goun@dec-elmer.UUCP (06/10/84)
I went to see Steven Spielberg's "Gremlins" last night. Here are some of my
impressions; I'll try not to generate any spoilers.
In the first thirty minutes or so, I had to wonder if this whole thing was
just some toy company's way of cleaning up next Christmas with "Gizmo"
dolls, T-shirts, games, etc. It was simply too cute to live! By the time
things started getting gross, I'd had so much cute I was numb to the thrills
and chills.
If this movie has a spiritual father, it's a classic short called "Bambi vs.
Godzilla," in which the lovable deer is crushed beneath the foot of the
giant reptile. "Gremlins" parodies an amazing number of motion-picture
cliches, including (naturally) some Spielberg movies. It's right on target,
and often very funny.
I loved the mother's scene in the kitchen with the gremlins, and the
gremlins in the bar were wonderful. Billy's love interest I could have done
without. She was a carbon copy of the wimpy teenager in "WarGames."
The creature animation reminded me of "The Dark Crystal." That is to say,
very natural-looking motion, and creatures that I believed could just have
escaped from somebody's nightmare. The only fault I could find was with the
frequent close-ups of Gizmo, which looked rather plastic (especially the
eyes).
I'd put "Gremlins" somewhere between "Star Trek III" and "Indiana Jones" in
terms of being worth your $4.50 this week, or even more if you don't love
"Star Trek." I'd take a ten-year-old to see it, but I'm not too sure about a
younger child. My shock quotient may be abnormally high these days after
seeing "Indiana Jones."
"Nothing shocks me, I'm a scientist."
Roger
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Tel: (617) 568-6311fritz@hpfclk.UUCP (06/18/84)
Columbus' name IS mentioned. If I remember right, there's a line at the start of the opening credits to the effect of "Based on a story by Chris Columbus". Gary Fritz
eric@whuxle.UUCP (Eric Holtman) (06/24/84)
I went to see Gremlins last night. Thus movie is GREAT. S. Spielberg takes continual pot-shots at his own movie, E.T. all through this wonderful flick, and that added to the AWESOMELY appropriate humor, SFX, and slight horror make this a really great flick. I saw the 10pm show here at our local mall, and the crowd, was, to understate, appriciative. I think we spent more time in unrestrained shouting and cheering than we did silently watching the movie. For example, in the movie, the house has two samurai swords hanging near the door. In the beginning, every time someone walks in, the swords fall off the wall. When the son finally comes home to rescue mommy, he bursts in, and sees mommy under the CHristmas tree beset by nasties. Of course the whole audience shouts "GRAB THE SWORD", and we broke into shouts of joy when he waded two handed into the evil suckers. Spielberg also has a taste for the intensely funny non-sight gag For example, while the mother is upstairs trying to find the nasties, she hears a noise downstairs. At that moment, the stereo begins playing a Christmas tune: "Do you hear what I hear?". The audience took about 45 seconds to regain their composure. Of course there's violence in this movie. Gremlins bite it bigtime in blenders, microwaves, they fall to the samurai sword, they get burnt. People get slashed, burnt, run over by snowplows. But, WHO CARES?? This is a horror/comedy, and no one can say that they weren't warned........ Spielberg has really outdone himself this time, folks!!!! Estimated Entertanment Value: $6.50 (that's right!!!) (i only had to pay $4.00) harpo!whuxle!eric
jdd@allegra.UUCP (John DeTreville) (06/24/84)
Good morning, campers! I keep reading reviews, pro and con, of Spielberg's
new movie, "Gremlins". Perhaps someone who has seen Spielberg's version can
compare it with Dante's version, now playing here on Earth-Prime, and tell
us which is better?
Cheers,
John ("Master of the Low-Key Insult") DeTreville
Bell Labs, Murray Hillsullivan@acf4.UUCP (06/26/84)
Even better, let's all ignore Chris Columbus, who wrote the story in the first place, and did a good bit of the design of how things should look. I'm always amazed when his name isn't even mentioned. I feel obligated to stick up for Chris, because I spent 2 years in the NYU dorms living next to him. David Sullivan