127 Hours

[phes]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlhLOWTnVoQ&feature=channel

Story of man gets hand caught under a rock for a long time. 

Saw this yesterday. Have had a soft spot for Franco since Freaks and Geeks and he is pretty good here. There are one or two Guy Ritchey-esque, ham fisted effects-twat moments that irritate. On the whole though it was a very good film and the most i've enjoyed a cinema trip since Kick-Ass.

I'm not squeamish, but I had my head in my hands a bit of a freak out.

[Junglist]

Good job its been leaked online.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Something about these type of films just carries no appeal whatsoever. Sure, endurance, hope defeating despair, triumph of will etc etc. DULL.

I think it's a bit of a crossover with part of my horror movie dislike because I struggle to give a shit about the people I really do need to give a shit about in order to enjoy it. I don't care if man under rock survives or dies, because usually man under rock dies and me expending emotional energy over a fictional tale of one man's futile purposeless hardship for my own entertainment seems callous and tasteless somehow.

[phes]

Well it's not really overly sentimental or heavy handed in that respect and more a case of

Spoiler alert

i've always been a bit of an selfish tit, and now i've got my hand stuck under this big rock and nobody is here to help me. Shit.

[close]

[Ja'moke]

Just been to see it. Thought it was very good. I'm a massive James Franco fan, so it was great to see him taking lead role in this. I'm not too squeamish with blood, but the

Spoiler alert

bone cracking, and tendon tearing, were grit your teeth moments.

[close]

[Mister Six]

Something about these type of films just carries no appeal whatsoever. Sure, endurance, hope defeating despair, triumph of will etc etc. DULL.

I think it's a bit of a crossover with part of my horror movie dislike because I struggle to give a shit about the people I really do need to give a shit about in order to enjoy it. I don't care if man under rock survives or dies, because usually man under rock dies and me expending emotional energy over a fictional tale of one man's futile purposeless hardship for my own entertainment seems callous and tasteless somehow.

It's not really fictional, though, is it? It's fictionalised but it's very closely based on a true story.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

That makes it more tasteless in my eyes, and makes me want to see it even less.

Nah, it just feels too familiar and there's too much cynicism from my part and theirs. The quality of the emotional journey as a viewer in these specific types of films is so linear and samey that it really does feel like I've already seen it, just from the description.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Just watched this. Excellent film with Franco putting in a very memorable performance. The metaphor of the boulder being that moment in our lives when our mistakes catch up with us and force us to make drastic changes was quite powerful I thought. And yeah, I can handle most gore but this had me cringing immensely, especially knowing it happened for real.

Incidentally, this interview with Jay Leno features some of the actual footage Raltson took when he was trapped

http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/aron-ralston/1263370 (about 4 mins in)

[phes]

Ah thanks for that. Yeah it has a little irony to it doesn't it: seeing your family and friends and partner as objects there to trap you and hold you back; then getting your hand stuck under a rock in the middle of nowhere.

edit:

thank goodness Cillian Murphy was busy that day. Franco's portrayal is uncanny

[small_world]

Just seen this, great movie.
Obviously there's a lot of car crash rubber necking to the whole thing, people aren't going to see this to see the lovely tale of a nice guy on a day trip that sadly goes wrong. People are paying to see someone cut their arm off.
With that in mind the story does add to the experience, it doesn't paint him to be something special or try to create an image, it just helps to pace what would be a pretty horrendous, but uneventful (fuck me) 5 days!!! It portrays someone who was pretty much normal, although obviously a thrill seeker, but not someone who in anyway deserved this to happen. He was silly not to tell anyone where he was going, but not wantonly wreckless. Nor was he the boy who cried wolf, or that Alexander Supertramp, someone of whom I was reminded by watching this.

Anyway, it was good to see that Leno vid. And that's a cool arm attachment. I'd rather my hand though.

And now I'm off to bed to watch Buried as part of a homemade double bill. 

[thugler]

This is getting pretty great reviews. I just watched it.

It's so so boring, despite all boyles flashy camera stuff. There's also no tension whatsoever since everyone surely knows going in that he gets out in the end. I didn't really think the character was particularly intresting either.

My reaction to 'the scene' was "is that it" with his arm coming off for seemingly no reason after him poking and hacking at it with a little tool. Whereas I was under the impression he had to break the bone by using the weight of his body.

Franco's performance is good, but I just didn't think the film was up to much.

[phes]

with his arm coming off for seemingly no reason after him poking and hacking at it with a little tool. Whereas I was under the impression he had to break the bone by using the weight of his body.

was unstoppable about an arm someone couldn't stop coming off?

Because I think you may have watched a different film.

