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Memoirs of a Monster Kid ~ by Rick Pruitt
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scotpens
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Joined: 19 Sep 2014
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 10:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Re Xanadu, I recall reading somewhere that the picture was being rewritten daily as it was being shot, which is never a good sign. One major problem is that it doesn't really have much of a story. A Greek muse (with an Australian accent) comes down from heaven (or wherever the Greek muses live) and inspires a young guy and an old guy to become partners and open an impossibly huge and lavish roller-disco club. (Roller disco was an even briefer fad than regular disco). And the muse sort of falls in love with the young guy, which muses aren't supposed to do. That's the entire plot.

Frankly, I think you'd be better off listening to the soundtrack while worshiping a photo of Olivia Newton-John at her most angelically beautiful.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 9:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote


______________________________________________

Rick Pruitt

__I am a huge fan of the book...and maybe that's the problem. I don't really like THE LAST MAN ON EARTH and I nearly despise THE OMEGA MAN.

The Will Smith version, though, I thought was going to be the one which finally got it right. Certainly they changed the story, but that's kind of okay if they get the feel and the mood right. And if they ultimately reach more or less the same point as the novella.

I thought it was just great for about, oh, 15 or 20 minutes. Then the critters appeared. Dreadful. I'm very much up and down about CGI in general, but I am dead cert positive that no major motion picture yet has been so totally ruined by unacceptable CG as this one.

I think I actually groaned when the first cartoon critter showed up. These are supposed to be former human beings, now become vampires, not goofy refugees from a five-year-old video game.

The movie went right out the window at that point and never recovered. Not even slightly.

What bugs me most about all three of these movies is the filmmakers inability to make a good movie when Matheson has done all the work for them. The book reads like a movie, fer cryin' out loud.

I've always felt that the filmmaker should just hand out copies of the paperback to the cast and crew and say, "Here's our script. Let's go."

But, no. Filmmakers feel the need to improve on the original material, even when the original material is a beautiful, complete, and instantly filmable blueprint.

This is an example in which folks should absolutely read the book, then avoid the movies at all costs.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 9:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

______________________________________________

I certainly won't try to defend the overly stylized CGI, but I think the story itself was good, and it was told well.

I'm not comparing it to the book, because I've never read it. (I know, I know . . . shame on me.) So I'm just reacting to movie as it is, with no preconceived notions.

To be fair, nobody who has read a great book can enjoy a movie which differs from it significantly, because it didn't live up to their expectations.

Here's analogy; when I was in the 4th grade I sat down to eat in the cafeteria and saw what looked like Jell-o on my tray. I was unpleasantly surprised when I tasted it . . . because it was cranberry sauce.

I've never liked cranberry sauce ever since, just because of that unpleasant surprise.
Rolling Eyes
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 2:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rick Pruitt wrote:
. . . What bugs me most about all three of these movies is the filmmakers inability to make a good movie when Matheson has done all the work for them. The book reads like a movie, fer cryin' out loud.

I've always felt that the filmmaker should just hand out copies of the paperback to the cast and crew and say, "Here's our script. Let's go."

That's essentially what Roman Polanski did with Rosemary's Baby. The movie is a scene-by-scene adaptation of the novel, with much of the dialogue transcribed verbatim.

OTOH, Francois Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 couldn't be more different from the book, yet I believe it captures the spirit if not the letter of Ray Bradbury's novel.
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WadeVC
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2024 9:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
This is an example in which folks should absolutely read the book, then avoid the movies at all costs.

As an avid reader, that is pretty much my opinion in regards to about 95% of all Book-to-Movie attempts.

Very few movies ever do a book (or author) justice. About the only thing both the book and movie have in common are their titles...and even then those are often times different.

Those remaining 5% of movies based on books that do work are incredible...but the fact that so many fall flat should tell us something about "reimagining" the original authors' intent when they crafted a novel.

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