Anyone catch the movie 'The Road'?

[JulesMaximus]

papa,papa,papa,papa,papa,papa,papa

PS Great movie

I hate you... :'(

 

[BudAshes]

I'm pretty sure that the book was written by 1000 chimps writing for a 1000 years. The Road is the best thing they came up with. There is a complete lack of punctuation, archaic language mixed into modern, and a story line that goes no where. Definitely written by monkeys.

 

[Possessed Freak]

It's irrelevant to the story at hand.

KT

Really, suddenly the animals are dead and plant growth comes to an end... but there is still fresh water and air to breathe.

 

[FDF12389]

I'm pretty sure that the book was written by 1000 chimps writing for a 1000 years. The Road is the best thing they came up with. There is a complete lack of punctuation, archaic language mixed into modern, and a story line that goes no where. Definitely written by monkeys.

Chimps can't read, write, or live that long.

 

[BudAshes]

Chimps can't read, write, or live that long.

Captain Obvious to the rescue!

If you liked the book it's proof of it's retardation.

 

[schneiderguy]

My ex-GF read the book with me. She hated it because of the things you mentioned. This is when I realized she was a stupid wise and beautiful woman. I dumped her shortley thereafter.

I thought both the book and the movie were excellent.

 

[sonambulo]

I will never, ever forget the scene where they go into the house on the hill.

It's nice to leave that to imagination though. One gets to speculate about what could have caused such an apocaplyse. I lean towards an impact event or supervolcanoe.

Yes. It had to be something truly catastrophic to block out the sun and change the world like that.

My main problem with the movie was his decision to leave the fallout shelter just based on some animal snuffling around. That seemed quite stupid to me. Perhaps it was described better in the book, but even if someone was coming back, that place was worth defending.

He was sick and knew it. He was trying to get his son to safety and/or the remnants of civilization that were further down the coast. He was going to die in that shelter if he stayed there and then what would the boy have done?

 

[torpid]

Captain Obvious to the rescue!

If you liked the book it's proof of it's retardation.

It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. I would say that it will be difficult to prove "it's retardation" based solely on the opinions of ATOT members.

 

[marmasatt]

I will never, ever forget the scene where they go into the house on the hill.

This. It is one of the creepiest scenes I've ever encountered in a movie, from the bleak start of the scene, to where it goes downhill up in the bathroom and the father holding the gun saying "everyone has to do it." I mean if you were in that situation with your son, that's probably what you would be like. And then when they are in the woods hearing the screams and the chopping...Wicked dark ....

I thought the opening sequence with the ponytail guy (is he in deadwood or something?) sets the tone extremely well. He's just amazingly creepy. "Come on, you look hungry....."

This is one of those movies, not unlike Braveheart, Shawshank Redemption, Gladiator, etc.. that once I flip to it on TV, there goes the afternoon.....

Question, can I go and read the book now, or will it not be the same?

 

[KeithTalent]

Really, suddenly the animals are dead and plant growth comes to an end... but there is still fresh water and air to breathe.

What caused the change is irrelevant. How would knowing it was a meteor change anything about the movie? It would not. The characters are placed in a situation and the movie is about them dealing with that situation and how that impacts the relationship between the two protagonists.

KT

 

[PricklyPete]

I've only read the book. Yes...it was depressing.

 

[Aharami]

I also liked The Book of Eli

 

[NoCreativity]

Thought the movie was decent. For being in that situation for what seemed to be a few years, the dad was very conspicuous with his actions and by the end I was really hoping both he and 'papa papa papa papa papa papa' would get killed.

 

[bobdole369]

I read the book. One of the best I ever read. Very sad. Very depressing, very moving. That was the point.

 

[m1ldslide1]

I'm pretty sure that the book was written by 1000 chimps writing for a 1000 years. The Road is the best thing they came up with. There is a complete lack of punctuation, archaic language mixed into modern, and a story line that goes no where. Definitely written by monkeys.

LOL. Literature isn't for everyone. Best not to bother with his Border Trilogy or anything ever written by Hemingway.

