127 Hours

[El Unicornio, mang]

Well, from what the real like guy has said in interviews, and it's shown in the film, is that he had pretty much decided to let himself die, but when he saw the premonition of his future son (brought on by lack of food and water, no doubt), he decided he was going to free himself at whatever cost so that he'd be able to one day see him.

[vrailaine]

Yeah, I get all that, just doesn't work as a film, for me... like I said, it may've if I didn't actually know what happens.

[thecuriousorange]

I thought it was absolute gubbins. We've seen the flashbacks/fantasies of someone who can't move done much better in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I also didn't like the main character, so wasn't very sympathetic to his plight. It essentially becomes a character study of someone who's not very interesting. I did miss about the first half hour though. 

This is just another one of Danny Boyle's stinkers I'm afraid. File alongside The Beach and A Life Less Ordinary. I also didn't like Slumdog Millionaire, but everyone else seems to.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I thought it was absolute gubbins. We've seen the flashbacks/fantasies of someone who can't move done much better in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

See, I guess it's horses for courses cos I thought that film was quite dull, and I found the lead character less sympathetic. Also, you missed the first half hour??? Hardly worth bothering after that!

Agree about Boyle doing quite a few stinkers though (although I don't think The Beach is a total disaster), and I wasn't that into Slumdog either, especially that horrible dance routine at the end. Still, Trainspotting and Shallow Grave make up for it (and Sunshine up to a point).

[thecuriousorange]

Also, you missed the first half hour??? Hardly worth bothering after that!

Long story.

[mobias]

Still, Trainspotting and Shallow Grave make up for it (and Sunshine up to a point).

See, I never got Shallow Grave purely because of the unsympathetic characters thing. By less than about halfway through Shallow Grave I thought all the characters were so vile I didn't give a fuck what happened to them, and that's a major flaw in any movie. There's something weirdly unsatisfying about pretty much all Danny Boyles films for me. Even Trainspotting, which I always really enjoy watching, has a weird shallowness about it. You never really get your teeth into any depth of the characters despite the brilliant performances.  I actually went to see Slumdog Millionaire long before the hype blew up around it and remember thinking that that was the first Danny Boyle movie I'd seen where there was a clear beginning, middle, end and conclusion. What ever I may or may not think about the sentimentality of Slumdog I do think its Boyle's best constructed movie by a mile, but I confess haven't seen 127 Hours yet.     

[El Unicornio, mang]

See, I never got Shallow Grave purely because of the unsympathetic characters thing. By less than about halfway through Shallow Grave I thought all the characters were so vile I didn't give a fuck what happened to them   

I agree they're all horrible, which takes away any emotional involvement, but I think it's a cracking story with some really interesting scenes (and some nasty ones, especially the bloke in the freezer)

[Famous Mortimer]

There was an excellent interview with him the other night on "The Daily Show", and he did a running skit through the show, which barely ever happens on the Daily Show, where he had his arm stuck in a fridge. Lovely chap, it seems.

[mobias]

Finally got round to watching this last night. I'm pretty squeamish so had been avoiding it but so many people have said what a great film it is and the blu-ray was on offer in HMV. Really enjoyed it, one of the better Danny Boyle films I think. The sentimentality mixed the the visceral horror, something which he seems to specialise in, was better placed than it was in Slumdog Millionaire. Possibly because it was a true story. The alternate ending you get as the DVD extra is totally laboured, they must have spent a lot of money shooting it and why he ever thought all that was a good idea I don't know. Good job he went with what he did. James Franco was great too.

Has anyone read the book it was based on?

[Entropy Balsmalch]

I give it one thumbs up.

[HappyTree]

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.

Just as I was reading this post 2 minutes ago and thinking "eughhhh" a little bird about the size of a robin just flew into my window. I was startled by a bang, saw part of a feather stuck to the window and looked out to investigate. I then saw a crow swoop down into a tree, then the fence, then the ground below the window. There was the lifeless body of the collision bird. The crow is now picking at it. Will it eat it? I don't know, I can't look. Needless to say I won't be watching any beheadings either.

Why did that bird just fly into the window? Is this my Jungian death synchronicity?

[Buttress]

Just as I was reading this post 2 minutes ago and thinking "eughhhh" a little bird about the size of a robin just flew into my window. I was startled by a bang, saw part of a feather stuck to the window and looked out to investigate. I then saw a crow swoop down into a tree, then the fence, then the ground below the window. There was the lifeless body of the collision bird. The crow is now picking at it. Will it eat it? I don't know, I can't look. Needless to say I won't be watching any beheadings either.

Why did that bird just fly into the window? Is this my Jungian death synchronicity?

Reminds me of this: http://youtu.be/4La09rwsvhs

[Nibbsy]

Has anyone read the book it was based on?

Yes, read it before I watched the film. Aaron Ralston is a lot more sympathetic in the book - he's clearly an intelligent guy who writes pretty well and is very passionate and even geeky about his outdoor pursuits. Some of the detail about his previous trips get a bit repetitive and boring but he's fairly likable and it's an amazing story.

The film I thought portrayed him as really arrogant and dislikable and I got the impression that that was intentional by Boyle - the idea of this arrogant tosser having a moment of revelation to be a nicer person if he got out alive. Didn't really work for me but maybe that was due to preconceptions having read the book.