EWB Film Club

[MDK]

31 minutes ago, RPS said:

I watched The Mist (2007) because no one had really brought it up and it is an under the radar horror film. I have strong feelings about this film. 

I thought the concept of the movie and execution was for the most part good. They kept the action isolated to one area and they worked with it. It is a safe horror movie ploy - you round up people, isolate them, present the appearance of safety and pull it all out from underneath them. 

Marcia Gay Harden, it goes without saying, has the best performance of the movie. It is funny to see this movie has a bunch of actors who have bigger roles later. 

However, the movie is entirely ruined by the worst ending to a movie I think I have ever seen. This twist retroactively made me disdain this entire movie. I would not invest my time in a movie which completely shits the bed in the last 2 minutes of the movie. 

  Reveal hidden contents

The main protagonist, believing that the Mist is upon him and his son, only has one bullet left. He opts to shoot his son to spare him the misery of what is to come. However, moments after the military comes and saves him. The movie almost immediately ends. It is terrible.

 

0/5

Like I said earlier in the thread its a film you can only watch once

[RPS]

I would not recommend anyone to watch it once, for the ending alone. It was a good movie up until that point, but the ending was just manipulative, abrupt and poorly done. You don't just end a movie like that and say "IT'S OVER"! I don't think there is any value in what they did to their audience. 

[C-MIL]

I didn't like the ending or the movie, but I thought the ending worked for the story I thought they were trying to tell.

 

I saw it as a metaphor for the right's ability to leverage 9/11 into support for the Iraq war. People making decisions out of their fear of an enemy they don't understand caused them to open themselves up to even greater, more obvious danger from within. Moral of the story was that there are worse things than The Mist (terrorism), like destroying your children's future for no good reason (George W. Bush's second term, I guess).

Once he kills his son, it doesn't matter what The Mist is or how they get rid of it. The damage is already done.

 

I am going to watch A Good Marriage (2014) for this. I have already seen a lot of the options on the list, but I have never heard anything about this one.

Quote

After 25 happy years of marriage, Darcy (Joan Allen) discovers her husband's sinister secret, and realizes she's going to have to take drastic measures to protect her grown children from the exposure of that secret.

I am holding out hope that it is a somehow a Face/Off sequel.

[Your Mom]

I love the ending of the Mist. Am I the only one? It's such a gut punch. I thought that's what you meant by only watching it once  

 

Also I might have to watch The Dead Zone. I liked the TV series but I'm pretty sure I've never seen the movie

[Benjamin]

20 hours ago, MDK said:

Since I've seen most of the suggested King films I decided to watch Apt Pupil by Stephen King. That was a weird watch. Really weird power dynamics going on throughout the whole film. The two main characters are acted well and there is no sense of a good guy/bad guy thing going on since they, are practically, both tweeners and swap between face and heel. I wont spoil the plot and story too much but there is a whole nazi thing going on and it does get a bit strange. Its not a bad film but I dunno if it is the kinda thing for a fun Sunday afternoon film to watch after you and the missus have had a quick shag after a roast lunch. 

Apt Pupil is a fucking weird film, but it reaffirmed my opinion that Bryan Singer sucks. Ian McKellen was damn good, though (though there was one very serious scene that he had me laughing my ass off). It's really not my kind of film, I feel.

When does this Stephen King watch period end? I haven't had time to watch anything this week  

[MDK]

1 hour ago, RPS said:

I would not recommend anyone to watch it once, for the ending alone. It was a good movie up until that point, but the ending was just manipulative, abrupt and poorly done. You don't just end a movie like that and say "IT'S OVER"! I don't think there is any value in what they did to their audience. 

I like the shock ending. Yeah, it was cheap, and yeah it was like a kick in the bollocks, but sometimes you enjoy that 

6 minutes ago, Benkid Nada said:

Apt Pupil is a fucking weird film, but it reaffirmed my opinion that Bryan Singer sucks. Ian McKellen was damn good, though (though there was one very serious scene that he had me laughing my ass off). It's really not my kind of film, I feel.

I didn't realise that Singer did that film and possibly/maybe not filmed a load of boys in a shower, but after the whole Saville thing makes me wonder a bit. 

But yeah, weird film. 

[King Ellis]

I liked The Mist and the ending as well. Also a fan of The Dead Zone. THE ICE IS GONNA BREAK!

[MalaCloudy Black]

I did not know that A Good Marriage was adapted to film. 

I liked The Mist, and I feel like people would have been dissatisfied with the original ending as much as the movie's ending, probably prone to calling it a cop-out. It's much less bleak, but
 

Spoiler

They make a run from the store to the parking lot, one of the survivors is killed before they can get into a car, and then when they do get in one they fiddle with the radio and hear the name of a nearby city. They decide to head to that city hoping that it's safe,  and then the novella ends there.

 

[I Don't Mind]

3 hours ago, Fly the W! said:

I love the ending of the Mist. Am I the only one? It's such a gut punch. I thought that's what you meant by only watching it once  

 

Also I might have to watch The Dead Zone. I liked the TV series but I'm pretty sure I've never seen the movie

I loved the ending of The Mist as well, and got the same interpretation of "only watch it once". I thought it was better than:

 

The cliche horror movie ending where you think the last remaining survivor(s) are safe and then for one last jump-scare they're killed before you cut to credits. Thinking of examples like Nightmare on Elm Street where everyone piles into the Freddy-Car and the mom gets dragged through the house-door-window, or Friday the 13th when Jason jumps out of the water, or Blair Witch Project where everyone gets lured into and attacked in the basement.

