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Ad Astra (2019)
- Thread starter Xarpolis
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I thought Jonathan Nolan's original script was awesome but I get what Christopher Nolan's movie was going for as well, and while I understand the chagrin at the somewhat Deus ex Machina at the end, it bothers me that people take such umbrage at Nolan's message in that movie. I guess it was too overt "get your emotion out of my scifi!!". It's not that different from Inception, except you don't even have the possibility of a reunion here, just a new life with Millennial Julia Roberts. I had a four year old daughter at the time, so the idea of giving up a life with his daughter to do anything hit me right in the muurrrrpph box, so much that I didn't find this movie pleasant to watch at all. "Docking" is one of the best put-together sequences in any movie, period. Cinematography, sound design, and score are so amazing, though.
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So it looks like both Rambo and Ad Astra opened today in my area. I get off work in an hour... Had a debate on which one to go see. I am hoping for a deeper, Interstellar-like experience with Ad Astra. I don't think I'll get that with Rambo. So Ad Astra it is, in 4 hours!
Merrith
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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Like I said, I still enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Also the "love" part was split into two in the Cooper/Murph angle and the Hathaway loves her doctor guy so they should check out his planet (ironically his planet ends up correct choice, but the way it was presented there was just jarring to me). Cooper/Murph was fine, up until the whole here's the 5th dimension beings "us" creating a space inside a black hole for Cooper to communicate with his daughter...it was just...out there a bit, given where I wanted the movie to go. The original script just comes across as a much better movie to me and that's probably why I don't like the way they tied it up in the version that was released.
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spronk
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6.5/10. The first half is excellent, full of cool "space shit" and Brad Pitt being a calm bad-ass astronaut doing great stuff. Then the movie kinda turns into a "I got Daddy issues" movie by the director and is interesting but not great. There are definitely some cool ideas in here, but its a bit bogged down by people doing stuff that doesn't really make much sense to service the plot. The space stuff looks great but also simultaneously something is "off" about it, I guess this is supposed to be maybe 40-80 years in the future but all the tech looks like its out of the 2010s, which is a bit weird.
The movie I'd really closest compare it to is Sunshine (Danny Boyle, starring Cillian Murphy). It has similar broad strokes and rhythm. I hate to say but I think Interstellar is a much better movie than this, and I REALLY hated all the love bullshit in Interstellar, but that movie is visually arresting.
The first half is definitely worth a watch in IMAX, but i honestly fell asleep twice in the last 30 minutes. Its kinda boring and a few "c'mon... really" moments. Brad Pitt is fantastic, really carries a lot of the movie on his shoulders. I don't think women will like this movie, its very father-son driven in the story and there is a lot of just people staring at stuff scenes.
AMC is giving a very cool pin with IMAX tickets, Regal is doing a patch
The movie I'd really closest compare it to is Sunshine (Danny Boyle, starring Cillian Murphy). It has similar broad strokes and rhythm. I hate to say but I think Interstellar is a much better movie than this, and I REALLY hated all the love bullshit in Interstellar, but that movie is visually arresting.
The first half is definitely worth a watch in IMAX, but i honestly fell asleep twice in the last 30 minutes. Its kinda boring and a few "c'mon... really" moments. Brad Pitt is fantastic, really carries a lot of the movie on his shoulders. I don't think women will like this movie, its very father-son driven in the story and there is a lot of just people staring at stuff scenes.
AMC is giving a very cool pin with IMAX tickets, Regal is doing a patch
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I agree whole heartedly. It was 2001, Sunshine, First Man, and Event Horizon all rolled into one. And I agree that something felt off about the special effects. Like it was beautiful, but also felt like a Netflix movie. I struggle to describe it, but something just felt completely off. Like it was good CGI, but I felt like it needed practical effects like Interstellar.
I felt like a lot of the movie was just put in there to waste time. Like the unnecessary part on the moon where there are moon pirates was ridiculous, and the whole plot of the ship stopping to help a stranded ship (Sunshine) with an obvious disaster on board was tedious and pointless except to kill off a character that otherwise didn't need to even exist. And the three people on the ship effectively killing themself in about 60 seconds was just laughable. Parts were just boring. An older man passed out in the theater and could hear him snoring through the last 1/3 of the movie.
I laughed out loud at the $125 for the pillow and blanket on the plane.
