Rate 1408

[abcdefz]

Not bad. Cusack is good except for the obligatory hands-to-my-ears-i'm-going-insane-while-the-camera-and-room-spin-around-me shot. I truly trust that he was embarrassed to do that shot -- talk about hoary clichés...

Actually, there were times when I was kind of shocked by how amateurish the direction or certain production values were. David Lynch could turn those shortcomings into style (remember the old minature couple creeping out from crawling under the door, laughing, in MULHOLLAND DRIVE? Yikes!); in this movie, some of that stuff just ain't working.

A key shot right at the end is kind of groan-worthy, too.

This is about a 6.5/10 movie, but it's worthy it to see Johnny do his thing. He acts opposite Sam Jackson real nice.

Matinee money. (y)

[Rock]

Fun movie. They could have done without a couple of things, but overall I liked it.

Cusack is still the man.

[abcdefz]

You don't often get to see someone without ammunition go toe-to-toe with Jackson, unintimidated. (Not that I can think of, anyway.) I liked those parts. Along with the moment when Jackson finally says straight why he really doesn't want Cusack to stay in that room. :D

[MC Moot]

I really had a good time,Cusack fan to begin with...(y)....first "horror" movie I've seen in the theater since "28 Days Later".......Is there an author more adapted then King,I think not,really it's amazing how many times he's been translated to screen despit the results.....someone should do a King movie poll.....

1) The Shining (even though King hates it)
2) 1408
3) Misery
4) Maximum Overdrive (B movie at it's best!)
5) Creepshow
6) Christine
7) Carrie
8) Shawshank Redemption
9) Salems Lot
10) Thinner

and oh so many others including the made for T.V ones.....

[abcdefz]

Maybe Shakespeare's been adapted more? I dunno. Probably no one.

So funny that King hates the Kubrick version of The Shining but (supposedly) ripped off a bunch of Stan's shots for his own version. Is that true? I haven't seen it.


..so why don't you make the poll? Has it been done already?

Cronenebrg's The Dead Zone is missing, btw.

[MC Moot]

Maybe Shakespeare's been adapted more? I dunno. Probably no one.

So funny that King hates the Kubrick version of The Shining but (supposedly) ripped off a bunch of Stan's shots for his own version. Is that true? I haven't seen it.


..so why don't you make the poll? Has it been done already?

Cronenebrg's The Dead Zone is missing, btw.

Oh yeah,Dead Zone and the Green Mile.....Tom Clancy and Elmore Leonard are hawking scripts on the Corner of Sunset and Keys as we speak.....:D

[hpdrifter]

Didn't they also make Cujo? And Pet Sematary? What of hs short stories were adapted? Isn't Stand By Me one of them?

[abcdefz]

Oh yeah,Dead Zone and the Green Mile.....Tom Clancy and Elmore Leonard are hawking scripts on the Corner of Sunset and Keys as we speak.....:D



Yup.


Didn't they also make Cujo? And Pet Sematary?


Yeah, but I was trying to think of the ones that turned out well.

[hpdrifter]

Ah, right.

[abcdefz]

Yeesh! I see some website says that 1408 is the 99th movie King's name has been on.

I wonder if that's one each for the Corn movies, etc...?

[MC Moot]

Pet Cemetary was kinda creepy at the time.....the dead cat scared the shit out of me all dirty with cataract eyes....I can't recall Cujo all that well.....the small screen versions of "It"and the "Stand" were terrible,which sucked cause there probably my 2 fave books.......

[abcdefz]

Cujo was just awful. Really really bad.

Dee Wallace, the mom from E.T., was in it. Not her fault.


Yeah -- I just tried watching IT not long ago, and thought it was really bad.

[MC Moot]

Cujo was just awful. Really really bad.

Dee Wallace, the mom from E.T., was in it. Not her fault.


Yeah -- I just tried watching IT not long ago, and thought it was really bad.

You know what Cujo and It have in common?....absolute bullshit endings.....a giant spider from space,or the fact that Mom had a trunk full of grocery's while they dehydrated and almost died for 3 days,she just forgot.....(n)

[abcdefz]

IT ended with a giant spider? You gotta tell me. That sounds totally bullshit.

I tried the book and the movie and couldn't finish either of them. I had zero curiosity about what happened until you told me there's a giant spider from space involved. :D

[MC Moot]

Yep,Pennywise one of the scariest characters/clown ever created turned out to be a projection or incarnation of a giant space creature who'd been haunting Derry for eons......mind you it was 20 yrs ago I read it...but that's the ticket,man......

