'Children of Men', the new Alfonso Cuaron sci-fi flick

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.

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.

favourite film of the decade is now either this or Wall-E

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.

yea this is an incredible film. easily one of my favorites

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.

"based on" is sort of stretching it dont you think dude

ya just because someone wussed out doesnt make this a moral issue imo

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.

i mean the strength of that sensation is what makes this movie different from, say, soylent green.

i don't really agree that the great accomplishment of this film is your visceral reaction to it.

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, 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

are you morally impelled to reject 1984? nightmare on elm street? gravediggaz? ariel dorfman?

KAFKA??

If Kafka wrote a run&gun movie, that would be three kinds of awesome.

K. is for KILLER!

Gregor Samsa awoke one morning to find his arm had turned into a TEC9 with unlimited rounds...

the thing about kafka is that present-day kafka would in all likelihood be doing this.

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.

what is?

"Sarah Connor? C'est Moi!"

I dunno how suited Flaubert would be for today, but I can almost guarantee he'd direct a better Terminator than this McG fellow.

sorry but i am one of those "spectrum of human experience" saddoes who demands a range of feeling in a movie

this has a range of feeling!

like when SPOILER gets iced.

are ppl even arguing about the same things here

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

keepin it eclectic

xxp i don't think so but ilx isn't too exciting today.

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

it's a really short movie too, so extra points for that.

the ending of the terminator is much more satisfying than the ending of a simple heart

It's damn sure better than Bouvard et Pecuchet.

sorry but i am one of those "spectrum of human experience" saddoes who demands a range of feeling in a movie

maybe downbeat dystopian sci-fi is just not for you?

"blade runner", "thx-1138" and every episode of "the outer limits" have more humanity than this one

bouvard et pechuchet is a sorely underrated classic

"thx-1138" has the best sex scene in all of modern cinema

ha you're on crack re: "The Outer Limits"

xp: and now I will never see "THX-1138"

i think that contention deserves its own thread

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

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

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.

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

it sort of did for me, i guess we can call that wussing out?

s1ocki i hear you too but that sounds sorta like the apologist defense of irreversible

nah the apologist defence of that movie is that it rules

"the ending of the terminator is much more satisfying than the ending of a simple heart"

Don't they both die at the end?

that's one way of looking at it. another way is the parrot lives forever and so does the T-1000.

however, I didn't throw the TV across the room when I was finished watching the terminator

I am picturing the parrot frozen and shot to pieces, then writhing in industrial lava.

I didn't like this movie. I don't really care for "visceral" action scenes and the treacle of the trailer is a pretty accurate represention of the sentiment of the movie. It kinda cruises along on anxiety/fear and a hushed awe for the miracle of human life. It's really not very radical in any way. Standard liberal humanism right? What's to get excited about.