I felt like a lot of the movie was just put in there to waste time. Like the unnecessary part on the moon where there are moon pirates was ridiculous, and the whole plot of the ship stopping to help a stranded ship (Sunshine) with an obvious disaster on board was tedious and pointless except to kill off a character that otherwise didn't need to even exist. And the three people on the ship effectively killing themself in about 60 seconds was just laughable. Parts were just boring. An older man passed out in the theater and could hear him snoring through the last 1/3 of the movie.
I laughed out loud at the $125 for the pillow and blanket on the plane.
This is a slow burner, character study. It's about a man that is an isolationist in his private life and strives to be like his father, only to realize that his father made mistakes, and he did too. By the end he is no longer an isolationist and needs to be with humans. Beautiful movie, pretty good, but off, effects. A lot of pointless plot. No big reveals, and nothing that makes you leave the theater and scratch your head. Nothing remotely as intense or emotional or brain warping as the physics, time travel, and human connections found in Interstellar. Ultimately, to me, this movie is forgettable, and I'd probably stream it a year or so from now, but have no desire to watch it again anytime soon.
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Angerz
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This is a very good description of the movie. The two things the movie wants to explore are "Fathers and Sons", specifically in a "Sins of the Father" kind of way and "Man's place in the Universe". Plus a bunch of cool space shit that the NASA people who consulted on the movie are very proud of.
From my viewing last night, the problem with exploring those themes is that they really aren't the movie the trailer sold to people. The question it asks of "What is out there?" isn't wrong per se, but people who are hoping for an action/adventure hunt down Tommy Lee movie are gonna be really disappointed when they get 2001. There were some really vocal people who hated it leaving it, and people who also loved it. And that gap was basically, from what I saw, 30 and younger hating it, older loving it. Which happens at basically every slow burn movie I've seen in the last few years. The VVitch or It Comes at Night being 2 examples I can think of leaving a theater where people were really disappointed by what they saw and I think the trailers had a lot to do with it.
Addressing your spoiler:
I dont think, in the end, those scenes and things were pointless. And it's for the same reason Brad Pitt's character felt hopeful at the end. There is fighting for resources, people trying to save each other, then people pointlessly throwing their life away. I think the point being if we are alone, we can't do these things, we need to work together, we need to save ourselves from ourselves if we are going to survive in this galaxy. No aliens are going to be our salvation, which is what they were searching for, both in the Lima project and with the space antenna at the beginning. All we have is ourselves and we need to embrace that and each other. Mankind is the only savior we have.
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spronk
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I rewatched Interstellar tonight and i gotta say, even though there are 2-3 scenes that are total shit and Anne Hathaway is pretty annoying that movie still packs a huge emotional punch that this movie is completely devoid of. The black hole and wormhole and alien planet scenes are also breathtaking watching again at home, whereas Ad Astra I think isn't even really as good as First Man (Ryan Gosling's moon movie this year) in that area.
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Nidhogg
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Saw it, was expecting... something more than I got. I guess I enjoyed the experience but where I would recommend interstellar for the jaw dropping space scenes and gut wrenching consequences of their actions, I cant even recommend this as a spend money on this film. I enjoyed the ride and the visuals, but I can watch a slideshow of planets and have the same visceral feeling I got watching this.
Having said that, Brad did a great job and carried this movie, well because there werent really any other characters in this film. Everyone else, even the father to a degree was background noise.
Having said that, Brad did a great job and carried this movie, well because there werent really any other characters in this film. Everyone else, even the father to a degree was background noise.
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Right?? The main character never risked anything. He already had pushed his wife away, and to him his dad was dead. So seeing him was a bonus, and then he ends up back on earth having lost nothing, but instead has gained the benefit of wanting to be around people and makes up with his wife. But nothing else. Interstellar was brutal, leaving his daughter, the consequences of wasting even 10 minutes on that gravity planet, etc. Infinitely better movie!!
Scoresby
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It was to space movies what 'The Thin Red Line' was to war movies. Lol, maybe not THAT bad but yeah it definitely isn't great and as others have said not what the viewer expects from the trailer. Pitt did a good job and man his shoulders have to be tired because there honestly wasn't a lot of substance to the movie.
The movie in a nutshell..."man goes to the edge of the heliosphere to learn how to live on Earth". Lunar rover fight was pretty rad though!
