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Went to see AS III with my two sons today....

Posted by LetsShrug 10 years, 7 months ago to Entertainment
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Before viewing AS III in Vegas last weekend, Scott stood in front of us and, among other things (just before receiving his spiffy leather John Galt jacket), said "this will not be the movie you have in your head". He was right. (Hear me out though.)

Just prior to heading to the Premiere I re-read Atlas Shrugged, I wanted it to be fresh in my mind, and THAT is wanted I wanted to see on the screen. ALL of it. Which is completely unrealistic considering the multitude of events that happen in part 3 of the book.

Fast forward to today. I took my two sons (ages 17 and 21) to see the movie this afternoon. They have not read the book, but have seen both of the previous movies. I didn't tell them much about part 3 because I wanted their reactions to be THEIRS.

After the movie was over, and before the cleaning people kicked us out of the theater because we hung out too long to talk, I asked them, "Did you understand what happened, did it make sense?" They both explained that they understood the message. I asked what was the message? And they nailed it! And they both said they enjoyed the movie and were glad I took them.

So, perhaps those of us who know the book backwards and forwards and thirst to share it with others, but can't seem to get people to read a thick book, these movies will do the job quite nicely to open their eyes...and perhaps be the catalyst that gets them to read the book. (After all Part I worked for me.)

With that said, I want to thank John Aglialoro and Joan Carter for getting our favorite book on the big screen in spite of all the many road blocks they had to contend with to finally pull off that monumental task.

Thank You! ;)

(The theater had approx 30 people in it. )


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  • Posted by slfisher 10 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I did wonder why anti-government people living in a secret community needed license plates. :)
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  • Posted by slfisher 10 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    None in NH? That surprises me.

    I saw it in the one theatre in Idaho's Treasure Valley that showed it, and there were about 30-40 people at 6:40 on a Friday, opening night.
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  • Posted by 10 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    A group walked out... what ages? I wonder if they took a vote first, or if the leader of the pack decided it. Odd.
    There was much that was different than the book, and it had a whole different feel than the first two, which takes some adjusting, but I liked it much better the second time around.
    I was starting to wonder if you made it to the show. lol thank you for replying.
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  • Posted by brando79az 10 years, 7 months ago
    I went to the same theater as you. I went on a Friday night and counted about 20 people; seven came as a group. By the halfway point I counted a total of 11 walk outs. They were made up of the group of seven and 2 couples. I do not know the reason. Perhaps they did not know the story of AS? Or did they think the production was bad enough to walk out? Whatever.

    *Spoiler* Definitely a low-cost production. Also, it has been quite some time since I read the novel so forgive me when I say this was a very different ending than I remembered. That did not bother me as much, however, as did the character's continuities. I understand re-casting but this movie seemed to stand out in its own universe. The is will make watching the movies, back to back, frustrating. That out of the way. I will still buy it and watch it to my heart's content.
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  • Posted by 10 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    lol to "please me"?.. Um...I have not raised "pleasers". Thank you for admitting your "feelings" are due to budget constraints. Maybe the bar for high budget movies has been raised quite high, but the substance in hollywood has hit an all time low.
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  • Posted by term2 10 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I think a lot of what I felt was due to budget restraints. As I said, the bar has been raised on movies quite high. Your sons probably got the message partly to please you, and partly because you have probably raised them to understand capitalism and its benefits. I have my own business and understand capitalism pretty well since college. I feel the mood of the country is changing towards acceptance of an apocalyptic end to our country (look at the rise of apocalytic movies in the past few years), so socialism's end is not far off. I will probably never see it, however, but maybe your sons will.
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  • Posted by 10 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    And yet two young men still understood the message within. And I think the movies did a fine job of 'showing' how capitalism is best. What other ways should they have showed it? (Keep in mind the budget issues please.)
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  • Posted by 10 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Someone who 'feels' alienated by the Capitalism talk is someone who's having a mental blank out and probably won't get it anyway. Although, sometimes it takes many different examples, references, different ways of explaining an idea for it to finally sink in.
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  • Posted by term2 10 years, 7 months ago
    AS 1 was THE movie to introduce people to Ayn Rand. Much better than the other two. AS 1 shows you how capitalism is better- very little pontification which just alienates people.
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  • Posted by term2 10 years, 7 months ago
    Movies have gotten so good lately that the bar has been raised pretty high. AS III didnt rise to that standard unfortunately. A lot was unbelievable, such as the advanced things in Galts gulch (Refrigerators, cars with Colorado license plates, all kinds of furniture and construction supplies) that somehow got there undetected and unlikely brought by air. Not to mention the unmemorable actors. AS I had good actors; none of the remaining two had good actors. It was just hard to stay within the movie's plot. Way too much pontification about capitalism through words, instead of SHOWING how capitalism is best.
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  • Posted by Kittyhawk 10 years, 7 months ago
    We drove about 45 minutes to see a 11:40 showing of ASIII on Friday in the Tampa area with our six year old, who said after, "I like Atlas Shrugged. Let's go see it again tomorrow." There were probably about 12-15 people in the theater with us, mostly aged 60 and over.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 10 years, 7 months ago
    Aglialoro and Carter.
    Thank you for making a dream come true. I have been waiting since that fellow Ruddy, one of the producers of The Godfather, proposed to A.R. to bring Atlas to the screen.

