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Great, now when I watch The Sixth Sense decades after it came out, I'm going to spend the whole time trying to figure out what the twist is. I wonder what an alternative universe M. Night Shyamalan would have been like if that film hadn't been as successful. Are films like The Village and The Happening, his obsession with the "twist" ending, a pavlovian response to the critical and commercial success of The Sixth Sense; or was his lack of growth as a filmmaker inevitable, and the quality of The Sixth Sense nothing more than a happy coincidence.
As far as film adaptations of books, Volker Schloendorf is the filmmaker par excellence. Clearly he's making a different kind of film than those being discussed in this thread, and that's really the heart of the matter. Schloendorf films capture the spirit, feeling, and intention of a work, that's all we can expect of an adaptation; films like The Hobbit are made for wider audiences and, as such, their 'fidelity' to the source material is assessed in a more middle-of-the-road way. I also don't understand this demand that a film have one to one parity in terms of events, descriptions, chronology, etc... before it can be considered a 'good' adaptation. Film is a different medium, if you carry over every single word from page to screen, even something as loose, lively, and lithe as Discworld becomes plodding, clumsy, pompous.
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Yes, movies definitely have to be changed, you can’t exactly put everything on a screen the way it is in a book (that’s why we have creative licensing), but I think The Hobbit went way to far with it. The Lord of the Rings was good (especially the extended version), it was not exact to the book, but very close and it portrayed the story well. The Hobbit on the other hand, was horrible. They went so far with the creative licensing that it ruined the story. They changed the characters so much that it was just wrong. They took one book and tried to add a bunch to it so they could stretch it into 3 movies, but took out all the parts that were actually good. The first movie was “okay” (they did a somewhat decent job at portraying the characters, not exact, but okay). The second one was just so far gone I don’t even know what to say, same with the third.
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I agree with you mostly. I had just finished reading The Stand when they made that miniseries...I think The Green Mile was closer. Something about his style...there's too much of his writing that is felt rather than seen in the mind's eye, so every person's interpretation of what it should be is different. The Shining was actually pretty good too, but I read the book and saw the movie both at a young age and years apart.
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There was a 1997 miniseries remake of The Shining. I've only seen it once, but I felt it was better than the 1980 movie, and was truer to the original book. Now, they are coming out with a 10 episode miniseries remake of The Stand sometime this year. I just can't see 10 plus hours without a bunch of irrelevant "license" added. Gonna watch it just out of curiosity though
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Spoiler alert! Just a heads up.
At the end when the Doctor figures out he isn't alive. At least I thought it was a twist.
I always forget that that movie was directed by M. N. S. He's the same guy who directed Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the disparity between the quality of that movie and 6th Sense is just incredible. I consider Avatar: TLA as one of the worst movies ever made.
However, the animated TV show that Avatar: TLA is based on is fantastic, truly a masterpiece. It just makes it so much sadder when you remember how bad the movie is.
How about the Eragon movie? That has got to be the ultimate in bad book to movie adaptions.
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Lady Bird was a better movie; but I can't remember if it came out before or after. I'm not even sure it was related as I don't remember seeing any stars or lasers in it but either way it was a better movie. Heck even Harry who was Dirty was a better movie. I though it had a decent cast but the story - well for all the money they spent they could have come up with something a bit tighter - and we really didn't need to see flashback to characters presented in the second movie but otherwise not in the movie.
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you really can't beat a good britcom.
Let's not even get started on Monty Python... or National Lampoon's...
My hands-down all time favorite comedy: Airplane!
Jimmy! What do you make of this?
Well, I can make a hat, or a brooch, or a pterodactyl...
Surely, you can't be serious!
I am serious! And stop calling me Shirley!
JI'm never has a second cup of coffee at home...
Excuse me, miss... I speak Jive.
I could go on for hours.
I wrote a paper about the Python's reception of the Middle Ages once. I ADORE them!
National Lampoon on the other hand... I know 2 (one of them Airplane and the other I forgot the title.) They aren't shown here since the 80s as far as I know. No distributor picks them up for Europe.
Green Room I've seen. It was a good movie, but it hit a bit close to home, cause I was once roadie for a band that was touring east germany (known for having a lot of neo-n***s) and the band played a similar venue, ending with a cash and run after the show, because we didn't want to hang out there. NSBM (99% of which is illegal with good reason in germany) and punk on the same night in the same location is actually going to result in violence of that kind. Still, the funniest thing to me is who of all people survives.
Green Book is on my to-watch-list.
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I was serious lol. I was genuinely surprised.
It's even worse if you've read the books.
Anyone else seen Ford V. Ferrari? That was a movie that could've been messed up real easy, but it wasn't. It turned out to be funny, tense, and sad at the same time, all while being a true story. It deserved more awards IMO. I hope Christian Bale got some recognition/awards for his role.
