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RE: Moon update - 28/7/2009 4:58:57 PM   
clownfoot


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 It wasn't really a twist though was it? Or at least I didn't think it was. Without that moment occuring early in the movie you have no thematic discussion on the point Jones wanted to really make, which considering the ethics behind it in the scientific/political community makes the film more enlightened and interesting than most. One occasion, at least in my mind, where a twist doesn't make the film but the successful, interesting sci-fi content that follows does....  

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Post #: 61
RE: Moon update - 28/7/2009 5:20:40 PM   
richCie


Posts: 4028
Joined: 11/11/2006
From: Wells, England
quote:

ORIGINAL: clownfoot

It wasn't really a twist though was it? Or at least I didn't think it was. Without that moment occuring early in the movie you have no thematic discussion on the point Jones wanted to really make, which considering the ethics behind it in the scientific/political community makes the film more enlightened and interesting than most. One occasion, at least in my mind, where a twist doesn't make the film but the successful, interesting sci-fi content that follows does....  


its also in the trailer.
the bit in the sight and sound review comes much later and would definately detract from the experience of the film.

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Post #: 62
RE: Moon update - 29/7/2009 12:06:12 AM   
Gizzer

 

Posts: 8
Joined: 20/12/2005
I don't usually post in the forums, and can't find anything in the FAQ about whether spoilers are allowed, therefore This Post Has Spoilers!

First off - Sam Rockwell is amazing! I've only known him so far as Zaphod Beeblebrox, and not really registered him in other films but his performance in Moon was superb. He deserves an award!

As for the film, - I had three theories before seeing the film purely based on the Empire review, the photo of the crashed mining vehicle/moon buggy that I've seen floating around (can't remember where), and the trailer:

Theory 1 was that he was already dead and was somehow reliving his past (a bit 6th Sense, and maybe too obvious).
Theory 2 he's a clone and hence the duplicate appearing.
Theory 3 he's losing his mind.

As it turned out, Theory 2 was right. Even though this was revealed fairly early on (I wrongly assumed it would be a final scene to confirm this), the film completely took me by surprise by the way it then panned out after the revelation. Also, GERTY had obvious red herrings hinting at a HAL 9000 psycho computer, but again it's arc panned out in an excellent way.

For me, the best scene was early on (and only after thinking about the film on my way home) and it's purely down to Rockwell's performance where "Dishevelled Sam" (DS) was trying to initiate conversation with "Smart Sam" (SS) in the gym (the shot framed from DS' point of view). From DS point of view he was being ignored, but from SS point of view he was in denial about the duplicate in front of him. Fantastic!

The only question that the film did not answer (although I may have missed it): How could he hallucinate the teenage daughter in the leather armchair at the start of the film (and in the dust of the mining vehicle) when his only knowledge at that point was of his four-ish year old daughter?

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Post #: 63
RE: Moon update - 29/7/2009 12:02:43 PM   
bigbadbeasty

 

Posts: 12
Joined: 7/1/2006
quote:


The only question that the film did not answer (although I may have missed it): How could he hallucinate the teenage daughter in the leather armchair at the start of the film (and in the dust of the mining vehicle) when his only knowledge at that point was of his four-ish year old daughter?


I wondered the same. What was her significance? Just the degradation of his brain cells? Madness? I can't think it would be 'programmed' into him, as that would only lead to damage to the equipment (not something Lunar would want). Hmmm...

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Post #: 64
- 29/7/2009 3:53:48 PM   
vivlitherland


Posts: 110
Joined: 7/5/2006
From: York
 very good. i want a gerty

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Post #: 65
- 29/7/2009 3:53:49 PM   
vivlitherland


Posts: 110
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From: York
 very good. i want a gerty

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Post #: 66
RE: - 29/7/2009 11:50:18 PM   
velocityboy


Posts: 226
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From: The Cocoon
 Just went to see this and enjoyed it. Great story, well acted and paced, it reminded me why I love sci fi.

