Arrival : Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stupid?

Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stupid?

Critics tend to be arty-farty types who prefer mysterious confusing plots that don't actually make any sense - like the dude on drugs who mutters basic statements now and again and weak minds assume they are a genius.

No wonder people are getting fed up with all the crappy politically correct irrationality in the world and voting against it. This is also a terrible advert for women in hard sciences - it implies that the most important tool, mathematics, is not really necessary. If the writers had a basic understanding of Relativity they would have known that effect always follows cause in any local reference frame (such as all events on earth)

This movie has a plot which makes no sense unless you transfer to the world of Harry Potter and allow magic. Even if the nonsensical ability to see the future by thinking differently was possible, the consequences in the movie are silly - just ONE woman appears to have the ability, never mind that the the biggest event in the history of human civilization has just occurred with ALIENS VISITING, no, never mind all that, the lady goes back to a standard life, gets married and has a baby even though she knows it will die of a rare disease before adulthood.

I mean, if people could see the future this would be a minor drama in the scheme of things on earth wouldn't it?

But no, let's have long slow pretentious scenes with simplistic haunting music that happens to be a palindrome and the weak-minded arty critics go bat_s_hit

Terrible stuff, critics should be ashamed.



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Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stupid?

Well done

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

The only answer I can give you is that it's a politically correct, well-made movie with very good performances. And what difference does it make if it's illogical? The majority of critics doesn't care about that as long as the movie looks good, is "progressive" (in this case: obnoxiously feministic; promoting globalism) and coherent.

You have other movie like that right now - "Jackie" - it's the same kind of over sentimental feministic claptrap. I'm wondering why Hollywood has produced a movie about Jacqueline Kennedy, but somehow it's not interested in making a high-profile biopic about her assasinated husband (That Oliver Stone's picture doesn't count).

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

I'm genuinely curious: What makes you see this movie as obnoxiously feminist?

I really didn't see that.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

Here you have a movie where allegedly "higher evolved giant squids" (which in itself is an evolutionary idiocy) look for a person who'd be able to understand their language and, from all the people, it turns out to be a female linguist. Now, let's take a look at how many notable women linguists do we know?

http://www.ranker.com/list/notable-linguist_s)/reference

Not many as you can see, so it's not that much representative, isn't?

This woman is not only chosen by these "giant squids"... On top of that, only she is capable of "traveling in time" or (as some people prefer to call it) to discover her "infinite self", only she is capable of stopping a worldwide conflict...Only her, only her, only her, only her... And, in contrast, men are portrayed mostly as ignorant people (Webber; those soldiers who install the bomb inside the ship; Halpern wants to shoot her while she's saving the world's future; Chinese general wants to start a war, but is ultimately stopped by a women and a memory of his wife.; Ian "doesn't understand" Louises's gift and leaves her and his own daughter etc.)

That's why I call this "obnoxiously feminist", cause, in this aspect, it jarringly distorts reality to its own purposes. In other words: 'Arrival' again and again implies that women are wiser and more responsible than men are.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

Okay, so basically the movie is feminist (obnoxiously so, even!) because its main character is female. That's all you're really saying. There are hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of movies where the protagonists are men and the female characters are love interests at best and helpless creatures to be saved at worst - yet when there is a movie where a woman takes center stage, suddenly it's some kind of annoying political statement.

The less said about your implication that a woman doesn't really count as a proper scientist, the better.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

No, the feminist attitude is not only expressed through a female character taking a centre stage.

Besides, previous Villenueve's picture was similarily constructed around a female "we should tell the truth" FBI agent surrounded by a group of (depicted as immoral) males. The pattern in his recent work is easy to discern. Also, one should expect that his sequel to "Blade Runner", despite Gosling's and Ford's presence, will also be female-driven.

'Arrival' distorts reality and insults audience's intelligence in many ways and its politics are plainly obvious. If someone, while analyzing a particular piece, choses to ignore that stuff - it's only a question of his/her ignorance.

