"The Fourth Kind"
trotsky
to watch. The use of "actual" footage with dramatized versions was used
well, but the whole thing was done for maximum sensationalism and
minimal introduction of facts. Two stars.
moviePig
If circumstances didn't suggest otherwise, I'd think FOURTH KIND was
trying to coattail on PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. And that actually would
have gotten me into the theater, but for the damned 'PG-13'. Even
though I take your word for FK's being 'scary' (and will eventually
see it), I still resent the MPAA safety net. After all, it's already
"only a movie"...
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trotsky
An R rating wouldn't have enhanced it in any way. The situations made
it scary, and I would suspect some people will get nightmares as a
result. I'm a little too jaded for that, of course.
nick
> On Nov 8, 10:55 am, trotsky <gmsi...@email.com> wrote:
>
> > In a nutshell: a pretty scary movie but ultimately not very satisfying
> > to watch. The use of "actual" footage with dramatized versions was used
> > well, but the whole thing was done for maximum sensationalism and
> > minimal introduction of facts. Two stars.
>
> If circumstances didn't suggest otherwise, I'd think FOURTH KIND was
> trying to coattail on PARANORMAL ACTIVITY.
I wonder about that too, since the first trailer I saw for Fourth
Kind listed a 2010 release.
Eman
> If circumstances didn't suggest otherwise, I'd think FOURTH KIND was
> trying to coattail on PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. And that actually would
> have gotten me into the theater, but for the damned 'PG-13'. Even
> though I take your word for FK's being 'scary' (and will eventually
> see it), I still resent the MPAA safety net. After all, it's already
> "only a movie"...
PA could have easily been rated PG-13 as is, or even PG with language
and sexual references (which really added nothing to the movie) taken
out and replaced with them playing Wii or something. Almost seems as
if MPAA tilted the scales the other way for PA, just to get skeptics
in the theater. But I agree, without an R rating, I have a hard time
believing that a horror movie would be entertaining. Almost seems as
if by definition any movie dealing with a serious situation which
creates horror should be R by default.
RichA
But as a side issue, don't you love the effect of the movie? You put
one cheap, semi-mediocre movie that happened to have suspense on the
screen and people act like they've seen an alien for the first time.
Because Hollywood is too F----- CHICKEN to produce movies with
suspense in them. Everything is telegraphed to allow the audience to
ready themselves for it. I'm virtually certain the reason they do
this is to avoid any potential liabilities that might arise.
trotsky
So you have or haven't seen it?
nick
I saw The Fourth Kind today. I'd go along with the two star rating.
I like Milla Jovovich but she has an aura of sanity that clashes with
the real life footage of the person she's playing, Abigail Tyler, who
looks/acts like a bug-eyed crazy. I kept thinking the part should
have been played by Amanda Plummer. Some of the real-life footage was
unnerving but the way the video image went to hell whenever something
truly frightening was supposed to be happening seemed something of a
cheat. I wish this had been done as one of those tacky seventies type
documentaries with Noah's Ark or Big Foot or whatever but the bouncing
back and forth between real footage and the re-enacted stuff
(including, real or not, some of the most irresponsible police
behavior I've ever seen in a movie) after awhile diluted whatever
point was being made. I don't believe in alien abductions but I'll
sally forth to the Google to see how much credibility this story
really has.
moviePig
...a sally of the forth kind. I wonder what we'll assume if you never
return...
nick
Kind is fake. The movie is a total con job. Ebert's review is
especially instructive and amusing.
trotsky
> On Nov 8, 10:55 am, trotsky <gmsi...@email.com> wrote:
>> In a nutshell: a pretty scary movie but ultimately not very satisfying
>> to watch. The use of "actual" footage with dramatized versions was used
>> well, but the whole thing was done for maximum sensationalism and
>> minimal introduction of facts. Two stars.
>
> I saw The Fourth Kind today. I'd go along with the two star rating.
> I like Milla Jovovich but she has an aura of sanity that clashes with
> the real life footage of the person she's playing, Abigail Tyler, who
> looks/acts like a bug-eyed crazy. I kept thinking the part should
> have been played by Amanda Plummer.
That would have been an outstanding choice *if* actual realism was what
you're going for, and that's even depending on whether or not you
believe the "real" footage was actually real.
