Ran Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 So, GRRM mentioned awhile back that his theater was showing Predestination, which I hadn't heard of before. Small indie film, starring Ethan Hawke, made in Australia by a pair of brothers... and then he mentioned that it was an adaptation of Heinlein's classic time travel story, "All You Zombies". The film's released on-line (you can find it on Amazon, for example). It is very good, and one of the most faithful adaptations of an SF story to film I've ever seen -- while an additional plot line is introduced, inspired by a passing reference in the original story, it actually works quite well. I suspect this is going to be on the Hugo short list for a lot of people... provided they go and see it. Anyone else see it yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I'm supposed to get the disc from Netflix tonight (of course they've been running late recently so it might be tomorrow), and I've really been looking forward to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mexal Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I know there was a discussion about this movie recently in the "Watched" thread. It's pretty good with an interesting concept and resolution. I especially liked Sarah Snook in this. Definitely a movie I'd recommend without actually knowing anything about it. I went into it blind and it made a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Yep, I mentioned it in the Watched thread too. Sarah Snook is amazing, and I've always like Ethan Hawke. Hugo? Sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ithanos Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Always had a penchant for Ethan Hawke sci-fi projects. And this is no exception. As mentioned above, Sarah Snook was fantastic. A quiet contender for a Hugo I reckon. I recommended it to a friend who viewed it then emailed me the next day with this summation; Let me see, The baby Jane left at the door grew up to be Lady Jane. Lady Jane became Young John after Young John came back from the future to make her pregnant with baby Jane and then left her to become Special John to chase after Bomber John. Meanwhile, the Rooster came first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 I watched it tonight, and it was really well shot and the acting was top notch... but the final third of the movie felt superfluous. And yet that didn't detract from my viewing experience as a whole. I'll definitely watch it again to try and pick up on little things I might have missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsay B. Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 It was an enjoyable enough movie. I jokingly guessed the twists in the beginning thinking that they wouldn't go there...but they went there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drawkcabi Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 I'm supposed to get the disc from Netflix tonight (of course they've been running late recently so it might be tomorrow), and I've really been looking forward to it. Same here, it's probably in my mailbox down the street right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DemiNymph Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Yes. Is this a spoiler free thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 So far people are keeping spoilers in spoiler tags, which I think works well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonArryn Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 I think it was a really good movie. I'd definitely put it in my top 10 of 2014. It's slicker and better then a lot of the other sci-fi movies that's been coming out for the last few years. It had great central characters and acting and clever dialogue. It was short too so the pacing was great and it never really dragged. Definitely a hidden gem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DemiNymph Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 edit having trouble with the spoiler box. CODE [SPOILER=Title of Spoiler]text to be hidden[/SPOILER] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 [spoiler]Text[/spoiler]Case matters, I've found, doing it lower case works fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DemiNymph Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 I just want someone to explain how did he turn into the bomber after he kills him. Thanks Ran it works! (I copied the one that doesn't work from the link in your sig.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 It was an enjoyable enough movie. I jokingly guessed the twists in the beginning thinking that they wouldn't go there...but they went there. Me too and I still never felt the film provided a good enough reason for why the character did that he knew that was the younger him so why on earth did he pursue her? If it was supposed to be destiny I don't feel like they made it clear the consequences of not doing it. Or did the character decide it wasn't any worse than masturbation? My other issue is that I felt there was probably a more interesting film based around what the time-traveller's actual job was. The time travel at least held up though and that's refreshing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Repeated jumps cause psychosis, which is part of the reason he's retired. He kills his older, mad-bomber self... but he still has his timetravel device, and at the end he's sounding kind of demented. Now, interestingly, the added storyline here suggests that Robertson -- just as older mad bomber claimed -- has been aware of the true identity of the Fizzle Bomber all along (I mean, why hand Hawke's character the vital pieces to track down the Fizzle Bomber when he's being put out to pasture? Shouldn't some active agent be set to the task instead?), and was maintaining things so that the temporal agent would always end up taking that path. In fact, doesn't Robertson suggest that they (the temporal agents) all have their own "Fizzle Bombers" (not literally, but figuratively: lets say an arch-nemesis), and doesn't he imply that these nemeses make the agents better at what they do? So it may well be that all agents go through something like this -- there's no actual, peaceful retirement at the end, they eventually get killed by a younger self who then becomes them and provides motivation for their even-younger-selves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DemiNymph Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 I just assumed that this agency needed a terrorist to justify their existence. For all the similar storylines of agencies dealing with such contentious issues, there will always be some guy (Robertson in this case) making sure that there is a problem out there that only their agency can solve, else they'll be shut down. If there isn't one, they they will be sure to create one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 They did make a deal about the agents being closed loops so I guess it may be important for every agent to have conceived and killed themselves? Thus allowing them to piss around with the time-stream of others? If his job was solely to capture the fizzle bomb the whole thing is self-defeating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castel Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Me too and I still never felt the film provided a good enough reason for why the character did that he knew that was the younger him so why on earth did he pursue her? If it was supposed to be destiny I don't feel like they made it clear the consequences of not doing it. Or did the character decide it wasn't any worse than masturbation? My other issue is that I felt there was probably a more interesting film based around what the time-traveller's actual job was. The time travel at least held up though and that's refreshing. Exactly. The film had two stories to tell. One was the story of how A gets to B and the other was How this particular character would act if they knew their future It never could find the time so it leaned on audience good will and the premise They did make a deal about the agents being closed loops so I guess it may be important for every agent to have conceived and killed themselves? Thus allowing them to piss around with the time-stream of others? If his job was solely to capture the fizzle bomb the whole thing is self-defeating. They made a big deal about one agent being a closed loop. But who the hell knows what's going on with everyone else? I think the goal of Robertson was not to have that agent capture the Fizzle Bomber, it was (apparently) to have a completely free party that could do the job of the Fizzle Bomber with the benefit of foreknowledge. IIRC Hawke's character was "ahead" at many points. His uniqueness is that Robertson already knows how all the events with him go and can use him to build up the agency/maintain the loop (or must use him, depending on if the loop is changeable and it seems to be so) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DemiNymph Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 They did make a deal about the agents being closed loops so I guess it may be important for every agent to have conceived and killed themselves? Thus allowing them to piss around with the time-stream of others? If his job was solely to capture the fizzle bomb the whole thing is self-defeating. I think only this particular character could conceive himself. It's not easy to find a hermaphrodite who has excellent mental and physical abilities needed to be an agent. Aside from being a hermaphrodrite, that is, it's already hard enough to find a qualified person. And this person should preferably be an orphan. Well we all know that such agencies prefer orphans. But other agents could possibly turn into their own nemesis without the complication of the whole "I had sex with myself and gave birth to myself" storyline. It can still be a closed loop without this weird ass story. For example, see 12 monkeys, Looper. Even Terminator. Anyways, Looper is worth checking out. It has a rather similar mechanics as Predestination where the future and older self are together. Note it's not a sci-fi mystery movie like Predestination, I'll put it more of an action thriller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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