But it's nothing new, it's always been like that: there are people who like something just because it looks "sophisticated", something they haven't seen before done in the genre... And they don't care about its real meaning. That's how it is.

There is a simple reason why this film needs a female main character


Besides, previous Villenueve's picture was similarily constructed around a female "we should tell the truth" FBI agent surrounded by a group of (depicted as immoral) males. The pattern in his recent work is easy to discern.


I guess Alien is also a feminist movie then, right?

What a bs. I am everything else than politically correct, but I never has any issues with female main characters as long as they are not too ugly.

By the way, there is a simple reason why this film needs a female main character: Because of the daughter thing. That just would not work as well with male main character. Call me a sexist, but that's the way it is.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

I don't see the "feminist" angle either, just a movie that happens to star a woman. The rest is baggage brought by the viewer.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

Movies like the Ghostbusters remake and The Force Awakens were also considered 'politically correct' and 'feminist' in certain corners for no other reason than they had the temerity to star females. It's pretty transparent that some men just have a problem with seeing women on screen in non-submissive roles.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

Unfair, Ghostbusters really was feminist propaganda, if it was meant as a comedy it would have been funny. I don't feel like this was though, I didn't like it but that's not the reason. I loved Contact, which is pretty much this only good, and Jodi Foster is great in it, and her character also comes off as a lot smarter, stronger and more likeable than the character in this movie. In Contact all the opposition is male too, but they actually treat the issue of being a woman in a male dominated profession in a good way there, this movie doesn't even try to deal with it, or even imply it's an issue. I got no unreasonable feminist vibes from it at all. Let's not forget that feminism isn't inherently bad, it just the new age propaganda feminists that are a pest, there are still feminists that actually want to tell the truth and deal with real issues. Check out factual feminist on youtube for example, I doubt many people will be able to disagree with her.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

Yup. Nailed it.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

I am sure that if it was possible for Jeremy Renner to get pregnant and give birth, HE would be the linguistic. :P

The movie is probably more about human existentialism and you can probably draw it even further and ask if maternal, unconditional love is choice, faith, or neither.

I don't find it particularly feminist (and I am usually pretty good at spotting cheap-shots against men), a female protagonist is simply necessary to tell the story. The film does make a point of men being naturally more aggressive then women though.....and we are. (interpretation of the Sanskrit word for 'war' being one of the points driven home).

Oh, and if you want a movie that is a REAL kiss-ass, praise the lord, artsy over-sold crap-o-rama, watch the Soviet made "Stalker".

Then you watch 'Arrival' again, I am sure your view would change pretty fast =)

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

No, no... I watch too many movies and know too much about history and culture in general to be blind and just ignore an aggresive push towards feminism in contemporary cinema, especially considering big franchises. That's all I've to say about this.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu


I watch too many movies and know too much about history and culture in general to be blind


This is a great statement. Revealing, too.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu


I don't find it particularly feminist (and I am usually pretty good at spotting cheap-shots against men), a female protagonist is simply necessary to tell the story. The film does make a point of men being naturally more aggressive then women though.....and we are. (interpretation of the Sanskrit word for 'war' being one of the points driven home).



Exactly, the movie isn't feminist, it's too stupid for that, it's unreasonably misandrist, but misandry does not imply feminism, it just implies stupidity, just like unreasonable misogyny does.

The question about the Sanskrit word for war made me cringe so badly - like that is how you would distinguish the abilities of a world-renowned and well-published expert from a recently qualified post-graduate (At the time of a worldwide alien invasion). It's insulting to the academic community and indicative of the stupidity of the writer.

Anyway, I've probably said enough here about this movie, even if it was unfairly censored, check my public ratings and recommended viewing for other movies I like or not. I don't usually get so riled, but this piece of shhhtii did annoy me after all the underserved praise showered on it.



