Gremlins: SE review

Interesting viewpoint on the Gremlins SE DVD. I thought it was gutsy to point at the film's flaws... but perhaps DVD Town could've assigned this review to someone better-suited to the DVD. There were a handful of inaccuracies. Even more grating is that Mr. Puccio was reviewing a fun movie from a highbrow perspective. That gives the review a peculiar slant. I recommend his reviewing talents are saved for movies where his peering intellectualism can be of use.

1. It's not that Billy feeds the furball after midnight that causes him to multiply. It's the water, you ding-dong!

2. How did the movie mock consumerism - ? By hiding a Gremlin behind an E.T. toy? Spielberg wasn't mocking himself, was he? Is he schizophrenic?

3. You're saying Gremlins was a premeditated cash-in? Weren't all those 80's flicks just pulling a Star Wars - ? I don't think your concentration on the movie's commercialization is related to the DVD review in the slightest... especially if any praises are being sung for the convincing facial expressions of Yoda ... who came from the biggest kiddie-toy cash cow of all time!

4. Racism? Whutchoo talkin' bout, Willis? Are you referring to the Chinese shopkeeper? The black guy getting it in the butt? You refrained from elaborating in your review. Please elaborate here!

5. Gremlins II: The New Batch isn't out on DVD. Yet. It's released August 20th. Sloppy, poppy, sloppy!

Over-all, you ascribe far more significance to this little popcorn gobbler / b-movie homage than you ought to.

We are talking about an uneven little movie ... sure! But I'm left wondering if yourself and your friends didn't get the Muppet Show either.

MissOgynist,

Thanks for your comments. I expected a good number of Gremlins fans to be annoyed by my not liking the film as much as they did. Unless reviewers like every film they evaluate, people are going to react in kind. It comes with the job. Your reactions are well taken and while I don't agree with all of them (since most of them are based on our differing personal interpretations), I can certainly understand them.

Gremlins, as I said, was and still is a hugely popular entertainment. However, that in itself doesn't make it a great film. In DVDTown's rating system, the 6/10 I assigned it means that I thought it was a good, upper-average film, not a bad one.

Incidentally, this was meant to be pre-release review. Although the sequel's release is Aug. 20, same as Gremlins, I am holding the sequel in my hand, so it IS available, just not to everybody for a short while. I simply wanted people to be aware they could also purchase the sequel if they had a mind to.

Anyway, thanks again for the feedback. Feel free to contact me personally if you'd like to discuss the film at length (and feel free to post any part of our discussion if you like). It's fun talking to film lovers.

John P., DVDTown

For someone who claims to know Gremlins, you sure missed the boat on the film's racist elements. As a whole, the movie is not racist, but it contains enough stereotypes that register the filmmakers' immaturity at the time. My colleague simply did not want to dwell on the issue in his review.

Also, we write reviews with an eye towards the future. That is probably why Mr. Puccio states that Gremlins 2 is also available on DVD. August 20, 2002 has not yet come to pass, but I assure you, there are more days to come AFTER the said date than days between the posting of the review and the release of Gremlins 2.

I never really cared for Gremlins! I always thought it was a silly movie and it simply did nothing for me. The story didn't seem too bad but the way it was directed was cheap. I found cleaning the cheese from under my toenails far more entertaining then Gremlins.

3/10

Oh, well.

I admit Gremlins wasn't the Third Man, peeps. It was a feel good flick. Obviously it didn't make you guys feel very good. It seemed to have the intended effect on reviewers at pretty much every other site. (Thanks John Puccio for representing the 20% of the reviewers who disliked it at Rotten Tomatoes. I looked there so that I could cheaply rail off the number of other reviewers who got Gremlin's charm and I got a screaming chortle out of the fact that Puccio's review was the one negative that delivered the walloping! Hahahahahaha! Hilarity! Seriously. I'm easily amused, but that one cracked me up.)

I just wish Hollywood disliked this movie as much as you guys. That way we wouldn't of had to suffer through the half-assed stylistic retread the Gremlins formula got by way of Eight Legged Freaks.

What did you folks think of Gremlins II, by the way? I think it's a rip-roaring, three beers good time. But ... that is from the fingernail-cheese eating perspective of an infidel that actually enjoyed the despicable Gremlins.

-Ms.

I think that the point that my colleague John Puccio was trying to make was that Gremlins (and its sequel) can be enjoyed as light fun, yes, but just because a movie is enjoyable fluff does not mean that it merits a high rating. I had a great time watching both Gremlins movies over the years, but there's no way that I myself would rate them as highly as, say, LOTR 1.