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Post #: 67
RE: Moon update - 31/7/2009 12:26:52 AM   
eaws1

 

Posts: 35
Joined: 13/10/2005
From: Nottingham
 *******SPOILERS**********

I'm also not sure of the significance of the hallucinations of his daughter were. Possibly, it was part of the pre-programmed degeneration at the end of his contract.

I didn't noticed that the alarm clock was a joke at the time, but having read the reviews here, I now get it! So slow! I missed the Bewitched joke though - can someone fill me in?

I'm so happy to have seen a new proper science fiction tale, asking questions about who we are and what would you do in a Soylent Green/Logan's Run-esque situation. The best science fiction is thought provoking and should challenge. Like velocityboy, it reminded me too why I love this genre.

Moon is an excellent film - Sam Rockwell was brilliant in his roles. The subtle nuances of both Sams made them clear individuals, and yet the same man. As others have said before, Rockwell deserves recognition for his performance but he'll probably get overlooked.  I welcome the use of models/stop motion animation too, as well as the use of disorientating off-focus techniques that I haven't seen used like that in a long time. A general "Well done" to Mr. Jones. Stunning.

And hey, the ever brilliant Matt Berry was in it too! Good thing he didn't roll on to set still in Douglas mode and making a right tit of himself - Moon would have been a very different film if he had...

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Post #: 68
RE: Moon update - 31/7/2009 4:52:17 PM   
Axel Foley


Posts: 731
Joined: 15/10/2005
What twist? Are we talking discovery of secret rooms and unblocked phonecalls? Or was the twist just so subtle that I didn’t notice? If option 1 then I agree with clownfoot, as it isn’t really a twist.
 
Compare it to the Usual Suspects for instance. When re-watching it the experience is different to the first viewing. Without giving too much away, a re-watch of Moon would have a new perspective, as you would expect from any thought provoking film. But essentially the plot drivers would remain the same, i.e. worker being manipulated by corporation and struggling to keep afloat. The focus is ultimately on Sam’s survival.

Anyway I haven’t posted on here in ages, but Moon motivated me to return (I was close to bothering after Star Trek in fairness). It is beautifully shot, the set design is wonderful (I particularly warmed to GERTY’s yellow smiley) and evocative of the best of the genre, the plot is genuinely interesting and provocative and above all Sam Rockwell is brilliantly lugubrious and crumpled as Sam Bell: a man on the verge of falling apart (both physically and mentally) and making a mind-blowing discovery on a Neo eats red pill scale.
Kudos to Clint Mansell too. The score has a pounding intensity crossed and a mysterious edge. It has also been spinning round my head for the last couple of days!

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Post #: 69
RE: Moon update - 31/7/2009 5:49:34 PM   
Bobby Macabre


Posts: 13
Joined: 11/6/2009
A stunning piece of cinema - and a real shot in the arm for proper Sci-fi (the sort that makes you think, instead of "ahhhing" over explosions).

Sam Rockwell was a revelation, and his should be a name heavily mentioned during the awards season - no nomination would be criminal. His responses at GERTY finally telling him the truth, and at other Sam for destroying his model were perfect. His little character quirks, such as sucking the beans, were subtle and added to the fact that he was alone - so could behave how he wanted. A stunning one-man performance.

The use of old emoticons to show how GERTY felt towards Sam and his situation was inspired, especially the crying one. I thought WALL-E would be the only robot to ever get an emotional response from me - I was wrong.

The set was pure Gerry Anderson, and it looked brilliant. Shows that skilled model making and scaling can beat CGI.

The music was fab, and the ending was - hopefull? I guess that's the word I'm going to use.

5/5 - best film I've seen this year!

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Post #: 70
Poignant. Triumphant. Tragic. Reflective. Thought-provo... - 1/8/2009 10:00:37 AM   
The Real Alex Young

 

Posts: 5
Joined: 23/5/2009
Blade Runner and Outland are two of my mum's favourite films, so when they were cited as big influences on this film I took her to see it. Neither of us were disappointed. For a story set in space, it isn't over-reliant on spectacle, instead choosing to hit you with an eye-opening shot every now and then. For the most part it is neck deep in thought and reflection.