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Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

She wasn't chosen by aliens, she was contacted by Colonel Weber because of her past success with helping the military. It wasn't until later on that the aliens realized she had a gift when she had contact with them. Her gift was that she could see the future. She did not realize this right away either, however, it was first evident in her visions of her future daughter. Throughout the movie we were led to believe that her dreams were of a daughter she lost in the the past and her memories teaching her daughter life's lessons helped her to figure out clues in her interactions with the aliens, but in reality she was tapping into the future to gain those clues. This ultimately manifests itself in a sequence of visions of herself in the future one including teaching college classes of the alien language, so it would seem likely that once she realized this she became aware that she knew their language and also the scene with the Chinese general... The aliens told her that her gift was seeing the future, which caused an awakening of sorts for her, with the vision of her daughter playing with the playdough alien figure. Which we find out in a later scene, was made by her future husband Ian. She then figured out how to access her visions in order to find a way to appeal to the Chinese general's emotions in order to save humankind from war by telling him what his wife's dying words were to gain credibility with the general. The future vision of her talking with the general and the way the general spoke that he felt he needed to show her his private number and whisper in her ear what to say was explained in earlier parts with the aliens, as time not being linear. At the very end of the movie they reaffirmed all of this in the last dialogue with Ian. At this time she knew she would have a daughter who would die and she asked Ian, "if he could see his whole life from start to finish, would he change things?", to which he replied, "maybe I would say how I feel more often". Which I think also reaffirmed the idea of time not being linear in the sense that they could change things and that it doesn't have to end with them separating. I believe the aliens also knowing the future made this initial "arrival" to save the human race from themselves, so that 3,000 years in the future the human race would return the favor. We can assume by then that humans would be very advanced technologically and perhaps capable of extraordinary things and we do not know the circumstances under which the aliens may need help from humans.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

What that other guy said is totally accurate: you are bringing your own baggage here. The protagonist is female. She's supposed to be the reasonable one, being what the viewers connect with. You might have had a case if there were several women consistently outwitting several men (and ditto about statistics if the movie had several linguists all of whom were women, but we've got just the one; hardly a statistical anomaly of any sort), but as it stands there's barely even another woman in the film.

I don't wish to pass judgment, but I guess I will anyway: you could probably afford spending some time on introspection.

---
Sad story. You got a smoke?

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

The aliens came because they had to find some human(s), not matter who, which had the potential to understand their language. If it hadn't been Louise, it would have been someone else, and the movie would have been about them instead.
Who it was is irrelevant, the only thing that mattered was that they met someone who would eventually do understand.

She is the only one with the ability because she is the first to learn the language. Of all the linguists in the world, only a small handful had access to the information.

Only when she starts to learn the language does she get the ability. All the other flash forwards disguised as flashbacks are just a trick the director is using to make the audience believe she is thinking about the past.

When they leave, she goes back to her life, marries, have a baby, and she writes a book and educates others to that eventually the whole humanity knows the language.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

This movie made me slam my head against the wall, repeatedly.


So, I have no answer for the OP.

People are gullible, I guess. Just ask Adolf Trump.


Err, I mean Donald.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

> She is the only one with the ability because she is the first to learn the language. Of all the linguists in the world, only a small handful had access to the information.

But she is shown in a "future vision" while still a young woman, with the published "Universal Language" book. So after only a few years millions of people must be able to see their future memories - which would make a big change to how the world works you would think.

Look, I was really hoping for this movie to be great, I had high hopes, and I like the two lead actors, but I can't abide all the sloppiness and the scientific ignorance abundant in the circle of movie critics (well in the circle of all arts critics really) . Obfuscation does not for a good story make, and dumb depictions of how scientists work is damaging to society.



