Escape to the Movies: Cloud Atlas

RJ Dalton

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Aug 13, 2009
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Wow, now that was an extremely dense and focused review. No pussy-footing around at all.
You know, I think this is the first time that one of your reviews has actually made me want to see something.
I wonder if I actually will.
 

Zenn3k

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Feb 2, 2009
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I saw it tonight and I enjoyed it a lot. At times it can be mildly hard to follow all 6 stories at the same time, and the first quarter or so of the movie is VERY slow, but I found myself taking a lot more interested once the "future" elements got rolling...being a major scifi lover.

Overall, a good movie, and something I'd like to see a 2nd time at least.
 

Olas

Hello!
Dec 24, 2011
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So it doesn't suck? I'm honestly surprised because the trailer really made it look like a pretentious bloated mess that tried to fit half a dozen movies into one and be the "ultimate film".

I guess I might go see it then.
 

Paradoxrifts

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Jan 17, 2010
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Wakikifudge said:
Paradoxrifts said:
Wakikifudge said:
We all think that Handsome Jack is one of the greatest villains of this console generation.
Definitely not.

Although he's right up there alongside tiny drop rates and wormhole threshers as the most infuriatingly annoying 'features' that have been introduced into the Borderlands franchise by the second game.
That's great and all but I was stating my OPINION. I was simply listing things that my friends and I agree about. Not really looking for a debate. You may not like Borderlands 2 but I do and that's fine. This just reinforces the point I was trying to make. Obviously people are going to disagree with some/all of the things I listed. My friends however do not and so if one of them goes and sees Cloud Atlas and likes it, there's a pretty good chance I'll like it too. At the moment though, I'm not interested in it.
Quite the contrary.

I quite like BL2 and that is in spite of the game's flaws. But to get back to the subject of Handsome Jack, I feel you must have mistaken 'greatest villain' with ' character so annoying that killing them becomes a cathartic experience'. It's as if Gearbox had the Occupy movement design a Saturday morning cartoon version of Satan for them.

Handsome Jack never came across as threatening or unsettling to me which is the hallmark of a decent villain, I just only ever wanted the stupid to stop.
 

Don Reba

Bishop and Councilor of War
Jun 2, 2009
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CaptDom said:
Don Reba said:
Gah, it sucks to be in Europe sometimes. The movie will probably hit the torrents before theatres here.
Sigh, wait till March or February? Fuck no.

They can keep their fucking film, I don't care what the excuse is, do we really have to still put up with this shit in 2012?

Maybe I can use the time to read the book first, if only. Hah. Bollocks! I'm boycotting the whole franchise. All by myself if I gotta.
I will probably download it first, as soon as a high-quality version becomes available, then go see it on the big screen. Did that with Drive and it was quite satisfying.
 

w3dg3

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Jul 27, 2009
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So why not get an Asian actor and let him play as a white guy in one part and as himself in the other>
 

pearcinator

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Apr 8, 2009
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So I get all pumped and ready to watch the movie now!

Go to see when it's released in Australia (according to IMDb)....21st February 2013!


WWWWWWWWWWWWTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF??????????????????

It's the same fucking movie! There's no translation involved because we speak fucking English! Why the hell do we have to wait 4 fucking months for it to be released in cinemas over here?

Fuck.
 

MortisLegio

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Nov 5, 2008
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Wait... How am I just now hearing about this? By what is shown in the video it looks pretty cool. Guess I'll have to go check it out.
 

maninahat

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Nov 8, 2007
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I remember disliking the book. I just couldn't understand why it brazenly (and openly) borrowed stock premises and cliched settings, and then expected that not to be a problem.

This film does look pretty interesting though. Maybe the aesthetics will be enough to hide the obvious similarities to other stories, and maybe the immediacy of film will make much more of the multi-story aspect (which seemed to do bugger all for the book). We'll see. EDIT: In February.
 

maninahat

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OlasDAlmighty said:
So it doesn't suck? I'm honestly surprised because the trailer really made it look like a pretentious bloated mess that tried to fit half a dozen movies into one and be the "ultimate film".

I guess I might go see it then.
I can't help noticing your avatar...Have you seen it? Woz it gud?
 

sibrenfetter

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Oct 26, 2009
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yunabomb said:
The fake asians don't really look asian. They just look like white people pretending to look asian based on what I've seen. The K-pop eyebrows look pretty weird as well, although I don't know if there's a reason the actors have been stylized to look that way.
well in the book it is explained that most people you'd see on the streets are actually androids. There are many more androids for convenience sake and they are produced. Other than that, the book depicts a very sterile, made-up future world where it is easy to see how plastic surgery would be a very common thing. I think those are also reasons for the design choices in the film
 

NinjaDeathSlap

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Feb 20, 2011
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shogunblade said:
The one thing I find to be quite interesting (From all the reviews I've read so far), is that no one has called it "A Great movie", just "Ambitious". Moviebob called it "Ambitious", Roger Ebert called it "Ambitious".

I'm truly happy to see its not getting "Best Movie of the Year" buzz, but just "Most Ambitious movie" awards, and in that reasoning alone do I want to see the movie.

It's hyperbole that's a tad easier to swallow than "Worst Movie" or "Best Movie".

A great review, Bob, I really hope to see this movie soon.
I personally have always despised the way awards ceremonies have 'Best Picture' awards. Not because they always get it wrong (although they totally do), but just because cinema is capable of such wildly disparate feats of imagination, I don't think it's possible to single out just one movie from one genre as the best.

