tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post7997816709132214994..comments2024-03-28T02:30:08.913-04:00Comments on Not Just Movies: 127 HoursJakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-84679965018385303362014-04-30T10:58:07.190-04:002014-04-30T10:58:07.190-04:00Completely agree with your analysis. The level of ...Completely agree with your analysis. The level of smugness that Franco exhibits simply render his character arrogant and at the same time ridiculous. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-68745815509884528002011-02-13T09:44:44.364-05:002011-02-13T09:44:44.364-05:00This movie was excellent...
"The original po...This movie was excellent...<br /><br />"The original poster obviously has no clue about GOOD film...Danny Boyle is not Hollywood and never will be...Go see the Michael Bay shit you are accustomed too =)"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-71891891794173702702011-01-09T12:03:33.957-05:002011-01-09T12:03:33.957-05:00To me all those scenes of people going about their...To me all those scenes of people going about their daily business showed that even though you are dying life goes on, you are not the centre of the universe...Rolston has said and it was mentioned in the film that he was a very selfish man...The original poster obviously has no clue about GOOD film...Danny Boyle is not Hollywood and never will be...Go see the Michael Bay shit you are accustomed too =)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-4668485591705531842011-01-08T02:13:24.309-05:002011-01-08T02:13:24.309-05:00Just to put it out there: That premonition is Aron...Just to put it out there: That premonition is Aron Rolston's own words; he, himself, believes that the child he saw down there was a premonition of his own forthcoming one. I'm not a believer in the supernatural or anything but it's Aron's story, it's his experiences and assumptions, and I guess it was a sort of compromise to include "his premonition came true" in the end, since they excluded the recorded scenes where James Franco's Aron is praying to God (which the actual Aron did on several occations during his ordeal). It could've been a complete and ugly religious mess, and thus ultimataly arbitrary - I'm glad it didn't truned out that way. Excellent film overall. Boyle's definitive best.Transparentnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-44505858218341070312010-12-31T16:58:10.093-05:002010-12-31T16:58:10.093-05:00All I could see was Danny Boyle directing, not Aro...<em>All I could see was Danny Boyle directing, not Aron Ralston struggling.</em><br /><br />Substitute "Sofia Coppola" for "Danny Boyle" and "Johnny Marco" for "Aron Ralston" in that sentence and you've got my reaction to <em>Somewhere</em> -- which is a different kind of "overdirected."<br /><br />P.S. It doesn't work for you when Poesy stares into the camera and says, "I love you"? What's wrong with you!? :)Jason Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18150199580478147196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-48241161492287535312010-12-31T09:04:22.020-05:002010-12-31T09:04:22.020-05:00See, I really like Clemence Poesy too, and I knew ...See, I really like Clemence Poesy too, and I knew exactly what she was there for, but I just think Boyle took an idea that could have been brilliant and meaningful just became so overused that I just felt he was desperately padding for time. The only one I felt worked, even though it was the most on the nose, was their break-up scene.<br /><br />I agree with you on the flash flood. It's obvious when it starts really flooding that it's a dream, and it's obvious to everyone that it's a dream, but then it goes on for, what, four or five minutes? It's just overkill and if Boyle had shortened the idea to simply him dreaming of getting free and more quickly getting to Poesy, it could have worked.<br /><br />I think I've overstated the degree to which I was looking forward to this film. I simply went in as a fan of Boyle's and Franco's and, considering the love it got even from some who typically hate Boyle, I thought for sure I'd like it. I wasn't going in there with super-inflated expectations, and when those lights went down I cleared my head anyway.<br /><br />I don't like the term "overdirected" because I think it's a lazy write-off for those who would actually want something stuffy. I don't think it was wrong to stylize Ralston's story, in general terms; like I said, those hand-held shots that shudder and stumble around when he first gets trapped are so absolutely brilliant that I <i>instantly</i> felt that mixture of panic, bewilderment and instant denial going through Aron's head. But when Boyle actually went inside Ralston's thoughts, my issue was not that he put hallucinations on screen but that those hallucinations only ever felt like excuses for him to pull some tricks rather than convey Aron's thought process with full energy.