Some of the real-life footage was
> unnerving but the way the video image went to hell whenever something
> truly frightening was supposed to be happening seemed something of a
> cheat. I wish this had been done as one of those tacky seventies type
> documentaries with Noah's Ark or Big Foot or whatever but the bouncing
> back and forth between real footage and the re-enacted stuff
> (including, real or not, some of the most irresponsible police
> behavior I've ever seen in a movie) after awhile diluted whatever
> point was being made. I don't believe in alien abductions but I'll
> sally forth to the Google to see how much credibility this story
> really has.
I don't think it has any. When they come on at the end and said it is
up to the viewer to decide what really happened, I turned to my friend
Gary and said "this is straight out of the William Castle school of
filmmaking--I'm surprised they didn't say ambulances were standing by
for people that may have heart attacks." But, although I think the
whole thing was a ruse, I think it was done in such an elaborate and
clever way that I was impressed by the whole thing. And apparently Nome
does have unexplained disappearances. The other "facts" in the story
may well have all been fabricated, however. I just read the review on
bloodydisgusting.com and the guy compared it "The Mothman Prophecies"
which is somewhat comparable in the overall story.
trotsky
Regardless, I do think "Weird Owls" would make a great name for a band.
nick
Roger Ebert addresses the disapearances in his review (sharing my
dismay at being conned--Milla, why did you lie to me?!?!).
'It was with crushing disappointment that my research discovered this
is all made up out of whole cloth, including the real Abigail. The
film wasn't even shot in Nome, but mostly in Bulgaria. And Dallas
Massie, a retired state trooper who's the acting police chief in Nome,
says he's heard nothing about aliens.
I learn all this from the blog of an Anchorage Daily News reporter,
Kyle Hopkins, who says about 20 people have indeed disappeared in the
area since the 1960s, and writes: "The FBI stepped in, reviewing two
dozen cases, eventually determining that excessive alcohol consumption
and the winter climate were a common link in many of the cases. Some
of the dead were killed by exposure or from falling off a jetty into
the frigid Snake River.'
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091104/REVIEWS/911059996/1005/glossary
moviePig
moviePig
Hey! You can't slide from 'people disappearing' to 'the dead'.
Besides, sometimes people drink to help them forget the anal probe...
moviePig
Without my having seen t4K, disparaging it by comparing it with
MOTHMAN sounds fairly astute. Otoh, I had an unexpectedly good time
with the latter...
trotsky
What did I say that was diparaging?
trotsky
I read the Ebert review, and it actually made me sad to read it. Ebert
made two stupid mistakes in the review: "Abby Tyler" was supposed to be
her real name according to the movie, not an alias, and Milla was in
three "Resident Evil" movies, not two. This probably isn't enough
evidence to say that he should be put out two pasture, but it does sort
of remind me the time Larry King had Michael Moore on, and showed a clip
of him singing "The Times They are A-Changin'" on Jay Leno's show, and
Larry asked Moore if he'd written that song. Anyway, it's a lousy
review--he says it's a bad movie without really giving a valid reason.
Moreover, is he claiming that the people that have disappeared have
actually had their bodies recovered? Anyway, I thought it was clever
filmmaking, and clearly had a good part of the audience believing the
whole thing. If you compare it to "X Files", though, where the aliens
had a grandiose master plan going back decades (or possibly to the birth
of mankind), the "aliens" in "The Fourth Kind" look like a bunch of wankers.
moviePig
You didn't... except that, iirc (and I may be wrong), MOTHMAN was
widely ridiculed and even became a sort-of reference joke for a
while...
trotsky
I thought it was a pretty good movie--I think it's easy to ridicule a
movie that leaves you with more questions than answers, though. I would
suggest you read the review on bloody disgusting: the guy compares the
movie favorably to both Mothman and "Fire in the Sky", both of which
*weren't* critically acclaimed, but are nonetheless interesting to genre
fans such as ourselves.
Unrelated to anything, in case nick reads this, I found the perfect
coffee for him:
moviePig
(Cream and dotted sugar-cubes sold separately. Not available in all
mental states.)
nick
Mothmen, we can only ponder their grand complexity like a cockroach
pondering us. Maybe I need to rewatch The Fourth Kind as a William
Castle-ish put-on now I know there's not a single real thing in it.
But damn, I thought at least some of it was based on fact, deluded
fact in a crackpot crazy person way, but even as gullible as I was
watching The Fourth Kind, I stumbled a bit with a straight faced
reference from Milla or the bug-eyed crazy looking "real" Abby to
"crop circles".
nick
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