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Capone Lets The SUNSHINE In!!
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
My favorite science-fiction works have always been those that don't make sense entirely. Films or writings in which a certain ambiguity exists about the meaning of events that transpire in the story. And while I insist that the work still hold together, I resist any attempt to hold my hand and walk me through the material like a child. I like to use the old noggin every so often; it keeps me awake. Give me a story to interpret, discuss, dissect or just plain old baffle me. This is why the original SOLARIS is one of my all-time favorite films. I appreciated Steven Soderbergh's remake, but the things I didn't like about it all had to do with his attempts at making the film more accessible and sensical. That just isn't necessarily. Solaris succeeds because of its near impenetrability.
Danny Boyle's SUNSHIEN, for the most part, makes complete sense; don't assume that my intro to this review is implying anything else. In fact, it's a masterful work filled with stunning visuals and a casual tone to the science-fiction aspects of the story that made what I was seeing seem flawlessly authentic. We as viewers sometimes forget that this awesome technology and these unthinkable events would not seem all that extraordinary to thee people in the story. To them, it's commonplace, and Boyle (TRAINSPOTTING, 28 DAYS LATER, MILLIONS) remembers this.
The premise of SUNSHINE is that it's 2057 and the sun is dying. Earth's scientists have devised a way to send a nuclear device of unimaginable explosive power into the sun to essentially reignite it. Why it has to be a manned mission, I can't quite remember, but by making it so, the human drama of these events all the more elevated and terrifying. Perhaps the scarier prospect for the current crew is that they are actually the second mission (labeled Icarus II) to attempt this seemingly impossible task. Icarus I entered an area close enough to the sun to lose radio contact and was never heard from again. And by all calculations about the sun's demise and the available resources on earth to make this bomb, the current Icarus mission will also be the last. The mission is designed so that the scientists on board will survive, but they also understand that their lives are 100 percent expendable; everything is secondary to the mission and the survival of Earth.
One aspect of the film that truly impressed me was the make up of the eight-person crew: there are no military types or traditional astronauts on board. They are almost entirely scientists, engineers and physicists. And while they are a very good-looking bunch, this is a crew full of nerds. Boyle also spends a great deal of time just establishing the day-to-day routine of the team, which would drive even the most strong-minded individual insane after so many years in isolation and such a heavy task ahead of them, one with a billion opportunities for mishap. When the crew receives a signal from the Icarus I's distress beacon (which has been missing, at this point, for seven years), the call is made to rendezvous with it and possibly salvage its bomb in case a second attempt to reignite the sun is required. This turns out to be a really shitty call.
Compounded with the fragile mindset of a couple crew members, one devastating event after another befalls the team, and while they are always able to fix it enough to continue the mission, a shortage of oxygen and an endless series of catastrophic mechanical problems make the fate of those aboard Icarus II look more and more dire. At this point, I should mention the absolutely astonishing visual effects work by the UK group Moving Pictures Company. There aren't any blasters or aliens in SUNSHINE, but that doesn't mean the visual effect team doesn't have plenty of chances to really blow our minds with detailed vision of the Icarus crafts, the close-up views of the sun's surface, and some wicked death scenes (I'm guessing most of you aren't surprised that one or two people die in this movie).
The cast, too, is across-the-board strong. Rose Byrne (28 WEEKS LATER) and Cillian Murphy (28 DAYS LATER, RED EYE) are the obvious "heroes" of this film, but there are equally strong performances from Chris Evans (actually showing he's a decent actor and not just the one-note Human Torch), Cliff Curtis, Troy Garity, Benedict Wong, Mark Strong and the perfect-as-always Michelle Yeoh, who does not once use any martial arts. There's an intensity and sharpness to these characters that I'm not used to seeing in movies lately. They certainly debate when a character seems fated to die ("Should we do this, if it means the life of...?"), but the discussion doesn't last long and the outcome usually hinges on the importance of the mission. Any crew member who allows their emotions to influence their decision-making process is clearly looked upon as weak. The other groovy aspect to the film is that very few characters who die do so from the heat of the sun. It is possible to die from excessive cold that close to the sun, I've learned, which makes sense because of the volumes of coolant these ships must carry.
