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Author Topic: Arrival  (Read 8344 times)
Khaldun
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on: November 14, 2016, 09:21:40 AM

New first contact movie starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner.

I liked it very, very much. I think some geeks may quibble with the science, but it is better in that respect than Interstellar (imho) and a better movie overall than Interstellar by a significant margin.
Merusk
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Reply #1 on: November 14, 2016, 09:54:07 AM

Agreed and felt the same way.

Fantastic hard sci-fi movie. Interesting turn of events and well-acted by all parties.

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Soulflame
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Reply #2 on: November 14, 2016, 10:45:37 AM

Saw it.  Enjoyed it.
Ruvaldt
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Reply #3 on: November 14, 2016, 11:19:57 AM

Yeah, saw it on Saturday and thought it was brilliant.

It's worth noting that this is directed by Denis Villaneuve, who has had an excellent string of films and is directing the upcoming Blade Runner sequel.

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Reply #4 on: November 14, 2016, 10:15:05 PM

It is based on a short story by Ted Chang, who has written very few stories and every one is one of the best SF stories ever written.
Torinak
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Reply #5 on: November 15, 2016, 03:39:08 PM

A good movie, and faithful to the heart of the story it's based on.

Ted Chiang was listed as one of the science and engineering advisers to the film.

I hope he writes more. I had a chance to have lunch with him some years ago, and the group of us pretty much begged him to be more prolific. That was about 5 stories ago, so clearly we should have been more persuasive.
lamaros
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Reply #6 on: November 15, 2016, 04:36:18 PM

Also I've read the short story this is based on. Does that spoil the movie or is it still a good watch?
« Last Edit: November 15, 2016, 04:37:59 PM by lamaros »
Torinak
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Reply #7 on: November 15, 2016, 04:52:00 PM

Also I've read the short story this is based on. Does that spoil the movie or is it still a good watch?

It's still a good watch.
Khaldun
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Reply #8 on: November 15, 2016, 08:07:09 PM

You may see what's coming before most people do (which has a certain irony in the context of the film) but it's still very moving the way they do it.
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Reply #9 on: November 15, 2016, 08:17:09 PM


The past cannot be changed. The future is yet within your power.
Khaldun
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Reply #10 on: November 16, 2016, 07:55:49 AM

Is death process.
Pennilenko
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Reply #11 on: November 16, 2016, 10:34:03 AM


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Reply #12 on: November 17, 2016, 11:08:04 AM

You may see what's coming before most people do (which has a certain irony in the context of the film) but it's still very moving the way they do it.

I thought they built it up just right -- I had a very general idea of what was going on fairly early in the film and slowly refined my theory of what was going on as the story unfolded so the final "twist" was a delightful realization rather than a surprise out of left field.


I did have to explain it to my aunt who I saw it with -- she'd have unpacked it on her own after the fact but while in the theater it wasn't obvious to her how the whole plot fit together.  I had a similar experience with "Donnie Darko" (which I did enjoy unpacking after the fact) but really liked the way that this one unfolded more organically, and how the structure of the story related to the story itself.  Just really beautifully crafted.

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Reply #13 on: November 19, 2016, 08:52:05 PM

I went and saw this today and I am so glad I did. Intelligent, well-shot, well-acted movies like this that aren't a tentpole big budget franchise movie really should be supported. Fantastic movie from start to finish and I loved the score.

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Reply #14 on: November 20, 2016, 02:20:38 PM

My wife and daughter saw it with me today. We had to explain some parts to my daughter; the concepts were not beneath her but the way they were presented were not obvious to an 11 year old. She really enjoyed it and we've been talking about the ideas for at least an hour now.

I want to know:
HaemishM
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Reply #15 on: November 20, 2016, 03:56:38 PM

It would have been an interesting question to answer, but it really wouldn't have been that important to the story being told.

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Reply #16 on: November 20, 2016, 08:06:43 PM

I really liked it too. It felt a bit bleak at first. It's not afraid to move slowly. Its techniques for budget constraints were excellent.

I want to know:

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Reply #17 on: November 21, 2016, 03:35:54 AM

My wife and daughter saw it with me today. We had to explain some parts to my daughter; the concepts were not beneath her but the way they were presented were not obvious to an 11 year old. She really enjoyed it and we've been talking about the ideas for at least an hour now.

I want to know:

It's obvious.
I thought it's one of the best SF movies made. Bravo.

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Reply #18 on: November 21, 2016, 10:16:25 AM

One of the interesting consequences of "the weapon" is that But that interesting thought experiment aside, knowing is absolutely not relevant to the story the movie was telling, and I kind of like that they didn't waste time on it.

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Tale
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Reply #19 on: November 22, 2016, 05:51:33 PM

I didn't realise until now that this is the same director as Sicario, another bleak, slow, yet excellent movie.
Goldenmean
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Reply #20 on: November 22, 2016, 06:40:53 PM

But that interesting thought experiment aside, knowing is absolutely not relevant to the story the movie was telling, and I kind of like that they didn't waste time on it.

The rationale for the aliens showing up isn't in the short story this is based on at all. That smelled like a quick hacky change they made because the movie watching public aren't as accepting of ambiguity as the sort of people who read scifi.

