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Christine
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| Rated: R |
1983 |
Color |
106 mins. |
| Starring:
Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton, Christine Belford, Roberts Blossom, William Ostrander, David Spielberg, Malcolm Danare, Steven Tash, Stuart Charno, Kelly Preston, Marc Poppel, Robert Darnell, Richard Collier, Bruce French, Douglas Warhit, Keri Montgomery,Jan Burrell |
| Directed
by: John Carpenter |
| Written
by: Stephen
King, Bill Phillips |
| Based
on/Written by: Stephen
King |
| Music:
John
Carpenter, Alan Howarth |
| Movie
Co.: Columbia |
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Critique
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| HugeReviews.com's
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| Movie
Stills: Photos |
Links |
Awards |
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HugeReviews.com
Reviews:
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Christine
By Jorge Solis
Solid
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Remember the urban legend about a
guy who finds this really cool car and he buys it for a cheap
price. That is how John Carpenter's Christine begins but instead
of finding a dead body in the trunk, he buys the car from Hell.
Christine is the 1958 Plymouth Fury that Arnie Cunningham buys
and sells his soul for. Keith Gordon is the geek, Arnie, who
drops the trash clumsily in the beginning and later on becomes
the obsessed psychopath driving Christine. Alexandra Paul plays
Leigh Cabot, Arnie's girlfriend who can't protect him from
Christine. John Stockwell plays Dennis Guilder, Arnie's best
friend who couldn't stop him from buying Christine. The
character Arnie Cunningham is picked on by bullies, his parents,
and Darnell. The bullies really mess him up in the beginning.
His annoying and controlling mother is even more annoying as the
movie goes on. His father stands there and watches as Arnie is
continually yelled at by his mother. The only person you want
Arnie to be picked on is Robert Proksky. He gives a great and
scene-stealing performance as the sleazy Darnell. Keith Gordon's
performance makes the movie work because you just want to see
his breaking point. Bill Phillips wrote a good script but the
movie is too long on character development and short on horror.
When I mean short on horror, I mean that there is not a lot of
gore you would usually see from a Stephen King story. |
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The movie, Christine, is based on the novel with the same name
by Stephen King. I believe that Stephen King novels are
difficult to adapt to the movie screen. What do you keep,
change, or leave out in a Stephen King novel? Some things look
good on screen in Christine like when the car gets on fire and I
swear to you that the car has teeth in the climatic battle
between the bulldozer. There are adaptations that are so
horrible like Stanley Kubrick's The Shining and then there are
great adaptations like Brian DePalma's Carrie. I'm going
beyond Christine for a second but Carrie is based on a novel
filled with police reports and diary entries. Brian DePalma and
the screenwriters deserve a big round of applause for adapting
that novel. John Carpenter's Christine is not as great as Carrie
but it's definitely better than George A. Romero's The Dark
Half. |
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John
Carpenter's Three Pack (Christine, Vampire & Starman
A great buy on 3
fun Carpenter movies. |
As a musician, John Carpenter gives the audience a childlike
tune that turns into a creepy and threatening theme. As a
director, John Carpenter moves the camera a lot. At the end of
the day in the car factory, the camera follows the workers as
they leave the building, then zigzags to find another worker
standing by himself, follows him, rises, and with an overhead
shot, you see the dead body fall out when the worker opens
Christine's door. I might be describing it wrong but trust me,
it looks cool in the movie. I recommend this movie to see only because
of the scenes when Christine has to reassemble herself.
The movie comes alive with magic because it is mind-boggling
watching the car put itself together. On the DVD of
Christine, there is a two-page production note from producer,
Richard Kobritz. Richard Korbitz even gives explanations to why
he changed things from novel. The sound and picture of Christine
is much clearer on DVD than on video. You have a choice between
watching the movie widescreen or full-frame. I recommend
watching Christine widescreen because it captures the movie
magic when the car is rebuilding itself. |
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| Awards
& Nominations: IMdb |
Full
Cast & Credits: IMdb |
| Links:
Official
Site, |
The Rumor Mill &
Trivia Section: IMdb
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