Stephen King's Langoliers ?

[Grega77]

Hey i am going to rent this movie but before i do i want to know all of your thoughts and opinions on this Stephen King movie.
Let me know. Thanks!

[EVILxxx]

to be honest this movie sucks real bad. the acting is incredibly poor the monsters are incredible CGI looking, and it is incredibly boring. do not rent or watch if it comes on tv. the only good part about this movie is the guy who played Balky Baltocomus is in it. ya know that romanian guy who lived with his brother in that 80s sitcom.

[the night watchman]

"The Langoliers" is like an extended (maybe over-extended) Twilight Zone episode. There's no getting around the TV movie quality of it, but I think it's pretty entertaining, if a bit long. The problem is that the mystery is more interesting than the answer, and the Langoliers are scarier when you don't see them. Wanna know what they look like? Highlight: They look like big three-dimensional Pac-Mans.

[Jewbo]

to b kind to the film. its shit. the cgi is soo bad. the blind girl is very annoying. its terrible.

[RogueSpear]

Originally posted by the night watchman
"The Langoliers" is like an extended (maybe over-extended) Twilight Zone episode. There's no getting around the TV movie quality of it, but I think it's pretty entertaining, if a bit long. The problem is that the mystery is more interesting than the answer, and the Langoliers are scarier when you don't see them. Wanna know what they look like? Highlight: They look like big three-dimensional Pac-Mans.

What he said...

It's all right, but it's no The Stand.

[KillerKlown]

This film sucks big-time - save your cash or rent something worth renting!

Oh, not only do the things look like what Night Watchman said, they also act like them....

[teenkiller]

I saw this years ago when it first came out on tv and to be honest as much as I love Balki he annoyed the shit out of me with all his paper shredding. From what I remember the movie was pretty so-so. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[Cronos]

I actually liked it

[angelinwhite]

Based on a Stephen King short story. Not a particularly good one either. The story didn't scare me and the tv movie certainly was chilling.

Don't rent it, just watch it the next time it's on the tube.

[redback]

.

[malaria]

Originally posted by Cronos
I actually liked it

So did I.
It's a good mystery story that is very tense and it's very chilling. The answer to the mystery / explanation of the Langoliers is very satisfying
But I agree the characters grate a bit at times.
And the Langoliers themselves look amazingly shit. CGI gone mad!
Quite a creepy film on the whole though. Deffo worth a rent IMO.

[pig farmer]

I hate CGI. That said, the langoliers look like shit (as said before), but I liked the rest of the movie. The blind girl needed to be flogged, dragged down a brick road, then hung, but other than her, the cast was ok. Bronson Pinchot was pretty funny to me, all that paper shredding. He seemed so pleased with it.

[charles lee ray]

this movie sucks.its the worst stephen king movie ive ever seen.

[bobo_the_clown]

I really liked it as well. i thought the acting was good. I just can't see how people think the acting or the film sucks at all. It had me hooked from the getgo. It was a great watching all the wierd shit go down and the passengers try to figure out what has happened to them. This is a thinking mans horror film. Hopefully thats not the reason some people hate it. I thought the langoliers ruled. Sorry others dont! Their loss i suppose!

[KcMsterpce]

... Sucks.

Watch it if you're a fan of King (like me), and you want to fulfill your dream of seeing every movie based on his writing (like me).

Otherwise, watch Stand By Me again, or something GOOD like that.

[Murderous Squad]

Its a really good plot and story but the Langoliers look like pure SHIT only if they didnt fuck up on the animation it woulda been a kick ass movie but its worth seein..i own it its not that bad i enjoyed it til the ending...Peace

[Draccoca]

although i like the story The Langoliers the movie was CRAP, bad acting, and bad animation, reminded me too much of It. but i still watch it every now and again only because I'm a big king fan.

[HorrorFan]

This is a total rip off from an episode of The Twlight Zone...
But I don't think it's such a bad movie(despite the badly made cgi creatures and the so so acting)

[the night watchman]

Which episode from The Twilight Zone?

[HorrorFan]

Originally posted by the night watchman
Which episode from The Twilight Zone?

Can't remember now...give me some time
Give me like two or three weeks actually (i'll be traveling next friday) and then i'll try and find the episode...

Later

[Xipe Totec]

I really loved it the first time I saw it ( the acting, the plot....all of it) , but now I´ve seen about 3-4 times and it`s getting just a bit boring...
The blind girl and the cgi langoliers didn`t annoy me one bit....and that psycho guy was really cool, with all this paper shredding....

