Chatterbox- Film

Wouldn't the more natural assumption be that the invaders are crazy people, only for the twist to be that they were right?

Then again, this is M Night. It is famously difficult to figure out what's going on in that guy's head.

This is, after all, the same dude who went "Hey, you know what's scary? Plants!" and then had a guy randomly ramble about hot dogs for no reason.

SPAWN STILL LIVES!

THR announced that the upcoming Spawn movie has new writers: Joker's Scott Silver, Falcon and the Winter Soldier's Malcolm Spellman and rising scribe Matt Mixom will be reviving Spawn, and the director will be someone who isn't Todd McFarlane. And given that Spawn content seems to be better when Todd isn't in control, this almost sounds like a lot of wins. (Could be wrong, though.)

And yes, Jamie Foxx is still attached as our not-Batman/Venom fusion from hell.

Piggy sounds quite promising to me.

So, I just watched John Carpenter's The Thing.

Y'know, even though I already kinda knew some of the details of it going in (kind of hard not to when so many people reference it), this movie was still a hell of a ride. Most of it is just the suspense of it all, though. For a good chunk of it, I wasn't sure who was or wasn't infected, who was or wasn't the Thing, and by the end of it, the film just feels so bleak. There's no sense of triumph at the end, it's just a bunch of guys diving into paranoia and terror, and the big question remains of whether or not they actually succeeded at taking the threat down. Hell, for a lot of it, the people who I expected to be infected turned out to be in the clear.

The special effects have been praised so highly for good reason, but they actually don't really show up as often as I'd thought they would. Most of the film is with the cast and watching them devolve into an absolute panic, and that dread, that claustrophobia, that is what makes this movie so good, not the oogie-boogie scary alien (though goddamn, some of those creature designs are genuinely good and creepy). Kurt Russell does a good job of portraying his character with a twist on what I'd expected of him going in. I was picturing a stereotypical 80's action hero, but by the last third of the movie, Macready is paranoid, violent, and ruthless in a way that isn't really "heroic" so much as a guy just trying to survive even if it means suicide. It's almost a subversion of that expectation I had going in. Oh and, of course, I'd be remiss not to mention the score by Morricone...not gonna lie, after watching so many Sergio Leone movies, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Morricone go for subtlety over bombast. The little rumbling bass synth note that thumps like a heartbeat, it's just...fucking chills.

I'm baffled at this movie getting such bad reviews when it came out. Just glancing through some of the excerpts on Wikipedia, it's baffling how so many reviewers at the time just did not get the fucking point of the movie. Complaining about it being "too nihilistic" and saying it was all about gore and violence, or even complaining about the characters not being fleshed out enough...like goddamn, there's missing the point and there's actively ignoring what you're reviewing. I'm glad the film has had the reevaluation and acclaim it deserves, because it's such a good story, and it's so simple. It's just a tale of paranoia with a sci-fi horror twist, and it pulls it off so well.

Edited by Diana1969 on Oct 27th 2022 at 4:28:33 AM

I read the short story its based off awhile ago and also the other short story written from The Thing's perspective called 'The things' by Peter Watts which you can find digitally here

John Carpeter's thing movie is definately on my list "horrior movies I need to actually watch"

Going to give this a bump because I've just watched Nightmare on Elm Street,probably the first 'slasher film' I've watched,I've planning on watching Dream Warrior next because I've been advised to skip Freddy's revenge

The premise sounds dumb but it looks hilarious. A bear gets high on cocaine and goes on a murderous rampage.

Oh my God.

I never, NEVER thought anyone would make a movie about Pablo Escobear. The premise is so bumfuck insane that I HAVE to check out.

Same.

Random rambling about Ready Player One.

When I first watched the film, one of the (many) things I found silly was how the villain's plan after taking over the global-wide virtual world is...just ads. Putting ads absolutely everywhere. Back then, I thought, really? That's all you can think of, freaking ads?

Four years later, though, after seeing all the invasion of privacy by major IT and SNS companies for the sake of...just goddman ads, I now realize that Sorrento was one of the most realistic sci-fi villains ever.

