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Movies => Good Movies => Topic started by: Kooshmeister on November 18, 2007, 04:24:55 AM



Title: The Mist
Post by: Kooshmeister on November 18, 2007, 04:24:55 AM
Anyone seen the trailers for this on TV? It looks like it's going to be pretty good. My mom has read the book, and, in fact, just the other day I actually did go out and pick up a copy of it at the local drugstore. I'm not usually a big fan of Stephen King, but "The Mist" was quite good! I'm eagerly looking forward to the movie.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Andrew on November 18, 2007, 07:15:51 AM
Man, I know we had a thread about this one lately, but I just cannot find it.  No search-fu this morning.

I love the story, so I'm definitely looking forward to the movie.  My only concern was the CGI in the preview.  It was "OK."  If the rest of the movie is good, the CGI will gloss over.  However, I think I might miss being able to see denizens of a different dimension/world in all their icky glory, had they turned out really cool.  What we've seen so far is only a taste, so maybe the final product will have some better looking critters.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Oldskool138 on November 18, 2007, 07:53:30 AM
I also heard that they messed with the ambiguous ending and gave the story some resolution.  I don't know how that will play out.  I just hope it not along the lines of "The group heads out into the mist and then the Army comes in and saves the day.  The End".

I hope they cleaned up the CGI from the trailers.  It was okay but I've seen better...

I'm going to see this movie in the theater regardless of the reviews (I always try to see King adaptations in the theater...hell, I must be the only person who actually liked Secret Window).


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Jack on November 18, 2007, 10:52:11 AM
Sorry guys, but I gotta say it:  We had The Fog, now The Mist.  What next, The Drizzle?   :teddyr:


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Oldskool138 on November 18, 2007, 11:05:46 AM
Sorry guys, but I gotta say it:  We had The Fog, now The Mist.  What next, The Drizzle?   :teddyr:

The Relative Humidity

The Dry Heat

The Nor'Easter

 :bouncegiggle:


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Jack on November 18, 2007, 11:46:58 AM
Those Nor'Easters can be scary.  I was out playing golf one day, and it was pretty cold to start with, but then this big wind blew in straight from the north.  I picked up my ball and said "Hell with this!".  I mean, it was freakin' cold man!

Well, I don't know if you could quite make a movie out of that, but anyway...   :teddyr:


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: AnubisVonMojo on November 18, 2007, 11:57:36 AM
I usually try to not go by the cgi effects seen in commercials, because they almost always look better in the actual feature. I remember being really unhappy with the Hulk footage shown in the commercials, but by the time the movie came out everything was cleaned up. The stuff used for the commercials is mostly unpolished footage that's rushed out so they have something to get people visually interested. Plus, when you're watching any movie on a big-ass screen, the effects always look better than when they're squished onto your TV. I'll see it, but only because I got a free ticket when I bought the Planet Terror DVD at Circuit City.  :tongueout:


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Shadow on November 18, 2007, 07:36:51 PM
Sorry guys, but I gotta say it:  We had The Fog, now The Mist.  What next, The Drizzle?   :teddyr:

The Vapor
The Steam
The Haze
The Smog



Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: CheezeFlixz on November 19, 2007, 01:30:51 AM
Sorry guys, but I gotta say it:  We had The Fog, now The Mist.  What next, The Drizzle?   :teddyr:

The Vapor
The Steam
The Haze
The Smog



It's a Dry Heat


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Kooshmeister on November 19, 2007, 03:01:34 AM
I just hope it not along the lines of "The group heads out into the mist and then the Army comes in and saves the day.  The End".

Sort of, but not quite. It is a little bit like that, judging by what I've read, but it's still dark, sort of a "help comes too late" kind of thing. I don't wanna reveal too much, though (besides, what I read could always be wrong).

