The Film Thread

[leemond2008]

It Comes at Night - decent, nothing ground braking, good slow burner, enjoyed it

Little Evil - really was quite rubbish however I had great fun watching it, mainly because the little brat in it looks just like my mates equally evil son

 

Going to see Stephen Kings 'It' tomorrow (is that clear enough for you darrenm)

I re-read the book just a few weeks ago and I have re-watched the original miniseries, book was just as good as I remember (if not better) and the miniseries was dreadful

I've not looked forward to a film as much as this one for ages so I hope it lives up to expectations

[Xela]

1 hour ago, wazzap24 said:

It's coming (not the film, a watch at home service!)

The bloke who invented Napstar has apparently developed a bit of kit that allows you to stream new releases. £100/120 for the box, then £35.00 for the film. You get 48 hours to watch it. 

He announced it a year ago and studios were very interested apparently,  it gone a bit quiet since though. 

Good idea, will kill off a load of cinemas though I'd imagine. 

I don't go to the cinema... so it'd be a +1 for the film studios in terms of revenue from me. There is probably a lot of people who want to watch the latest films but don't want to go to the cinema, for various reasons. I think this device/method would be a success.

I still think there would be a place for cinemas as a lot of people would still want to go. However, it may cause a drop off in numbers to some degree. 

[darrenm]

1 hour ago, leemond2008 said:

It Comes at Night - decent, nothing ground braking, good slow burner, enjoyed it

Little Evil - really was quite rubbish however I had great fun watching it, mainly because the little brat in it looks just like my mates equally evil son

 

Going to see Stephen Kings 'It' tomorrow (is that clear enough for you darrenm)

I re-read the book just a few weeks ago and I have re-watched the original miniseries, book was just as good as I remember (if not better) and the miniseries was dreadful

I've not looked forward to a film as much as this one for ages so I hope it lives up to expectations

Thanks for saying which film you're going to see, everyone else round here expects you to guess.

[hogso]

As a movie fan and Stephen King fan, I'm a very, very happy man tonight having seen It earlier this evening. It's a well shot, acted, and produced film - and it's also a great adaptation. 

From the kid's part of the book, they totally nailed some of my favourite moments - the apocalyptic rock fight, Bevvy's dad (I worry a LOT), the relationship between the Loser's, in particular Bev/Ben/Bill, Richie's wise cracks and voices... 

The effects for Pennywise and It's other incarnations are fantastic, the soundtrack does a job and isn't OTT in any way (something big budget flicks seem to struggle with recently), the narrative makes sense, as do character motivations and actions for almost the entirety of the film, it felt just long enough too. 

There isn't enough character development for some of the kids, and some of the first encounters with It didn't quite hit the mark with me, but that's made up by later encounters being thrilling and coming at a cracking pace. 

Also some excellent nods to the source material, Bill wearing a Trucker Bros. was a particular highlight, as well as one of It's final, brief forms seen on screen. 

On a side note, the cinema experience today - queue a mile long with every couple /group in front of us apparently ordering the entire menu as well as their tickets; on walking into the auditorium a group of about 6 kids was being kicked out, so I feared the worse...but I was pleasantly surprised when people laughed in the right places, and didn't talk or eat too loud. 

I'm definitely up for seeing it again, anyway. Brings home how shite Dark Tower was, though... 

[HanoiVillan]

You lot are missing the big releases, nobody cares about Stephen King 

 

[Xela]

I'm sure Tara Reid doesn't look that good anymore

[wazzap24]

This is interesting. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41197966

Basically a much cheaper version of a 'Cineworld unlimited' card or equivalent. 

Quote

Do you remember Blockbuster Video?

Mitch Lowe does. And he remembers what they said to him as he set about putting them out of business with Redbox, the movie rental company. 

“They said 'wait a minute, we rent movies for $5. You can’t make money renting them for a dollar!’" 

"The year I left we did $1.5bn in revenue. Blockbuster doesn’t exist any more." 

Lowe was also on the founding executive team at Netflix, and he helped guide the company to be the dominant online streaming service. It is one of Silicon Valley’s great disruptors - turning an industry almost on its head. 

Now he thinks he can do it again, this time with cinema. 

Lowe didn’t create Moviepass - it’s been around for six years - but he’s the company’s new chief executive at a time when it is making a dramatic move: it’s lowered its monthly subscription rate to $9.95.

For that money you can watch any movie, at (almost) any movie theatre in the US, any time you like, as often as you like (though not more than once per day). 

It used to be $50, an expenditure for only the most dedicated filmgoers. But at $10, Lowe thinks he’s cracked it, and casual film-watching millennials, who have stopped going to the movies as much, will be flooding through the doors once again.

 

[Zatman]

15 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

You lot are missing the big releases, nobody cares about Stephen King 

 

If only I had opened the thread at 3pm today. Pity

[Xela]

Watching Passengers tonight as couldn't find a Danny Dyer film to watch 

[wazzap24]

9 hours ago, Xela said:

I'm sure Tara Reid doesn't look that good anymore

Hubba hub

[Xela]

She looks riddled with something. 

[Chindie]

Her midriff looks like it was borrowed from Madame Tussaud's.

[Ingram85]

1 hour ago, wazzap24 said:

Hubba hub

C'mon man with the spoilers!!!!!

I'm only halfway through REC.

 

[Stevo985]

Just back from "IT"

 

A big fat MEH from me. 

I didn't dislike it, but it just isn't very good. 

 

I can't really put my finger on why, but I found that it completely failed to build up any tension or sense of peril at any point. In fact, the only time I felt like something bad was going to happen were parts that didn't involve IT.

