Movie: Arrival (Amy Adams)

[Rangi Guy]

It was alright....

[dimejinky99]

I do remember thinking arrival could be the movie that caused a civil war on RM

Good to know the haters never managed to stage a real argument.

[bune]

First: I saw the movie last night and it was a trip.
Second: Didn't they basically do exactly this? I have to find the story now.

I read the short story this is based on some years back. It's phenomenal (Chiang's entire collection is some of the best sci-fi I've ever read). I'm excited to see this, though it looks like they're adding an element of danger to a story that was entirely peaceful and without any major conflict. Book spoiler:

Spoiler: show

The aliens see in 360 degrees, and don't hold the linear concept of time that we do. The main character (now played by Adams) learns their language, and then their way of comprehending the universe in a non-linear fashion. I'm fuzzy on the details, but basically the short story has a neat twist at the end where it's revealed that she's writing to her unborn daughter from neither before her birth, nor after her death; she's gone beyond that perception of time, and her comprehension of her daughter's life is one of complete totality.

yeah, this movie's going to be nothing like that. all they're lifting is the idea of a human linguistics expert learning how to communicate with a race of aliens.

The part I disliked about the film was the middle where Hawkeye's character just started narrating the part of the movie they decided not to film. "Let's just have Exposition Man start talking for about five minutes and show random scenes."

I'm going to a preview of this on Tuesday. My pal works for these film companies. He tells me the trailer is entirely misleading. But won't say why.

Excited to see it.

See my spoiler for the original story on the first page. Would love to know how closely it adheres.

Why would I do that?? I like going into a film knowing absolutely nothing about it. Theorising and speculating is for morons!!

This is hilarious.

Spoiler: show

they can communicate telepathically. They put that image in her head of her daughter and showing her an explosion is about to happen.

Spoiler: show

I don't think that's right. They don't communicate telepathically. If you understand their language, you can perceive time the way they do, non-linearly. As she learned more about them, she got more and more snippets of her future. It wasn't until the end when she fully understood their langugage that she understood that what she was seeing was her future. She began to experience time non-linearly.

And to rudd:

Spoiler: show

My impression is that the aliens needed to come now, despite not needing help until 3000 years from now, is because now is when Amy Adams is alive. And she's the only one smart enough to figure out this language and begin the process of teaching it to humans. I guess the aliens will need human help, but we can only help them if we understand them or understand time in the way they do.

See, the issue there is that the Chinese and Russians both came away with "weapon" before she did though. I wonder if this goes back to her "ask what's his face what the Sanskirt word for war is" and how she's the only one who was able to see beyond "weapon" to "language".

Yeah, btw - spoilers.

I also think this movie captured exactly how humanity would unfortunately respond to a situation like this. If an alien race has the capability to travel to us and visit, even if their intentions are friendly, we're doomed.

I was thinking about the reality of us being visited. This film almost gets it right. In truth we'd tear ourselves apart and fight against each other I think.
Lead me on to another question.

Are we being prepared for something like this? Lotta alien arriving on earth movies lately

They didn't just travel, they appeared and disappeared. Also at one point one of the TV interviews with a DC person she said, "We have protocol for this" which made me think that of course they do. It's probably revised every two years (because that's the usual timeline for gov't documents) and then shelved again. And I do wish the film would have said more about the looting situation, it was all a little too...not medical...sterile, that's the word. It wasn't a very dirty movie.

You can get to Iceland from Belfast for €89 a half way. Dont know why I've never gone.

Because I have to ask - is this how you say "one way ticket"? Because half way sounds like a terrible trip.

I liked it. felt a bit flat at the end, but it aligns with my cinematic values.

did you go to the theater or download it?

Theater. It might very well be the last time.

oh no, why?

Times have changed.

Did you go to an Alamo Drafthouse?

They don't have any of those around here I don't think.

I know this post is almost two years old but I hope you've gone to Cinetopia at least once since then.

The non-linear time stuff was mishandled, but even as a critic, I'm not willing to put in the thought it would require to make it come through the screen better.

The aliens were awful. Conceptually they get a B-, but the execution gets a D. Also, even 30 seconds of imagining what their home planet must be like and I'm bored out of my skull.

I don't want to get into the military level issues because despite the clusterfuck everything at the base camp and worldwide seemed to be, it's not so hard to believe the accuracy of that kind of disorganization.

I will reiterate that Amy Adams was quite good.

Everyone and everything else seemed so plot driven and tedious that it may as well been the pilot for a new series on the USA Network (that I would probably binge watch on Netflix because I hate myself).

The most unbelievable thing was the people allowed to just call outside of camp and the soldiers watching videos. The whole thing is secret-level clearance and that's how secure it is? I get that it had to be there to setup the whole bomb thing but come on. And even then it was like the command knew immediately what was going on. "Oh, those soldiers are against us now, shoot first and ask questions later."

[E.H. Ruddock]

That might be the greatest response post of all time

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[dimejinky99]

This film changed my life

[bune]

I think the part that I disagreed with the most was where she tells Hawkeye that their kid is going to die. No, don't do that. Unless it's winning lottery numbers, don't share the future.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Yeah STFU degrasse Tyson, you don't know everything!

https://www.yahoo.com/amphtml/entertain ... 27083.html

[dimejinky99]

I’m not even opening that he’s such a tool when it comes to movies. He enjoys setting out to be a buzzkill I’ve heard him say it on Rogan several times how much of a kick he gets from it.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Yeah well this time people called him out for being wrong

[dimejinky99]

He made a big fuss about the force awakens trailer with the shot of bb8 speeding across the sand. ‘It’s a heavy orb. No way would it be able to move it would be spinning on the spot’

Fuck off Neil.