127 Hours

Started by modage, August 24, 2010, 04:38:03 PM

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children with angels

Are you kidding? The film may very well turn out to be good, but that trailer - and particularly the use of that song (which I haven't heard before) - is pretty painfully bad, considering the hip/gritty edge Boyle is seemingly going for. That just does not seem to fit - and if it does suit the mood of the finished film, I'm out. I have a feeling it probably won't be representative though.
"Should I bring my own chains?"
"We always do..."

http://www.alternatetakes.co.uk/
http://thelesserfeat.blogspot.com/

modage

from my blog:

I'm usually not a fan of true stories (and especially biopics) but Danny Boyle's 127 Hours is an intense, viceral film and yes, one of the best of the year.  From about 10 minutes in you're completely tensed up and remain that way through the end.  I couldn't imagine eating popcorn and enjoying myself because the film just makes you feel the pain, the claustrophobia, the hopelessness that you can't not be involved as a viewer.  Boyle said his mistake in making The Beach was that it wasn't a "city film", which is why he decided to shoot 127 Hours like one.  It's extreme closeups make you the claustrophobia of the space, but the split screens, editing and music keep the films pace moving quickly throughout, never slowing to become a ponderous look at nature.

James Franco gives a great performance as Aron Ralston and the flashback scenes help flesh out his character to give the ending true catharsis.  I was thinking what a mistake it would have been to cast a more intensely serious actor like Leonardo Dicaprio in the role.  With Franco, he alternates between subtle comedy (that had me laughing out loud) and also playing the emotion but never overplaying.  I hate to mention "the scene" because it seems like that's all anyone wants to talk about, but I'll say it was intense but not gratuitous.  (It has some great sound design though.)  Boyle is great at making feel-bad, feel-good films.  You go through hell first but come out feeling like life is beautiful.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Pubrick

fuck yes called it.

this is one of my most anticipated films of the year because i KNOW it will be deliver

this year is a wash as far as xixax's ability to back winning horses is concerned. let's hope we (as a collective) get our heads out of our asses and get back to recognizing great films before we see them cos that's why we're the number one place on the entire internet for savvy movie-loving losers. it's all well and good to recognize a great film AFTER you've seen it, i think we generally have that covered, but it is another (and more admirable) skill altogether to know when a movie is going to be great before it's even out.

it's what separates us from ppl who go see Robin Hood just because russell crowe is in it and they've convinced themselves they liked Gladiator. it's what gives us the right to call things overrated and underrated, or to like asshole films but for different reasons. just look at the hype that UNBELIEVABLY built up around that piece of shit MONSTERS that was so clearly a waste of everyone's time -- i mean SO obviously crap that.. i'm just speechless that ppl legitimately compared it to District 9 (favourably, to say nothing of the ppl who are still on the wrong side of that film). less of that, more of ppl knowing this film was going to be awesome because it so freaking obviously IS.

just sayin.
under the paving stones.

Stefen

He's right, guys. At the end of the day it's not about who won or who lost. Who was crowned and who was defeated. It's about who tried!

Now let's go watch some movies! 
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

cronopio 2

I'M SEEING SCOTT PILGRIM TODAY!!! *WAR CRY*

picolas

wow. boyle's best.. a film about the senses. i disagree that franco's character is fleshed out. i think the beauty of the flashbacks is how vague they are to the point where they stand in for our own experiences. franco becomes emblematic of humankind/what we are when stripped of everything: a collection of nerve endings. all we have is what we feel. most 'appreciate your life' movies are about larger, human-specific concepts like relationships, war etc. but this movie is so much more immediate. appreciate water. appreciate sunlight. franco is sooo well-cast. keeps it funny. but his face is also a bottomless well of pain, regret etc... along with the absolutely essential comedy. it's boyle, so there are one or two really on-the-nose things here and there, but not nearly enough to derail the mood and make you go 'come onnn'. it doesn't fall apart towards the end, either. maybe cause the story is so simple. i'm pretty sure this is the first fully great boyle movie.

matt35mm

This is definitely one of my favorites of the year.  Although I didn't think about it at the time, I have to agree that this movie wouldn't have worked with a very serious actor like DiCaprio.  Franco is fantastic in it, and I was relieved that I got to laugh a lot throughout this experience.  There's one moment in particular that was probably one of the biggest laughs that I've had at the movies ever.  And without all that, I'm not sure I would have given a shit about any of this, or at least would have preferred to read what's been written about the incident instead of watching a movie about it.

There's one interview with Boyle (maybe I read it here) where he says that he really wanted the audience to feel like they would have done the same thing as Ralston did.  I think Boyle succeeds here.  At least, for me, I was cheering him on while the deed was being done, and was very happy to see him get free.  Lots of people were definitely having a hard time watching it, though.  But because the movie was so much more about life than death, you really get the sense that it comes down to his arm or his life.