Me, personally, I'm wondering how they'll handle the origin of the mist and the monsters that live in it. The book more or less says it's the result of something called the Arrowhead Project, but whether the scientists were intentionally creating them or it was done accidentally is never said. My own personal theory is, since the mist appears the morning after a violent storm, said storm screwed around with Arrowhead HQ's equipment and caused the accident. We'll just have to wait and see; if the movie even offers a concrete explanation one way or the other.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Pilgermann on November 19, 2007, 01:37:05 PM
I screened The Mist last night.  It's a good creature-feature, plenty of tense moments (the most frightening involving humans, not creatures), pretty gory, and the ending is different from the short story, but it's certainly no Hollywood Happy Ending.  It's sort of like an amped up and drawn out Twilight Zone story.  As for the CGI worries, some of it does look pretty hokey, but there are other scenes that work really well (there's a particular beast that looks like something out of an H. P. Lovecraft story).  It's certainly got its flaws, but it's mostly well done and I'd recommend seeing it.

Oh yeah, I just read a review of it that mentions the "obligatory sex scene" but he must have seen an early version 'cause there wasn't one.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Pilgermann on November 19, 2007, 04:26:49 PM
I've saw the trailer, it was good but the story was predictable, you can know what will happened , well anyways  i'll give it 2 out of 10, poor movie....

Wait, did you see the whole movie or just the trailer?


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Oldskool138 on November 24, 2007, 03:56:27 PM
I just got back from seeing The Mist and I liked it. Darabont plays the story straight up...concentrating more on the characters and less on the gore (not that there isn't any).

The ending is VERY depressing. Thomas Jane isn't going to win an Oscar any time soon but he gives a great performance. There are a lot of familiar actors in the store.

I recommend it but like I said the ending is a big-time downer.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Torgo on November 24, 2007, 04:08:26 PM
*1/2 out of ****.

The Mist is my favorite thing that Stephen King has ever written. I'm not saying that it's his best, it's not, but it's always been my personal favorite. I have been waiting for years for someone to take a stab at making a kick @ss movie out of it, but unfortunately, this adaptation isn't it.

The acting varies from good to simply bad and overwrought, the effects range from good animatronics to awful CGI and the ending which goes further than the ending of the novella went is simply bad all the way around considering what came before. I don't have a problem with down beat endings, but this one was just simply a bad decision in the screenplay area that should have been avoided. The ending of the novella could have been preserved in terms of the open ended approach  of it while still taking things further that don't bring a sort of morbid finality to things that don't jive with what came before.

Frank Darabount has proving with The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile that he has his pulse on adapting King's non-horror type stories but IMO he really missed the mark with this version of The Mist.

The story is extremely scary but at the showing that I went to everyone was laughing during all of the "scary" scenes that were terrifying in the novella.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Justy on November 25, 2007, 05:22:44 PM
I just saw the movie. I did not read the original story so I can't really comment on original story vs. movie. So I will comment on what I thought of the movie. I liked it, I understand why people have their panties in a bunch over Mrs. Carmody and the ending. People, its a movie, lighten up. Personally, I wasn't all that thrilled with the ending, but it is easy to see how the ending works for the film.

Now as for the special effects, I felt that they were executed very well. The cast interacted with them flawlessly and they looked believable. I especially liked the big guy at the end. That thing easily inspired the holy crap we're bleeping effed! Just think seeing Cthulhu and your out of insanity points... game over. That is what happened.

The character development I think was good, but had some issues. I don't know who to blame King or the screenplay adaption. So I will just say that I think that the development of the black lawyer character was wasted. The army guys should have had more of an impact, they were non-existent. Obviously Mrs. Carmody and Ollie we're well played out. If I wrote it, I would have had a different take on things, but who am I to diss King.

And Damn I wish what happened up at the mountain had more development. Yes, its a mystery, but maybe they could have made an end-rider after the credits.

Overall, its a good pop-corn movie. Don't get all huffy about sociological commentary or the religious aspects, just go watch people getting eaten by freaking monsters.

