8th May 2010, 2:21 AM
That was the most intense thing I have ever seen. 5 stars.
Remakes are great when the craft of making films has been advanced so greatly that the experience demands it, but as others have stated the horrible screen-time grab-a-thons, the ridiculous 'test audience' feedback and often questionable writing skills can destroy the fun and vibrancy of the original film. The Thing is a great example because the remake is better than the original, but at the same time there is something to be said about a 'monster' that is never seen on screen. But the special effects in Carpenter's Thing (absolutely zero CGI) is that they still scare the shit out of people today and look 100% authentic. Plus, all the acting so razor sharp you have no problem at all believing everything they're going through. Just a fantastically crafted film. Too bad Carpenter's film making abilities turned to shit for some reason.
Speaking of which, the re-make of the Fog. Holy good God. I left the theatre half way through, it was just ridiculously stupid. No character interaction or plot, you didn't want anyone to live. The original had you sympathizing with each character and again the great acting kept it fully immersing. The re-make failed in every possible way, it shouldn't have been made. From what I understand on it, the reason it was made is because the studio still had the rights to it and with the writer strike, it was easier to re-hash and bank on something proven effective than try for something new (this mentality always fails though).
While the fog remake was shit, the Mist was pure genius and thankfully, Stephen King wasn't anywhere near the production of it (why does he suck so hard at telling his own stories?) and was helmed by the same director of Green Mile. What an amazing movie, but fuck King for stealing my trapped in the grocery store idea. But here's a good example of what studios SHOULD do, a movie comes out and does well, so you do a quality film with the same concept but different story. Two excellent completely different films that deal with running from vapor. Alien had people on a ship being hunted by an alien, Predator had people in a jungle being hunted by an alien. See the genius of it? Take the neat concept and put a quality effort in to re-imagine it.
These re-makes are destroying what movies used to be, a very serious business on playing on people's imaginations and creating stand-alone works of art, pieces to pass down through the ages. Even at the levels of slashers and freakouts, gorefests, black comedies, etc held a level of quality that made it something amazing. The first Freddy films, the first Jason ones, Halloween, watch their originals before they were sequeled to death - they're excellent! It had morals and values, WHY is this happening, WHO is this person, WHAT does he want from us, you can feel the characters and the writing is fantastic.
You knew who was going to die because they were either stupid or mean. Good people only die in disaster films, everything from Earthquake to Jurassic Park and Deep Impact to any Zombie apocalypse film. But in slasher movies its all about how the good people make it because every individual in that theatre sees themselves as the good person, the moral person, not the whore who's blowing guys for fun or the greaser who's giving beer to the 17 year old, the guy on the motorcycle with no parents - he'd never use somebody, he doesn't even drink and guess what HE ENDS UP SAVING EVERYONE. But that style of writing has been lost, now it's just hey, let's shock the audience and kill the people they like and be 'edgey'. It's disastrous. It's why Terminator 4's only Salvation was the CG Arnold Schwarzenegger. Writer's, at least the ones willing to write for film, have lost their soul. And when they handle a property that's beloved and defining of an era or genre it's like being told you have cancer. Day the Earth Stood Still? Yeah thanks, you gutted an awesome story and turned it in to Noah's story from the bible and Gort turned in to killer robot mosquitoes. THANKS HOLLYWOOD.
Remakes are great when the craft of making films has been advanced so greatly that the experience demands it, but as others have stated the horrible screen-time grab-a-thons, the ridiculous 'test audience' feedback and often questionable writing skills can destroy the fun and vibrancy of the original film. The Thing is a great example because the remake is better than the original, but at the same time there is something to be said about a 'monster' that is never seen on screen. But the special effects in Carpenter's Thing (absolutely zero CGI) is that they still scare the shit out of people today and look 100% authentic. Plus, all the acting so razor sharp you have no problem at all believing everything they're going through. Just a fantastically crafted film. Too bad Carpenter's film making abilities turned to shit for some reason.
Speaking of which, the re-make of the Fog. Holy good God. I left the theatre half way through, it was just ridiculously stupid. No character interaction or plot, you didn't want anyone to live. The original had you sympathizing with each character and again the great acting kept it fully immersing. The re-make failed in every possible way, it shouldn't have been made. From what I understand on it, the reason it was made is because the studio still had the rights to it and with the writer strike, it was easier to re-hash and bank on something proven effective than try for something new (this mentality always fails though).
While the fog remake was shit, the Mist was pure genius and thankfully, Stephen King wasn't anywhere near the production of it (why does he suck so hard at telling his own stories?) and was helmed by the same director of Green Mile. What an amazing movie, but fuck King for stealing my trapped in the grocery store idea. But here's a good example of what studios SHOULD do, a movie comes out and does well, so you do a quality film with the same concept but different story. Two excellent completely different films that deal with running from vapor. Alien had people on a ship being hunted by an alien, Predator had people in a jungle being hunted by an alien. See the genius of it? Take the neat concept and put a quality effort in to re-imagine it.
These re-makes are destroying what movies used to be, a very serious business on playing on people's imaginations and creating stand-alone works of art, pieces to pass down through the ages. Even at the levels of slashers and freakouts, gorefests, black comedies, etc held a level of quality that made it something amazing. The first Freddy films, the first Jason ones, Halloween, watch their originals before they were sequeled to death - they're excellent! It had morals and values, WHY is this happening, WHO is this person, WHAT does he want from us, you can feel the characters and the writing is fantastic.
You knew who was going to die because they were either stupid or mean. Good people only die in disaster films, everything from Earthquake to Jurassic Park and Deep Impact to any Zombie apocalypse film. But in slasher movies its all about how the good people make it because every individual in that theatre sees themselves as the good person, the moral person, not the whore who's blowing guys for fun or the greaser who's giving beer to the 17 year old, the guy on the motorcycle with no parents - he'd never use somebody, he doesn't even drink and guess what HE ENDS UP SAVING EVERYONE. But that style of writing has been lost, now it's just hey, let's shock the audience and kill the people they like and be 'edgey'. It's disastrous. It's why Terminator 4's only Salvation was the CG Arnold Schwarzenegger. Writer's, at least the ones willing to write for film, have lost their soul. And when they handle a property that's beloved and defining of an era or genre it's like being told you have cancer. Day the Earth Stood Still? Yeah thanks, you gutted an awesome story and turned it in to Noah's story from the bible and Gort turned in to killer robot mosquitoes. THANKS HOLLYWOOD.