Films that remind you of childhood

[gordonblu]

In many ways the Burton version is closer to the tone of the book than the original (yes Dahl  wrote the original's screenplay but was disappointed with the final result). For me though Gene Wilder caught the gleeful mischievousness of the character better than Depp, and I liked the media frenzy satire in the early half of the 70's film better. I also appreciated how the early scenes were somewhat realistic compared with the later surreal factory scenes. Burton's version was surreal from the beginning which undermined the factory scenes for me somewhat.

[The Laughing Fish]

No love for Who Framed Roger Rabbit?! 




The crossover event of the century! 

Batman, Batman Returns and Batman Forever, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and TMNT: The Secret of the Ooze, Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (though nowadays I say the original is miles better than the sequel), Superman, Superman II, Superman III, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (like Terminator, the first Supes is miles better than the sequels, including II), Aladdin (first movie I went to see at the cinema), Empire Strikes Back (for some reason this was the only SW movie that got my imagination), your typical Schwarzenegger movie from The Running Man to Twins  , and I'm ashamed to say, Power Rangers: The Movie (I didn't know any better back then).

Now like the Terminator and general Schwarzenegger movies, here are other few movies that I shouldn't have seen as a kid, but make me nostalgic: Sea of Love starring Al Pacino, GoodFellas, Running Scared starring Billy Crystal.   

[thecolorsblend]

No love for Who Framed Roger Rabbit?! 

I'm apparently the only one who remembers it but there was a bit of a backlash from parents about WFRR. The gripe I heard tons from tons of moms was that WFRR had been marketed as a kid movie. Plus, it had cameos of dozens of classic characters and none of them had ever been seen on screen together before, which alone generated considerable interest in the movie.

The film itself though centers on a murder investigation, revolves around a sexpot animated character, there's a wise-cracking baby who acted like a lech, there was sexual innuendo to spare and other stuff that people just felt wasn't appropriate for something that looked like it was supposed to appeal to 7-year olds. It's not so much that it was bad as severely misrepresented. Doesn't seem to have hurt the film's box office so what do I know? But I was a kid myself when that movie came out and I didn't hear so much as one parent say something positive about the movie.

But apparently I'm the only one who remembers this so take this recollection for whatever you think it's worth.

For myself, it didn't engage me too much. I loved seeing Disney characters interact with Looney Tunes characters (didn't we all want something like that when we were kids?) but I didn't see why someone would either love or hate it. I thought the enterprise was largely forgettable.

Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (though nowadays I say the original is miles better than the sequel)

Now like the Terminator and general Schwarzenegger movies

My old man took me to Terminator 2 on opening day. There was a fairly solid "no R-rated movie" rule in the house which my dad wiped his ass with that day and took us all to see it. It was a huge deal.

But... yeah, I love it and I'll always own a copy of it in some form or another but does it really follow the original Terminator? I'm not so sure. The first Terminator is probably the most perfect "closed loop" time travel movie I've ever seen. Yeah, BTTF did the job well too but BTTF wasn't really sci-fi. The Terminator is. It sets up rules, it plays by the rules and then it rolls end credits.

Examples: In the novelization, after Ahnuld kills a Sarah Connor, he'd check for a particular scar and a pin. Not finding it, he'd move on to his next target as it is known that the Sarah Connor he's looking for has a scar and a pin. When he blew the Hamilton Sarah's roommate into the next world, he checks the body... and I've always assumed he wanted to confirm the kill by finding her scar. Here's the thing though. The Hamilton Sarah's leg doesn't get fvcked up until the end of the movie as a direct result of the Terminator's actions. He was effectively searching for something that didn't exist because he hadn't created it yet.

Or here's another one. Sarah runs off into that factory and ultimately kills the Terminator there. I forget which but the factory is either owned by Cyberdyne or by the company that would later become Cyberdyne. Cyberdyne techs find what's left of the Terminator and that sets them on the road to creating, among other stuff, Skynet.

Another one. The war was over and the machines lost. As a hail mary, they sent the Terminator back in time to kill Sarah to prevent John from being born so that they'd have the upper hand during the war. The resistance got wind of that and sent Reese to protect Sarah. Those two events ensure that (A) the war will happen because of the Terminator's remains being collected by Cyberdyne and (B) John Connor will be born because Reese fathered him. The machines ensured, first, their own existence and then, second, their own defeat.

Get it? It's a closed loop. Everything that happens comes as a result of an event in the future interacting with the past and then looping back to the future, wash, rinse, repeat. The film constantly stands on the line of a paradox but never ever pokes a toe over it. It's a flawless loop.

T2 doesn't have that. We gather that Sarah's objective changed at some point over the years from protecting John and setting him up to be a military commander to trying to thwart Judgment Day (which is a completely different goal if you think about it) and that is where basically a new timeline is created. Rather than passively sit back and let Judgment Day happen, Sarah actively tries to prevent it. But the parameters of the first film should take that off the table as possibility. Plus, it happens without a compelling reason. There's no outside force to foist this change upon the timeline. It just happens out of nowhere even though Sarah, as per the first movie, should be bound to that timeline... whether she wants to be or not. The Terminator set up an almost pitch-perfect time travel story and T2, as much as I may love it, completely craps all over any concept of the closed loop. T2 broke the loop when that shouldn't have been possible.

On that basis, for as much grief as people give T3, I can at least respect it on the grounds that it seemed to try fixing the problems T2 introduced but never resolved. Yes, Arnold wears pink sunglasses and says "talk to the hand" but the movie made a good effort at fixing some of this stuff in an entertaining way. It isn't perfect but I can appreciate it on that level.

Sorry to blabber so much but this is obviously a touchy subject for me.

[The Laughing Fish]

I have a friend who loved the first two Terminator films and hated the third one strictly because he never liked the idea that humanity was destroyed by the machines. He thought the world was saved at the end of the second one, and it should have been left at that. I understand his point, but I treat the third one as a popcorn, turn-off-your-brain sort of film - even if it comes across as a remake of the second one. I fell asleep after half an hour while watching Terminator Salvation.

Personally, I'm not very fond of the second one either any more for two simple reasons: I've always had a problem believing that the T-1000 was a robot since he's made out of liquid metal, and I always thought if that annoying John Conner kid was the savior of mankind then I'd say "Kill us all, please". Call me shallow, but yeah.... 

[The Dark Knight]

The T-1000 is the definitive nightmare. Unless you've got liquid steel, you aint stopping the thing. I'm a big fan of that performance and character.

[The Laughing Fish]

The T-1000 is the definitive nightmare. Unless you've got liquid steel, you aint stopping the thing. I'm a big fan of that performance and character.

My friend is exactly the same. I was always afraid of the apocalyptic nightmare of T1, where Reese has that flashback. Scary sh!+ for a kid back then - the whole film has that dreaded tone. And that shootout at the police station was another terrifying moment.

T2, for me at least, sucked the fear out for me it to the point I didn't feel afraid of T-1000.

[The Dark Knight]

For me, the T-1000 is the ultimate concept. If I found out that thing was after me, I'd be absolutely horrified. It really is not stopping.

All robots don't feel pain or exhaustion, but this was truly brought across with the T-1000. It virtually had no weaknesses.

[Edd Grayson]

Terminator 3 reminds me of childhood, I was 9 when it came out and I loved it. I still do.