Elysium

[Azure Flame]

How does that work?

I'm an aspiring rich person. I am taking their side, because I aspire to be there some day.

 

[Totenkindly]

Otherwise I wasn't pleased with the ending. As far as I can tell, everyone on earth becomes a citizen of elysium, flies up to elysium, stinks it up with their filth until it becomes another crappy earth.

yeah, that part was kinda dumb. They won a momentary victory, but how long will that last? And those resources won't extend indefinitely. Money talks. The rich will just build a new space station somewhere else and abandon the old.

I also consider myself part of "the 1%," even though I am broke and have no money. So this movie was kind of insulting to me. I felt like it was pandering to a larger audience.

What, the "mob throwing food and prepping to storm the Bastille" audience?

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I'm an aspiring rich person. I am taking their side, because I aspire to be there some day.

If this is criteria for the 1%, it's probably more like 30% or 40%. It's not that unusual of a sentiment.

 

[Azure Flame]

What, the "mob throwing food and prepping to storm the Bastille" audience?

The occupy wallstreet audience.

 

[The Ü™]

Well... which is the better Jodie Foster movie, this, or the Beaver?

She at least directed as well as acted in that movie, so you could easily say she put more effort into it.

 

[Totenkindly]

Dear God. Did someone drag "The Beaver" with Crazy Mel into this discussion now?

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Dear God. Did someone drag "The Beaver" with Crazy Mel into this discussion now?

Why not?

 

[greenfairy]

Well I liked it a lot. I saw no problems with it. There aren't really that many new ideas anyway; you can't judge a movie solely on that. And I thought the take on it they had was pretty original; but maybe that's because I haven't seen too many sci-fi movies. I guess I'm the kind of audience they were catering to.

I wasn't thinking everyone on Earth would go up to the space station, because obviously not everyone would fit; I was thinking they would get healed by the medical technology, visit, some would be able to stay, and with infinite health and more sharing of resources they would be able to improve conditions on Earth. The Earth wouldn't be like it was if it wasn't for the vastly unequal distribution of resources and wealth. So I wasn't thinking "everyone lives happily ever after on Elysium," I was thinking it was a victory that everyone would get healed and things would start to get better.

And so what if rich people are portrayed as being evil? That's a big step in the media. That viewpoint has been suppressed for a long time.

I'm an aspiring rich person. I am taking their side, because I aspire to be there some day.

That doesn't work very well and perpetuates the power structure.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

That doesn't work very well and perpetuates the power structure.

He thinks that doesn't matter because he'll be at the top. In reality, he may become upper middle class, but he will not be wealthy on the level the Koch Brothers are wealthy. They probably already had far more money at his age than he does now.

 

[greenfairy]

The part I didn't understand: (spoiler alert)

how does it work that the main character dies when the data is extracted from his head? Was the rich guy from whom they stole it going to die when it was uploaded from his head? Why didn't he die when they stole it? Was it just because they transferred it to a flashdrive thing and then another person's head? If he was going to die, why would he do that to protect his company? It does seem a little cliche that the hero has to die to save everyone, like at the end of The Matrix- some sacrificial Jesus thing.

 

[greenfairy]

He thinks that doesn't matter because he'll be at the top. In reality, he may become upper middle class, but he will not be wealthy on the level the Koch Brothers are wealthy.

Right. The bottom 80% will still have around 7% of the wealth.

 

[Totenkindly]

The part I didn't understand: (spoiler alert)

i didn't get that either, actually, and had the same issue -- but I was going to check to see if I missed a plot point somewhere. It did seem ho-hum contrived. That's what I meant by, "no surprises here." The plot works as I expected it.

 

[greenfairy]

i didn't get that either, actually, and had the same issue -- but I was going to check to see if I missed a plot point somewhere. It did seem ho-hum contrived. That's what I meant by, "no surprises here." The plot works as I expected it.

Well if an INTP doesn't get it, it must be a big hole.

On the other hand, if he had lived happily ever after with Frey and Matilda I think it would look even more contrived. So maybe they just couldn't figure out a creative ending.

 

[Totenkindly]

Well if an INTP doesn't get it, it must be a big hole.