I particularly identified with Ralston's selfishness, and when he calls himself out on it, I suddenly felt like he was talking to me.  Maybe it's a part of being a 20-something guy who pretty much has always had access to everything he wants (not in terms of material goods, but as far as doing what I want to do with my time), and feels like he can do it all on his own.  I mean, just recently I went to Burning Man and didn't tell a bunch of people.  With no phone signal there and no Facebook updates, my parents and family began to worry, of course.  And the only reason I didn't tell them where I was going was because I wasn't really thinking about anything but my own enjoyment.

The movie hasn't really changed that about me, but it's helped me to spend a little bit more time thinking about it.  It put into my mind the very lofty goal of maybe someday being not such a selfish asshole.  It's very rare for an "appreciate your life" movie to really work, but I think that part of why this movie at least succeeds in getting me to think a little bit more about the way that I live my life is because it never pretends to be anything it isn't.  That is, it's a movie about a dude who gets his arm stuck and after 5 days, cuts his arm off to get free, and 80% of the movie is exactly that.  Its focus on what it is allows you to pull so much more from it than if the movie got too philosophical and preachy for its own good.  It keeps pushing in instead of pulling away in order to hammer in the message that we all already knew that the story had anyway.  So it doesn't waste time on those things.  There's really only one or two actual flashbacks that I remember, with most of the scenes (except for the opening) that aren't him trapped under the rock being hallucinations, which actually take us further into his current experience rather than getting all nostalgic.

Anyway, all very smartly done; a hilarious and horrifying experience that will likely stick with you.

ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ

I can't recommend this enough.  People would run out of the theater and vomit into the garbage and we'd have a handful of people literally faint and everyone would panic and we'd have to call an ambulance, I don't get it.  I understand squeamish, but this isn't that rough.  Don't let horror stories deter you from seeing this, folks.  It's a masterpiece.

I was going to see Monsters instead because my theater will only have it till yesterday, actually.  I'm pretty sure we don't have it anymore, as something has replaced it for Thanksgiving... Made In Dagenham, I think.  Regardless, I was more invested in seeing 127 Hours and it was incredibly revitalizing and empowering.  It epitomizes the struggle that everyone individually faces when dealing with problems themselves, and how stuck they can get without any help. 

The amount of power in the very weakness of his voice when he sputters out "Help me" once he finally gets out was an incredibly chilling moment for me.  This year has been a great year for flicks.
"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

Robyn

Swedish cinemas can go fuck itself in the ass, is it really necessary to release this four months later than the U.S.? I mean, it looks amazing and I can't wait.

squints

this was good, not really amazing or anything. USA Today says this movie "scales the heights of film-making," i dunno about that. i liked inception and the social network better.
"The myth by no means finds its adequate objectification in the spoken word. The structure of the scenes and the visible imagery reveal a deeper wisdom than the poet himself is able to put into words and concepts" – Friedrich Nietzsche

picolas

could you justify that opinion in some way?

so it's useful to people who read it and aren't you?

Stefen

^That's a bit of a jerk thing to say. He just didn't feel it met the lofty hyperbole that some critics are using to describe it. He liked it a lot, but thinks other films were better this year. Seems justified to me.

I'm seeing it tomorrow afternoon. Can't wait. Really looking forward to this one. But first I have to put together a bookshelf. I'm gonna have to use tools like a hammer. Really looking forward to doing man things and watching a man movie.
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

Sleepless

To be honest, I'm surprised this film is getting so much love here. No doubt I'll wind up seeing this eventually as the wife is such a huge Franco fan. Whatever. But this definitely isn't on my must list. Admittedly, I'm pre-judging the film but I've never really been an admirer of Boyle and this extract of Film Comment's review sums up my thoughts and expectations surprisingly well:

"But another aspect of this scenario is quite uncongenial to Boyle's on-the-run style: for most of the film, the hero can barely move. In interviews, Boyle has described this as a challenge that appealed to him. In practice, he effectively cheats his way out of it. One might have hoped that the restricted space would force Boyle (as it did Ralston) to pay close attention to the most minute details of his environment, to discover hidden opportunities for action, and to systematically develop the scenario's progress. Boyle may not be Robert Bresson, but here he doesn't even try to be. Instead of latching onto substance, he overdoses on style."

Full article here:
http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/nd10/127hrs.htm
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

modage

What they mean is "it wasn't boring enough."
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

children with angels

It sounds like they're saying that Boyle didn't find a style that worked appropriately or productively with the subject matter, which I can believe. Though I have not yet seen this, and so can't really comment. Nevertheless, let's not tar all criticisms of flashy style as if they make the writer somehow anti-fun or pro-boring.
"Should I bring my own chains?"
"We always do..."

http://www.alternatetakes.co.uk/
http://thelesserfeat.blogspot.com/