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Review: Solaris
Lem's novel is a really good work of sci-fi, not light reading but worth the effort to comprehend. The new Solaris movie is only 90-odd minutes long, and at that it's too long.
Comparisons will be made to 2001 and Apocalypse Now, two other slow-moving, philosophical movies. The problem is that both of those movies actually had interesting things to say, and managed to keep the viewer's attention despite being slow-paced. Solaris is simply slow. Long sections of the movie have no dialog and no background sounds whatsoever. When there is background music, it lacks the classical majesty of 2001 and is actually a bit annoying. These flaws might be forgivable if we were truly interested in the plot, but we aren't: it's a trivial love story, told many times before. (Most of the interesting parts of Lem's book have been sliced away to leave only the love tale, and the sci-fi twist is not enough to save it, IMHO.) I found myself nodding off during parts of the movie.
A couple of the reviews I read didn't quite grasp what was going on, especially the end. I found it quite clear and straightforward: the movie gives you plenty of clues so there shouldn't be any doubt left in your mind when the credits roll. Admittedly I approached the film with substantial knowledge about the book, but... it should have been clear to anyone.
Overall: it's pretty. The effects are well-done, at least you aren't short-changed there. As far as sci-fi movies go, it isn't bad - there have been so many worse sci-fi movies that I'll take whatever I can get. And at least they had the decency to make it short; if this movie were 2.5 hours long instead of 1.5, it would be intolerable. I'd recommend it to sci-fi fans. I'm not sure I'd recommend it for non-fans, however; if you want a love story, go see Ghost or something.
How exactly do you plan to see an invisible car?
Just curious...
All his gadgets have been pretty far out. But the invisible AM is actualy based off of current tech that can make a tank invisible to the naked eye at something like a 1 mile distance.
If you had any taste, you would be bitching about Madonna's singing(if you can call it that).
ps. I didnt see you complaining about sharks with frikin' laser beams attached to their heads.
I saw DAD as well this weekend, and my capsule review is simple: it sucked, the Bond franchise has definitely jumped the shark (two words: invisible car).
Wow! Your Dad is James Bond?
Are you Austin Powers?
Can you introduce me to one of your female friends?
"Well, let's see... Doctor arrives at space station orbiting planet. Strange things have happened there. People have died. Doctor finds that his once dead wife is now very much alive on this space station. Where have I heard this before? Ah yes, it was really good the first time I saw it, when it was called Event Horizon"
There is no sig, there is only Zuul.
You must have missed A Wookie Christmas.
Get off my launchpad!
> Bond franchise has definitely jumped the shark
What is with people using the clichéd catch phrase jump the shark? If you want to write an authoritative review, why begin it with some ridiculous reference to Happy Days that makes you sound like a pop-culture zombie. That quote will definitely encourage me to respect your media-induced opinion...
Be original.
Those of you waiting for the /. review of Solaris need wait no longer; it's here. I can sum it up simply: it sucked. Long-time readers will, no doubt, be hopeful for a well-though-out reasoned criticism of the movie, as it is being poorly received nearly across the boards, and so the question of "why?" is no doubt hanging on the lips of /. readers, perhaps hoping for some insight from a fellow sci-fi fan.
Unfortunately, your worst fears are realized: the review in question presents a simple viewpoint: "it's slow and boring, the Bond movie sucks too because it has an invisible car in it, and other reviewers also didn't like the film, but they're still a bunch of dummies." With fast-paced critical analysis like that, who needs well-reasoned arguments?Clearly, the reviewer had something icky in his coffee this morning, or worse, skipped the coffee altogether. On the whole, the Solaris review is uninformative and grumpy, although it does at least warn the reader away from what is supposedly a pretty awful film.
No breasts. No real info. Much whining. Joe Bob says, "Ignore it and hope it goes away." One star.
yeah. the car, it's invisible
If you pay oodles for product placement, wouldn't it be nice if people could actually see the product?
"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them." -- George H. W. Bush
Sorry, but shouldn't this be Sun instead of News?
I got more rhymes than Jamaica got Mangoes.
God I'm sick of that phrase. I want to beat anyone who says it to death with a blunt instrument.
:)
Anyway I disagree about the Bond film. I suppose michael loved World is Not Enough and Denise Richards as a nuclear scientist though. (Which one was really more believable?) I thought that despite how over the top it went Bond was overall a very entertaining action film. It was pure Bond and that's all I ask. Of course, I did have some grievances with the instances of slow motion, but I can't have everything I guess.
In Solaris, Kelvin's days are spent in a futile effort to understand a planet with strange characteristics and irrational features that combine logic and chaos into an alien mixture that defies human understanding.
I have largely the same feelings whenever I port software to a Sun system.
the Bond franchise has definitely jumped the shark (two words: invisible car).
Right. Because the James Bond movies and his stunts have always been believable and possible. How could they go and screw it up ?? BASTARDS !!
Who is this Karma guy and why is he bad ??
He's been a robot.
He's been a carrot.
And on November 27th,
Rob Schneider is: George Clooney
Watch him try to stay sane as a killer space station tries to ruin his chances of getting the girl of his dreams.
Staring the voice of Oscar-winner Dame Judy Dench as the space station.
Rated R for partial rabbit nudity and poop jokes.
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
if you want to be really *cool*, pronounce it "sulyaris", with a rolling R, so everone will know that you have seen the tarkovskij version.
"I swear, officer, I never saw him coming!"
Witty signature omitted for brevity.
I can understand to have a duplicate here and there, or to have a story posted a few days after it was first posted, nobody is perfect, but posting a dupe with only two stories in between the original and the dupe, what are the editors thinking???
;)
"The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers." Bill Gates,
The next movie in SOLARIS sequel will be: CmdrTaco installing Sun Solaris to run /.
The first 2 hours of the movie we'll see Rob looking at the installation progress bar and second 2 hours we'll experience the thrill of the configuration manager.
You can't handle the truth.
Nice CGI for the "planet" Solaris (was it a star?).
planet, star, monster... did anyone notice it had the same colors and textures as James P. Sullivan?
-jpeg
"To me, it seemed like the kind of movie that humanity will appreiciate more a long time from now, when we're much more mature as a race."
They wouldn't give you your money back would they?
Ben
Work Safe Porn
Imagine if aliens existing in a state beyond our physical reality actually did make contact by manifesting in the form of a loved one taken from the mental imagery of the human subject.
And what if the human found the desire to mate with his/her dead or former lover overwhelming and initiated first contact... something the aliens would find as strange to us as we would find them...
Daddy, how did the war with the Flugibles start?
Well son, it seems some of our astronauts can't keep it in their spacesuits, and one of them sent in a probe prematurely.