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5.5/10 Some of the visuals are awesome, but as somebody said above there's a lot of pointless plot in this. Also a lot of plot that I think doesn't make much sense. I can appreciate the point they were making, but I feel like they could have cut out some of the useless plot points to enhance that aspect. And some of the science seemed ridiculous.
Wtf how was the space station at Neptune creating these power surges so far away, lolol! Just cause they had some antimatter and did something with it it can generate more damaging energy than the sun from that far away… right.. hilarious to think about when Neptune to Earth distance is like 30 times the distance of Earth to Sun.
Monkey part was pointless. In fact the whole mutiny part was pretty pointless too. There was this effort to build up how cool Pitt's character is under pressure, but I'm not sure what for.
Moon chase was kind of cool but added nothing. They used it as a vehicle to ramp up the tension / intrigue but it didn't add to the plot at all in the end.
Lol @ using the explosion as propulsion to get back from freaking Neptune at the end. Really? I mean sure you could theoretically use the force as propulsion, but the idea that you could use an uncontrolled explosion to give you the force vector you need to get all the way back from Neptune to Earth or wherever seems ridiculous.
Monkey part was pointless. In fact the whole mutiny part was pretty pointless too. There was this effort to build up how cool Pitt's character is under pressure, but I'm not sure what for.
Moon chase was kind of cool but added nothing. They used it as a vehicle to ramp up the tension / intrigue but it didn't add to the plot at all in the end.
Lol @ using the explosion as propulsion to get back from freaking Neptune at the end. Really? I mean sure you could theoretically use the force as propulsion, but the idea that you could use an uncontrolled explosion to give you the force vector you need to get all the way back from Neptune to Earth or wherever seems ridiculous.
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Ambiturner
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I feel like any female astronaut would be an unlikable bitch so I think they nailed it
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spronk
FPS noob
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if you loved Sunshine you'll probably at least appreciate this movie
good interview with the director, for all this movies faults I appreciate the effort to do something different and not franchise. Sadly I think the relative failure at the box office (compared to the budget) means its another strike against doing anything weird
www.vulture.com
good interview with the director, for all this movies faults I appreciate the effort to do something different and not franchise. Sadly I think the relative failure at the box office (compared to the budget) means its another strike against doing anything weird
What the Hell Is Going on in Ad Astra? James Gray Explains Himself
The director doesn’t know if the human race will survive, but he can spot all the mistakes in his own movies.
www.vulture.com
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kaid
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6.5/10. The first half is excellent, full of cool "space shit" and Brad Pitt being a calm bad-ass astronaut doing great stuff. Then the movie kinda turns into a "I got Daddy issues" movie by the director and is interesting but not great. There are definitely some cool ideas in here, but its a bit bogged down by people doing stuff that doesn't really make much sense to service the plot. The space stuff looks great but also simultaneously something is "off" about it, I guess this is supposed to be maybe 40-80 years in the future but all the tech looks like its out of the 2010s, which is a bit weird.
The movie I'd really closest compare it to is Sunshine (Danny Boyle, starring Cillian Murphy). It has similar broad strokes and rhythm. I hate to say but I think Interstellar is a much better movie than this, and I REALLY hated all the love bullshit in Interstellar, but that movie is visually arresting.
The first half is definitely worth a watch in IMAX, but i honestly fell asleep twice in the last 30 minutes. Its kinda boring and a few "c'mon... really" moments. Brad Pitt is fantastic, really carries a lot of the movie on his shoulders. I don't think women will like this movie, its very father-son driven in the story and there is a lot of just people staring at stuff scenes.
AMC is giving a very cool pin with IMAX tickets, Regal is doing a patch
I agree with pretty much all this. The first half of the movie was really good but then it really slows down and becomes more firmly daddy issues IN SPAAAAAAACCEEE. That said its fucking beautifully shot and the space stuff looks amazeballs I would still recommend seeing it just think it could have been better towards the back half.
kaid
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The whole thing in the movie is basically he is basically a guy who has been furious since he was a kid but has locked it down and compartamentalized shit so tightly he can't figure out how to live. He just exists in a dull monotone from moment to moment where even the craziest shit does not phase him because he simply can't figure out how to care about anything. The movie is basically him being forced to see himself for what he was and what he had done to himself and then see his father as an example of where that leads. In the end he found hope and what was worth fighting for.
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