[El Unicornio, mang]

It's OK, thugler doesn't like anything *winky*

He does break the bone, it's clearly shown and heard

[thugler]

I liked the first half of slumdog millionaire to be fair.

Where is the bone break? I went back and watched it a few times, he's cutting at his arm for a while with the tool, then he pulls his arm away and he's free! I thought he would have had to snap it or something. It's a very tame scene really

[El Unicornio, mang]

After he sees the premonition of his future child, he breaks it (this is how it happened in real life too), at about 1:13:53. I have no idea how you could miss it, it's as clear as day. You even see his arm all jellified afterwards cos the bone is broke. Certainly don't think it's tame. I can watch real life beheading videos and not be bothered, but this made me squirm immensely.

[small_world]

Very obvious was the arm breaking. There was a first snap, then a second. What I took to be him breaking both forearm bones separately.

What I liked most, or found most shocking, was the cutting of the nerves/tendons in his arm. With that really high pitched squealing sound. Great stuff.
It's like when you have a nerve problem, maybe a toothache, where you can touch or provoke the nerve. It really hurts. I have had some pretty serious back problems, and the pain is unreal if you trap the nerve or bend without support, it's not a pain as much as a shock. Like someone zapping you with a zapper.

ZAPP!

[Omerta]

What is a beheading video usually like? Does the person having their head cut off have a mask or do you see their pained reaction? Is it usually a quick procedure or do you see the head gradually coming away from the rest of the body? At what point does the body become lifeless? Is there lots of screaming then a horrible silence? What happens after the head has come off? Seriously

[Ja'moke]

There's definitely bone breaking, that's the only bit that truly made me wince, although cutting the tendon was pretty nasty too.

[weekender]

What is a beheading video usually like?

I only answer this with the caveat that I don't particularly pride myself for having watched it.  My defence is that I was in a bad place at the time, and I wish I hadn't watched it.  But I did watch what claimed to be a Nick Berg beheading video and I will answer your questions as factually as I can remember.

Does the person having their head cut off have a mask or do you see their pained reaction?

You can see their reaction, although obviously some people could put someone in a mask.  That would be a bit pointless though as you wouldn't see who they're beheading.  So most of the time I guess you see the reaction.

Is it usually a quick procedure or do you see the head gradually coming away from the rest of the body?

Think of it in three parts.  You have the neck through to the spinal cord, the spinal cord, then back out to the neck again.  The middle bit is the most difficult.

At what point does the body become lifeless?

In the next few seconds after the head and body is severed via the spinal column.

Is there lots of screaming then a horrible silence?

This would obviously depend on the individual being beheaded.  From what I remember, the spinal column was severed and there was an outrush of air, then silence.  Then they had to saw cut the last third of the head off because they hadn't really done it properly.

What happens after the head has come off?

They hold it up to the camera, blood dripping, and parade it around as some sort of trophy.

Seriously

Seriously, please don't watch anything like that, it will fuck you up a bit.  I only did so because I was properly fucking pissed and manically depressed (turns out the two were related), and that's somewhere I don't ever want to be again.

If you really want to think more, think about how a guillotine works.  Then imagine a man trying to do the same process with a knife.

[confettiinmyhair]

127 Hours reminds me a lot of the film Alive. Viewers aren't going to watch this because of Danny Boyle the Oscar winning director, they are a going for the curiosity, to see the payoff of whether or not a man cutting his own arm off is realistic or not. It's a different kind of curiosity to watching fucked up shit on the internet because there the viewer is safe in the knowledge that what they are watching isn't real.

[thugler]

After he sees the premonition of his future child, he breaks it (this is how it happened in real life too), at about 1:13:53. I have no idea how you could miss it, it's as clear as day. You even see his arm all jellified afterwards cos the bone is broke. Certainly don't think it's tame. I can watch real life beheading videos and not be bothered, but this made me squirm immensely.

Right I've watched that bit again now, I totally missed it due to the ridiculous (a bullet?) sound effect they use. I don't think I connected the two at the time for some reason. To be honest I was getting really bored with the film by this point.

Maybe if Boyle would keep the camera still for a few seconds, not play loud fucking music/sound effects over everything I would've been affected by it, but I thought it was very tame indeed, particularly when he pulls it off.

[El Unicornio, mang]

What is a beheading video usually like? Does the person having their head cut off have a mask or do you see their pained reaction? Is it usually a quick procedure or do you see the head gradually coming away from the rest of the body? At what point does the body become lifeless? Is there lots of screaming then a horrible silence? What happens after the head has come off? Seriously

Having seen a few (most disturbingly a Russian teacher beheaded in front of her husband by Chechen rebels), they tend to not scream or make noise at all as they are in shock. They are usually dead after the knife has hacked a few times at the jugular. It is then quite a long process to cut it totally off the body. It's hard to tell when the body becomes lifeless because it's usually frozen with fear throughout. Now you know, I would advise never to watch such a video.

