Pyrotoad posted:

The Saddest Rhino posted:

The Saddest Rhino posted:

Pyrotoad posted:

Behold, I have brought you a man!

NieR Occomata posted:

The final minute of Soul is sort of ruinous in how badly it bobbles the ending.

The problem boils down to the fact that the entire thematic arc of the movie boils down to Joe realizing that the thing he had built his entire life around was this hollow, self-destructive and ultimately kind of quixotic quest to validate a life that was made around a singular goal, a singular focus that once he achieves he ultimately ends up rejecting. Further, he realizes that the people and things he has sacrificed at the altar of his own personal validation has made him into kind of a lovely dude and thus the final act of the film is him realizing that he, one, has to redeem himself, which he does, and to come to the realization that what he truly enjoyed being was a teacher and to lift up and validate others.

So then we come to the final minute of the film, where Joe has completed his redemption arc and is now more or less where he started, but with the knowledge that what actually intellectually satisfies and validates him is teaching and guiding others. The obvious conclusion to this is to turn Joe into one of the pre-life teachers or at least a mentor.

The problem with having that ending is that it backhandedly argues that suicide is, in fact, the solution to your problems, so they have to give Joe his life back because otherwise it has some Bad Implications. This despite the fact that giving Joe his life back sort of invalidates his redemption arc in the first place and as a ending to the movie as written doesn’t make any sense.

That’s the fundamental issue with Soul. It is a movie with an ending that doesn’t make logical, thematic, or narrative sense as written but is quite literally the only solution they could realistically go with that doesn’t end up subtextually arguing to commit suicide.

Owlofcreamcheese posted:

I feel like “I found my life’s calling! It was teaching instead!” Is exactly what I mean. They actually had a new moral (your life’s purpose isn’t one singular thing like a job, it’s liking and doing things, big and small) and everyone wish they ditched that and took the same moral everything else does.

Owlofcreamcheese posted:

I feel like “I found my life’s calling! It was teaching instead!” Is exactly what I mean. They actually had a new moral (your life’s purpose isn’t one singular thing like a job, it’s liking and doing things, big and small) and everyone wish they ditched that and took the same moral everything else does.

Ccs posted:

Okay I can buy that. Maybe the issue is it feels too generalized, too much of "just enjoy everything!" that it doesn't feel like its specific enough to the character.

The_Doctor posted:

The budget appears to have been about $45. Also the trailer covers the whole film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAKvQ8r_WPY

Owlofcreamcheese posted:

I think that is the moral though. People are told from birth that happiness comes from achieving a singular purpose. That the value of a soul is it's ability to find it's one true calling (and particularly to make money off it) and a soul is incomplete without that.

The moral of the movie is that actually that isn't anything, no one has a purpose, eating a good slice of pizza today can make you happy and you don't need to wait to be happy until you find your "spark". It even went out of it's way to show he really did have a literally transcendent ability with jazz, but it still wasn't his "purpose" and in fact showed people that chased that flow too much grew obsessed and became nonfunctional monsters, because it's just one part of a life to be good at something. Like there was the whole scene with the vet/barber. He wasn't "meant" to be a barber, he would still have rather been a vet, but it didn't happen and he made his peace and had found a new source of happiness and there was no calling about any of it, for either thing.

Owlofcreamcheese posted:

Like there was the whole scene with the vet/barber. He wasn't "meant" to be a barber, he would still have rather been a vet, but it didn't happen and he made his peace and had found a new source of happiness and there was no calling about any of it, for either thing.

The_Doctor posted:

The budget appears to have been about $45. Also the trailer covers the whole film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAKvQ8r_WPY

Maigius posted:

Those gorillas look like the turn of millennium crap ware mascot Bonsi Buddy.

Owlofcreamcheese posted:

The moral of the movie is that actually that isn't anything, no one has a purpose, eating a good slice of pizza today can make you happy and you don't need to wait to be happy until you find your "spark". It even went out of it's way to show he really did have a literally transcendent ability with jazz, but it still wasn't his "purpose" and in fact showed people that chased that flow too much grew obsessed and became nonfunctional monsters, because it's just one part of a life to be good at something. Like there was the whole scene with the vet/barber. He wasn't "meant" to be a barber, he would still have rather been a vet, but it didn't happen and he made his peace and had found a new source of happiness and there was no calling about any of it, for either thing.

perepelki posted:

i think i find bears sexier than big cats, but big cats are sexier than canines, to me. but sexiest of all is the elusive seal

Sivart13 posted:

I like this paragraph more than I like the ending presented in the movie. Maybe after some rewatchings I'll be able to appreciate it the way they intended.

Digamma-F-Wau posted:

https://twitter.com/HotelT/status/1380505781129338882
So Genndy's not directing the new film (undoubtedly too busy with Primal and Unicorn), though he is writing it. Instead it's being directed by Jennifer Kluska (who's storyboarded on the 2nd and 3rd films as well as some other Sony films, and served as a producer on the Lauren Faust DC Super Hero Girls series) and Derek Drymon (the guy who was 2nd-in-command on Hillenberg-era Spongebob; most of his film credits being storyboarding on various Dreamworks films)

Robindaybird posted:

I still maintain the whole Zing thing feels like a stupid, tacked on thing and has the nasty idea of 'oh you have ONE true love' when you know, Dracula having the realization that his overprotectiveness and prejudice had hurt and alienated his daughter would've been a more natural realization.

dennyk posted:

Yeah, I liked what I think the message in Soul was supposed to be; reminded me a lot of some of the philosophy of Alan Watts. I feel like the delivery didn't really hit the mark, though. Maybe they were going for a deliberate subversion by building up the whole traditional "it turns out Joe's true purpose was teaching/mentoring all along..." angle and then yanking the rug out with a "...nope, really life has no purpose at all, just enjoy it!" twist, but I think that makes that message seem somewhat confusing and a bit out of left field. The whole idea of life being ultimately purposeless, and of that purposelessness being a positive thing and spending your whole life focusing on figuring out what your "purpose" is to the exclusion of everything else being a negative thing, is a bit of a jarring one in modern society, and I feel like it the movie might have taken a little more time to explain and explore it in greater depth than it did.

perepelki posted:

i've hated the experience of every single thing adam sandler has ever done and yet i can't help liking him as a person

perepelki posted:

i've hated the experience of every single thing adam sandler has ever done and yet i can't help liking him as a person

The Saddest Rhino posted:

have you watched uncut gems?

The Saddest Rhino posted:

have you watched uncut gems?

perepelki posted:

ok maybe i'll watch uncut gems

Space Cadet Omoly posted:

That's fine, someone making bad art doesn't mean they're a bad person. Just like how someone making good art doesn't mean they're a good person. Adam Sandler is just some guy, he'd probably be fun to chat with at a party and he takes good care of his friends. And I'm honest enough with myself to admit if I could get paid to go on vacation in exchange for making a bad movie I would absolutely do that.

That said...


Uncut Gems was a fantastic movie. I strongly recommend watching it, but be warned that it's an intense and very stressful experience.

Punch Drunk Love, Funny People, and Uncut Gems are the films that prove Adam Sandler is 100% capable of being a serious actor, but he only choices to do so about once a decade.

His old snl skits are pretty good too.