Solaris

Rating:
Summary: Something wrong with Solaris
Review: Some may say it's an excelent art film, and that you only don't like it because you didn't or couldn't understand it's greatness and creativity givin that you have been exposed to so much hollywood "junk" that it is impossible for you to know the difference. Well that is not the case with Solaris.

Solaris jumps from prolonged boring dialog to moments of visual genious, that make the film watchable. Natascha McElhone is the saving grace of the film and the movie is always interesting when she is on screen, and George Clooney isn't bad either. It just seems like the question that the film seems to want to ask never really is answered. In the endyour left with a blaw feeling inside.

This is not an art film, and don't feel stupid if you don't like it. Your not unintelligent. Another reviewer used Vanilla Sky and Punck-Drunk-Love as examples of films like Solaris that are ignored by audiences because we are just to hollow as a culture to be able to appreciate great cinema when we see it. I often feel this way myself, but Vanilla Sky and Punch-Drunk-Love are good movies I liked then both a lot, because they succeeded in portreying the story they wanted to portrey, Solaris fails at all levels and does not portrey a good or convincing story. I would definitely describe Solaris as a 'renter'.

Rating:
Summary: Better off watching static instead
Review: So, I know that Steven Soderbergh is well-respected. Let's just saw that this is not his best work. It was horribly slow moving -- too much time watching characters not do anything, too much time spent focusing on the planet the spaceship is orbiting. No time explaining anything -- how does the dead wife come back? Why does the Clooney character kill her? Why does drinking liquid oxygen burn the face? What happened to the security forces? Can the laws of physics really fly out the window? ("The planet's mass has been increasing exponentially.")

This isn't even one to catch on video, unless you have it on fast-forward.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Film
Review: Joseph Campbell once said, "If you ask an artist what his painting means; if he wants to insult you, he'll tell you."

This film is wonderful mind trip. My friend and I talked for hours about this movie afterwards, and are still tying break apart what we thought it meant.

I agree with most reviewers, that this should have been an Art House release, to lower people's expectations. This is not a popcorn movie. This is much more a film for the "Pi", "Brazil", "2001" kind of crowed who enjoy a thinking movie. For people who want to interact with their entertainment, rather than be passively entertained. If you like things spelled out for you and answers handed to you on a plate, there's nothing wrong with that; but this movie is NOT for you.

I can't wait to go back and watch the original and read the book!
In fact, I can't wait to go see this movie again!

Rating:
Summary: Adequate Hollywood Adaptation of Literary Masterpiece
Review: This certainly is not going to be a definitive adaptation of Lem's book. A lot is cut out, including all the political ramifications and many of the memorable details (a half-naked aboroginal dancer in a grass skirt running through the space station, Rheya's having a dress with no seems, for example,) and there are plot changes towards the end. However it's an entertaining movie that keeps the philosophical-spiritual-metaphysical musings alive and stresses the romantic element nicely. It doesn't require as much thought as the book, but it, at least, doesn't actively try to prevent you from thinking as so much Hollywood fare does. Soderbergh shows a real appreciation for the text and doesn't insult it. And the film is much more entertaining than Tarkovsky's version which made me feel like I was living through a Stalinist five year plan. Clooney is likeable as the hero, but he doesn't portray the clinical detachment which his character, a professional psychologist, had in the book.

Rating:
Summary: well....it was OK
Review: George Clooney does give a nice performance of the film a fine mix of tragedy, apathy, and passion. But most of this film is just people staring blankly into empty space and Tarkovsky's verson does have a lot more meaning. I'm no fan of the music and the visuals made my head spin after a time. All in all much better then the God awful Full Frontal of this summer but still nothing more than OK on a basic scale

Rating:
Summary: URANUS
Review: This movie was not all that good. What pains me the most is that they never thought to move the space station away from the planet to see if that made the 'things' disappear. If I was the Clooney character that would be the first thing I'd do!

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing mood piece
Review: Since nobody had the wherewithal or wisdom to re-release "2001" in the actual year 2001, a remake of Andrei Tarkovsky's comparable "Solaris" in 2002 would seem the next best thing. Like those two earlier films, Steven Soderbergh's latest work is something of an "art" science fiction film, far more concerned with philosophy and theme than with action and suspense. This may make the film a tough slog for modern day audiences who have been conditioned to be jolted out of their seats every five minutes while watching films of this genre. But for the deeper thinkers among us, "Solaris" offers a fairly intriguing sci-fi vision of the afterlife, a sort of new religious paradigm for the twenty-first century.

