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The Arrival- Film- SPOILERS


Calibandar

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Saw this last night and was really quite impressed by it.

Hard to say much more without posting spoilers, it has a fair bit going on that require paying attention.

Visually beautifully done as well, design of the alien lifeforms for instance, and their ship.

Anyone else seen it?

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"The Story of Your Life" is an absolutely beautiful short story.  I would also consider it almost unfilmable, which is why I was surprised it was being made into a movie.  Has anyone who has read the story seen the movie?  If it does it justice (accepting that the two versions will of course be different), I would have to see this movie. 

The previews don't give much away, which is nice.  And it's an original Sci-Fi movie, instead of another retread or sequel, so I'll admit I'm curious.

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I've started reading the novelette yesterday, will read that this weekend, so I will comment on that later.

Villeneuve is becoming one of my more favorite directors. All of his recent films have been a success for me. It should raise hopes for his Blade Runner film out next October.

 

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I saw this last night and really enjoyed it. I didn't know a lot about it going in, I had seen one trailer and heard it was really good and that was basically it. It was not what I was expecting, but good nonetheless. More of a focus on the main character's story than on the sci-fi elements. Very well done and Adams was brilliant.

I also really appreciated having a female PhD main character who spends most of the movie in various frumpy clothes, no makeup, being smart and kickass. I mean of course it's Amy Adams and she's gorgeous anyway but still.

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I am now very interested, after hearing lots of buzz both from media and fans. I have only watched one trailer, and didn't spoil anything from the reviews I skimmed. I have figured out that it's the best kind of sci-fi movie - one that you don't want to talk about with people who haven't seen it. But damnit, I just hate how expensive movie tickets are here. Nineteen dollars for a matinee - another 15 if I want popcorn and soda, which I basically only ever eat at a movie theater and pretty much consider it part of the process - is just absurd. I'd say I'll wait til I can get my hands on a blu ray, but it'll be tough to ignore spoilers that long if it does well. That said, I probably won't risk dipping back into this thread til I've seen it!  

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6 hours ago, Maithanet said:

"The Story of Your Life" is an absolutely beautiful short story.  I would also consider it almost unfilmable, which is why I was surprised it was being made into a movie.  Has anyone who has read the story seen the movie?  If it does it justice (accepting that the two versions will of course be different), I would have to see this movie. 

The previews don't give much away, which is nice.  And it's an original Sci-Fi movie, instead of another retread or sequel, so I'll admit I'm curious.

Ha. I recently got Stories of your Life and Others and read the first 3 stories.  Story of Your Life was on deck, but I just didn't get to it yet. I had no idea The Arrival was based on it.

 Anyways, I saw it today and it was pretty good. It was definitely a fresh take on this type of a sci-fi movie. I'll read the story sometime next week.

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9 hours ago, Maithanet said:

"The Story of Your Life" is an absolutely beautiful short story.  I would also consider it almost unfilmable, which is why I was surprised it was being made into a movie.  Has anyone who has read the story seen the movie?  If it does it justice (accepting that the two versions will of course be different), I would have to see this movie. 

The previews don't give much away, which is nice.  And it's an original Sci-Fi movie, instead of another retread or sequel, so I'll admit I'm curious.

I didn't realise this was based on "The story of your life". I'm sold now. Ted Chiang is a genuis when it comes to short sci-fi. Not sure this would have been my first choice in terms of adapting his work. Very curious as to how it works on screen. I guess "understand" has sort of been done but not officially.

His Nature short story still has a lot of impact in how I view AI and how we'd work with them post-singularity. It's a nice/humbling thought to think humans would research how the AI made all the big breakthroughs in the future.

In terms of the director I'm on the fence. I enjoyed "prisoners" and while "Sicario" wasn't bad, I felt it was a bit of a cartoon pretending to be a classic crime film. I haven't seen "enemy" but it sounds quite interesting.

 

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Okay I'm going to ask a potentially stupid spoilery question: 

Spoiler

So, I was a bit confused by the non-linear revelations at the end. I almost interpreted it as meaning that Louise only has her child after the movie's events with Ian. But that makes little sense because I thought she'd already lost Hannah (??) as shown in the opening scenes. Or was that another child? With a different husband? 

I think her future visions allowed her to see a life and family with Ian at the end which echoed her previous one... but is that right?

