Seven Sins Marathon Movie 1: Thinner (1996)


I was going to start off with a definition of gluttony for this write up.  I decided against that when I realized that it would read too much like a bad valedictorian speech at your high school graduation.  We all know what gluttony is, anyway.  What would be the point of me telling you?  I’m going to just get on with the write up.

The first movie in the seven sins marathon was Thinner.  As you can tell by now, it dealt with the sin of gluttony.  A man accidentally hits a woman with his car and is then cursed with becoming thinner and thinner every day.  So he eats a lot to gain weight.  Does it work?  I’m not telling you anything beyond what I’ve already said because I don’t like movies getting spoiled for me.  I assume you don’t like that either.

As I sit here and try to write about the movie, not a lot is really coming to mind.  It’s one of those movies for me that just sits there.  I saw it.  Yes.  Did I like it?  It was okay.  It’s nothing special.  I probably won’t remember it come this time next year.  It’s not bad.  The makeup was good though.  Maybe I’ll talk about the makeup.  It’s the only thing I can really think of discussing in any way.

Thinner wouldn’t be able to happen without makeup, prosthetics, or computer effects of some kind.  A man goes from 300 pounds downward at a rapid rate.  This means that someone of average size needs a fat suit.  They also need makeup to get them looking thinner when they get thinner.  It’s really hard to talk about this movie without typing out the title a million times.  There are also other effects that must be done throughout the movie, which need equally as much makeup, prosthetics, or computer effects.  The effects work doesn’t look bad.  It’s not the best thing in the world.  I’ve seen a lot better.  But it’s serviceable.  It didn’t take me out of the movie too much.

Something that bugged me about the movie was something that really shouldn’t bug me.  The movie stated that it was Stephen King’s Thinner.  Now, correct me if I’m wrong here, but wasn’t Thinner one of the books that King wrote as Richard Bachman?  So, even if Stephen King had publicly stated that he was Bachman, shouldn’t it have still been Richard Bachman’s Thinner?  I know that there might be money issues in there and that it was already revealed that it was King writing as Bachman, but it still bothers me.  For some reason, it still bothers me.

The acting is fine.  The script is fine.  The direction is fine.  Everything about this movie is fine.  It’s just right in the middle of like and dislike, so much that I have nothing to write about it.  Did you see Mad Men last week?  Tragic, wasn’t it?  This is supposed to be about Thinner.

If I have nothing else to say, I should end the entry then.  Thinner was directed by Tom Holland in 1996 and stars Robert John Burke and a bunch of other people.  If you want to see every movie based on a Stephen King work, check it out.  It’s not great but there are worse things you can do with an hour and a half, especially since it isn’t bad either.

Next up will be Treasure of the Sierra Madre.  I’m going old for that one.  Hopefully it doesn’t take me ten days to get that writeup up, or else I’ll need to watch six movies in just over a week.  Yikes.

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