Children of Men

[Aeros]

One word to discribe this film IMHO: brilliant. Discuss.

[notesee]

Caught it in theatres last week, liked it a lot too. Kept you at the edge of your seat the whole time. One of my friends complained about the ending, but I'd rather have that type of ending, opposed to a film that drags on.

[todesengel]

I thought it was fantastic. It's very refreshing to see a sci-fi that doesn't focus on stupid gadgets and shitty special effects. Along with Pan's Labyrinth it was my favorite movie of the year.

[kronik]

I agree with the aforementioned statements.

I love CoM - great sci-fi without being too outlandish and definitely did not rely on special effects to drive its point home. Well-acted, well-written.

Pan's was also an excellent film .

[Analog]

After hearing all the critical praise I was disappointed. I found it predictable and boring and really quite skin-deep. Visually some parts were interesting, but... overall not very satisfying.

[Aeros]

I thought that the visuals and the scenery were the best parts of the movie. The Banksy artwork and the Pink Floyd references were great.

[todesengel]

Yea, any movie with shout-outs to Banksy, The Godfather, Pink Floyd and Roots Manuva is gold in my book.

[Aeros]

Also Cuaron's shot selection was incredible. It was unlike any I have ever seen in a movie before. The direction of this film was truely revolutionary. I don't know if I've ever seen a film that had as much visual meaning as this one did.

I almost felt like I was playing Counter-Strike while watching it.

[doczein]

Probably some of the best cinematography I've ever seen in a movie. 15-minute-long shots? WITH explosions and an intense scale of acting? I wonder how many takes it took them to get each scene right.

[airfrogusmc]

I agree with the aforementioned statements.

I love CoM - great sci-fi without being too outlandish and definitely did not rely on special effects to drive its point home. Well-acted, well-written.

Pan's was also an excellent film .

Agree Pans was very GOOD

[birminghamjim]

loved it - wrote this review for it last year - http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?p=197735#post197735

[flux]

fantastic film. a couple holes in the storyline but the great steadicam work and action scenes made up for that. loved the KING CRIMSON

[BOORADLEY]

personally thought the story was lackluster, but everything else was amazing. so it basically made up for it.

felt the same way with the reference to counter-strike

[corned beef]

loved it as well. Especially since I went into the film knowing almost nothing about it. The cinematography was definitely what impressed me the most. And as said before, stuff like the 15-minute extended shots just blew me away. Such complexity and chaos captured so well.

[sean_]

Yea, any movie with shout-outs to Banksy, The Godfather, Pink Floyd and Roots Manuva is gold in my book.

exactly, except id replace pink floyd with pot smoking michael caine because pink floyd are lame. great movie though.

[goldengloves]

I was rather dissapointed with the story. It was one movie I actually left wishing there was more to watch as I felt the ending was incomplete.

The cinematography was amazing though. The scenes towards the end of the film were like nothing I have seen before. It totally engrossed you into the scene and made what would have been just an action scene, a very suspensful action scene.

My problem with the movie though.....PICK UP A F*CKING GUN! I thought Clive Owen was blind through the whole damn movie! Ak-47s were pilling up and he just continues to move on, damn near stepping over every dead body with a gun. It's common sense things like this that for some reason always piss me off in a movie. Sure it might not have fit into the story, but it would have made it a helleva lot easier at some points.

Either way, I came out feeling incomplete. Acting, good. Cinematography, excellent! Story line, meh.

[Servo2000]

exactly, except id replace pink floyd with pot smoking michael caine because pink floyd are lame. great movie though.

I do loves me some Michael Caine.

[whodini]

Saw it for the second time yesterday and really the single-shot action sequences are really rather a work of art. I'm curious to get the behind-the-scenes dvd to see if they were genuinely uncut or cgi assisted as I assumed (such as some of the camera movements within the sequences).

A friend complained that they never explained why animals could procreate but not humans. I just found the bombardment of animals/animal imagery on-screen to be more interesting than the story behind it itself.

I truly believe it was a sci-fi movie for a non-sci-fi audience which not only broadened its appeal but also smoothed over various plot holes.

[Tiranis]

My problem with the movie though.....PICK UP A F*CKING GUN! I thought Clive Owen was blind through the whole damn movie! Ak-47s were pilling up and he just continues to move on, damn near stepping over every dead body with a gun. It's common sense things like this that for some reason always piss me off in a movie. Sure it might not have fit into the story, but it would have made it a helleva lot easier at some points.

