Naa..I love long movies. If I'm paying 8 bucks, I want to get a lot of visual entertainment.

 

I mean, there are a lot of good movies that are short, but for epic stories (such as what the Fountain seems to be), it has to be long.

Trailer looks pretty solid. I'll check it out when it arrives.

Extremely mixed reviews coming from the Venice film Festival.

 

Some thinking it was great while others actually booed its screening.

 

I'm even more intrigued.

I just found out I'm probably going to have to go in the city to see it on Wednesday.

 

Let's just say I'm more than a little pissed.

 

BTW- Reviews for this movie are hilarious. "Best movie of the year!" and "Worst movie of the year!" can be seen back to back on rottentomatoes.

Judging by the critics, it's either a brilliant mess or an awful mess. I'm still interested.

 

 

I remember the same kinds of reviews for A.I.

cool, give us a writeup penguino. :thumbup

I'm gonna check this and Deja Vu out this week but I have a feeling both are gonna confuse me.

I want to see this this week but I don't know where I'll fit it in.

Yeah, I tried to open a thread on a movie once and it got put in that blasted review thread as well. Which pretty much killed any chance of discussion.

I need to see it again, but I thought it was a beautiful film. I have to make some kind of final connection with the final scene, which I have yet to do, before I say just how much I truly liked it, though. I'm still trying to pin down exactly what the meaning was since you can go about 100 different ways with it.

 

I will never recommend this movie to anyone, though.

Well I saw it last night with my brother after our arduous 4 movies in one day marathon. We came in with the highest hopes, and left with a quasi MS3tk experience. About 20 minutes into the movie, we came to the conclusion while visually it was spectacular, we were witnessing the prettiest load of crap you'd ever scene.

 

The director and it's producers should be lauded for the boldness they showed in a wide release film, along with a really amazing world they had created. It doesn't however make up for the convoluted plot, and some really over the top acting.

Did anyone here bust out laughing when Hugh in his Jesus regalia, starts screaming NO in the bubble. It made the Darth Vader No, look like something out of Citizen Kane

 

 

I really don't understand where some of these critics are coming from on this movie. I have a hunch some hail it as a brilliant film, simply for the fact that it is such a bold film for it's release type. That does not however change the fact that you have a very nicely decorated piece of crap on your hands.

I can't really disagree with any of the criticisms. It's a highly flawed film. But, I like it based on its visual merits and its huge balls. Plus, its nice to have a movie based on metaphor in a day when EVERYTHING is completely spoon-fed to the audience.

 

I loved coming out of the theater and just thinking about it, trying to connect dots, still awed by the sheer beauty of the movie.

 

For these things, while I can't recommend it, The Fountain gets my approval.

Ok, I saw a morning showing of this film today and unfortunately cannot recommend it. I still haven't gathered my thoughts completely yet, but I'll put it this way:

 

The Foutain is the best bad movie you will ever see.

 

I have not read a single review of the film yet, only the headlines, so I only have a general idea of what most of the criticisms are. Some of them seem warranted, some of them not, but I like to detach myself and provide my own personal assessment.

 

This movie was almost painful to watch because I kept thinking it had the potential to be good, but in reality was anything but that. The premise is absolutely brilliant, but the execution not so much. I had been following the progress of this film since Brad Pitt was cast as the lead and Warner Brothers had invested millions of dollars in production before pulling the plug. At that point I had only read small snippets of the screenplay and reviews of the script (which were all overwhelmingly positive). From all of that I gathered that this film would be a sweeping epic that would be ambiguous, yet resonant. The separation of the narrative into three separate narratives made sense to me, and was actually what I found to be most appealing. DW Griffith took on a similar structure in his vastly underrated silent film Intolerance. The "past" and "present" divisions of the narrative were always clear to me, but from the pre-production rumors the "future" aspect was allegedly about a "26th century astronaut traveling through space on a quest to meet God." While that seems farfetched, I had faith that Aronofsky could pull it off since I found the execution of Pi to be brilliant. However, the "future" segment appeared to be something even more metaphysical and spiritual, and unfortunately was the downfall of the movie for me.

 

Most of the criticisms seem to claim that the plot is confusing. After a first viewing, I didn't nearly find this to be the case. For the most part I could discern what Aronofsky was getting at (unfortunately at certain moments he loses all ambiguity and resorts to characters TELLING us, rather than SHOWING us). The future segments (particularly at the very end of the film) seemed sloppy and genuinely confusing. I attribute most of the confusion to Aronofsky trying to cram such a epical premise into a 90 minute running time and just a plain old bad script. Pretty much everything seemed underdevloped to some degree. Basically the film is just three highly ambitious, visually appealing, yet highly undeveloped and haphazardly conceived vignettes.

 

The visuals are impressive in the fact he strived to use all Non-CGI special effects (although the credits indicate that Digital Domain did do some work, nothing is blatantly CGI). And the cinematography is not quite as good as people claim it is. While I characterize it to be very un-Hollywood some of the scenes seemed to be too underlit. Even if that is the effect Aronofsky and his DP was going for, I disagree with it. The editing was also somewhat of a letdown because I have always admired some of the experiments Aronofsky did with montage in his first two films but they appear to be abandoned here.