You get a real sense of loneliness throughout, the treks across the vast Moon surface really epitomising Sam Bell's isolation. The small emoticon screen on GERTY is subtle yet extremely expressive. The base looked like someone had made it their own over the last three years; there were hundreds of little details to find in the background.

Sam's discovery, and his subsequent deterioration (in more than one sense of the word) was very poignant. His transformation was akin to a man regressing into a childhood state; weak, vulnerable, pathetic, helpless.

The events leading up to the end of the film are tinged with sadness, and the climax itself is both triumphant and heartbreaking, all complemented by the moving score by Clint Mansell.

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Post #: 71
I saw the whole of the Moon... - 2/8/2009 4:10:37 AM   
kingoftheducks


Posts: 643
Joined: 30/9/2005
Was so glad when this came to my Cineworld in Brighton, surprised actually, because Brighton's Marina Cineworld wedged curiously in the middle of the multi-storey is usually just a platform for multiple screenings of summer blockbusters, and I figured when Moon didn't show up on opening night it wouldn't show up at all.  Fortunately the film's box office success must have prompted them to take it on, and though they are only doing one 9pm screening a day that's better than nothing and I hope this initiative continues with other left-field (good) releases.

I wrote a spoiler-free review for a site I contribute to here:

http://www.battleroyalewithcheese.com/2009/08/moon.html

But in short, I enjoyed it!

I was also lucky enough a while back to get to fire a few questions at the film's composer Clint Mansell, was really an interview in relation to The Wrestler, but here's what he had to say:

http://godisinthetvzine.co.uk/content/content_detail.php?id=3284&type=Interviews


< Message edited by kingoftheducks -- 2/8/2009 4:12:23 AM >

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Post #: 72
RE: I saw the whole of the Moon... - 2/8/2009 10:01:15 PM   
cheekylou82


Posts: 127
Joined: 29/10/2007
From: That London...
 I'm going to see this tomorrow night (at my local Cineworld!) and I can't wait. I love Rockwell in virtually everything he's done, from The Green Mile to Matchstick Men - he's even brilliant in Charlie's Angels! I'm so pleased he's been given a centre stage vehicle to display his considerable talents. Give him more leading roles!

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Post #: 73
RE: I saw the whole of the Moon... - 2/8/2009 10:15:38 PM   
paul_ie86


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From: Chelsea Hotel #2
 Anyone go to the Q&A in Dublin?

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Post #: 74
RE: I saw the whole of the Moon... - 2/8/2009 11:42:04 PM   
losthighway


Posts: 3168
Joined: 25/1/2006
From: Manchesterford
 Went in cold, knew nothing abot it apart from it's got very good reviews and the trailr looked half decent. It wasn't at all what I was expecting. The first thing that struck me was Clint Mansell's score which sounded, at times, uncannily like NIN's The Fragile instrumental soundscapes. Oh and Chesney Hawkes 'One & Only' was inspired and a really nice surprise. I was surprised when the twist happened so early on and then the film seemed to take a very different route/tone and I was left thinking that I'm watching an up-to-date version of AI. I won't say much more about it other than i'd definately recommend folks see it at the cinema if possible and if you can, go in cold like I did and just experience it.

Overall: 4/5

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Post #: 75
RE: Moon update - 4/8/2009 12:14:42 PM   
cheekylou82


Posts: 127
Joined: 29/10/2007
From: That London...
 *****SPOILERS******

Well I went to see this last night and I wasn't disappointed. Rockwell was simply superb, as expected, and the story and 'twist' completely engaging, thought-provoking and heartbreaking.

