Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

NIGHT 6

       "Did you ever watch The Twilight Zone?"

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), is an anthology film produced by Steven Spielberg and John Landis and is a theatrical version of the the long running Twilight Zone series.

The film contains four stories and a prologue, all the stories are based on episodes from the original series except the first and even that resembles a couple different old episodes. The stories are directed by John Landis, Stephen Spielberg, Joe Dante and George Miller.

One of the consistently good things about Twilight Zone: The Movie is its direction. This is the one way the stories consistently top their original television episodes. These are all good and well seasoned directors well along in their careers by the time they came together to make this and it shows.

These are fair adaptations of the original stories, I still have some preferences that go back to the original series episodes, but I think that comes from my personal attachment to the Rod Serling series (and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way.)

The first story after the prologue, "Time Out" is the only original story of the lot and I feel like it shows. It's not really bad, but it's just clearly not as good as the others. It seems very surface level, I think what it's missing is a resolution with the main characters, I think if this was an original series episode we'd see the main character have a complete change on screen whether (its too late or not.) This one just seems super unsatisfying.

Meridith Burgess, who starred in four separate episodes of the original series, does most of the narration in the film filling the Rod Serling role of the series and I think she really nails it. She somehow does her own thing with it and still subtly suggests Rod Serling's voice over. Steven Speilberg or whoever made that decision really nailed it.

The other thing I really like about this film is that their selections of stories, and variety of tones really do feel like the perfect tribute to The Twilight Zone series!

Twlight Zone: The Movie (1983) is a bold undertaking that is largely successful. It's totally worth a watch.

3.5/5 Stars.

 Happy watching!




This review is part of my 2014 run of 13 Nights of Macabre Movies! Tune in tomorrow as I review another horror anthology sequel Creepshow 2 (1987).

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Lincoln (2012)

"We're stepped out upon the world stage now, with the fate of human dignity in our hands..."

Lincoln (2012) is a historical film that is very relevant to today, this film has been Steven Spielberg’s dream project for a number of years. Unlike what you might assume from the title or trailer this film isn’t a biography of Abraham Lincoln, it just revolves around the struggle Lincoln had and the strife he went through trying to get the 13th Amendment passed during the last four months of his life.

With an icon like Abraham Lincoln it’d be tempting to want to show how he got that way or things earlier in his life that impacted him and changed the ways he made his decisions. But I really like how Steven Spielberg just focused in on one small part of his life and told a story just around the 13th amendment. I also appreciate how the film made not attempt to canonize Lincoln, he made mistakes and he make choices that weren’t favorable or honest but the film made you look behind his eyes and show that all of this had a huge impact on him personally and this was something he felt was absolutely right and necessary.

Also the film is (obviously) highly historical and very highly political. This could have easily been a big problem for the film attempting to explain some of these things to audiences. But the film does a really good job at breaking down the political process to simpler terms and not attempting to explain who every person in Lincoln’s life is, instead (for the sake of the story) the film breaks down all the major characters into simpler terms, almost showing moral character and stance on the objective more than who they were and what their job was. Which I appreciated because I personally am not by any stretch a history buff, civil war junkie, or in love with the political process but I’m sure if you do fit into any of these categories the film has some extras in store for you.

There is some small things and minor specifics and small things that may be hard to understand for the average viewer but for the most part as I said above, this isn’t the case for most of the film and you will at least understand the "gist" of anything you don’t understand fully.

I really loved the depiction of Abraham Lincoln by Daniel Day-Lewis. Almost instantly you forget you’re watching an actor and you’re immersed the story before you. You can tell he and Spielberg did their research about this historical figure that is so iconic and did their best to depict him as true as possible.

There's a few times in the film where absolutely nothing is happening in frame except people sitting and listening to Abe tell a story or anecdote, but yet it's done in a way that is so captivating and interesting.

I was really blown away by Steven Spielberg’s direction of this film. It was such a subtle and soft movie, mostly the film is just inside with people talking over tables (so if that’s not your thing you might want to skip this but) personally I was just so interested. I enjoyed the very limited use of a soundtrack, used only for impact and to build slowly to a point. And I’m not sure if this was Spielberg’s intention but honestly I don’t think this film could have come out at a more relevant time. I recently discovered that the best Science Fiction stories aren’t actually about the future but more of a statement about the events of the day and state of things when the story was written. I believe this same theory applies to Lincoln this film is HIGHLY relevant to today with the topics of today and the recent 2012 American Presidential Election. I go to a movie usually to escape my day to day but it was very interesting to find a story waiting for me that is so topical and relevant.

Lincoln (2012) wasn’t what I was expecting at all and I really found myself enjoying it. Part biography, part history, part art-film, character study and partially a look at our own political process that I found to be very relevant to today, even 147 years after these events took place. 5/5 Stars.

Happy watching!





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