HITNRUNXX wrote:
I agree... Except I didn't find it quite as exciting as you...
Spoiler (highlight to read):
And I totally agree with you on the Clooney Returns part of the movie. That was what really broke me out of the film. I knew it had to be a hallucination, and if by chance it wasn't, it discredited the whole movie... Now, if they had used a stranger claiming to be from the Chinese station that claimed they saw her out there but their comms were damaged, so they launched a rescue mission... Well, I would have totally bought that... But then there wouldn't have been any real point to it except to trick you... And a movie that does something that doesn't advance the storyline with the sole purpose of tricking the viewer is pretty lame.
That was exactly my first thought too -
Spoiler (highlight to read): I thought the astronaut outside the capsule was a Chinese astronaut launching a rescue mission and when he came in and turned out to be Clooney my only thought was 'wtf is this shit?'Apollo 13 was a much better space disaster movie.
Saw 'Beyond the Edge' last Thursday - a film/documentary about the 1953 first ascent of Everest. I suppose I was a little disappointed in that it was mostly just piercing together a whole lot of recorded interviews from those who were on the expedition meaning much of it was stuff I'd heard before. The new stuff came from noteworthy mountaineers but didn't really add much. It was essentially a masturbatory aid for New Zealanders focussed on praising Sir Ed but I was pleased that it spent a lot of time on Tenzing as well. He usually gets forgotten about a bit and was largely the unheeded hero during his own lifetime. It had very clever editing with the original footage and dramatisations. Can't really comment on the acting because all they had to do was look like the person they were supposed to be playing. Chad Moffett was pretty good - he's a Canadian artist who works for Weta Digital who's only other marketable skill is apparently looking exactly like a circa 1953 Edmund Hillary. Didn't have much room to actually
act but clearly did his homework. The 3D doesn't really add too much but given the film is visually pretty impressive I imagien it has its desired effect.
Worth seeing if you're interested in mountaineering but doesn't add anything to what's already known. It seems more focussed on being visually engaging than informative. I would have liked to see about the descent from the summit - there's pretty much nothing on that. All Beyond the Edge did was the standard "they're on the top, now they're back at base camp" thing. A missed opportunity.
Could have been a lot better.