I think the actual 'twist' for me comes when Sam finally manages to see his 15 year old daughter via the satellite screen phone, and she calls for her 'Dad' who is out of shot, and you can hear his voice and you know it is the 'original' Sam. Knowing that the 'original' allowed himself to be used to make clones to run the lunar station, and is living back on Earth with his daughter while his other selves live out their 3 years with only the never-to-be-realised hope of returning home keeping them going, was the really heartbreaking part for me. Did he know his clones thought they would be coming home for their 3 years of existance? Or did he even know that the corporation had done this at all? Obviously we don't get the answer to those questions, but it was this that packed the biggest punch for me.

I went with my Dad, who thought it was 'alright' but moved too slowly - though as I said to him, when a film only has 3 main characters it can only move so fast! I thought the pacing was just right and the small cast really lent itself to emphasising Sam's loneliness and isolation.

Long live Sam Rockwell!


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Fezzik: We face each other as God intended. Sportsmanlike. No tricks, no weapons, skill against skill alone.

Man in Black: You mean, you'll put down your rock and I'll put down my sword, and we'll try and kill each other like civilized people?

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Post #: 76
RE: Moon update - 4/8/2009 2:06:03 PM   
Cooler King


Posts: 7
Joined: 28/11/2005
I also saw this last night and thought it was an excellent film. I was quite surprised with the 'reveal' being quite early on in the film but it worked out brilliantly and as has been said, Rockwell is fantastic! Can't recommend this film highly enough! 

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Post #: 77
RE: I saw the whole of the Moon... - 4/8/2009 3:24:50 PM   
Acho


Posts: 3903
Joined: 3/10/2005
From: Dublin, Co. Ireland
quote:

ORIGINAL: paul_ie86

Anyone go to the Q&A in Dublin?


Nope, but I would have loved to have gone. To one of them. There were three in two days!

Great little film.


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Post #: 78
RE: Moon update - 4/8/2009 11:02:32 PM   
John_P


Posts: 499
Joined: 30/9/2005
Saw it at FACT in Liverpool tonight, was a very full screening so glad to see its doing great business for a film which has had little publicity.

Just a great film, Sam Rockwell was brilliant in both roles as the beat up decaying 'old' Sam and the 'new' Sam, looking completely different whilst looking the same (don't think I even understand what I mean)


quote:

ORIGINAL: cheekylou82

I think the actual 'twist' for me comes when Sam finally manages to see his 15 year old daughter via the satellite screen phone, and she calls for her 'Dad' who is out of shot, and you can hear his voice and you know it is the 'original' Sam. Knowing that the 'original' allowed himself to be used to make clones to run the lunar station, and is living back on Earth with his daughter while his other selves live out their 3 years with only the never-to-be-realised hope of returning home keeping them going, was the really heartbreaking part for me. Did he know his clones thought they would be coming home for their 3 years of existance? Or did he even know that the corporation had done this at all? Obviously we don't get the answer to those questions, but it was this that packed the biggest punch for me.



when you hear all the news reports at the end I'm certain the last voice is the real Sam Bell, so I reckon he was definitely in on it.


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Post #: 79
RE: Moon update - 5/8/2009 11:53:20 AM   
cheekylou82


Posts: 127
Joined: 29/10/2007
From: That London...
 *****SPOILERS!*********

Right now I have to see it again to listen for myself! I thought the last voice you heard was that of a radio talk show host, cos he says something like 'he's either an illegal immigrant or a whack job....next caller!'.

Really liked that little bit right at the end, where you hear a report or something about how he was giving evidence about the corporation etc. Very cleverly done and as someone else said, quite uplifting after the sad ending on the moon itself.


_____________________________

Fezzik: We face each other as God intended. Sportsmanlike. No tricks, no weapons, skill against skill alone.

Man in Black: You mean, you'll put down your rock and I'll put down my sword, and we'll try and kill each other like civilized people?

