James Franco and Danny Boyle collide in 127 Hours, another best of 2010. Franco uses every frame (which is nearly all of them) he has on screen as his own perfectly and is able to transform himself into Aron Ralston. Sometimes a second take is needed to realize Franco is playing the role and for an actor to break that wall is fantastic. The scenario definitely keeps its scare the entire time, and the struggle to survive is presented much better here than it is in many other films. Boyle's direction is spot on and is much stronger than Slumdog Millionaire. AR Rahman's score is fantastic and shouldn't be looked over come Oscar time as it's tone, along with usage of some popular music, keeps the film rolling where scenes could of dragged. Franco should get a nomination for his work and hopefully this role will bring him more into the drama department because he shows he has the chops for both drama and comedy. The scene leading to Ralston's escape is fine enough to watch but still gives a bit of uneasiness. The film does reach the heart a lot and the last few minutes are particularly touching. Another sure-fire hit. ****

Magnus fails again.

I can see Magnus' point of view here. The film really doesn't say much about Ralston's life outside of a couple family and girlfriend flashbacks. So I can see if someone couldn't connect to him. However, I still felt that I could connect with him well.

jmovies is the most static poster ever.

No, that would be you. He's just statically dull.

It finally came out here. Went to check it out. Will be going again.

It was fantastic. Thought it portrayed his life very well, thought it kept a great pace, and it was exceptionally well acted. James Franco can do it all!

And the arm breaking/cutting scene was shorter than expected... but seemed much longer due to the moment of it.

****/**** A+

It was a Saturday in late April. Aron Ralston, an engineer and canyoneering/climbing enthusiast, traveled to Robbers Roost, an area in southeastern Utah with treacherous terrain. Ralston, an über-confident lone wolf, told no one where he was going. Following a fall, he became trapped in Robbers Roost's maze of canyons, his right arm pinned under a boulder. Five agonizing days later, Ralston, dehydrated, exhausted, unable to dislodge the 800-pound boulder, and near death, chose to use a multitool's dull, small blade to amputate his arm. He survived and became an icon. He was interviewed on most major television shows and penned a bestselling memoir. Now Aron Ralston's imprisonment and escape by way of brutal sacrifice has been made into an exciting and uplifting film by one of the finest living directors, Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire).

As Ralston, James Franco gives a career-defining performance. He's shown significant comedic and dramatic prowess before, but never has he had a role this complex. He is the audience's emotional and physical guide. He has to capture Ralston's absent-minded, devil-may-care attitude in the first act, followed by his realization of the severe predicament he's in and his rebirth. It's an enormous challenge, one which Franco meets head-on. Ralston's real-life decision to film confessional videos and messages to his loved ones during the five-day period he was trapped is a gift to Franco; in these scenes, the actor plays braggadocio and denial giving way to despair, regret, and then resolve to perfection.

Though the film belongs, as it should, to Franco, an ensemble cast with several recognizable faces is also used well. They are often glimpsed in hallucinations and memories. Clémence Poésy (Fleur Delacour in the "Potter" franchise, as well as Colin Farrell's love interest in In Bruges) is most haunting as an ex-girlfriend Ralston regrets letting go.

Boyle's direction is, of course, top-notch. He is a director who seems to invest a great deal of passion, style, and thought into each project. He has also made nuanced and poignant films with harsh subjects, including heroin and, oh, raging zombies, and is therefore well suited to this frightening (true) material. With a pair of cinematographers, including the brilliant Anthony Dod Mantle (Dogville, The Last King of Scotland), the director is able to turn an immobile character in a limited space into a diverse, enthralling cinematic experience. Are his methods often over-the-top? Yes. There's even a shot from inside a water bottle. But Boyle's directorial decisions, no matter how outlandish, are never distracting, nor do they ever lapse into kitsch. They coalesce into a convincing, stylish whole. This is yet another example of Boyle ignoring the rules, refusing to "grow old" as a director, and finding new, quirky ways to tell a story. He also continues to prove he has fantastic taste in music. For example, Sigur Rós' nine-minute "Festival" is put to excellent use (the hairs on your arm will stand up).

This is one of the year's best films. There have been reports of people fainting during the amputation sequence. It indeed pulls no punches. Yet I didn't feel disgusted; this is not an Eli Roth film set in the desert, and the violence is not intended as low-brow horror. It is survival, a decision to live. It's beautiful and challenging, as is this film.

A

The psycho king meets the drama queen and they go a bouldering!

It's like the showy leading the showy. Blind. Amputee. Whatever...

Danny Boyle goes into overcompensation overdrive and takes this already overblown story into overdose.

The audience was squirming, and it wasn't with horror - - as we witness surely the most overrated scene in all of filmdom. Far from explicit, it barely registers as implied violence. Matter of fact, the implied violence in Boyle's debut Shallow Grave is far more intense. The 94 minute running time feels like 127 hours.

I can only imagine how this story would have been handled by Werner Herzog...

Plus, it's the second "Man in a Box" movie already this Fall!

(I rated Buried a 3 out of 5 on the "Man in a Box" movie grading scale and a 12 out of 5 overall.)

...and wouldn't ya know it?! 127 Hours turns out to be the loser in the autumn MIAB sweepstakes and merely rates a 1 out of 5 on the "Man in a Box" movie grading scale, and warrants an overall grade of:


2 out of 5.




(Keep your eyes peeled for 127 Hours to be headlining unintentional camp humor film festivals in the 2020's.)

((If you haven't seen this movie yet - - SAVE YOURSELF - - go see Touching The Void instead!!!))

"Implied Violence"?

Watch it again or wait for the DVD to come out - - very little is actually shown.

I did watch it again, and it was even harder to watch the 2nd time. They showed him breaking the 2nd bone in his arm. And showed him sawing away at the tissue, as well as cutting through the nerve.

that sounds awful.



lol

Boyle is amazing. Anyone who isn't feeling it is...I don't know, too old.

I'm not feeling it, and I dig the modern stylized editing of directors like Neveldine & Taylor and Tony Scott. It's certainly not a question of age - - I'm plenty old, but I'm just not fooled by the ham-handed stylings of Danny Boyle. His career started hot and has been on a downward trajectory ever since - - each movie more déclassé than the one before.

The only camera work that I had a problem with was right before he fell and got trapped. Very odd.

It's only the first ten minutes or so where Boyle's unwelcome kinetic style overpowers the film and feels very oppressive, although it's never as bad as it was in slumdog. Once Ralston is trapped Boyle still uses a lot of various techniques but in a clastrophobic environment they are much more restrained and watchable. The various multi-frame's, tilt shots, flashbacks, extreme close up's of urine, are occasionally grating but flow amazingly well considering what he's doing with the camera. Even more shocking is that despite Boyle's swagger behind the camera the film came off as a sincere, honest, simplistic illustration of the story. Franco's performance is absorbing and effective, although I generally prefered Eisnberg in Social Network, less flashy of a role but better acting imo. On the whole it is not a master-work of art by any means, but it tells the story with honesty and managed to be thoroughly engaging for most of it. Something like 71/2/10or***orBor3.5/5

Also, Bradley is making even less sense here than usual. The mutilation scene was actually very direct and straight forward. The scene carries on for over a minute and shows several explicit shots of the muscle, arteries, and tendons as they are cut with a dull knife and pair of small scissors. It is certainly not saw like gore, which of course would be wretched, but it is far from subtle or implied. Btw, writing that sentence is easily the most I've ever agreed with BKB on this site.

Once again, I strongly urge you to wait for the cut-by-cut analyses that will turn up on the net once the DVD is released.

The scene is not a demonstration of the FX artist's craft, but rather that of the editor. The cuts that viewers are responding to are his. It is akin to Hitchcock's shower scene in Psycho (though obviously not in the same league) - - much is intimated, little is shown.

A film that is always good and occasionally excellent, 127 Hours is missing a bit of soul that makes it fall short of truly delivering a monumental impact. I thought it was a very well-done film that never quite manages to approach "greatness." While that applies to the film as a whole, it does not describe James Franco's exceptionally strong performance, no doubt the best thing about the movie. Franco is brilliant, commanding the camera's attention for the entire length of the film and coming across exactly like Aron Ralston (at least from what I've seen in interviews and such with him). Danny Boyle goes all out here again with the directorial style, and 127 Hours is certainly a fast-paced and exciting film. While I do wish I could have connected with it a bit more emotionally considering the nature of the story, Franco's performance ensures the film will be remembered. B+

It very nearly washed the taste of Slumdog Millionaire right out of my mouth.

And it is indeed this film's biggest problem. 4/10.