127 Hours: The answer is 85 minutes.
Photo: 127 Hours and other Oscar nominees in Lego by Alex Eylar.
127 Hours, directed by Danny Boyle, written by Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, based on Aron Ralston’s book, starring James Franco
1. You know exactly what everyone is thinking the minute they take their seats: When will he cut it off?
2. The second question is, How watchable is a movie that is 98 percent James Franco? The answer: Very. The movie doesn’t work unless you root for the guy and James Franco is nothing if not sympathetic.
3. There’s another movie about a guy in a horrible situation: Buried, starring Ryan Reynolds as a truck driver in Iraq whose convoy is attacked and who wakes up in a coffin buried in the sand. All he has is his cellphone and lighter. I also like Ryan Reynolds but did not see why I should root for him (Perhaps because it was dark in the coffin and one could not see the amazing abs that made people sit through that Amityville movie). After 20 minutes of Ryan’s frantic phone calls I tuned out and read a book.
4. Another movie I am reminded of: Kevin Macdonald’s excellent Touching the Void, also based on a true incident. Two guys try to climb Siula Grande in the Andes. One of them breaks his leg, and the other guy tries lowering him down the mountain on a rope, but things go very, very badly and when all looks hopeless the other guy decides to cut the rope (A decision that may have saved them both, though he was condemned in mountaineering circles for doing it). The injured guy falls into an abyss and, incredibly, manages to crawl back to camp.
The detail I remember the most is how a song he particularly hated kept playing in his head, and it strengthened his resolve because he could not die listening to that song. Touching the Void is even more intense than 127 Hours.
5. Important things we learned from 127 Hours:
(1) If you’re leaving for the wilderness, always tell someone where you’re going so someone can go looking for you if you don’t come back.
(2) Always bring your Swiss knife, not some crappy all-in-one tool knife made in China that you get free with a cheap flashlight.
(3) You may have your cellphone with you but when you really really need it can you get a signal?
(4) If you’re going to make a movie about people who don’t move much—junkies in a heroin stupor, a guy wedged into a canyon—hire Danny Boyle. He can make anything kinetic.
We’re giving away 127 Hours movie posters—the English version of this one.
Want a poster? Tell us what you would give up to get this poster. This takes some thought because face it, it’s just a poster, but you do want to win.
You have until Sunday.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
February 4th, 2011 at 04:02
hi jessica. the crappy knife actually saved his life:
The dull blade, he notes now, likely saved his life. “If I’d used the other one, I would have bled out too fast. This one allowed for clotting. The timing and circumstance of it all is really a miraculous thing,” adds Ralston.
from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/movies/in-127-hours-a-scene-that-cuts-to-the-bone-and-beyond/article1792336/page2/
February 4th, 2011 at 05:34
my husband.
February 4th, 2011 at 08:22
Kapag sinabi mong dapat manalo ng Best Actor si James Franco, paniniwalaan kita kahit pa na sa palagay ko’y mas magaling at nararapat sina Colin Firth at Jesse Eisenberg.
February 4th, 2011 at 09:17
lunch, and we’re going to Hap Chan later to celebrate CNY.
February 4th, 2011 at 10:57
i’d give up cityville. it’s already ruining my life.
February 4th, 2011 at 12:20
smoking..for about a week :)
February 4th, 2011 at 13:01
Wow! a DVD Region 5 poster. :))
Reminds me of my “suking” DVD vendor. :P
February 4th, 2011 at 14:53
I’ll give up my married boyfriend who gave my a swiss knife.
February 4th, 2011 at 14:54
*my = “me a”
February 4th, 2011 at 15:12
My dull Swiss knife, so I’ll also have an excuse to buy a new one.
February 4th, 2011 at 16:07
I’d give up bingeing on sweets every three hours.
February 4th, 2011 at 16:15
picture/pictures of my crush..
February 4th, 2011 at 16:44
My copy of The Essential Ellison.
February 4th, 2011 at 17:36
My virginity…to James Franco.
February 4th, 2011 at 20:14
The dark secrets of my bestfriend.
February 4th, 2011 at 21:04
This is the Russian poster of the movie! N i i i ce! Can I give up the chance of winning a 127 Hours poster (English version) to get this Russian version instead?
February 4th, 2011 at 21:52
my Facebook addiction
February 4th, 2011 at 23:04
I’ll eat six Krispy Kreme donuts. Won’t work out and gain back some of the fat and feel guilty for a week.
February 4th, 2011 at 23:32
85 minutes. Ehe-ehe-ehehehe
February 5th, 2011 at 00:15
Smoking, for 127 hours. And I am already doing that (nicotine-free for 160 hours now). I’ll add another 127 hours.
February 5th, 2011 at 05:26
I’ll give up an entire folder of James Franco pictures in my computer. :D
February 5th, 2011 at 11:50
my snooze time.
i’ll go to work early. for a week.
February 5th, 2011 at 12:54
I will give up following Neil Etheridge who is arriving 22:30 on Feb 5 at NAIA on Twitter for 127 hours.
(just had to put in the news, actually)
February 5th, 2011 at 15:27
My poster of the movie 300.
February 5th, 2011 at 18:17
my rambutan-size Berlin Wall rock! (my deepest apology to the thoughtful giver who is now in Germany!)
February 5th, 2011 at 18:30
One hundred twenty-seven nights of staring at James Franco photos in the Internet,
because I’d be staring at this poster instead.
February 7th, 2011 at 13:48
I will give up eating rice for maybe two days? (Please no more than that or I will slowly die!). Honestly, what is a meal without rice?!? But for the poster I will try.