28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[Boner M]

'Atta boy.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Excellent. One of the real pleasures of the film, for me, is how John Glover's character is hardly villainous. By film's end, he's quite heroic, and his performance ("I like warmth!") is so perfect a picture of blissful ignorance. The closest thing to a villain is Robert Picardo's assistant, and even he might get a happy ending.

[Spinal]

Excellent. One of the real pleasures of the film, for me, is how John Glover's character is hardly villainous. By film's end, he's quite heroic, and his performance ("I like warmth!") is so perfect a picture of blissful ignorance. The closest thing to a villain is Robert Picardo's assistant, and even he might get a happy ending.

Absolutely.

2nd biggest laugh of the film for me:

[

Show Spoiler

The prepared end of civilization video.

]

Biggest laugh:

[

Show Spoiler

They pushed him too far.

]

[Spinal]

Oh, and favorite subtle gag:

[

Show Spoiler

Jaded New Yorkers walking past as a man gets attacked by a gargoyle on the street.

]

[MadMan]

It's a good thing The Mike doesn't post here anymore. I think this Gremlins conversation would send him into cardiac arrest.

Was there a general revival of cinematic Oriental mysticism in the mid-eighties? Because there was this silliness in Gremlins, and there were flicks like The Golden Child and Big Trouble in Little China, and Temple of Doom had some bizarre undercurrents. "Indians are either impoverished and helpless...or heart-ripping maniacs!" I can justify that one to some degree thanks to the film's wholesale theft from the equally childish Gunga Din.

Unless anyone has further examples, I'll withdraw my theory.

No, your spot on. And I love all of those movies. Even Temple of Doom. The Golden Child is actually one of my favorite comedies, and anyone who hates Big Trouble in Little China hates fun. Period. But I don't hate Asian people. One of my friends is Asian, damnit. Honestly. I will acknowledge that Temple of Doom and Gunga Din are racist, but one of my all time favorite westerns, The Searchers, is quite racist. Even now the really highly praised and fantastic western The Proposition is kind of racist. The Blind Side was mockingly called "My Pet Negro" by its detractors, who clearly used racism to imply that the movie itself was racist. Everything's racist. We're all racist. Shit.

The Mike needs to start posting here again. I'll send out some kind of Bat signal or something.

Not sure if it'll come to Iowa anyway.

I don't even remember what my original post you quoted is about. Iowa has some nice people, and I live there, but dude you are better off just skipping it. Too much corn, religious fundies who hate gays (we still have gay marriage, for now), and only a handful of towns and the few cities that exist are worth visiting. Its less boring than say, Kansas, but I can't say its actually less boring than Nebraska because at least Nebraska has the Omaha Zoo, and I hear Lincoln is cool.

No - it's demanding that my genre fiction be well written and plotted. I have no problem suspending my disbelief, so long as the writers treat the material and their audiences with respect. If you're going to have a set of rules on which your mythology is based, then the rules should make sense. In this case, two of three do, and I can buy that.

Eh, rules. Overrated :P

I love Gremlins 2, I just prefer the first Gremlins quite a bit more. I'm not sure if Gremlins cracks my Top 50 Horror Movies list anymore, but I kind of feel like leaving it on there. Gremlins 2 wouldn't make the list regardless because I really feel its a spoof/comedy. And yes John Glover is utterly hilarious in it-by the end he's turned into a happier, non-Jew hating version of Walt Disney.

Honestly I hope most of your are joking, Davis included. Because otherwise this thread became really fucking stupid really fucking fast :P

[Pop Trash]

Aren't we dodging the real question here: how does Explorers hold up?

[MadMan]

I haven't seen Explorers yet. I still need to revisit Innerspace.

[Spinal]

I just realized that all this time I was talking about Joe Dante that I was really picturing John Landis in my head. Oy vey.

[Spun Lepton]

Good god, I just watched the Wicker Man remake.

It does have one major thing in common with the original.

It's ungodly slow and boring.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Good god, I just watched the Wicker Man remake.

It does have one major thing in common with the original.

It's ungodly slow and boring.

[

Show Spoiler

[

Show Spoiler

[

Show Spoiler

YOU ARE FAIL

]

]

]

[MadMan]

I just realized that all this time I was talking about Joe Dante that I was really picturing John Landis in my head. Oy vey.

Landis is better just because he gave us Animal House, Blues Brothers, and An American Werewolf in London.

