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| Laughing Gravy | Jan 21 2010, 09:01 AM Post #1756 |
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Well, I disagree on a number of things... I like Wages of Fear a LOT better than the remake. I like the original version of The Thing (from Another World) a lot more than the remake. And yes, it actually IS a remake... otherwise, they'd have called it Who Goes There?, wouldn't they? |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Jan 21 2010, 09:52 AM Post #1757 |
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Mouth Breather
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Have to disagree, Sarge. I watched 'em both this week, and Sorcerer lost. It's too facile and lacks substance -- the words do matter. As to The Thing -- the original is one of the great, groundbreaking movies, and the remake is just another pitcher show.
Edited by panzer the great & terrible, Jan 21 2010, 09:55 AM.
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| Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious... | |
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| JazzGuyy | Jan 21 2010, 10:51 AM Post #1758 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I haven't seen Sorceror but I agree with Paul about The Thing. The newer movie is certainly much closer to the original story but misses out on the essence of the original story which is ultimately a scientific mystery/puzzle story about how you can figure out who the alien is and how to destroy it. The first picture does a better job of the "how can you destroy it" aspect. The newer movie is too much into gore and its special effects and misses the problem that is the core of the original story and the first movie. I doubt, by the way, that the original story could ever really be filmed as written. |
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| The Batman | Jan 21 2010, 11:04 AM Post #1759 |
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Charter Member
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Uhhh...No. The original title evokes a murder mystery, not a horror film. The simple title "THE THING" works much better than both the book title or the unwieldy title of the first adaptation. Edited by The Batman, Jan 22 2010, 12:43 PM.
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| Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman! | |
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| Sgt King | Jan 21 2010, 01:09 PM Post #1760 |
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Charter Member
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I'll admit - I do like my movies to move faster and to get from A to Z without using the whole alphabet. And that's the main reason I liked all 3 remakes better. To me, the worst thing a movie can do is be boring. The original The Thing is an intelligent movie but the two things I gripe about is - its talky and the "Thing" simply looks exactly like what it is: James Arness in make up. But this is what's great about sharing critiques, info and ideas with other movie lovers . . . different views and food for thought. |
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| mort bakaprevski | Jan 21 2010, 02:37 PM Post #1761 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Well, I always enjoyed the film... but "groundbreaking?" |
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| The Batman | Jan 22 2010, 07:16 AM Post #1762 |
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Agreed, Sgt. Like you, I find the second adaptation of the novel to be much more exciting and closer to the source material. |
| Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman! | |
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| Chandu | Jan 22 2010, 10:40 AM Post #1763 |
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Champeen of Justice and Seeker of Knowledge, but rascal at heart!
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I can remember The Thing being quite a topic of conversation among my parents and the adults they associated with when it was released and they usually didn't discuss movies much. It was pretty scary to them and I recall an aunt who had trouble sleeping for a week after viewing it, so it must have had something in it they weren't used to. We're all around the same age. Do you recall any such chatter? |
| Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog. It's just little ol' me... | |
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| mort bakaprevski | Jan 22 2010, 11:51 AM Post #1764 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Wellllll, I'm actually old enough to have seen it at The Mesa theatre in Costa Mesa when it was originally released. As I recall, there were two scenes that brought out the screams... and they both used the same gimmick: sudden surprise. The dead dog falling out of the cupboard and The Thing directly behind a door when it was opened. Very effective... but hardly new. Val Lewton & Jacque Tourneur had used the same technique in a number of their horror films of the early forties!! |
| "Nov Shmoz Ka Pop." | |
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| The Batman | Jan 22 2010, 12:36 PM Post #1765 |
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Yep, not really much "ground-breaking" about the first movie adaptation of the book. A solid flick, but nothing special. |
| Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman! | |
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| Frank Hale | Jan 22 2010, 04:38 PM Post #1766 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I don’t know if “groundbreaking” is the right term, but The Thing was the first, or at least one of the first, pictures to show a space monster. And it gave us the iconic “Keep Watching the Skies” phrase. Dimitri Tiomkin’s score raised a few eyebrows also. It’s also a very slick production. The shock moments may seem dated today, but they apparently worked for Chandu’s family in 1951. Depending on your definitions, I see the Carpenter version as more a reworking than a remake. I found it relentlessly unpleasant on my one viewing. |
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| mort bakaprevski | Jan 22 2010, 05:05 PM Post #1767 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I remember, at the time of first viewing, being struck by how similar Arness' makeup was to that of Karloff in FRANKENSTEIN.
And it certainly worked for me as well. I'm just saying that the Lewton/Tourneur films used the approach first!! |
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| MovieMan | Jan 24 2010, 05:34 PM Post #1768 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I've just purchased Whiteout, starring the gorgeous Kate Beckinsale! |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Jan 24 2010, 07:30 PM Post #1769 |
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Mouth Breather
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When I call the picture groundbreaking I'm talking about the actors. It's an anthology of the tricks of the trade, a step forward from Kane and Ambersons towards the more naturalistic acting of today. It was a scary movie that was happening to what seemed then like real people, without the heavy-handed Germanic acting and stagy diction of the old horror flicks. You weren't distanced from the action. That's what scared Chandu's aunt (and me). That acting style became the norm and doesn't seem out of the ordinary today -- in fact it's old-fashioned today -- but then it was something new. The night after we saw The Thing we were camping out in my buddy's back yard and his Dad rigged up a light shining up the hill onto the tent. Then he snuck up the hill, stepped into the light right next to the tent, then went downhill slowly and creepily, so his shadow got bigger and bigger. We were gibbering out of our minds, and my friend's Mom tore his Dad a new Heckhole. I'll never forget it. |
| Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious... | |
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| Chandu | Jan 25 2010, 10:13 AM Post #1770 |
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Champeen of Justice and Seeker of Knowledge, but rascal at heart!
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![]() Great trick! I'll bet it scared you half to death! Remember, it's alway funny as long as it happens to the other guy. Edited by Chandu, Jan 25 2010, 10:15 AM.
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| Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog. It's just little ol' me... | |
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