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John Carter times & tickets BY ROGER EBERT / March 7, 2012 in theaters Fandango I don't see any way to begin The Hunger Games Search movie a review of "John Carter" showtimes and buy Delicacy without referring to cast & credits tickets. The Hunger Games "Through Time and Space The Kid With a Bike With Ferdinand Feghoot." John Carter Taylor Kitsch October Baby Dejah Thoris Lynn Collins about us That was a series of little The Raid: Redemption stories that appeared in the Tars Tarkas Willem Dafoe more current releases » magazine Fantasy and Tal Hajus Thomas Haden Church About the site » Science Fiction from 1956 Sola Samantha Morton one-minute movie reviews to 1973 and had a great Site FAQs » Sab Than Dominic West influence on my Tardos Mors Ciaran Hinds still playing Contact us » development as a critic. In one of the Feghoot Disney presents a film directed by adventures, the hero finds The Hunger Games Email the Movie Andrew Stanton. Written by Answer Man » himself on Mars and Act of Valor engaged in bloody Stanton and Mark Andrews, based Addiction Incorporated swordplay. He is sliced in on the story “A Princessof Mars” by Albert Nobbs on sale now the leg. Then in the other Edgar Rice Burroughs. Running Amador leg. Then an arm is hacked time: 132 minutes. Rated PG-13 Being Flynn off. "To hell with this," (for intense sequences of violence Bullhead Carnage Feghoot exclaims, and action). Casa de mi Padre unholstering his ray gun Chico & Rita Printer-friendly » and vaporizing his enemies. Chronicle E-mail this to a friend » The Conquest I may have one or two Contraband details wrong, but you Coriolanus understand the point: When Crazy Horse superior technology is at Declaration of War Buy now » hand, it seems absurd for heroes to limit themselves to swords. Delicacy When airships the size of a city block can float above a battle, why Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close handicap yourself with cavalry charges involving lumbering alien Flowers of War rhinos? When it is possible to teleport yourself from Earth to Mars, Footnote why are you considered extraordinary because you can jump really The Forgiveness of Blood high? Friends with Kids The Grey Haywire Such questions are never asked in the world of "John Carter," and as Hell and Back Again a result, the movie is more Western than science fiction. Even if we House of Pleasures Buy now » completely suspend our disbelief and accept the entire story at face The Hunger Games value, isn't it underwhelming to spend so much time looking at hand- The Hunter to-hand combat when there are so many neat toys and gadgets to In Darkness play with? In the Land of Blood and Honey The Innkeepers But I must not review a movie that wasn't made. What we have here The Iron Lady is a rousing boy's adventure story, adapted from stories that Edgar Jeff Who Lives at Home Rice Burroughs cranked out for early pulp magazines. They lacked John Carter the visceral appeal of his Tarzan stories, which inspired an estimated Journey 2: Mysterious Island 89 movies; amazingly, this is the first John Carter movie, but it is Joyful Noise Buy now » intended to foster a franchise and will probably succeed. The Kid With a Bike Kill List The King of Devil's Island Burroughs' hero is a Civil War veteran who finds himself in the Monument Valley, where he has an encounter that transports him to Monument Valley, where he has an encounter that transports him to London River the red planet Mars. This is not the Mars that NASA's Rovers are Man on a Ledge poking into, but the Mars envisioned at the time Burroughs was Mulberry Child writing, which the astronomer Percival Lowell claimed was criss- My Piece of the Pie crossed by a system of canals. Luckily for Carter, it has an Newlyweds atmosphere that he can breathe and surface temperatures allowing Norwegian Wood him do without a shirt. In a delightful early scene, he finds that his October Baby Earth muscles allow him great leaps and bounds in the lower Martian On the Ice Once Upon a Time in Anatolia Buy now » gravity. Oscar nominated short docs Outrage This attracts the attention of the inhabitants of Mars, represented by Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory two apparently human cities at war with each other, and a native race Pariah called the Tharks, who look like a vague humanoid blend of weird Pina green aliens from old covers of Thrilling Wonder Stories. They have The Raid: Redemption four arms, and it was a great disappointment to me that we never Rampart saw a Thark putting on a shirt. John Carter feels an immediate affinity Red Tails for the Tharks and also gets recruited into the war of the cities — Salmon Fishing in the Yemen Saving Face Buy now » choosing the side with a fiery beauty named Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins, who is the movie's best character). Seeking Justice A Separation John Carter is played by Taylor Kitsch, who co-starred with Collins in Silent House The Snowtown Murders "Wolverine." Yes, I agree Kitsch is a curious name for a star in action Sundance shorts 2012 movies. Still, that is his real name, and one can wonder how many Thin Ice fans of "Wolverine," for example, are familiar with the word or its This Means War meaning. As an actor, he is perfectly serviceable as a sword- A Thousand Words wielding, rhino-riding savior of planets. Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie Tomboy Buy now » The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, whose credits include "A 21 Jump Street Bug's Life" (1998), "Finding Nemo" (2003) and "WALL-E" (2008). All Undefeated three have tight, well-structured plots, and that's what "John Carter" The Vow could use more of. The action sequences are generally well- W.E. executed, but they're too much of a muchness. CGI makes them Wages of Fear seem too facile and not tactile enough. Although I liked the scene We Need to Talk about Kevin where Carter was getting his Mars legs with his first low-gravity steps, Windfall The Woman in Black the sight of him springing into the air like a jumping jack could inspire bad laughs. more current releases » Buy now» Does "John Carter" get the job done for the weekend action audience? Yes, I suppose it does. The massive city on legs that on dvd stomps across the landscape is well-done. The Tharks are ingenious, although I'm not sure why they need tusks. Lynn Collins makes a new on dvd terrific heroine. And I enjoyed the story outside the story, about how Burroughs wrote a journal about what he saw and appears briefly as more new on dvd » character. He may even turn up in sequels. After all, he wrote some. coming on dvd Buy now» more coming on dvd »

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