It did mine too when I saw it in the theater. It was so good I couldn't think about or do anything else the rest of the day.
― Eric H., Sunday, 28 September 2008 20:51 (fifteen years ago) link
I love this film.
― James Morrison, Monday, 29 September 2008 00:15 (fifteen years ago) link
Shame the book's not better.
I tried watching this just recently. Got a short distance beyond the scene where the pregnant woman reveals herself to MacGregor's character - maybe 45 minutes in. At that point it was so relentlessly grim I decided it wasn't the right stuff for me for now.
I did appreciate the obsessive care put into the composition of every scene, the attention to detail and atmosphere. But it didn't draw me in. The visual language of the film just didn't hook me deeply enough to subject myself to the relentlessly morbid atmosphere or emotionally half-dead main character.
― Aimless, Monday, 29 September 2008 00:32 (fifteen years ago) link
I finally saw this last night. Back in '06, I saw the preview a dozen times and felt like it gave the movie away (when it turns out that it only gives away the first half-hour). If the preview had shown more of the details of the future and less of the plot, I probably would've seen it back then. I can only imagine how this would look on a big screen.
Was actually watching the Cloverfield commentary track, and that director talked about the influence of Children of Men as far as creating extended action sequences that appeared to be a single take. I'd heard about the extended shot toward the end, but the one early on with Owen/Moore/etc. is the car is just as amazing.
― Eazy, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 16:59 (fifteen years ago) link
favourite film of the decade is now either this or Wall-E
― Hard House SugBanton (blueski), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 17:09 (fifteen years ago) link
I saw the preview a dozen times and felt like it gave the movie away
yeah the preview was horrible - totally made me NOT want to see it.
― Roberto Mussolini (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 17:17 (fifteen years ago) link
yea this is an incredible film. easily one of my favorites
― mark cl, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 17:19 (fifteen years ago) link
i forgot who said it upthread but someone said something about being in mortal fear of being shot in the face throughout the whole movie. i had a conversation about this film with my wife yesterday and we agreed that while we both really enjoyed it in the theatre but that there is something like a moral imperative to reject art that is based on the fear of being shot in the face.
― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 17:57 (fifteen years ago) link
"based on" is sort of stretching it dont you think dude
― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 17:58 (fifteen years ago) link
ya just because someone wussed out doesnt make this a moral issue imo
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:03 (fifteen years ago) link
not really, that sense of constant fear of being shot / blown up / betrayed / tortured is more or less what i took out of the theatre with me and the strength of that sense is what i figure to be the great accomplishment of the film.
― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:03 (fifteen years ago) link
i mean the strength of that sensation is what makes this movie different from, say, soylent green.
― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:04 (fifteen years ago) link
i don't really agree that the great accomplishment of this film is your visceral reaction to it.
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:05 (fifteen years ago) link
― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, March 24, 2009 6:03 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
i hear this, don't completely agree with it, but certainly don't agree that its a moral imperative to oppose this impulse. i think there is a place for horror / shock / etc in art
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:09 (fifteen years ago) link
are you morally impelled to reject 1984? nightmare on elm street? gravediggaz? ariel dorfman?
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:10 (fifteen years ago) link
KAFKA??
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:12 (fifteen years ago) link
If Kafka wrote a run&gun movie, that would be three kinds of awesome.
K. is for KILLER!
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:13 (fifteen years ago) link
Gregor Samsa awoke one morning to find his arm had turned into a TEC9 with unlimited rounds...
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:14 (fifteen years ago) link
the thing about kafka is that present-day kafka would in all likelihood be doing this.
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:15 (fifteen years ago) link
i doubt that kafka would be doing that but i think that is what keeps kafka from being as good a writer as, say, flaubert.
― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:17 (fifteen years ago) link
what is?
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:17 (fifteen years ago) link
"Sarah Connor? C'est Moi!"
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:18 (fifteen years ago) link
I dunno how suited Flaubert would be for today, but I can almost guarantee he'd direct a better Terminator than this McG fellow.
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:19 (fifteen years ago) link
sorry but i am one of those "spectrum of human experience" saddoes who demands a range of feeling in a movie
― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:20 (fifteen years ago) link
this has a range of feeling!
like when SPOILER gets iced.
― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:20 (fifteen years ago) link
are ppl even arguing about the same things here
― the call of the taint (HI DERE), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:21 (fifteen years ago) link
there is a range of feeling in cotm - there is a lot of melancholy, regret and humour in it besides the ultra-engaging set pieces
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:21 (fifteen years ago) link
keepin it eclectic
― Hard House SugBanton (blueski), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:21 (fifteen years ago) link
xxp i don't think so but ilx isn't too exciting today.
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:22 (fifteen years ago) link
and ya the build up to the "icing" in the car, the ping pong ball sequence, i mean stuff like that sets this movie apart from what you're describing
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:22 (fifteen years ago) link
it's a really short movie too, so extra points for that.
― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:23 (fifteen years ago) link
the ending of the terminator is much more satisfying than the ending of a simple heart
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:24 (fifteen years ago) link
It's damn sure better than Bouvard et Pecuchet.
― The Screaming Lobster of Challops (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:27 (fifteen years ago) link
maybe downbeat dystopian sci-fi is just not for you?
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:28 (fifteen years ago) link
"blade runner", "thx-1138" and every episode of "the outer limits" have more humanity than this one
― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:32 (fifteen years ago) link
bouvard et pechuchet is a sorely underrated classic
"thx-1138" has the best sex scene in all of modern cinema
― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:33 (fifteen years ago) link
ha you're on crack re: "The Outer Limits"
xp: and now I will never see "THX-1138"
― the call of the taint (HI DERE), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:33 (fifteen years ago) link
i think that contention deserves its own thread
― Stop relegating Hull you miserable gits! (country matters), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:34 (fifteen years ago) link
you're telling me that blade runner, one of the most successful and critically acclaimed sci-fi films of all time, is superior to this movie? quit blowing my mind dude
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:36 (fifteen years ago) link
on the other hand, I don't see how blade runner has any more or less range of feeling than children of god, in fact I suspect the movie itself was directed by a replicant
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:37 (fifteen years ago) link
i saw it years ago but blade runner seemed really obtuse and boring. i suppose i owe it another look.
i do like thx a lot.
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:38 (fifteen years ago) link
no but seriously, like i said above, there are a lot of really well-done emotional beats in this movie - just because there's also some loud noises doesn't cancel them out
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:39 (fifteen years ago) link
it sort of did for me, i guess we can call that wussing out?
― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:40 (fifteen years ago) link
s1ocki i hear you too but that sounds sorta like the apologist defense of irreversible
― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:41 (fifteen years ago) link
nah the apologist defence of that movie is that it rules
― Stop relegating Hull you miserable gits! (country matters), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:44 (fifteen years ago) link
"the ending of the terminator is much more satisfying than the ending of a simple heart"
Don't they both die at the end?
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:46 (fifteen years ago) link
that's one way of looking at it. another way is the parrot lives forever and so does the T-1000.
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:47 (fifteen years ago) link
however, I didn't throw the TV across the room when I was finished watching the terminator
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 24 March 2009 18:48 (fifteen years ago) link