Ha, it's Q&A overload. Next Saturday is a La La Land screening with the director "and friends" which likely means at least either Emma Stone or Ryan Gosling, if not both.

Speaking of, I haven't seen anything on LaLa Land. I just noticed on Rotten Tomatoes yesterday that it has a 97% and it's supposed to come out next week.

Are they not releasing it wide? Maybe I just haven't been paying attention as much as I usually do, but I feel like I have seen nothing on this movie outside of a few bits on it here.

It comes out in limited release on the 9th and then goes wide a week later on the 16th. I saw a few commercials for it over the holiday, but I bet they amp up the advertising soon. It's all anyone here in LA can talk about.

Gotcha. Here in Dallas all anyone talks about are the Cowboys

Ha. Speaking of, I just looked at the clock and I've got a lot of work to do in the next two and a half hours before kick-off...

Just saw it tonight. Amazing film! I love films that make you think and which present novel concepts. Will have to watch it again.

My wife and I saw this today. I knew nothing going in except it was an alien movie and they had ships positioned all over the world. I thought it was going to be a non funny Independence Day, and I'm so glad I was wrong.

This was an excellent movie and very different than most of what is being produced today. And as a parent it was gut wrenching and thought provoking.

Best movie I've seen in years. Up there with Interstellar, Saving Private Ryan, and Seven as movies that I walked out of deeply moved and asking questions.

The only thing I sort of missed was the explanation of their alphabet and the meaning of 1/12. Did someone catch that better than I did?

It's been a week since I've seen it, but IIRC that scene has the aliens give a large data dump of symbols which is incoherent. Fortunately, Jeremy Renner the scientist decodes it and figures out that when you sum the surface area of the plot there is 0.083333 area covered by "text" and the rest is blank space. That is 1/12, which is a clue that it's only one twelfth of the info and we need to communicate with the other countries to understand their language.

The REAL reason for that scene is we needed a reason why a theoretical physicist was invited to these alien sessions and we had to see him contributing. For Hollywood, arithmetic is about the most complex form of math you can explain on screen and so the puzzle he solved had to be simple enough to show in ten seconds. Honestly, I thought that part and the bomb scene were both a little clunky, but easily overlooked in what otherwise was a very good movie.

HerschelwoodHardhead said:

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It's been a week since I've seen it, but IIRC that scene has the aliens give a large data dump of symbols which is incoherent. Fortunately, Jeremy Renner the scientist decodes it and figures out that when you sum the surface area of the plot there is 0.083333 area covered by "text" and the rest is blank space. That is 1/12, which is a clue that it's only one twelfth of the info and we need to communicate with the other countries to understand their language.

The REAL reason for that scene is we needed a reason why a theoretical physicist was invited to these alien sessions and we had to see him contributing. For Hollywood, arithmetic is about the most complex form of math you can explain on screen and so the puzzle he solved had to be simple enough to show in ten seconds. Honestly, I thought that part and the bomb scene were both a little clunky, but easily overlooked in what otherwise was a very good movie.

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The REAL reason for the scene is that the first version of the script had to invent a motivation for the Heptapods to visit Earth. The short story doesn't give any reason for their journey.

Also, does their version of viewing the future due to unique language imply that there is no free will?

So because Amy Adams saw the life and death of her daughter, it was destined to happen and she couldn't have changed her mind even if she desired. It's not like she willingly chose to have her daughter even knowing the future. We are all just helpless passengers in this movie's universe.

I know it's a big thread but we've discusssed this extensively. Some great stuff on this a few pages back.

Is Forrest Whittaker going to be the new Morgan Freeman?

saw last night. trump would have blasted those monsters within an hour.

Finally got around to watching this. I wish the marketing material for the home release wouldn't have been so heavy handed with the "you won't believe the ending" stuff. I had the "twist" figured out by the time Louise got on the helicopter, but it probably would've taken me until the "go ask your dad about science" scene if I hasn't known there was a twist ending. But since I had it pegged pretty early, I enjoyed seeing how they hinted at it. Overall, I really enjoyed it.

DSAg44 said:

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saw last night. trump would have blasted those monsters within an hour.

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Great movie, and obama would have drawn a "red line" and then ignored it.........right?

Great movie, definitely not "best of the year" type of movie though.

finally saw the movie tonight and my first reaction was that i was bothered by the fact that at the beginning of the movie, Louise appeared to have flashbacks of a daughter who had died. Then we find out it is a future daughter. If she has some gift for seeing the future, why doesn't she have any flash-front memories of the aliens or the ships?

Then, I came up with my theory...and I apologize if someone on this thread had it first...I just skimmed around and I haven't looked elsewhere...

She isn't having flash-forward memories at the beginning of the film.

The film is circular just like the heptapod language...we, the audience just happen to see the end of the movie at the beginning. It would have traditionally begun with her arriving to campus with all the kids watching TV and then carried on from there and ended with the daughter dying. The film we see ends with them about to conceive and starts with her and a baby. All we miss out on is the pregnancy.

Saw it this week and loved it. Best pure sci-fi movie I've seen in a long time.

CyclingAg82 said:

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DSAg44 said:

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saw last night. trump would have blasted those monsters within an hour.

