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The Walk (2015, D: Zemeckis) S: Joseph Gordon-Levitt --- Philippe Petit biopic

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Old 10-03-15, 10:48 PM
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Re: The Walk (2015, D: Zemekis) S: Joseph Gordon-Levitt --- Philippe Petit biopic

Saw this tonight. I liked it. Despite the awful wig, creepy blue contacts, and cartoonish French accent, I thought JGL was great.

The walk itself was intense. I got butterflies in my stomach and was gripping my arm rests at times. When he
Spoiler:
lays down on the wire
I almost had to look away. I never thought myself as being afraid of heights, but maybe I am? ha.
Old 10-04-15, 02:04 AM
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Re: The Walk (2015, D: Zemekis) S: Joseph Gordon-Levitt --- Philippe Petit biopic

Originally Posted by Osiris3657
Still think JGL looks really weird and distracting with the blue eyes (just like Depp in Black Mass), but I'll watch this.
Much like Maria Bello in "World Trade Center". Just way too much. Leave the eyes alone!


Old 10-04-15, 08:33 AM
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Re: The Walk (2015, D: Zemekis) S: Joseph Gordon-Levitt --- Philippe Petit biopic

Originally Posted by Osiris3657
Saw this tonight. I liked it. Despite the awful wig, creepy blue contacts, and cartoonish French accent, I thought JGL was great.

The walk itself was intense. I got butterflies in my stomach and was gripping my arm rests at times. When he
Spoiler:
lays down on the wire
I almost had to look away. I never thought myself as being afraid of heights, but maybe I am? ha.
Was this a spoiler? That picture was in the paper the other morning. Wouldn't be the first time they put something like that out there.

Originally Posted by Daytripper
Much like Maria Bello in "World Trade Center". Just way too much. Leave the eyes alone!


All the better for her to stare at your lower abs while you study the part in her hair.

Actually I agree. Some of the scenes in WTC were distracting because of that.
Old 10-12-15, 09:06 PM
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Re: The Walk (2015, D: Zemekis) S: Joseph Gordon-Levitt --- Philippe Petit biopic

Saw this tonight. It's an incredible story, but not a particularly good film. Man On Wire is much better if for no other reason than you get the real Phillipe Petit instead of JGL's awkward facsimile. I don't know if it's just that the real Petit is such an unbelievable, larger than life character, but it never felt like JGL was doing anything more than a goofy impression. It also doesn't help that the script is really weak. Just about everything that comes before the actual act feels like filler. The characters are barely fleshed out (even Petit) and it tries to affect this zany, almost cartoon like, tone but never quite works. It's a shame, because as I already mentioned, it's an incredible story.

I will say that if you're going to see it, you should see it the way it's meant to be in seen and that's in a theater and in 3D. The last 30 minutes are pretty fun even if the tightrope sequence didn't wow me the way I hoped it would. The first time he goes up to the top of the tower to stake it out I was shaking in my seat as he approached the edge, but after that it was sort of diminishing returns. The overly digital look was probably a big part of that.
Old 10-13-15, 09:32 AM
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Re: The Walk (2015, D: Zemekis) S: Joseph Gordon-Levitt --- Philippe Petit biopic

Originally Posted by Mabuse
The story is solid. It's an amazing feat and any film about the subject should be good. But I think I have reservations about Zemekis' choice of how to visualize the film. New York of the early '70s was a gritty place. The documentary and the excellent book of still photos that I've seen of the walk reflect a grainy and monochromatic look. Zemekis appears to have made a very colorful, bright, sharp film. The real event was gray sky, gray buildings, black wire. No glorious sunsets or vibrant color palate. In my opinion the film should look like The French Connection not Gravity. All this super sharp photography and limitless untethered camera work doesn't seem to me to be the correct way to photograph a period film about 1974.
Originally Posted by rocket1312
Saw this tonight. It's an incredible story, but not a particularly good film. Man On Wire is much better if for no other reason than you get the real Phillipe Petit instead of JGL's awkward facsimile. I don't know if it's just that the real Petit is such an unbelievable, larger than life character, but it never felt like JGL was doing anything more than a goofy impression. It also doesn't help that the script is really weak. Just about everything that comes before the actual act feels like filler. The characters are barely fleshed out (even Petit) and it tries to affect this zany, almost cartoon like, tone but never quite works. It's a shame, because as I already mentioned, it's an incredible story.

I will say that if you're going to see it, you should see it the way it's meant to be in seen and that's in a theater and in 3D. The last 30 minutes are pretty fun even if the tightrope sequence didn't wow me the way I hoped it would. The first time he goes up to the top of the tower to stake it out I was shaking in my seat as he approached the edge, but after that it was sort of diminishing returns. The overly digital look was probably a big part of that.
These pretty much sum up my overall feelings of the film.
Old 10-13-15, 09:42 AM
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Re: The Walk (2015, D: Zemekis) S: Joseph Gordon-Levitt --- Philippe Petit biopic

Apparently it's a massive flop:

From Box Office Guru:

Expanding out of IMAX and into theaters everywhere, The Walk hit a proverbial wall this weekend, taking in an estimated $3.7M for a dismal per screen average of $1,455. Critics loved the film but it seems no one wanted to go see it. Cume now stands at $6.4M.
Old 10-13-15, 10:13 AM
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Re: The Walk (2015, D: Zemekis) S: Joseph Gordon-Levitt --- Philippe Petit biopic

I saw it opening weekend, Saturday night at 7:00 at a large 20 screen theater. The lobby was packed with people. There were less than 10 people at the screening I saw. Hell, I think it may have been 5.
Old 10-13-15, 02:31 PM
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Re: The Walk (2015, D: Zemekis) S: Joseph Gordon-Levitt --- Philippe Petit biopic

This thing has several things going against it right off the bat.

In the trailer JGL doesn't make a very good Frenchman
Many people are queasy about the heights
Many people are queasy about seeing the Twin Towers

I'll rent it eventually but there is no way I'm going to spend money on this in the theater
Old 10-13-15, 02:47 PM
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Re: The Walk (2015, D: Zemekis) S: Joseph Gordon-Levitt --- Philippe Petit biopic

Originally Posted by JimRochester
This thing has several things going against it right off the bat.

In the trailer JGL doesn't make a very good Frenchman
Many people are queasy about the heights
Many people are queasy about seeing the Twin Towers

I'll rent it eventually but there is no way I'm going to spend money on this in the theater
I just don't find the story appealing/interesting enough to sit through a 90 minutes plus movie.
Old 10-13-15, 05:57 PM
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Re: The Walk (2015, D: Zemekis) S: Joseph Gordon-Levitt --- Philippe Petit biopic

Zemeckis makes it worth the money IMO - it's a fairytale and he presents it as such, it just happens to be true. If you go in knowing that, you'll have a lot more fun with it and the 3D was top notch.

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