Review of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) by Dustin P — 23 Apr 2015

Prologue: This segment by John Landis who also wrote it did a great job of just writing down conversations between the Dan Aykroyd and Albert Brooks. The conversations are a bit interesting and it felt like a real-life conversation until the end. When it does go to the end, it didn't necessarily scare me as I would actually never see it coming, but it felt a bit cheap for me and was more of a, meh, way to start scaring us for the movie.

Time Out: John Landis does another segment that is a fine segment, but isn't really that memorable. Vic Marrow is great in his last performance, and the story might be nice, but I didn't really care about the main character as he was really mean-spirited. He kept ranting a lot in the beginning that it's predictable to see where it's going. The writing is fine, but I don't think it's as good as the prologue. Time Out doesn't make the movie that great of a start, but it's an all right one.

Kick the Can: Steven Spielberg's segment is a great one that doesn't really fit with the movie, but still is enjoyable. The old cast are really good, and so are the child cast. The plot is simple, but it does lead in to the moral of the story which is really good and can make people think differently about wanting to be a kid again, even though there are some people just want to do it for the adventure again which is fine also. It seems to be the most heartfelt out of all of the movie, which I was a bit disappointed that I wanted Steven Spielberg to do another horror movie like he did with Poltergeist, but I was fine with what I got and it seem like a nitpick to me.

It's a Good Life: Joe Dante's segment is quite something that is one of the best segments in the film. The kid is really good and can act creepy in this. The imagery is a bit disturbing, and the effects look great, both practical and computer. The plot is really good, and that I want to see more of this than any of the past segments. It gets more and more insane that you don't even know what's going to happen next. The writing is nicely done, leaving some questions for interpretation while answering questions also. It's a fantastic segment that gives in more of the feeling that you are watching the Twilight Zone.

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet: The last segment by George Miller is a great way to end the movie. John Lithgow did a fantastic job of being scared and is just having so much fun. The monster design looks really good and scary, and the suspense is really effective. When it got to the scare part, it didn't seem scary and more just really funny when the monster just kept shaking its head up and down really fast. It's not as interesting or crazy as Joe Dante's segment, but it is still interesting and has some crazy moments, mostly from John Lithgow of how scared he can be, but it also still felt like something out of the Twilight Zone like the other segment.

Twilight Zone: The Movie is a great movie that is nice to see talented directors to make their own segments. It does seem obvious that some segments are better then others, but there hasn't been a segment in it that's bad or disappointing which makes this movie better than some other anthology films.