My guess is that SUNSHINE's third act is what will make or break your enjoyment of Danny Boyle's vision (as written by his frequent collaborator, writer Alex Garland). Like many Boyle works, the final section of the movie makes a sharp 90-degree turn in a direction I truly did not see coming and makes the film a bit more conventional, but in wonderfully unconventional ways. For most the film, the only "villains" are time and technology, but this changes in the last third. I'm not saying the shift is for the better or worse, but it's noticeable and startling. The most surprising aspect to SUNSHINE is that Boyle never lets us assume that any cast member will live to see the end of the mission or the movie. And the exposition seems less concerned with the fate of earth than you'd expect. The knowledge that their actions will decide the fate of the planet clearly hangs over every aspect of the film, but it's not something that's discussed endlessly, and why would it be? They all know what's at stake.
SUNSHINE is an exceptional film from a director who seems intent on surprising us with each new work. Following his young-adult-friendly MILLIONS with 28 DAYS LATER and then this seems hard to comprehend, but Boyle has always been a textured director who has convinced me that he'll always hold a few choice surprises back from us with each project just to marvel us with whatever he has next. SUNSHINE is sci-fi in its pure, undiluted form, and in recent years, it's one of the best of its genre that I've seen.
Capone
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SUCK IT
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SUCK IT HARDER
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but falls apart in the 3rd act. i wanted to love this movie too. gets a B for effort
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The third act ruined the movie for me. I was ready to forgive it for being derivative of half a dozen other flicks up to that point, but once you start aping Paul WS Anderson there's no forgiveness left to give.
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Haven't seen it but in the long trailer it's apparent there's a bit of "2001" type stuff going on, so I'm assuming HAL has something to do with all this.
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Since the Dawn of Time, Man has yearned to destroy the Sun... Danny Boyle is just of those guys whose stuff I can watch whether it is successful or not. Even if this is mediocre, it'll still be a good watch.
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Or is it synopsi? I love what you write...I want opinions dammit...we cant argue about facts!!
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That's what it was in the end. Although at least it has the first 20 promising minutes - but then, there is an hour of nonsense. And chunks of "Event Horizon". (By the way, a "sad" ending does not automatically make a movie great.)
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Every time I see a blurb about this movie, I keep thinking the year 2057 has to be a typo. I don't want to be spoiled here with details, but do they explain (remotely believably) why something that shouldn't happen for many BILLION years happens in fifty? Or is it just a cheap way of not having to tackle what civilization will look like in 4500002007 A.D.?
I'll ignore for now the idea of a man-made explosion powerful enough to have any impact whatsoever on the sun (developed in the next fifty years). I hope the have something more signifcant than garden variety nukes up their sleeve. -
One review I read stated this, "Director Danny Boyle (28 Days Later) creates a dreamlike atmosphere that suits the cosmic subject matter. Boyle's style is intimate, even claustrophobic at times, and awe-inspiring at others. For the first hour or so the mood is contemplative: The characters fascinate us, and the special effects are mesmerizing. Then things grow bizarre, even a bit unfathomable, and a plot twist leads to the movie's devolving into a generic and overblown thriller."
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"had to do with his attempts at making the film more accessible and sensical. That just isn't necessarily."
You know, if you're serious about this whole journalism thing, it might be an idea to learn how to write. Seriously mate, two glaringly stupid mistakes in the first paragraph! Could'nt even be bothered to read on... Sigh!
Sorry if I'm being (in) Sensical... whatever that means. -
I'm going to be in NYC today, which is the only place it's playing near me, I might check it out.
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Second paragraph, first sentence. Sunshine is spelled wrong. Just thought I'd help. Nice write-up though. Toodles.
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Yeah, the 3rd act is a bigtime letdown. Not just for the direction it takes, but also because it doesn't even do it very well.
And it is pretty heavy on the cliche crisis situations. Lots of situations that you've seen many times before.
But it should have been good. Using the Sun as a central theme is a great idea. I wanted to love this film. I wish it had been done better.
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I agree with LORDRANDO on this being more of a plot synopsis than a review.
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and Im dying to see this!!!
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looks and sounds good, but overall is rubbish. nothing we haven't seen before. takes itself far to seriously. When compared with the great scifi of all time, this is like a 10 year olds take with a camcorder. The Dr Who episode where there are falling into the sun is much better.
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The movie being any good and capone's abitliy to write. GAWDDAMMN I LOVE THIS SITE!!!!
