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[quote name='rok' timestamp='1318304248' post='171669']Amer[/quote]
What a huge missed opportunity this movie was. Very creepy and stylish beginning and ending sequences (30 minutes total), with a whole lot of repetitive and boring misogynistic nonsense in between (1 hour). I guess I would only recommend it if you are a fan of old Italian giallo horror. Man, that was incredibly disappointing.
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I liked the new The Thing.
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[quote name='Scarey' timestamp='1318671852' post='172436']
I liked the new The Thing.
[/quote]
going to see it at the brew and view tonight.
I wish that I believed in Fate. I wish I didn't sleep so late. I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders.
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I've heard nothing but bad things about it thus far both from horror sites and top critics. I'm gonna wait for it on DVD.
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[quote name='rok' timestamp='1318697278' post='172442']
I've heard nothing but bad things about it thus far both from horror sites and top critics. I'm gonna wait for it on DVD.
[/quote]
I'm curious to hear what bad things you heard. I'd also be curious to know what the expectations of these people were. This is nothing ground breaking here. I had a pretty good idea of what it was going in and I wasn't let down. I don't see how anyone can be outraged by it.
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it's getting decent reviews. The guy I agree with most often, James Beradinelli , gave it 3 stars as did Michael Phillips. Ebert only gave it 2.5 stars, but I think that's more than he gave the original, so I'll discount him. My guess is that it's not great, but it's enjoyable.
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Most of the complaints were about the CGI being pretty lame and about the characters being disposable and underdeveloped, but none of the reviews I've read have said the movie was horrible, just pretty average. And it seems as though audiences and critics are watching 2 completely different films according to RT.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_thing_2011/
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[quote name='rok' timestamp='1318740922' post='172467']
Most of the complaints were about the CGI being pretty lame and about the characters being disposable and underdeveloped, but none of the reviews I've read have said the movie was horrible, just pretty average. And it seems as though audiences and critics are watching 2 completely different films according to RT.
[url="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_thing_2011/"]http://www.rottentom...the_thing_2011/[/url]
[/quote]
I think it's like BT is saying, not great but definitely enjoyable. The CGI was pretty good. You can tell then went overboard with a couple of scenes, but they did a good mix of animatronics/pupeteering and CGI. That's my opinion at least.
I think a lot of critics are making too much of the fact that this movie was extremely similar to the John Carpenter version. Seriously, what did you expect? You can't exactly make huge plot alterations if you're going to make a prequel to a movie and have it in almost the same exact setting.
Just go into it thinking "it's a remake". It pushes the entire plot a little bit more and fills in some holes from the first one, but other than that, it is basically a remake and they're able to use a lot better technology this time around.
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Also, I think some people thought this was supposed to be a straight horror movie. That's not what John Carpenter's version was and it's not what this one is either. It's a monster movie mostly, and there's a big difference.
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I'd say it was 2/3rds of a really good movie. The final third became, essentially, a stalker movie, which didn't really excite me. The first 2/3rds had some really great stuff in it, although I'd also say the previews ruined at least 2 scenes. There is a scene in a helicopter which I would have loved, if I didn't know exactly what was about to happen.
The pacing in the final third falls off badly, and there is an extended scene near the alien spacecraft which I found mostly pointless. These scenes also contradict portions of Carpenters version, which is surprising because they slavishly recreate some other aspects of it, in order to adhere to the scenes in Carpenter's movie. Lastly, and while I'll dance around specifics, this could be considered a spoiler, there is a scene near the end which makes no sense if you take into account the MO of the alien creature in almost every other instance.
I don't want to be too hard on it, because I did like it, but I was a bit disappointed after waiting for this for so long. It's a good horror movie, it just pales when compared to the Carpenter version.
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I'd like to discuss this a bit with you BT. Specifically:
Quote:previews ruined at least 2 scenes
Besides the helicopter scene, which other one?
Quote:there is an extended scene near the alien spacecraft which I found mostly pointless
Which scene were you talking about here?
Quote:there is a scene near the end which makes no sense if you take into account the MO of the alien creature in almost every other instance
[spoiler] Are you talking about how it sneaks up on the woman and attacks her rather than mimicing a person to try and get close to her?[/spoiler]
If you don't know how to do the spoiler tags, it's just [$poiler] [/$poiler] except obviously with an s instead of $.
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All spoilers from here, so even if it's not tagged, be forewarned...
-The second scene was spoiled [spoiler]when she and the woman go to the store room together to get the keys [/spoiler]
-I found almost the entire scene at the space ship pointless. I thought it was going to be used to explain how the ship went from being buried in the ice to completely excavated (as Kurt Russell finds it in the 1982 version), but in the end, it's still under the ice when they leave.
-[spoiler] The entire end makes no sense. If the Thing's modus operandi is to get someone alone, then kill them, then there is no reason why the helicopter pilot would wait until she gets into the snow cat in order to attack her. He could have attacked her in the ship, and left her there. [/spoiler]
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[spoiler]
I didn't see the store room scene coming. Maybe you saw an extended trailer that I didn't?
I could be wrong, but I think initiating the take off sequence did uncover the ship. I thought they showed a very brief side view as they were exiting.
As for waiting to attack, there's two things here.
One: if the helicopter pilot was a 'The Thing', there was a lot of confusion when he showed up. The chick had just thrown a grenade and told him to run. He probably understood that there was a danger and felt it wasn't the best time to make his move. He probably could have did the deed while they were walking out of the cavern, but she had already eluded it a couple of times.
Two: for the sake of an open ended plot twist, I think the director wanted you to question whether the pilot was a 'The Thing' or not. Yes, you heard the alien screams when he was lit up, but it was almost more of a "in her head" type deal. The way she reacted after killing him/it was as if she was questioning her decision. The grabbing at his wrong ear for the earring part isn't very explainable, but the way they shot it left a question in my mind as to whether he was human or not. I think that's what they were going for and the scene would have had to have played out like that to get the desired effect. [/spoiler]
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I saw something that was a little odd that I didn't catch an explanation for.
[spoiler] when they are in the rec room and The Thing emerges, the research assistant guy gets tagged in the abdomen, kinda in the kidney area. It was almost as if the Thing got a sample or something from him before going for the full course. It did the same thing to Adewale Akinnuoye- Agbaje and killed him doing it, but it seemed like there was a reason for it doing what it was doing. Was it just trying to maim so it had easy prey? [/spoiler]
The one thing that I did find pretty lame was:
[spoiler] Really? The flame thrower misfires in this one too? [/spoiler]
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So catching up on my Halloween viewing, "Attack the Block" turned out to be just ok. Really nothing special and the kid actors were quite annoying for the most part. Thank god for subtitles. At least the aliens were kinda cool in a cartoonish, though not scary, sort of way, so it wasn't a total waste. That said, Nick Frost was underutilized and not that funny. Meh. Once again the genre critics jizz all over themselves for no reason. 2.5/5 stars.
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