Last movie watched...

[Dark Jimbo]

Master and Commander: The Edge of the World

...as a deeply-invested fan of the books, I should complain incessantly about each and every part of this film, but I can't because it's actually very good fun, catches much of the spirit and it looks simply gorgeous.  Why they chose to give it that title I have no idea: no part of the plot of either of those two books appears on screen, unless you count them being in the Pacific...

As adaptations, Master and Commander and Dredd have an awful lot in common - quite a lot has been necessarily changed in the transition from page to screen, but the films are so damn true to the spirit of the source materials that it's hard to bear them any ill will for their changes. The biggest strength in the film may be the casting - Steven, Killick, Davies, Padeen, etc, are all damn-near perfect. (Less so Aubrey, but that's no comment on Crowe's abilities).

I can only imagine what people who picked up FSotW off the back of the film thought about the novel though! The guys spend the first chapter tying up loose ends from the previous book, the next five or so chapters in port, outfitting the ship, and even when they get going there's initially just a lot of talk about the finer points of 19thC whaling. The book's full of characters who aren't in the film and with a single exception not one scene from the film happens in the book. It ends up being one of the finest novels in the series IMO, but it must have been utterly baffling to anyone expecting a straight adaptation.

[JamesC]

Yeah, definitely agree that The Thing is an outstanding movie. 

The effects are stunning and still look good today.  But Beyond that, this move is quite clever and doesn't dumb down for the audience.  So much happens off screen which helps to build the suspense as you really don't know who is infected.  This is probably the movie I have watched the most times.

All that's left to say is.....was Childs infected? 

One of the (many) reasons I don't like the prequel, is they (possibly unwittingly) answered this. Spoilers for The Thing, although I'm sure we've all seen it!

[spoiler]In the prequel it turns out that it can't duplicate inorganic matter, so people who had fillings don't have fillings for example. It's their way of basically ripping off the blood test scene, in the prequel they're shining torches in each others' mouths to check for fillings. Anyway, at the end of the original film when Childs reappears he has an earring, so if the prequel is to be taken as canon then he definitely wasn't infected.[/spoiler]

The prequel should not be taken as canon though in my mind, mainly because it is tripe. I remember during development a lot of chat about how they were going all out on physical effects and wouldn't be using CG for the creatures or transformations and I can only imagine at the 11th hour someone decided that didn't look good and they replaced it all with poor CG. My biggest gripe though is that it has none of the are they/aren't they tension of the original because anytime someone gets infected they pretty much expose themselves immediately in a 'hey, can I show you this thing in this cupboard but then attack you' sort of way.

I love The Thing dearly, which is probably why all this bothers me as much as it does!

[spoiler]But the Thing could have learned from that experience and stuck the earing in?[/spoiler]

[Recrewt]

You took the words right out of my mouth James!  I am slightly more swayed by the [spoiler]coat theory and how much relevance you put into the whisky bottle - is it a test to see if Childs is worried about infection or does it link back to the early scene where MacReady pours whiskey into the chess machine?[/spoiler]

Keef - the video game and the comic books have also commented on what happened to them after the movie, but I'm ignoring those.

   

[Keef Monkey]

You took the words right out of my mouth James!  I am slightly more swayed by the [spoiler]coat theory and how much relevance you put into the whisky bottle - is it a test to see if Childs is worried about infection or does it link back to the early scene where MacReady pours whiskey into the chess machine?[/spoiler]

Keef - the video game and the comic books have also commented on what happened to them after the movie, but I'm ignoring those.

   

Oh yeah, I forgot about those. I never really treated either of those as canon, but did really enjoy the game. Seeing that on a shelf and picking it up out of curiosity was actually what got me back into videogames after drifting away from them for a few years (I got distracted by music and drinking and ladies and stuff so decided I'd grown out of them), so in retrospect I owe a great deal to that game!

I suppose the thing could have picked up some new tricks along the way, it would adapt aggressively to survive. I like it, now I can ignore the earring (and that film).

[I, Cosh]

I can only imagine what people who picked up FSotW off the back of the film thought about the novel though! The guys spend the first chapter tying up loose ends from the previous book, the next five or so chapters in port, outfitting the ship, and even when they get going there's initially just a lot of talk about the finer points of 19thC whaling. The book's full of characters who aren't in the film and with a single exception not one scene from the film happens in the book. It ends up being one of the finest novels in the series IMO, but it must have been utterly baffling to anyone expecting a straight adaptation.

Can't speak to that but if, like me, you ended up reading Master and Commander off the back of the film you'd find large chunks of dialogue and incident appropriated for the film but wrapped up in a different plot. I thought the film was great but found the book very ponderous.

