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Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu May 28, 2015 8:57 pm    Post subject: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) Reply with quote

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John Carpenter isn't known for comedies, but this one works surprisingly well. He tries something different from most invisible man movies — the folks in the movie can't see the invisible Chevy, but the audience can (except in certain scenes).

The trick works well. We get to see Chevy's amusing performance, even when he's sneaking around in room with people who don't know he's there.

This is an adaptation of a very enjoyable (and long) 1987 novel of the same name by H.F. Saint. I read it when it was first published, and I was surprised when I learned it had been made into a movie.

The changes they made were necessary. The book is a very detailed account of the first year or so of the main character's life after he becomes invisible — hiding from everyone and finding places to live.

The cast is competent, but the weakest link is Sam Neill as the villainous government agent who pursues Chevy. Neill is fine as the paleontologist in "Jurassic Park" but he just doesn't convince us in this movie that he's a smiling-but-ruthless bad guy.

All in all, a good movie.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 23, 2016 10:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

This would be a great movie to watch during one of All Sci-Fi's Friday Live Chats. Here's the trailer to get you in the mood.


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And here's a version on Vodlocker you can watch on your computer or download and watch on your TV (if you've mastered those skills).

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So, is anybody interested?

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2017 6:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________

This is not only a good "invisible man" science fiction story, it's also a pretty good "date night" movie to share with your significant other!

Blow in her ear when you suggest it. That works wonders sometimes . . . especially if her ears are dusty. Wink






_____ Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Zackuth
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2017 8:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm a John Carpenter fan and really enjoyed the movie. I did think Carpenter's use of Chase both in and out of scenes when invisible worked really well, especially for a visual comic like Chase and it didn't take away from the scenes. I, however, thought Sam Neill did a good job as the villain.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 9:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Zackuth wrote:
I did think Carpenter's use of Chase both in and out of scenes when invisible worked really well, especially for a visual comic like Chase and it didn't take away from the scenes.

Indeed yes, the clever way we're allowed to see the "invisible" Chevy was surprisingly effective. We've seen plenty of movies in which the invisible character supposedly opens doors, sits in rocking chairs, and carries objects which float through the air.

But in this movie we don't have to imagine an invisible Chevy being there when he ISN'T, we just have to imagine him not being there when he IS.

It really was more fun that way. Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 6:29 pm    Post subject: Re: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
The cast is competent, but the weakest link is Sam Neill as the villainous government agent who pursues Chevy. Neill is fine as the paleontologist in "Jurassic Park" but he just doesn't convince us in this movie that he's a smiling-but-ruthless bad guy.

But he sure was evil as Damien in the OMEN sequel THE FINAL CONFLICT.


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 4:49 pm    Post subject: Re: Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) Reply with quote

Gord Green wrote:
But he sure was evil as Damien in the OMEN sequel THE FINAL CONFLICT.

I'd have to see it to believe it, but I suspect that my admiration for Dr. Grant in Jurassic Park simply ruined by ability to see Sam Neil as anything but a dedicated-but-hapless "man of science" who can reluctantly accept the existence of dinosaurs in today's world . . . but who can't deal with the idea that his attractive colleague wants him to stop being a nerdy paleontologist and "jump her bones" instead of those of the long-dead velociraptors! Wink
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 2:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has 30 trivia items for this movie. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text. Very Happy
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One particular device that Chevy Chase had to wear for the film was a set of blue, eyeball-sized, contact lenses, so his eyes would appear invisible with his face looking like a mask, but with empty eye sockets. To wear them, his eyes first had to be numbed with sedative medication. The lenses had special miniature pinholes so Chase could see through them. However, after about fifteen minutes of wearing them, Chase said they gave him a headache.

Note from me: I know that in the classic invisible man movies the actors wore a black head covering and gloves to make the clothes appear to be worn by an invisible person, but I think they had to do the closeups of the bandaged faces with "empty" eye holes by using a mock-up of the head, made with bandages that were rigid somehow.

William Goldman originally wrote several drafts of the screenplay, all of which were rejected, as he wrote it as a simple comedy, and the producers preferred to use the film to "explore the loneliness of invisibility". Eventually, he left the project, though he still receives a screenplay credit. He claims never to have seen the movie, and thus cannot say for sure how much of his material is actually in the film.

Note from me: I read the novel long before the movie was made (an usually long book), and the story is devoted solely to the day-to-day survival of a man who was turned invisible in a similar manner to the one we see in the film. The main character is clever, resourceful, and determined not to be captured and studied like a lab rat.

In order to achieve the film's visual effects, Chevy Chase had to wear a hooded blue bodysuit for much of principal photography.

Note from me: This statement makes it sound like Chevy appeared as "invisible" in a significant amount of the film. Unless I'm remembering it wrong, the clever trick of having Chevy completely visible to the audience but invisible to the other characters was used fairly often.

The novel and the movie explained the invisibility in such a way that the character's clothes were invisible, too. In fact, the character in the novel spent hours recovering items that had also been turned invisible when an the accident occurred inside a research. The character hide his salvaged collection and used them when needed, without either him or the items being seen.

According to "Variety", the "film departs from past explorations of the subject in two specific areas: the hero's clothes are rendered invisible as well, meaning he doesn't have to run about in the nude like cinematic predecessor Claude Rains, and anything he ingests stays visible within him, creating the rare opportunity at one point to see an invisible man upchuck."