    I am aware that it has been a great investment in more than just money. I takes courage, grit, and vision to do what you folks have done and there is not enough accolades that can be expressed for your accomplishment. So -- the most my family and myself can do is say thank you.
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  • Posted by livefree-NH 10 years, 7 months ago
    I watched it last night, and wore my Kickstarter T-shirt too! I took a friend with me who had not read the book, but was roughly familiar with my Libertarian view of the world. She had a very very positive reaction to the movie (I should mention that she has NOT seen part 1 or 2).

    I enjoyed the movie and it's killing me to keep from telling you any spoilers. I will say that there was an appearance from one of my personal heroes "as himself" which delighted me (and made my friend chuckle too).

    I had a little trouble finding a showing nearby - I live in NH and there were none in NH, VT, ME, or anywhere other than Danvers, MA. So I ventured into the Commonwealth to see it, with an audience of about 20 other people, and not really clear to me as to their enjoyment of it (or not).

    Right now I think I am going to watch Pt.1 and Pt. 2 on TV at that friend's house, just to backfill the "who's who" for her sake.

    I'm in complete agreement with LetsShrug about the movie being a good way to introduce the thought to people who have not read the book, and also my thanks to John and Joan!

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  • Posted by mmb 10 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    That's a good point. The world was going nuts in the 60's and 70's, so there was occasion to be casting about ,looking for answers. These times are not being answered by student riots , so it's more difficult for the questions to arise. The main point for me was finding answers based on a different premise about our lives.
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  • Posted by mmb 10 years, 7 months ago
    Before we went to see Atlas III my husband and I talked about it. I told him about Dagney and John Galt, and the other " players" It was confusing for a few moments to spot Wyatt and the others. But I told Joe I was especially looking forward to the fight at Rearden Metal and Hank's escape.
    I remembered the torture scene from reading the book many years ago and was not looking forward to that. The outstanding part of that scene is when the F machine no longer works and John Galt is the only one who knows how to fix it. The "bad guy"finally realizes that the man they are trying to subjugate is the smartest one in the room. He finally gets Galt's message and wakes up in an instant. Joe and I had just spent the day at the railroad museum in Strasburgh, Pa and wee admiring the level of workmanship in the engines. When the line " You haven't nationalized the railroads!" was spoken by Dagney it really jolted us. That and the Taggart bridge. Joe said it reminded him of the Tay bridge in Scotland. There webout 20-25 people in the theater for the 7p.m. show on Saturday. One young woman had a "Who is John Galt? tee shirt on. We talked a bit abad I said I wished I had worn my "Rearden Metal" bracelet! I wish we could have talked more.. I wonder how the talk on campuses will go?
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  • Posted by Bfurri 10 years, 7 months ago
    I'm so happy to hear about others who share these movies with their kids. My son is 13 and my daughter just turned 12 on opening day . Like with your kids, it's unrealistic to expect them to read the book. But they love watching the movies, we just caught up with part 1& 2 on Netflix and will be checking our part 3 shortly. They get it, it's all common sense to them And their young minds haven't been spoiled yet by the propaganda. Movies like these and those by Dinesh are acting as the antidote to liberal propaganda! I'm so gratefully to the producers and actors who made it happen.
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