Comments on: ’80s Films ‘Explorers’ & ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ Going Down The Remake Road https://staging2.theplaylist.net/80s-films-explorers-something-wicked-this-way-comes-going-down-the-remake-road-20140313/ Fri, 13 May 2016 07:58:22 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 By: Xian https://staging2.theplaylist.net/80s-films-explorers-something-wicked-this-way-comes-going-down-the-remake-road-20140313/#comment-36650 Fri, 13 May 2016 07:58:22 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2014/more/uncategorized/80s-films-explorers-something-wicked-this-way-comes-going-down-the-remake-road-88308/#comment-36650 The best thing about "Explorers" was Rob Bottin's astounding practical make-up effects. Other than that, it's a fun diversion with very young actors (you know who they are), and Joe Dante's patented sense of live-action, Looney Toons-style insanity.

]]> By: Xian https://staging2.theplaylist.net/80s-films-explorers-something-wicked-this-way-comes-going-down-the-remake-road-20140313/#comment-36651 Fri, 13 May 2016 07:58:22 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2014/more/uncategorized/80s-films-explorers-something-wicked-this-way-comes-going-down-the-remake-road-88308/#comment-36651 Yes, the original film version of "Something Wicked This Way Comes" is good… not great, but above average and rests mostly on the excellent performances of Jason Robards, and especially, Jonathan Pryce. The child actors acquit themselves well and the direction of Jack Clayton ("The Innocents") takes the Autumnal flavor of the book and turns into a rather elegiac tale for youth and days gone by. Oh, and it's got Pam Grier as the Dust Witch. Now, caveat… it compresses some characters and incidents from the book, doesn't go dark enough as the book does thematically (but for a Disney movie, it's quite grim and moody, with a few shocking scenes and shots for the kid-friendly studio), but it does do the Ray Bradbury novel justice in just about every way… alas, what you'll miss, even with the occasional narration, is Bradbury's poetic prose style.

I always shudder and shake my head when I hear "make it relevant for a whole new generation," as if that's going to make Bradbury's book any better (what, smartphones, texting and dark carnivals somehow go together?)… I think what they're doing is insulting the source material right off the bat, and I doubt it could be any better (except perhaps in terms of CGIcandy rather than rotoscoped animation for special effects) than what Disney did the first time around, but hey, perhaps in this case there is indeed room for improvement, but let's not start messing with Bradbury's source work in order to appease marketers and indifferent children. If anything, make it a very dark coming of age story, and don't soft-pedal Bradbury's story, themes and action.

]]> By: shark https://staging2.theplaylist.net/80s-films-explorers-something-wicked-this-way-comes-going-down-the-remake-road-20140313/#comment-36652 Fri, 13 May 2016 07:58:22 +0000 http://www.indiewire.com/2014/more/uncategorized/80s-films-explorers-something-wicked-this-way-comes-going-down-the-remake-road-88308/#comment-36652 Is the original Something Wicked This Way Comes any good? I love the book, it's Bradbury's best, so I would love to see a good adaptation.

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