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This came out in Blighty aaaagggges ago-makes a change from the other way around... ;-)This is an ace film guys, but i personally thaught the last act seemed a little "tacked on" as it's differnt direction altogether to the "high concept sci-fi" you will have watched for the first hour and a bit.... still a good film overall- go see, go see!!
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'(By the way, a "sad" ending does not automatically make a movie great.)'
***SPOILER REPLY!***
They save the Earth? Guess thats sad to some people. -
!Typo Alert! Start of paragraph 2! Typo Alert!
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... unfortunately. I enjoyed Event Horizon (upto a point), so that's not a criticism it itself but it does make this film seem far too derivative as a result.
It is really bizarre how every major event in this film runs parallel to Event Horizon, both in what happens and the order it happens in.
I believe that strangely enough that it's probably a co-incidence because I can't see someone doing it on purpose. -
I'm sorry, but what website do you people think you're on here? If you hadn't figured out that these are not professional writers, but film geeks, who are too busy or too wasted to use spell checkers or grammar checkers or proofread . . . then you are not worthy of this site!Seriously, if you've got such a hardon for perfect grammar, I suggest you spend your evenings cuddled up with The Elements of Style or Roget's Thesaurus . . . not reading a bunch of seat-of-the-pants filmgeek reviews.
It's part of the, uh, "real-world" grit of the site. Part of the colloqial banjo-boy charm. So, get over it or get ready to squeal like a pig. -
I keep seeing an ad for the Six Flags Skydrifter on this site. Isn't that the ride that amputated some poor girls feet? Ripped 'em right off?
Is this some kind of Hostel tie-in? Jeeze, you guys have such a hardon for Eli Roth. Seriously, shouldn't they be advertising the rides, or types of rides, that haven't recently ripped off people's limbs? I'm no marketing expert, but, jeeze. -
The plot does not revolve around the sun dying in the normal sense: this is not due for around five billion years based on our understanding of nuclear fusion. It has instead been "infected" with a "Q-ball" - a supersymmetric nucleus, left over from the big bang - that is disrupting the normal matter. This is a theoretical particle that scientists at CERN are currently trying to confirm, and was one of the many contributions of the science advisor. The film's bomb is meant to blast the Q-ball to its constituent parts which will then naturally decay, allowing the sun to return to normal.
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Fucking hated it. Zero suspense, non-existent acting. Visuals are good, but SO WHAT? But I think my american friends are mostly shallow and easily amused, that's why I predict this movie will get rave reviews in US.
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by at least a couple years...
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I watched this last night and I really enjoyed it. Good acting, great effects, but the third act is just odd. I am not even sure why it's there, it could have been removed and it would have made it a better movie. Still a solid movie though
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Give me more films with "non-existent" (ie, subtle and nuanced) acting, please. Great film (if not flawless: although I like much of the third act, which makes more sense if you pay attention than many people are saying, it does stumble in a couple of places) and a great review. I often don't agree with Capone's reviews (and he *really* needs to learn to proof-read) but this review was spot on for me.
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Oh wait, someone already beat me to it. Damn you Reynard Muldrake.
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Riccardagogo, the word "couldn't" is a contraction of "could" and "not". Thus, the apostrophe belongs between the "n" and the "t", marking the place of the omitted letter. If you're going to go on a diatribe about form, be sure to proofread your own post, amigo. This movie, by the way, sounds boring. It's like Event Horizon, minus the crazy gore. (I didn't like Event Horizon.)
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Good job filling in for Sam.
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Danny Boyle. The guy hops from family film to zombie to sci-fi. Damn!
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Glad to hear they put some thought into the science behind this. I was afraid for a while after reading just the overviews. So I guess if these Q-balls are for realz, then the biggest leap of faith is that of manned spaceships to the Sun in the next 50 years. I guess I can live with that. At least until they get to the inevitable "twist" where any realism will likely be shattered.
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You sir are retarded, get castrated for the sake of humanity. Roth has been nowhere on this site for months (well since Hostel 2 bombed) and yet a moron like you has to way over-reach to come up with a "joke" to bring him up, ironically while bitching about how badly aicn is on Roth's sack.
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All his movies end with a reduction of scale, and a hugely disappointing dumbing-down of the original premise.