(This should go to the Ready Player One's thread, but the last time it was active was August of 2018 so I'd rather not necro such an old one...)

I've posted this elsewhere, but has anyone noticed that there are almost no more PG-13 comedy films, at least in wide release? Most (non-animated) comedy films are either PG films aimed entirely at younger audiences or are hard-R comedies, with nothing in between. Now granted, some of those PG-13 comedies were really pushing the limits (The Austin Powers trilogy would definitely be rated R in 2022), but there have also been some all-time great comedies that had the PG-13 rating and wouldnt have worked with either of the other ratings.

I'm no expert but I really doubt ratings are more restrictive today than previously.

I think it's just the issue of the studio comedy dying off over the past several years.

PG-13 nowadays is mostly occupied by action movies and most of them are comedic, so one could argue the comedy genre has been absorbed.

I really wish there was a book covering the production of Alien 3 in extensive detail. Apparently all there is, is a short documentary on a DVD and a longer documentary on another DVD that I cannot find.

Us: Man, that Lord-Miller produced movie about that bear getting high as a kite sounds wild AF. No way they could top that, right?

(*Phil Lord and Chris Miller ride on a winged unicorn and appear right in front of us, holding a copy of a new movie they produced*)

Lord: You wanna bet on that?

Miller: Feast your eyes on Strays! Imagine Homeward Bound, but there's only one human, said human is a giant piece of shit towards dogs, and the main dog wants revenge on the human for not treating him properly! Also, the dogs' mouths move!

Lord and Miller: Coming this summer!

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Feb 8th 2023 at 1:43:47 PM

I'm not sure why you're so focused on Lord & Miller. They didn't write or direct either of those movies and there are plenty of other producers in both cases.

It would be like bringing up Michael Bay when discussing A Quiet Place.

Edited by ArthurEld on Feb 9th 2023 at 8:38:07 AM

I have this thing where I write hypothetical Tabletop RPG stats after watching a movie with monsters in it. Sometimes for Dungeons And Dragons, or a homebrew, or maybe a wargame like 40k depending on what I'm into at any given moment.

I never know when the mood will strike me, and it's hit or miss regardless, but I will absolutely be doing it for Cocaine Bear.

Oh and I just saw Guardians and loved it. It's bad but in a good way. I want eleven sequels of steadily declining quality.

Recently watched S1m0ne after it was mentioned in Film Theory. And I gotta say: the premise of that film really feels prophetic in the days of Vtubers and Vocaloid.

Edited by KaabiiFan13 on Feb 14th 2023 at 10:25:51 AM

Sorry, but they're kind of a selling point for me. They got a pretty darn good record of finding original mature stuff like Cocaine Bear and Strays and throwing money at them.

Does that not count for something?

they're a name to me and nothing more

I just saw they're making a sequel to Extraction, which is mystifying if I remember the end of the film correctly.

Was the main character's death more ambiguous than I recall? eta: a look at it's YMMV page and apparently so.

Edited by dcutter2 on Feb 15th 2023 at 9:38:33 AM

It just seems odd to gloss over the actual creatives involved, the people writing and directing these films to instead focus on two, out of several, producers.

It would be like celebrating Ram Bergman for Glass Onion and ignoring Rian Johnson. Seems like weird hero worship.

Okay, fine. I guess it does sound like hero worship even though Lord/Miller are just tossing money. I'm sorry.

Let me what this Josh Greenbaum has done.

(*looks him up on Wikipedia*)

Oh, apparently the director has done Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar? That's...an interesting change a pace.

And the writer is Dan Perrault, who co-created American Vandal on Netflix. Anyone seen that one?

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Feb 15th 2023 at 8:01:17 AM

Trying to figure out if it's okay to add to the conversation about The Thing when it's just up the page but also a couple months old. But also if I have much to add besides my own strong opinions about the Thing's biology, which as mentioned is really only part of why it's such a good film.

Diana, have you seen either of the other films in Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy? (In the Mouth of Madness and Prince of Darkness?)

Edited by Noaqiyeum on Feb 15th 2023 at 5:43:38 PM