sharpbw

"The Thing" (2011) does an admirable job of hitting the same beats as John Carpenters 80s version- everything from blood tests to flamethrowers make their return, as does the paranoid group interactions that propels the character drama. However, in a story where this CGI-skinned prequel to the 80s version could have been anything, it chooses instead to be a cheap imitation.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing (sorry), and I imagine that anyone who started their "The Thing" journey with this version would be perfectly content with the frigid alien survival story it serves up. There's some lovely body horror moments that will fascinate the veterans, a couple neat new concepts and set pieces littered in (not described here to avoid spoilers), and Winstead's performance as the lead is solid throughout.

However, even when viewed in isolation of its predecessors, the story never moves past the cumbersome horror tropes that plague the genre. The characters are mostly shallow archetypes, from the Mary Sue lead to the hubristic lead scientist to the "shoot first, ask questions later" Americans. Opposite the cast, the thing (the alien, not the movie) operates with painful inconsistency- sometime the creature attacks with ruthless efficiency and at other times with drunkly slow or inaccurate mistiming. And although the movie makes some attempt in the final act to go from a "who to trust" story to a "hunter-hunted" story, those moments of tension are never built up in a way that delivers the sense of dread the 80s version does. Instead, these survival scenes are mostly just brief moments of shadowy CGI monster movement followed by a sudden action sequence, leaving the viewer unable to tell when to truly be afraid for the life of a character or not.

These eye-roll moments, coupled with the disappointing abandonment of the iconic practical effects of the 80s version, leaves viewers with a "The Thing" that isn't a failure by any right, but that doesn't live up to what any fan of the predecessors knows it could have been.

My Take: I recommend it, but save it for a sick day and don't set expectations based on what came before.

Videodrome ticks many of the Cronenberg boxes that fans of his films will have come to expect and love. Themes including technology's role in shaping humanity, government conspiracy against its own people, and the cultural value of sex and violence are each delivered up in the film's gray-and-beige, metropolitan '80s setting. Casting was excellent and the plot is moved forward by a spritely James Woods and the provocative Debbie Harry (Blondie), set to a sparing but precise score by Howard Shore. But the most intriguing question posed by the film is the extent to which reality is shaped by personal perception alone. This concept, explored through dream sequences, body horror, and philosophical dialogue between characters, is central to the plot about a television broadcaster bent on finding the most "real" adult content for his niche viewers. Cronenberg appears to ask not only whether our insatiable media consumption has gone too far, but whether humanity ever had a choice in the first place.

Videodrome is a prescient moment in cinema history as our desensitized society moves ever deeper into a world of screens and virtual personalities. It's not a film for everyone, but it's a film anyone could get something out of. I highly recommend it for those approaching it with academic interest and for fans of the genre.

A film that doesn't need to be any more than it is, Overboard is prototypical of the '90s family comedy tradition, and perhaps one of the best in its class.

The plot is of course riddled with moral concerns (and legal concerns, if we are being honest), plot holes, and unfinished concepts. For example, a number of scenes are committed to a subplot regarding the creation of a mini golf course that has zero relevance to the story at any point. But the film doesn't try to explain itself commits itself as a simple modern-day romance fable, chock full of charm, good laughs, and endearing moments. Goldie Hawn positively steals the show but the entire cast is a delight.

Ultimately, if you can suspend quite a bit of disbelief regarding the plot, this movie is one that stands up to the test of time- I'd recommend everyone watch it at least once.