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the first two thirds of the film more than make up for it. Watched Alien again the other night though and have a weird feeling that Sunshine may have taken almost exact shots from it. The atmosphere (not a bad pun I swear!) in both films feels very alike.
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You guys aren't supporting the Chicago Film Critics Assn in boycotting Fox for marginalizing online critics?
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I think it spoils it when people go on about this infamous 'last 3rd' - if your going to watch it, please blot 'it' out of your mind going into it as best you can....the film is great, it lives and breathes, feels like your there, very clostrophobic...boyle doesnt do straight - there was bound to be a twist...of sorts.
Please people - enjoy this movie - there aren't many made like this anymore IMO.
You can see the passion of film-making on screen - i swears.
Anyway, just pissin' see it.
The Worm. -
I dont like to rant either but the ending really has divided people more than usual. If the last third in a movie is critisised, it is usually because the narrative or plot slips. Sunshine's last part however seems like its from a totally different flick! That said, I am most definately recomending everyone to see Sunshine.
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Hey, its been done before.
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It goes without saying the end does divide, for those who have not seen it - go in with an open mind. However, for those that have - the debate rages....for me the 'last 3rd' worked, it was such a powerful film before it reaches that point, then when it takes a twist the film goes in a different direction. which i think is just sublime, i entered the cinema about to watch a disaster movie in space, then by half way through the film you realise your watching a space-documentary then it changes again, and maybe with the very end of the film - it changes again - GENIUS!...The Worm.
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And what's more, who the fuck would get in?
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Jul 20, 2007 11:34:40 AM CDT
What? Nobody Said "This Year's Little Miss Sunshine?"
by read and shut up
You TBers are losing your edge. Danny Boyle is awesome and this movie's gonna be hot (insert drum fill).
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Naming ships 'ironicly' perhaps? Kinda silly. Prometheus might be a bit used in SciFi, but at least the name would be fitting and perhaps inspiring rather than uneasy. These are the same guys who might name the first starship the "Titanic" or "Flying Dutchman".
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Unfortunately the 25% turd is the last quarter of the movie and so you walk out thinking, "well that was a bit shit", when really it's not. Seriously Mr Boyle, GET RID OF GARLAND, the guy cannot write third acts for toffee (and is nothing next to the mighty John Hodge).
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And I don't throw cliches like that around lightly. You can debate whether or not the last 25% of this movie was good or not, but that doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of the film is doggone brilliant. Go see it now.
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It didn't ruin the movie, but it made it stop short of being a classic. Basically the direction the film takes could be a really cool idea, but instead of being explored the interesting parts of it, it falls somewhat into the trappings of slasher movies. Still, the post-climax resolution is quite satisfying, and the complete rest of the movie is good enough to propel it to one of the best movies of the year. I loved it.
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In fact, SUNSHINE is one of the best sci-fi movies since years.
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Limited release?
VERY DISSAPOINTED………WHY? Because its not showing at all in WA state, let alone Seattle. What the heck is going on..do they want this movie to be successful or not? In what has to be one of the most technically savy and ‘pro sci fi’ states in the U.s. we have been snubbed?
I was so looking forward to seeing the movie today, and I go to find the times and BAM..nothing.
You seriously expect me or other potential movie goer’s to keep checking back at some vague time hoping to see it? Where is the release date?
You (whoever makes the call) realise that its just gonna slip under the radar
with a minimal audience with the way this is being handled? I guess I’ll wait for the dvd..but I was very much wanting to enjoy this in the theatre.
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Danny Boyle is a Manc - as in he was brought up in the English city of Manchester - Liam Gallager also comes from this said city - in one of his bands' (Oasis) songs he very famously sings this word in true rock n roll fashion - hence the title - its really the only way to say the word 'sunshine' when your from such a backward place.
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I saw this one in the Netherlands 3 months ago and loved it!
Despite its 'flaws'
I love it when a movie is not concerned about what it should be.
This is pure Boyle stuff including gruesome deaths.
Contains his best visuals to dat
Go Boyle!
* spoiler *
The crewmember that gets frozen, broken to pieces and then burnt up like a crispie has to be one of the most awesome death scenes ever filmed. -
Strange that its on limited release as if I remember correctly it did do quite well here in Ireland and Id imagine in UK too. True that its got Cillian Murphy and a British director and writer to broaden the appeal but word of mouth helped it a lot also. I hope it does get a wide release in US eventually
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you'll like the movie better.
