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Author
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Topic: The Thing (2011) (Read 26230 times)
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Korachia
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Posts: 472
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Haha, glorious story! That made my day. Properly better then the prequel.
Stray: My problem with hollywood is twofold. First why make remakes/prequels/sequels, when they add nothing original to a story - seeing the same old story unfolded with only new actors and effects does not do it for me. Maybe for you, but not for me. In the case of the Thing prequel, it very much seems to have degenerated into a generic horror film. Also in my mind, bad remakes/prequels/sequels also tends to tarnish the original's story by cluttering the background story/plot/characters/themes up. Maybe not so much a problem for people who have seen the original first and then all the shitty followers. But for those younglings who sees perhaps the second before the first, it will most definitely change how they perceive the original story - they already have a framework which they just put the original into - making it less of an experience. Sometimes one should just let the story end and stop trying to reanimate something that is already perfect or unique.
Secondly, money spend on remakes/prequels/sequels is money that could have been given to filmmakers, who actually have an original idea they want to make into a film.
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« Last Edit: October 08, 2011, 01:10:13 AM by Korachia »
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Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240
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Oh Stop it.
The Thing was a generic horror film. Sorry, but it was.
Sure, it was one of the fucking best movies I've ever seen, but don't put it on a plinth for fucks sake.
Your tarnish argument is also baws. Empire Strikes Back is no less great for the fucking prequels.
You MIGHT be right about it merely being a replay but, you know, so what ? Gonna buy Diablo III ?
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"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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Korachia
Terracotta Army
Posts: 472
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Oh Stop it.
The Thing was a generic horror film. Sorry, but it was.
Sure, it was one of the fucking best movies I've ever seen, but don't put it on a plinth for fucks sake.
Your tarnish argument is also baws. Empire Strikes Back is no less great for the fucking prequels.
You MIGHT be right about it merely being a replay but, you know, so what ? Gonna buy Diablo III ?
It seems we have a squabble on our hands here. You are quite right I was kinda putting it on a plinth - where it properly does not belong based if based on more objective criteria. Still the way it handled the balance between the suspense elements in the frozen inhumane antarctic tundra and the shock effects in the battles where the thing mutates and fights for survival was eminent. Don't you agree? Also I thought the premise and ending was both great. Would you say that sequels/prequels/remakes on the level of the Empire Strikes Back is the common norm? Because while you can name a sequel that is great, I would properly be able to name 5 or 10 sequels that turned out mediocre or bad. So if there ever was a generalization to be made here, it would properly be that the movies after the original one is of a lower quality (the profit might be higher through) compared to the first one. But as to any generalization there is exemptions such as the Empire Strikes Back. As for buying Diablo 3, actually no I will properly not be buying it. All through this decision is not only based on it being a reply, but also time constraints. I did not buy Starcraft 2 either for that matter. And if I was going to buy Diablo 3, it would not be because of the gameplay or story, but because my friends brought it and wants to play it together in a group. Sometimes we do/play stuff just because so we can have that group experience which bound us together or reaffirms the bound. It does not mean I don't like the stuff, but that if it was only me and there was alternatives, I would properly allocate my time differently. It's the same reason why I went in seeing the newest shitty Transformers movie - not because I liked it, but because some friends wanted to see it. It was a group bounding experience, and nothing more for me. Also while The Thing did not spawn "action figures and saturday morning cartoon versions of the Thing" it was commercialized quite a bit, according to wikipedia: "It was subsequently 'novelized' in 1982, adapted into a comic book miniseries published by Dark Horse Comics, and was followed by a video game sequel in 2002, with a film prequel due for release in 2011.". For what reasons? Perhaps to expand the universe, and explore its themes, characters, plot even further. Or to just generate money. Since I have not been into contact with the other "The Things" products I actually can't say, but I always thought that the original was perfect the way it was. Edit: okay hehe, actually The Thing did spawn action figures apparantly:
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« Last Edit: October 08, 2011, 03:08:11 AM by Korachia »
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Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240
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Psycho.
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"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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Margalis
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12335
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In terms of camera work, jump scares, music cues, casting, etc, The Thing really was not a generic horror movie.
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vampirehipi23: I would enjoy a book written by a monkey and turned into a movie rather than this.
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Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240
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Oh shush. 