George Clooney stars as Chris Kelvin, a successful psychiatrist whose mentally ill wife - ironically enough, given his profession - killed herself a few years back. Chris is commissioned to travel to a space station orbiting the planet Solaris after strange things begin happening to the crew aboard the ship. It turns out that dead loved ones have started appearing to the people there, leading a number of the crewmembers to descend into madness and, in the worst cases, even commit suicide. It's not long before Chris' own dead wife, Rheya, arrives on the scene, prompting him to question whether she is real, a replica created for an unknown reason by the forces of the mysterious planet, or merely a figment of his own troubled conscience and imagination. The film taps into that desire we all have of somehow being miraculously reunited with a deceased love one. We can't help but be moved by Chris' intense desire to believe that all that is happening is real and that life with this person could indeed start back up where it left off. Clooney does a beautiful job conveying the inner struggle between the grieving husband who wants to reconnect emotionally with this strangely familiar woman whom he had thought forever lost to him and the rationalistic scientist who suspects that both she and their relationship are illusory and ephemeral. The film itself may be glacially paced, but the tension created by the situation pulls us through. Natascha McElhone brings an ethereal beauty to the role of the dead wife, and we are moved by her own confusion as to whether she is really this woman Rheya or merely some fabrication usurping the memories and feelings of someone long gone from the scene. Clooney and McElhone generate a strong romantic chemistry between them, both in the scenes aboard the ship and in the manifold flashbacks the storytellers use to reveal their relationship back on Earth. Viola Davis gives an intense performance as Helen Gordon, the rationalist of the group who tries to convince Chris that he must overcome his feelings and destroy this facsimile of Rheya or risk bringing potential destruction to the people back home.

"Solaris" has been shot in the widest screen ratio I have seen in years. It almost feels like one of those old Cinerama pictures from the 1950's and 1960's, which is surprising actually, given the fact that, for all its outer space trappings, the film is really an intimate, personal drama in quality and scale (if you rent this on video, do NOT opt for the "full screen" treatment; rather, make sure it is in the letterboxed format). Also, the set design and special effects are actually rather understated for a modern science fiction film - as is everything about "Solaris" in fact. Like "2001," "Solaris" is filled with images and concepts whose significance and meaning aren't always readily apparent or easily spelled out for the audience. Just be forewarned that the film is more along the lines of a tone poem than a rip-roaring action adventure tale.

"Solaris" isn't a great film and I can certainly see why many people, expecting something different, might find themselves becoming restive and bored by it. For me, the film managed to seep under my skin and kept me interested most of the time. This is definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but for those with patience and an appreciation for something a little different, "Solaris" has its share of rewards.

Rating:
Summary: flawless
Review: this movie alone has the ability to separate the mainstream sci-fi fans from the real sci-fi followers. solaris (whether the original, or the new one) is what real science fiction is all about. this is hardcore, this is original, this is brilliantly captured synthetic love in its purest form. clooney does a great job with a difficult role and the photography is amazing. this is something you want to see on the big screen before its too late. and it probably won't be in theatres very long because most people lack the appreciation and mind capacity to comprehend such a film. this is non-mainstream, this is contradiction and it has succeeded in every way.

Rating:
Summary: A Movie to Savor -- I Can't Get "Solaris" Out of My Head
Review: While "Solaris" isn't a perfect movie and certainly isn't for everyone, it heartens me to see that a movie like it could come out of Hollywood and I'm very, very glad that I saw it in a theatre.

If you're sci-fi tastes skew towards aliens and space battles don't see this movie. "Solaris" really isn't a sci-fi movie at all. Nor is it really a love story, as it has been marketed. I'm not really sure how it would be categorized -- the only thing that comes to mind is that it Twilight Zone-ish in that it is concerned with the ways that people act when subject to remarkable circumstances.

Both Clooney and McElhone are wonderful as is the photography and score. If you're patient and don't mind a movie leaving some dots for you to connect (in contrast to the, imho, horrendously overdone "Minority Report") I think that you'll love "Solaris".

Rating:
Summary: Different but enjoyable
Review: I went to the movie with my dad (I am only 17). However, I really enjoyed the deep symbolic themes in the film. I wasn't sure what to think at first but upon recognizing the questions the movie was asking i was able to sit back and really soak in the genius of the movie.

I specifically enjoyed the parrallel with the Sistine Chapel toward the end. I hesitate to say when without spoaling part of the film. But, they flipped the roles, God was young, the human was old.(look for it ;P)

Overall it was plesant and gave many conversation topics on the way home!