 

It's just so hard for me to pan this film because the premise is so damned good and Aronofsky definitely gave it a good try. I usually consider a bad movie though to be one that strives to be something spectacular but ultimately fails in the end...that's what this movie is. I can understand the boos at Venice and Toronto film festivals, but I would not so quickly label the film as pretentious. Metaphysical and philosophical movies like this one, SHOULD be pursued by Hollywood. It sickens me to no end that the Pixar films of the slick, stylish mob movies are the ones getting the good reviews. The days of Bergman and Tarkofsky appear to have passed.

 

This film is most commonly compared to 2001 in terms of message and intent. I guess I can see that, but Aronofsky was certainly out of his league. The ending of 2001 while somewhat confusing upon a first viewing, ultimately is saying something important with a perfect balance between saying too much or saying too little. The Fountain's message is bashed over our heads everytime Rachel Weisz opens her mouth and we are left feeling unfulfilled by the surrealistic visual opera Aronofsky tried to create.

 

When the credits begin to roll (they come pretty abruptly) you don't feel anything at all other than the notion that this movie was just one gigantic missed opportunity.

 

 

That's all I'll say for now and will chime in when more people see it, but I cannot recommend this film for anyone. It will be hard to throw out a rating, but for those who like numbers I will say it's either a 2 or a 2.5 out of 4.

 

I'm quoting el penguino's post on the movie so people who are interested can read it, instead of searching for it in unrelated threads.

 

Anyway...I just got back from seeing it. I actually liked it AND thought it was pretty good. But, no, I wouldn't recommend it. Anyone who wants to see it will probably end up seeing it. And anyone who is not interested is probably not interested for good reasons.

 

el penguino...I would be curious to see what you thought Aronofsky was trying to achieve and where you felt he fell short. I know you're not exactly a student of this movie, so that may be a tall order...but if you have any further thoughts on the matter...

 

It's also funny that you mentioned 2001 in your review because in the first 10 minutes of this movie I was thinking to myself "oh, great...it's going to be like the end of 2001, only extended for an entire movie". I was awed by some of the artistry, but a little bored at first...and in general, I agree that the "future" was the weakest and most aimless part of the movie.

 

But I saw this movie as a sort of spiritual ode to death, and while it may not have been perfect, I thought Aronofsky hit more than he missed.

The Seventh Seal is an awesome movie. Just had to say that.

One more thing I forgot to mention:

 

I found the Buddha meditation poses and the martial arts movements in the future segment to be unimaginative and stereotypical. They did not work for me at all.

 

The movies philosophy is based on Buddhist ideals. I think you're nitpicking a little too hard here.

One more thing I forgot to mention:

 

I found the Buddha meditation poses and the martial arts movements in the future segment to be unimaginative and stereotypical. They did not work for me at all.

 

The movies philosophy is based on Buddhist ideals. I think you're nitpicking a little too hard here.

 

Heh.

 

Maybe the train left and he wasn't in the station but had a ticket.

 

Seriously, wow.

I saw this and I think penguino's review/thoughts on the film at the top of the page are pretty much spot on to my feelings on the film. I also don't really want to make a full blown write-up on my thoughts because penguino did it so well and probably better than I would have been able to convey and I also will see this again and possibly my feelings will change, slightly.

 

Its a bloated mess that isn't as deep as it was trying to be. You don't get anything out of this movie. I have some questions, but I don't care enough about the film or the potential answers they would give me to pursue them.

 

Ironically, as I was watching it I felt as if Cate Blanchett would have been a much better Izzy than Weisz and Blanchett was actually the one who was set for the role when the project was concieved with Pitt in 2002. It wouldn't have affected much as the direction to me is pretty poor but I may have felt more towards Blanchett.

 

The one good thing about this movie is Clint Mansell's score. Absolutely haunting and beautiful, went well with the scenes and there is a constant mood to it which I enjoyed.

 

I saw this on DVD, on a HD flatscreen but the video transfer for it in my view (it could just be me), is sh*t. So many balls were dropped with this project - the wait time, the advertising, the direction, the DVD relase. Too bad because I love Aronofsky's previous two films and was looking forward to this.

The Seventh Seal is an awesome movie. Just had to say that.

 

I have seen The Seventh Seal in the interim between the last time I saw this thread and today, and I have to say...I found it pretty boring. I think I watched it in 3 sittings cause I was having trouble getting through it. It would probably be a lot more interesting if I had read up on it ahead of time.

The Seventh Seal is an awesome movie. Just had to say that.

 

I have seen The Seventh Seal in the interim between the last time I saw this thread and today, and I have to say...I found it pretty boring. I think I watched it in 3 sittings cause I was having trouble getting through it. It would probably be a lot more interesting if I had read up on it ahead of time.

I watched it in school. Maybe that made it easier for me but it is one of my favorite movies of all time for its messages.