“You’ll Float Too!”
Release Date: September 8th, 2017
Genre: Drama, Horror
MPAA: 18A
I honestly didn’t think I’d get a pass for this, but I got extremely lucky with Gofobo, so here I am!
This review will be short but to the point as I don’t want to ruin anything, and also I’m not too familiar with the cast and crew behind it.
It is one of my most anticipated movies of the year, I was super excited to hear that they were going to remake the classic mini series starring Tim Curry. The older version was campy to me, but highly entertaining, where this new It looks absolutely terrifying.
It is a drama and horror movie about a group of bullied kids that band together when a monster, taking the appearance of a clown, begins haunting them.
It is directed by Andy Muschietti. I have not seen any of his other films, but Mama (2013) seemed quite interesting and scary, I should track down a copy of the blu ray (which I just ordered while writing this). Theres a lot of really interesting camera techniques that Muschietti uses in It. Theres a scene where a kid manipulates a photo on the wall, and right before he put it straight on the wall, it cuts to him manipulating the camera himself. I haven’t seen many movies or any movies lately that they have utilized this technique and thats when I knew that this movie was going to be something special. I think Muschietti is a quite talented director, and I’m intrigued what he does next, I’m also excited to check out his first feature length film Mama. He’s definitely someone I’m going to look out for with upcoming releases. I thought he really NAILED the atmosphere in this movie and the way he subtly moved the camera and how he framed his shots, it was very well done. Great direction.
It is based off the novel written by the infamous Steven King, who is the master of horror novels in my opinion. The screenplay for this ITaration (bad joke) of It is written by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman. Cary Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman are the the only people I recognize by filmography. Cary Fukunaga directed 8 episodes of Season One of the HBO Original Series True Detective (2014-2015). Gary Dauberman wrote the screenplay for Annabelle (2014) and Annabelle: Creation (2017). It was extremely well written, there were a lot of scenes of tension, but there was some really great instances of comedic dialogue, mainly coming from my favourite character in the movie, but that’ll will be discussed in my Cast write up down below. The movie I thought was really well written and strike a great balance between horror and comedic “coming-of-age” bits.
I knew at the beginning of this movie too, that we were in for a different adaption for It and Pennywise than what we had on the TV screen for the 1990 mini-series. This was a lot more violent, a lot more vulgar and I think more fun.
The film stars Bill Skarsgard as the infamous Pennywise, Jaeden Lieberher as Bill Denbrough, Finn Wolfhard as Richie Tozier, and Wyatt Oleff as Stanley Uris.
Bill Skarsgard’s filmography consists of Atomic Blonde (2017). Honestly, I am really not familiar with Skarsgard’s work at all, I don’t remember his character in Atomic Blonde (2017) {It would be interesting to check out that film again and look out for him}. But holy crap did he ever play Pennywise well. He was genuinely creepy, he was unnerving, he was campy, he had great one liners, he’ll probably haunt my dreams for the next week. I thought he played the role brilliantly, and he had big shoes to fill considering that Tim Curry role as Pennywise is still remembered as one of the greats. Great acting on his part, intrigued to see what he does next.
Jaeden Lieberher’s filmography consists of St. Vincent (2014). I really like this actor, I thought he was wonderful in St. Vincent (2014) — Definitely recommend if you haven’t seen it. But I thought he was great in this role, it actually didn’t even click to me until I got home (and I usually pre write these reviews with the actors and crew and stuff and I still forgot) that it was him. He’s definitely a talented actor.
Finn Wolfhard’s filmography consists of Stranger Things {Netflix Original Series} (2016-2017). I love this kid, I thought he was brilliant in Stranger Things, but he stole the show for me in It. He was my favourite character, he had great one liners, he was very funny and likeable, he is just a really great actor, and he’s so freaking young, I wish I had as much talent as he does. Fantastic actor, fantastic role, just great.
Wyatt Oleff’s filmography consists of Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014). Oleff played Young Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy if you were wondering, not much screen time, but he did his job well in that movie. In It however he could really stretch out his acting legs, I liked his character and his acting.
I thought all the actors in this movie did a very good job, I didn’t want to type out the ones I wasn’t too familiar with as we would be here for a while. But everyone played a great role, I thought the young talent that made up the Loser’s Club was extremely well cast, no issues with that.
I really enjoyed the soundtrack in this movie too, I thought it was a nice mix of everything.
My only gripe against the movie, which is small, but needs to be talked about is the use of CGI. There was some very bizarre uses (to me) of bad CGI, there were scenes where there was too much, there were scenes where their wasn’t enough. I thought it could’ve used a little more practical effects. But that is more of a personal nit-pick and it will not influence my final score.
It will make you laugh, it will make you scared, it could even make you cry – maybe from laughing maybe from being scared that you almost wet yourself…
I give It a 5/5, I had a lot of fun with these and really enjoyed the story and the acting. I cannot wait to read the book.
Until Next Time!
-Andrew