Kevin's Watch

Finally saw this.

While the visuals were amazing, I found the film tedious at best.

Pretty much same here, Cail, though I wouldn't say "tedious." It just didn't have much of a plot or character development. It was more like a thrill ride. I thought it was thrilling, for the most part. But pure spectacle without substance.

I only say "tedious" due to the fact that I kept checking the time while we were watching it. There's just not a whole lot there to hold my attention.

I recall reading that the subplot with Bullock's dead child was added to help pad the film out.....And that's painfully obvious seeing it.

I sat in a big cinema with my 3D glasses on and it would have made no difference if the film had had no story at all [in fact I'd go so far as to say the story was an impediment other than as a means to introduce the technical wizardry of the meteorite/crash scenes etc]. One of the few films I have seen that have pulled this feat off for me. [Think Microcosmos, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, The Thin Red Line (maybe)]. It was as close to 'space' as I'm ever going to get - and a damn site closer I'm betting than the guys who fork out a million dollars to Richard Branson will get either.

nice guy peter wrote:I sat in a big cinema with my 3D glasses on and it would have made no difference if the film had had no story at all [in fact I'd go so far as to say the story was an impediment other than as a means to introduce the technical wizardry of the meteorite/crash scenes etc]. One of the few films I have seen that have pulled this feat off for me. [Think Microcosmos, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, The Thin Red Line (maybe)]. It was as close to 'space' as I'm ever going to get - and a damn site closer I'm betting than the guys who fork out a million dollars to Richard Branson will get either.

Back 'in the day' the big thing used to be Hayden Planetarium in NYC. You would go this huge domed ceiling that surrounded you 180 degrees, lean back in these reclining chairs with speakers at the head and it placed you in the middle of the cosmos. Then they would lecture you about the stars. It didn't matter what they were saying, I was not listening. I was in the sound vacuum of space. It was an incredible experience in the times before computers, 3D and cgi.

The shot where everything first goes to hell and she's floating by herself, and the "camera" takes you from outside in the void to the inside of her helmet was ... damn, I can't think of an appropriate word. What's the opposite of transcendent? Immanent? I felt myself inside with her, breathing the tiny sky inside her helmet, trapped inside my own body with the harsh, cold universe utterly beyond me, alien and deadly. I bet in 3D that was amazing, terrifying and claustrophobic ... and at the same time a glimpse of the infinite.

It was a hell of a shot.

Absolutely! The flim had such technical brilliance in places it was breathtaking. I'm an intensely 'visual' person and am a great believer in the value of things that allow you to 'rest your eyes' while at the same time allowing your mind free rein to wander where it will. I can use ballet in this way - just surrendering to the beauty of human movement without concerning myself with storylines or plot devices. The medium of film has yet to realise it's potential as a meditative tool.

I remember the old planitariums also Lorin [a great treat when we went to London as youngsters] - the advent of IMAX, 3D and increased frame rates etc is increasing the possibilities of such 'virtual travel' exponentially.

Watched it this weekend and hated it. Yes, from time to time there is some nice camera work, but there's nothing to the plot, and my ability to suspend disbelief ended when Bullock, after only 6 months of astronaut training, started flying spaceships to and fro by randomly pushing buttons.