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21st century remake of the cult post-apocalyptic drama is supposedly based on the novelisation of the 70s show, not the show itself, but one gets the impression this claim is just there as a legal requirement: in the early episodes, at least, this is recognisably the same story.
That said, New Survivors is notably more suburban and less concerned with the realities of post-apocalyptic survival than with making grand statements about family and love through the medium of slightly soapy and soft-centred drama. It's a BBC genre drama from the late 2000s, so the characters are more diverse, everything is rather sentimental, and supplies of subtlety do not appear to have made it through the catastrophe. Still, it's kind of watchable, especially if you can put the original show out of your mind, and in the second series in particular one can discern an interesting subtext suggesting the programme is partly motivated by anger aimed at the culprits of the financial disaster of 2008. Second series concludes on a cliffhanger of sorts, so you can have fun making up your own ending for the story.
That said, New Survivors is notably more suburban and less concerned with the realities of post-apocalyptic survival than with making grand statements about family and love through the medium of slightly soapy and soft-centred drama. It's a BBC genre drama from the late 2000s, so the characters are more diverse, everything is rather sentimental, and supplies of subtlety do not appear to have made it through the catastrophe. Still, it's kind of watchable, especially if you can put the original show out of your mind, and in the second series in particular one can discern an interesting subtext suggesting the programme is partly motivated by anger aimed at the culprits of the financial disaster of 2008. Second series concludes on a cliffhanger of sorts, so you can have fun making up your own ending for the story.
Lee Nightingales (73 KP) rated The Exorcist - Season 1 in TV
Aug 9, 2019
People often see the title of the show and want to frown, because the original movie is now a classic. However, the producers - Jeremy Slater and Sean Crouch never positioned it as a remake. The 1973 movie is also adapted by William Peter Blatty from his 1971 novel.
In the show we follow in the footsteps of Father Marcus Keane (Ben Daniels) and Father Tomas Ortega (Alfonso Herrera) as they discover and fight old and new evil.
The dynamic between the two main characters is crafted well by the writers, and highlighted by the talent of both Daniels and Herrera. These actors work well together on and off screen, and it translates into the roles.
The cinematography brings the viewers an almost old-fashioned horror with a flavour of the original movie. The connections are slowly revealed, and the first season takes an interesting turn. The main and supporting actors do a good job of creating an atmosphere of desperation and fear. The show deals with topics other network tv shows try to avoid when possible. Slater and Crouch don't make a gimmick out of it, but treat it as seriously as they can.
In the show we follow in the footsteps of Father Marcus Keane (Ben Daniels) and Father Tomas Ortega (Alfonso Herrera) as they discover and fight old and new evil.
The dynamic between the two main characters is crafted well by the writers, and highlighted by the talent of both Daniels and Herrera. These actors work well together on and off screen, and it translates into the roles.
The cinematography brings the viewers an almost old-fashioned horror with a flavour of the original movie. The connections are slowly revealed, and the first season takes an interesting turn. The main and supporting actors do a good job of creating an atmosphere of desperation and fear. The show deals with topics other network tv shows try to avoid when possible. Slater and Crouch don't make a gimmick out of it, but treat it as seriously as they can.
Tim McGuire (301 KP) rated Harbinger Down (2015) in Movies
Nov 13, 2019
Old Movie Revisited: Harbinger Down. Now if you're anything like me, you've spent a fair amount of time thinking, Man, they should remake The Thing with Lance Henriksen. Well those dreams have been answered in the form of Harbinger Down. Now sure there are differences, Instead of an Arctic outpost, they are on a cargo ship in the arctic... Instead of a ufo crashing to earth with a nasty alien on board, this one has a russian space capsule, crashing to earth contaminated with a space virus... And from there its pretty much the same... including the mimicking of the host... Shit even the ending is the same, sorta, a lone survivor stranded in the arctic. Now all that aside, it wasn't a bad little low budget flick, and c'mon it has the low budget movie God in it, Mr Lance Henrikson, remember how he wowed us all in Close Encounters of the Third Kind as the guy standing in the background. Its almost as incredible as Cliff Clavin being part of the Rebel Alliance, its true!! But that was a long, long time ago, in what seems like a galaxy far far away... Filmbufftim on FB
Awix (3310 KP) rated Village of the Damned (1995) in Movies
Nov 16, 2019
Thumpingly unsubtle SF remake turns up the horror dial but doesn't seem aware that sometimes less is more. After a strange town-wide blackout, the citizens of Midwich (do they really have 'villages' in Northern California, anyway?) discover ten women have simultaneously become pregnant. They give birth to eerily similar children who seem to have psychic powers.
Released in 1995, this is very much The Midwich Cuckoos for the X Files generation, but ends up just another signpost marking the decline of John Carpenter as a film-maker worth paying attention to. The sad thing is that he really does seem familiar with both the original British film and the source novel (elements of the book missing from the 1960 film reappear here) and is obviously trying to do his best to honour them, but where John Wyndham is chillingly subtle and understated, John Carpenter is just walloping the audience with a succession of predictable set-piece 'shocks'. Reasonable CGI but overall it looks cheap and unconvincing; some reasonable performances from an interesting cast, but there's a limit to what they can do with such a duff script.
Released in 1995, this is very much The Midwich Cuckoos for the X Files generation, but ends up just another signpost marking the decline of John Carpenter as a film-maker worth paying attention to. The sad thing is that he really does seem familiar with both the original British film and the source novel (elements of the book missing from the 1960 film reappear here) and is obviously trying to do his best to honour them, but where John Wyndham is chillingly subtle and understated, John Carpenter is just walloping the audience with a succession of predictable set-piece 'shocks'. Reasonable CGI but overall it looks cheap and unconvincing; some reasonable performances from an interesting cast, but there's a limit to what they can do with such a duff script.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Flatliners (2017) in Movies
Feb 27, 2020 (Updated Feb 27, 2020)
Just A Flat Line......