 

[Squisher]

Yeah, Mr. Talent and I went around and around about the movie in the old movie thread. He had some good points, but I'm not sold on all the plot holes.

We just found the biggest stash of food in the world, we better get out of here before they find us. ????

 

[tenthumbs]

Excellent Book! Cormac McCarthy is the author. He also wrote "No Country For Old Men." I didn't think the movie captured the emotion of the book at all.

 

[Kev]

What caused the change is irrelevant. How would knowing it was a meteor change anything about the movie? It would not. The characters are placed in a situation and the movie is about them dealing with that situation and how that impacts the relationship between the two protagonists.

KT

Knowing what caused the change helps the viewer/reader actually buy into the situation. "It just happened" isn't good enough. It's kind of distracting to be thinking about what type of disaster could have caused the type of destruction we witness.

It's not a huge detriment to the story, but I don't see the point in completely glossing over it.

And wouldn't the kid at some point want an explanation about what happened?

 

[KeithTalent]

Knowing what caused the change helps the viewer/reader actually buy into the situation. "It just happened" isn't good enough. It's kind of distracting to be thinking about what type of disaster could have caused the type of destruction we witness.

It's not a huge detriment to the story, but I don't see the point in completely glossing over it.

And wouldn't the kid at some point want an explanation about what happened?

No, because this had obviously occurred a while ago and any explanations would have been covered prior to the time where the viewer comes in. Even the flashbacks, while sort of dealing with the impending disaster, were more about the the familial aspects of what was occurring.

We did not witness any of the destruction; the film is about the aftermath of a disaster, not about the disaster itself. Getting into explanations of the whys and hows would make it a very different movie.

So if Viggo had said "damn, that sure was a big meteor that caused all of this" it would have made the film better?

KT

 

[trmiv]

I wanted to punch the kid in the face.

 

[Kev]

So if Viggo had said "damn, that sure was a big meteor that caused all of this" it would have made the film better?

As was already mentioned:

Really, suddenly the animals are dead and plant growth comes to an end... but there is still fresh water and air to breathe.

When the premise itself is implausible it's a little distracting to the story.

 

[torpid]

We did not witness any of the destruction; the film is about the aftermath of a disaster, not about the disaster itself. Getting into explanations of the whys and hows would make it a very different movie.

The story is "really" about fatherhood and raising children. I put really in quotes since, obviously, it's open to interpretation; however, I think McCarthy has been clear enough about his intent, so if you are a "writer's intent" sort of dude then that's what the book is "about." Some of the dialogue in the book is taken directly from conversations McCarthy had with his son. In that context, it is even less important what caused the destruction.

 

[Pheran]

Really, suddenly the animals are dead and plant growth comes to an end... but there is still fresh water and air to breathe.

When the premise itself is implausible it's a little distracting to the story.

Obviously I've not done any extensive analysis on this (it's just a movie), but if one of the aforementioned catastrophic events released huge amounts of dust into the atmosphere (and the world of The Road does appear extremely gray), I don't have much trouble believing that there would be a large plant die-off due to the lack of light followed by a collapse of the food chain (thus impacting animals as well).

 

[JulesMaximus]

When the premise itself is implausible it's a little distracting to the story.

The premise isn't discussed so how can it be implausible? I kept looking for something that would tell me what happened to civilization but the movie never gives that up so you are just left to deal with the situation...much like the characters in the movie.

The movie isn't about what caused the mass destruction, it is just looking at how people might deal with the aftermath, which is pretty bleak.

 

[DanTMWTMP]

My main problem with the movie was his decision to leave the fallout shelter just based on some animal snuffling around. That seemed quite stupid to me. Perhaps it was described better in the book, but even if someone was coming back, that place was worth defending.

He was sick and knew it. He was trying to get his son to safety and/or the remnants of civilization that were further down the coast. He was going to die in that shelter if he stayed there and then what would the boy have done?

In the book, the man reasons that someone will find them regardless, and they'd be defenseless. The ammo they found weren't compatible with the pistol, nor were there any guns for the ammo. He figured that it'd be less risky to keep moving, than to stay in one place where someone will most likely find them and kill them for the place