Actually that was done on purpose... the audience was supposed to want him to pick up the gun but he would never do it because of his beliefs.

[englandmj7]

After hearing all the critical praise I was disappointed. I found it predictable and boring and really quite skin-deep. Visually some parts were interesting, but... overall not very satisfying.

I completely agree.

[lentes]

Saw it for the second time yesterday and really the single-shot action sequences are really rather a work of art. I'm curious to get the behind-the-scenes dvd to see if they were genuinely uncut or cgi assisted as I assumed (such as some of the camera movements within the sequences).

.

those long shots are cgi composites. you can read an interesting article about the software and work involved in putting them together here (use bugmenot).

[Landy]

^ i read the same thing. the 9 minute saving private ryan-esque part in the end was 3 separate shots from different sets and it was all pieced together with CGI. i don't think it takes away from the director's vision and i don't think anyone cares watching it.

great movie although i think some people were turned off by the abrupt ending. i guess they wanted a bit more sign of hope instead of BAM! CHILDREN OF MEN.

[Analog]

I didn't have a problem with the "abrupt" ending, although I think I would have preferred not seeing a ship at all. I also enjoyed the extended action sequence in the final stanza - very well done. I just felt that everything leading up to it was rather perfunctory.

[whodini]

those long shots are cgi composites. you can read an interesting article about the software and work involved in putting them together here (use bugmenot).

Awesome. Thanks for the link.

AND THE BABY WAS FAKE??? DAAAAAAMN.

[JesseJB]

I love Pink Floyd and I never noticed any references! what were they??

[damnIam]

I was rather dissapointed with the story. It was one movie I actually left wishing there was more to watch as I felt the ending was incomplete.

The cinematography was amazing though. The scenes towards the end of the film were like nothing I have seen before. It totally engrossed you into the scene and made what would have been just an action scene, a very suspensful action scene.

My problem with the movie though.....PICK UP A F*CKING GUN! I thought Clive Owen was blind through the whole damn movie! Ak-47s were pilling up and he just continues to move on, damn near stepping over every dead body with a gun. It's common sense things like this that for some reason always piss me off in a movie. Sure it might not have fit into the story, but it would have made it a helleva lot easier at some points.

Either way, I came out feeling incomplete. Acting, good. Cinematography, excellent! Story line, meh.

I have to disagree with you there. Having seen combat I can tell you that the last guy that draws fire when trying to get to an objective is the one without a visable fire arm. Maybe a conceled pistol could have helped as a last resort, but he was not participating in the battle, merely trying to negotiate it. I agree with all of you other points though.

[cultpop 0217]

I have to disagree with you there. Having seen combat I can tell you that the last guy that draws fire when trying to get to an objective is the one without a visable fire arm. Maybe a conceled pistol could have helped as a last resort, but he was not participating in the battle, merely trying to negotiate it. I agree with all of you other points though.

yeah, the quickest way to draw fire and get shot at is to start shooting a gun.

i loved the movie. best movie ive seen in a very long time. this will get added to the very short list of great movies in this genre along with blade runner, clockwork orange, brazil, 12 monkeys, 1984, thx 1138, and soylent green.

besides, cauron directed harry potter 3 which, as we all know, was far and away the best in the series.

the effects and camera work are a definate acheivement and the script (despite some clunky expostion) is quite effective. i loved the lack of superficial "sci-fi/futuristic" gizmos and the burning cows and fox news style ads were great touches.

more highlights were guernica, banksy, radiohead, and king crimson.

also this is one of the few times the movie is actually much better than the source material. the book was ok but the movie uses the pemise to much better effect. worth reading for the different ending and setup though.

highly recommended.

[dry the rain]

that long single shot scene (or what looked like a single extended shot), was damn impressive. even if it was pieced together, i got a huge kick out of the fact that they left the blood on the lens in one part. i heard that they had multiple takes on that bit, and decided to keep the one with the splatter on it because it was the best despite that issue. i think it was an interesting decision, and it adds to the chaos of the whole scene and makes it feel even more realistic.

[youngluc]

i really want to see this, hopefully i'll go soon.

[Aeros]

I love Pink Floyd and I never noticed any references! what were they??

http://supertouchblog.com/?p=1987