megamatt-80194
Joined May 2020
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megamatt-80194's rating
I will give no spoilers in this review, since I went in blind and was pleasantly surprised.
Ad Astra is a really beautiful film. Not only in its stunningly gorgeous cinematography and visuals, but in its development of its main character, and his "hero's journey" if you will.
Brad Pitt, who gives a subtle and realistically somber portrayal of astronaut Roy McBride, soars throughout the Solar System in an attempt to stop and hopefully reconnect with his father, Cliff McBride, who might cause the death of the human race.
Along the way, the audience is shown wonderful depictions of The Moon and Mars, complete with social and consumerism satire, and gets to experience artistic and influential cinematography.
In the end, the heart of the film is really what makes it so spectacularly memorable and important. The message it says, which I won't give away, is somewhat frightening, but ultimately humbling and truthfully inspiring.
The emotional and mental voyage Cliff goes through within his relationship with his father is heartbreaking and engrossing. In space films, it's rarely ever full of quiet moments filled with thought provoking questions. But Ad Astra is filled with those important quiet scenes, and also contains swashbuckling action. It finds a fantastic balance between fantasy and reality.
Some complain that the science isn't correct, and that the film is too slow. First of all, of course the science isn't realistic. We don't have colonies on the moon. Does no one recognize what "Science Fiction" means anymore? It's fiction people!
The pacing could be annoying and boring for some. But I'm so used to arthouse films, and intense character studies that this film was truly incredible to witness. A space fantasy with the development of an arthouse film. It's really something that isn't around much.
For any negatives, I do feel that while the message is important and eye-opening, the writing sometimes is extremely unsutble, especially in dialogue. The plot is a little basic and bare-bones, but honestly, it didn't bother me that much. We're so used to increasingly bulky and complex plotlines these days that a simple plot stands out in a crowd. But just because something is simple on the outside, it doesn't mean it isn't complex on the inside. Luckily, Ad Astra is.
So, in this time of quarantine, I don't see what's wrong with exploring the stars a little. Taking some time to look inside ourselves and realize just how important we really are is something we can all do. Ad Astra is getting a lot of negativity, but it surely doesn't deserve it. If you want to think, and if complex questions and answers is what you dig, Ad Astra is for you.
Maybe if you're lucky, a trip through space will help you appreciate our planet even more.
Ad Astra is a really beautiful film. Not only in its stunningly gorgeous cinematography and visuals, but in its development of its main character, and his "hero's journey" if you will.
Brad Pitt, who gives a subtle and realistically somber portrayal of astronaut Roy McBride, soars throughout the Solar System in an attempt to stop and hopefully reconnect with his father, Cliff McBride, who might cause the death of the human race.
Along the way, the audience is shown wonderful depictions of The Moon and Mars, complete with social and consumerism satire, and gets to experience artistic and influential cinematography.
In the end, the heart of the film is really what makes it so spectacularly memorable and important. The message it says, which I won't give away, is somewhat frightening, but ultimately humbling and truthfully inspiring.
The emotional and mental voyage Cliff goes through within his relationship with his father is heartbreaking and engrossing. In space films, it's rarely ever full of quiet moments filled with thought provoking questions. But Ad Astra is filled with those important quiet scenes, and also contains swashbuckling action. It finds a fantastic balance between fantasy and reality.
Some complain that the science isn't correct, and that the film is too slow. First of all, of course the science isn't realistic. We don't have colonies on the moon. Does no one recognize what "Science Fiction" means anymore? It's fiction people!
The pacing could be annoying and boring for some. But I'm so used to arthouse films, and intense character studies that this film was truly incredible to witness. A space fantasy with the development of an arthouse film. It's really something that isn't around much.
For any negatives, I do feel that while the message is important and eye-opening, the writing sometimes is extremely unsutble, especially in dialogue. The plot is a little basic and bare-bones, but honestly, it didn't bother me that much. We're so used to increasingly bulky and complex plotlines these days that a simple plot stands out in a crowd. But just because something is simple on the outside, it doesn't mean it isn't complex on the inside. Luckily, Ad Astra is.
So, in this time of quarantine, I don't see what's wrong with exploring the stars a little. Taking some time to look inside ourselves and realize just how important we really are is something we can all do. Ad Astra is getting a lot of negativity, but it surely doesn't deserve it. If you want to think, and if complex questions and answers is what you dig, Ad Astra is for you.
Maybe if you're lucky, a trip through space will help you appreciate our planet even more.
How this film isn't being considered one of the worst ever made is beyond me. After having the extreme displeasure of viewing it, I sat back and contemplated just how much a person must fail as a filmmaker to mess up seemingly every part about making a film. It's a rare thing these days. To find a film where by the end of it, the only positive you can find is that it had one or two cool shots.
I was stunned to realize upon watching the film, that the frame ratio changes almost every other shot, from IMAX to Standard. Not only does the frame ratio change, but the quality of the image changes, with IMAX being a cleaner image, and Standard being about as appealing as a cockroach in your bed once we've already been shown the IMAX quality.
Not only does the constant change in quality and frame affect the enjoyment and understanding of the film, but the characters are so incredibly poorly written and acted, that it adds a distinct and potent level of cringe to the film's already almost unbearable runtime.
