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Colonial1.1 Purveyor of Obscurity from The Marvelous River City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Purveyor of Obscurity
#1: Jun 10th 2011 at 6:52:34 PM

So, what did everyone else think of these pleasant motion picture?

"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."
RedViking Since: Jan, 2001
#2: Jun 10th 2011 at 7:17:39 PM

It was like watching E.T. for the first time all over again. But I mean that in a good way. Except that the alien was, you know, much more monstrous this time around.

But man, the nostalgic time piece, the coming of age story, a group of kids saving the day, and the sci-fi story...I was half expecting to see the wistful and poignant "where are they now" montage at the end and was slightly disappointed when it didn't appear.

But I'm letting that slide. It was an awesome movie.

edited 10th Jun '11 7:18:22 PM by RedViking

Nicknacks Ding-ding! Going down... from Land Down Under Since: Oct, 2010
Ding-ding! Going down...
#3: Jun 10th 2011 at 9:44:58 PM

[up]Yeah, it was great except you could tell that they couldn't have anything bad happen to the kids, though the way the film kept on pushing it I thought it would be more Stephen King than it ended up being. Hence rollerhair lady turning up just to be (presumably) killed like thirty seconds later. Also, you could see the film trying to desperately avert Adults Are Useless with both the dads, but they were pretty extraneous in the end.

Actually, that's a good description: Stephen King meets Steven Speilburg. I loved that all the kids didn't break down into the traditional highschool clique characteristions either; their dialouge felt pretty damn authentic. Damn. I'd forgotten all about the silent reading section of the library; did anyon else's school have that?

This post has been powered by avenging fury and a balanced diet.
Abracadavre EY-PECKS-PRE-DA-DUUUURRR from The Omega 4 Relay Since: Feb, 2011
EY-PECKS-PRE-DA-DUUUURRR
#4: Jun 11th 2011 at 6:23:21 AM

One word: Amazing. The movie did a great job on Digger (A.K.A, the monster), and the ending was cool. Overall, I liked it a lot.

edited 11th Jun '11 6:25:43 AM by Abracadavre

"I'm the Avatar! You gotta deal with it!"
Colonial1.1 Purveyor of Obscurity from The Marvelous River City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Purveyor of Obscurity
#5: Jun 11th 2011 at 9:18:23 AM

Did anyone else think that the reveal with the thing's eyelids was an excellent moment?

Also, for some reason, the creature's face reminds me of a Turian.

"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."
Abracadavre EY-PECKS-PRE-DA-DUUUURRR from The Omega 4 Relay Since: Feb, 2011
EY-PECKS-PRE-DA-DUUUURRR
#6: Jun 11th 2011 at 12:47:33 PM

Ceiling Turian is watching you masturbate. AND HE WILL NO LONGER TOLERATE IT.

BTW, that reminds me: Can someone link to an actual picture of the monster? I wanna put it as my avatar. cool

edited 11th Jun '11 12:49:46 PM by Abracadavre

"I'm the Avatar! You gotta deal with it!"
thespacephantom Jamais vu from the smallest church in Saint-Saëns Since: Oct, 2009
Jamais vu
#7: Jun 11th 2011 at 9:49:28 PM

It looked cool when the only thing I knew about it was the demo in Portal 2. Now, after seeing the commercials, it looks meh. Should I see it?

UN JOUR JE SERAI DE RETOUR PRÈS DE TOI
faradayangel electrifying from Gallifrey Since: Nov, 2010
electrifying
#8: Jun 11th 2011 at 10:00:38 PM

It was great, whoever made the Stephen King meets Steven Spielberg comparison is spot on.

Humour, where would we be without it? In Germany, probably
Abracadavre EY-PECKS-PRE-DA-DUUUURRR from The Omega 4 Relay Since: Feb, 2011
EY-PECKS-PRE-DA-DUUUURRR
#9: Jun 12th 2011 at 5:52:10 AM

Digger's roar

Fanmade Music Video (The song is "Jar Of Hearts" by Christina Perri)

"I'm the Avatar! You gotta deal with it!"
Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#10: Jun 12th 2011 at 5:34:17 PM

It was good but most of the characters were so unlikeable. It also reused the tired military vs. aliens plot that appears in every sci-fi movie now.

And that bit in the town hall was useless since it showed how dumb the entire town was. It came off as unrealistic and bothered me for the rest of the film (The Soviets? Really?).

But anyway, the short film at the end was great and so was the scene with the crash (this should be the textbook example of shooting a crash scene).

More Buscemi at http://forum.reelsociety.com/
SorrowsNeptune Since: Mar, 2011
#11: Jun 12th 2011 at 11:00:49 PM

Near the end of the movie, why is the town suddenly look all war torn? It's only one alien, so I doubt it and the military could have ravaged the town in such a shorty period of time.

Aside from that and the townhall meeting, I don't really see anything wrong with this film. Easily the best movie I've watched in the past five months.