On the other hand, if he had lived happily ever after with Frey and Matilda I think it would look even more contrived. So maybe they just couldn't figure out a creative ending.

It did highlight a huge problem -- such a moment (with flashbacks) should have been more momentous and emotional. I didn't really feel much at all.

Thought this review was kind of amusing.
http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/08/10/elysium-ending/

 

[greenfairy]

It did highlight a huge problem -- such a moment (with flashbacks) should have been more momentous and emotional. I didn't really feel much at all.

Thought this review was kind of amusing.
http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/08/10/elysium-ending/

Pretty good review. I agree, it would get pretty complicated if everyone was [almost] immortal- that was kind of a big hole too, and wasn't really addressed. The health care should have been a little more realistic- or else the changes which would come with such things should have been. I didn't think the theme was as simplistic as they make it seem though, and I think overall it was still a good movie.

I wonder, if they could have such advanced technology, why couldn't they make something (like a robot, because they have so many) which could clean up pollution as magically as people are re-atomized?

 

[greenfairy]

Ok, I've been persuaded by this thread to rate the movie as 3.5 stars instead of 4 (if 3 is average/ok).

 

[Totenkindly]

I'd probably rate it at 2.5, MAYBE 3 max.

 

[JocktheMotie]

i didn't get that either, actually, and had the same issue -- but I was going to check to see if I missed a plot point somewhere. It did seem ho-hum contrived. That's what I meant by, "no surprises here." The plot works as I expected it.

Carlyle or however-you-spell-it encrypted it that way when he wrote it at his desk. He had the option to set it as incapacitate vs. lethal and chose lethal. I assumed if you tried to extract it without a proper code it kills the vessel as a form of copyright protection. Let's hope the RIAA and MPAA don't get any ideas.

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I thought the movie was very average, its message heavy handed and lacking nuance, storyline old as time, ultimately unsatisfying. The medbay concept seemed incredibly contrived (there didn't seem to be a reason for their scarcity other than a tiring "RICH PEOPLE ARE MEAN BOOHOO" cliche) and characters did things because "movie." Huge step down from D9. Thought Matt Damon was good but Jodie was shockingly terrible and wooden, but since the rest of the movie was written that way I don't know what she could have done.

I thought the setting was nicely realized and the tech was cool. I found myself thinking of the difficulty in creating sci-fi movies in the sense that you need to create a nicely self-contained and sensible universe as an extra step to creating a good movie, which seems to be the genre's downfall for me recently.

 

[The Ü™]

Dear God. Did someone drag "The Beaver" with Crazy Mel into this discussion now?

It's announced that he will be playing the villain in The Expendables 3.

 

[Totenkindly]

Carlyle or however-you-spell-it encrypted it that way when he wrote it at his desk. He had the option to set it as incapacitate vs. lethal and chose lethal. I assumed if you tried to extract it without a proper code it kills the vessel as a form of copyright protection. Let's hope the RIAA and MPAA don't get any ideas.

Ah, gotcha. I remember that now that you mention it.

I guess it should be assumed that Caryle wasn't impacted at all by that change (either incapacitate or lethal)? i.e., it only applied if someone other than Carlyle was disseminating it?

I thought the movie was very average, its message heavy handed and lacking nuance, storyline old as time, ultimately unsatisfying. The medbay concept seemed incredibly contrived (there didn't seem to be a reason for their scarcity other than a tiring "RICH PEOPLE ARE MEAN BOOHOO" cliche) and characters did things because "movie." Huge step down from D9. Thought Matt Damon was good but Jodie was shockingly terrible and wooden, but since the rest of the movie was written that way I don't know what she could have done.

Her part really was kind of thin; she didn't have a lot of stuff to play with.

I thought the setting was nicely realized and the tech was cool. I found myself thinking of the difficulty in creating sci-fi movies in the sense that you need to create a nicely self-contained and sensible universe as an extra step to creating a good movie, which seems to be the genre's downfall for me recently.

Oblivion's scout outposts were kind of cool, but the rest of the world seemed very empty.

My mind has already moved on to Ender's Game this fall. I never read the book, despite being aware of it for years and years. Wonder how the adaptation will be.