They did a better job of translating this to the big screen than I was fearing, but the way they gutted the physics is obnoxious. Unsurprising, but obnoxious. It really leaves the male lead without much to do (which, admittedly is mildly amusing, because it basically puts him in the "helpless female love interest" role prevalent in big budget movies), and it makes the aliens more mystical hand-wavy woo-woo than they are in the source material. The way the physics and the linguistics mesh in the book is lovely.

In other words, go read Story of Your Life. Hell, read everything Ted Chiang has done. It's all pretty brilliant.
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Reply #21 on: November 23, 2016, 07:01:07 AM

Yeah, Renner's character and team were pretty redundant.
"How does any of this stuff work?"
"We don't know"
"Ok then"

I don't think he does a single useful thing related to alien study except act as a visual aid for Adams' language lessons to the aliens.

It was a fantastic film though, really hoping we get more hard sci-fi after this, The Martian, Interstellar and Gravity.

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Lakov_Sanite
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Reply #22 on: November 23, 2016, 07:19:40 AM

Wait a second, isn't gravity the opposite of hard sci-fi? I heard a lot of the actual science got fudged to make it a spectacle more than anything.

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Khaldun
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Reply #23 on: November 23, 2016, 09:36:45 AM

I don't know that hard SF is defined entirely by being scientifically accurate. I think more that it tries to stick to limiting the dimensions of its speculative or fantastic elements and by trying to stay scientifically plausible/coherent. A scientifically accurate SF film in the strictest sense would be called a documentary, e.g., do nothing beyond what we already have and know to be true. If you think about The Martian (book and film) for example, Weir has pointed out that he had to invent at least one kind of "magic tech", which is lightweight but 100% effective screening against radiation in space suits, habitats and the spaceships--we not only don't have it now, Weir has conceded that we're unlikely to have it from any currently existing R&D. But because he's working so hard to keep the book (and thus the film) to plausibility and to following some reasonably strict science-derived rules, it's "hard SF".
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Reply #24 on: November 23, 2016, 09:56:17 AM

Getting hung up on how science-y science fiction stories are is a fool's errand anyway. That's actually why I like the term speculative fiction better - it's more apt. Good "hard sci-fi" takes a premise which may or may not be based on established science and runs a fictional "what-if" situation on it.

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Reply #25 on: November 24, 2016, 01:47:00 AM

Yeah, Renner's character and team were pretty redundant.
"How does any of this stuff work?"
"We don't know"
"Ok then"

I don't think he does a single useful thing related to alien study except act as a visual aid for Adams' language lessons to the aliens.

Isn't that what most love interest's do in movies?

Defending the Galaxy, from the Scum of the Universe, with nothing but a flashlight and a tshirt. We need tanks Boo, lots of tanks!
lamaros
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Reply #26 on: November 24, 2016, 05:35:52 AM

Got to see this tonight.

I liked it, but I don't think it was as strong as the short story. However they did a very good job of translating it to the screen.

When I read the short story it really hit me, and made me quite emotional.

Same thing happened to my GF watching it tonight, so I think the basic heart of the work came through.

Was a bit slow to get going, but it worked.

Also agree re the lack of role for the guy, but hey, what y'all said about that already.
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Reply #27 on: December 01, 2016, 09:15:44 PM

Ok, saw this.

I didn't know I wanted to see another variant on Contact or Interstellar, but apparently I did?

I liked it. Telegraphed the "twist," if we want to call it that. Reveal was worse than Interstellar. Movie was fine. Pacing was inconsistent as fuck. Random narration to show the passing of time in a movie that didn't care about time. Wuttttttttttttttttttt?

6.5/10
BobtheSomething
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Reply #28 on: December 01, 2016, 11:22:19 PM

Where is the short story available?  Is it in an anthology?
lamaros
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Reply #29 on: December 02, 2016, 03:52:01 AM

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Reply #30 on: December 02, 2016, 02:14:11 PM

Meant to make a thread about this when I saw it but totally forgot. I loved it. I walked out of the theater in a teary daze. Took me about an hour to get my thoughts together and really digest everything.

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BobtheSomething
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Reply #31 on: December 05, 2016, 10:10:23 PM


Bought a copy and read the story.  Thanks!

Unfortunately, I think it will likely be too sad a film to see with my wife.  I'll either see it alone sometime or wait for Netflix.
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Reply #32 on: December 10, 2016, 04:00:45 PM

Saw it with my grandfatrher. He lost his wife last year, so I think some of the moments in the movie at the end kinda got to him.

Very good film. I wish more were as well crafted and acted.
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Reply #33 on: March 26, 2017, 01:20:46 AM

Finally got around to seeing this (I'm bad at movies).  Good stuff.  Nice to see well executed, more thoughtful sci-fi.

Have to admit I was pretty slow to pick up the "twist."  (I think I missed the "who is that girl" line which would have helped)

The movie does a really good job of playing with film conventions with storytelling / flashbacks, etc.

In particular the transition between the opening montage and Louise walking into work sold that whole sequence as chronological which definitely impacted my comprehension of the flashforwards/nonlinear-memories.

Very enjoyable experience.
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