Note from me: The part about the food he eats staying visible is misleading. Just like in the classic movies, the food slowly turns invisible within hours of being consumed. In the novel, the character discovers that certain foods remained visible until they passed through his digestive system, such as high fiber foods. Because of this, he learns to avoid those.

An alternate ending was shot showing the birth of the child of Alice Monroe (Daryl Hannah) and invisible man Nick Halloway (Chevy Chase), but this was not used.

Note from me: I wonder if that scene is a special feature on my DVD. I'll have to check. Very Happy

The DVD contains some deleted scenes. For example, some guys going into the Magnatronic building or another of Nick's dream sequences.

Note from me: Since I didn't know the DVD had those scenes, the alternate ending might be there, too.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2020 2:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Thinking Outside the "Plot"!
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This movie re-imagines the concept of invisibility as a sort of "phase shift" in the matter affected by the industrial accident which made portions of the science lab — and Chevy Chase — become invisible.

Therefore the question below is pretty obvious.

~ A Question for the Members: Could a device small enough to be worn by a person be created which allowed that person to switch invisibility on and off?

~ My Theory: Obviously the answer is yes. I wonder how many movies and TV series can we name which seem to use this same concept.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Utilizing the idea of being able to switch on & off an individual's invisibility was part of the premise for one sf TV show, Bud.

"The Gemini Man'' ran on NBC from September 23, 1976 to October 28, 1976.

There were 11 episodes produced, including a 2-hour pilot movie, but NBC did not air 6 episodes before the show was cancelled.

Ben Murphy (Alias Smith and Jones) plays secret agent Sam Casey who works for Intersect (International Security techniques).

After a Soviet spy satellite falls into the ocean, it is Sam's mission to retrieve it for valuable intelligence information.

The satellite explodes and Sam is bathed in radiation which renders him permanently invisible.

Intersect scientists are able to create a DNA stabilizer wristwatch that allows Casey to regain visibility. Pressing a button on the watch makes Sam invisible, but only for 15 minutes in one day. If Sam remains invisible any longer than the allotted 15 minutes he'll die.

Yeah, try and figure out the rationale behind that science.

Checking out the TV history of other invisible men over the years none of the others had the capability to regain their visibility except one other. Guess the show creators felt this added a tragic dimension to the protagonist. Which it does.

"H.G.Wells' Invisible Man" was a British TV series which ran from September 14, 1958 to July 5, 1959.

There were 26 episodes including an un-aired pilot and each episode ran for 25 minutes.

On that series Dr. Peter Brady was experimenting with invisibility when he became permanently invisible.

NBC produced "The Invisible Man" TV series that ran from September 8, 1975 to January 26, 1976 for 13 episodes.

David McCallum (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) played scientist David Westin who develops a machine that can make object and humans invisible.

Westin attempts to stop the military from utilizing his invention by overloading the contraption. Yep, an explosion results that makes Westin permanently invisible.

Westin wears Dermaplex which is an artificial skin that allows him to appear normal as he works on a solution to make himself permanently visible again.

Once this series was cancelled by NBC they revamped it to try again as "The Gemini Man.''

"The Invisible Man" aka "The I~Man" ran from June 9, 2000 to February 1, 2002.

Darien Fawkes (Vincent Ventresca) has the Quicksilver gland placed into his brain by his scientist brother who is also the inventor.

The Q gland secretes a substance over Darien's entire body rendering him totally invisible and then wears off and Fawkes is once again visible.

Of all the invisible man TV series this one was my favorite and should have lasted longer than its 2 year run.

It mixed humor with adventure & sf and the cast was terrific.

Overall though it seems as if invisible people TV shows don't fare terribly well.

Do you think that once we are over the gimmick of someone becoming invisible it results in an anticlimax for the viewer?

The audience then has to then sit & watch a person who we cannot see. That can get stale rather quickly.

I'm a fan of the classic Universal film "The Invisible Man."

I do think that other films have utilized the concept decently over the decades from "Abbott & Costello Meet The Invisible Man" to "The Fantastic Four."

I do think to attempt to do the concept on a weekly basis can be challenging since the premise rests on the audience not seeing someone which can be underwhelming.

Once you get past the trick photography of a car being driven by an invisible person, or objects being moved by such a person the idea can become tiring.

Thinking about what one could do if one could become invisible in reality is more fun than coming up with a workable film or TV show on the superpower.

It can be done but it requires some real creativity to make it compelling for the audience.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 19, 2020 12:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
"The Invisible Man" aka "The I~Man" ran from June 9, 2000 to February 1, 2002.

Darien Fawkes (Vincent Ventresca) has the Quicksilver gland placed into his brain by his scientist brother who is also the inventor.

The Q gland secretes a substance over Darien's entire body rendering him totally invisible and then wears off and Fawkes is once again visible.

Of all the invisible man TV series this one was my favorite and should have lasted longer than its 2 year run.

It mixed humor with adventure & sf and the cast was terrific.

I liked the show and it got good ratings. Unfortunately it died in a battle between the Producers and the sci-fi channel over the show's budget. It wasn't the only show that happened to on that channel.

David.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 19, 2020 8:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh you are so right, David. The same thing happened to one of my all time fav sf TV shows "Farscape."

I still haven't forgiven the Sy-Fy Channel over that one.
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