Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

    I haven't seen the movie Seeking a Friend for the End of the World yet. Plan to through, just don't know when.

    All I know so far from the previews I have seen is that the world is about to end due to an asteroid hitting the Earth. There is at least one attempt to stop the asteroid that fails during the beginning of the movie. I suspect most of the movie is about life on Earth before the impact happens.

  • #2
    Re: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

    The Tunguska event was an event that has triggered many expeditions to the heart
    of the event in a region characterised as a vast muskeg swamp.

    The region was settled by several tribes all of whom report seeing a large light in the sky.
    A question remains as to whether the event was a comet, or somesuch,
    or a failing inter stellar craft.
    The high levels of materials found in current semiconductors suggests that the scene may
    hold the remains of an old starcraft

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

      That's a great contribution to this thread about a movie, lensperson. Thanks so much.

      I saw the midnight premiere of this film Thursday night because (a) I'm on vacation and I can and (b) of all the films I've seen trailers for this year, only The Hunger Games had me more excited for the possibilities than this one, and that had more to do with the novel than with anything I saw in the trailer.

      I will post a decent review later tonight; I'm posting this mostly to say that if you're debating what to see before weekend's conclusion, see this. It had a lousy opening (less than two million bucks) and I don't want this to die a rapid death before I get to see it a couple more times. I am not saying it's a great film, but it's kind of special in some of its provocativeness, which I think I just learned actually is a word.

      I've seen twenty-three of 2012's releases and unless something happens in the next six days, this will be my pick for best movie of the first half.
      But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
      GrouchyTeacher.com

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

        Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)
        Steve Carell, Keira Knightley

        An asteroid is going to collide with the earth. It’s huge enough that there is no hope for survival anywhere on the planet, and when a last-ditch effort to prevent the collision fails, all that’s left to do in the remaining twenty-one days is what? The first act of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is an exploration of the options.

        The film’s main character is Dodge, played by Steve Carell in the mopey, life-is-passing-him-by persona he exhibits in Dan in Real Life and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. If you like this Carell as much as I do, you probably don’t need to read this review because you’ve already seen the movie. Dodge isn’t sure how he wants to spend his remaining days, and at first he tries to carry on with his life as if nothing’s different. He sees the people around him giving over to hedonism, self-indulgence, mayhem, denial, and despair, each in several different interpretations, but none of these appeals to him, and it isn’t until violence in his neighborhood forces him to hit the road that he finally decides on a purpose: to visit his high-school sweetheart, the One Who Got Away.

        In that rushed escape from chaos, Dodge rescues his newly introduced neighbor, Penny, played by Keira Knightley as an unsettled free spirit longing to return to England to spend her last days with her family. The commercial airlines have ceased operations, and Penny now beats herself up for all the excuses she’s made over the years not to visit during holidays, choosing instead to be with her boyfriends of the month.

        Penny and Dodge strike a deal, each providing the other with assistance in putting these final affairs in order. The second act of the film becomes an odd-couple-buddy-road-trip flick, a vehicle that mainly serves the purpose of letting the two become friends.

        This second act is what’s disappointing about this picture, the section that could have made it great but instead makes it merely good. One gets the sense that there could be a great romance between these two, even in the short time they have left. Many other movies have thrown odd couples together and convinced us of the quick flame that ignites, of the tenderness that’s shared, of the connection between two souls who find each other in extraordinary circumstances. Seeking a Friend somehow fails to stick the landing on any of these three jumps, and the viewer is left to receive the assertions without the compelling evidence. I found myself tenuously willing to accept the terms as offered, but I wouldn’t fault anyone for declining the invitation.

        Whether the film works is entirely dependent on one’s belief in this relationship as it’s presented. I went along for the sake of dealing with the movie’s other ponderous themes, especially the obvious one, which asks us what we’d do with the end of days, and then asks why we’re not doing it now.

        In his review, Roger Ebert says the film helped him decide what he’d do: adopt a homeless mother dog with puppies and be calmed by her optimism. It took me longer than the duration of the film to come up with mine, but I think it would be to pay one last visit to my mom and dad, then to find people who were alone against their wishes, and bring them together so they could die among new friends.

        And I’d try to squeeze in some of the movies I’ve been saving: Lucas, Before Sunrise, and maybe The Sound of Music. Here’s hoping each of them is more believably developed than this one.

        7/10 (IMDb), mostly on the strength of premise and mood.
        77/100 (Criticker)
        Last edited by scrivener; June 25, 2012, 09:50 AM.
        But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
        GrouchyTeacher.com

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

          Saw this movie today at the Ward Theater. I sort of figured that this wasn't a sci-fi genre type of movie, instead its part comedy, part romance, and part adventure. Even through the theme of the movie is about an incoming disaster, its mostly about the various people ways of dealing with the event, some are sad, some are funny,

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

            Originally posted by scrivener View Post
            Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)
            Steve Carell, Keira Knightley

            An asteroid is going to collide with the earth. It’s huge enough that there is no hope for survival anywhere on the planet, and when a last-ditch effort to prevent the collision fails, all that’s left to do in the remaining twenty-one days is what? The first act of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is an exploration of the options.
            Thanks for saving me from spending the $7.50 it would have cost. Not to mention the time.
            Last edited by helen; June 28, 2012, 11:49 PM. Reason: please be careful with the quote tags
            Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!
            ~ ~
            Kaʻonohiʻulaʻokahōkūmiomioʻehiku
            Spreading the virus of ALOHA.
            Oh Chu. If only you could have seen what I've seen, with your eyes.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

              Originally posted by Kaonohi View Post
              Thanks for saving me from spending the $7.50 it would have cost. Not to mention the time.
              Not a problem. I'll be seeing it again to cover what would have been your $7.50.
              But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
              GrouchyTeacher.com

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

                As a double bill of end of the world without zombies comedies, there are It's a Disaster and this movie.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

                  What about The World's End? Aliens instead of zombies.
                  But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
                  GrouchyTeacher.com

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X