SOLARIS sci-fi for the thinking man/woman

[George Bellefontaine]

I watched this Saturday night. I hadn't seen the original, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Story in a nutshell: weird things are happening on Solaris ( a planet, a mush mush in space ? ) and Mr. George Clooney is sent there to solve the mystery. What he finds and what the viewer makes of Solaris is what sets this apart from most sci-fi films I have seen.

Not everyone will like this flick. But if you enjoy films that make you think, or create after-viewing discussion in the household, you will like this one. It is a very quiet, non-violent film, with Clooney showing he can act when given the chance.

Definitely worth a rental.

:35:




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[Brandon B]

Bought it yesterday due to raves about image quality, havn't watched it yet.

Is this from the Stanislaw Lem bbok? Think I read it about 25 years ago.

BB

[Andrew Pratt]

We saw this last weekend. I quite liked it but my wife found it too slow...though she didn't mind seeing Clooneys bare butt several times :roll:

[George Bellefontaine]

Clooney's bare butt, yeah, Joan got a kick out of that, too, Andrew.

Brandon, yeah, it's that book that the Russian (?) original flick was based on.




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[DSGCobra]

I have watched this movie twice now. The first time slept through most of it, the second time I made it to the end. I'm still not all that sure I know what this movie is about. The picture quality was outstanding, and the shots of Solars were amazing on my new RP DLP. I too never saw the orginal so maybe I am missing something. I need to probably sit through it one more time.




RSP-1098
RMB-1095
RDV-1080
Energy C-9
Energy Vertias V2.0C
Energy C-3
Paradigm PS-1200
Audioquest everything.

[John Holmes]

Watched this one over the weekend.

George, You nailed this one. Pretty much what I got out of this film. It was refreashing to see Clooney and like the film! :LOL:




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[Danbry39]

I did see the original when it first came out, but really don't remember it well.

Watched the remake and enjoyed it. Wondered which path I would have chosen and how the film would have been had Kubrick directed. Overall, though, better than I expected it would be.




Keith

[Brandon B]

Reread the book and will watch the movie as soon as wife finishes the book. Curious to see how well they capture it.

Read, wife, read!

BB

[George Bellefontaine]

Let us all know after you view the flick, Brandon.




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[JonMarsh]

Saw the original years ago, maybe decades! Now you guys have got me interested in this version- may as well pick it up at Walmart...

~Jon




Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....

[Clive]

Saw this one a couple o' weeks back. I too found it way too slow I was going off to sleep. Maybe I'll try it again or better yet, read the book first.

My thoughts at first were, that, there was'nt enough footage.

Anyway I'll see for next time




CLIVE




HEY!! Why buy movie tickets when you can own a Theater?

[Brandon B]

Well, watched it this weeked. Was sort of underwhelmed. I didn't feel it captured really anything important from the book, not to mention omitting tons of the story and changing things.

Normally, wouldn't fault a movie for leaving things out from a book, but the book is rather short and the film failed to touch on the whole sotry of why they were there, what solaris was, or why it might be doing what it did.

Didn't dislike it, but wasn't pleased either. If you liked the film, I'd recommend the book.

Nitpick Her suicide attempt with the liquified oxygen was straight out of the book, but when they showed the green bubbling liquid on the floor next to her, I thought "oh, they switched it to acid to make it simpler for the audience to understand". But no, then he says it IS liquid oxygen. Hmm bubbling greenly on a room temperature metal floor. Last time I checked, liquid oxygen is BLUE and EVAPORATES BEFORE IT HITS THE FLOOR! Now I understand this qould be less visual for the movie, if it is already gone when he gets there, so just change it to acid for the movie damnit.

You should see how I react to films like Armageddon.

As others have said, production quality of the DVD was beautiful.

BB

[Chris D]

The military camp I'm at in Qatar right now actually showed this last night in the "camp theater". Just a big tent with chairs, a white wall, and (THANK GOD) air conditioning, really. Little LCD projector and DVD player set up. Funny... as it started playing, my mind was going through "okay, I can put black fabric around the wall edges to give proper image masking... and I need to go back to my tent to get my video setup disk that I've got stuffed in my portable DVD player case." Sad when you carry a setup disk (Sound and Vision, this tim) with you on a trip to a combat zone.

I was quite disappointed with the movie. LOTS of story left unexplained. I can tell it was meant to be in a mysterious way that kept the audience intrigued, but I thought it was too vague and confusing. Not nearly as much meat to the plot as there could have been. And story resolution could have been much, much better. I haven't read the book, but I agree with the questions of "what is Solaris", "why is is there", "why did they go to study it", etc, etc.




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[George Bellefontaine]

" I need to go back to my tent and get my video setup disk"

A true home theaterphile. And in a combat zone to boot. Way to go, Chris. :T




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[Andrew Pratt]

You're a sick sick man chris :LOL: But funny thing is we're all cut from the same mould

[David Meek]

You mean, there are people that WOULDN'T carry a DVD setup disc into a combat zone?





David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

[Brandon B]

Chris - read the book. Much more gratifying, and it's not very long (couple hundred pages I think).

Actually, lots of Lem's books are pretty interesting.

BB

[David Meek]

Hehe, I like resurrecting OLD threads.

I finally watched this film and I have to say I liked it. The picture quality in HD was simply beautiful. The story is intriguing, especially if you like sci-fi-Zen, although I didn't really like the ending. It works within the arc of the movie, but I was still disappointed. The pace worked for me as it gave plenty of time to soak up the visuals (and I consider Natascha McElhone to be a prime visual, hubba hubba). Jeremy Davies stole the scenes he was in with the quirky, uncomfortable vibe he brought.

All in all I give it a :35: out of :5: and with a little work on the ending it would have been a solid :4:

[bigburner]

Hehe, I like resurrecting OLD threads.

Old? I'm surprised it's not archived on tape in a damp basement somewhere.

Nigel.

[David Meek]

Old? I'm surprised it's not archived on tape in a damp basement somewhere.

Nigel, are you talking about me or the thread? :

[bigburner]

Nigel, are you talking about me or the thread? :

Apologies for the imprecise English David. The post-earthquake alcohol binge is taking its toll.

"it's" s/be "you're".

Nigel.

[David Meek]

Just joking with ya buddy. Your English is fine - better than mine probably.

[madmac]

Chris - read the book. Much more gratifying, and it's not very long (couple hundred pages I think).

Actually, lots of Lem's books are pretty interesting.

BB

Read the book?? Hehehehe....this is a AV forum dude???!!!! :rofl: