A DVD REVIEW: JOHN CARPENTER'S THE THING - COLLECTOR'S EDITION (Universal)

[Lexmark3200]

For me( the thing) is one of the best movies of its kind ever made! and also i, do agree that( big trouble in little china) is also one his best & perhaps most underrated of his films.

great review !

mike

Thanks a MILLION for your kind words on the review, Mike! I appreciate that a great deal!

Although, as a diehard Carpenter fan, I have three films which top my "worst of Carpenter" list, and that is, They Live!, Big Trouble in Little China and Ghosts of Mars.

But thank you for reading the review and replying in a kind, human manner! Glad you enjoyed the review, and keep your eyes out for that new anamorphic version of the DVD because Im not sure if the video was improved from this version I reviewed.

[RGA]

My degree is in English - though not my particular preference but a neceissity for the other degree I'm working on. What the problem is in our discourse is revolving around the subjective versus objective view of art. A slippery slope I agree. There are tens of thousands of films as there are miliions upon millions of novels. Not all of them can be classics and not all of them are classics because I say so or you say so. The same goes with writers or directors who are considered the great writers in the history of the world. Many people love and buy harlequin(Sp?) Romance novels or Stephen King novels and we may very much love a given novel they produce but they are not "great" writers nor are their novels going to be canonized in the halls of literature as pieces of art.

That does not mean they have no value, I have enjoyed King as wonderful brain candy. There is an objective element here as to what gets canonized and it's not -- well I like the movie The Thing therefore it's a classic or I know 42 people who agree with me that it's a classic. One needs to define the word before throwing it around is my main point. I don't mind if someone thinks JP will become a classic or The Thing, but it needs a qualifier. Why and how? When I look at the body of Spielberg work when thinking of the word classic one could make cases from many of his movies. But serious filmmaking with all the tools bang on or as bang on as it can get would in my view go to Schindler's List. It needs no quantifier.

I would say E.T. is a classic but with the quantifier of "a Classic Family movie", Raiders of the Lost Ark, a classic adventure film maybe JP as a classic thrill ride adventure movie.

When youmeet the people in the industry that can bias your opinion of their work. You keep saying no one understands what John carpenter was going for and that you asked him. Good movies do not NEED the director to explain the film and what he was going for and how great an idea he had. The ONLY thing that has any relevance at all on the film is what shows up on the screen when you buys your ticket. There are many films that have super ideas that just don't work. They may be based off a great screenplay and have a wonderful cast and ends up tanking because it comes off preachy or silly.


And incidentally George Romero's name also gets billing on his films "George A Romero's Land of the Dead." I like George Romero as the maestro of the Zombie movie -- but Spielberg,Kubrick, Kirosawa ihe ain't.

As for this site why not create a web-site and simply post a link here to it rather than spamming this site with piles of DVD reivews that have been reviewed already by such sites as DVD town http://www.dvdtown.com/reviews/

Incidentally, I liked JP and saw it three times in the theater. and maybe I'm being hard on it because many of Spielberg's other films are so much better than this one. But that may just be more of a compliment to Spielberg than a knock on JP.

You should post the JP DVD review on Audioasylum's film board (no registering required). If you can convince them that this is a good movie I'd be impressed. http://www.videoasylum.com/films/bbs.html

[Lexmark3200]

"My degree is in English - though not my particular preference but a neceissity for the other degree I'm working on."

Well, English is a good course to begin with as far as a major --- especially if you want to go into the written arts, as I did.....what is the other degree you're working on? I graduated with what Adelphi University calls a Masters in "Expository Writing" which is pretty much creative writing.

"What the problem is in our discourse is revolving around the subjective versus objective view of art. A slippery slope I agree. There are tens of thousands of films as there are miliions upon millions of novels. Not all of them can be classics and not all of them are classics because I say so or you say so. The same goes with writers or directors who are considered the great writers in the history of the world. Many people love and buy harlequin(Sp?) Romance novels or Stephen King novels and we may very much love a given novel they produce but they are not "great" writers nor are their novels going to be canonized in the halls of literature as pieces of art."