The Mist had a real survivor, but the effects of the whole event were so great he'll be scarred forever. He'll forever have to live with the fact things would have been okay if he had held out a minute longer.

[DFF]

The Mist is brilliant - ending included. King has said himself that he wished he'd written that ending instead of the novella ending.

I do recall Empire's review of The Mist. They gave it four stars, lauded it as one of the better horror films for a while, while noting it had bombed in the US (UK got it later in the year) with the ending getting particularly negative reactions.

13 hours ago, Fly the W! said:

I love the ending of the Mist. Am I the only one? It's such a gut punch. I thought that's what you meant by only watching it once  

 

Also I might have to watch The Dead Zone. I liked the TV series but I'm pretty sure I've never seen the movie

Definitely give the film a go! It was interesting to see Walken as a protagonist and Sheen as an antagonist - kind of the opposite of their later careers.

[GA!]

21 hours ago, RPS said:

I watched The Mist (2007) because no one had really brought it up and it is an under the radar horror film. I have strong feelings about this film. 

I thought the concept of the movie and execution was for the most part good. They kept the action isolated to one area and they worked with it. It is a safe horror movie ploy - you round up people, isolate them, present the appearance of safety and pull it all out from underneath them. 

Marcia Gay Harden, it goes without saying, has the best performance of the movie. It is funny to see this movie has a bunch of actors who have bigger roles later. 

However, the movie is entirely ruined by the worst ending to a movie I think I have ever seen. This twist retroactively made me disdain this entire movie. I would not invest my time in a movie which completely shits the bed in the last 2 minutes of the movie. 

  Hide contents

The main protagonist, believing that the Mist is upon him and his son, only has one bullet left. He opts to shoot his son to spare him the misery of what is to come. However, moments after the military comes and saves him. The movie almost immediately ends. It is terrible.

 

0/5

Completely agree.

Spoiler

I would've loved the ending if, psychologically, it made sense. But - and bear in mind I'm trying to recall this from the 1 time I saw this at the cinema - would you give up all hope to the point you'd kill your own son in such a short space of time? If it's months or years later, or there's genuine agony due to an injury or whatever, then you might consider it. Yet he's really fucking quick to pull the trigger, isn't he?

 

[MDK]

6 hours ago, GA! said:

Completely agree.

  Hide contents

I would've loved the ending if, psychologically, it made sense. But - and bear in mind I'm trying to recall this from the 1 time I saw this at the cinema - would you give up all hope to the point you'd kill your own son in such a short space of time? If it's months or years later, or there's genuine agony due to an injury or whatever, then you might consider it. Yet he's really fucking quick to pull the trigger, isn't he?

 

 

Are you really going to argue about an ending to a sci-fi film being ridiculous? Of all the bits of the film the ending is the bit you can't take seriously? Don't make me take your Lightning Seeds likes back :@

[C-MIL]

On ‎11‎/‎2‎/‎2016 at 14:18, C-MIL said:

I am going to watch A Good Marriage (2014) for this. I have already seen a lot of the options on the list, but I have never heard anything about this one.

I am holding out hope that it is a somehow a Face/Off sequel.

It was not.

Probably going to do a re-do if there's time because there was really nothing to this one. It was a psychological thriller with very little psychology and only one actual thrill. Very, very weak.

[Monkey D. Lars]

Cock-a-Doodie Car. Kathy Bates is amazing. 

[Monkey D. Lars]

I've watched Misery for this week's theme and I liked it a lot. Mainly because the performances of James Caan and Kathy Bates bring it to another level. The story itself was good too and I just fucking loved the small part of Lauren Bacall! Lovely to see her again. This might be one of the best Stephen King films! Now it might be time to read the book! 

I also just realised Rob Reiner directed this. Boy, that guy had a diverse career! 

[GA!]

14 hours ago, MDK said:

Are you really going to argue about an ending to a sci-fi film being ridiculous? Of all the bits of the film the ending is the bit you can't take seriously? Don't make me take your Lightning Seeds likes back :@

The best science-fiction is rooted in reality. While What You Say makes Sense, All I Want is logic - that would Marvellous.

 

 

Spoiler

THREE LIONS ON A SHIRT

JULES RIMET STILL GLEAMING

 

[MDK]

Just now, GA! said:

The best science-fiction is rooted in reality. While What You Say makes Sense, All I Want is logic - that would Marvellous.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

THREE LIONS ON A SHIRT

JULES RIMET STILL GLEAMING

 

You bastard. You know what you've done. Now lets sex.

[Jimmy]

I remember liking elements of The Mist a lot, but also think I felt mixed feelings about the ending. 

 

I think GA gets kinda close to how I remember feeling: it's a gut-punch, a proper memorable ending, but it definitely could've been done under more severe circumstances or felt more necessary. Still, I thought it was memorable and in no way ruined anything for me.

Edited November 4, 2016 by Jimmy

[GA!]

Not sure if I've missed the deadline, but I just finished Stand By Me. It's a lovely film. Possibly the second best film I've seen about childhood friendship after The Outsiders. What stood out was while I loved the intimate road journey, several sequences stood out on their own for Rob Reiner's brilliant direction.

Spoiler

- While you could see it coming a mile off, the boys having to outrun the train while going over the bridge was surprisingly tense.

- The Lardass sequence. Not sure what it says about me, but that was my favourite bit.

- The game of chicken between the antagonists.

- The final stand off, Keifer Sutherland and his knife vs Wil Wheaton and his gun.

Highly recommended.

[Jimmy]

Nope, not missed. Everyone (including me) has about six hours left.

But, to keep things rolling (as who knows when he'll see it, or whatever) this week the pick falls to @DFF.