As an aside, I often think Peter Weir's versatility as a director stops him getting the recognition he deserves. Have a look at his filmography and point out the stinkers.

[Jim_Campbell]

As an aside, I often think Peter Weir's versatility as a director stops him getting the recognition he deserves. Have a look at his filmography and point out the stinkers.

Wow. Certainly, everything I've seen on that list has been pretty good to excellent. Somehow, I've managed to never consciously register that directed the excellent Gallipoli.

Cheers

Jim

[CrazyFoxMachine]

As an aside, I often think Peter Weir's versatility as a director stops him getting the recognition he deserves. Have a look at his filmography and point out the stinkers.

He's fairly consistent although I found Picnic at Hanging Rock overbearingly obtuse. But then I did watch it during film studies and that was kind of a theme.

[Colin YNWA]

As an aside, I often think Peter Weir's versatility as a director stops him getting the recognition he deserves. Have a look at his filmography and point out the stinkers.

I know three people have already quoted this but, well why book a trend. Its probably very true. To a degree he has a record of consistently decent to good films - there are however some absolute highlights. I'm a fan of the 'Cars that ate Paris' for all its problems, love the aforementioned 'Gallipoli' always really enjoy 'The Truman Show' amongst others.

[mogzilla]

Gallipoli is excellent to be sure mel did do some great films inbetween mad max and the lethal weapons. the "year of living dangerously" was one that along with "Salvador" and "killing fields" got me into a whole genre of 'grown up' films  ...

   But then I do love a "boys own adventure" I hadn't seen "the man who would be king " for years its been on sky loads since  but the top of the tree for me has to be "Zulu" cy enfield turned out a masterpiece to be sure

[TordelBack]

As adaptations, Master and Commander and Dredd have an awful lot in common - quite a lot has been necessarily changed in the transition from page to screen, but the films are so damn true to the spirit of the source materials that it's hard to bear them any ill will for their changes.

A very good point, although I thought the portrayal of Aubrey was closer to the mark than Maturin, who I felt had absorbed a little bit of Lt. Dillon from Master and Commander somewhere along the way. 

Having finally finished the series last year after cruelly rationing the grog as long as I humanly could, and discovering that the unintentionally open ending is quite satisfying, this thread makes me hungry to re-read the lot... It helps that M&C, for all that I've read it four times now, is one of the best, and despite The Cosh's reaction, probably the most successful as a novel, rather than an instalment.

It's ether that or resume my chronological Flashman re-read.  Now there's something HBO should tackle.

[Dark Jimbo]

Having finally finished the series last year after cruelly rationing the grog as long as I humanly could, and discovering that the unintentionally open ending is quite satisfying, this thread makes me hungry to re-read the lot...

I hear that. The last one I read was Reverse of the Medal, and the gaps between books are getting ever larger as I realise that I'm now over the halfway point of the series. Is The Unfinished Voyage... worth a read, Tord, or better to stop with Book 20 once I get there...?

[TordelBack]

I was dreading reading The Unfinished Journey, put it off and off, filled with morbid thoughts that this was the last time I'd ever read a new word about my favourite nautical duo and their floating menagerie, and worse, that it might be some awful hodge-podge of notes that ends in the middle of a sentence.  In fact it's a really good instalment, and it ends [spoiler]at the opening of a new phase in Jack's career, a sort of 'second star to the right and straight on 'til morning' thing' as he heads off for new adventures with renewed energy.  Stephen's romantic fortunes take an upturn too. [/spoiler] Certainly not the mess I feared it would be.

If you haven't, you should get stuck into the various O'Brian biographies.  Desperately sad and fascinating at the same time.

[TordelBack]

Oh dear god.  I've just realised that the last Aubrey/Maturin book I read was Blue at the Mizzen.  Somehow I got it into my head that it was the last, unfinished one, that 'The Unfinished Voyage' was an unofficial subtitle of sorts - which Wikipedia just informed me it was not.  This means my last post was total nonsense and in fact refers to Vol 20. 

Apologies for the confusion, Jimbo.  What an idiot.

[Goaty]

Thirty years ago this week this film was out, I loved the film, darkest of all Indy Jones films and brilliant poster ever!

[JamesC]

Thirty years ago this week this film was out, I loved the film, darkest of all Indy Jones films and brilliant poster ever!

My dad took me to see it at the ABC Cinema in Great Yarmouth (since pulled down). There was a Donald Duck re-run cartoon on before the main feature.
That Christmas my sister bought me the St Michael Temple Of Doom Story Book. For some reason, in those days Marks and Spencer's used to do loads of licensed story books (a synopsis of the story coupled with promo pics and fact files) based on big Hollywood films. I still have it - sentimental value!