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Conference noted::sf

Title:	Arcana Caelestia
Notice:	Directory listings are in topic 2
Moderator:	NETRIX::thomas

Created:	Thu Dec 08 1983
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1300
Total number of notes:	18728

85.0. "Gremlins" by ELMER::GOUN () Sun Jun 10 1984 06:11

I went to see Steven Spielberg's "Gremlins" last night.  When enough of you
have seen it, I'd like to hear comments.  Here are some of my impressions;
I'll try not to generate any spoilers.

In the first thirty minutes or so, I had to wonder if this whole thing was
just some toy company's way of cleaning up next Christmas with "Gizmo"
dolls, T-shirts, games, etc.  It was simply too cute to live!  By the time
things started getting gross, I'd had so much cute I was numb to the thrills
and chills.  

If this movie has a spiritual father, it's a classic short called "Bambi vs.
Godzilla," in which the lovable deer is crushed beneath the foot of the
giant reptile.  "Gremlins" parodies an amazing number of motion-picture
cliches, including (naturally) some Spielberg movies.  It's right on target,
and often very funny.

I loved the mother's scene in the kitchen with the gremlins, and the
gremlins in the bar were wonderful.  Billy's love interest I could have done
without.  She was a carbon copy of the wimpy teenager in "WarGames."

The creature animation reminded me of "The Dark Crystal."  That is to say,
very natural-looking motion, and creatures that I believed could just have 
escaped from somebody's nightmare.  The only fault I could find was with the
frequent close-ups of Gizmo, which looked rather plastic (especially the
eyes).

I'd put "Gremlins" somewhere between "Star Trek III" and "Indiana Jones" in
terms of being worth your $4.50 this week, or even more if you don't love
"Star Trek."  I'd take a ten-year-old to see it, but I'm not too sure about a
younger child.  My shock quotient may be abnormally high these days after
seeing "Indiana Jones."

					"Nothing shocks me, I'm a scientist."

					Roger

T.R	Title	User	Date	Lines
85.1		AKOV68::BOYAJIAN	`Sun Jun 10 1984 10:08`	26
	Well, I just saw GREMLINS for the second time Friday night (I saw the sneak preview about a month ago). I loved it -- thought it was superior to both IJ&TTOFD and STIII:TSFS. The key to appreciating this film is to realize that it is not just a fantasy, but a 20th Century fairy tale, and you can't take anything in the film at face value. Right from the beginning, you can notice the hokey looking street sets and fake snow, the Wicked Witch of the East character ("And your mangy little dog, too!"), and other little bits like that. As for being grisly, I don't think that it was. Scary maybe, not not particularly grisly. I would have to agree that younger children might get nightmares from it, but the only really gruesome part was when the mother disposes of a couple of the gremlins. The scene with the mother was my favorite in the whole film. It was such a reversal of the "helpless-female-gets-it-from-the-hideous-monster" bit that I was entranced. Other favorite bits included the Time Machine, the theater marquee at the beginning, the Mouseketeer ears, and the Texas Chain- saw Massacre (I ca't explain these in further detail without giving away things). The film was so chock-full of old movie references and in-jokes, it was a treat for film buffs. I also suspect that it's one of those films in which one can find something new in it every time one sees it; I certainly found some things the second time that I didn't notice the first. And yes, the mowgwai was cute enough to make you throw up. --- jerry
85.2		KATIE::WHEELER	`Fri Jun 15 1984 15:42`	10
	I saw this last tuesday, I enjoyed it very much, especially the scene with the maug-wai (gizmo) driving the car in the department store. I was expecting a 'horror' flick, but much to my surprise I only jumped once, the rest of the time I was to busy laughing, Stripe (I believe thats what his name was) reminded me of a punk= rocker. I am going to see it again tonight with a bunch of freinds. And yes, I also can see the posters, t-shirts, notebooks, etc, etc, from this one... /Robin
85.3		HUMAN::BURROWS	`Sun Jul 08 1984 14:50`	17
	I'll have to agree with the previous reviews. The movie is great! Jerry's right about there being stuff there the second time round. I noticed references I'd missed while watching it just talking about it afterwards. As to it being too scary for little kids, my three year old liked it. He did think it was scary in parts but mostly he thought it was funny. He'd rather see a space-ship picture instead (we were going to see Last Starfighter, but it was sold out), but he enjoyed this and wasn't bothered by it. He is a little old for his age (if you know what I mean) though, so others might take it badly. As to the hero's girl friend, I don't think the "wimpy teenager" description in .0 was really fair. She really stood up fairly well to the gremlins. In any event, I'll recommend it strongly. JimB
85.4		ELMER::GOUN	`Tue Jul 10 1984 01:16`	8
	In defense of my comment in .0 that the young woman was a "wimpy teenager," I'll point out that the only way in which she "stood up" to the gremlins was by not collapsing in a fit of hysterics. In the rest of the movie (at least as far as I recall after a few weeks), she followed Billy around and looked scared. I would have much preferred to see her rescue him from the Texas chainsaw massacre or something. -- Roger
85.5		HUMAN::BURROWS	`Tue Jul 10 1984 01:30`	10
	I'm not sure I would have... attacked a bar full of gremlins with a Polaroid camera, or claimed to hate Christmas, or wandered off in the dark to find a light switch. Admittedly though, she didn't have the guts of the mother or Our Hero. But all-in-all, I thought all three of the major characters were refreshing in their willingness to go out and fight those monsters, rather than giving in to them the way every always does in the movies they're poking fun at. JimB.
85.6		ERIE::ASANKAR	`Fri Aug 10 1984 23:35`	7
	...Hate to belabor the obvious, but yes! this is one heck of a movie. About the ending though-I would have liked to see a little gremlin pod pop of of Stripe's bub- bling back....now that would make a sequel. sa