Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fenros" data-source="post: 790287" data-attributes="member: 975">Heh heh, okay guys....I'll elaborate more on why I thought the movie was awful. Of course, keep in mind that again...its just my opinion. I'm glad some of you were able to enjoy it.While I talk about what made the movie awful to me, I'll have to actually talk about the movie. so here's the MAJOR SPOILER WARNING!-------------------------------------Tempuswolf, I apologize if I gave the wrong impression that the film went really south as soon as the cabin sequence started. It did and it didn't. I just meant, that small signs of poor movie making started to appear there first. The whole scene when the stranger who got lost in the woods was in the bathroom was actually excellent. Appropriately gross. I liked that.Anyways, let's start my list of elements that I found to be poor movie making.Okay, where do I begin.Jonesy's Memory Vault :Whoa....surreal. I mean, talk about breaking the reality barrier. That kind of cinematic choice of representing a person's mind is usual kept within the realms of comedy or abstract artsy films. Like Terry Gilliam stuff or something. Or  cartoons. Now, the first time it appears (in the cabin dinner table discussion), its not so glaring. I was like...."okay...that's different" but why the visual representation? For a serious sci-fi film, I would've gone with him just talking about it. Not actually showing it.Then you realize later why it needs visual representation. The director needed a backdrop in which to act out the struggle between the Grey and Jonesy. But I feel that decision to represent it that way was wrong. Totally takes me out of the genre. I would've liked a different, more realistic way of showing the struggle in his mind.One may argue that keeping certain cinematic styles (like the abstract representation of Jonsey's mind) only in abstract films or comedy is creative stagnation. Artists are suppose to come up with new ways to use new storytelling techniques right? Well, yes...I agree. But somethings I feel are harder to crossover correctly. This is one of them.Sudden Character changes and representation : What's up with Henry? I mean, he leaves his friend with the woman in the road, then hikes it back to the cabin. Now....he has no idea there's an alien landing. He doesn't even know if aliens exist.  Yet, as soon as he senses Jonsey riding down the road on the snowmobile, he feels its not really Jonesy. Well okay, maybe there's enough weird vibes going on to put him off. So okay, he ducks to the side of the road and hides.  But what if it was just another hunter travelling back to town for groceries? He would've lost his chance to ask for help. Oh well, no biggie. Let's move on. He goes back to the cabin and lights it up. Now he knows something is horribly wrong. Then he leaves on skis. But does he go back to his friend in the woods with the strange woman? No, he just goes off.Here's the weirdest part for me. He accidently runs into the soldier alien containment group. Then he all of sudden becomes the creepy stalker element outside the Freeman's window. When did he go from running scared and confused to hard and take charge? Like he's the sudden man with the plan. We didn't even have a scene where he asks anyone what the heck is really going on.The Grey's Voice : Why is it a British parody voice when the Grey talks from Jonesy's mouth? I'm sure there's some explanation to it. Like, its dug up from one of Jonesy's memory. But since they don't explain that....we don't know. And even IF...IF they did explain that....why in the world would you want his voice to be comedic? That totally ruins the mood and validity of the Grey as a serious villain.Silly Movie shots : certain styles of shots are used for certain genres of movies. Slow motion entrance is for John Woo guys entering the scene. Bullet-time is for Matrix. Cutting to the X-ray of a man's body to show his bones being broken is Hong Kong Action. Etc, etc.The movie can't decide what style it wants. Certainly not realistic. I mean, the zoom in on Freeman's silver .45 as we see through the metal to show the hidden transmitter.....OMG! What the heck? Its like out of some saturday morning cartoon or something.There are so many others too. I just can't name the all. They don't all have to do with camera shots. Some are just plain silly because of dialogue or what the character's are doing. I wish I can remember them all. Then again.  Maybe I don't. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />Showdown between Sizemore and Freeman : Man, I love these two actors. But what's with their story arc? Its just to blaze each other down in the end in some silly duel? Sizemore's character is just there to drive Henry and Duditz to the water plant? Why does he just stand there when the Freeman's helicopter makes it's strafing run?Duditz : (I might've spelled that wrong)  So the best pals make friends with a retarded kid with mental powers. Its a little unclear as to why Duditz isn't in their circle of friends more. I mean, I kind of figure it out later. I guess because he's got Lukemia. But when Henry and Sizemore's character go to pick him up, the mom tells Henry as if it's the first time he's hearing of it. Which would lead me to think that he didn't know. Which also leads me to think.....why if they have this get together at the cabin to celebrate their friendship, why isnt Duditz there? Why is an alien being with from another world with supreme mental powers laying low in the body of a retarded child in some American family?Don't tell me the book was different and made more sense. That may be so. But I'm talking about the movie only.Anyways, that's about all I can remember for now. I hope that sheds some light as to why I think this movie is bad.There are many other reasons that probably envolve the intricate relationship with editing, plot, dialogue, and other factors. But I don't think I'm good enough to describe it all.  You just gotta trust me when I say, "its bad". Or trust that I truly believe it if not you anyone else.  But I know others did. The WHOLE audience at my screening was in pain.</blockquote>

Verification