 :thumbup:


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: trekgeezer on November 25, 2007, 05:45:52 PM
I saw it on Friday and thought it was a well done movie. I describe the ending as very Twilight Zone like.  Thomas Jane did a good job especially with the ending.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Kooshmeister on November 27, 2007, 08:29:18 AM
And Damn I wish what happened up at the mountain had more development. Yes, its a mystery, but maybe they could have made an end-rider after the credits.

If you're referring to Project Arrowhead, the experiment that caused the whole problem in the first place, well, the movie was supposed to begin with a very Island of Terror-ish scene of the Arrowhead scientists starting the experiment, whereupon it would then cut to David (Thomas Jane's character) at home and the storm, etc., leaving us to assume that something went very, very wrong with said experiment once the mist starts appearing.

However, the scene was cut (I don't think it was even filmed) for being "too much like the Outer Limits" or something. Which ticks me off, personally, because as described it sounded a lot like the beginning of Island of Terror and Dr. Phillips' doomed oncology experiment....


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Scott on November 28, 2007, 12:17:17 AM
I saw it on Friday and thought it was a well done movie. I describe the ending as very Twilight Zone like.  Thomas Jane did a good job especially with the ending.

I saw it opening night. Had a fair crowd for a 7:40 showing. The CGI is bad, but you won't mind, the idea has been done before, but somehow they make a great film out of this one. It has classic dialogue that many will enjoy, you'll laugh so hard at the small town hicks, and you'll cheer as the cult lady is dealt with, and you'll love the visit to the pharmacy without a doubt. The whole audience was really into this film. The ending is tragic beyond what most would expect. This is not a Hollywood ending. All the characters were good. Worth a trip to the theater. I will give it 8 out of 10 Stars.  :thumbup: :thumbup:


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Killer Bees on November 28, 2007, 01:50:59 AM
I also heard that they messed with the ambiguous ending and gave the story some resolution.  I don't know how that will play out.  I just hope it not along the lines of "The group heads out into the mist and then the Army comes in and saves the day.  The End".

I hope they cleaned up the CGI from the trailers.  It was okay but I've seen better...

I'm going to see this movie in the theater regardless of the reviews (I always try to see King adaptations in the theater...hell, I must be the only person who actually liked Secret Window).

You're not the only one Oldskool.  I loved Secret Window.  I didn't realise it was an adaptation until I was about a quarter way through and realised.  The book/story was different, but it still stood on on it's own.

I enjoyed them both on their own merits.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: AndyC on March 27, 2008, 09:57:15 AM
Just saw the DVD of this and really liked it. The CGI was not all that bad, and quite good in places. Didn't mind the religious elements, since it was more a commentary on human nature than on God (and how could Stephen King not have put a raving religious woman in a situation like that?) The story was pure King all around.

I'm actually glad they didn't have the scene of the Arrowhead experiment. Would have taken away too much of the initial mystery. There were just enough hints to give you a vague idea what must have happened, but no way of knowing for sure until it was explained.

The CGI had it's good and bad moments, but the monsters were very effective. I will have to go back and have another look at that big Lovecraftian beast. That thing was cool.

The ending I'm still thinking about. Certainly put me in mind of a good Twilight Zone episode. Wasn't sure I liked it at first, because it was so disturbing, but I can honestly say I've not had a movie convey such a sense of absolute horror. And yet it was not gory or gratuitious, just tragically ironic. I actually wanted somebody to kill the poor guy just to end his suffering.

