Recording later in the week, Adam, Will, and Norm catch up on Star Wars Celebration’s reveal of The Last Jedi’s teaser trailer, drop some Pete Seeger knowledge, and dive into a Spoilercast discussion of the recent film Passengers. Plus, we get excited for Silicon Valley Comic Con and the Science March this weekend!
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I didn’t watch Passengers but now I am kinda dying to watch it.
This episode really sums up why I love this website and associated podcasts. We tend to look past a poor movie or seemingly insignificant discussions, but there’s always something great to discuss. I loved the exercise on making a mediocre/poor movie into something much more.
Thanks guys!
Passenger spoilers, if you care.
I totally get what Adam is saying about feeling complicit in Chris Pratt’s decision. I didn’t share that feeling, however, which allowed me to enjoy the movie more than most, apparently, and here’s why. The trailer that I saw implied that both Chris and Jennifer woke up the same way. I was kind of disappointed with the idea that one malfunction happened to wake up the two protagonists, but I went to see it anyway. Going in with that mindset made the reveal that Chris wakes Jennifer up, effectively sentencing her to death, much more impactful. It was that bait and switch that drew me in, making me feel invested in how that conflict would be resolved. It was by no means a great movie, but it kept me engaged to the end, and I wasn’t as disappointed as others.
All that being said, how can a ship with that many passengers have only one infirmary? Surely there would be at least a few, each one with it’s own stasis bed, so that both could go back to sleep for the remainder of the voyage.
As I left the theatre I felt they made 3/4’s of a great movie. it does look wonderful. the space ship is amainzing.
In the spoiler cast they briefly mentioned the ending i thought about while driving home.
Have Chris Pratt die in space and leave jennifer lawrence to decide what she will do . get in the pod or not. leave the ending up to he viewers imagination.
OR have Jennifer LET him die as her revenge.
Hey Ant….
I am a little distressed after hearing how little you empathise with Pratt’s character Adam.
Forget the acting, I could see what they were meaning to do. He was insane from spending so much time alone with severely limited options.
He was alone and miserable and pathetic, but he realised there was an angel he could summon (he’s insane remember).
Adam, every other film I’ve ever heard you speak about you and I are in complete agreement, and I think I’ve seen the majority of your work.
I’m distressed because you saw him as irredeemably creepy… there, but for the grace of god go we all (I am also 100% a committed atheist, it’s just a good saying)
Introspective, self-destructive depression, here i come
“these are not robot questions”
I liked Passengers just fine. I think they addressed the issues it sets up really well. He didn’t really sentence her to death, she had a whole life, it just wasn’t the one she’d planned (which was a bit of an aimless bit of wastefulness really). And when Lawrence Fishburne wakes, not from their actions, it suggests it could just as easily have happened as randomly to JLaw as it did to Pratt. Plus: they could not have saved the ship without them both being awake.
I think the plot was fine, and I agree with Norm. It fulfilled its intentions. You can’t blame the movie for not being what you thought it should be. Judge it on its own terms and it’s fine.
didnt listen to the podcast yet, my wife and i just loved passengers.
I spent the whole second half of Passengers *expecting* it to turn much darker and was mildly disappointed when it turned into a glorified Disney movie. I think extending the amount of time Chris Pratt was alone (maybe to the 5 year range) would have gone some way to justifying his decision more. I actually thought the way they set up his decision, and made you think “what would you do” and if it was “creepy” or not was spot on.
The Passengers trailer was for a totally different movie and I’m not sure if this was intentional. I definitely got the impression that the bartender was going to play a larger role, like a Hal type character. It felt like a bait and switch and actually diminished my enjoyment of the film a little. Maybe I shouldn’t watch trailers… 🙂
I have never written a screenplay, or plot for a movie, and appreciate that it is a skill that I do not possess – however – I see so many cliches (tropes?) that seem to be somewhat lazy writing. There are so many examples in this movie – I felt the only reason they had a pool on the ship was to tie in the “drowning man” quote from Fishbourne, the only reason Fishbourne was woken up was to move the plot forward and give them his all access bracelet, why can’t they make all movie space tethers 10 feet longer (!!!!!!), only one magical autodoc to set up JLaw’s decision at the end, of course the door was stuck to force Pratt to go outside, or course he needed to hold it open… etc. etc. I would love to dive deeper into the mechanics of how movie plots go from concept to screen. I have this vision in my head of a bunch of writers in a room, all high-fiving because they think the audience will leave their brain at the door.
Having said all that, I actually enjoyed the film! Visually stunning, acting was actually pretty good, the main plot device (what would you do?) was a solid premise. It just fell apart for me on the peripheries.
One more thing: I would think that you *could* swim to the surface of a ball of water in zero g and stick your head out. JLaw seemed to be stuck in the center of the ball and made no progress despite swimming hard. Can astronauts “swim” through the air on the ISS (albeit slowly)? Swimming though water would surely be easier than that? I know, I know… leave your brain at the door…
Perfect opportunity missed to discuss the trailer for Luc Besson’s new movie Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. This seems to be the clear successor to the Fifth Element and makes quite a few direct ‘nods’ to the Fifth Element suggesting its in the same ‘universe’
IMO a much better teaser and made me a lot more excited than the Star Wars trailer.
Finger’s crossed it comes up in discussion soon!
One of the most disappointing moments of my life was when Norm cut off the conversation about Pete Seeger and other great musicians, just to talk about a stupid Star Wars trailer! 🙁