 

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I am super excited for this. Stories of your Life was one of those book recommendations which actually lived up to the hype. I'm going to see the film tomorrow afternoon.

ETA: I never buy food or drink at the cinema. I have membership of a cinema which lets you buy wine or beer to take into the film, so I just bring my own beers and snacks. They don't seem bothered that people do this. 

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2 hours ago, Isis said:

 

ETA: I never buy food or drink at the cinema. I have membership of a cinema which lets you buy wine or beer to take into the film, so I just bring my own beers and snacks. They don't seem bothered that people do this. 

I'm constantly amazed at people in the queue to buy bottles of pop and bags of chocolate for 3 times the price of the shop next door, its not like they search your bags.  

I'm going to see this next weekend, is it worth paying the extra for the 3D?

 

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Oh didn't notice there was a thread just for this! Said in the Watching thread that this might well be my favourite movie of the year, outstanding Sci-fi.

 

12 hours ago, Aemon Stark said:

Okay I'm going to ask a potentially stupid spoilery question: 

  Hide contents

So, I was a bit confused by the non-linear revelations at the end. I almost interpreted it as meaning that Louise only has her child after the movie's events with Ian. But that makes little sense because I thought she'd already lost Hannah (??) as shown in the opening scenes. Or was that another child? With a different husband? 

I think her future visions allowed her to see a life and family with Ian at the end which echoed her previous one... but is that right?

 

Spoiler

I think what was so great about the movie was that it totally led you down the path of believing those events where she lost her child were in her past. It all tied into why she seemed so sad and not interested in life outside of her work. But that is just the assumption you make. It was fantastic because that is a tired old cliche, and them turning it on its head was incredible and absolutely made the movie a  classic in one swift move.

The point is, just because we saw those events first, didnt mean thats when they happened, it was just a narrative framing device.

 

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16 hours ago, Aemon Stark said:

Okay I'm going to ask a potentially stupid spoilery question: 

  Hide contents

So, I was a bit confused by the non-linear revelations at the end. I almost interpreted it as meaning that Louise only has her child after the movie's events with Ian. But that makes little sense because I thought she'd already lost Hannah (??) as shown in the opening scenes. Or was that another child? With a different husband? 

I think her future visions allowed her to see a life and family with Ian at the end which echoed her previous one... but is that right?

 

Spoiler

She does have the child with Ian after the events of the film. She can see the future because she was the only one who was able to learn the alien's language. Their concept of time is completely different and not linear like humans experience it. This is why they already know that they will need humanity's help 3000 years from now. Because she can see the future and the past she is able to tell the Chinese general what his wife's last words were.

So all the visions she has are of the future. Ian is the scientist who leaves her and the child at some point because she knows what will happen to the child and still makes the baby with Ian anyway. He disagrees with this decision and that led to their future break-up.

Full disclosure: I left the film impressed but with a number of lingering questions, questions which the friend I was with was all able to answer.

 

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On 12/11/2016 at 1:33 PM, Aemon Stark said:

I don't think it's in 3D. Certainly wasn't at the theatre I went to. 

I must have imagined it, I was sure I saw the 3D trailer at Stange.  Maybe I just assume that every sci-fi film now is 3D.

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6 hours ago, Commodore said:

good flick 8/10

Max Richter, so good

 

I saw him live a few months ago - he's a true talent.

Epic fail on my part - was supposed to be watching this now but fell asleep watching the Grand Prix. Guess I'll get some reviews from friends tomorrow too.

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Just got back from seeing it, great film. I can only imagine the short story is a small part of it as it seems like way more than a short story's worth of plot...? Tough coming up with imaginative aliens these days so it did a great job there.

Spoiler

It hued slightly too closely to Interstellar at times, being basically an alien first contact with an emotional bond and some time travel baked in to it. But better than that film I think, although I'd hesitate to recommend this to anyone who didn't like Interstellar. Also I wish it had been a bit bolder with its exposition, or just had less really ... audience stand in Forest Whitaker gets to mainly ask questions to prompt Adams to Dumb It Down which got annoying, especially on like the third visit when she brought a whiteboard and he asks "what's that for"? Yea, what's it possibly for?

And maybe I have an unrealistic optimism about the human race, but I'd like to think we could make it through first contact without someone attempting to blow up the ship, or going to war with it. I guess the film needed some conflict and urgency from somewhere, but it seemed a bit far fetched that things would get that bad.

 

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