Escape to the Movies: Cloud Atlas

[Siberian Relic]

After having spent quite some time away from Bob's material, I hopped back in to hear his thoughts about something I was curious about. Lo, and behold, I'm less than a minute in and already confronted with yet another piece of his ubiquitous and shameless fan service.

Congratulations, Bob. You are to 'The Avengers' what twelve-year-olds are to Call of Duty.

 

[irmasterlol]

I just saw it on Saturday, and fuck me it was awesome. Even ignoring how they're supposed to be related, the way the the six stories are edited together kept me engaged. Within two seconds I went from laughing at Broadbent's antics to tense and on the edge of my seat in future Korea. Also, a pop culture reference in one story doubles as foreshadowing for another at one point, which I thought was a pretty neat trick.

 

[Technicka]

Spoiler alert!

Spoiler

The devil is WHITE RACISM, played by Hugo Weaving. It's kind of heartwarming how earnestly Hollywood liberal this movie is.

I'm guessing "Lana" Wachowski was watching nothing but Dead Poets Society and Roots and Dances with Wolves and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest while 'transitioning.' The movie borrows liberally from them when it doesn't steal outright, and the tone is of the eager convert recounting 'her' pop-culture catechism.

Never in all my life have I seen a movie where I've been rooting as hard for the villains.

If you like this movie because you see yourself in the characters, choose a different career path sooner rather than later. The liberal striver poor lifestyle is for those with lots of Mom and Dad's cash to spend.

On the other hand, it's nice to see that Joe Biden and Michelle Obama have a good life ahead of them.

You sound bitter. Go grab a drink.

 

[StriderShinryu]

And the movie flopped so see it quickly if you're going to.

I wouldn't really call it a flop exactly. Yes, the opening box office numbers were low, but it opened on a much smaller number of screens than is typical of a wide release. The per screen average was actually the highest of the weekend releases by a fair margin.

That said, though, I do agree that it may be best to see the movie soon if you're going to see it at all. Regardless of it's supposed quality, it's been getting extremely mixed reviews and it just doesn't seem like an easy movie to sell. If anything works for it, it's going to be word of mouth.

 

[Arcane Azmadi]

Hmm. Why have I never even heard this movie's name before now? Interesting.

 

[VoidWanderer]

I'll bite. I will check it out once it hits Australia.

 

[LightspeedJack]

I'm really excited for this movie. Shame us brits have to wait until FUCKING FEBRUARY to see it. What the fuck Hollywood, seriously.

 

[LastDarkness]

This movie actualy reminded me very much of a classic japanese animation/manga called " Phoenix "

Very similar story and same theme of taking the characters through time but changing roles and such.

 

[ungothicdove]

I saw it last night. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it, but I'm glad I went. I'll need a few more viewings to really make up my mind but this film was absolutely ambitious. It's hard to tell six stories in one movie but they did a damn fine job of making it flow. Got the book a while back but haven't read it yet, which may be for the best so I wouldn't be comparing it the the movie.

 

[Callate]

I agree with everything MovieBob said. And that doesn't happen very often.

Even if you don't think individual threads work, even if you don't think the whole works, the sheer amount of craft and work and thought that went into making this movie are evident in every minute of it, and at nearly three hours length it doesn't drag for a single instant, something I wouldn't even say of the "Lord of the Rings" movies, much as I loved them.

See. This. Movie.

 

[evilneko]

I think Bob just spunked all over the screen. I don't think I've ever heard him gush so much about a movie. So Bob, tell us how you really feel.

 

[WiseBass]

I'm a big fan of the book, and I liked this movie.

The first 45 minutes are a bit rough, with the movie bouncing around the different story lines and not quite wrapping them together. But after that, it's absolutely wonderful how the movie pulls itself together to work.

My least favorite part of it was probably the "Sonmi" story line, but that's probably because "Orison of Sonmi 451" was my favorite part of the book, and it was no doubt difficult to translate from book to film.

 

[SpaceBat]

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

Wow, that was an incredibly horrible review. Not because I rather enjoyed the movie and disagree with their opinion(mainly because that's why they're opinions and I can admit the movie has flaws), but that was just really hard to watch. They do admit that it's going to be polarizing (and it is), but it turned from a weak review to an incredibly shitty one when they claimed that people only acted as if they enjoyed it, because they want to sound smart.

EDIT: CGI was bad? What the fuck?

 

[Sergey Sund]

I've seen the movie today.
It was wonderfully complex. Themes, storylines, concepts interwoven like a tapestry, and I was delighted to try to follow the different "golden threads" and try to keep this sad, romantic, funny, exciting, awesome construction alive inside my head.
And to everyone who insists on hating this movie:
You are wrong.
It's just like when the slave character shows the Englishman how friendship works by pointing first to his eye, then to his counterpart's, that connections happen on a moments notice and there is nothing else you need.
I loved Cloud Atlas. It has played with some of my favourite themes, it has demonstrated great cinematic craftsmanship, and it has left me with an emotional response, a "connection" if you will:
I want to be its friend.
That simple.