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"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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Samwise
Moderator
Posts: 19324
sentient yeast infection
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Bumpity. Anyone seen this?
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Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240
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Reviews seem....somewhat negative.
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"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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stu
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1891
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I'm gonna watch the early matinee during lunch. Should be a good way to start the week.
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Dear Diary, Jackpot!
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Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
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Yeah, I'm not hearing good things either, from reviews. Hope people adjust their expectations accordingly or there is gonna be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Edit: that said, the original got very scathing reviews from many quarters.
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« Last Edit: October 17, 2011, 07:30:40 AM by Engels »
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I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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Arthur_Parker
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5865
Internet Detective
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I'm going to watch the original again, haven't seen it in about 20 years but I remember the sound effects being great at building tension.
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Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240
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Original was on Sky Classics the other night.
I was dog tired and needing my bed, but I still ended up watching the whole thing. Just such a good movie.
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"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240
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Edit: that said, the original got very scathing reviews from many quarters.
It did ? Evidence for the lulz ?
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"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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DraconianOne
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Posts: 2905
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Edit: that said, the original got very scathing reviews from many quarters.
It did ? Evidence for the lulz ? Carpenter interview in Time Out last yearI take every failure hard. The one I took the hardest was The Thing. My career would have been different if that had been a big hit. I don’t think the studio knew what kind of movie they were getting. I think they wanted Alien, a crowd-pleaser. And it was way too ferocious for them. They were upset by the ending—too dark. But that’s what I wanted: Who goes there? Who are we? Which one of you is real? The movie was hated. Even by science-fiction fans. They thought that I had betrayed some kind of trust, and the piling on was insane. Even the original movie’s director, Christian Nyby, was dissing me. But 1982 was the summer of E.T.—you don’t realize what a big deal that was. Spielberg had this uncanny knack of knowing what the audience wanted. And he thought they wanted a big cry. He was absolutely right. We came out two weeks later.
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A point can be MOOT. MUTE is more along the lines of what you should be. - WayAbvPar
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Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240
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Fuck E.T.
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"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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Teleku
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10516
https://i.imgur.com/mcj5kz7.png
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Ouch. Though that interview was great. I loved all the political discussion of Escape from New York, and how he described Kurt Russell as being to the right of Attila the Hun. 
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"My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants. He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor." -Stephen Colbert
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Samwise
Moderator
Posts: 19324
sentient yeast infection
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So I saw this yesterday. Positives were the tense paranoid set pieces, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead with a flamethrower (  ). Negatives were overuse of the CGI monster (sometimes it looked good and sometimes it looked ridiculous) and some severe plot stupidness at the end. Overall I'd put it in the "fun stupid monster movie" category. So it's probably going to dash some hopes.
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Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
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Edit: that said, the original got very scathing reviews from many quarters.
It did ? Evidence for the lulz ? Just being lazy on the internetz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(1982_film) Film critic Roger Ebert praised the film's scariness and special effects, calling them "among the most elaborate, nauseating, and horrifying sights yet achieved by Hollywood’s new generation of visual magicians", and called the film itself "a great barf-bag movie". However he criticized what he felt were poor characterizations and illogical plot elements, ultimately giving the film 2½ stars out of 4.[11] In his review for The New York Times, Vincent Canby called it "a foolish, depressing, overproduced movie that mixes horror with science fiction to make something that is fun as neither one thing or the other. Sometimes it looks as if it aspired to be the quintessential moron movie of the 80s".[12] Time magazine's Richard Schickel wrote, "Designer Rob Bottin's work is novel and unforgettable, but since it exists in a near vacuum emotionally, it becomes too domineering dramatically and something of an exercise in abstract art".[13]
In his review for the Washington Post, Gary Arnold called the film "a wretched excess".[14] Jay Scott, in his review for the Globe and Mail, called the film "a hell of an antidote to E.T.".[15] In his review for Newsweek, David Ansen wrote, "Astonishingly, Carpenter blows it. There's a big difference between shock effects and suspense, and in sacrificing everything at the altar of gore, Carpenter sabotages the drama. The Thing is so single-mindedly determined to keep you awake that it almost puts you to sleep".[16]
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I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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stu
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1891
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Hoooooo boy. Just arrived back from this. Where to start...