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Post #: 80
RE: Moon update - 5/8/2009 2:29:46 PM   
Damon_Wise

 

Posts: 31
Joined: 16/6/2009
I've just posted a very spoilery interview that may answer some of these questions...

http://www.empireonline.com/features/damonwise/

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Post #: 81
RE: Moon update - 5/8/2009 2:37:42 PM   
clownfoot


Posts: 7748
Joined: 26/9/2005
From: The ickle town of Fuck, Austria
quote:

ORIGINAL: Damon_Wise

I've just posted a very spoilery interview that may answer some of these questions...

http://www.empireonline.com/features/damonwise/


Is James refusing to give you a colour for your Forum username Damon? I'd complain as it makes Chewie and O'Hara seem more specshial!

Saturn 3 (lol)....



< Message edited by clownfoot -- 5/8/2009 2:38:28 PM >

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Post #: 82
RE: Moon update - 5/8/2009 2:41:10 PM   
Damon_Wise

 

Posts: 31
Joined: 16/6/2009
I've got one somewhere but I can't get into it, because it's linked to an old emap email address that doesn't exist any more!

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Post #: 83
RE: Moon update - 5/8/2009 2:53:06 PM   
clownfoot


Posts: 7748
Joined: 26/9/2005
From: The ickle town of Fuck, Austria
quote:

ORIGINAL: Damon_Wise

I've got one somewhere but I can't get into it, because it's linked to an old emap email address that doesn't exist any more!


Hmm, I don't think I change the colour of the username (you need to ask james for that) but I can transfer the Empire gif and other assorted bits from the old user profile to your current one if need be!

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Post #: 84
RE: Moon update - 5/8/2009 2:57:32 PM   
Damon_Wise

 

Posts: 31
Joined: 16/6/2009
If you like!

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Post #: 85
RE: Moon update - 5/8/2009 3:29:10 PM   
tftrman


Posts: 3192
Joined: 15/11/2005
Nice little interview. I don't think it's really that spoilerific once you've seen the film

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Post #: 86
RE: Moon update - 5/8/2009 4:57:51 PM   
Damon_Wise

 

Posts: 31
Joined: 16/6/2009
You can't be too careful these days...

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Post #: 87
RE: Moon update - 5/8/2009 11:08:56 PM   
TrendMeUp


Posts: 977
Joined: 11/10/2005
quote:

ORIGINAL: richCie

for anyone who hasnt seen this DO NOT READ THE SIGHT AND SOUND review. not only do they post a synopsis first that details the entire plot (seriously why do they do this?) but the review then goes on to give away many of the plot developments.
fucking sight and sound. i've already seen the film and it still pisses me off.


Sorry man, got to take you to task on this one. Sight and Sound is a film journal rather than a magazine. It is a piece of reference material which is why they include all the information about films within their reviews. They barely give much of an opinion one way or the other in most of their reviews, so reading them before seeing something would be a little pointless anyway.

As for Moon (there will be spoilers here), yep it was very good. I found it odd having the "twist" come in the middle of the film, but it needs to be there to create the rest of the film, which ends up being extremely moving. I really enjoyed the fact that they played with the genre stereotype of the backstabbing robot. Throughout you're pretty much expecting GERTY to turn on Sam and I think there were a couple of moments where Jones wanted you to think that too. I'm not sure it's quite as intellectual as Empire's reviews suggested. I mean, it's definitely more thought provoking than your avergae movie but the themes aren't particularly subtle or original. Still a brilliant little film though.

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Post #: 88
RE: Moon update - 5/8/2009 11:38:16 PM   
clownfoot


Posts: 7748
Joined: 26/9/2005
From: The ickle town of Fuck, Austria
quote:

ORIGINAL: TrendMeUp
I mean, it's definitely more thought provoking than your avergae movie but the themes aren't particularly subtle or original.


I'd certainly agree its not hugely original - the kill switch and themes of slave labour pretty much encroaches on Blade Runner territory - but then I don't think Jones has attempted to suggest that these are new themes. I think where Moon wins out is that the themes are currently relevant, especially the ethics of cloning, and this provides it with an edge that makes the film an important piece of modern sci-fi...


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Post #: 89
RE: Moon update - 6/8/2009 1:04:37 AM   
TrendMeUp


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Agreed, very well said.

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Post #: 90
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