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[NSpan]

NSpan, have you read The Road? From what I'm reading in reviews it doesn't live up to the book, which had real dramatic tension in the quiet moments, whereas the film seems to priortise the action sequences.

own it, haven't read it.. kate (the gf) has--and she said the movie stays extremely faithful to both the atmosphere and the plot (despite shuffling the order of a few sequences).. she loved the book, and she loved the adaptation...

for the record, the movie is NOTHING like the way it is portrayed in the trailer... they didn't turn it into an action movie... in fact, there isn't all that much "action" to speak of--which certainly isn't a bad thing in this case... if you've seen The Proposition and The Assassination of Jesse James, you have at least an idea of what you're going into.. aside from the music being from the same guys in all three (Warren Ellis and Nick Cave), The Road is somewhat of a stylistic amalgam of the two

[Buscemi]

Banks, I don't even see Anna Kendrick getting nominated let alone winning. I believe that her association with the Twilight movies hurts her chances severely.

It's like with Jim Carrey and how he's never been nominated for an Academy Award (despite two Golden Globe wins and several critically-acclaimed roles).

[numbersix]

if you've seen The Proposition and The Assassination of Jesse James, you have at least an idea of what you're going into.. aside from the music being from the same guys in all three (Warren Ellis and Nick Cave), The Road is somewhat of a stylistic amalgam of the two

Now that makes me want to see it badly

[W]

RT's consensus:

"The Road's commitment to Cormac McCarthy's dark vision may prove too unyielding for some, but the film benefits from hauntingly powerful performances from Viggo Mortensen and Kodi McPhee."

[BanksIsDaFuture]

Avatar - 8/10

A insanely beautiful movie that is strongly anchored by Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana. Pandora is so REAL, Cameron really created a fully fleshed out eco-system that's wonderful to look at and you feel like you are there at all times. Whenever they leave the Na'vi story lines, I was disappointed to be stuck looking at humans on the ship and waited impatiently to go back into that crazy, multi-colored world. The story is nothing special, it actually may be the only weak spot of Avatar, but that's pretty important. It also could've used some trimming, it really didn't need to be 3 hours w/o trailers. Like I said in the other thread, it's not a life-changing, tetonic plate-shifting film like LOTR or TDK, but it's still a pretty damn good film.

[W]

Is it just me, or had The Dark Knight already not aged well in historic terms? It was supposed to be a game changer, a cinematic event that happens once every fifteen or twenty years, a film that you say to your kids, "I saw that in the theaters," and they're wowed... but it just doesn't feel that way to me. Maybe its because I'm a semi-detractor (I gave it an 8 or 9) or maybe a year and a half isn't enough time to judge these things.

I mean, it was supposed to be Star Wars, Psycho, Gone With the Wind, etc and I'm not sure it's even Titanic. Again, not talking about quality but about its place in history... It just seems like, "Well it's here and it's gone." and not, "It's here to stay."

[frendo]

I'm starting to think that Monique will lose to Anna Kendricks. I haven't seen Up In The Air yet, but I doubt her performance can match Monique's.

Haven't seen Precious, but Anna Kendricks was GREAT in Up in the Air.

[numbersix]

It's an interesting point, W, but I do think it's too early to tell just yet. I do think scholars will look back on this decade and see TDK as an important film, because in a way it's the ultimate 9/11 film, dealing with the concept of terrorism without being heavy-handed or direct. I also think that in the next few years there will be a lot of similar films being released, and by that I mean "dark" blockbusters and reboots.

But then again, I doubt we will ever have a Gone with the Wind or Star Wars again because of the increase int he number of films being released. A film isn't as much of a phenomena. Instead, there's a huge initial buzz but that gets replaced rather quickly by something else.

[alyson]

Slammin Salmon - 5/10

It had some very funny moments, but I felt that the pacing was way off. It just felt a bit slow and predicatable and obvious. Micheal Clark Duncan completely stole the show - he's like a very frightening Tracy Jordan. I am hoping this movie might be better with age or something.

[frendo]

Saw The Road yesterday. Eh, wasn't as impressed as others were. I loved Assassination of Jesse James, but just didn't feel this one. And, frankly, I think it's important to say what exactly happened to cause the setting, which they never adequately do. Also found the ending pretty fucking lame...

[numbersix]

Well, Frendo, having only read the book I think it was a deliberate attempt not explain what happened. In leaving it ambiguous, it creates space for us to abstract from the situation and focus on what it represents rather than what happens.

[W]

The point isn't really to say what happened, but to explore a relationship during some really trying times. Some zombie films tell you how it happened and some really don't, but neither are really better or worse because of it, for example. The point of Armageddon is an asteroid impact. The point of this is a relationship so it can be, but doesn't need to be, explained on how it happened, just that it did.

[NSpan]

Agreed. I liked that they didn't waste time providing exposition for the cataclysmic events--the story is about how these two people deal with the situation they're currently in... No matter the cause, you can be certain that the protagonists had nothing to do with it and couldn't have done anything about it anyway--so what does it even matter? I'd have hated it if there was some Planet of the Apes-type reveal.. Cormac McCarthy isn't Rod Serling, and we don't need another WWIII cautionary tale.

[frendo]

I thought that at first, but then the world doesn't make sense. If all the animals and plants died, why not the humans? Cows, for instance, have the same basic structure as humans, so wouldn't both die if one did? It seemed like the writer couldn't make a good explanation, so left it blank and called it artistry, believing people would say what everyone seems to be saying. Is it the sun that died? If so, why isn't it completely dark? If there is a sun, why is there no sunlight? It made no sense.

[W]

Maybe this will shed some light on the subject? I've only read the book, but believe the following would contain some spoilers for the film as well.

The most common belief is that it was a meteor (or a volcano) that destroyed everything by releasing a large amount of dust and whatnot into the air like the giant volcano in the 1800's. The dust made it impossible for photosynthesis to occur. Maybe most of humanity was killed out in the blast except those that had fallout shelters or were able to get by in shelters or maybe they died of starvation and mass hysteria. In the book it makes a direct reference to him wondering if there was a cow still alive on Earth... But he believed it was impossible since who would be putting the effort into it when basic needs of themselves was a full-time job?

Cows are obviously not as smart or easily adaptable as humans. Humans can open cans and they mostly lived off of canned goods and some would implore more extreme measures of survival (roasted baby, for example), thus extending the life of the human species. Domesticated cattle would have been the first to go because they are about the dumbest mammal on the planet and the most defenseless. Think about what a starving wolf (or human) would do to a cow...

Anyways, that's a common theory and some of the support is that McCarthy met with different scientists and discussed "what if?" end of the world situations prior to and during the writing of "The Road" presumably to get his science as right as possible.