Kubrick's The Shining is a masterpiece, a MASTERPIECE. If you didn't enjoy it, that means you watched it wrong. You have to watch it right after you watch Nashville and you're totally jacked on Shelley Duvall.
Have you ever fired your gun up in the air and gone arghh? Also, did you ever watch any of those KieslowskI Trois Coleurs films the Three Flavors thing is a reference to? You will never recycle in Paris the same way again.
What's with all the love for green. What about Blue Jasmine, The Purple Rose of Cairo, orange you glad I didn't say Bananas?
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1. No. Only gun I ever fired was a 17th century musket and I will hopefully never have to fire any modern gun ever again. I went "Aaaargh!" immediately afterwards though, because my tinnitus instantly hit me. I have to think of the movie every time somebody does the Angel/Angle-typo here.
2. Two out of three, but it's been a while. I barely remember them.
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This might ruffle a few feathers but I absolutely hate sequels, pre-quels and remakes
Give me the original film please
For example......James Caan in Rollerball...brilliant 70's kitch with a heavy dose of blood and violence that was so dumbed down in the remake it was not recognisable.......same goes for SissI Spacek in the original Carrie, the remake is truly awful
Give me the original film please
For example......James Caan in Rollerball...brilliant 70's kitch with a heavy dose of blood and violence that was so dumbed down in the remake it was not recognisable.......same goes for SissI Spacek in the original Carrie, the remake is truly awful
I'm with you 90% of the time. Sequels... there was a time when you had good sequels (Mid 80s to mid 90s). I'm thinking Evil Dead here and every other Star Trek Movie.
Prequels are a phenomenon I basically ignore into oblivion.
Remakes... no offence to the Americans here, but most are just a way to bring a good film to the american audience and most often botching/butchering it by changing the setting to somewhere in the states. A lot simply doesn't work anymore.
There is one exception though: When a director makes a remake of their own movie years later SOMETIMES something good comes from it. Sometimes...
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One of the most underated and virtually unknown films is, in my view, one of the best made....mainly cos it actually used a real ship, the stunning Ile de France which sadly was on her way to being broken up for scrap
The Last Voyage
Made in 1960, classic disaster film....opening with a note handed to the Captain as he enjoys evening meal with the passengers "there is a fire in the engineroom"....the film literally grabs you with that first 60 second opening....
Beautifully shot film starring Robert Stack
Rarely ever seen thesedays but a really great film
The Last Voyage
Made in 1960, classic disaster film....opening with a note handed to the Captain as he enjoys evening meal with the passengers "there is a fire in the engineroom"....the film literally grabs you with that first 60 second opening....
Beautifully shot film starring Robert Stack
Rarely ever seen thesedays but a really great film
It's Friday night and I'm sitting at home alone. ok, wish me luck to find a stream.
Edit: Wow, it's actually available. Do I smell cult-status here?
Edit II: Ha! Watched it years ago in my first unI years during a night shift at work. Ran on a german-french station that's known for such gems and really good art and documentary stuff. I watched a trailer and then the start. I'll watch the whole film tomorrow or I'll be up until 4 again. And yes, good movie.
Huge David Lynch fan, and I was going to say Blue Velvet is great, it's just not a great first date movie, but then...
Caligula, I had forgotten this film exists, on purpose. WORST date movie. You think, "It's got Helen Mirren in it, it's got to be at least kind of classy.", but The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover it ain't. It's not even good pornography; Behind The Green Door, that's a quality work of cinema, but Caligula, why is it purposefully distasteful, why is it so unwieldy and disjointed, why, why is it over two and a half hours long, it's paced like an AntonionI film. That was not a pleasant Friday night, dinner was good though. Mmm, brussel sprouts.
Is there some kind of story behind this? Nobody accidentally watches a Luis Bunuel picture. He's definitely a hit or miss director though, Viridiana is brilliant, L'age D'or a self-satisfied meme.
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Ehhh I don't know. I think there are too many films out there with the same themes and plotlines. I mean, sure, it's terrible, all of it. But at some point you just get so fed up and sick with WWII material. Maybe it's because I grew up in a country that got swept up in it pretty badly and they smack you over the head with all that stuff in high school. So many compulsory literature and stuff. Eh. My interested in these comes and goes in waves. I guess I got acquainted with this particular movie during on of those downwards motions.
So, you know, great movie and stuff. I totally would recommend. But I didn't really have much interest in it myself.
I prefer La Vita E Bella, which is rather similar in terms of thematics.
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I mean, I get your point, but I've just seen and read too much of this material. It stops being original and starts being just more waves of misery.
I much prefer to watch documentaries about less well known aspects of the history (as movies tend to repeat the same mantra but skip a lot of other stuff that happened). Or read about the psychological aspects of it. Or just read the history itself on wikipedia.
But I completely get how gripping it is! My lack of interest has nothing to do with the movie itself, it is a good movie. Impactful for sure if you've never seen a concentration camp movie before.
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It sounds a bit terrible when you put it like that But eh.