Flatliners- is a remake that i forgot that came out in 2017. I love the oringal and think its a very underrated film that has a great cast. I like Kiefer's cameo/small role in this film, their is a delted scene where it connects to the oringal film. So thats cool. I mean Ellen Page was good in it, and i like some of the psychological espects, that how the past haunts you and the past will bite you. Other than that this film was bad, really bad, awful.
The Plot: Five medical students embark on a daring and dangerous experiment to gain insight into the mystery of what lies beyond the confines of life. The bold adventure begins when they trigger near-death experiences by stopping their hearts for short periods of time. As their trials become more perilous, each must confront the sins from their past while facing the paranormal consequences of journeying to the other side.
Just skip this film, and go watch the oringal film. Cause like i said its a very underrated psycological horror jem.
The Plot: Five medical students embark on a daring and dangerous experiment to gain insight into the mystery of what lies beyond the confines of life. The bold adventure begins when they trigger near-death experiences by stopping their hearts for short periods of time. As their trials become more perilous, each must confront the sins from their past while facing the paranormal consequences of journeying to the other side.
Just skip this film, and go watch the oringal film. Cause like i said its a very underrated psycological horror jem.
JT (287 KP) rated Silent House (2011) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
The tag line for The Silent House is “real fear in real time” the main premise being that the film is shot in one continuous take. You can believe it or not and debate how hard it would be to pull off?
Laura (Florencia Colucci) and her father Wilson (Gustavo Alonso) head to an old house with the intention of spending a few days clearing it out as the owner is looking to put it up for sale. Arriving late they settle in for the night, but it’s not long before all hell breaks loose.
With a noise coming from upstairs Wilson goes to investigate but when he comes back down a little worse for wear Laura has to embrace the darkness and avoid the terror within. It’s an exceptional piece of film making which will leave you breathless. There are a few little twists and turns and a great sequence involving a polaroid camera.
Of course Hollywood has capitalized on this success and churned out a pointless remake as they do with most other foreign films. But it’s not as good as this original horror gem.
Laura (Florencia Colucci) and her father Wilson (Gustavo Alonso) head to an old house with the intention of spending a few days clearing it out as the owner is looking to put it up for sale. Arriving late they settle in for the night, but it’s not long before all hell breaks loose.
With a noise coming from upstairs Wilson goes to investigate but when he comes back down a little worse for wear Laura has to embrace the darkness and avoid the terror within. It’s an exceptional piece of film making which will leave you breathless. There are a few little twists and turns and a great sequence involving a polaroid camera.
Of course Hollywood has capitalized on this success and churned out a pointless remake as they do with most other foreign films. But it’s not as good as this original horror gem.
Tim McGuire (301 KP) rated Downhill (2020) in Movies
Mar 14, 2020
404. Downhill. It has terrible reviews. Then i read them, and a lot of them seem to be hating because it's a remake of a foreign film. I didn't see it. But I liked this one, an uncomfortable comedy drama. Looking like the perfect family, Billie and Pete take the kids skiing, yay! Everything is going great, until one day at breakfast, one of the controlled avalanches goes a little out of bounds a bit and feels like a bunch of people are about to buried alive. Spoiler alert... In those seconds were they realize the snow is about to smack em hard, Billie puts her arms around her children and ducks down to protect them, Pete on the other hand, grabs his cell phone and splits, after its all over, the initial shock wears off and now Billie is left with the knowledge of what hubby did in the face of danger. Movie goes on to follow both on now their separate vacations, leading to some funny though uncomfortable situations. Check it out!! Will Ferrell was great as the slowing imploding Pete, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus was great as Billie trying to keep shit together! Filmbufftim on FB
One is Come (Five in Circle, #1)
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Haylwen doesn’t care who actually blew up the wall of the school library. With a chance to finally...
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
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Around the world in Britain, the United States, Asia and the Middle East, there are people with...
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated The Magnificent Seven (2016) in Movies
Jun 26, 2020
The Deadly Seven
The Magnificent Seven- i haven't seen both Seven Samurai and the 1960 verison. I would like to see the 1960 verison cause it has Steve McQueen and Charlies Bronson in it. Its good to see a good western movie these days, cause we either dont see them to often or their not good. So to see a remake of The Magnificent Seven in 2016 was both a surpise and good. With a great cast, Antonie Fuqua directing, good action and Denzel Riding a horse. It was a good movie.
The plot: Looking to mine for gold, greedy industrialist Bartholomew Bogue seizes control of the Old West town of Rose Creek. With their lives in jeopardy, Emma Cullen and other desperate residents turn to bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) for help. Chisolm recruits an eclectic group of gunslingers to take on Bogue and his ruthless henchmen. With a deadly showdown on the horizon, the seven mercenaries soon find themselves fighting for more than just money once the bullets start to fly.
Good action, good cast, horses and more, The Magnificent Seven lives up to both Seven Samurai and the 1960 verison.
The plot: Looking to mine for gold, greedy industrialist Bartholomew Bogue seizes control of the Old West town of Rose Creek. With their lives in jeopardy, Emma Cullen and other desperate residents turn to bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) for help. Chisolm recruits an eclectic group of gunslingers to take on Bogue and his ruthless henchmen. With a deadly showdown on the horizon, the seven mercenaries soon find themselves fighting for more than just money once the bullets start to fly.
Good action, good cast, horses and more, The Magnificent Seven lives up to both Seven Samurai and the 1960 verison.