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I really really wanted to. Unlike most people, I LOVED 28 Days Later and like all of Boyle's movies figured I would love for how unconventional it is. Only it was very, very conventional. It was a complete formula film, a sequence-of-increasingly-improbable-problems-that-are-even-more-improbable- to-resolve film. I liked it's quietness, I liked the solar special effects, I loved the final scene on earth. But films that just string together non-stop retarded calamities to impede a vital mission get very boring, very fast. And while I watch films like this, I get taken out of them very quickly by these improbable calamities. I can't help but compare what I'm watching to how it might really play out in life, and having the characters perform miraculous 1 in a million save, after miraculous 1 in a million save constantly reminds me that this is a work of total fiction and not a plausible scenario. So I didn't dislike the movie, I just would have liked it a lot better if it didn't spend 3/4 of it's screentime as a 'string of calamities' movie.
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good review, but people freeze to death in space close to the sun because they don't have direct sunlight hitting themm...it doesn't have to do with any "coolant"...lol
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I agree that it is really, really good until the last 20-30 minutes when it gets dumb, but overall it is a good film and worth watching.
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"A half-dozen nitwits you wouldn’t trust to fly a passenger plane are entrusted with saving the earth, in a mission to revive the sun. It’s cooling off, see? The story is almost impenetrable; the dialogue ridiculous and the filming deliberately confusing and faux poetic. By the time this thing is through, the idea of the earth freezing and all life perishing doesn’t sound as bad as it normally might have. "
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It is very derivative, but I could have forgave that without the lame 3rd act.
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"it is possible to die from excessive cold that close to the sun, I've learned, which makes sense because of the volumes of coolant these ships must carry."
Wow. Just....wow. Space Travel Protip: It's very, very cold in space. So yes, it's quite possible to freeze to death that close to the sun. -
"it's very, very cold in space"
So you'd think. But you'd be wrong. While space works a bit like an insulation can in that there is no matter to transport heat, that only means it's very cold IN THE SHADE. If you're in the light, especially that close to the sun, you're basically in an infrared oven. As close to the sun as they need to go, you might well find your sunward side roasted while the off side is freezing if you remain still... -
Obviously. I didn't think I had to be that specific. And saying 'very very cold in space' is not wrong, it is actually a fact. You see most of space IS 'in the shade' it's only when you're relatively close to a star that you're not 'in the shade'. You correcting me on that is like saying that it's not cold in Siberia because when you stand by a fireplace you're hot. It's cold in space.
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contains slight spoiler.
Don't wait for DVD SoylentMean! unless you've got a 60'' HD TV, seek it out on the biggest screen you can find, for faultless, cinematic, visual effects that are the nuts! -
Waay ooould
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I got Madonna's big dick coming out of my left ear and Toby, the whatever, out of my right.
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It's amazing. It's simply amazing. Best movie of the summer by far... Yes better than Shrek 3 I know I was surprised myself.
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I know I know.. this is 2007 - The Year of Movies' Neverending Shitty Summer, but Sunshine is truly awesome. Best, by far.
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...is ok by me!!
Yes you either love or hate Boyle's third acts and for me I've always thought they let his films down...
Having said that, he *DID* take great pains to reiterate the fact that YOU CAN GO CRAZY on this type of mission and the only thing I can really fault him on is the logic behind THE ENTIRE PLANET not being more prepared for this eventuality when planning the mission...
I mean, come on - no offense guys - but are WE geeks the most stable personalities in the world? Why, exactly, do you NEED superbrains on this mission??
Much as I hate to admit it, I'm with Michael Bay (DAMN YOU!!) on this point - if you're gonna send people on a dangerous mission to save the world, YOU SEND MORONS! With patriotism to spare!
Of course, then you'd have a completely different kind of drama that's not really Danny Boyle territory, but hey... -
First 2/3 = smart sci-fi. Last 1/3 = stupid, conventional slasher-in-space.
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anytime that bitch gets into space, bad shit goes down...first it was comparatively minimal (FF: evil guys with lightning bolts), then it got worse (FF2: planet eating galactuses) then it got REALLY shitty (Sunshine: the sun kills everything in the entire galaxy)...if this motherfucker goes into space again, the entire UNIVERSE could collapse!
