SPIDER-MAN 2!

[Lieutenant Kije]

Like I said, different strokes for different folks

[42]

Frank's philosophy for the Marin County Center is very much in line with the Bauhaus movement and it was finished by William Wesley Peters and Aaron Green. Wright's later works are also more consistant with the Bauhaus style, even though Wright began his career by antagonizing the Bauhuas movement. Wright's later works incorporate much of the industrialization and futurism that was the basis of the Bauhaus movement. This is also a big sticking point among art historians and art critics.

[Mistress of Darkness]

Gattaca the story was well-done, but the movie seriously lacked. I don't care if the lack of emotion/feeling/excitment/intonation in the movie was supposed to be making a statement about the culture, there are other ways to accomplish that.

[EUOL]

Lack of emotion/feeling/excitment/intonation?

Wow.  Guess they should have added more explosions.  Don't worry--once Arnold is done being govenor, he'll probably make some more movies for you.  Until then, you can always count on Jerry Bruckheimer to take care of you.  I hear he's doing Kangaroo Jack 2.

[42]

Well, it does lack emotion/feeling/excitment/intonation if you're not interested in the genetic/bio-engineering aspects. If you can't find drama in a chemestry textbook, then Gattaca is probably not the film for you.

[EUOL]

I completely disagree.  One of the main characters commits suicide, for goodness sake.  That's one of the most emotionally-charged scenes I've seen in cinema.  In addition, the scene with the two brothers swimming out to sea...with that classic line, "I never held anything" back...that's a character climax unlike any other.

In fact, the entire point of the movie--that of a man seeking to fulfil his dream in life despite physical handicaps and a hostile establishment--is charged with emotion.  Like any good SF, the movie is not ABOUT the science, but about the effects that science has on people.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

EUOL I think you're deliberately ignoring what's really being said to defend a movie that you like.

I have to agree with MoD, mostly. The story was solid. The acting and directing was not so much. The suicide was like a dead-pan to me. The swimming competition a little forced and meladramatic. The film moved slow.

[EUOL]

EUOL I think you're deliberately ignoring what's really being said to defend a movie that you like.

I am confused.  42 implied that the movie had no emotion to it, and was essentially a 'chemistry textbook,' implying that it was only about science.  My response to that, then, was to explain why I thought the movie included a great deal of emotion.  

Finding the scenes melodramatic is a completely different argument than the one 42 was making, and the one I responded to.  In fact, if you thought a scene was melodramatic, than you're arguing the OPPOSITE of 42's point.  (However, you'll have to explain what you mean by dead-pan.  I understand that term to mean something was delivered with deliberate lack of emotion in order to heighten the emotion.  A dead-pan comic, for instance, tells a joke with a flat, expressionless face to make the joke more funny.  I assume this is not the definition you are using when you say that the death scene was dead-pan?  I assume you mean that it was poorly acted, and therefore did not convey the emotion that it should have.)

How did my response ignore what 42 said?  I ask that you please show me.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

actually, I didn't notice 42's statement, I thought you were responding to MoD. One strike against me for not reading carefully.

I agree with you that 42 goes too far there. It was hardly a chemistry text book, after all, the main plot was about pursuing dreams and the subplot about a romance/trust relationship.

I also wrote when tired (strike 2). Dead pan is not the word I should have used. I felt it was dry and barren. I had absolutely no emotional response whatsoever to the suicide, and I should have, since he was a pretty major supporting character.

As for melodramatic, i guess that is a contradiction (strike 3 against me? well... not really). But all I really mean is that in some parts, it's too dry. There was no tension over finding who the murderer was, though there was some over whether they were going to nail our hero for it: but he doesn't take any effort to really get out of it either. there was also no tension at spots where they almost find him. And like I said, no emotion when the guy burns himself.
In the swim scene, however, they go over the top. they spend so much time with no emotion, with only a few scenes conveying it (like when the crippled says he'll go to someone who can do what it takes, watchin the hero get his legs extended had a good impact), that getting all worked up seemed implausible.

Because of all this, I didn't think that the actors or the director pulled it off very well.

However, I did like the movie. As you say, the writing was pretty good. There are some great moments and inticricies, though I don't have the supreme opinion of it that EUOL does.

As a jump away from the conversation that was already off track of the original topic, though: IMO, most narrative stylists have improved greatly over the last 2000 years. Narrative/prose writers in general are now better at communicating the small things in between the great moments and at giving motivations to the characters than in ancient and medieval writing. Where am I going with this? Well, I still like medieval stories. Even though the narrative style isn't the greatest in most of it, there are some amazing ideas that form people and their cultures.

Same thing here: even though the whole movie wasn't carried off well, there still is some GREAT material that deserves acknowledgement and makes the film pretty darn good.

[42]

I think I'm being misinterpreted. For some people a chemestry textbook is very emotional and dramatic. And I think Gattaca captures that kind of drama very well. It that kind of problem-solving and speculating drama that makes the movie good.

Though I have to agree with SE about the suicide. It is completely contrived to wrap-up the plot. I've met quite a few people who have atttempted suicide and Jude Law's character doesn't portray any of them to the least.

[Entsuropi]

IMO, most narrative stylists have improved greatly over the last 2000 years.

I should damn well hope so.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Entropy, just because it's different doesn't mean it's better. It's more complicated than you appear to be assuming.

[Fellfrosch]

I find Gattacca to be highly emotional, with a lot of drama and a great deal of suspense and emotion. I've seen very few scenes in very few movies that had more drama and suspense and emotion than the one where Jude Law claws his way up the stairs.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

ok, that one was a good one. But that one was atypical, imo

[fuzzyoctopus]

Well, since I haven't seen the movie, I have no opinion.  But of course the question is - is it one that I ought to see?  From what people are posting here, the answer seems to be yes.