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Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

Yeah, I don't know why so many people are confused. The OP seems to think Louise has the ability and that's why she can talk to the aliens. He obviously missed the scene where they talked about how learning another culture's language can rewire the brain. Louise studied her ass off to learn the language, and thus rewired her own brain. We then see her teaching the language in a classroom at the end of the movie. So we can logically assume that as others learn the language their brains are rewired, and eventually all of humanity has unlocked the ability to experience time the way Louise and the aliens do. The OP also says the movie requires the viewer to believe in magic. Well, duh, it's a sci-fi movie so we have to open our minds to the fictional parts of the science that is presented. The movie was presented as a mystery, but it wasn't that difficult to figure out at the end.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

If the science is wrong then the Aliens might as well have presented Louise with a magic crystal ball - why all the pretentiousness about language and "rewiring" the brain which can't possibly enable the ability to see the future by any known laws of physics. Oh I know why, all that pretentiousness is hugely appealing to scientifically ignorant arty types. You see, sci-fi doesn't just assume anything goes unless it's fantasy like Star Wars, and we're not in the Marvel world where no pretense of honest science is claimed.


Movie needed a science consultant who could have helped make it consistent, and a second writer to rewrite the aftermath of the Alien visit and its impact more believably.



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Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

When children are young they have no object permanence, they don't understand that just because they can't see something doesn't mean it's not there. As they get older the neurons in their brain form more complex neural connections and they see the world differently. This has to happen through experience, children need to understand language in order to learn. Neglected children who do not learn language and converse with other humans do not magically gain these abilities over time, it is a learned behavior. Suspend disbelief just a bit and it's not implausible to assume the aliens have done something similar to Louise's brain. She realizes just because she can't see the future doesn't mean it's not already there. Just because she hasn't experienced it yet doesn't mean she doesn't have knowledge of what the future holds. This is based on an actual hypothesis in quantum mechanics. People far smarter than your or I fully believe that our entire existence is happening at once, but humans are only capable of experiencing it linearly.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

> Just because she hasn't experienced it yet doesn't mean she doesn't have knowledge of what the future holds. This is based on an actual hypothesis in quantum mechanics.This is based on an actual hypothesis in quantum mechanics

This statement and the rest of the stuff you posted is exactly what I'm criticizing - very flaky scientific thinking, that sounds cool to other scientifically illiterate people and is used as the basis for a nonsensical plot.


There is no hypothesis in quantum mechanics which enables one to see or predict the future, in fact the opposite is the case, in quantum mechanics the future is impossible to predict until it is observed/measured because it is fundamentally probabilistic.

Basing the plot around a pretentious interpretation of language and obfuscating in an attempt to allow basic laws of physics to be broken is too sloppy and unacceptable to make for a serious movie, maybe a children's movie, where the level of science understanding is about ok for the arty critics, and sloppiness is ok too.




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Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu


Basing the plot around a pretentious interpretation of language and obfuscating in an attempt to allow basic laws of physics to be broken is too sloppy and unacceptable to make for a serious movie, maybe a children's movie, where the level of science understanding is about ok for the arty critics, and sloppiness is ok too.


You really have no idea how pretentious that sounds.

You sit on your high hill and look down at everyone and feel free to criticize people because they don't have the advanced scientific knowledge you have and believe films are not allowed to be made that question that knowledge.

You do that. The rest of us will just enjoy the ride. Sorry your super powers spoil films like this. Real shame.

The fact that you can't perceive that 99% of the public won't be viewing this film from your angle is your biggest issue.

If a science fiction film says some aliens use a circular type of language that we humans have never contemplated and whatever surrounds that language gives users to think differently giving them some abilities that we do not understand because it is an unknown most people will simply go with it because it's fiction and if we fail then we'd have to start questioning a lot more films fictional subject manner.

If it makes you happy call it science fantasy. Just because it looks like a duck and walks like a duck it doesn't have to be a duck.

Until some alien spacecraft appears out of nowhere in the world we know is real it's all just fiction.

No one here should have to argue quantum physics with you and if you feel otherwise, again your problem.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

"No one here should have to argue quantum physics with you and if you feel otherwise, again your problem."

Excellent point in a spot on post, but I would go one step further. The way the concept of non-linear Time is presented as coming from an alien and advanced species raises the question whether the way WE understand the world quantum mechanics operates according to its "rules" might be limited. Limited in the sense that they way those rules describe the relation of Time and existence might not take the total reality into complete account. In effect we are asked to consider thinking outside the box, not as the OP suggests to ignore that the box is there and has meaning and purpose.

Ultimately the objection made to the film reflects a conservative mindset (not in the political sense of conservative, although in individual cases there might well be such overlap) that amounts to saying "I don't like thinking outside the box, and you shouldn't, either!"

I mean really...

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu


When children are young they have no object permanence, they don't understand that just because they can't see something doesn't mean it's not there. As they get older the neurons in their brain form more complex neural connections and they see the world differently. This has to happen through experience, children need to understand language in order to learn. Neglected children who do not learn language and converse with other humans do not magically gain these abilities over time, it is a learned behavior. Suspend disbelief just a bit and it's not implausible to assume the aliens have done something similar to Louise's brain. She realizes just because she can't see the future doesn't mean it's not already there. Just because she hasn't experienced it yet doesn't mean she doesn't have knowledge of what the future holds. This is based on an actual hypothesis in quantum mechanics. People far smarter than your or I fully believe that our entire existence is happening at once, but humans are only capable of experiencing it linearly.


^ This! Thank you! It's so frustrating reading remarks from some who claim the film is "stupid" or "requires too much suspension of disbelief."

"Arrival" is based on Ted Chiang's award winning short story "Story of Your Life". A brilliant piece which the film adaptation changed a bit by adding a Cold War era conflict and the ending regarding humanity helping the sentient beings in 3000 years. Chiang beautifully wove complex, well-regarded scientific and linguistic concepts and principles into a linear story regarding time and language as non-linear functions. Google "Flatlands" and watch the episode from Sagans' series explaining how our physical limitations and concepts of moving beyond four+ dimensions in "String Field Theory" and "Quantum Mechanics". Sagan was excellent in expressing complex theories as he knew exactly how to break down variables and concepts into tangible, physical expression.

The protagonist (Amy Adams' character) tells the story from her perspective using linear written language yet at the conclusion realizes their written and spoken communication are very different from not just ours but amongst themselves. Written language doesn't follow a linear process that we use but rather a "multidimensional" and layered symbolic structure that assumes (or knows) the beginning and end of thoughts and events. This suggests that they must have some knowledge of future events. They think, act, and communicate on numerous levels simultaneously as though past, present, and future coexist, interwoven and happening at the same time. At the end of the story, the protagonist (Adams) begins to think as they do, first dreaming in a symbolic/visual language (much as we do when learning a new auditory language) and then begins to view events that will come to pass. The gift given to humanity was that knowledge and perspective. The concept that multilayered and highly efficient communication(s) can alter how we perceive the world and our lives was very well done. The story presents itself in linear form yet is turned around once we realize the flashbacks aren't flashbacks but Adams' character sharing her "story of her and her daughter" as she received it, i.e. knowing her future. The true mental "gut punch" is her decision to have a child even though she knows she'll die in a tragic accident at 25 years of age. Did she decide to have a child because of her contact with another species and their language or was it fated or both? In essence, whether she had "free will" didn't matter as she knew the time and love with her daughter transcends our fears and suffering in death (we all die, yet we don't know how, when, etc and still have children, hoping they'll outlive us and if not we still bring children into the world knowing they'll die whether we're alive or not).

I was especially intrigued in the concept of what comes first: language to form thoughts or thoughts that form language? We all have first person (inner) thoughts/experiences, imagine thinking without using a verbal language. It's the "chicken or the egg" conundrum using language instead of "being". This revelation hit me harder than philosophizing on the origins of life as it had to happen relatively close to our "blip" on this planet. "Parietal Art" is the only currently known earliest form of communication between Homo Sapiens[Sapiens]. Did that come first?