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"not professional writers, but film geeks"
You idiot, don't you know what the word professional actually means? It means you get PAID for your work, not that you're 'good' at it! Amateur means you don't get paid, you twit. Yes the informal usage seems to be taking over but that doesn't mean it's right. Same as the way people think "ignorant" means stupid. It DOESN'T. You can find "fantastical" in the dictionary too but that doesn't mean it's not moronic.
So with that in mind, whether you get paid or not doesn't have much bearing on ineptitude and basic control of the English language. Now that we're in the 21st century and out of preschool the "not writing a letter" defence doesn't wash either. Pretty much everything is written electronically these days, so the "doesn't count" argument is pretty fucking stupid. I'm not talking about the odd typo (we all do that) or conversational writing, just basic proficiency. How can people DEFEND having the skills of a 5 year-old? Besides, these AICN guys DO want to be taken seriously as 'real' critics, so yes the criticism of their writing is fair. Ironically the 'internet' thing is being fought against for the opposite reason in this respect (as in internet writers ARE real writers). Pretty hilarious!
Oh and people who reference fucking Event Horizon before 2001 in this context need to stop being so fucking literal (ironic wordplay -haw). Sunshine leans much more to the latter.
O.K. Calming down now. I liked the movie too. I don't think U.S. audiences like the gear-change though. Remember how mad people were about Vanilla Sky's/Open Your Eyes' third act? They felt "tricked" and "cheated". So funny and myopic.
Nice way to ruin things for others Doc, after the rest took pains not to actually spill whether they liked it or not. -
Cause that is the soonest I will be able to go to the bay area, Giants game and hopefully movie all in one day.
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but Vern doesn't get paid...Capone might not get paid either...still though, I love AICN, and anyone that comes rapidly to its defense is good people in my book...not to mention, Vanilla Sky can suck a bowl of dicks. not because of its third act, but because of the GIGANTIC hubris necessary to remake a move that had been made brilliantly, like 3 years prior. but, oh, it was in spanish and starred brown people, so let's do it right, with a scientologist, a dumb blond, and, oh why not, let's get one of those brown people that needs a fat paycheck.it was a watered down and ridiculous version of an amazing film by an amazing spanish director, Alejandro Amenábar. and what happened when the americans tried to placate him by letting him direct an english language film? he took a boring script, and turned it into one of the few films EVER, that has legitimately scared me. I mean like, had trouble falling asleep that night...The Others.rant over. continue with your business. and for the record, Capone should get paid for reviewing the best films this site reviews. always. hands down. and Vern should get paid cos he lives in Seattle (green lake, whut whut?!!?) and is a great writer.I should get paid for telling the truth.
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The sharp turn in focus (and indeed plot) in the third act just screams reshoots and much playing about in the editing room to try to get some kind of conventional narrative closure. So you get the first two thirds that riffs nicely around 2001, SOLARIS and the opening bits of ALIEN, with nods to every other spaceship sci-fi movie Boyle can think of (SILENT RUNNING and the like), before it turns into a contrived slasher flick at the end with an improbable nemesis figure. It plays basically like a remake of EVENT HORIZON, and has some of that film's structural flaws. That being said, it's watchable enough for the most part, the acting and effects work is good, but prepared to be mightily disappointed by the ending. This season's DOCTOR WHO covered similar territory in the episode titled 42 just as well. In a nutshell, go and see it, if only because SUNSHINE has some ideas, and it looks good, but gets messy as hell. Which is probably why it's getting such a shoddy and belated US release (region 2 DVD ships towards the end of August over here in the UK). Hopefully there'll be sufficient extra stuff on the DVDs to show at least what might have been.
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but I should've been clearer that being a good or bad writer has nothing to do with being paid or not. But if you ARE paid then you shouldn't fuck up on such a basic level. I don't care whether they're professional or amateur, I just expect them to have a decent level of proficiency and for fuck's sake to have enough respect for others to check their shit just ONCE before they foist it upon the world. If it's not good enough to bother, don't write it in the first place and waste anyone's time. Like I said, the "it's the internet" thing is a cowardly, lazy and bullshit excuse.
Strangely enough I still think of Vern as outlaw Vern and from his own site. He IS awesome though. As for the other guys, AICN isn't their only source of income either. Funny that all Harry's bleating about the ads not being connected in any way to the content turns out to be bullshit after the big gay ad in the Chuck & Larry thread!