The comedy is forced and bland, with jokes running on too long in a vain attempt to make the audience laugh. Honestly, it would have been funnier if Michael Bay had come on the screen halfway through the film, and told us just how stupid we are for giving him money. That would have been funny. But no, let's listen to acclaimed actor Sir Anthony Hopkins say, "Dude", and "Bro", twenty more times. Just astoundingly terrible.
To try and explain the plot would be like trying to explain the concept of a consistent tone to the writers of this film. By the end of the film, I still had no idea what was going on. That's not the calling card of a worthwhile film.
The whole film is like an assault of the senses. With the frame ratio and quality changing every five seconds, the continuity of the film being shamefully ignored, the lack of any interesting characters and then shoving us with forced exposition and "emotional" scenes. The tone never finds its footing, and jumps from dead serious to everyone trying to be a comedian in a second. Not to mention that the cinematography is so lazily done, that characters magically teleport to different locations because I suppose filming shots where people are leaving rooms is too boring for Michael Bay. The special effects haven't improved since the first one, and when I say that the humor will make you want to break your TV with a hammer, I mean that from the deepest depths of my soul. The humor should come with a warning. It's so cringey, that it could kill someone.
But hey, if your a regular Transformers watcher, this stuff isn't new to you. Because why watch something good, with a message and a point for existing, when you could watch Optimus Prime say his own name twenty seven times, and have Mark Whalberg have a bloated and unessecary talk about "chastity" with Sir Anthony Hopkins. (Seeing Sir Anthony Hopkins in a Transformers film is another thing I'll put on my list for why humanity doesn't need to exist anymore).
If you want robots saying horrible one liners, watch cliche backup characters and uninteresting main characters, and overall, if you would like to be given complete garbage to pay for, because Michael Bay knows you'll spend the money on it, then have a fun time with this film. There's plenty of robots hitting each other. But a part of us should be sad that filmmakers are allowed to be this knowingly lazy and horrible with millions of dollars. A film with this much money should not have failed at the simplest steps of making a film. And these companies, knowing full well how disgustingly poor these films are, are shipping out the lowest quality of "entertainment", because they know that even if they replace all the characters with cardboard cutouts, people will go watch it. It's a blatant sign of disrespect, that no one is fighting against. Sooner or later, all big blockbusters will be this horrible, because we're allowing these companies to be rewarded for their childlike actions. So, don't be surprised if the next Transformers film is filmed on a camcorder, and has no editing at all. You ask for it by paying to see the film.
Please...don't watch this movie. Ever.
I was stunned to realize upon watching the film, that the frame ratio changes almost every other shot, from IMAX to Standard. Not only does the frame ratio change, but the quality of the image changes, with IMAX being a cleaner image, and Standard being about as appealing as a cockroach in your bed once we've already been shown the IMAX quality.
Not only does the constant change in quality and frame affect the enjoyment and understanding of the film, but the characters are so incredibly poorly written and acted, that it adds a distinct and potent level of cringe to the film's already almost unbearable runtime.
The comedy is forced and bland, with jokes running on too long in a vain attempt to make the audience laugh. Honestly, it would have been funnier if Michael Bay had come on the screen halfway through the film, and told us just how stupid we are for giving him money. That would have been funny. But no, let's listen to acclaimed actor Sir Anthony Hopkins say, "Dude", and "Bro", twenty more times. Just astoundingly terrible.
To try and explain the plot would be like trying to explain the concept of a consistent tone to the writers of this film. By the end of the film, I still had no idea what was going on. That's not the calling card of a worthwhile film.
The whole film is like an assault of the senses. With the frame ratio and quality changing every five seconds, the continuity of the film being shamefully ignored, the lack of any interesting characters and then shoving us with forced exposition and "emotional" scenes. The tone never finds its footing, and jumps from dead serious to everyone trying to be a comedian in a second. Not to mention that the cinematography is so lazily done, that characters magically teleport to different locations because I suppose filming shots where people are leaving rooms is too boring for Michael Bay. The special effects haven't improved since the first one, and when I say that the humor will make you want to break your TV with a hammer, I mean that from the deepest depths of my soul. The humor should come with a warning. It's so cringey, that it could kill someone.
But hey, if your a regular Transformers watcher, this stuff isn't new to you. Because why watch something good, with a message and a point for existing, when you could watch Optimus Prime say his own name twenty seven times, and have Mark Whalberg have a bloated and unessecary talk about "chastity" with Sir Anthony Hopkins. (Seeing Sir Anthony Hopkins in a Transformers film is another thing I'll put on my list for why humanity doesn't need to exist anymore).
If you want robots saying horrible one liners, watch cliche backup characters and uninteresting main characters, and overall, if you would like to be given complete garbage to pay for, because Michael Bay knows you'll spend the money on it, then have a fun time with this film. There's plenty of robots hitting each other. But a part of us should be sad that filmmakers are allowed to be this knowingly lazy and horrible with millions of dollars. A film with this much money should not have failed at the simplest steps of making a film. And these companies, knowing full well how disgustingly poor these films are, are shipping out the lowest quality of "entertainment", because they know that even if they replace all the characters with cardboard cutouts, people will go watch it. It's a blatant sign of disrespect, that no one is fighting against. Sooner or later, all big blockbusters will be this horrible, because we're allowing these companies to be rewarded for their childlike actions. So, don't be surprised if the next Transformers film is filmed on a camcorder, and has no editing at all. You ask for it by paying to see the film.
Please...don't watch this movie. Ever.