Category: Movies

How John Carpenter Turned “The Thing” into a Horror Classic

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John Carpenter’s The Thing is a classic in the horror genre.  Most fans consider it Carpenter’s high-water mark.

What many don’t know is that The Thing  that was released to theaters was very different from what was originally planned and filmed.  When Carpenter saw a rough cut he realized that the movie didn’t work.  It lacked tension (can you believe that?), the pace was slow and MacCready (played by Kurt Russell) was just another face in the crowd.

Luckily a six-week break had been built into the shooting schedule.  During that time Carpenter…

…restructured the film, wrote what was essentially a new Second Act to conform to the editing he had done (including new death scenes for two characters), adopted MacCready as his spiritual doppelganger, and scrambled to get all of it shot on location in Stewart, B.C. Coming face to face with his own greatest fear – fear of failure –  he was able to make THE THING undeniably his…

Stuart Cohen was a co-producer on The Thing.  Cohen was on location during filming and in his blog,   details the changes that Carpenter brought about to turn a movie that didn’t work into a horror classic.

The Terminator Reboot – How Will It Work?

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Recently Annapurna Pictures and Skydance Productions announced that the Terminator movie franchise was going to reboot with the first of a projected trilogy to premiere in the summer of 2015.  Arnold Schwarzenegger was in talks to star.

Over at the MTV Movies Blog, Kevin P. Sullivan posted Terminator 5: Everything We Know About the New Movies.  In his piece, Sullivan posts his thoughts on the direction the new film should take.  Here are his major points and my thoughts:

Arnold has to be human.  Sullivan contends, and most would have to agree, that because Arnold ain’t a spring chicken, it would be hard to accept him as a Terminator.  My first reaction was, Sullivan is right.  But then I reconsidered.  With the right make-up and stunt doubles Arnold could realistically play a Terminator again… if that’s the direction the movie goes.

(Arnold) has to be the model for the T-800.  Sullivan asks, “If Schwarzenegger’s character is human, how do you explain his uncanny resemblance to the Terminator that hunts Sarah Connor in the first film and protects her son John in the second?”  This could be a problem except for the fact that the new Terminator films are a reboot.  As long as this is clear to the average movie-goer, then the earlier Terminator movies’ continuity are no longer a problem.

 

This deleted scene is getting reconned. Two things stop the above deleted scene from being a problem: 1) It is a deleted scene and so has no place in the any Terminator continuity and 2) the new film is the start of a reboot — past continuity doesn’t come into play.

It’s either set it in the past… …or in the future.  Well, yeah.  I like the thought of a Terminator film set in the 1940’s or 50’s.  I also like the idea of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson playing a part.  I especially liked the idea that “Schwarzenegger would play the man who stops the futuristic assassin using period-appropriate technology, thus impressing the robotic overlords and becoming the model for the T-800.”

I’ve always enjoyed the Terminator movies (and the first two remain all-time favorites) so I look forward to seeing  how this will all play out.

Thanks to Kevin P. Sullivan for the Terminator food-for-thought. – Craig

How the “Terry and the Pirates” Comic Strip Influenced “Enter the Dragon”

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In honor of the 40th anniversary of its release,  Warner Bros. released a special 2 disc edition Blu-ray of Enter the Dragon. 

CBR.com had a post that is no longer available.  Enter the Dragon’s producers Fred Weintraub and Fred Heller, cinematographer Gil Hubbs and co-star Bob Wall were interviewed.  In it, Fred Heller talked about how comic books influenced the look and feel of Enter the Dragon:

Heller: Comic books played a big part in Enter the Dragon. When we first started thinking about the look of the film, there was a comic strip called Terry and the Pirates, and that became sort of the genesis of the whole look of the film. It was about a Dragon Lady and Chinese pirates, and it was a wonderful moment in time about adventure. But it has a wonderful, brilliant color scheme of golds and blues and reds, and if you think about Enter the Dragon, that’s what we did. And that was very, very conscious. It just felt like it would be very right for the film.

Rocky Balboa a G.I. Joe?

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Did you know that Rocky Balboa was once a member of G.I. Joe?  In 1986 it was announced that he was.

But then a month later came… 

So the question remains… was Rocky a member of team G.I. Joe or was it a mistake made by an overzealous member of the G.I. Joe publicity team?  

Or perhaps… just maybe, Rocky was a secret member of the Joe’s and the first file was somehow leaked so a denial was needed.  ; )   – Craig

Source: iFanboy

Z-View: “World War Z” [& That Doesn’t Stand for Zablo]

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The Pitch: “Let’s make a zombie movie [zombies are hot] based on Max Brooks’ World War Z novel [that book is hot] starring Brad Pitt [he’s hot].”

The Overview: A worldwide zombie outbreak is spreading at such an alarming rate that it threatens to wipeout humanity.  Brad Pitt plays Gerry Lane, a former UN investigator asked to go with a young scientist and a team of Navy SEALS into a hot zone to see if the scientist can get information to stop the zombie infection. Nothing goes as planned… but does it ever during a zombie outbreak?

The Good:

  • Many thought that Max Brooks’ World War Z novel would be impossible to adapt into a movie.  Perhaps they were right.  Purists will be upset that many liberties were taken in turning World War Z  the novel into World War Z  the movie.  The writers did an excellent job of getting across the worldwide crisis and how different areas are dealing with it.
  • The movie starts off with action almost straight away and lets up only long enough for the audience to get a breath and to set up the next “are you kidding me” sequence.
  • I love the confusion when the outbreaks first hits.
  • Brad Pitt counting the time it takes a bitten person to turn and then counting again when he runs to the roof’s ledge is cool.
  • The scene when Pitt raises his hands to the cop and the officer walks past him to the baby formula makes it clear that priorities have changed and people are on their own.
  • There are several action sequences and they’re all well done.  I like that Pitt is not the man sent in to save the day, but instead he’s the man to keep “that guy” alive.

The Bad:

  • The zombie outbreak.  These zombies are fast.  Again, purists will hate fast-moving zombies.  They don’t bug me and in World War Z  they work well.
  • I was concerned that the ant-like climbing that we see in World War Z  previews would come off as hokey in the movie.  They didn’t.
  • I was also concerned that director Marc [Quantum of Solace] Forster wasn’t the best choice for this film.  I was wrong. Foster did an excellent job.
  • So really the only things bad in World War Z  [other than the outbreak itself] were my preconceived notions… oh, and that thing that happens to Brad Pitt after the commercial airliner sequence.

The Ugly:

  • What happens when you are given a firearm and aren’t trained to use it.
  • It’s also pretty ugly when you think that you’re safe behind a giant wall and start celebrating a little too soon.
  • Oh, and it’s really ugly when a zombie  makes it on a commercial airliner.

The Rating:  A