Thanks to an Internet chat, I saw The Wicker Man remake. Well at least the last half. Godfuckingawful to the max. Some parts were funny, but most of it was just terrible. What the hell was that? And of course "OH GOD! NOT THE BEES!!!! OHHHHH GODDDD!!!!!"

[Spun Lepton]

[

Show Spoiler

[

Show Spoiler

[

Show Spoiler

YOU ARE FAIL

]

]

]

:lol:

So, which do you like? The original or the remake?

'Cuz the original is EASILY superior, I'll give you that. The remake is a joke, though.

[Spun Lepton]

Thanks to an Internet chat, I saw The Wicker Man remake. Well at least the last half. Godfuckingawful to the max. Some parts were funny, but most of it was just terrible. What the hell was that? And of course "OH GOD! NOT THE BEES!!!! OHHHHH GODDDD!!!!!"

How'd it get burned?
How'd it get burned??!
How'd it get burned??!!!?!?!?
HOW'D IT GET BURNED HOW'D IT GET BURNED HOW'D IT GET BURNED?!?!?!?!

[B-side]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0323808/

[MadMan]

How'd it get burned?
How'd it get burned??!
How'd it get burned??!!!?!?!?
HOW'D IT GET BURNED HOW'D IT GET BURNED HOW'D IT GET BURNED?!?!?!?!

[youtube]nmLQ_Qh8INg&feature[/youtube]

I couldn't find Nic Cage kicking the woman. Too bad.

[Dead & Messed Up]

:lol:

So, which do you like? The original or the remake?

'Cuz the original is EASILY superior, I'll give you that. The remake is a joke, though.

I haven't seen the remake yet, mostly because I've heard that, despite what the enjoyable Internet memes suggested, the film is damn dull. If I'd watch it, I'd watch it for the purported misogynism that Cage and Labute supposedly indulge throughout.

I found the original to be odd and disquieting, especially as it rolls into the third act. The film develops its air of solitude carefully, so that, even with the open spaces and aptitude of the hero, there's no sense of salvation. The air of doom feels genuine. I also dug how the film builds a clash of religious ideas, with the Pagan fertility rites placed against the hero's stalwart Christian faith. It's hard to dismiss the antagonists as "evil" or "insane," because their real sin isn't cruelty so much as it is total certainty.

[Bosco B Thug]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0323808/

Has everyone seen the trailer to this?!? Cuz everyone has to:

[youtube]QLASfmnCuHU[/youtube]

It looks a little rough, sure, but at least it looks all-out crazy and kinda sprawling, which is rare with horror.

[B-side]

That looks silly and wacky. In other words, I wanna see it.

[soitgoes...]

Please continue setting Spinal's expectation for Gremlins 2 in the stratosphere, cuz I could use a little company when he's inevitably disappointed.

I will be your friend.

[Sven]

Aren't we dodging the real question here: how does Explorers hold up?

Didn't see it as a child, but I adored it as a twenty-four year old.

Spinal, I'm so happy.

[balmakboor]

Haven't posted a top 10 in years:

1. The Last Picture Show
2. Slacker
3. Heaven's Gate
4. Barry Lyndon
5. The Thin Blue Line
6. The Man Who Fell to Earth
7. Over the Edge
8. Blue Valentine
9. Drugstore Cowboy
10. Harold and Maude

Rather lacking in foreign stuff, I know, but it reflects where my mind has been lately.

[NickGlass]

I could shed a happy tear for what has transpired over the past two pages. Gremlins 2 is the bestest.

[Raiders]

Didn't see it as a child, but I adored it as a twenty-four year old.

Spinal, I'm so happy.

I saw it both in my youth and now as an adult and I am pretty sure I appreciate it even more now. The final act with the aliens is still both the film's best section and a little sluggish, but the whole thing is marvelously done. Hell with that Goonies crap, this is the 80s child fantasy worth watching.

[Spinal]

Someone on Facebook was talking about Super 8 and said that it is "Goonies-good ... seriously".

As if that was a difficult bar to attain.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Someone on Facebook was talking about Super 8 and said that it is "Goonies-good ... seriously".

As if that was a difficult bar to attain.

That seems to be a popular comparison. One that makes absolutely no sense to me. Two separate individuals I know called it "The Goonies for this generation." Is that being spouted by media outlets, or pushed by the studio or something? Seems odd, considering the two films have next to nothing in common, other than kids.