Marketic
It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.
Livestonth
I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
filippaberry84
I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
peefyn
Looking past the accident, I can't really understand why this is not a good movie. Four brilliant directors, all given the opportunity to make Twilight Zone episodes with a movie-like budget. A number of great actors involved. How come the result is lackluster and lacking of charm? The old Twilight Zone TV-series obviously owes part of it's charm to the era it was made in, but it's also full of stories, some quite silly, that all take themselves seriously. There's twists at the end of the episodes that you some times can see from miles away, but that at other times makes you admit that it was clever. There's tons of bad episodes, but the package itself is still brilliant.Then there's this movie. The first story lacks a proper ending (something that's due to the accident), making the rest of it feel pointless. The second story is visually beautiful, but feels both predictable and rushed. I would have thought that this sort of project would bring out the best in Spielberg, but he chooses a story that's only OK, and doesn't manage to portray in a way that transcends the silly story that it is. The third film is one of the more famous TZ-episodes, and the updates done to the story mostly works. I loved this due to the special effects that were used, but the acting and the story left some to be desired. The last one, also a famous one, is probably the best of the four. Had all four of them been this interesting on a story level, the movie would have been a lot better.I would love for them to have another go at this. Especially Spielberg and Miller has proved many times what they are capable of, and I'm sure TZ (and those sort of stories) still mean a lot to them. Oh well.
SnoopyStyle
This is a series of vignettes recreating three of the classic Twilight Zone episode and one original work. The prologue has Albert Brooks driving Dan Aykroyd in the middle of the night. I'm not happy with Dan Aykroyd. He's too comedic and sets the wrong tone. The character needs somebody darker to play him.First is "Time Out", the only original segment, directed by John Landis. Bill Connor is a racist drinking at a bar with his work friends. He leaves and finds himself as a Jew in Nazi occupied France, then as a black man in the KKK American south and as a Vietnamese man against American soldiers. This is my least favorite and also the cause of the tragic accident on set. The switching between time periods is too random and feels like somebody's idea of the worst kind of greatest hits. If the movie stayed with the Nazis, this segment could have worked much better.The second segment is "Kick the Can" directed by Steven Spielberg. Mr. Bloom has just moved into Sunnyvale Retirement Home. He invites the residents to play kick the can in the middle of the night and the old folks turn back into the child self. This is a perfectly fine segment but it struck me recently that this is a magical Negro story.The third segment is "It's a Good Life" directed by Joe Dante. Helen Foley befriends little Anthony who is getting bullied. She drives him home to find his family in terror of his impossible powers. This is by far my favorite of this movie. Kathleen Quinlan is brilliant. She has a motherly way about her despite the outlandish situation.The fourth segment is "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" directed by George Miller. It allows John Lithgow to go nuts but I don't know if anybody could top William Shatner.So there is one great segment, two middling ones and one poor one. Add on the prologue, this is a functional but not spectacular effort. The tragedy makes this a dubious enterprise. The fact that the only original segment ranks the lowest makes me wonder if they should have picked another classic episode.
leplatypus
First of all, i can watch at last this movie. When i was a teen, our parents allowed to see the first sketch but then we had to go to bed as we got school the next day (see also « poltergeist » for more details). I just remember that the prologue really scared me and that my friends told me accurately the next sketches. Then, in 2012, i got the ticket to watch it on screen at the Cinematheque during Spielberg's retrospective but i didn't go. Today, i rent it and if the movie was not really bad, with all the excellent directors here, it's still a disappointment. The major defect for me is that they could have tried to link all the sketches to have a basic unity : as the prologue ends with a automobile parking in a road, i would have started with Dante's part. Then, as this one ends in the same way, i would have cross the « family's » car with the racist one arriving at his bar. Then, as this one ends on the street, i would have put Gloom's in the street before entering Sunnyvale. As Spielberg ends with a street view, i would have shoot the sky to find Miller's plane.Next, if the Zone is a place of mystery and discomfort, Spielberg's sketch should have been cut as it's too sugary and optimist. The interesting fact is that it had the same feeling and atmosphere as its future « Hook » !The Miller's sketch is wrong since its beginning as Lithgow is already crazy (the same thing that Stephen King said about Nicholson in « Shining »).Thus, you have really two good sketches : Landis' one about a punished racist and Dante's about a terror kid ! They were indeed interesting as you don't see often those kind of stories often and their cast is good (with Dante's familiars and the future Mr X). Finally, the result is mixed but i don't remember to have seen a memorable sketch movie either.
utgard14
Anthology movie based on the classic television series, of which I'm a huge fan. It's an all-star effort with four big '80s directors. The movie is most remembered today for the tragic accident that took the lives of Vic Morrow and two children on set. There are four stories plus a prologue that ties back in at the end of the film.The prologue and first story are both directed by John Landis. The prologue is about a driver (Albert Brooks) and a hitchhiker (Dan Aykroyd) driving late at night. The driver plays a game by turning the headlights off and on, trying to scare the hitchhiker. The hitchhiker turns the tables on him and reveals a surprise of his own. This is a lackluster beginning. Brooks and especially Aykroyd have a kind of flippancy in their performances that puts me off. The first story is "Time Out" and is the only original story in the film. The others are remakes of Twilight Zone episodes. The plot is about a bigot (Vic Morrow) who is thrown through time to various points of history to experience persecution and hatred. It's a moralizing soapbox story that might have played better had it been written with the slightest bit of sophistication. As it stands, it's a weak, downbeat story and an odd choice to start the film.The second story is "Kick the Can," directed by Steven Spielberg. It's about a group of oldsters at a retirement home who discover playing a game of kick the can restores their youth. Reportedly Spielberg was going to do an original horror story for the movie. But after the tragedy he changed plans and did this tepid remake. The direction for this story is half-hearted at best. A very underwhelming effort from Spielberg.The third story is another remake, "It's a Good Life," about a boy with special powers who holds his family prisoner and forces them to do whatever he wants. Joe Dante directs this and it has some of his trademark touches, such as genre in-jokes and homages. Despite Dante's direction and how much fun he seems to have with the story, it's still nothing special.The last story, directed by George Miller, is a remake of "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." This is easily the best story in the film, with a powerful performance by John Lithgow as an airplane passenger who is terrified of flying. While in the air, he sees a creature on the wing of the plane trying to tear the engine apart but nobody believes him.Overall, there is only one exceptional segment in the whole movie. The film as a whole misses the point of the Twilight Zone and comes across as a hollow experience. Still, failure or not, there's enough scraps here to be of interest to fans of the series or the big-name directors involved.
