The movie 'Solaris' (new version) has me utterly perplexed

[WilliamPitt]

That was like sitting through two hours of someone else's confused state of mind. What am I missing? Is this confirmation that I am, indeed, totally shallow? Or did this film actually bite?

[Alenne]

1. It was awful

My husband got it because he thought George Clooney is in it so it can't be that bad. Well he was wrong and I told him never to use that logic again.

It had so much potential.

[WilliamPitt]

2. OK, so one vote for 'Sucked.'

Two, if you count my vote.

[jonnyblitz]

9. i am the opposite with Clooney. If he is in it I assume it will suck. n/t

[lifeform]

3. Here's a review that may help

http://www.amazing-colossal.com/solaris.html

[WilliamPitt]

5. OK, that does help

I guess I'll have to watch it again.

[Euphen]

17. Here's a better one.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/dec2002/sola-d05.shtml

[ilpostino]

4. You sure it was the new version?

I ordered it from Netflix and mistakenly got the old version. Hoooooyah! One of the worst movies ever. I rarely shut down a movie before the end because I usually do a pretty good job of scouting them out beforehand, but this was the definition of ponderous. I guess I won't be ordering the new one either.

[WilliamPitt]

7. Well, I saw George Clooney's ass a few times

Kind of a giveaway.

[annagull]

6. The original was better

The Russian answer to 2001, and very nearly as memorable a movie. The legendary Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky made this extremely deliberate science-fiction epic, an adaptation of a novel by Stanislaw Lem. The story follows a cosmonaut (Donatas Banionis) on an eerie trip to a planet where haunting memories can take physical form. Its bare outline makes it sound like a routine space-flight picture, an elongated Twilight Zone episode; but the further into its mysteries we travel, the less familiar anything seems. Even though Tarkovsky's meanings and methods are sometimes mystifying, Solaris has a way of crawling inside your head, especially given the slow pace and general lack of forward momentum. By the time the final images cross the screen, Tarkovsky has gone way beyond SF conventions into a moving, unsettling vision of memory and home. Well worthy of cult status, Solaris is both challenging art-house fare and a whacked-out head trip. --Robert Horton -
I haven't seen the clooney one, but without Tarkovsky directing I doubt it was that good.

[ilpostino]

15. Not in the same breath, please

I've seen 2001 about a hundred times. I own it. I love it. The two films provide an interesting study in how the same approaach to filmmaking can be art in one director's hands and WMD in the anothers. As just one for instance, when that interminable commuting scene was over in Solaris, I had to get up for a coffee and stretch my legs. I thought I'd just driven from Hartford to Boston.

[Jalixm]

8. Doesn't hold a candle

to Tarkovskys original. It just doesn't seem like theres any justification for remaking a classic film with better known but much less talented actors and cutting its length in half. Bloated and stupid.

[nuxvomica]

10. I thought some of it was pretty good

It's very low key but I don't mind that. Only thing I didn't like was the obnoxious nervous guy with the beard. I almost turned it off a couple of times while that guy was speaking.

[imhotep]

11. well

It requires the audience to think and question matters of existentialism. As with most philosophical movies, it doesn't answer the questions it asks. What are we looking for as humans, or individuals? What is real? What is the purpose of love?
I thought it was as good as 2001. A work of art.

[Maine Mary]

12. You, Shallow?

Holy Cow. That film must have some sort of weird hex on it for you to even think that. wtf? Who ever ultimately gets to peel away your layers is a very lucky woman.

[DS1]

13. I'm going to try it soon

I was considering it in the video store as a thinker, and the dude working the register was telling someone else how much it sucked. But then as I was walking out, he started saying how much he loved xXx and Tears of the Sun (garbage, besides Monica Belluci's heaving breasts), so his opinion was immediately considered moot.

[Cha]

14. I thought it bit and I pretty much love George Clooney for

his mind!

[Paragon]

16. I loved it

Bought it on DVD first day it came out. A honest, amazing love story.

The 2001 comparison seems obvious, but it is apt. People HATED 2001 when it came out, but now it's a classic.