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Alex Scarrow
Ape
969 Posts |
 Posted - 15 October 2006 : 6:26:14 PM
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Well I'll cut to the chase, straight up - effin' brilliant. Easily the best movie I've seen this year. Perhaps the best movie I've seen in the last couple of years I think.
It's based on a book by P.D.James, who normally writes dull old crime novels. I remember reading the book about 5 yrs ago and enjoying it immensely.
So the film then....
The story takes place in the future, about twenty years or so. At some point in the past all women became infertile and unable to conceive. We enter the story on the day in which the worlds official youngest person, ie: the last recorded baby...dies aged 18 in some brawl. The world is without children, a grim place were all hope has gone. We see a grubby, messy London, covered in litter and dour faced types trudging pointlessly to work. This...mixed with images of future tech; eg: animated holographic billboards, cool-looking cell phones etc etc. The film looked a lot like Minority Report, but dirtier, grittier.
The hero, played by Clive Owen, who I found very watchable, becomes embroiled in a plot to spirit out of the country a very special young lady...very, very special indeed (say no more).
I won't bog this review down with a telling of the story, but I'll say this. This film excels in three areas;
1. The visual realization of a future dystopian London. I've honestly never seen a depiction of the future that felt so utterly...real. And so horribly chilling because of that.
2. The characters: there's a cast of characters that so-o-o wouldn't have existed if Hollywood had got its mitts on it. Genuine, believable people...the sort of cast you might have seen in a Mike Leigh movie. As opposed to the usual cookie-cutter US casts of well-groomed, sexy, sassy, slim, alpha-types. Michael Caine as a weed growing hippy - fantastic.
3. Depiction of urban combat; this was sensational. If you go watch the movie, you'll see exactly what I mean.
Absolutely stunning. Brilliantly directed, scripted and filmed. The cast were good too....but like I say, the real brilliant was the scripting, the cinematography and the directing.
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Edited by - Alex Scarrow on 15 October 2006 6:28:33 PM |
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Parmenion
Homosapien
United Kingdom
13892 Posts |
Posted - 16 October 2006 : 10:10:03 AM
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I watched this about 5 weeks back..i enjoyed it too, but had not ranked it that high on my best seen films...i think i may have done had i not been on a bit of a downer that day anyway!...well worth a watch though!
LASCIATE OGNE SPERANZA, VOI CH'INTRATE
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Nocoolname
Invertebrate
United Kingdom
163 Posts |
Posted - 22 October 2006 : 10:12:03 PM
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| Just as I had managed to set some time aside to see this at my local flicks they stop showing it... :( |
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Nocoolname
Invertebrate
United Kingdom
163 Posts |
Posted - 22 October 2006 : 10:14:03 PM
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| Just as I had managed to set some time aside to see this at my local flicks they stop showing it... :( |
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KilboFraggins
Invertebrate
United Kingdom
134 Posts |
Posted - 01 November 2006 : 09:26:40 AM
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| My other half took me to see this. She likes PD JAMES, crime stuff mainly. I really wasn't expecting this movie. It knocked me for six, definately one for my DVD collection when it comes out. |
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Mace
Small mammal
United Kingdom
586 Posts |
Posted - 01 November 2006 : 8:31:53 PM
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| Will wait for DVD. Looks a bit too much like the old 'future bad, one man make it all lovely', stuff. |
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Big Dave
Dinosaur
United Kingdom
234 Posts |
Posted - 02 March 2007 : 3:53:01 PM
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I know its a bit after the fact but I loved this film so much that I read the book. Which is also brilliant but bares only a passing resemblance to the film. I recommend them both.
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Chuck Norris likes to knit sweaters in his free time. And by "knit", I mean "kick", and by "sweaters", I mean "babies". |
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Alex Scarrow
Ape
969 Posts |
Posted - 04 March 2007 : 10:56:43 AM
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I re-read the book, I was so inspired by the film....but found it wanting 2nd time round. The film really does depart from the book quite a lot, and I think, tells the story much better because of that. I shall definately be watching out for director Alfonso Cuaron's future movies.
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Children of Men - review
