Rounding out the theme weekend.

[nolawitch58]

Finished watching "Enemy Mine" after a reasonable day's task accomplishment. Great movie. Several elements made it great. There was the underlying story. Well crafted by the original writer and then translated well to the screenplay. The characters go through very complex yet believable scenarios that take them from enemies to friends. The way they learned each other's language in order to help each other despite the initial animosity was deftly done. Lou Gossett Jr should have received an Oscar award or at least a nomination for that performance. It sucks that the Academy doesn't take certain genres seriously. Despite all of that prosthetic makeup, which was brilliant as well, Gossett brought a distinctly intelligent being-like personality that wasn't so human as to detract from the alien nature of the character. He delivered the lines of Drak dialog with emotion perfectly fitted for the scene. It was a brilliant performance on his part.

The special effects were balanced with the acting to continue moving the story and not get in its way. The designer made the alien places look authentic and still alien and not just like a corner of Utah desert. I only had a little problem with the desolation of Thyrine in that it didn't look capable of sustaining high life forms as Draks and humans.

Off to watch the season opener of "Deadwood".

Comments

[voxwoman.livejournal.com]

I had a lot of problems with the film "Enemy Mine" (the performances were NOT among them, however) - mostly to do with what got changed between the story and the film (I was a HUGE fan of Longyear's and devoured every word he wrote during the time when his stuff was in almost every issue of Asimov's SF Mag). Mostly the planet's ecosphere and the mining sub-plot (both were added by the scriptwriters).

I know there were people who disliked both the film and the story, deciding they were ripoffs of "Hell in the Pacific" (Steve McQueen & Mako, again), but that didn't bother me.

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

Funny you should mention that. Pete said he had an anthology with that story included. I very nearly asked to borrow it but remembered his books got drowned. He mentioned that it was different from the original story.

Alas, there are few movie productions that are adequately faithful to the original written source. I have resigned myself to that truth and so don't get too horribly upset when the eventual liberties are taken with the writer's work.

I haven't seen "Hell in the Pacific" to compare the two. So what if they're similar? Some plots are archetypal. That doesn't make them any less entertaining. In fact, the variation may give a tired plot a new lease on life. Look at what "West Side Story" did for "Romeo and Juliet".

[voxwoman.livejournal.com]

Well, you should rent "Hell in the Pacific" - I think you'll like it - some great performances (Mako seldom gets decent roles, and this is certainly one of them, IMHO). And you should read this:

http://www.sff.net/people/bblongyear/EnemyMine.html

and find a copy of the book (I didn't realize he had written 2 sequels to it - I may pick them all up as well).

As an aside, I was at Noreascon 2, but I watched the Hugo awards from my hotel room on the CCTV. :)

[voxwoman.livejournal.com]

OK, now I'm embarrassed. It's not Steve McQueen and Mako (that was "The Sand Pebbles"... I'm just getting old I guess) - IMDB tells me it's Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune (still great performances).

(and as a vaguely related aside, I spent an hour yesterday determining that I do NOT own the Seven Samurai on DVD. An ommission I am now compelled to correct)

[nolawitch.livejournal.com]

Loved "The Sand Pebbles". Will have to hunt for "Hell in the Pacific".

I know how you feel about compulsions to get stuff. I get that way sometimes too.