[KaMiKaZ3]

Ive only seen this once, and i liked it. i think its pretty watchable, i didnt find the characters half as annoying as you lot make out, but the Langoliers....oo....kkk.........

I think the story is pretty cool and inventive too.

[Shatter]

I saw Langoliers on tv a couple times, it wasn't all bad. The only negative points that I found were that it did seem like a long Twilight Zone episode, the acting was good at some points but bad at others, and it was a little too long.

But on the upside, I did find it enjoyable and the Langoliers themselves looked better than I had expected.

All in all, it's pretty good as far as made for tv movies go.

Now this is a bit off subject but why is it Stephen King stories don't seem to translate well onto film? I'm not saying they're bad, but I think they could be a bit better.

[the night watchman]

Originally posted by Shatter

Now this is a bit off subject but why is it Stephen King stories don't seem to translate well onto film? I'm not saying they're bad, but I think they could be a bit better.

I think it's because when someone hears the name Stephen King, they immediatly think blood and monsters and whatever the usual horror tropes are. But King's stories and novels, the best ones anyway, are dependent on the characters. So, in other words, when a studio produces a"Stephen King movie," attention to character gets pushed to the side. There are exceptions, of course, like "Carrie," "Needful Things" and "The Dark Half". This explains why his non-horror adaptations, "Stand By Me," "The Dead Zone," "The Green Mile," and of course, "The Shawshank Redemption" work so well -- the filmmakers don't have to worry about the boo-scary moments and the special effects.

Also, King's novels average around 600 pages. That's a lot of story to cram into a 90 - 160 minute flick.

[Shatter]

Originally posted by the night watchman
I think it's because when someone hears the name Stephen King, they immediatly think blood and monsters and whatever the usual horror tropes are. But King's stories and novels, the best ones anyway, are dependent on the characters. So, in other words, when a studio produces a"Stephen King movie," attention to character gets pushed to the side. There are exceptions, of course, like "Carrie," "Needful Things" and "The Dark Half". This explains why his non-horror adaptations, "Stand By Me," "The Dead Zone," "The Green Mile," and of course, "The Shawshank Redemption" work so well -- the filmmakers don't have to worry about the boo-scary moments and the special effects.

Also, King's novels average around 600 pages. That's a lot of story to cram into a 90 - 160 minute flick.

Yup :)

[The Sandman]

It's very long to start the movie, maybe 2 hours and it's more good after but I don't particully like this stuff!! The book is a lot more better in my view!!

[Wicked]

The worst S King movie I every saw. As in many other cases, you can tell there is a great story behind it, but poor acting, poor directing, low-budget cgi (now there's a scary concept), and just plain bad movie making make this movie... unwatchable

[doggyboyuk]

to be honest this movie sucks real bad. the acting is incredibly poor the monsters are incredible CGI looking, and it is incredibly boring. do not rent or watch if it comes on tv. the only good part about this movie is the guy who played Balky Baltocomus is in it. ya know that romanian guy who lived with his brother in that 80s sitcom.

My exact view!

[#1myersfan]

God damn! i can totally understand why most would not like this film...i, on the other hand, found it to be a pretty good movie. the guy who plays the pilot(he's in a million kmovies but i don't know his name) did a really good job as well as the Australian dude....most of the other characters were cheesy though i admit.....did anyone else recognize the guy who payed Barny in the Hannibal Lector movies? He was also in Maximum overdrive i just realized.....

[Odd Emu]

I actually liked it. Some of the acting was pretty good for what kind of movie it is. Doesn't compare to The Stand but still an overall ok film. The ending is the part that I liked the most. The beginning and middle range from Crap to Not so Crappy.

[EoghainFOKeeffe]

READ THE BOOK!

READ THE BOOK!

The book of THE LANGOLIERS is really good. It's thrilling, mysterious and very very very exciting. It's like a perfect Twilight Zone episode.

The movie, on the other hand, is the worst Stephen King movie ever made. It's worse than THE LAWNMOWER MAN 2. It's worse than the worst piece of trash you can imagine. In fact, the movie made me feel ill. I can't believe Tom Holland directed it.

But the book is excellent.

Don't ruin the book for yourself by watching the movie.

[Draccoca]

Originally posted by EoghainFOKeeffe
READ THE BOOK!

READ THE BOOK!

