To give you an idea, my top films this year have been thus far: 1. The Master 2. Beasts of the Southern Wild 3. The Sessions 4. Silver Linings Playbook 5. Bernie I haven't seen Amour yet but I'm anticipating it being really good. I agree that I have to see it first to judge, just my expectations are low (I guess that's good, it'll be more likely to exceed them. Also I've seen quite a few movies myself, no need for patronizing me on cinema
I'm a bit of a movie buff as well, but this one scares me. It's probably the combo of: (1) I loved the book, and (2) Tom Hanks. But I will definitely see it sooner or later. Like what I'm hearing from some folks here.
Saw this one with my girl a couple weeks ago. I thought it was going to be a snoozefest, but to my surprise it wasn't too bad. Kept me pretty engaged with the multiple story lines happening at once. Definitely makes me want to check out the novel.
For the record, I haven't read the book. So I didn't have anything to compare it to, don't know if that's a factor in liking the movie more.
Well, I saw it yesterday. I knew almost nothing about the movie going in, so I was a bit confused for the first hour. I will say this, I found it interesting and entertaining. Three hours went by quickly, and the last hour was pretty suspenseful.
7/10. The concept was a nice idea but a came out as a total mess. The badly prosthetic makeup was at time pretty distracting(wtf with the asian looking like Vulcan?) and Tom Hanks and Halle Berry was all over the places with their acting. The Wachowski has pretty much lost it after Bound and the first Matrix movie.
Just saw this, movie was great and way better than the book. Only thing is you have to keep up with a lot of details, the book actually didn't have that. The book and movie are very different. The book didn't connect the characters, where as in the movie, with the repeating actors, you saw the connection. That adds 10x more meaning to the story. Also, a lot of the love stories were added in, i.e. on Hawaii, Hanks is actually 16 and Berry is 40 (so no love story). So I wouldn't read the book if you saw the movie. It's way slower and actually has less of a connecting storyline.
Not spoilering out of datedness, but not revealing anything major either. I think that story with the old producer in current setting was totally unnecessary. It was interesting but if I wanted to cut the film down 30 mins or so, that would be it.
Consider the disjarring and distracting makeup, the sci-fi themes, and several "liberal" overtones regarding oppression, classicism, homosexuality, ageism, slavery, consumerism, and future guilt? All that would make someone who doesn't like any one of those qualities fidgety after 90 minutes. I don't really buy the marketing that the theme was universal love (again the brit producer arc), it was more about how humanity ****s each other over and this movie attempts to reinforce a theme of universal karma towards good rather than towards entropy. I thought it was an interesting movie to watch. It's pretty hard to give a recommendation because of the qualities above, but it's at least a 7 to me because I love sci fi, morality plays, and most Wachowski movies. Speed Racer was unredeemable though.
Regarding the complaints about make-up, I didn't really mind during the whole thing, I watched the movie and thought that the actors and actresses had a superb time doing their roles and just having fun and I think that's what cinema is all about. I viewed it the same way I would watch a play. Also, I don't think people should judge a movie based on what the director did in the past. And the themes? Well not everyone is going to interpret something the same and that is what makes movies special. Whatever you are feeling at the moment, that's how the movie will connect to you.
I thought the makeup was over the top and distracted more than enhanced. There was some buzz that they were somehow offensive, but I didn't really care about that. Disagree on the director bit. People put weight on who directed a movie because many directors put their own styles and interpretations all throughout their works. I like that, and when I admit I put expectations based on that, I don't expect others to keep them. It wasn't just one theme that can put off mainstream audience but a confluence of them. I don't think we're disagreeing much here. I'm only giving my thoughts on why Cloud Atlas failed with many audiences. It's too bad because I think there are many compelling and interesting moments in it that you just don't see as often anymore. The Wachowskis deliberately made it more about being an art medium rather than driving butts to the theaters. It's really hard to pull off both, so I commend them for trying.
Well in the book the characters are only connected through Adam Ewings journal, letters to sixsmith, the Luisa Rey mystery novel, the Cavendish movie, and that orb that projects Somni. So you see their connection but not the whole karma aspect, where the characters are actually repeating in every story but in different forms. This creates common themes in every story. Imagine the movie with diff actors in each story, you're left with random stories.
Just saw this. Probably no need to rehash a lot of the applause and complaint give. About this movie. I agree with most. Some great things, some less so. I'll settle on a 7/10. However, I will say its a 7 with an asterisk. Cause I respect and love the fact that this movie got made. At this length. With this ambition. With this crazy story line. Across so many eras, attempting to have a deep and emotional connection. To me, something like Life of Pi was somewhat of a bore. Well done, no doubt, but a bit obvious, and it had to be one hell of an easier movie to make. I wish the powers that be were producing more works like this. It's good in a way The Matrix was good. Not great like the Matrix... But very very solid, and very different from the status quo. But I don't hold out hope we'll get a lot of these coming. Too grand, too long, too expensive... Not done in a James Cameron make a billion bucks way (to his credit, genius... Though less unique). So that's the asterisk. Maybe if some of the flaws weren't there and the movie truly was a huge box office and oscar success. But it had flaws.
