I’m gonna tentatively say Cloud Atlas, but I don’t think it’s terrible. I am aware that not a lot of people like it, and I believe if the Wachowskis had followed the book, it would have been better received.
Cloud Atlas, the book, was structured in a way that was easier to follow, and made for a narrative flow through its seven timelines. Seven timelines in and of itself is quite a tall order, but the point was that kindness and art resonate through each timeline. In the book, the first six timelines are told halfway through. At around the halfway point, you jump to the next timeline. When you get to the seventh, it plays through in its entirety (I think — I feel like the epilogue, if it was in the book, would have gone at the end — I haven’t read the book yet, but it’s on my list of books to read. I’m just aware of how it’s formatted). Then the other six timelines finish, but this time in reverse order. So if the timelines are 1-7 and the halves are A and B, the book is basically 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A, 7A, 7B, 6B, 5B, 4B, 3B, 2B, and 1B. That makes sense. The film takes the book, cuts off the spine, throws all the pages up in the air, picks them up in random order, and then that’s the screenplay. It jumps all over the place without rhyme or reason. And it’s three fucking hours long!
The first time watching Cloud Atlas, I don’t think anyone liked it. But once you know what’s going on and you go back and watch it again, that second time, you know what all the stories are, and you’re not getting thrown around as much. If I had the budget to adapt the book, I’d probably do it as anime and have 14 episodes, and you can see above how I’d do it. So each half would get a single episode. You’d be kinda lost for the first half, but then going through the second half, everything just clicks. I’m not sure how I’d do it as a film, except to say I fucking wouldn’t. That the Wachowskis made it work for those of us with the patience to sit through a second and third viewing is kind of a miracle. At the very least I’d want to do a miniseries.
Cloud Atlas was not objectively terrible, but it was objectively flawed, and deeply at that. I still love it.
Also, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Widely hated for Kevin Costner not being able to pull off an English accent and director Kevin Reynolds letting him get away with it. And yet, I don’t think if Reynolds had recast Robin, it would have been as good. So if you look at the guys who were active in movies in 1991, you got some choices. Richard Gere probably could have pulled off the acting part. The machismo of Robin Hood? Of that Robin Hood? Maybe not. If you go with the classic Peter Pan-built Robin, and get rid of the war hero opening, maybe — but then how do you explain Morgan Freeman’s character? And you don’t write him out. There were plenty of actors who could have done the English accent and the action scenes, but there’s something about Kevin Costner, American accent and all, that really tied that movie together. And it’s kind of bad, Robin Hood with an American accent. I mean, what even is that? And yet, I love it.
Good song… but not his best. I prefer Summer of '69 and a couple others whose names escape me at the moment. Growing up in the 1980s he was always around. Everything I Do (I Do it for You) didn’t revive his career, it was kind of at the end of his popularity. So for all the radio play it got, it didn’t really help him as much as maybe it should have. He kept making music but it wasn’t popular, or as popular.
I also enjoyed both of these movies. If you tell me that you also enjoyed Crash (2004) despite all the hate then I think we’ll have to become best friends.
I did like Crash, though I also recognise its shortcomings. I feel like it’s a fairy tale of sorts. X just happens to happen so Y can happen and leads to Z all because of a coincidence? Mainly referring to the invisible, bulletproof cloak, but also the thing with the cop and the Black lady. It’s so carefully put together though, I have to give it respect. But it’s in no way realistic. That’s never been a requirement for me. Big Fish, which is basically Forrest Gump plus fantasy, most of it is stuff that could/would never happen… and yet, it works. So, why is Crash any different? Because it doesn’t outwardly present as fantasy? All fiction is (somebody’s) fantasy. Well, I mean if you make it up, it comes from the same place as fantasy. It could be comic or it could be tragic, but if you made it up, the end or the message justifies all the leaps to get to that point. Basically it’s all fantasy. Because real life doesn’t have to have a point or a message. It just is.
I can force myself past Costner’s accent. It’s Slater’s hair that yanks me out of immersion! I do love that movie though, I just wish they’d cast someone other than Christian Slater.
Yeah, I think back then Christian Slater was kind of his own brand, if the hair went, he went. And they wanted his name on the poster. I bet they would have loved to have his ass on display, rather than Costner’s, if they could have had it that way. He was the one pulling the young women into the theater. Costner… maybe older women. Even back then. Though it was more of an action role for him… I remember a lot of the girls and women swooning over him a few years later in The Bodyguard though.
I’m gonna tentatively say Cloud Atlas, but I don’t think it’s terrible. I am aware that not a lot of people like it, and I believe if the Wachowskis had followed the book, it would have been better received.
