Cool I thought I was the only person in the world that liked those movies....Loved then growing up and even more nowOriginally Posted by Yaksha
Cool I thought I was the only person in the world that liked those movies....Loved then growing up and even more now
Does whatever a spiderman does.
Yeah I was the same. Me and my brother used to watch the second one like once a week (always a double feature with Starship Troopers another guilty pleasure of mine) I am so glad I found my dvds of these.Cool I thought I was the only person in the world that liked those movies....Loved then growing up and even more now
If you love me then love me..
The Thing (2011)
This was finally released in the UK on friday, so I was pretty glad to get the chance to check it out. As I suspected, it wasn't great, but it's not as terrible as a number of remakes I've seen. The prequel approach was a different approach, at least, although the film still comes across as having a pretty similar plot to Carpenter's version at times. (Although thankfully, not as similar as the trailer seemed to imply.) There's an attempt at capturing some of the paranoia and claustrophobic scares, and the mixture of American and Norwegian characters adds a nice new element of distrust when two will speak to each other when another can't understand what they're saying. There's also a nice slow build-up of tension before the first death in the film and what we all know to be inevitable.
What does ruin it is, as should've been expected, a far too heavy reliance on CGI. Some of the transformations are kind of cool, but none have the impact of the original animatronic transformations and monsters from Carpenter's film. So I was really let down when the "practical effects" really were nothing but CGI, as far as I could see.
As far as leading into the Carpenter version goes, it certainly gets that right: everything we saw of the Norwegian base in the original film, every set, every shot, is matched to perfection. In fact, as soon as it ended, I really wanted to watch the original just to see how faithful the makers really were. What's also surprising is that it does work on its own as a stand-alone film, and it works ok. But living up to the quality of the 1982 film is where it just falls short. Good, but definitely not great. 6/10
Never be cruel and never be cowardly. And if you ever are, always make amends.
You are a walking talking Doctor Who encyclopedia to me. - Melike
Nice review, DD. I passed on it when it was in the theater and you're review kind of sums up what I thought would happen.
A NEW GAME BEGINS
Jean, I was talking about your first list. I hadn't scrolled down, so I didn't realize there was a second list.Are you referring only to List One, or both? I really really hope you have liked / will like some of the European / Asian ones, too!Jean, I've seen about 2/3 of the movies on that list, and I didn't see a single one that I didn't like. Maybe someday I'll use this list to check out the others!
Yes, I understand - it is not an easy watch. I got to re-watch it some time soon, too.Now I'm jonesing to re-watch The Bridge on the River Kwai. It's been years.
Oh, great! If you have watched the Kurosawa's and Welles' ones, you have all the major Macbeths necessary for our festival!Cool. I'll try to find that one somewhere.
(get ready, people and animals! the festival is in February, or maybe March, and watching Macbeths isn't exactly a piece of cake!!)I've seen a number of foreign films, but embarrassingly few that are on your second list.
I studied Macbeth in school, and have seen a few different performances of it. Other than short clips, I can't recall ever seeing the whole thing on film.
well, you have a couple of months to remedy this! All the Macbeths mentioned are totally worth watching.
as far as "foreign films" (which is an exceptionally weird way to define a genre, and something I'd never come across before I learned of the American approach to cinema) are concerned, I really wish you would see at least the boldened ones. I really really hope you will love them.
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll work on the Macbeths then!well, you have a couple of months to remedy this! All the Macbeths mentioned are totally worth watching.
as far as "foreign films" (which is an exceptionally weird way to define a genre, and something I'd never come across before I learned of the American approach to cinema) are concerned, I really wish you would see at least the boldened ones. I really really hope you will love them.
And, yes, "foreign films" obviously depends on one's frame of reference, and it doesn't surprise me that the Americans came up with a term like that. For me personally, it simply means, "foreign language films," regardless of genre.
EDIT:
I have seen Seven Samurai. Excellent.
I've seen Les Misérables on stage in San Francisco, but I've not seen it on film.
Where are all the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns with Clint Eastwood? They're missing from your list!
No, Les Misérables on my list is not based on the book (though it is referenced there all the time). It's mainly about World War 2.
And, sorry to say, bears loath westerns...
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH! Ok. I didn't realize there were two stories with that name.
No worries, I was just ribbin' ya.
there's basically only one story, because the original Victor Hugo book is alluded to all the time in the movie, and the title was intentionally the same. I soooooooo recommend it, even if you never read Victor Hugo.
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the clarification and the education, Jean. If I come across it, I'll check it out.
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mattrick - phenomenal review. I didn't get to watch Hugo over the weekend as I had planned to but I will absolutely be watching it within the next few days.
As Mike mentioned, I hope I'm not over hyping it for myself, but based off what I have seen and heard from people who have watched it this film is truly something special.
Hear, hear!
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is something special Feev, you'll love it.
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I was worrying if Scorsese was beginning to lose his touch after seeing the rather predictable Shutter Island, but I'm glad to know that Hugo is well worth seeing, Mattrick. I'll check it out asap. Excellent review, btw.
Never be cruel and never be cowardly. And if you ever are, always make amends.
You are a walking talking Doctor Who encyclopedia to me. - Melike
Things I've seen on Netflix recently....
Season of the Witch...surprisingly entertaining. If you have a couple of hours to kill this will certainly kill them and quickly
Midnight Cowboy......meh. Could stand to be remade.
The West....good documentary about the history of western United States. Could have been more comprehensive but I certainly learned some things I didn't know.
Didn't like Cannibal the Musical. Now, listening to Commentary: The Musical! on the other hand ... (But, of course, you must watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog first, lol)
I sawthat was on Netflix. Maybe I'll check it out.
I was amused by Cannibal though.
Our Idiot Brother, -4/10
Do one thing every day that scares you... Eleanor Roosevelt
Wow, lol, that's not a good score at all, lol. What didn't you like about it? I like the actors in it, and from the trailer it doesn't look all that bad.
It was probably the worst Paul Rudd that I've seen although Elizabeth Banks was super hot. The problem with it is that for an attempted comedy, I might have smiled once maybe? I usually find anything not funny, hilarious but wasn't phased so that's bad. The plot was as boring as the back of my eyelids but I think I chose my eyelids through most of it because I've already forgotten what happened.
Do one thing every day that scares you... Eleanor Roosevelt
lol, I think I'll save that one for a download on a rainy day.
Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part One
3.5/5
Not bad, better than I expected. A slow moving movie, with spurts of action throughout.
I've heard pretty good things about Our Idiot Brother. Ebert's review was favourable.
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