Some Recent Re-viewings.

[daveblackeye15]

Last Sunday, since I have later morning classes on Monday than on Wednesday I stayed up late and watched a movie, then just last night I caught two more. These were all re-viewings. (stiff intro I know)

John Carptener's the Thing.

*spoilers*

I forgot just how errie and creepy this movie is. It's a pity that it didn't receive the reconition it deserved then instead of waiting ten some years for it to pick up. What can I say about the special effects? They're incredible! Gross and enthralling, my personal favorite Thing-creature was the dog thing, all it was was mangled dog and some other Thing-parts (best screech out of all of the Things). Carpender did a splendid job of crafting a tale of paranoia and suspense and out of all the actors I didn't really see one I disliked, all did a good job to me . It's a good one!

Spirited Away.

*spoilers*

Hayao Miyazaki is ,without a doubt, a Genius. I first saw this back when it was first released over here during a family trip to Disneyland and we all loved it. I've only just realized that this is the only second Miyazaki film I've completly watched. The first , which I only saw partially was My Neighbor Totoro, I didn't finish it since it was in class and the class as a whole didn't finish it. But we did get to completely watch Princess Monoki. In all of his films there is an incredible sense of detail to the art, little things are done that we sometimes take for granted. Such as one point, look closly, a little "coal carrier" drops a bit of coal and a few fragments break off, I know it doesn't sound like much but I love little details. Character and creature designs are always diverse and creative ranging from the six armed, huge  mustached Kamaji, to the the beautiful radiance of Haku's dragon form. Oh yes and there's one thing all of us can be thankful for in Miyazaki's films, when he has little children as character's they're not Kenny's!  

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

*spoilers*

Aaaah, one of those good remakes, boy do those smell good. Now the people who made this film could have dug themselves into one hell of hole. They named the movie Dawn of the Dead, yet the only things similar to the original is that 1) this movie has zombies and 2) most of the movie takes place in a mall. Yet, if they called it something else, then tons of people would have screamed out "RIP OFF MOTHER ******!" (especially if this movie sucked). However they got it right. Sure, it takes place in a mall, sure it's got zombies, but this is a completly different Dawn of the Dead. Instead of it being four people in a mall, it's more like 18, as time goes on they're whittled lower and lower by not only the Zomibes but even by themselves. I remember before it came out, there was an uproar on this board upon hearing that the zombies would be able to run. Well, I think running zombies are more dangerous than slow moving one, HOWEVER slow ones are my personal favorite. There's plenty of gore in this one, and a bit of nudity in too (oooh!). Oh yeah, I have the unrated Director's cut. It starts off with a word from the Director saying (with plenty of 'uuuuhhs') that they had to remove some of the gore and some character scenes for time and of course because of MPAA ratings but it's all back in now. I didn't see too much difference, because I didn't remember the movie that well. Oh well, the zomibes are superb, great special efffects,  the M-TV fast forward moving is at a minimum, this pays homage to the original, some good music (not as good as the original's Goblin track mind you), plenty of gore, and a downer of an ending! (yes!) The only thing lacking is that I wish some of the characters got a bit more devlopement. But for some it's okay that they're not totally devloped, we got the b***hy girl, the smarmy a***ole, the tough guy that redeems himself, and of course an idiot  (y'know that first security guard that dies) What a hell of a movie, good remake!  

[Andrew]

"The Thing" is probably my favorite horror movie of all time.  The mind game played with not knowing who has been replaced by an alien doppleganger is awesomely scary.  The setting is also great, because the characters are backed into a corner by the environment and brutal facts about how to survive there.  I also enjoyed the buildup to the real terror.  Carpenter did a good job of piecemealing the parts in, just like the short story did.  And he did a better job of ending it, unlike the short story that seems to take a serious short cut in solving the problem.

"Spirited Away" is amazing.  Miyazaki knows how to develop characters and a story, in addition to making them memorable without dropping into stereotypes.  I found the whole scene with Kamaji when Sen first meets him to be memorable.  He is bent over the wheels and levers, working with a fantatic fever, but complaining and grouching at his magic soot workers too.  And the ride to swamp bottom on the train is fun, with a bit of magic involved.

I enjoyed most of "Dawn of the Dead," despite it being a bit easy to predict.  

[daveblackeye15]

Oh yeah I forgot that I read "Who Goes There" in my second year of High School, I think that might have been before I saw the actual movie. I rather liked the story as well and as I think back didn't go something like

spoilers...

They begin the blood test for who' s a replica, then jumps forword and they say the number of replicates and that they destroyed them. It sort of sounded like they didn't put up a fight. Oh well. And I don't believe the alien in that book was as much of a virus as was Carpenter's version. I mean it's like, the Thing could cut of a finger, the finger comes to live and crawls over onto someone sleeping, takes over and now you have two Things.

There is a character very similar to this called "Aptom" from the Guyver series (anime/comic book, not the American movies) Aptom could pretty much do everything that the Thing could (expect perhaps the whole memory thing)

Oh yes and I do like the "Thing from Another World" not very close to "Who Goes There" but that movie make me jump quite a bit as a little kid.

[Ash]

It's too bad that The Thing bombed when it was released in theaters.
If I'm not mistaken, E.T. totally trounced it in theaters back in 1982.

It's amazing how well the FX in it hold up these days compared to other horror movies.

[daveblackeye15]

Yes, I remmeber reading about E.T. had just been realeased right before The Thing.

Now One director I do not want to have directing a remake of the  Thing or re-interpecting the story is Peter Jackson. I mean I'm postitive he'd just make it all CGI. Good CGI I'm sure but it wouldn't age as well as the puppetry effects of Cameron's movie.

Still I'll admit it I'd take Jackson over Une Boll anyday.

And I'm sorry for any spelling erros but I'm about to go to bed and I don't have my contacts in nor my glasses on.

[ToyMan]

there was a Dr. Who story, i forget the title, that was a sort of adaptation of the original black and white "the thing".