Christine

Rating:
Summary: great
Review: John Carpenter does for automobiles what Steven Speilberg did for swimming in the ocean with his blockbuster "Jaws"

Rating:
Summary: Good movie!
Review: This was an awsome movie! It was a little scary, at the thought. It was imagintive and horrifying. I reccomend the book by steven king if you like this movie, its much much better!!

Rating:
Summary: A MAGNIFICANT MOVIE!!!!!
Review: John Carpenter is a genius. The story line for this movie is terrific. This is by far the best movie I have ever seen. REALLY!. Carpenter's choice of a car was perfect. A 1958 Plymoth Fury is one of the most powerful and beautiful muscle cars ever made. The music in the movie was perfect for this thriller. It has a monotonous and errie tone that sets the mood just right. If I could have given this movie ten stars I would have. If you are at all interested in thrill movies I highly recommend this one.

Rating:
Summary: Horrible- if you read the book
Review: This movie was the biggest disappointment of any Stephen Kings books. If anyone read the book they would know about the deep characters built, and the story line. Instead the worthless John Carpenter skipped the real story of Christine, didn't even have the Lebay alive at the beginning and just his brother- please. This is like a movie version if you bought Cliff notes. I was never more disappointed in a SK book to movie in my life.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but that doesn't mean it's good.
Review: John Carpenter's "Christine". Based upon the novel by Stephen King. The good news is, this isn't a "bad" adaptation. That shouldn't suggest its a good one either. Anyone who has read the book can tell you the movie jumbled a lot of things around. But you can't expect a movie adaptation to be perfect. For that, I graded this loosely.

Keith Gordon plays Arnie Cunningham. A student who's commonly picked on, and tries (too hard at times) to be popular and fit in with the crowd. John Stockton plays his best friend, Dennis Guilder, who sticks with Arnie through all the good and the bad.

When Dennis is busy taking Arnie for a ride home, Arnie spots a busted down 1958 Plymouth in a horrible looking yard. This soon becomes the biggest obsession with his life. The cars name is Christine. To us, she's just a normal car. To Arnie, she's his lover. But the reality of it: She's a demon on wheels.

The movie starts off fine at first. The way the characters are portrayed in the movie is disturbingly good. The casting was great too. I'm impressed with how people got into their rolls, and how the movie played out because of it. It made watching it better, at least. Arnie, I felt, was a little overdone in the beginning. He looks almost too nerdish. So nerdish that when he begins to cuss at his parents, it almost looks completely out of character for him. But as the movie drags on (and he later loses the glasses) his character becomes deeper, and better.

The problem I had with this film was the pace. It doesn't move too slow, it rather moves too fast. When Arnie first gets the car, everything is fine and dandy. Then, as he becomes obsessed with his car, he changes. The problem is, we know he's changed, but we didn't get to see him undergo that change long enough. You had to adapt to the fact that he had changed before we even realized he had changed.

The music was nice, but the death scenes weren't up to par with how gruesome they were in the book. The book was much more exhilerating and heart pounding.

Lastly, the movie just wasn't scary. There's too much build up to the point where one can't be frightened. The important parts it zips through so fast that there's no suspense build up. In fact, the only surprise is near the end of the movie. Sadly, it's only a surprise because it's so incredibly different from the book. "The Shining" was scary, even if you read the book. "Carrie" was scary, even if you read the book.

"Christine" is not scary in the slightest. It tries so hard to be but it really isn't. Fine performances, fine characters. But on the horror scale it gets a zero.





Rating:
Summary: Great Movie/Great DVD/ loses one star for poor audio.
Review: There are some good extras on this dvd. I won't go into details as others have wrote about them here. Overall, this dvd is great and any fan of the film will appreciate it. However, the surround sound quality is very poor. Now, I'm not sure if the sound quality of this film is just simply poor to begin with. If that is the case then, I cannot have anything to complain about because that is just the way it is. However, if the sound for this film was intended to be strong (which I imagine it was considering the soundtrack) this dvd does not reflect it. I'll put it to you this way; most of my dvds have very strong sound from all speakers when my volume is at about 17 - I had to play this dvd at 25 the entire way through without ever having to turn it down when the film hit certain noisy points. The sound stayed flat completely through the film. Oh well, I waited a long time for a special edition of this film to come out. I recommend it to anyone, I'm just disappointed in the sound.

Rating:
Summary: 1958 Plymouth Fury A car that refuses to die
Review: Born in Detroit but powered from the nether world. Christine was four-wheeled evil in the horror movie that bore her name. The '58 Plymouth Fury was acquired by a high school student by the name of Arnie Cunningham. When he 1st bought Christine she was a rusted out pile of junk. With hard work and effort he was able to transform this wreck into a thing of awesome power and beauty, and she was something to behold.