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Great movie, and obama would have drawn a "red line" and then ignored it.........right?

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yep, they would have realized how weak we were and destroyed us immediately. Maybe Putin to save the day.

Finally saw it and the movie, plot and message were awesome!

LCE said:

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Maybe I fell asleep, but did either one of the main characters get pissed they almost got killed after the explosion?

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Great movie but this cracked me up too. I thought the same thing.

Also, is Louise marrying Renner knowing they're going to get a divorce and that their child is going to die?

lunchbox said:

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finally saw the movie tonight and my first reaction was that i was bothered by the fact that at the beginning of the movie, Louise appeared to have flashbacks of a daughter who had died. Then we find out it is a future daughter. If she has some gift for seeing the future, why doesn't she have any flash-front memories of the aliens or the ships?

Then, I came up with my theory...and I apologize if someone on this thread had it first...I just skimmed around and I haven't looked elsewhere...

She isn't having flash-forward memories at the beginning of the film.

The film is circular just like the heptapod language...we, the audience just happen to see the end of the movie at the beginning. It would have traditionally begun with her arriving to campus with all the kids watching TV and then carried on from there and ended with the daughter dying. The film we see ends with them about to conceive and starts with her and a baby. All we miss out on is the pregnancy.

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She wasn't a sooth-sayer/fortune teller that was chosen by the aliens. The heptapods 'weapon/tool' was that the written language was written in a way that you could see the end of it before you end it. The language made you have the ability to see into the future. She understood and could see her future after she understood the language and that was the heptapod's tool they were giving humanity in exchange for help it would ask of humans in 3k years.

I have 2 kids and loved it because while it would be an incredible burden to live with the knowledge that you'd have a family, but it would end in divorce and a dead child... but it's a great message that you still give it your all and enjoy life to its fullest even if you know its outcome.

Finally saw this. Enjoyed it, was going to post a bunch of thoughts, then saw this post from Bunk that succinctly hit on all my thoughts.

Bunk Moreland said:

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I was really looking forward to it, but it came out as just above average for me.

I didn't know know much at all about it going in (as far as spoilers go), and I figured out they were flash forwarding early on but didn't tie it to the language till just before the reveal.

I think it was clunky, incredibly cheesy at times, and I feel like they should have focused way more on Adams/Renner and their story.

I think it was shot beautifully, dealt with a very interesting concept with deep themes to examine, but in the end I think it got in the way of itself too much. I liked as many aspects as I didn't.

Good movie, worth the watch, but definitely not an all-timer.

.02

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Finally watched it, and this:

• Advanced alien race arrives on earth to teach humans their ultra-superior language to help humanity evolve.
• Inferior human species has to teach the super advanced aliens how to communicate.

kinda sticks out a lot for me.

They're just standing there until Louise arrives (Arrival).

Human

Louise

Louise walking

All initiated by the inferior species.


Edit: you show up in the Amazon looking very alien and threatening and the natives are pointing spears at you--you're going to be working hard to demonstrate you mean no harm. You are going to communicate that fact.

The aliens use the weird ink language. They had used it from the time they arrived. It was the humans that had to go find someone capable of deciphering what the aliens were saying.

I'm sure they could have used an easier method to bridge the gap with humans since they were so advanced, but I would imagine they were wanting to find humans that were capable of learning their language from the ground up thus being worthy of having that gift of sight without time. So the aliens were more passive to allow those capable humans to come to light.

I see what y'all are saying. I really do.

It's just the inverse of this

Quote:

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they don't have a good reference point for how we think and use language. To that end, it's necessary that we explain our language and reasoning system to them, to establish a baseline for further cooperation.

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given our story, is also possible and one I would expect from the more advanced race (see Amazon reference above).

The amazon comparison doesn't really work. They clearly don't have similar communication technologies as the humans couldn't even pick up any signs of communication between the ships. Being face to face is a requirement as a result and humans and heptapods have different atmospheric/gravity requirements for sustainable life. I would argue the fact that they were on earth for quite a long time without any signs of aggression as well as providing a safe place for humans to communicate with the hepatpods is sufficient to show that they came in peace.

I never got the feeling that they were being taught. Felt pretty clear to me that they were teaching humans and like most teachers they had to deal with a few **** heads in their classes.

We'll have to agree to disagree. I put the onus on the more advanced race. And maybe teaching isn't the best description, but initiating communication and understanding. It was up to man to figure out how can we understand one another when I would think an advanced alien race would know how to do that.

But, I also get the story could not have been told effectively from that perspective.

I saw this last week. Technically this was a beautiful movie to just look at. But the truly surprising thing to me was just how emotional this movie was. This kind of emotion is atypical for any movie featuring alien invasion. This alone kicks this movie up several notches.

Regarding the so-called surprising ending, I got a vibe pretty early on and was not really that surprised. I had very little pre-knowledge about this movie and had not read this thread.

The director I believe also made Sicario, which also was a damn fine movie, so I have elevated hopes that the Blade Runner sequel will be top notch.

Couple of days past viewing and realized it was good not great. I did like the potrayal of aliens as an advanced octopus. Octopus and squids have been pointed as the next developing intelligent lifeform on Earth after humanity erases itself.