If you're the rare person who has never seen the Carpenter version, then I highly recommend seeing this in theaters because things (!) are only going to get better for you when it's time to visit the classic from the 80s. This one is mostly competent and there's some strong tension early on.
For everyone else, I'll spoiler the rest in case you want to keep yourself pure until a first viewing. No major details, just some general thoughts:
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« Last Edit: October 17, 2011, 11:15:11 AM by stu »
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Dear Diary, Jackpot!
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Margalis
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12335
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It's funny that all during production the people making the movie claimed to "get it" and said they would be using mostly practical effects and a few high quality CGI effects.
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vampirehipi23: I would enjoy a book written by a monkey and turned into a movie rather than this.
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Ingmar
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Posts: 19280
Auto Assault Affectionado
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The Transcendent One: AH... THE ROGUE CONSTRUCT. Nordom: Sense of closure: imminent.
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stu
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1891
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Best music video ever. About the CGI, it's disappointing. I just read an interview with the director, published yesterday. He sort-of commits to the effects being half CG, but it's more like 90% digital. In all the adds you see the practical work, but that's just a tiny part of the movie. Maybe most of it was left on the cutting room floor. In the end, it's Universal tinkering so much to bolster a franchise that they end up stepping on their own dicks. interview with spoilersThe director talks around the studio micro-managing the project a bit. Meh. It was still pretty good even though I'm not in love with the final product. I'd watch it again. The Zombie Zombie version is better.
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Dear Diary, Jackpot!
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Sand
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1750
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Being stuck in the hospital, I watched the original last night on Netflix. The critics were right. The ending was horrible.
And Alien did the suspense part much better.
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Kitsune
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Posts: 2406
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That was sort of the point, Sand.
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Sand
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1750
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That was sort of the point, Sand. Noooo. All of which is beside the point. People like things, especially movies, wrapped up in nice neat little packages with tidy endings. Hence the hate of the movie.
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Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240
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It's nice to know I'm not People. 
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"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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Ingmar
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Posts: 19280
Auto Assault Affectionado
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Also, I would hardly call that ending tidy.
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The Transcendent One: AH... THE ROGUE CONSTRUCT. Nordom: Sense of closure: imminent.
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murdoc
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3037
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Everything Sand said in this thread.

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Have you tried the internet? It's made out of millions of people missing the point of everything and then getting angry about it
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Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240
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Being stuck in the hospital, I watched the original last night on Netflix. The critics were right. The ending was horrible.
And Alien did the suspense part much better.
Quick Question : What would have satisfied ? I'm seriously asking without menacing intent. I know there was an alternative ending shot that sounds like it would have sucked balls. What would have been your end ?
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"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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Ratman_tf
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3818
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Quick Question : What would have satisfied ? I'm seriously asking without menacing intent. I know there was an alternative ending shot that sounds like it would have sucked balls. What would have been your end ?
I would have had Kurt Russell turn into a blonde in a bikini with twin miniguns, who blows up the Thing and then flies back to civilization while Aerosmith plays in the background.
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 "What I'm saying is you should make friends with a few catasses, they smell funny but they're very helpful." -Calantus makes the best of a smelly situation.
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tazelbain
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Posts: 6603
tazelbain
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Kurt Russel should have come out of the closest.
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"Me am play gods"
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Margalis
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12335
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The last thing The Thing needs is some tacked on happy bullshit ending to please test audiences.
The entire movie is about dread, isolation, bleakness and paranoia and the ending fits all that perfectly.
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vampirehipi23: I would enjoy a book written by a monkey and turned into a movie rather than this.
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Sand
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1750
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Being stuck in the hospital, I watched the original last night on Netflix. The critics were right. The ending was horrible.
And Alien did the suspense part much better.
Quick Question : What would have satisfied ? I'm seriously asking without menacing intent. I know there was an alternative ending shot that sounds like it would have sucked balls. What would have been your end ? Same ending they had for Alien or any other scifi/horror movie. Hero/innocent lives and monster dies (or atleast we think it does). See Alien, Pitch Black, The Shining, Cujo, Predator, etc etc etc.
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DLRiley
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Posts: 1982
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Go watch those movies and leaved the thing alone. 
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Margalis
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12335
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Pretty sure this is the first time I've seen someone argue that all movies should be the same.
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vampirehipi23: I would enjoy a book written by a monkey and turned into a movie rather than this.
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