A remake would be a box office smash
Added 11/22/2009
The movie was made for TV, intended to have many hours. On the big screen, it would have to be a maximum of 100 minutes. It would have better effects, but I would be careful, overdoing it can ruin it. In the version for TV, you easily see the movie could be shorter, many scenes were useless or just too long, shallow dialogues, too still. Thanks.
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Langoliers Are out There!
Added 7/9/2009
I really enjoyed this movie when it was on tv, and I wanted a copy to watch when it was'nt on. The cast was great and the story gave you something to think about...even if it was'nt for long, it was still entertaining!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Stephen King Review # 3
Added 5/30/2009
This min-series came out way back 1995, after a string of highly rated King T.V. movies(It, The Stand, The Tommyknockers, Sometimes They Come Back). This film isn't as good as The Stand or It, but it's about as good as The Tommyknockers.
It comes from a short story contained in King's book Four Past Midnight. And you can tell that the plot was stretched to fit a two night mini-series and what ended up being a three hour film on DVD. The problem with this adaption is that there's way too much exposition on a story that ultimately would've made a really good episode of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. Dean Stockwell plays a mystery novelist and he has no character to play beyond that of Mr. Exposition. It's a credit to the actor that his performance is fairly engrossing and likeable considering his only function is to explain the plot and weird goings-on.
Actually, the acting in this film is all good. David Morse is a very underrated actor and he does well in these type of ensemble pieces(he was also in the film adaption of King's Hearts Of Atlantis). Bronson Pinchott gets to steal all the scenes he's in with the usual King psycho with daddy issues. He's much more frightening then the title creatures when they finally arrive towards the beginning of the third act. Special notice must also be given to Mark Lindsay Chapman as a British 'cleaner'. He has the most complex and interesting character in the story and his arc, while slightly predictable, is very satisfying and well performed.
The film was directed by Tom Holland(Fright Night, Child's Play, The Temp, Thinner). He does a good job in getting fine performances from the cast and he keeps the pace moving despite the over-long running time for the thin story, but he doesn't fare as well in the screenwriting duties. The film just feels over-long, and the adaption stretch marks really show, especially when watching it in one sitting without the two night mini-series break up. There's some clunky dialogue here and there, and certain characters just seem to be in the film to be part of a body count. Hell, he even committs the age old horror cliche' of having the black character bite the dust first. The film isn't really scary. It's plot is more Sci-Fi, even though there are monsters afoot in the plot.
The monsters are unfortunate. All throughout cinema it's been an old addage that monsters are more scary off screen then when they're on, and it's always smart to keep them in the shadows for as long as possible(Jaws and Alien are two really good examples of this). Holland keeps his time eating critters off screen for most of the film's running time. They work when they're just noises in the background getting louder, and when only their effect on the universe the film takes place in is seen. So, the monsters show up and they don't live up to what your imagination sees, but it's even worse, they are some of the worst computer generated creature ever committed to celluloid. I can't be too harsh on the visual effects in this film, it was the mid-90's and this was a television movie, but these things aren't even a good conceptual design let alone a believable special effect. Luckily, I'm still equiped with my imagination and don't need pristine and super realistic special effects to appreciate a good story. Did you hear that George Lucas? Screw the modern brain-dead video game addicted youth audiences, just write a good story and the rest will fall into place.
The disc itself is nothing to rave about. Mine is the Canadian release. It's full frame, but I'm not sure if this film was ever intended to be in widescreen. Plus, the full frame formatt seems appropriate and all the compositions seems to be designed for it. The transfer is decent. You only get some grain in the stock shots of airports, landscapes and flying air planes. You can tell that they were filmed on a different stock then the bulk of the film. Luckily, the whole mini-series is on one side of the disc, unlike It or Storm Of The Century. Also, all the commerical breaks have been smoothed over and edited out of the film so it flows evenly. I really wish some other min-series, especially King min-series, would've done the same. DVD editions of The Shining, The Stand and Rose Red are loaded with special features but don't edit out the commerical pauses. It's really disconcerting that a bare bones affair like The Langoliers went to the trouble for this but the bigger releases of the above mentioned don't.
So, if you have a long attention span and can overlook some long expositional scenes, and you don't require your special effects to be so hi-tech that you lie yourself into believing that they are real, then this is a decent time waster. But, I would recommend reading the short story. It's more to the point and its concepts involving time travel are truly novel and unlike anything I've read on the subject.
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The langoliers DVD
Added 5/1/2009
A classic timeless (sorry) story with adequate acting and dated special effects. Nice to revisit now and again. My only complaint regarding this purchase is that it would have to easily be the worst DVD image quality I have ever seen (and I own over 2000 movies on this medium). For this reason I have rated the entire experience quite poorly.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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The Langoliers
Added 4/26/2009
This film is excellent. I have watched this three times in one night.
Ten people fly through a timerip and discover that everyone that was awake disapeared.
My favourite part is when the get to the strange world where the Langoliers come and get them. The air is strange, there is no echo, no power unless you are on the plane, when they walk on the ground their feet sound different to normal, the weather goes dark then light again after 40 mins and the food and drinks are flat.