What makes the story really work, I think, is that it succeeds in painting the audience into a corner as much as the characters. We don't know any more than they do. As the possibiliies for beating the situation are exhausted, the outcome gets less predictable. You wonder how anyone can escape or how these things can ever be stopped, and you start to feel the hopelessness of the characters. Great stuff.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Pilgermann on March 27, 2008, 04:28:01 PM
I wouldn't mind picking up the 2-disc set.  The second disc has a black and white version of the film which I think is a cool little bonus.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: AndyC on March 27, 2008, 06:55:06 PM
That's the version I got. It has some good documentaries on the making of the movie, and particularly on how they combined CGI with traditional methods to make the monsters. We see quite a lot of the creative process. Apparently it was something Darabont had wanted to do since the 80s. The guy is one of us, and you gotta love his enthusiasm for making a good creature feature.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Oldskool138 on March 27, 2008, 07:06:33 PM
The guy is one of us, and you gotta love his enthusiasm for making a good creature feature.

After I watched the Making of stuff, Darabont earned a bunch of street cred with me.  I hope he does The Dark Tower...I don't think anyone else could.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Torgo on March 27, 2008, 09:14:33 PM
The guy is one of us, and you gotta love his enthusiasm for making a good creature feature.

I have to agree with you on the part of Darabont being one of us.

But I really thought that he screwed the pooch on his adaptation of The Mist, which is my favorite thing that Stephen King has ever done.

I think that he tried to stay too faithful to the source material and ended up choking the life out of his film version of it.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Killer Bees on March 27, 2008, 10:28:46 PM
I also heard that they messed with the ambiguous ending and gave the story some resolution.  I don't know how that will play out.  I just hope it not along the lines of "The group heads out into the mist and then the Army comes in and saves the day.  The End".

I hope they cleaned up the CGI from the trailers.  It was okay but I've seen better...

I'm going to see this movie in the theater regardless of the reviews (I always try to see King adaptations in the theater...hell, I must be the only person who actually liked Secret Window).

You're not the only one Oldskool.  I loved Secret Window. While I was watching, it felt really familiar, then I realised I'd read the King novel years ago.

Johnny Depp did a brilliant job.  Looking forward to seeing The Mist as well.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: indianasmith on March 28, 2008, 11:48:31 PM
I finally got to see this one tonight.  What a piece of work!!  Even though I was familiar with the story and had read some spoilers about the end of the movie, the sheer brute force of it still caught me by surprise.  It was an amazing piece of work!  That lumbering Lovecraftian monstrosity at the end . .  .  I'll be dreaming about that beastie tonight.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Justy on March 29, 2008, 05:57:36 PM
Concerning Project Arrowhead... It would have been nice if they made something special for the DVD release. Perhaps add a special mini movie showing what happened at Project Arrowhead. Like the news reports made the Dawn of the Dead (the newer one) DVD release.

In retrospect I agree that it would have taken away from the movie. But as a fan of the story itself, I would have liked to see that initial scientific F-up put to film.



Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: MeltingCandle on May 15, 2008, 04:11:27 AM
 :hatred:

I am such a pathetic viewer with a typical taste for simple films. I was looking forward for a "The Sign" (Mel Gibson)  movie-pattern or cut- with intense scenes tailed with satisfying moral or message. But with this movie, one might desire to spit a lot. I am very sorry- just what I've said I'm an ordinary viewer, not necessary looking for a happily-ever-after      story but searching  a weight on the story that's worth carrying in our memory for a movie experience! Just one in a million opinion.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: JaseSF on May 18, 2008, 01:36:02 PM
I watched this recently and quite enjoyed it for the most part. The downer ending doesn't seem to quite work as well as it should have though. Not sure why that is but it just doesn't seem to quite have the impact it's going for although I agree with "The Twilight Zone" comparison. Really the film is largely IMO The Crawling Eye Meets Night of the Living Dead with a bit of the T Zone thrown in for good measure. Doesn't always work but it was entertaining for the most part. I particularly loved the cinematography of the film and the way everything looked after they actually get out of the store.

WARNING: Possible SPOILERS!!! for THE CRAWLING EYE and THE MIST - Personally I would have preferred it to have ended the way the Crawling Eye should have...with the monsters winning, which is the sole element about that classic film I don't care for...


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Sirius Knott on July 08, 2008, 08:58:37 PM
This movie sucked beyond compare. I can't believe that ANYone liked this horrible, lame acted, poorly scripted, goat's unwashed butt sucking film!