I personally think they'd be a lot better for having several smaller awards for each major genre, without a big 'Best Picture award at the end of it. Admittedly, some already have categories such as 'Best Documentary' and 'Best Animated Feature'. However, if they can do that, why not also 'Best Thriller' and 'Best Comedy'? A film that could be said to belong to more than one genre could still be nominated for more than one category, and it would allow more movies, from a wider range of cinematic tastes, to have a chance at acclaim, bringing them to the attention of cinema-goers and ultimately expanding the scope of the film industry even further.

The only downside that I can see is that it would make awards shows even longer than they already are (which I suppose even then could be offset by cutting out some of the bullshit filler that they all have).
 

sibrenfetter

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Oct 26, 2009
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Aureliano said:
As far as its sixness and the stories in general, I could have done with a little bit more of an overarching narrative as opposed to six largely self-contained stories. I wont spoil it, but I wasn't exactly enthusiastic with the ending of the Victorian story. It just seemed like they ended it that way because that's what's supposed to happen in gay romance stories. And don't get me started on the almost random philosophical platitudes in the chronologically latest short films.
To make things clear, this movie is a near direct depiction of the book Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. While of course some things have been changed, most of it is like in the book. I would suggest you read the book and see if you still dislike the gay romance story as the language in it is quite amazing and gripping. In the book there is also no overarching narrative. Even more each story is told in a chronological order but only half way. After the apocalypse story all the stories are finished counting down to the first. It is an amazing read.
 

Eric the Orange

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Apr 29, 2008
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This is much more how I would think of this movie
http://thecinemasnob.com/2012/10/27/cloud-atlas-review.aspx
 

Sylveria

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Nov 15, 2009
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OlasDAlmighty said:
So it doesn't suck? I'm honestly surprised because the trailer really made it look like a pretentious bloated mess that tried to fit half a dozen movies into one and be the "ultimate film".

I guess I might go see it then.
You're assessment of the movie based on the trailer is 100% accurate, but this is Movie Bob, film snob. It's pretentious, psuedo-indie, nonsensical Oscar bait with a huge budget.. of course Bob is gushing for it. He loves this art-house-film-with-hundreds-of-millions-behind-it stuff because if he didn't, he'd lose his hipster cred.
 

Jegsimmons

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Nov 14, 2010
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MovieBob said:
Cloud Atlas

MovieBob takes us through the spectacle that is Cloud Atlas.

Watch Video
personally it looks like oscar bait that got too big a budget. it may have some good ideas and visuals and acting but im going to hold my judgement on if its 'good' or not until ive had some time to think of it and wonder if im being tricked into likeing something thats only mediocre.


Hell anyone remember Avatar? supposedly 'the bestest movies evar!!!11' and its really a hunk of manipulative pile of whale shit?
Not saying cloud atlas is bad, but im very skeptical about something that gets so much hype for being a standalone movie.
 

RedDeadFred

Illusions, Michael!
May 13, 2009
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Paradoxrifts said:
Wakikifudge said:
Paradoxrifts said:
Wakikifudge said:
We all think that Handsome Jack is one of the greatest villains of this console generation.
Definitely not.

Although he's right up there alongside tiny drop rates and wormhole threshers as the most infuriatingly annoying 'features' that have been introduced into the Borderlands franchise by the second game.
That's great and all but I was stating my OPINION. I was simply listing things that my friends and I agree about. Not really looking for a debate. You may not like Borderlands 2 but I do and that's fine. This just reinforces the point I was trying to make. Obviously people are going to disagree with some/all of the things I listed. My friends however do not and so if one of them goes and sees Cloud Atlas and likes it, there's a pretty good chance I'll like it too. At the moment though, I'm not interested in it.
Quite the contrary.

I quite like BL2 and that is in spite of the game's flaws. But to get back to the subject of Handsome Jack, I feel you must have mistaken 'greatest villain' with ' character so annoying that killing them becomes a cathartic experience'. It's as if Gearbox had the Occupy movement design a Saturday morning cartoon version of Satan for them.

Handsome Jack never came across as threatening or unsettling to me which is the hallmark of a decent villain, I just only ever wanted the stupid to stop.
Ugh... I didn't want to get into this because it's completely off-topic for the thread but alright here you go:

I actually LIKED Handsome Jack for a large portion of the game. I just loved how he was always checking up on you. Ya some of his jabs were a bit stupid but for the most part I thought he was quite funny throughout. He grew on me because I didn't find him threatening. He was just someone far away who was taunting me. Then he does this:
he blows up Bloodwing's Head. I don't know if you played the first game as Mordecai or not but I did and I actually grew quite attached to that bird. She had helped me out of countless situations and was my primary way of dealing with Sirens in PvP. I really thought that she was going to somehow make it out alive. Seeing her head explode really was a slap in the face for me.
After this, I still actually LIKED him but I really wanted him dead too. Then this happens:
You find out that Angel is actually his daughter and that he's been exploiting her abilities as a Siren for his own personal agenda. When I saw this, I truly believed that there was no humanity in him and that he NEEDED to die. Then he goes from sharply telling you stop to full out begging you to not kill his daughter. Despite everything he did, he really cared deeply about her still. I actually felt sorry for him in a way. Then he killed Roland and that really was the final straw.
Even after all of this, at the ending there was a part of me that still liked the guy and pitied him. So for me, Handsome Jack is why Borderlands 2 has a really great story (my opinion, you may not have liked the story). He is the only villain I can think of who at one point can make me feel like I'm just joking with friends over a beer, and then at another point become a completely ruthless bastard.

You may disagree with everything I just said and again, that's perfectly fine because we are all entitled to our own opinions. And this still does reinforce my point. Just replace Borderlands 2 with Handsome Jack in my previous statement and it works.