<br /><br />That, far more than whatever expectations I might have had, is what sank the movie for me. Once I fell out of its rhythm, which I did almost instantly, I could never get back in, and the more I kept beating the door trying to get in, the more frustrated, then furious, I got. All I could see was Danny Boyle directing, not Aron Ralston struggling. I don't think it needed to be some 2.5 hour glacial drama where Aron looked over and saw Death and a bunch of Swedish people dancing their way into the afterlife and maybe had a game of chess or two, but I just feel like Boyle so instantly made it about him that I found myself bored by what should have been a visceral and moving experience.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-87893038442577676592010-12-31T07:42:37.353-05:002010-12-31T07:42:37.353-05:00Switching topics then, the final moment crushes me...Switching topics then, the final moment crushes me. I love the use of Sigur Ros' "Festival" -- LOVE IT -- as Ralston stumbles back into the world. That crushes me. And it's here that maybe I should acknowledge that I felt I had some insight to that scene. No, I've never been through anything like what Ralston went through, but I have run three marathons (one of the crowd shots Boyle employs, by the way) and in those final miles it's such a struggle to put one foot in front of the other, and yet at the same time there's that deep yearning to move forward -- it's like you want to stop and then want to do anything but stop. And that's what I felt in Ralston's final walk.<br /><br />As for the tortured part: As I said in my review, frankly, I thought it was underplayed. I mean, the dude was trapped by a boulder for five days and hacked off his arm. Boyle could have made it much darker. What I like about the film -- and I realize you'll struggle to relate to this -- is that he makes us feel the toll of those long days without making this some 2.5 hour epic of screaming and anguish and boredom.Jason Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18150199580478147196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-71654849957817864852010-12-31T07:41:23.864-05:002010-12-31T07:41:23.864-05:00"It's been too long since I've had a ..."It's been too long since I've had a good disagreement on this blog, and I forgot how invigorating it can be when it's respectful and illuminating."<br /><br />That's what makes you such a rewarding blogger. And I know how you feel. As I implied in my first post, I see lots of reasons to object to <em>127 Hours</em>, most significantly: Boyle's flourishes and the film's graphic nature. But "boring" wasn't something I expected, and even though this movie is in my top 10 for the year, I enjoy reading your alternate take.<br /><br />It occurred to me this morning that one of the things that's explicit in your review and <a href="http://coolercinema.blogspot.com/2010/11/it-rocks-127-hours.html" rel="nofollow">mine</a> is our very different angles of approach: you were looking forward to this movie, while I went into it expecting that it couldn't possibly work, that indeed it would be boring to watch a guy sit pinned by a rock for the better part of 90 minutes. Obvious the film is what it is, but I'm sure our opposing reactions have something to do with our expectations.<br /><br />As for the flashbacks, some thoughts ...<br /><br />* The one that irks me most is the flash flood hallucination, precisely because it goes on for so long that I started to wonder if in fact it wasn't a hallucination but the real thing. I'm fine with it being there, but Boyle goes way over the top with that one.<br /><br />* The runner up in most irksome would be the "premonition" scene -- mainly because I've never liked the whole hologram vision thing; it's a dream cliche that doesn't actually feel in any way rooted in reality (by which I mean, I've never personally imagined a transparent apparition in front of me). And the use of the Dido song is, what's the word, dorky. Yep, that's it. (Also: I agree with you that the title at the end suggesting that Ralston's "premonition" came true is also dorky at best and plain stupid at worst. You're right there, if perhaps a little too worked up about it. I kid. I kid.)<br /><br />* But I liked the flashbacks that included Clemence Poesy, perhaps, per your previous comment, because I like her. And, given that the theme of the movie is about Ralston's shunning of society, she plays a significant figure: she's the closest Aron has come to letting someone in. So it's only natural that a guy who thinks he's going to die because of his own self-centeredness would reflect back on a kind of make-or-break point in his life when he had the opportunity to connect with someone.Jason Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18150199580478147196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-6150309356524046322010-12-30T20:20:02.986-05:002010-12-30T20:20:02.986-05:00However, to head this small part of the argument o...However, to head this small part of the argument off at the pass, let me just say that you have both argued the opening extremely well and, having been genuinely curious what grabbed others about this film, I'm glad that I can step outside my own reaction to gauge how you see it. What I'm about to say will sound bitchy, but know that it is not directed at either of you but the film: Thanks to you guys, I can now tolerate four of the film's 97 minutes. I still don't <i>like</i> them, but this is a great point of view.