Yes you're so right about Tom and the biggest thing about him and his mates - the hubris. I tend to think he works really well in roles where he's an arrogant prick, but yes. We must have American remakes because America lends credibility, and the school system means they can't be expected to read all that shit at the bottom of the screen. I was talking about the average American audience member though and the impression I got was that they were all out of joint as they all complained about being "tricked" like predictability is a GOOD thing. Not saying the minority aren't thinking though.
Yep I totally enjoyed The Others too. Ironically again good casting for a similar reason with Tom's ex this time. Even if you don't like Kidman she can do period in her sleep and can act the pants off a repressed character.
Yep I do generally like Capone (and look how he didn't spoil the ending McCoy) and he seems to write with the same tone as Mori. Vern rules though - but after years of reading him I still can't work out if the shtick is real or all an act. Doesn't matter I guess 'cause he "keeps it real"!
I shouldn't get paid 'cause I'm venting my spleen on here rather than working. The cruel part of that is that half the time I'm self-emplyed. D'oh!
Palimpsest, no. The third act 'turn' is still the same as 2001 with its journey beyond the logical/rational/this dimension (taking care not to spoil, see? see? Americans haven't SEEN this yet). EH was a one-dimensional "we've opened the gates of hell!!!" cliché/tired shtick. In a spaceship/black hole/Doom ripoff. Whatever. -
Not like Supernova it doesn't!
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I thought the makeup of the crew was your typical movie crew cast that you WOULD only see a film and never in a real life situation,they would have been better off sending a team of Kamikaze pilots at least they would stick to their mission and not get sidetracked
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pathetic u yanks had to wait so long for it...
must be all that homemade shit clogging the drains -
Compared to SUPERNOVA it's a work of untroubled genius. But then again, so does POLICE ACADEMY 5: ASSIGNMENT MIAMI BEACH...
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The usher opening the film presentation talked about how Boyle (or Garland) said the film was supposed to reflect being an atheist who found God. Anyone catch any of that concept in the plot? The only thing I can think of was the idea of the Sun being something which was impossible to comprehend but unquestionable by the crew, and I guess the psych and crispy kruger were the ones who got too close and lost their marbles. Its a shame they jettisoned all the nice character drama and conflict for Jason XI. Like many here it was one of my favorite movies of the year until that last 3rd. Oh yea anyone else want the guy who played Kaneda to be in more movies? He had the best scene by far...
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Dull, idiotic and totally lacking an original thought. Don't believe the hype.
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the rest of the cast is average at best
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I'm from the UK, we saw this movie months ago and it's crap - Capone, both you and Harry are taking too many back-handers.
The science in this film is laughable like in one scene *spoiler* where they overlap the umbrellas which is crap because one would deflect the heat and rays from the sun to the underside of the other & melt it - MAJOR BLOODY ISSUE CONSIDERING THE WHOLE MOVIE IS BASED AROUND THIS UMBRELLA WHICH HAS TO BE ANGLE SPECIFIC!!!
And characters you don't care about, a story you can predict from the 1st ten minutes, who will die, sacrifice themselves etc.
Crap, preditable and weak. Don't listen to harry and the rest here; they're bought goods. this film = shit and this is coming from a diehard sci fi fan -
Of course they get paid. Do you know how much the advertising on this site probably brings in each week? If their not getting paid then I have some oceanside property in kansas that I'd like to sell to them.
http://tinyurl.com/pv8do -
It was good despite the 3rd act. I really wish he just kept the psychology of the first to acts as the frame work for the last. It didn't need typical alien man chase man thing. and why didn't CAPONE MENTION Hiroyuki Sanada!!! as part of the cast? Did I miss this? This guy is a great fuckin' actor and was a great captain. watch twilight samuri.
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Are you a scientist?
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Yes I understood it but it just sat there and... and.... sucked. I sooooo wanted to love this movie, it could've been, should've been awesome and they blew it. Who's the asshole that said "hey, lets make it into a thriller or horror movie, the kids like the horror". They had an opportunity to make something deep, this decade's 2001 and instead they made another bland, dull, predictable, dumb ass, fake wanna be thriller set in space. Dumb, dumb, dumb dumb dumb! Avoid at all cost folks and if anyone knows the person that made them mess up this movie, please smack them in the face with a lemon... wrapped around a large gold brick (yeah... you knew that was coming.. RIP D.A.)