My favourite character is poor poor Mr Toomey. He is a wreck because his father brainwashed him telling him if he doesn't buck up his ideas and stop wasting time, the Langoliers will get him and eat him alive.
The part before they leave you see the Langliers and the chase Mr Toomey, you see the Langliers teeth move all around in a circle and they sort of make a creepy noise and clash their teeth together. The eat up the airport and eat away the strange land and every one except Mr Toomey and Mr Gaffney (Mr Toomey stabs him thinking he is a Langolier) get away.
They look on in horror as the world disapears in to the blackness below.
I give the film 5 Stars!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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A remake would be a box office smash
Added 11/22/2009
The movie was made for TV, intended to have many hours. On the big screen, it would have to be a maximum of 100 minutes. It would have better effects, but I would be careful, overdoing it can ruin it. In the version for TV, you easily see the movie could be shorter, many scenes were useless or just too long, shallow dialogues, too still. Thanks.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Langoliers Are out There!
Added 7/9/2009
I really enjoyed this movie when it was on tv, and I wanted a copy to watch when it was'nt on. The cast was great and the story gave you something to think about...even if it was'nt for long, it was still entertaining!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Stephen King Review # 3
Added 5/30/2009
This min-series came out way back 1995, after a string of highly rated King T.V. movies(It, The Stand, The Tommyknockers, Sometimes They Come Back). This film isn't as good as The Stand or It, but it's about as good as The Tommyknockers.
It comes from a short story contained in King's book Four Past Midnight. And you can tell that the plot was stretched to fit a two night mini-series and what ended up being a three hour film on DVD. The problem with this adaption is that there's way too much exposition on a story that ultimately would've made a really good episode of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. Dean Stockwell plays a mystery novelist and he has no character to play beyond that of Mr. Exposition. It's a credit to the actor that his performance is fairly engrossing and likeable considering his only function is to explain the plot and weird goings-on.
Actually, the acting in this film is all good. David Morse is a very underrated actor and he does well in these type of ensemble pieces(he was also in the film adaption of King's Hearts Of Atlantis). Bronson Pinchott gets to steal all the scenes he's in with the usual King psycho with daddy issues. He's much more frightening then the title creatures when they finally arrive towards the beginning of the third act. Special notice must also be given to Mark Lindsay Chapman as a British 'cleaner'. He has the most complex and interesting character in the story and his arc, while slightly predictable, is very satisfying and well performed.
The film was directed by Tom Holland(Fright Night, Child's Play, The Temp, Thinner). He does a good job in getting fine performances from the cast and he keeps the pace moving despite the over-long running time for the thin story, but he doesn't fare as well in the screenwriting duties. The film just feels over-long, and the adaption stretch marks really show, especially when watching it in one sitting without the two night mini-series break up. There's some clunky dialogue here and there, and certain characters just seem to be in the film to be part of a body count. Hell, he even committs the age old horror cliche' of having the black character bite the dust first. The film isn't really scary. It's plot is more Sci-Fi, even though there are monsters afoot in the plot.
The monsters are unfortunate. All throughout cinema it's been an old addage that monsters are more scary off screen then when they're on, and it's always smart to keep them in the shadows for as long as possible(Jaws and Alien are two really good examples of this). Holland keeps his time eating critters off screen for most of the film's running time. They work when they're just noises in the background getting louder, and when only their effect on the universe the film takes place in is seen. So, the monsters show up and they don't live up to what your imagination sees, but it's even worse, they are some of the worst computer generated creature ever committed to celluloid. I can't be too harsh on the visual effects in this film, it was the mid-90's and this was a television movie, but these things aren't even a good conceptual design let alone a believable special effect. Luckily, I'm still equiped with my imagination and don't need pristine and super realistic special effects to appreciate a good story. Did you hear that George Lucas? Screw the modern brain-dead video game addicted youth audiences, just write a good story and the rest will fall into place.
The disc itself is nothing to rave about. Mine is the Canadian release. It's full frame, but I'm not sure if this film was ever intended to be in widescreen. Plus, the full frame formatt seems appropriate and all the compositions seems to be designed for it. The transfer is decent. You only get some grain in the stock shots of airports, landscapes and flying air planes. You can tell that they were filmed on a different stock then the bulk of the film. Luckily, the whole mini-series is on one side of the disc, unlike It or Storm Of The Century. Also, all the commerical breaks have been smoothed over and edited out of the film so it flows evenly. I really wish some other min-series, especially King min-series, would've done the same. DVD editions of The Shining, The Stand and Rose Red are loaded with special features but don't edit out the commerical pauses. It's really disconcerting that a bare bones affair like The Langoliers went to the trouble for this but the bigger releases of the above mentioned don't.
So, if you have a long attention span and can overlook some long expositional scenes, and you don't require your special effects to be so hi-tech that you lie yourself into believing that they are real, then this is a decent time waster. But, I would recommend reading the short story. It's more to the point and its concepts involving time travel are truly novel and unlike anything I've read on the subject.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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