Maybe it's because I've read it so I roughly knew what would and wouldn't happen to the kids, but I asked the OH who hasn't read it and she felt the same. 

 

Lots of quiet quiet BANG scares, but I never feared for any of the characters. Undoubtedly some of that is down to the zero character development that any of them get. 

I say it every time, if you don't care about the characters then it will never be a good film. 

 

I think another fault is the sheer amount of set pieces involving penny-wise. It's relentless. 

Yes they're a bit scary and **** up, but once you've encountered him 3 or 4 times inside the first half an hour you get a bit number to it. 

 

It got better as it went on. I did enjoy it, but it was nowhere near as good as I thought it would be. 

[Stevo985]

23 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

You lot are missing the big releases, nobody cares about Stephen King 

 

Dean Cain looks like Mac from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" these days

[hogso]

On the character development in It, I think it's unfair to say none of the characters have any development. Bill and Beverley at the very least absolutely do, and for me it really worked. Even the little bits with Ed were alright. I've always thought Mike was the 'weakest' of the losers anyway, and Richie kinda gets away with it cos he is genuinely very funny. It's a shame they didn't do anything with Ben's mother, a character I've had a lot of time for, and he in particular is probably let down the most in the film. Also lol at the background of Stan being 'he is Jewish, and his dad is a rabbi', haha

I can understand the criticism of too much It. It's possibly down to personal preference. From the point of view of the narrative, this monster is in it's feeding season/hunting mode, it understands these kids are a threat, and needs to get rid of them. This isn't the sort of movie monster where 'less is more', that just doesn't tie in to the way it operates. Plus, the kids are frequently searching for it on purpose, and Bill in particular is hell bent on revenge, so needs to find It. 

[Stevo985]

It just wasn't very well executed. 

I understand why IT is in it so much. But that doesn't mean it makes for a good movie. It sterilielses things. 

Spoiler

You realise pretty early on that it's going to appear to each of the kids in turn but they are going to get away unscathed. Which then makes all of their encounters pointless because you're not afraid. You're just waiting for it to happen and move on and get on with the story. 

I'd go as far as to say the first 45 minutes we're almost boring. 

 

It definitely gets better as it goes on. The final half an hour or so is great, but I just think it does a crap job of setting the scene. 

Even the first, iconic, encounter with IT was done really poorly. It was almost comical when

 

Spoiler

Georgie loses his arm

For a film that has such good effects and such good source material to work with, I've come away pretty disappointed. 

One of my favourite books from my youth and they've still not done it justice on film. 

[PieFacE]

I saw IT on Friday and thought it was bloody brilliant.  Not really as a horror but more as a comedy. Just found it hilarious, even the bits that were supposed to be scary had a real comedy edge to them.

9/10 from me. 

[hogso]

Agree it really is a very funny film, hilarious in parts. Perhaps that juxtaposed against the threat of It, and the 'horror' elements won't work for some people. 

Disagree massively with the opening scene being done badly though! Thought it was great, the 'gore' really set the scene early on that It wasn't **** about.

If we're scoring, I'd go 8/10 I think. The shortcuts made with regards to the books narrative all make sense to me, and even some kooky bits 

Quote

Spoiler

Oops can't delete the quote. 

Bev replacing Audra with the kissing scene after she's seen the deadlights

 

weren't too bad, I'm sure people could just throw their hands up there and go 'Eh?' but it's better than including that bit, and probably means Audra isn't in part 2, and no one likes Audra, right? 

I appreciated the attempt to portray Ben on screen, but he's always been my favourite loser, so I was disappointed with him a bit, as there's a lot more to him. It is already two and half hours long, I don't think it would ever be longer than that, so it's kinda impossible to demand more scenes. 

I do prefer the kids section to the adults though, they may struggle to create as much of a buzz next time around. Although I did love the quick glimpse we got of

Spoiler

Paul Bunyan!

 

Edited September 10, 2017 by hogso

[leemond2008]

I went to watch Stephen Kings 'It' yesterday (again Derrenm, I hope this is clear enough for you)

I really enjoyed it but it wasn't without its problems

Whilst the kids were all brilliant it was clear that Bill, Richie and Beverly were the main characters and the others really suffered from this
Unless you had read or watched the book or the mini series I doubt if you would even know Stan or Mikes names after watching the new version.
In the book Henry Bowers was almost the main protagonist and It or Pennywise almost played second fiddle to Henry, Henry was massively underused in this version.
The way that the losers all so blatantly fall in love with Beverley at first site just felt wrong and completely out of touch with the book, in the book they all find themselves lusting after her without actually realizing it, and that was a big part of the book, Ben was openly infatuated with her and he was aware that she was attracted to Bill and he accepted this, I thought this was lacking massively and the film suffered a little for it, it may be because I have read the book and that was a pretty big aspect of it, maybe I'm just being picky I don't know.
Having said that Richie was brilliantly played, he was genuinely laugh out loud funny (although I did miss the 'beep beep Richie' I would have been nice if they would have included that

I thought that it was all a little easy for the kids as well, I never got the feeling that they actually felt threatened at any time.

I would have actually preferred it if the story alternated between the adults and the kids, they will struggle to gain as much anticipation for a version that focuses solely on the adults and I think it would have helped them expand on the characters a little.

Also a few little tweaks annoyed me, in the book and the miniseries it was Mike who delved into Derry's history and uncovered the darkness that surrounds the whole town and I'm pretty sure that it was actually Stan who put forward the idea of the swearing a blood oath, these are only little things but I think that it overpowers certain characters and almost makes other redundant.

On the flip side though I thought that Pennywise was brilliant, he was a lot more faithful to the book than Tim Curry's interpretation was, he was truly menacing.