It sucked.

It was the ending. It was the wooden acting. It was the unrealistic reactions [read: poorly written plot points] of the characters. "Let's fight 'em off with fire torches!" [enter gas grill explosions we could see coming a mile away] Or how about the crazy lady demanding the boy for "expiation" when she reaaaaally hated the lead [boy's father] but especially the leading lady.

Oh, and the ending. When the kid said he didn't want the monsters to get him, I'm sure he didn't mean, "Hey, I'd rather you just popped a cap in me instead, dad." No, he wanted to live. The "twist" made no sense, since dad had invested so much in keeping his kid alive. They weren't out of options. [Yes, walking was still possible, though not preferable. Nor had they sat there for days or anything. They weren't starving to mdeath. The car stopped and everyone just decided, OK, that's enough for me.]

The ending was pure horror alright. I couldn't believe that someone had decided to subject the audience to such a put-on farce of an ending. You ruin the ending, you ruin the film. Period.

It sucked.

--Sirius Knott


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: AndyC on July 08, 2008, 10:40:32 PM
Don't hold back. Let us know how you really feel.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: ER on July 11, 2008, 08:31:07 PM
I couldn't believe how stupid this movie was. How could a slam dunk sure-fire story like King's great novella have been pulverized into what this crude project became? The best version of The Mist remains a radio play done in the 1980's and featuring a then-new recording technique called 3-D sound. Infinitely better than the movie version, and much more faithful, too.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Kooshmeister on July 11, 2008, 09:26:58 PM
I can't believe that ANYone liked this horrible, lame acted, poorly scripted, goat's unwashed butt sucking film!

People have different opinions. Get over it.

It was the unrealistic reactions [read: poorly written plot points] of the characters.

Care to cite some examples?

"Let's fight 'em off with fire torches!" [enter gas grill explosions we could see coming a mile away]

What gas grill explosions? What happened is a guy kicked over a bucket of lighter fluid. And the movie actually acknowledged afterwards that in hindsight, "that torch idea didn't work too well."

Or how about the crazy lady demanding the boy for "expiation" when she reaaaaally hated the lead [boy's father] but especially the leading lady.

I don't see a problem with this. For starters, even you admit Mrs. Carmody is crazy. Therefore her motives make sense to her, and only her.

I think what you're saying is, if Mrs. Carmody hated David, she should've tried to throw him to the monsters, and not Billy. But I guess she figured since the blood of a "sinner" (i.e. Private Jessup) didn't work, maybe the blood of an innocent would.

Oh, and the ending. When the kid said he didn't want the monsters to get him, I'm sure he didn't mean, "Hey, I'd rather you just popped a cap in me instead, dad." No, he wanted to live. The "twist" made no sense, since dad had invested so much in keeping his kid alive. They weren't out of options. [Yes, walking was still possible, though not preferable. Nor had they sat there for days or anything. They weren't starving to mdeath. The car stopped and everyone just decided, OK, that's enough for me.]

Now this I'll agree with. The decision to do a murder-suicide pact came too soon, although in David's defense we don't know how long they'd been driving.

You ruin the ending, you ruin the film. Period.

That's entirely subjective. Plenty of otherwise good movies have lousy endings. And likewise, many good ones have bad beginnings as well.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Oldskool138 on July 11, 2008, 11:28:51 PM
^^^  I agree

K+


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: John Randal on July 12, 2008, 04:35:18 PM
I saw this movie and thought it was pretty cool.  One of the better suspense action horror movies.


Title: Re: The Mist
Post by: Dennis on July 12, 2008, 10:47:57 PM
The Stephen King Story is one of my favorites and I have to say I enjoyed this film version too. The endings in each, though different, are good also, I would have much preferred the ambiguous novella ending to the one in the film, but the film ending works for me too, and it was not what I expected, but then I'm not a smart man.