Arrival (D: Villeneuve)

[Truth.]

[drizzle]

sweet

glad Villa-mane is now getting this kind of stuff

[Tommy Bunz]

Yeah this looks cool. I was anti-Blade Runner remake until Villenueve came on the project, now I can't fucking wait to see what he does with it. Especially with Roger Deakins behind the camera.

[drizzle]

full trailer

the story this is based on sounds awesome and really interesting in ways beyond the standard alien invasion scare stuff, but also possibly un-adaptable so I'm really curious to see how this goes

[drizzle]

the reviews are boomin

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-first-review ... 1786054617" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jamrage]

Great news. The trailer had me a little nervous, but those are mostly reputable sources. Villeneuve can do no wrong right now it seems.

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

ho shit this looks nuts. might have to kill my shroom stash on this

[Tommy Bunz]

Dude wants to make Dune
http://theplaylist.net/director-denis-v ... -20160913/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

terrible idea. this will break him (if people don't already turn against him when bladerunner drops)

[samdoom]

saw this on Saturday. thought it was incredibly well done in terms of acting, writing, directing, etc. was much heavier than expected, especially considering the context of seeing it post-trump victory. highly recommended.

[Comedy Quaddafi]

I thought the film was good but not great. Expected a bit more from Villeneuve but it's very impressive that this is his weakest film since 2010 and only his fifth best. Him and Refn are at this point the only reason to visit a mainstream cinema.

This one might really benefit from a rewatch later I think.

beware, because a lot of the dialogue is really mumbled and unclear.

[ric]

dope movie. much better than expected.

[jamrage]

Really enjoyed it. It's a breath of fresh air to have an alien film that doesn't follow all the cliches. Amy Adams is very strong here, she definitely carries the movie without a problem. She had a good chemistry with Jeremy Renner as well. He needs to focus on these kind of roles and not try and be the lead. He's a much better supporting player at this point in his career; he pulls off the physicist role well. Whitaker felt underutilized, but I'm not a huge fan of him in the first place.

I thought they did well with the alien builds. I wasn't a huge fan of their coffee ring language, but it got the job done. This is a rare mid-size movie ($47 million) that feels like a $100 million+ movie, it really should be doing better than it is at the box office. It's a beautifully shot film, the introduction of the ship in the Montana valley being the "oh shit" moment in the movie. That one will stay with me for a while. The score did a good job of supplementing the visuals.

There are a lot of parallels with the movie "Contact" so if you liked that movie you should love this. I'm hearing that some people call this movie slow but I was transfixed the whole time. I was okay with the "twist" at the end even though it's a bit absurd.

8 outta 10.

[ric]

@jamrage

This is a rare mid-size movie ($47 million) that feels like a $100 million+ movie

so true. really does.

[ChewbaccaUncircumcised]

Really enjoyed this movie.

[drizzle]

The scifi parts of this were beautiful, the character drama derived from the scifi concept worked well and its conclusion felt well earned, but the geopolitical stuff felt hammy and clunky and held this movie back. I see praise like 'it's great to see a movie where aliens aren't blowing up the earth' but scenes of armies rallying at borders and predictably evil countries doing predictably evil shit feel just as cliched imo. All that has a place in this story, but it's pushed to the foreground and handled in a heavy handed way that hurts the movie overall. The movie doesn't have anything really interesting to say about different countries responding to the aliens differently, and the resolution of the conflict made out of this is kinda nonsensical. I would've preferred more time spent on interacting with the aliens and building up Adams and Renner's characters/their relationship.

I keep thinking that this idea needed somebody like Shane Carruth or the guy who made Under The Skin, somebody who would've dove into the science head first and showed it with a kind of mysticism inherent to facing something completely unknown, while keeping the rest as perfunctory framing. I can't even imagine how good a Tarkovsky adaptation of it could've been.

[ric]

@drizzle
what are some movies those directors have done? we're talking modern shit right?

[drizzle]

start with Upstream Color and Under The Skin, those are the most recent reference points I had in mind as far imagining an alternate take on the same scifi story.

[ric]

@drizzle

[Tommy Bunz]

I can't even imagine how long a Tarkovsky adaptation of it would've been.

Fixed.

Saw this last night and thought it was really great. Can't fucking wait for Villeneuve's Blade Runner now. Mostly agree with what's already been said. Thought the ending was just a little heavy-handed though.
Seemed to confuse a bunch of people, heard a bunch of people talking while leaving the theater and trying to figure out

if there was one daughter or two daughters

[drizzle]

smh I hate people so much

[Comedy Quaddafi]

I'm suprised I don't see more people complain that the aliens looked a bit lame. Maybe its just me being arrogant and pedantinc. But I have a hard time accepting that a creature who looks like that could teach the human species anything.

I should have stayed away from reviews, even after watching the movie, but statements like "this is a really important movie in this day and age" are downright hilarious to read. A bit like Trademark staring at the New Mexico skyline after watching Inception, mumbling to himself "what if reality really is just a dream?"

[Tommy Bunz]

Yeah I don't know about other people, but personally I never expect anyone to come up with an inspiring design for aliens.
Alien did it best and almost everything since has been a lame derivative of that design, with a few minor exceptions such as E.T., Predator and Chewbacca.

[drizzle]

what do you think an alien that can teach humanity something should look like?

I understand bitching about poor cgi, but this is some next level conceptual complaining.

btw the movie doesn't go into this but apparently in the source material, the alien's radial body symmetry is directly linked to their concept of writing and time

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

surprised to hear that there's a specific source material. this movie felt like a mashup of "enemy" and the first third of "childhood's end" the arthur clarke novel.

it made a little too much sense for its own good. after watching "enemy" you leave with questions; "arrival" answers everything. it's the cleanest ever tie in of the 'time is nonlinear' theme with a character's emotional journey + nonchronological editing -- with a slight nod towards ring structure storytelling. the idea is so neat that it feels lacking. it's not what i want from 'high sci fi'. i'd prefer a lingering feeling of vague incomprehension.

so hats off to amy adams whose performance makes the movie satisfying (plus let's not forget about the kid actor). they went from 0-100 real quick and what could have felt manipulative resonates emotionally. the reveal compounds this, taking the 'focus on the good times' idea that vonnegut attacks in slaughterhouseV and flips it around. so maybe i leave the theatre emotionally unsettled instead of intellectually.

[samdoom]

the only question left at the end of enemy is "why the fuck did i just watch this?"

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

the only question left at the end of enemy is "why the fuck did i just watch this?"

cause your gf has better taste than you?

[samdoom]

the only question left at the end of enemy is "why the fuck did i just watch this?"

cause your gf has better taste than you?

lol. never that.

you really think enemy is better than any of Villeneuve's movies? I appreciated the vibe and the mood of the flick but it was super boring imo

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

yeah great film. very much a precursor to arrival. the spider imagery is repeated in arrival, down to the one 'jump scare' where the alien is inside a room in the military camp near the end. some of the wide frame shots call back to enemy too. also the uni prof lecturing on a subject that ties into their own emotional journey of love and betrayal told from a confusing nonlinear perspective that they share with the viewer.

[jamrage]

yeah great film. very much a precursor to arrival. the spider imagery is repeated in arrival, down to the one 'jump scare' where the alien is inside a room in the military camp near the end. some of the wide frame shots call back to enemy too. also the uni prof lecturing on a subject that ties into their own emotional journey of love and betrayal told from a confusing nonlinear perspective that they share with the viewer.

Also the idea of there being two different selves in both movies. I really liked Enemy too.