There are so many concepts and "real world" historical examples of human evolution packed into a brilliant examination of possible futures scenario's into a short story that I'm impressed with how well Chiang wove this complex tale.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

That special ability is nonsense and yet, people keep calling it a realistic movie.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

Artsy has little to do with it ... in Hollywood it is all about money, like anywhere else.
When it comes to Science Fiction, Hollywood has always been pretty bad and unimaginative.
The good movies are few and far between because most people do not think the public cares
about realism, message, morality ... they think it is all about effects and violence.

One of the best Science Fictions movies to me is probably the simplest movie ever made
called "The Man From Earth" which is good because it makes you think and it's kind of fun.

This movie is one of those movies that crawls up its own posterior ... there is no point to it
once you realize the plot doesn't really make sense.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

You're funny!

You're blaming the critics because they (most) understood the film and the possibility that in a sci-fi film things can happen which are not explainable in the world we know.

If guess by your thinking films like Star Trek, Star Wars, Avatar, Doctor Strange, Cloverfield, AI, Alien, Superman, Guardians of the Galaxy and on and on because things happen that cannot be explained.

Just because this sci-fi didn't go over the top like most of the films I just listed doesn't mean it can't bend time because it's still a science FICTION story.

And in this film no one saw into the future, but it certainly looks like you're not the type of person who can expand on the laws you already know as fact.

A suspension of belief is always essential when watching a...but you already know that, don't you?

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

> If guess by your thinking films like Star Trek, Star Wars, Avatar, Doctor Strange, Cloverfield, AI, Alien, Superman, Guardians of the Galaxy and on and on because things happen that cannot be explained.


WTF?!! er, YEAH! Except for AI, Alien and Cloverfield which are all feasible by the laws of physics, and maybe Star Trek and Avatar too. But Star Wars, Doctor Strange, Superman and Guardians of the Galaxy are not Sci-Fi.

Don't you understand the difference between Science Fiction and Science Fantasy? The former attempts to play by the known laws of physics, the later allows anything really, just like in magic movies like Harry potter.


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Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction dealing with imaginative concepts such as futuristic settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, time travel, faster than light travel, parallel universes and extraterrestrial life. Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a "literature of ideas."

By the laws of physics is time travel possible?

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

> By the laws of physics is time travel possible?

yes, but only with exotic high energy constructs like traversable wormholes or tachyons.

You can't just have the biological brain thinking differently and then see the future - it's a silly extrapolation of some sensible ideas about the structure of language wrt the direction of time, just to sound clever and appeal to pretentious arty types. Learning a new language "rewires" the brain, fine, but no biological process can see into the future without the help of magic.

The writers were clearly so up themselves with language theory and wanting to shoehorn it into their big alien story that they didn't bother checking with a proper scientist whether it made any sense.

In any case, as I said above, even if it did, the consequences are depicted very poorly and I can't understand how anyone could call this a great movie - the age of non-experts has arrived.



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Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

You have obviously built a wall and refuse to see over it.

That's fine, but don't expect anyone else to join you.

We prefer the arts and their ability to make us think outside that wall. The imagination is a wonderful thing and I invite anyone to encourage mine anytime.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

> You have obviously built a wall and refuse to see over it.

LOL, it's always the unscientific and religious types who say that - when in fact science is the discipline most open to criticism, and in fact requires it to develop.

It is the religious and arty-farty cliques who prohibit progress by not allowing true criticism and suppressing voices that do not agree with the latest fashion so religiously beloved for nothing other than irrational reasons.

The movie is stupid, even if the science was ok, it hides behind a few weak layers of pretentiousness and political-correctness to conjure a feeble plot that only a weak-minded fool could admire



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Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

You go ahead and rate films from your elitist point of view. I can see you don't even see the love story developed in this film.

Anyone who rates Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas a 5 has some issues.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

> Anyone who rates Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas a 5 has some issues

I know someone who was killed by a thug with a gun, so I tend not to like movies which trivialize such stuff.



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Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

So it does appear it's hard for you to separate your life from rating a film based solely on it's own merit? You weigh you own bias heavily with many films?

