Solaris remake...

[John]

I've been watching various horror movies on AMC (All Movies Censored) the past few days and they've been playing the commercial for the remake of Solaris quite a bit. Anyone seen it (the ad I mean)? If so, what did you think? I have the original on tape from when a channel aired it a few months ago, but I've never gotten around to watching it.

[jmc]

Apparently, the idea of it has those who love the film wailing and gnashing their teeth.  I've never seen the original but it's on a tape around here someplace.

James Cameron is involved in the remake, and that's not a good sign.

[Neville]

I'm not a fan of Soderbergh's work, but yet I have to admit he is one of the few mainstream film directors that still tries to experiment and learn with every new film.
With this I mean that I trust him and that I'll probably end up watching the movie.

About the original, I watched it years ago and I found really interesting, but the tempo was a bit slow for me (was a teenager back then) and the ending was sort of a let down.

[jmc]

Yeah, that's why this RING remake doesn't bother me that much.  The original was really, really slow and speeding things up a bit might make for a better film.
I haven't seen it yet, though.  

Anyone see Soderbergh's newest?

[Cool Tester]

I read the book several months ago (written by polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem).  I knew they were going to a movie, and for the life of me I can't figure out how this could be made into a movie.  It's a very philosophical book, dealing with issues of humanity and our desire to think of the universe in human terms.  I loved the book, but I wonder how much of it they will put in the movie.  Both James Cameron and Steven Soderberg (sp?) have stated they loved the book, so we'll see.

I thought it was odd that the recent trailers on AMC showed only the romance side of the story, and known of the SF parts (the planet Solaris plays a significant role, though it remains very mysterious throughout).  All in all, I am looking forward to this, even if it has George Clooney.  Hope he doesn't start doing that funky head-bob of his (that always irritated me).

[Gerry]

Cool Tester wrote:
>
> I read the book several months ago (written by polish science
> fiction writer Stanislaw Lem).  

Just finished reading it myself (yesterday in fact) and I think that Tarkovsky did a very good job of capturing the philosophical aspects of the novel (and the result is a VERY slow, but intriguing film).  Where Tarkovsky failed was in giving us a good representation of the overwhelming PRESENCE of the ocean.  This is largely due to the limited special effects at  his disposal.

I'll be interesting to see what this new version does with the story.  We now have the special effects capability to do justice to Lem's vision of Solaris the planet-ocean, but the big question is: will the story and the philosophical elements be sacrificed for the sake of sensationalism?

I'm very interested to see what Soderberg does with it, but I'm not very optimistic I'm afraid.  I think it's poorly cast (if Clooney shows up wearing a suit with rubber nipples, I'm outta there like a bat outta hell) to begin with, but who knows, they could surprise me.

[yaddo42]

I'm apprehensive about the remake, but am willing to give it a shot. I like most of Soderbergh's work. Clooney is capable of good work with decent material.  At least it's science fiction based on good source material, so rare in these days of effects driven movies. Then again so was "Starship Troopers" and look what they did to that.

Part of the website: www.solaristhemovie.com , is up now. I looked around the other day, and what little I saw of the sets and costumes looked intriguing. The music on the site seemed appropriate and creepy.

[John]

>I thought it was odd that the recent trailers on AMC showed only the romance
>side of the story, and known of the SF parts

Maybe they're actually trying to preserve some of the surprises for the audience. Of course that will probably be ruined by the time the movie finally opens.