Film: Children of Men

[Peruvian Cocaine]

the storyline sounds straight out of aeon flux. Still interested in seeing it tho.

 

[ControlDenied]

Saw it today, it's definitely worth seeing, but in the same way that Apocalypto was: it just looks really damned cool. If it tries to have heart, I can't tell, but it's visual and visceral portrayal of the future was satisfyingly realistic. Everyone was happy with one reference or another, cuz the movie was chock full of them (2012, pink floyd, king crimson, ketamine, buddhism). But, it could have been made in 2002 or 3, it's a standard extrapolation of the present in science fiction. This kind of stuff has been written in novel form for a decade at least. People are overreacting to its realism. I felt a tad let down; it was too violent (like apocalypto) and didn't really get its shit together overall. Enough said

 

[Banquo]

I thought this was a terrific movie. There was great attention to detail, especially the picture composition, as well as some fine acting performances. My favorite shot is when Clive and Miriam are in the school classroom waiting to be detained and you can see Kee through a cracked window section standing (or sitting?) outside on the school playground. I haven't read the rest of this thread, so dunno if I'm repeating anything, but the premise and the plot are effective in capturing the imagination so much that it sometimes seemed like the story was only a few clicks away from the real world. It would be cheap to look at the whole thing as allusion, but the fact that the story didn't cater exclusively to political correctness or anarchy made it much more vivid. Four out of five stars.

 

[felix]

co sign! W W , it was a thriller for me, sick directing, where did they film this ?

Filming locations: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0206634/locations

Which reminds me... I was delighted to see Battersea Power Station doesn't get knocked down, and becomes an evil government building. %)

 

[thizzlamic]

i thought it was a great movie. best sci-fi flick ive seen in a while. not a whole lot of original movies today, mostly bullshit sequels and remakes. not a dull moment thru the whole movie. cool pink floyd reference. what more can you ask for?
...kinda thought the ending was cheesy tho

 

[thizzlamic]

^^
forgot to mention...great to see some awesome movies by my fellow beaners being made

 

[glitterbizkit]

I thought it was fantastic, powerful, and quite depressing (for me)... Definitely a must-see.

 

[felix]

cool pink floyd reference.

:D

Are you referring to Battersea Power Station? I seriously doubt that was a Pink Floyd reference, it's just... a building! :D

 

[Finder]

^You didn't see the pig floating next to the smokestacks? Clearly a Floyd reference.

Unfortunately, this movie was just ok for me--I couldn't bring myself to give a shit about what happened to any of the characters.

 

[felix]

^ No, I missed the pig.

Not giving a shit about any of the characters = you a sociopath. I always knew that. Perfect admin material. :D

 

[Finder]

I think it has something to do with the fact I've been watching Six Feet Under and The Shield over the last year, two shows which have done drama better than most. Things happening to characters on those shows I care about.

 

[felix]

Yeah, they're both great. Maybe you're just not cut out for this whole 'watching films' thing.

 

[Finder]

[spoil]I hated the scene when he's carrying the baby out of the building. Why didn't any of those soldiers try to stop him? The whole movie is trying to hide this fucking baby so no one takes it away and when it's finally brandished in broad daylight everyone just stops to stare. How dumb.[/spoil]

I dunno. Maybe it's because I don't like children and this sort of future doesn't seem like such a bad thing.

 

[felix]

I bet your parents didn't like children either by the time you left home.

 

[Finder]

Probably not as much as yours.

 

[felix]

What a witty response!!! OK, you win. LOL.

 

[ladyinthesky]

Great fucking movie

 

[(Wordy)]

I thought it was one of the best sci-fi films in recent memory, but definitely flawed.

A chilling concept, and some very impressive set pieces... but some of the acting was wooden, especially early on in the film. I agree that the script probably needed a rewrite - the character development wasn't handled particularly well. I didn't particularly give a shit about the characters either, but was swept along by the premise. Also I found some of the 'futurisms' sounded the wrong note - at times there seemed to be a trade-off between plausibility and heavy-handed satire. But in some scenes the future was all too believable.

There's a YouTube clip of Slavoj Zizek giving his thoughts on the film if anyone's interested.

 

[ControlDenied]

It was a fairly decent movie, but entirely forgettable. It seems people are incapable of making true art in film nowadays. Signs of the apocalypse...?

It was, by sci-fi standards, well, standard (for a near-21st c. setting): genetically-enhanced weed, diverse cultures clashing, meat-and-potatoes are rare gourmet, police state, etc. Like most movies of the 21st century so far, it just lacks any real soul.

 

[captainballs]

This was an entirely overrated film. Give it the "wait five years" test, and I guarantee everyone who was tricked by it's excellent production will have to make a concious effort not to cringe at every single story development. Seriously, when the whole army stops shooting as the camera shows the dramatic exit of the baby (oh the humanity)... it's all just unreasonable and doesn't pass the smell test. It lacks soul, but it tries to make up for it just like every single other sci-fi wannabe-epic does by using shock and awe... when there is really nothing else going on....... not even anything interesting for scientifically focused viewers to latch onto.

This film is an excellent exhibition of how far film-makers' craft has come as far as cinematography and scene-realism, but it was almost a mistake using such excellent production values since they only serve to highlight the huge absence of anything actually interesting happening in the plot.