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Geek Bites: New Ways to Appreciate 'The Thing,' 'The Dark Knight Rises' and…

We tend to quickly judge movies on our way out of the theater, but any good film fan knows that time can do wonders with our opinions and perceptions of various works, oftentimes aided by new critiques and analyses or discoveries and developments made about their production. Below are three movies that were met by negative or at least disappointed reviews upon release but are each interesting to reconsider for some new revelatory reason.

The Thing

John Carpenter’s 1982 sci-fi horror remake is much more beloved today than it was 34 years ago, so there’s no need for convincing that it’s a great film. But a recent interview with its director of photography, Dean Cundey, may give fans a new point of appreciation, or perhaps it will ruin the celebrated open-endedness for them. “So we were looking for some kind of a subtle way to say which one of these (men) might be human,” he told Blumhouse on how viewers can tell if a character in the movie is human or monster: “You’ll notice there’s always an eye light, we call it, a little gleam in the eye of the actor. It gives life.”

You can see a clear comparison between two characters’ close-ups at Geek Tyrant, and you can revisit the once-ambiguous ending below. Or just re-watch the whole movie, anew.

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The Dark Knight Rises

The third part in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy is far from being unpopular, but next to The Dark Knight, it was viewed by many as a disappointment. Now there’s more context, with comparisons to be made with more recent Batman movies plus the general sequel-driven approach to superhero franchises. In a new interview with Cinema Blend, The Dark Knight Rises actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt reminds us of one significantly unique element the movie has that makes it stand out for him. Read the excerpt, which focuses on how his character, John Blake, was set up to take over the Batman role:

I know we’re all used to the sort of Marvel movies, which are just kind of endless series. They don’t really have a beginning, middle, and end. But I think Nolan very much thought of that movie as a conclusion, and there’s a theme that runs through all three of those movies that begins in the first movie, runs through the second movie and it concludes in that moment where he says that Batman is more than a man, Batman is a symbol. And so to have another man other than Bruce Wayne kind of becoming Batman at the end of that trilogy, I think that’s the perfect ending to that story.

The irony is that many see the set up of Blake as Batman as being a set up for another sequel or spinoff, but clearly in the minds of the filmaker and actor involved, that was never the intention. It was all for our imagination, if anything.

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Suicide Squad

Finally, one of those more recent movies featuring Batman is only a few weeks old but already ready for return viewings to determine what it does right and/or interestingly.

The much-derided DC Extended Universe offshoot Suicide Squad has many merits to discover, including its visual effects work. Cinema Blend has also shared some images found via the Movie Picture Studio spotlighting a few shots with heavy but seamless CG craftsmanship. Below you can see one of the side-by-side comparisons with the part where Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) falls from the helicopter. Check out a bunch more shots on Facebook here.