[abcdefz]

Flying monkeys are scarier. :D

[MC Moot]

Mo scary....

http://freespace.virgin.net/rusty.goffe/Image11.gif

[Loppfessor]

Once again I fell victim to marketing.....this movie was a huge disappointment. Completely predictable and very UNscary.....

[insertnamehere]

Langoleers, I think they made that into a crappy made for tv movie.

[cookiepuss]

I love pet sematary the movie. it is also my favorite king book. Now the movie is cheeseball in a few parts but I still love it. and at least King did the screenplay himself so it's a good adaptation of his book. one of my fav horror movies ever.

"sometimes DEAD is better"(y)

[abcdefz]

"sometimes DEAD is better"(y)





...should this go in that Phish thread?

[Yorkshire~Rose]

Langoleers, I think they made that into a crappy made for tv movie.

They did indeed. I talked about this in another thread ages ago. The Langoliers started out great and i got really into it. Then it all went downhill a bit with the giant mothball things...

I'm really looking forward to seeing 1408. John Cusack can do no wrong in my book :o Not released here until the 24th August though.

[hpdrifter]

I watched this last night. At the risk of coming off major dumb, can someone explain the end to me? If you don't want to make a spoiler just send it to me in PM.

[abcdefz]

What did you not understand?

[abcdefz]

SPOILERS








A cut and paste from Wikipedia seems easiest:


The clock radio resets for another 60 minutes and the phone rings; when Enslin answers, he asks "Why don't you just kill me?" the
friendly female voice of the hotel operator informs him that he can relive the hour "again and again" or choose to take advantage of
their "express checkout system." A hangman's knot appears in the bedroom and Enslin has a vision of him hanging himself; he tells the
operator that he will not be checking out that way. The phone rings again, and the operator reminds him that his wife will be arriving
in 5 minutes and will be sent right up to his room. He responds he is done arguing and is going to end the experience.

Turning the cognac he got earlier from Olin into a Molotov Cocktail, Enslin sets the room on fire, causing the hotel to be evacuated.
Lily, who just arrives after she had been summoned by Enslin, is stopped from entering the hotel, but tells the firefighters that Enslin
is in 1408. Enslin throws an ashtray through the room's windows, intentionally causing a backdraft to overtake the room just seconds
before firefighters batter down the door. They get him out and, though burned, Enslin is told that he will be all right. Enslin attempts
to tell the firefighters not to enter the room, as it is 'evil'. A short while later, a smiling Olin is seen in his office, smoking a cigar and
praising Enslin for surviving.

Enslin recovers in a New York hospital, Lily at his bedside. He swears that he saw Katie, but Lily refuses to believe him. After his
recovery Enslin moves back in with Lily, beginning work on a new, non-horror novel. While sorting through a box of items from his
night in 1408, Enslin comes across his Mini Cassette recorder. After some difficulty he manages to get the tape to play; it begins
with Enslin's dictation of 1408's appearance, but cuts in with audio from his interaction with the apparition of his daughter. Lily freezes
in shock as she hears her dead daughter's voice coming from the hand-held, and the film closes on Enslin meeting her shocked stare
with one of grim vindication.

[hpdrifter]

There was obviously some twist ending and I did not catch it.

Cusak plays the tape, the daughter is on the tape, the wife drops the box, shot of Cusak with a slightly evil look on his face.

Was it really just that the daughter was there in the room?

[hpdrifter]

So it really was just that the daughter was actually there.

Ok, I guess that's cool. It seemed like there was something more, though.

[abcdefz]

Yeah -- I think it was to show that this manifestation actually happened and he wasn't crazy or whatever.

[hpdrifter]

Ok.

It was a decent movie. You've gotta give Cusak props as an actor, its like one giant monologue. For most of the movie he was acting with an inanimate object, the room.

I totally agree about the spinning room shot. You have to ask yourself if anyone actually watched that before it went in.

[abcdefz]

Ok.

It was a decent movie. You've gotta give Cusak props as an actor, its like one giant monologue. For most of the movie he was acting with an inanimate object, the room.




It was almost like his very own Cast Away. That's got to be catnip for an actor -- the chance to basically do a one man show.

[hpdrifter]

For some actors, probably. When I was doing a lot of acting I HATED doing monologues. I can't function without someone else's energy. Otherwise it feels to me like when I was a little girl playing dress up in my room and hanging out with imaginary people.

[abcdefz]

That's the challenge, I think. How you do the job and keep it interesting.