<br /><br />And that's something, and it's a breath of fresh air from some of the lazier texts and Twitter messages sent my way from friends and evens strangers. It's been too long since I've had a good disagreement on this blog, and I forgot how invigorating it can be when it's respectful and illuminating. So, and I mean this, thank you both. But if you guys can win me over to the Clemence Poesy flashbacks (not her specifically, just what her character was supposed to symbolize), then I'm sending you two to Israel to sort out the two-state solution.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-19594747904838283822010-12-30T19:45:52.356-05:002010-12-30T19:45:52.356-05:00Jason beat you to it, Hatter. It's a valid poi...Jason beat you to it, Hatter. It's a valid point, but one undercut by Boyle's obnoxiousness. Aron's own desire to show off also contrasts with his sense of isolation, as I said. He likes to go it alone, but only so he can later return and show people he did. He's not the same as Christopher McCandless; he wants to be out in nature as much as possible but come back and impress people. To say that his personality is isolationist is not entirely correct.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-77806626615485110472010-12-30T19:37:17.254-05:002010-12-30T19:37:17.254-05:00OK, that's twice you've mentioned it, so I...OK, that's twice you've mentioned it, so I have to point out the misconception:<br /><br />The montage at the beginning isn't supposed to bring your attention to people's hands (which might be the most inappropriate concept to start a film like this).<br /><br />The montage is supposed to bring your attention to the way people gather. The way people move and surround themselves with other people...whether it's to commute, to party, to watch a sporting event. That opening sequence is supposed to plant the seed that we are a species that <i>gathers</i>.<br /><br />Aron, on the other hand, is a person who isolates. He ignores his family, he doesn't tell anyone what he's doing at a given moment, and goes off into God's country to bike, climb, swim, and camp <b>alone</b>.<br /><br />Counter to that opening montage, he's a person who doesn't think that he needs to be around anyone else...and that is a big piece of what led him to this point.Ryan McNeilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00440134802928893661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-84616772089271324912010-12-30T19:24:55.068-05:002010-12-30T19:24:55.068-05:00The gaudiness of the moment, the lack of earned pa...The gaudiness of the moment, the lack of earned payoff made the faux-inspirational quality of Boyle's view of Ralston's story struck me as perverse. He tortured Ralston, and the audience, for 90 minutes in a way totally separate from the actual torment of the scenario, and then he acted like we were supposed to feel liberated and grateful for the experience. I was so disgusted by that point (and not even with The Scene) that I wanted to tear out my eyes when that triumphant music swelled.<br /><br />I think your interpretation of the opening is valid and probably what Boyle was going for, but so many of the shots -- swimmers' arms, a man waving, the crowd doing the wave -- put forward the connotation, as if dropping the hint of the price he was about to pay for running out to the wilderness.<br /><br />It certainly looked, great, I'll grant, when it wasn't bounding into those damn flashbacks. But I reached a point where I got so tired of the edits and tricks that I just shut down and could glean no remote entertainment value from the picture. It's weird, too, because I love me some freneticism; 127 Hours isn't nearly as much of a clusterfuck as, say, Natural Born Killers or any modern Tony Scott movie (if Boyle tweaked it by <i>that</i> much, he might have made an experience similar to Scott brilliant yet also emotional Déjà Vu), and yet I hated this. I think it just alienated me instantly and only got worse as it went on. And the more it tried to win me the more I turned against it for trying so hard. Perhaps if it put down any kind of emotional bedrock I might have been willing to play along, but Boyle took a gamble in giving us just enough of Aron to make us be kind of irritated him before trapping him, then doing nothing to really change him. A pity; I had looked forward to this for months.