I guess that's fine, but I try to keep my bias out of rating a film.

I suppose it might be extremely hard to separate your own bias when it comes to something like someone you know suffering like that, however in a film like Pulp Fiction it seems like the only one's who suffered were criminals, except that one fat girl on the street who got shot in the leg. Damn fat chick!

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

Science, aka the new religion. It used to be open to new ideas and now it's fastly becoming the very thing that it help marginalise. Anyone who wears a white coat these days think they know about how things work and the plebs should just go along with it. That's probablaby partly the reason TED chiang wrote this story. He probably got sick of hearing all the dogmatic views of the scientific community, just as he obviously had with the religious community

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

You know I partly agree with you, especially with stuff like the promotion of Climate Scientists to the most prominent and well paid positions, even though they were the stupidest group of science students as teenagers.

But in its pure form, without political correctness intervening, Science is the most true form of knowledge.



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Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

Erm, based on your words, this movie is a science fiction. since it didn't introduce any new ideas, everything in the movie have been discussed "scientifically" before, the existence of aliens, getting affected by another language, even the psychological approach of every country leader in the situation. except in that last part I really think the united states would have shot first..

Nobody panics when things go "according to plan." Even if the plan is horrifying!

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

*sigh*. Live in Portland, your drivel is exactly sounds like the hipsters. When did it become fashionable to be dumb and anti-intelligence?

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

Indeed! This movie is completely nonsense.
How could she forgot the phone call to the Chinese general? Why only one woman in the entire world is able to see the future? What do the aliens left here after their visit? With all that technology they are not able to easily translate their thoughts to the Earth people?
The first thing to be considered when creating any sci-fi movie is logic. Without logic any script will be a disaster, like this one. I'm really surprised with the overall score at imdb (8+).

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

But all your questions have been answered in the film, and quite logically at that. For example:

She didn't forget the phone call, for her it was all happening at the same time.

She didn't see the future. After understanding the premise the alien language works on (which she was able to do because she was one of the best linguists in the world) she was also able to see existence the way aliens do. It's a known linguistic theory, discussed earlier in the film. In her case, that meant mentally stepping out of linear time. She wrote a book about it, which implies afterwards others had at least the possibility to learn as well. She was just the first one.

Nowhere there is implied this alien technology is advanced enough for them to just translate their thoughts to the Earth people. Just because they have a fancy space ship doesn't mean they own a Babel fish. Furthermore, it is essential for Earthlings to learn the alien language so we can help them when they need us.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu


This movie has a plot which makes no sense unless you transfer to the world of Harry Potter and allow magic. Even if the nonsensical ability to see the future by thinking differently was possible, the consequences in the movie are silly - just ONE woman appears to have the ability, never mind that the the biggest event in the history of human civilization has just occurred with ALIENS VISITING, no, never mind all that, the lady goes back to a standard life, gets married and has a baby even though she knows it will die of a rare disease before adulthood.


Well said!

You summed it all up.




Retard... Pussy... Sinister_prig

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

To the O.P., I agree. As best I can tell this story is more in the Harry Potter vein (Magic) than real science fiction. Logically it doesn't compute, but tries to disguise it with mumbo jumbo plotting. Anyone with a science background would be bored silly. (But I like Amy Adams, so I guess I'll see it for her)

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu


But I like Amy Adams, so I guess I'll see it for her


So you haven't seen it yet?

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

I read a highly detailed breakdown of the story.

Re: Why did a movie that makes no sense get such praise, are critics stu

OP apparently did not grasp certain things about this movie that shares a lot with Slaughter House Five. Because you did not grasp the POV on time or appreciate the non-linear narrative does not mean the movie is stupid or politically correct.
Your post speaks more about your intolerance to other points of view and demand that everyone thinks or looks at the world the same as you.

I don't think this movie is a masterpiece but it hits most of the marks it needed to for the points it was trying to make.
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