Some film-related items.
Attack of the remakes. Does the world really want a live-action Akira or another Logan’s Run? Can The Thing be improved upon? Flash Gordon without Brian Blessed? Er, Romancing the Stone?
A gallery of bewildering foreign film posters. Guess which films are being advertised below. And wait ‘til you see Bullitt.
And in one of Watchmen’s more disquieting scenes, Dr Manhattan turns his hand to crime-fighting. Disintegrations ensue.
Looks like Dr. Manhattan is a zero tolerance guy.
“Can The Thing be improved upon?”
The original is b-movie genius. What could be better than this? 😀
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TevQS4qgE_Q
I think the remake is actually a prequel – the story of what happens to the Norwegian team before the “dog” escapes. I watched the 1982 version again recently and was surprised by how well it holds up. Oddly enough, I think that’s due to the rather antiquated mechanical effects, stop-motion, etc. That’s part of its ingenuity and, um, charm.
Isn’t the John Carpenter film already a remake of a fifties B-movie?
Yes, it’s a loose remake of Christian Nyby’s pretty humdrum “The Thing from Another World,” made in 1951…
http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-thing-from-another-world-1951/26356/synopsis
…which is in turn loosely based on John W Campbell’s 1938 novella, “Who Goes There?”
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Highrise/3756/jc/who/bonusid.htm
Carpenter’s film is by far the best version of the story. And the only one of his films I actually like.
“The body is taken to base headquarters, where it is inadvertently thawed out by an electric blanket… Dr. Carrington discerns that “The Thing” is not animal but a member of the carrot family, subsisting on blood.”
One for rental then?
David
“And the only one of his films I actually like”
Surely you can’t remain entirely unmoved by “Dark Star”?!
Horace,
“Surely you can’t remain entirely unmoved by ‘Dark Star’?!”
It’s okay, if memory serves, but it didn’t float my boat. Blasphemy, I know. I remember being taken to see “The Fog” as a kid, which I think I enjoyed. But I reckon Carpenter should have stopped making films quite some time ago. Before he made a pig’s ear of “Village of the Damned” and ventured into uniforms and lesbianism with “Ghosts of Mars,” which I’m still trying to forget.
> and ventured into uniforms and lesbianism with “Ghosts of Mars,”
I have to get this out, purely to see whether it’s as bad as you say.
You believe me don’t you?
Purely in the interests of research. You’ll be sorely disappointed, though. I fear I’ve made it sound much more thrilling than it is.
“But I reckon Carpenter should have stopped making films quite some time ago”
I’m afraid I haven’t seen most of his films so can’t have an opinion, though I’ve seen a couple that were certainly drab.
I wouldn’t make high claims for “Dark Star” by the way. It’s hardly great cinema. But it does have a down-at-heel charm and enough genuine originality (and humour) to bring a smile to the face. Mind you, it’s many years since I’ve seen it. And when I saw it I was a student, if you get my drift.
I would say, though, that Carpenter should have refrained from scoring his films. His talents as a composer are mimimal and while the results are sporadically effective, they’re more often simply distracting and irritating.
Yes, Carpenter has a wildly inflated opinion of his musical talents, and he seems to have a draining effect on other composers too. Ennio Morricone is credited as scoring “The Thing” and it’s one of his flattest, dullest and most repetitive soundtracks. Compared to the baroque visual effects, the music is incredibly unambitious.
Does the world really want [..] another Logan’s Run?
***
Only if they bring it back with the original wardrobe 😉
I quite liked the snug Sandman uniforms, but Ms Agutter’s slashed-to-the-armpit frock was a little flouncy for my taste. And not great on the insulation front…
http://www.geocities.com/anyjnny/Jenny_Agutter/Jenny_Agutter_009.jpg
“And not great on the insulation front…”
It’s drafty and impractical. Yet I cannot look away.
Jenny was such a young beauty in ‘Walkabout’. My goodness, I had a crush on her for years.
I liked ‘Dark Star’, but I’m surprised to see no mention of the best John Carpenter film in existence – ‘Assault on Precinct 13’.
Shoot me if I’m wrong.
High speed tele-dating!
http://io9.com/5151774/its-good-to-be-a-sandman—-except-when-naked-chicks-are-sad