(Well, second best movie I've seen in the past five months. But that's beside the point.)

edited 12th Jun '11 11:03:32 PM by SorrowsNeptune

Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#12: Jun 13th 2011 at 3:51:39 AM

[up] Probably because the morons thought it was the Soviets.

More Buscemi at http://forum.reelsociety.com/
Koujin Since: Jul, 2010
#13: Jun 13th 2011 at 8:10:37 AM

[up][up]Well, all the tanks and missiles are misfiring everywhere (probably because the ET's device fried their circuits or something) or did you missed that?

Colonial1.1 Purveyor of Obscurity from The Marvelous River City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Purveyor of Obscurity
#14: Jun 13th 2011 at 8:23:55 AM

It's the late Cold War, remember?

"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."
Kino Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Californicating
#15: Jun 13th 2011 at 10:33:30 AM

The movie was awesome, the kid with the explosives was hilarious; the deputy was pretty badass himself.

Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#16: Jun 13th 2011 at 10:58:05 AM

Anyone else think that Kyle Chandler looks similar to Scott Bakula?

More Buscemi at http://forum.reelsociety.com/
RL_Nice Bigfoot Puncher from a computer. Since: Jul, 2009
Bigfoot Puncher
#17: Jun 13th 2011 at 3:25:02 PM

I actually thought the characters were likable. Like Louis (Alice's father) who totally looks like an alcoholic that I expected to beat and/or abuse his daughter at least once in the film, but the worst thing he does is yell at her, which he promptly (tries to) apologize for.

And then there's Colonel Nelec, who I totally expected to be a Complete Monster, but he's not all that bad. He even tries to save the kids in the bus. Granted, he gives up pretty quickly, but hey, at least he tried.

The train crash was spectacular but it really stretched my suspension of disbelief. When it turned out that Dr. Woodward survived it, that's when my suspension of disbelief completely snapped.

I liked the whole Nothing Is Scarier angle, but it actually made the final reveal of the monster a little bit disappointing, since J.J. Abrams was building up to something that seemed totally scary. Also, I feel that showing a character looking at the monster without showing the monster itself is a really cheap trick.

The sideplots didn't tie in that well to the main plot, but for the most part, they were effective.

Those kids also say "Holy shit!" a lot.

The ending was a little underwhelming.

All in all, I'd like to refer to this film as J.J. Abrams George Lucasing the shit out of Steven Spielberg. With the help of Spielberg.

edited 13th Jun '11 3:25:18 PM by RL_Nice

A fistful of me.
melloncollie Since: Feb, 2012
#18: Jun 13th 2011 at 3:30:20 PM

I liked it. Didn't have any problems with the characters, although I did feel that the dads were extraneous. I thought they would pull a Big Damn Heroes but... nothing.

SorrowsNeptune Since: Mar, 2011
#19: Jun 13th 2011 at 3:51:57 PM

Well, all the tanks and missiles are misfiring everywhere (probably because the ET's device fried their circuits or something) or did you missed that?
What I couldn't understand was how there could be so much misfiring, but I was forgetting about how the alien devices could mess with stuff.

edited 13th Jun '11 3:58:36 PM by SorrowsNeptune

Kino Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Californicating
#20: Jun 13th 2011 at 6:14:14 PM

Technically the main gun on a tank can fire w/o electronic assistance, but how many people actually know that?

KSPAM PARTY PARTY PARTY I WANNA HAVE A PARTY from PARTY ROCK Since: Oct, 2009 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
PARTY PARTY PARTY I WANNA HAVE A PARTY
#21: Jun 14th 2011 at 9:35:54 PM

My thoughts on the movie are as follows.

Laconic version:

Steven Spielberg- "Hey Abrams, I'm gonna remake ET! You want in?"

J.J Abrams: "Hell yeah! But if we're doing this shit, we're doing it my way."

Unabridged: Let me start by saying I like this movie. I really like this movie. I do. It's one of the best, if not the best I've seen this year. But, as many a Caustic Critic has said, "Nobody listens to reviews to hear your undying admiration." So I'll keep the pleasantries short.

That said, there are a lot of things I do like. Let it be said that if J.J Abrams can do one thing perfectly, it's monsters. J.J Abrams makes excellent monsters. For the first half of the movie, Digger was almost never shown fully on-screen, and I liked that. It kept me interested and excited. The plot was tightly wrapped and gave off a very effective vibe of small-town paranoia, a breed which I appreciate. The dialogue lends itself to this very well, often appearing normal one minute and cryptic the next (well, at least with the military and occasionally the kids).

Now, on to the criticisms. First off, the whole "misunderstood alien" thing should be left to die in a cold, dank cell at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. I am tired of this shit. The alien was so much more scary, so much more effective, when we didn't know what it was or what it wanted. Abrams followed all but one of the rules for creating the best monster: "The monster cannot speak." Now I know technically the monster didn't speak. Well, "technically" it's not murder if I just happen to lose my pet grizzly bear somewhere near your house. It communicated through telepathy, so while it didn't talk, the children certainly did its fair share and that's enough for me to rag on it.