Cloud Atlas, the book, was structured in a way that was easier to follow, and made for a narrative flow through its seven timelines. Seven timelines in and of itself is quite a tall order, but the point was that kindness and art resonate through each timeline. In the book, the first six timelines are told halfway through. At around the halfway point, you jump to the next timeline. When you get to the seventh, it plays through in its entirety (I think — I feel like the epilogue, if it was in the book, would have gone at the end — I haven’t read the book yet, but it’s on my list of books to read. I’m just aware of how it’s formatted). Then the other six timelines finish, but this time in reverse order. So if the timelines are 1-7 and the halves are A and B, the book is basically 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A, 7A, 7B, 6B, 5B, 4B, 3B, 2B, and 1B. That makes sense. The film takes the book, cuts off the spine, throws all the pages up in the air, picks them up in random order, and then that’s the screenplay. It jumps all over the place without rhyme or reason. And it’s three fucking hours long!
The first time watching Cloud Atlas, I don’t think anyone liked it. But once you know what’s going on and you go back and watch it again, that second time, you know what all the stories are, and you’re not getting thrown around as much. If I had the budget to adapt the book, I’d probably do it as anime and have 14 episodes, and you can see above how I’d do it. So each half would get a single episode. You’d be kinda lost for the first half, but then going through the second half, everything just clicks. I’m not sure how I’d do it as a film, except to say I fucking wouldn’t. That the Wachowskis made it work for those of us with the patience to sit through a second and third viewing is kind of a miracle. At the very least I’d want to do a miniseries.
Cloud Atlas was not objectively terrible, but it was objectively flawed, and deeply at that. I still love it.
Also, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Widely hated for Kevin Costner not being able to pull off an English accent and director Kevin Reynolds letting him get away with it. And yet, I don’t think if Reynolds had recast Robin, it would have been as good. So if you look at the guys who were active in movies in 1991, you got some choices. Richard Gere probably could have pulled off the acting part. The machismo of Robin Hood? Of that Robin Hood? Maybe not. If you go with the classic Peter Pan-built Robin, and get rid of the war hero opening, maybe — but then how do you explain Morgan Freeman’s character? And you don’t write him out. There were plenty of actors who could have done the English accent and the action scenes, but there’s something about Kevin Costner, American accent and all, that really tied that movie together. And it’s kind of bad, Robin Hood with an American accent. I mean, what even is that? And yet, I love it.
Oh no, I hear Bryan Adams
Canadian government has apologized for Bryan Adams on several occasions!
It’s just a handful of songs that are probably good but A) not my style and B) ive heard so many thousands of times that they are the worst.
Like fuckin’ Hotel California, man.
It was the Summer of '69.
no
I remember watching the music video at the end of the VHS over and over as a kid.
Good song… but not his best. I prefer Summer of '69 and a couple others whose names escape me at the moment. Growing up in the 1980s he was always around. Everything I Do (I Do it for You) didn’t revive his career, it was kind of at the end of his popularity. So for all the radio play it got, it didn’t really help him as much as maybe it should have. He kept making music but it wasn’t popular, or as popular.
I also enjoyed both of these movies. If you tell me that you also enjoyed Crash (2004) despite all the hate then I think we’ll have to become best friends.
I did like Crash, though I also recognise its shortcomings. I feel like it’s a fairy tale of sorts. X just happens to happen so Y can happen and leads to Z all because of a coincidence? Mainly referring to the invisible, bulletproof cloak, but also the thing with the cop and the Black lady. It’s so carefully put together though, I have to give it respect. But it’s in no way realistic. That’s never been a requirement for me. Big Fish, which is basically Forrest Gump plus fantasy, most of it is stuff that could/would never happen… and yet, it works. So, why is Crash any different? Because it doesn’t outwardly present as fantasy? All fiction is (somebody’s) fantasy. Well, I mean if you make it up, it comes from the same place as fantasy. It could be comic or it could be tragic, but if you made it up, the end or the message justifies all the leaps to get to that point. Basically it’s all fantasy. Because real life doesn’t have to have a point or a message. It just is.
Cloud Atlas and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves are great movies!
I can force myself past Costner’s accent. It’s Slater’s hair that yanks me out of immersion! I do love that movie though, I just wish they’d cast someone other than Christian Slater.
Yeah, I think back then Christian Slater was kind of his own brand, if the hair went, he went. And they wanted his name on the poster. I bet they would have loved to have his ass on display, rather than Costner’s, if they could have had it that way. He was the one pulling the young women into the theater. Costner… maybe older women. Even back then. Though it was more of an action role for him… I remember a lot of the girls and women swooning over him a few years later in The Bodyguard though.