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you know, I would've been happier if things just would've started to go wrong on the ship leading us to believe that there was some higher being that was stopping them because in it's eyes our time in the universe was done. And another thing... what the fuck was up with the heavy metal music over the first section of the end credits followed up with clips from the movie as the rest of the credits run. Idiots can't even do the credits right.
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In NYC city today, not aware this movie was released at all throughout the nation, I was excited to get a chance to see this. I saw a preview for this a couple months ago, around March or so and loved the trailer, especially the music Requiem for a Tower playing with it. Up until today, I saw one preview for it total on tv but didn't pay attention to when it was coming out.
Anyways, about the movie. I really like Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne and Michelle Yeoh, and was glad they were in this. In fact, I wasn't aware who was in this, except for Murphy before I went into the theater. That said, I thought the cast rocked, except maybe the chinese guy who made a major mistake. Chris Evans was really good.
On to the movie. I loved not seeing earth until the final shots, it added to the anticipation of what life was really like. I was afraid about halfway in, we would start seeing flashbacks of their lifes before hand, but there were none, and it was a great decision. They could have made more of a romance between Cillian and Rose, but thankfully they stayed away from that, as well. This was a masterpiece visually. Nothing was left unturned by the visual department. The floating frozen guy was the highlight of the visuals for me, especially for when he happens to float away from the cover of the shield! The negatives of the movie are some of the weird decisions on the camera work (blurry visuals) of the sabatour, and of the weird flashes of the crew of the first ship when the 2nd ship docked the first. Like someone said earlier, this film would have been astonishing had it been for a different 3rd act. Everything up until then was very realistic and absolutely beautiful. This is not a movie that I would go out and buy when it came out, but I am glad I went and saw it. I would give it a B+. -
Also, interesting point about Bladerunner - are we going to see a "Director's Cut" of this movie come out in, say, 10 years? Coz, really, nobody took THAT movie seriously until the director decided to revisit it and fix up a few issues...
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I saw it tonight and thought it was brilliant! (pun intended!) Easily the best "hard science" movie since 2001. I do agree there's a tonal/plot shift near the end, but it worked for me. Danny Boyle's a genius, and I'm definitely going to see this one again...(oh, and I snuck into "Transformers" tonight: what a typical Bay shit-fest! No plot, transparent characters and even the action was *yawn* BORING! SO glad I didn't pay to go see that crap!)
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Last week adds for this started popping up out of nowhere and this movi, tht I'd never heard, Directed by Danny Boyle shows up in some awesome looking trailers.
And now to find that it is a smart scifi movie with real character rama of the kind we don't see enough of, so far the only thing I know is wrong with this movie is that it's not playing in my local theaters(I add a hopeful yet).
I will say the tonal shift ending doesn't scare me. Of course this is coming from a guy who actually liked the end of 28 Days Later. And loved how he took the basic "zombie" genre(and yes I know they weren't really undead) and turned it into a quietly tenseand effective character drama. Making me really glad to hear there's a strong element of character drama here.
Frankly, I was a bit dissapointed with 28 Weeks later. Don't get me wrong. The first forty minutes or so of the movie was awesomeness personified, with thrills, chills, and emotional intensity, Robert Carlyle was brilliant. But becomes anticlimactic and predictable shortly after they leave London, with the most interesting character left (who hadn't joined KISS), was stuck in a helicopter with too little to do. And end just when it seemed to be getting interesting again. It amazes me that more people were bugged by Boyles ending than Weeks' last half.
Anyway, this looks like everything one could ask for in a smart tense scifi, and a nice change from sluggfest '07. -
To be a little picky, Deckard had tried really hard to put a bullet in Roy and had already lost his gun by the time the Replicant gave him anything like a clean shot.
This movie could've used a little more picky-ness during the writing of the script. By the end of the movie, I was not only confused about what was going on but why the characters were making the dumbest decisions possible. The whole mission seemed like it was designed to fail since there were so many hoops the crew had to go through to pull it off.
There were so many just plain crazy story elements to the supposedly hard science, that it boggles the mind. Why would you have to slingshot around Mercury to get to the sun? It's the most massive object in the solar system. Its like trying to hit the broadside of a barn by ricocheting it off a nickel.
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