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The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

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The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Old 01-10-14, 12:07 PM
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The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Having just watched Delicatessen I wanted to see if Jeunet had any new projects in the horizon and it appears that he does! The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet says it was released in Oct 2013 but that's obviously Europe, because I don't remember it being released here. It's also Jeunet's second feature film in English. His first feature in English was Alien Resurrection.

As usual, the visual aesthetic looks great and the children are the heroes. I believe it was also shot in 3-D. I'm there opening day.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/PqDjJ3P5YME" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Old 01-10-14, 12:15 PM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

I'm game whatever Jeunet does.
Old 01-10-14, 12:29 PM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Yes, absolutely. I actually still need to see A Very Long Engagement.
Old 01-10-14, 12:33 PM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Originally Posted by Supermallet
Yes, absolutely. I actually still need to see A Very Long Engagement.
Yes, you do. I had to import the BD of that one.
Old 01-10-14, 12:38 PM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Omfg. I love A Very Long Engagement. WB needs to give us a BD of this.
Old 01-10-14, 12:41 PM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Originally Posted by Solid Snake
Omfg. I love A Very Long Engagement. WB needs to give us a BD of this.
I'm waiting for City of Lost Children on Blu-ray. That's still unreleased on BD everywhere. I have the UK DVD import, because that one has their short film (in black and white) called "The Bunker of the Last Gunshots."
Old 01-10-14, 12:55 PM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Very Long Engagement is one of the few movies I upgraded from SD to HDX on Vudu during their promotion. Good stuff.
Old 08-14-14, 11:38 AM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Looks like I'll be seeing this on September 18th!
Old 09-19-14, 12:11 AM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

So this... Wasn't good.
Beautiful cinematography. No question there.

It made me laugh a few times, but was ultimately boring.

Skip it.
Old 09-19-14, 10:26 AM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

You wanna tell us more?
Old 09-22-14, 10:34 AM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Not much to say, really.
It's a road trip movie where the road trip doesn't start until about half way through.
There's an early dramatic moment that happens in an instant, then goes completely un-addressed for most of the film until suddenly it's convenient to talk about it in the most inconvenient setting.
The child actors are... well, I can't really fault them for their performances, per se. But T.S. Spivet does not come off as smart as he is supposed to be. Instead, when he rambles on about science (a rarity in the movie, considering it's all about how smart/calculating he his), he comes off as just speaking the words but not actually understanding them in the slightest.
It felt like none of the adult actors took their roles seriously. At all.
It positions itself as a family-friendly story, then drops 3 or 4 FUCKS at the end for no apparent reason (maybe a silly complaint, since it's all done in the name of humour, but it just felt grossly out of place in a film like this)
Some scenes are needlessly long and don't progress the story at all.
Speaking of progress, there's literally no character progression in the entire story. At the end, everyone is exactly the same as they were at the start. All except:
Spoiler:
the dead twin brother

In a movie about family and discovery and all that heart-warming stuff, a little bit of change, especially in the adults, is the least you should expect.

In short, I don't think Jeunet knew what he wanted this film to be. Nearly every frame is gorgeous, no doubt, and in a way, it might be worth watching, just for that fact alone. But the story, acting, pacing, and tone are all out of whack.

In my not-so-expert opinion, of course.

Last edited by Dan; 09-22-14 at 11:35 AM.
Old 01-15-16, 04:51 PM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

I imported the French 5-disc version and it says it's region B but I popped it into my PS4 and it plays fine in full HD and lossless sound and the subtitles are not forced I cannot speak about the supplements, because I have not gotten there yet. For those that may be on the fence about this purchase - 'tis region free, yo.


EDIT - I should clarify and say that the 2-D version is region free. I'm guessing the 3-D version will be locked. FYI

Last edited by Why So Blu?; 01-15-16 at 05:59 PM.
Old 01-15-16, 06:14 PM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Over on HTF and bluray.com the talk is the movie is made to be seen in 3D and without that addition the movie is rather ordinary.
Old 01-15-16, 09:48 PM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Originally Posted by whotony
Over on HTF and bluray.com the talk is the movie is made to be seen in 3D and without that addition the movie is rather ordinary.

Hardly. It was awesome. It deservedly won the Cesar (French Oscars) for Cinematography.
Old 01-17-16, 02:28 PM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Beautiful cinematography, yes. But everything else (everything) was fucking terrible.
Old 01-27-16, 07:57 PM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

I'll throw my two cents in here since I just watched the HK 3D bluray: yes, the cinematography and the 3D photography is great; and I really didn't take such offense to Jeunet's other "flaws"
Old 08-19-16, 11:00 PM
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Re: The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014?) (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Just saw this in 2D and thought it was fantastic. Equal parts sad and winsome combined in a way that Jeunet seems to do best.

Last edited by TheAllPurposeNothing; 08-19-16 at 11:07 PM.

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