Cloud Atlas:

I saw the movie last night. I am still early in the book. I didn't get a chance to finish it before seeing this movie. So take this as the reaction of someone who didn't read the book and really didn't know what the book was about.

The movie intertwines six stories throughout. Of the six stories, one really stayed with me. One I thought was overly trite and one made me really uneasy.

The other 3 - a) funny but bizarre; b) interesting but really improbable and went on a bit too long; c) also went on a bit too long and I did not care at all for its epilogue.

(these comments are not in order of the stories)

It is a long movie and I started feeling it after about 2 hours. I wish this had an intermission at about the 1:45 or 2 hour mark. I thought it was an ambitious movie, made a bit confusing due to the makeup jobs. This confusion probably didn't need to be. By confusion I mean that some were trying to map that the same actor was the same "soul" across each of the stories, and I don't think we are meant to understand that. Problem is that some actors played mostly bad guys throughout, while others played mostly good guys so it is easy in some ways to make that assumption, but I believe it to be in error.

I kind of wish the directors/writer had approached this movie like "Night on Earth" where the stories were vignettes. I get the interest regarding portraying the stories as interconnected (and they are), but putting together thematic connections might have been easier if they allowed themselves more freedom. You can have thematic connections that are more symbolic than the literal connections they mad here.

I enjoyed the movie very much, but Beau and I agree that we aren't sure whether to call this a "very good" movie. It engages you mostly on an emotional level. It is an R movie for good reason. The R is mostly for violence and one sex scene. The violence though is kind of shocking and I'm no wilting flower. Every time it occurred, I gasped. I have to give the directors a lot of credit in this regard, they do know how to shock and surprise with regard to brutality.

but because of some trite areas I am not sure I felt this movie was an elevation - if that makes sense. Capably done, interesting work, enjoyable and entertaining, but would I say: "this is great?" Probably not. Beau wants to see it again. I do too, but I kind of feel like I want to read the book THEN see the movie again.

for those who have read the book:

Is it the case that there is a character in each story who has a comet tattoo and are we to understand that this soul gains agency in each "reincarnation?" Is that what the reader is to get out of this tale - among other things?

In the book, Mitchell has explicitly stated that the protagonist of each story is the same character reincarnated and this is indicated by the presence of the comet birthmark.

In the film, I don't think it's quite that straightforward since there is a small group of actors playing the *entire* cast and each timeline focuses on a pair of lovers rather than a single protagonist. If you assume that each actor is playing the same character across timelines, then the comet appears on whoever in that era is the catalyst for rebellion against injustice and not necessarily the same person throughout. (Alternately, the comet appears on the same soul in each timeline and the characters switch bodies. I think that in the case of the film, this interpretation is more confusing than the alternative.)

See, I took it the 2nd way and not the first. I find it difficult to imagine that the actor plays the same person/soul through the 6 timelines, but perhaps I need more imagination.

I don't remember if this is a Princess Bride commentary tidbit or not, but I found it moving: [link]

Someone mashed up the top 250 films in the IMDB database: [link]

Pretty fun!

Okay, wow, that was pretty awesome. Totally worth watching, thanks! MOVIES.

Holy shit, Wreck-It Ralph is fantastic, everyone go see it. I could write things, but Tasha Robinson basically says everything I want to say.

What PC said. The story was well crafted, with plot twists that managed to take me by surprise but hat were fairly played.

Also, there's one scene in the film that delighted me, especially as it passed unremarked within the film itself: the one time we really get to see the human game-players, the gamer who is playing the Halo-esque FPS game is a girl, while the two kids bogarting the Strawberry Shortcake-like racer game with he female avatars are boys.

Saw Argo yesterday. I liked it quite a bit. No doubt it was excruciating in real life, but there came a point in the escalation of the climax where I was willing to fake an orgasm to get our of there.

I wondered what it would look like politically, but it didn't make me annoyed. The US did a bad thing, the Iranian people were taking revenge on innocents.

I was impressed by the credits and the likenesses--until it came to Antonio Mendez, to whom Affleck bore not the slightest resemblance, and wasn't even trying. Oh, and the guy played by Tate Donovan got a bit of an upgrade.

Also, there's one scene in the film that delighted me, especially as it passed unremarked within the film itself

YEP.