127 Hours

[superhero]

It's opening on Wednesday, thats quite unusual. I thought it's always a Friday opening. Maybe we are copying the Americans

[kevinknapman]

I saw this at the London Film Festival last year. My first experience of a closing film despite the fact I've been going to the festival for many, many years.

An almost exceptional film that tells a fascinating and gripping story with James Franco giving an extraordinary performance as Aron Ralston. I didn't think THAT moment was too bad actually and only really lasts just over 30 secs. You'll feel like applauding when he finally does it (which the audience I saw it with did). Somebody did faint quite nearby me though and paramedics came in as well, though the person had come to by then.

The film isn't perfect though. What stops it from being truly exceptional is sadly Danny Boyle himself. Occasionally his direction gets a bit over-elaborate and there was times that I wished he'd just trust that the performance of James Franco was enough to hold our attention and stop being overly flashy. Those who don't like Boyle's style of filmmaking may find it frustrating here. That said there are still plenty of brilliant moments courtesy of Boyle.
I also would have liked to have seen more of Aron Ralston's experiences before this happened. I read the book and interspersed between the 127 hr experience are flashbacks to his life leading up to it and the kind of danger he got himself into before. Caught in an avalanche, his attempts to climb all the highest peaks in the US, almost drowning in rapids and being stalked by a grizzly bear. The idea that something was bound to happened at some point to him because of the amount of danger he put himself in comes across quite strongly in the book but is only hinted at in the film. I would have been happy with less of the flashbacks to his relationship with a woman (played by Clemence Poesy) and more of that. As a result the film is a surprisingly brief 94mins long. It's a rare film that could have benefitted from being a little longer to have a bit more depth. Great to see Treat Williams briefly as Aron's dad though (Cloverfield's Lizzy Caplan also appears as his sister).

Having said that, this is still an impressive achievement and worth seeing for James Franco and the wonderful Utah scenery.

[superhero]

Did they spend ages patting themselves on the back for the closing ceremony? Normally they spend an age giving out awards and saying how great the festival went

[kevinknapman]

Did they spend ages patting themselves on the back for the closing ceremony? Normally they spend an age giving out awards and saying how great the festival went

Not really. Sandra Hebron and Amanda Nevill (director of the BFI) gave brief speeches about how the festival went and introduced some of the cast and crew of the film but that was it. They do the awards at a separate ceremony now.

[Beate]

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/films/127-h ... 36856.html

[Spanner]

I'm no film critic, can't do all that wonderful direction dahlink stuff but I knows what I like and this ain't it

Maybe it's cos we know the outcome but I didn't think it had any of the suspense or tension like Buried did, didn't care much for the guy, thought he was a bit of a knob-jockey, not a big fan of extreme sports types either. I was disappointed that he got into the 'predicament' by the first 10 mins or so of the film so was left wondering what on earth are we gonna watch now then? when the moment finally happened it was a bit pants on the gore front imo, except for maybe the bone snapping noise. errr 6/10 from me.

oh btw can anyone explain why he ate his contact lenses?

[Cortone]

Spanner.. Are you really complaining about having to watch James Franco for a couple of hours? You were watching James Franco and you were worried about contact lenses????

I adore him, and if it is two hours of looking at him, then I will force myself to do this . He was the only thing that made Milk worth watching. (how much did Sean Penn p*y to get that Oscar??? Yukkk!!!!!)

The weekend newspapers said he is finishing a PhD in English - forget where - and disassociates himself from his on screen personality. So, I will just have to look at his face.. and forget his on screen persona...

If I were a cat I would lick him and knead him (paw padding) . Purr, purr....

[raj101]

Sean Penn was much better in I Am Sam anyway.

Anmd great fun for me in lectures, my friend Sammie (a guy) hates me mentioning that movie.

[misseypootle]

Saw this last night at Sheff Cineworld and I must say I really enjoyed it, Franco played an excellent part, the directing was spot on by Boyle. The film kept you gripped all the way through. I hid behind my cardigan when the gore came but did sneak a little look.

I have been very aggreived recently by noisy eaters in the cinema, but last night you could not hear a pin drop throughout the entire film. The cinema was packed out which surprised me as I imagined it was gonna be half empty. 9/10

[Celini]

Saw this this afternoon (voucher from Sunday Times ), and all in all I think I liked it, I am not entirely sure yet!
I had to hold my breath and stopped watching few times though

7/10