To begin with Arnie was a nurd, and was bullied by everyone at school, and nagged constantly by his parents. Though Christine's powers Arnie was transformed into a very outgoing, handsome and physically powerful dude who took no crap from anyone, including his Mom and Dad. He no longer allowed himself to be bullied or pushed around by family, friends or anyone who came between he and his beauty Christine. He worshiped her and she took care of and protected him to the very end. Theirs was a true love - hate relationship. She was very jealous and would not allow anyone to come between she and Arnie.

If anyone tried to break up this very powerful relationship they would come to pay dearly. Christine would wreak vengence on any one who dared to cross her or Arnie. Those mesmerized by her fire engine red beauty, dual carbs, dual exhaust with tremendous power were in for a rude awakening - that is if they even managed to wake up from the nightmare called Christine.

Of all the movies I've watched, this one is without any doubt my favorite. I have lost tract of all the times I've watched it. I never tire or seeing it. After I've seen most movies once I don't care to watch them again. I recorded it on VCR when it first played on TV and a year or so back when the DVD came out I had to have it. I love this movie.

Probably a lot has to do with my love of cars. I once had a 1950 Ford with a flathead mill, and dual exhaust that no one could touch. I also owned a 1987 Camaro which was the last year General Motors installed a four barrel carb. The next year they went to fuel injection. There were not too many that could take me and my car in a race. The mill was more powerful then the then Corvette engines that were coming out. One guy wanted to just buy the engine.

I also have over 400 small scale 'die cast' cars, trucks, hot rods and motorcycles in display cases. Mostly Franklin Mint and Danbury Mint 1/24 scale. I just received my 1/18 die cast of Christine from the 'Collectors Guild' today from UPS and she is 'cherry.' Even though it is not in 1/24 and is the larger 1/18 I still had to have her. She is Red with a white top, gold side strip, highly detailed interior and chassis, extremely detailed interior and chasis, steerable front wheels, opening doors, hood and trunk, dual exhaust, dual carbs. She is a beauty. I love her.

My favorite part of the movie is when Arnie and Dennis are speeding down the highway at night in Christine. Arnie says, "There is nothing finer than a man driving, behind the wheel of his own car." I would have to add, a car that he loves and cherishes.

Rent the DVD or Video, or better yet buy one. If you love cars like I do you won't regret it.

Rating:
Summary: An underrated Carpenter classic
Review: "Christine" is one of director John Carpenter's finest yet less appreciated films. Carpenter himself sounded his slight disappointment with the film in some interviews which ultimately led it to be labeled as a failure. Well it isn't. The film based on Stephen King's novel, is an intriguing, atmospheric and extremely suspensful story that works both as a macabre chiller and a psychological thriller. The film also contains some of Carpenter's best visuals as his compositions in this film show his unique talent and taste in composing with the Panavision frame as well as featuring one of his most ambient synth scores. With good performances by John Stockwell, Keith Gordon and Harry Dean Stanton, this is a classic supernatural\psychological mystery that is recommended for Carpenter fans and fans of thrillers alike.

Rating:
Summary: A worthy Special Edition
Review: Christine is something of a curious anomaly in John Carpenter's career. It isn't as beloved by his fans as, say, Escape from New York and it isn't as crappy as Memoirs of an Invisible Man. It is, however, one of the better Stephen King adaptations-which isn't saying much when you consider how many lousy ones there are out there. A previous, bare bones DVD was released awhile ago. Now, a new special edition with Carpenter's participation is out.

A treat for Carpenter fans is the audio commentary by the director and the film's star, Keith Gordon. It's great to hear two directors talk about their craft. . It's a trip down memory lane for both men who joke and remember all sorts of good anecdotes in this relaxed and entertaining track.

There are 20 deleted scenes, most of which are not very long in length and, in most cases, were rightly cut. They flesh out the characters a bit more and show the demise of minor characters.

"Christine: Fast and Furious" examines the themes and story of the movie with new interviews with Carpenter, Gordon, John Stockwell and Alexandra Paul.

"Christine: Finish Line" examines the use of music in the movie. Also included in this featurette is how the cast and crew view the film now that twenty years has passed.

"Christine: Ignition" features the film's screenwriter, Bill Phillips, talking about how he adapted King's novel. He and Carpenter talk about the changes that they made from King's novel to make it more cinematic.

Christine is good film, not a great one, but definitely one of the better King adaptations because it was made by a director with a distinctive style and vision. In many respects it is not a conventional horror film. There is very little gore or traditional scares. It's more of a mood or an unsettling feeling. Fans of Carpenter will enjoy this DVD for Carpenter's excellent commentary track. This new special edition is a definite improvement over the older one and well worth picking up.

Rating:
Summary: Finally Christine on DVD done right
Review: I am soooo happy to see this finally released on DVD the right way.It is currently available on DVD and has been for some time now but that dvd was obviously rushed into production as there was one big thing missing.Special Features.This is one movie I want as much special fetures as possible and you'll get them with this new realese they are

Featurette's

Christine,Fast and Furious
Christine,Finish Line
Christine,Ignition

there will also be a photo galery and deleted scenes.The only thing I am disspaointed about is they still have not released the trailer wich has kept his from being a 5 star rating