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-22790889006039897262010-12-30T19:10:19.065-05:002010-12-30T19:10:19.065-05:00Well. I certainly understand an objection to Boyle...Well. I certainly understand an objection to Boyle's style, which I found overbearing while also thinking that it worked more often than not ... My biggest annoyance might have been the use of the song "Lovely Day," which made no sense at all. But all that said ... I've seen it three times now and boring was certainly not an emotion I ever felt. Interesting. The shots at the opening aren't about arms ... They're about civilization, the hustle and bustle that Aron runs from and then gratefully stumbles back to. Works for me. Which brings me to the end ... Exactly what is sleazy about it? I'm missing that connection.Jason Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18150199580478147196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-14684490955275859292010-12-30T15:51:15.908-05:002010-12-30T15:51:15.908-05:00Yeah, I believe that you wanted to like this...but...Yeah, I believe that you wanted to like this...but that might actually have been part of the problem. You wanted to like it too much and came in with a lot of preconceived notions.<br /><br />I think the arrangement of his thought process actually leads us towards his decision quite well. He begins methodically...assesing what he has to work with. Then the hyperactive ideas kick in when he starts to pine for what he's missing - food, water, various brands of beer and soda. Eventually dehydration starts creeping in which is when he starts talking to himself. And finally the gravity of the situation takes over which is when he <i>really</i> starts to see his life past and present flashing before his eyes.<br /><br />The mental progression is all there, and those digressions are what helps to make a very static and claustrophobic story a rather energetic movie with scope.Ryan McNeilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00440134802928893661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-88817853724424748002010-12-30T15:31:02.753-05:002010-12-30T15:31:02.753-05:00It is possible to get inside someone's head wi...It is possible to get inside someone's head without turning it into a Mountain Dew ad. Subjectivity is not necessarily a leap into fractured dreamspace. The only moments of the film that work are when Boyle stops interfering and lets Franco meditate, but those moments never even last a full minute before we're off a running again. The arrangement and bombardment of Aron's visions doesn't show us his addled thought process lead to his ultimate decision. Franco could have carried this, if given the chance. He could even have lapsed into totally believable madness from dehydration that could be conveyed with style. But Boyle never takes us on an emotional journey as a man readies himself to do the unthinkable. He just pisses around for 90 minutes then gets down to it.<br /><br />I'm telling you, I really wanted to like this, and I didn't think I'd even need to will myself into doing so. I'm a big Boyle fan, and I was fascinated by Ralston's story. I'm not someone who went in looking to snipe and bicker over minor details, because if I can justify the entire third act of Sunshine, I could sure as hell stick up for some moments that don't work. But I could count on one hand the number of things that are pulled off here, and none are constants. They're fleeting teases of a movie that could be entertaining and respectful toward the story, of which this is neither. No one else seemed to like it either though I've never used crowd reaction as a serious barometer for quality. I can only speak for myself, and I loathed it.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-19698950499457231492010-12-30T14:53:42.556-05:002010-12-30T14:53:42.556-05:00Alright, let's start here:
You don't like...Alright, let's start here:<br /><br />You don't like the film's freneticism. How vile and boring would the alternative be? Had the film locked off the camera and just been a document of Ralston's effort to get free, things would have become very dull in a hurry.Ryan McNeilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00440134802928893661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-5418543349937110732010-12-30T14:39:56.800-05:002010-12-30T14:39:56.800-05:00Maybe so. I don't think any of Boyle's hum...Maybe so. I don't think any of Boyle's humor was wry or clever, that his spastic filmmaking was "energetic" or anything else the supporters have said about the film. I tried to divorce myself from my reaction to see what others saw in it, but I honestly came up with nothing. Not only is the freneticism ill-fitting, it's actually dull! This fucking movie took an eternity! Is this the same man who made such fleet work of Slumdog Millionaire? (The more consistent Boyle critics scream, "Yes, you idiot. About time you joined us," but I am not yet ready to be a member of their party.)<br /><br />As I said in the review, the only times I wasn't bored were when I was offended by its tastelessness. I spent a month trying to free up the time to drive the hour to see this, and I was damn ready to love it. But this was vile from the word "go."Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-76101660275651203182010-12-30T10:50:17.673-05:002010-12-30T10:50:17.673-05:00Wow. There is no way you and I watched the same mo...Wow. There is no way you and I watched the same movie.Ryan McNeilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00440134802928893661noreply@blogger.com