tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5407391624985829089.post5088525218444109703..comments2024-03-14T02:13:38.885-04:00Comments on Radiator Heaven: FlatlinersJ.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11823190634186509982noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5407391624985829089.post-41371438434845550262015-07-09T10:24:23.931-04:002015-07-09T10:24:23.931-04:00Good point! Yeah, Joe's character kinda seems ...Good point! Yeah, Joe's character kinda seems like the odd person out. His personal demons aren't as interesting or as relevant as everyone else's and does feel a bit tacked on.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08164105442273577128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5407391624985829089.post-92105634130494773412015-07-04T06:59:56.034-04:002015-07-04T06:59:56.034-04:00" This movie was all about journeying into th... " This movie was all about journeying into the after life & finding out about life after death. 4 out of the 5 med students went Flatline. My comment is mainly about Billy Baldwin's character Joe Hurley. <br /> Everyone else had relevant & haunting after death experiences from Rachel's father committing suicide to Nelson's childhood nemesis Billy Mahoney meeting his doom & haunting Nelson. But what I don't understand is the premise of relativity of death experiences & then you have Joe Hurley for which he has no death related experiences that are horrible & soaked in terror like the other 3 flatlined cohorts in the film. Joe Hurley's sequence had nothing to do with life after death experiences & his segment was based solely on perverted based current & ongoing sexual encounters. I thought this movie was all about their past of death or near death experiences coming back to haunt them. Joe Hurley had no death experiences like Rachel Mannis or Nelson Wright or David Labraccio's characters all did. Joe's was purely sexual in nature & everyone in his VHS tape collection never met an untimely death at the hands of Joe. So the fact that Steckle never flatlined & Joe Hurley's flatlining experiences failed to show any death causing experiences to unfold then that is the weakest & irrelevant & poorly written portion of this movie. <br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5407391624985829089.post-2396187447871404892011-05-27T10:51:20.993-04:002011-05-27T10:51:20.993-04:00The Film Connoisseur:
Yeah, FALLING DOWN is prett...The Film Connoisseur:<br /><br />Yeah, FALLING DOWN is pretty badass and definitely is one of Schumacher's best films to date.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08164105442273577128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5407391624985829089.post-74942981554638680192011-05-26T15:40:04.552-04:002011-05-26T15:40:04.552-04:00Falling Down is my favorite movie of his, followed...Falling Down is my favorite movie of his, followed by The Lost Boys. Falling Down makes up for all his mishaps, to me it's an electrifying film, everyone should see it.Franco Macabrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10994905312221715861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5407391624985829089.post-27774092735534547792011-05-26T15:18:31.782-04:002011-05-26T15:18:31.782-04:00Sam Juliano:
Thank you for bringing up that NIGHT...Sam Juliano:<br /><br />Thank you for bringing up that NIGHT GALLERY episode! I have yet to see it but am intrigued based on your recommendation.<br /><br />Good to see another admirer of this film. As always, thank you for stopping. Much appreciated, my friend!<br /><br /><br />Erich Kuersten:<br /><br />Hey! Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I go either way with Owen G.'s reviews. Sometimes he "gets it" - other times he's way off base. But then most critics are like that - even J. Hoberman whom I admire a helluva lot. It did not surprise me that Ebert dug the film. It seems like something right up his alley.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08164105442273577128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5407391624985829089.post-1644962260970058052011-05-26T12:02:39.462-04:002011-05-26T12:02:39.462-04:00Thank you my brother, this was an awesome review, ...Thank you my brother, this was an awesome review, and brought back lots of shiver-inducing memories. Good work bringing back the initial critical responses. It's odd that Owen G. would trash the film based on it not being more of a Julia Roberts movie. He's usually not such a tool, but it's cool of Roger Ebert to recognize a good 'popcorn' flick for what it is, and not get mad that Richard Gere doesn't show up with some nice roses.Erich Kuerstenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02850572368098319317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5407391624985829089.post-85282812446397769392011-05-24T20:26:46.460-04:002011-05-24T20:26:46.460-04:00J.D.: I will admit this film unerved me, and I...J.D.: I will admit this film unerved me, and I've never forgotten it over the years. The whole flatliner thing first grabbed my attention in a creepy episode of Rod Serling's NIGHT GALLERY titled "The Dead Man," where the same subject examined in FLATLINERS is amplified further with the power of suggestion.<br /><br />I always found much of FLATLINERS horrifying, and the cast puts on quite a show. As you note in the terrific piece there was a kind of obsession in Hollywood at the time with afterlife movies, and I thought this and the more comedic GHOST were the best of the lot.Sam Julianonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5407391624985829089.post-59007482699169017752011-05-23T10:34:52.856-04:002011-05-23T10:34:52.856-04:00John Kenneth Muir:
Hey! Maybe it seemed like I wa...John Kenneth Muir:<br /><br />Hey! Maybe it seemed like I was being a bit too harsh on FLATLINERS. I do like it a lot, warts and all. I think its the flaws that continue to fascinate me.<br /><br />"I appreciated Flatliners' attempt to diagram, thmeatically, a universe of essentially moral dimension."<br /><br />Agreed. Alto, this is where the film gets a bit dodgy, also. I don't think the script is entirely successful to examining these themes in a truly meaningful way. It certainly is trying to but doesn't quite do it, for me, at least.<br /><br /><br />"In the world of Flatliners (and these other films), immoral decisions have consequences to the soul, and characters must make a choice about the way they want to live. I appreciate this tack, and the idea of a (pop) cultural wake-up call after the "Greed is Good" 1980s. I find it unique to that time period, really, and eminently worthwhile given some of what we saw in the late eighties."<br /><br />Well said! I certainly agree with what you're saying here and maybe that's part of what I grativate towards.<br /><br /><br />The Film Connoisseur:<br /><br />Yeah, the cast is pretty impressive - you certainly could afford to assemble them all now. Roberts' pricetag alone would be prohibitive.<br /><br />I am fascinated by the whole life after death thing as well and that certainly is a big draw for me with this film.<br /><br />As for Schumacher, I think the BATMAN films really hurt his career. He really took a public beating on those ones but I do enjoy a few he did after, namely FALLING DOWN and TIGERLAND, which I think are pretty interesting films.<br /><br /><br />Hokahey:<br /><br />Thanks for stopping by and for the nice comments. I agree with you about it being a forgetten gem.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08164105442273577128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5407391624985829089.post-2432797529852469832011-05-21T21:41:58.202-04:002011-05-21T21:41:58.202-04:00Back in 1990 in Boston, I remember picking this mo...Back in 1990 in Boston, I remember picking this movie without knowing anything about and being totally satisfied by its energy and its striking imagery. This is a forgotten gem worth remembering. Well done.Richard Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5407391624985829089.post-2570191116722761152011-05-20T18:46:16.790-04:002011-05-20T18:46:16.790-04:00I havent seen this one in, damn, far too long. The...I havent seen this one in, damn, far too long. The cast is freaking awesome though, is there a film that gathers this many 80's stars in only one film? St. Elmos Fire comes to mind...but damn, everybody in this film went on to have great careers on television and film. <br /><br />Thematically, I like what the film is talking about, what happens after death is a fascinating subject any day of the week. Give this theme to a different director and an entirley different film will pop up. Ideas of what happens after we die can go anywhere...because in my opinion, nobody really knows. <br /><br />I guess this one went down a pseudo christian path, with the whole thing about their sins haunting them in the afterlife, and their fears. I liked how it laced it all with the scientific\medical angle. <br /><br />I'd enjoy revisiting this one...kind of makes you wonder what the hell happened to Schumacher dont it? I mean. "Blood Creek" was such a load of shit! But I guess the dude IS pretty old...and directors (with very few exceptions) tend to loose their touch when they get older I guess.Franco Macabrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10994905312221715861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5407391624985829089.post-54393952029924652602011-05-20T10:32:07.482-04:002011-05-20T10:32:07.482-04:00Hi J.D.
I have to admit, I really admire Flatline...Hi J.D.<br /><br />I have to admit, I really admire Flatliners; visual and thematic excesses and all. <br /><br />I agree that the Gothic look is as daring as the characters' activities, and I think it is a suitable choice in a story about the mysteries of life and death that the production design reaches for the grand...and the ominous.<br /><br />But more than that, I appreciated Flatliners' attempt to diagram, thmeatically, a universe of essentially moral dimension.<br /><br />This was something that was happening a lot in the horror films of the year 1990, from Flatliners, to The Exorcist III, to Ghost, to Soultaker. It was like the wake-up from the Yuppie 1980s dream, to misquote Johnny Byrne (who wrote about the 1970s as wake-up from the hippie dream). <br /><br />In the world of Flatliners (and these other films), immoral decisions have consequences to the soul, and characters must make a choice about the way they want to live. I appreciate this tack, and the idea of a (pop) cultural wake-up call after the "Greed is Good" 1980s. I find it unique to that time period, really, and eminently worthwhile given some of what we saw in the late eighties.<br /><br />As always, your excellent writing/retrospective has made me want to watch another film all over again. Even if I like this particular film more than you did, in this instance.<br /><br />best,<br />JKMJohn Kenneth Muirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15629979615332893780noreply@blogger.com