True.

"That does not mean they have no value, I have enjoyed King as wonderful brain candy. There is an objective element here as to what gets canonized and it's not -- well I like the movie The Thing therefore it's a classic or I know 42 people who agree with me that it's a classic. One needs to define the word before throwing it around is my main point. I don't mind if someone thinks JP will become a classic or The Thing, but it needs a qualifier. Why and how? When I look at the body of Spielberg work when thinking of the word classic one could make cases from many of his movies. But serious filmmaking with all the tools bang on or as bang on as it can get would in my view go to Schindler's List. It needs no quantifier."

Okay; I can agree with most of this.....but WHY does it need a qualifier is what I would like to know....I simply believe and enjoy these aforementioned titles (The Thing and Jurassic Park) as classics in their respective genres, thats all.....like you said, its how the word is thrown around. You may think of Schilndlers List as one of Spielberg's CLASSICS ---- and it IS an absolutely superbly done piece of cinema --- but I feel the same way about Jurassic Park (THE FIRST ONE ONLY) for completely different reasons than I do Schindlers or perhaps Saving Private Ryan.

"I would say E.T. is a classic but with the quantifier of "a Classic Family movie", Raiders of the Lost Ark, a classic adventure film maybe JP as a classic thrill ride adventure movie."

Okay.

"When youmeet the people in the industry that can bias your opinion of their work. You keep saying no one understands what John carpenter was going for and that you asked him."

Yes I did, and this below statement makes no sense to me:

"Good movies do not NEED the director to explain the film and what he was going for and how great an idea he had."

Why is this so? John was laughing when he told me how nobody really understood what he was going for in ESCAPE FROM L.A. and that it was SUPPOSED to be looked at as a DIRECT satire copy of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK --- when I explained to him that people were walking out of the theaters after seeing ESCAPE FROM L.A. scratching their heads and wondering what they just saw, John explained to me that it was because they "just didnt get it" and probably never saw ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK.....why isnt he allowed to explain the creative memories or input that made the cinematic experience what it was? After all, the man DOES have his name affixed to the title of the picture.....

"The ONLY thing that has any relevance at all on the film is what shows up on the screen when you buys your ticket."

Where did you learn this, Im just curious?

"And incidentally George Romero's name also gets billing on his films "George A Romero's Land of the Dead." I like George Romero as the maestro of the Zombie movie -- but Spielberg,Kubrick, Kirosawa ihe ain't"

That is true --- aside from Carpenter, it is perhaps Romero that is one of the only directors that gets his name affixed to the title of his films.

"As for this site why not create a web-site and simply post a link here to it rather than spamming this site with piles of DVD reivews that have been reviewed already by such sites as DVD town http://www.dvdtown.com/reviews/"

Big deal about DVD town.com; I have read all their reviews, and would like to share my OWN views on these DVDs with you folks just so we have our own reference corner here for DVD discussions --- other members seem to enjoy the reviews, if you read some of their replies.....but your suggestion of creating my own website for reviews is something I am in the process of doing believe it or not, I just dont know how to go about starting it --- do you have ANY information as to starting up a website and who I could contact? I dont think you're labeling of my VERY lengthy and time consuming reviews as SPAM is very nice or civil, and I know you are a civil human being at heart; I mean, come on man, Im not even doing this for pay --- I am doing this to share some results of what I am finding when watching some Digital Versatile Discs in my collection (and some I rent and will be renting) with you good folks in here; and as I have said, RGA, look at SOME of the replies from the other members regarding my reviews: MOST of them say "great review" or "thank you and Worf for reviewing films in here for us".......so please cut me some slack here. Thank you. I would be more than happy to work with you on setting up a review site of my own so that it can link from here for strictly DVD reviews.

"Incidentally, I liked JP and saw it three times in the theater. and maybe I'm being hard on it because many of Spielberg's other films are so much better than this one. But that may just be more of a compliment to Spielberg than a knock on JP."

