The Thing (2011)
★★★½
Third time through this and I still find it interesting either as a prequel or a remake. I like it quite a bit, but mainly because it is just so similar to The Thing (1982), which will always be one of my favorite films. Is it lazy to basically remake it? It is a clever idea? Or, considering the nature of The Thing (itself) and the situation, was there really no other option as this is just how a The Thing scenario is going to play out? One thing that comes to mind is that it is definitely a prequel in the sense of “If you are only going to watch one of them, watch The Thing (1982). If you are going to watch both of them, make sure you watch 1982 before watching 2011!”.
So, besides all that, it’s very familiar feeling and I like the main character, and it’s fun enough that maybe on its own it would rate a 4-star, but the characters just aren’t the great classic characters that populate The Thing (1982), it isn’t very suspenseful (unlike The Thing 1982 which was quite suspenseful), and while some of the effects are good, they are CGI so clearly it’s going to pale in comparison than those brilliant and disturbing practical effects of The Thing (1982).
Candyman (2021)
★★★
I only just saw the original for the first time last year, so didn’t feel the need to a sequel. But I actually liked this more than I would have expected, except it kinda lost me at the last part, when some other sub-plot took over.
I quite enjoyed Tony Todd’s creepy Candyman character of Candyman (1992), I think that in Candyman (2021), the Candyman seemed more a phantom than a character, so that detracted from the story for me and maybe I would have liked it better if it had been a new story, not a Candyman redux. But I thought it was pretty engaging.
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