Dredd scribes agree on arcs and character progressions does anyone know? Or is it that everyone just runs it past John Wagner and he gives it the OK as long as it doesn't mess with his plans? I know how it works with Mister Who Space detective but comic writing with teams always seemed mysterious to me.

Ah, great to see other US tooth readers. Always pushing it on friends and family but they will have none of it. The headache of getting- well, specifically NOT getting issues or collections- is minimized by the thought that others suffer from the same.

Had doubts about your name until I saw the picture. Snoop was off the chain.

Sorry, I ain't a U.S. reader though. Just created a persona to honour the greatest TV show ever and salute Snoop's refusal to let derelict houses go unused. I worked in Murderland though, in the genteel country mainly, but I made deliveries to Bodymore.

Nice of everyone to take time to say hello.

The Wire is the truth!