But enough with the alien. The one thing that really ground my gears was the ending. About 3/4 of the way through the movie, the lab tapes show up. WHY FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DID YOU INCLUDE AUDIO LOGS? They are nowhere as effective as just letting those clips we saw play and letting the kids (and the audience) draw their own conclusions. All the things the audio logs (and subsequently the children) explained would have been much better off implied, not stated. Most of it would've become freaking obvious upon watching the tapes or at the very least halfway through the climax.

And as for the actual climax, whooo boy. Like I said, I actually liked this movie. Liked it a lot. But if there is one thing I want known, let it be this: E.T. does not work here. Seriously, after building up the monster as this nigh-unstoppable force of nature for the whole movie, even going so far as to say stuff like "We taught it to hate us", you think this shit will fly? No it will not, Mr. Abrams, Mr. Spielberg. It will not fly. You cannot have the monster murder multiple people and trash a whole town and then just say "it wants to go home". It doesn't work that way. Granted, I can't really think of anything that would've worked better, but it still just doesn't seem right to me.

The Final Verdict: Great movie, but not without its flaws. I will certainly watch this over the garbage we've been fed for the last few months (hell, over a lot of the films I own), but I hesitate to call it anything extraordinary. It's a great movie that manages to rise up in a sea of regurgitated crap-remakes and sequels, but it won't change the industry or challenge anyone else to do better. It's a great movie, but it's just that, a great movie. Not an amazing movie, not a revolutionary movie. Just a great movie, not a perfect one.

And in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with that.

edited 14th Jun '11 9:41:29 PM by KSPAM

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial
Buscemi I Am The Walrus from a log cabin Since: Jul, 2010
I Am The Walrus
#22: Jun 14th 2011 at 9:50:24 PM

The movie needed some script work. Most of the characters were completely unlikeable (the military and the townspeople) or one-dimensional (the kids not named Joe or Alice and everyone else). Abrams probably should have asked someone like Paul Schrader (who did the first draft of Close Encounters of the Third Kind but was rejected because it was too dark) or Damon Lindelof (who produced Star Trek, is co-writing the sequel and script doctored for Ridley Scott's Prometheus) to do some tune-ups.

More Buscemi at http://forum.reelsociety.com/
melloncollie Since: Feb, 2012
#23: Jun 14th 2011 at 9:56:21 PM

you think this shit will fly? No it will not, Mr. Abrams, Mr. Spielberg. It will not fly. You cannot have the monster murder multiple people and trash a whole town and then just say "it wants to go home". It doesn't work that way. Granted, I can't really think of anything that would've worked better, but it still just doesn't seem right to me.

I think it works, if you look at it from a pragmatic angle and not a Freudian Excuse one. If it wants to go home then let it go home before it causes any more damage. If it doesn't intend to kill more people then why antagonize it further, especially if it seemed pretty much invulnerable to the available weapons? It's less "sympathize with the monster" and more "humans causing their own problems".

edited 14th Jun '11 9:57:55 PM by melloncollie

KSPAM PARTY PARTY PARTY I WANNA HAVE A PARTY from PARTY ROCK Since: Oct, 2009 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
PARTY PARTY PARTY I WANNA HAVE A PARTY
#24: Jun 14th 2011 at 10:56:46 PM

What I'm saying is that the effect it creates is very jarring. We're supposed to feel sympathy for Digger, but up until that point he's been doing nothing but causing property damage and eating dudes. It seemed forced.

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial
KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#25: Jun 15th 2011 at 9:54:12 PM

I just saw it and basically the best I can say is that it is an old school adolescent protagonists movie in the same vein as ET The Extra Terrestrial and The Goonies, with some truly great moments and only a couple "meh" moments (but nothing outright stupid, which is a good thing). All of the kids hold their own rather well, and just like the other movies mentioned it isn't afraid to show the kids swearing just cause they think it's cool.

It's strengths is that everyone except the military personnel is very well rounded, even the "distant dad" remained relatable because he is hurting just as much as his son. Louis starts as the typical white-trash drunk and may have never been an upstanding guy but they make it clear he has his own demons and doesn't even like himself. The Joe and Alice "romance" was nicely handled, about 10 percent awkward "feelings" and the rest mostly a simple friendship growing.

The main thing I would criticize is that some parts are rather formulaic, mostly in how they tried to juxtapose Joe's grief over loosing his mother to what happens in the story, including a bonding moment with the monster. The part where the kids reunite with their parents didn't really feel like part of the story but just something that had to happen because it is part of the genre. On a slightly similar note the kids finding that their camera caught images of the monster didn't feel like it was particularly significant to the overall story, by the time it comes into play they already knew a lot of weird shit was going down.

I did get a little bit of a Cloverfield vibe with the monster, mostly in how it was almost impossible to describe. It was a weird mix of a gorilla and a spider, but that doesn't really do it justice.


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