The book of THE LANGOLIERS is really good. It's thrilling, mysterious and very very very exciting. It's like a perfect Twilight Zone episode.

The movie, on the other hand, is the worst Stephen King movie ever made. It's worse than THE LAWNMOWER MAN 2.
But the book is excellent.

Don't ruin the book for yourself by watching the movie.

Lawnmower Man 2 wasn't stephen King's

[EoghainFOKeeffe]

Originally posted by Draccoca
Lawnmower Man 2 wasn't stephen King's

I know! I also know about the lawsuit where King got his name taken off the original LAWNMOWER MAN. Still, LAWNMOWER MAN 2 is the worst film I could think of with a tenuous King connection. Well, the second worst - THE LANGOLIERS was the worst.

[Pumpkinhead]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. This movie is getting a beating! But luckily, I am here to defend it.

I am not ashamed to say that I loved, LOVED this movie. It is one of my twenty favourite horror films, and one of my favourite King adaptations. (I still can't decide whether I like this or The Stand better.)

Okay, so it has its flaws. The Langoliers aren't brilliant, as the CGI is somewhat shoddy, but there was just something startling about them. I can't even describe it.

The cast isn't nearly as good as that of The Stand either. But for the most part, they were pretty competent. It's a pretty big compliment when a blind girl didn't get on my nerves. I usually HATE kids in horror movies, but I could put up with her. I also appreciated that most of the characters were at least somewhat developed, and the stereotypes were kept to a minimum.

I also liked the fact that it was never obvious who was going to die. I haven't read the novella, and if you never read it either going into this, don't even try to tell me you know which characters were going to get killed! It's impossible.

Anyway, the best part of the movie is the plot. The plot is pure genius. Only King could come up with this. (Side note: Did anyone else notice the similarities between this movie and another short story by King, The Jaunt?) Throughout the entire movie there is an ever-present feeling of dread, and some very creepy moments thrown in for good measure. I also really enjoyed seeing the characters slowly figuring out what was going on, and watching them work together in order to survive.

Anyway, I really love this movie, and I can see why people might dislike it, but I've never understood why it always gets bashed to death. Give it a chance.

[the night watchman]

Originally posted by Pumpkinhead
(Side note: Did anyone else notice the similarities between this movie and another short story by King, The Jaunt?)

No, what similarities are there? It's been a long time since I've read "The Jaunt" but other than the idea of strange modes of travel I don't recall any off-hand.

[EoghainFOKeeffe]

***SPOILERS for THE JAUNT and LANGOLIERS***

THE JAUNT was about a little boy who insisted on staying awake during an intergalactic trip. Instead of being put into stasis, he ended up experiencing the whole thing and when the family arrived (on Mars, I think) he had aged by about fifty years and he was totally insane.

THE LANGOLIERS was about an alternate universe which was being eaten by huge monsters. And the only way to get into this universe was to be asleep when you passed through the wormhole (or whatever the passage into the universe was). Anybody who was awake would disappear.

Apart from the themes of passing into another universe/timezone and the necessity of being asleep when it's done - I can't see any other similarities between THE JAUNT and THE LANGOLIERS.

***end of SPOILER***

The main thing that ruined THE LANGOLIERS movie for me was the awful, sickening soap-opera/day-time-TV atmosphere. The movie felt totally empty and totally devoid of atmosphere. And, while some of the actors are competent (I know, I've seen them in other roles) they were all terrible in this movie. Like I said before - I can't believe Tom Holland directed this movie. Tom Holland's other movies (FRIGHT NIGHT, CHILD'S PLAY...) were fabulously atmospheric, frightening and exciting.

[Pumpkinhead]

Originally posted by EoghainFOKeeffe
***SPOILERS for THE JAUNT and LANGOLIERS***

Apart from the themes of passing into another universe/timezone and the necessity of being asleep when it's done - I can't see any other similarities between THE JAUNT and THE LANGOLIERS.

That's pretty much what I meant. Perhaps I should have said, "Did anyone notice the similarity?" That's the only similarity I noticed, and although obviously the stories are quite different, I found it interesting that King would use the same concept twice. (I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, I just thought it was worth pointing out.)

[WamphyriNate]

I liked this movie(mini-series). Although I agree it could have been much better, I still really liked it. I found Bronson Pinchot to be VERY convincing in his role. His eyes were the actors in most of his scenes. Overall, I wasn't very impressed with the acting though. As has been said, to "daytime tv" for me. Still, an enjoyable film and one I like owning. Just IMHO.......