Have you seen Parasyte?
I'm so glad this winning the oscars makes for a good entrance for me to non-awkwardly shoehorn in my love for korean films and tv series. It's seriously quality stuff.
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I think you are mixing up two countries. Anime is from Japan. I'm talking about Korean cinema.
Stuff like this and this and this. The last one is actually by the same director that made Parasite.
... I think I misspelled parasite as parasyte in my previous post, that may have caused some confusion..
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You should give it a shot, it's great! Expand your horizons!
I can recommend a good bollywood film too
Korea is probably the best in Asia when it comes to high-quality television. I don't know why but Chinese shows are terrible quality usually, mediocre quality at best. Japanese anime is (sometimes) good, but their acted series are just ... *shudder* ... most of the time. India is just melodrama all around. Somehow only the Koreans have it all figured out.
Memories of a Murder, so good. A baldy?!? So good.
The thing about Korean film is that all the stuff that gets picked up by western distributors tends to be filled to the brI'm with graphic violence and/or misanthropy. I'm sure Korean film is much broader, but all you ever seem to see is: some guys kills a bunch of guys for revenge then straight up reverse Oedipuses himself, some guy kills a bunch of guys for money then regular Oedipuses himself, some lady kills a bunch of guys for revenge...
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I know right!
Eh I think this is more a case of the West picking up that one trilogy that actually achieved cult status with some western directors. Though it's not like you aren't onto something.
The one Chinese film I've seen on cable here is Red Cliff, which concerns a famous historical battle in ancient China and deals with a portion of the most famous work of literature in Chinese culture. A rare chance to bring some of this to a Western audience.
The film was a two-parter in China. They literally cut out half of the runtime in the Western cinematic version because they thought nobody would see it otherwise....
Just imagine that China would release a 60 minute mid-story cut-out of Der Untergang to skip all the "boring narration and background" that the audience would supposedly not be in touch with.
Maaaan I missed out on the Monty Python stuff. Can't get enough of them. What a legendary group.
And I missed the WWII movies. Geez I slacked today. I agree they get a bit repetitive. But come on can't beat The Great Escape and The Imitation game. Those never get old.
The Italian Job anybody? I think that's one case where the remake was very well done. Love that movie.
And I missed the WWII movies. Geez I slacked today. I agree they get a bit repetitive. But come on can't beat The Great Escape and The Imitation game. Those never get old.
The Italian Job anybody? I think that's one case where the remake was very well done. Love that movie.
What happens to so many eastern films when they make their way to the west is a travesty. I went through a 'kung-fu' phase, it was frustrating. To this day I can't find a decent cut of Ong-Bak. It's getting better though, you can find most modern Beijing blockbusters entirely intact. Stephen Chow all day. Although Red Cliff does remind me that this isn't simply a film problem. Finding a decent edition of Romance Of The Three Kingdoms in a language I can understand has proven nigh impossible. So many abridged versions, so many poor quality public domain reissues, now this new, more 'dynamic' translation... ugh. Not that abridgements are all bad though, Waley's Monkey, is, for my money, the superior translation of Journey To The West. Why can't things be binary simplicities.
Actually, stream of conscious, I just remembered seeing a super lighthearted Korean film in the vein of Monster Hunt or the Detective Dee films. Something about pirates, can't remember the name of it, might just be The Pirates, not super important, just a bit of a counterargument to my earlier assertion. Also The Good, The Bad, And The Weird, maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.
Obviously though, Der Untergang would have to be heavily edited for a Chinese audience. As far as the internet knows, like 90% of that film is Bruno Ganz screaming about "Loeffel und Gabel", they use chopsticks over there, they'd have no idea what he was on about.
Sounds familiar. And La Vita E Bella is the superior movie.
I think the attitude towards WWII in general is very different in Europe and the US. After you had that topic in school here in Germany (which is basically the last 3 years of history in school continuosly) you feel guilty for the whole thing yourself, even if you were born 40 years after the events. There's a reason people say "Don't mention the war."
You are giving me ideas. And yes, a good version of Journey to the West would be really nice.
Can't breathe as hard as this make me laugh. May Mr. Ganz rest in peace. That roll made him immortal.
I absolutely love anime......especially the Studio GhiblI work. So beautifully made and the back story moral is so cleverly written into each one
Spirited Away is stunning
The Wind Rises made me cry cos not only was it a beautiful film but it was also one of the last from the studio founder Hayao MiyazakI who passed away a couple of years ago
Even if you are unsure of anime, try a Studio Ghibli, they are narrated in English for everyone to enjoy.....and they will touch your heart
Spirited Away is stunning
The Wind Rises made me cry cos not only was it a beautiful film but it was also one of the last from the studio founder Hayao MiyazakI who passed away a couple of years ago
Even if you are unsure of anime, try a Studio Ghibli, they are narrated in English for everyone to enjoy.....and they will touch your heart
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