[phes]

127 Hours reminds me a lot of the film Alive. Viewers aren't going to watch this because of Danny Boyle the Oscar winning director, they are a going for the curiosity, to see the payoff of whether or not a man cutting his own arm off is realistic or not. It's a different kind of curiosity to watching fucked up shit on the internet because there the viewer is safe in the knowledge that what they are watching isn't real.

I'm not sure that's true. I watched it on the back of the trailer and knew nothing about how events would unfold. The person that came with me didn't know anything about the film and the audience looked to be a pretty varied bunch. Maybe we were the exception, but it didn't feel like it.

Had I read this thread first, I might have been put off. Which would have been a shame because it's a very decent film and an excellent performance from Franco.

Did you watch the film?

[Mister Six]

Having seen a few (most disturbingly a Russian teacher beheaded in front of her husband by Chechen rebels), they tend to not scream or make noise at all as they are in shock. They are usually dead after the knife has hacked a few times at the jugular. It is then quite a long process to cut it totally off the body. It's hard to tell when the body becomes lifeless because it's usually frozen with fear throughout. Now you know, I would advise never to watch such a video.

Why would you want to watch a few? I saw a video of a Russian soldier getting his throat slit, also by rebels, I think, and it didn't do me any good. Didn't help that a bunch of fellow students were around me going, 'AWW BRILLIANT LOOK AT THE BLOOD THE KNIFE'S GOING IN THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME,' like the twats they were. I preferred it when we used to watch the stoned flies on Joe Cartoon.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I don't know, like weekender I've had those dark morbid moments when curiosity overwhelms me. Certainly not an enjoyable experience, more like pulling away a bandage to look at a wound.

[copylight]

Well I didn't find the DIY amputation gruesome in the least actually, rather what I did find a bit gut churning was when,

Spoiler alert

after freeing himself from the cavern he dives into the festering and typhoidal shitty ditch water to quench his manic thirst.

[close]

[confettiinmyhair]

I'm not sure that's true. I watched it on the back of the trailer and knew nothing about how events would unfold. The person that came with me didn't know anything about the film and the audience looked to be a pretty varied bunch. Maybe we were the exception, but it didn't feel like it.

Had I read this thread first, I might have been put off. Which would have been a shame because it's a very decent film and an excellent performance from Franco.

Did you watch the film?

Yes, and I agree Franco's performance is excellent. But then again he's James Franco, you wouldn't expect anything less. If I were to fault the film then I'd say that it could have done with being longer. These kind of attritional stories need to be dragged out over an extended period of time.

[vrailaine]

Hated all the split screen stuff, what was it supposed to add, exactly? Boyle constantly seemed to be getting distracted.

Was I supposed to feel sympathetic towards the character? I mean, I could towards him if the director wasn't constantly cutting away to pointless crap, I've seen episodes of 999 Emergency which let me realise how shit the situation was... this struggled to break me from the initial "well what was he expecting to happen?" stance.

I thought the amputation was fine, no point being overly graphic just to please some gore fans, done what it needed to do ...should've held one or two shots of the arm so you could actually see what he was doing, but the whole film had that problem.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Hated all the split screen stuff, what was it supposed to add, exactly? Boyle constantly seemed to be getting distracted.

Was I supposed to feel sympathetic towards the character? I mean, I could towards him if the director wasn't constantly cutting away to pointless crap, I've seen episodes of 999 Emergency which let me realise how shit the situation was... this struggled to break me from the initial "well what was he expecting to happen?" stance.

Well, the point was that he put himself in that predicament, and was brave enough to do something pretty unthinkable to get himself out. So it's not so much "poor guy" as thinking that he was someone who has paid a really big price for the way he is, but has done something about it which I think could be inspiring to say, a drug addict, because if you can cut your own arm off to save yourself you can surely stop sticking needles in yourself. That's what I got from it, anyway.

[vrailaine]

Well, the point was that he put himself in that predicament, and was brave enough to do something pretty unthinkable to get himself out. So it's not so much "poor guy" as thinking that he was someone who has paid a really big price for the way he is, but has done something about it which I think could be inspiring to say, a drug addict, because if you can cut your own arm off to save yourself you can surely stop sticking needles in yourself. That's what I got from it, anyway.

The film completely failed at making me accept the situation though, kept drifting off and whatnot, didn't really feel like it was building to where he gained the motivation to cut it off... which was presumably the goal, loadsa flashbacks giving him an overwhelming desire to live or whatever?

Part of the problem may be that it felt like it was trying to build up suspense over the possibility of him dying, but it seems everyone knows the end so that's a complete waste of time.