Okay; it didnt come across that you liked it that much, but all I was saying was some of the folks I analyzed this film with in school and discuss it with in public all seem to feel the same way about it --- that in some offbeat, odd way, it has become a "classic" (depending, like we said, on how the individual INTERPRETS that word) in the Spielberg vaults as well as in cinema in general for different reasons COMPLETELY than, say, Citizen Kane is a classic.

"You should post the JP DVD review on Audioasylum's film board (no registering required). If you can convince them that this is a good movie I'd be impressed. http://www.videoasylum.com/films/bbs.html"

Again, you are out of your realm of what you are talking about --- or what WE are talking about.....FIRST OF ALL, I NEVER DID A REVIEW ON THE ORIGINAL JURASSIC PARK......the review, if you look on this board, is of JURASSIC PARK III and I NEVER EVER made it out to be anywhere near a good film; I thought the DTS soundtrack was awesome, thats all. Where do you keep coming up with trying to make me prove to the world that the ORIGINAL JURASSIC PARK was a good film? This debate, if I am not mistaken, began over my review of THE THIRD film in the franchise, which I NEVER EVER thought was a classic or good in any way. What is your point?

[shokhead]

Maybe the point is most of us like the org thing better then the remake? I dont have a degree but i've NEVER heard anyone marvel at the remake,hold it up to any other good flick or rant and rave about it. I'm just the guy that rents and goes to the shows.

[Worf101]

Maybe the point is most of us like the org thing better then the remake? I dont have a degree but i've NEVER heard anyone marvel at the remake,hold it up to any other good flick or rant and rave about it. I'm just the guy that rents and goes to the shows.

YOU are the critic of first and last resort. You vote with your feet and your wallet. You are the ultimate arbiter of success in this business and despite the discussions here of "merit" and "art" and critical acclaim, "cirtical acclaim" don't buy the groceries. I'm not saying that there aren't great films that never make a dime, no histories riddled with them, but there are even fewer "blockbusters" that are complete critical stinkers.

Da Worfster

[Lexmark3200]

"YOU are the critic of first and last resort. You vote with your feet and your wallet. You are the ultimate arbiter of success in this business and despite the discussions here of "merit" and "art" and critical acclaim, "cirtical acclaim" don't buy the groceries."

THATS what Im saying, essentially and in a nutshell; dont put so much stock in these guys who, for YOU or I, may have NOTHING to say with regard to the plot of the film because in OUR minds, its a great film.

[Lexmark3200]

Maybe the point is most of us like the org thing better then the remake? I dont have a degree but i've NEVER heard anyone marvel at the remake,hold it up to any other good flick or rant and rave about it. I'm just the guy that rents and goes to the shows.

If you've NEVER heard anyone marvel over the remake, do yourself a favor.....go onto Google and do a search for John Carpenter's The Thing fan websites and see what comes up......I bet you'll be floored when you see the actual discussion boards devoted to the remake and the different plot scenarios that people discuss in there.....

Having a degree really has nothing to do with any of this; this was for sake of argument between me and RGA......you have every right to like the original better....this was SIMPLY a DVD review of the REMAKE that got way out of hand.

[shokhead]

If you've NEVER heard anyone marvel over the remake, do yourself a favor.....go onto Google and do a search for John Carpenter's The Thing fan websites and see what comes up......I bet you'll be floored when you see the actual discussion boards devoted to the remake and the different plot scenarios that people discuss in there.....

Having a degree really has nothing to do with any of this; this was for sake of argument between me and RGA......you have every right to like the original better....this was SIMPLY a DVD review of the REMAKE that got way out of hand.

LOL I would expect marvel at the JC the thing website. Kinda like i'm going fishing and i go to a fishbowl.

[Lexmark3200]

LOL I would expect marvel at the JC the thing website. Kinda like i'm going fishing and i go to a fishbowl.

Well, laugh all you want, Im simply saying that there ARE in fact people out there that marvel at the remake; and there websites with full art and graphics devoted to this sci fi remake classic. Not saying anything against the original --- again, this thread was a REVIEW of the REMAKE on DVD.