127 Hours

[marsupial]

I watched this movie over the weekend. Rather than writing a long review, I will say a hearty "amen" to MarkGrace's excellent review earlier in this thread. An intense, disturbing, and yet tremendously inspiring and moving film. Loved it.

A few interesting tidbits:

- Early in the film, Ralston is driving from Colorado to Southern Utah. For some reason they showed a clip of the big white windmills at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon. Huh?

- The scene with the two girls diving into the underground pool with beautiful clear water and nice back-lighting was silly Hollywood fluff and did not happen in the real story. It was filmed at the Crater in Midway.

- I recognized all of the signs and landmarks on the drive in to the trailhead. Beautiful country and one my favorite spots in Utah.

- As he was hiking in through Blue John canyon I kept thinking to myself how familiar it looked even though I have not done Blue John yet. Then I was doing a little research after watching the movie and learned that most of the filming was done in Leprechaun Canyon south of Hanksville. Coincidentally, our family did Leprechaun Canyon last October. One of my favorite canyons.

We watched it this weekend too. I didn't pay attention to those details, as I am not familiar with the area, but his story is amazing. And I thought I was tough when I pierced my own ears.

I would have surely died... No, I take that back. I never would have gone by myself without telling anyone where I was.

[woot]

I watched this movie over the weekend. Rather than writing a long review, I will say a hearty "amen" to MarkGrace's excellent review earlier in this thread. An intense, disturbing, and yet tremendously inspiring and moving film. Loved it.

A few interesting tidbits:

- Early in the film, Ralston is driving from Colorado to Southern Utah. For some reason they showed a clip of the big white windmills at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon. Huh?

- The scene with the two girls diving into the underground pool with beautiful clear water and nice back-lighting was silly Hollywood fluff and did not happen in the real story. It was filmed at the Crater in Midway.

- I recognized all of the signs and landmarks on the drive in to the trailhead. Beautiful country and one my favorite spots in Utah.

- As he was hiking in through Blue John canyon I kept thinking to myself how familiar it looked even though I have not done Blue John yet. Then I was doing a little research after watching the movie and learned that most of the filming was done in Leprechaun Canyon south of Hanksville. Coincidentally, our family did Leprechaun Canyon last October. One of my favorite canyons.

I'm not sure of the geography, but Blue John was the second or third stop for him on that trip, so it's possible they included a bit about those previous stops. Unlikely, I guess.

Since it seems I didn't post about it in this particular thread, I'll just note that this movie is the one I'm championing from 2010. It should have gotten way more pub than it did.

[marsupial]

I'm not sure of the geography, but Blue John was the second or third stop for him on that trip, so it's possible they included a bit about those previous stops. Unlikely, I guess.

Since it seems I didn't post about it in this particular thread, I'll just note that this movie is the one I'm championing from 2010. It should have gotten way more pub than it did.

It was in theaters here maybe 2 weeks. We got a sitter to see it, canceled at the last minute because a kid got sick, went the next weekend and it was gone. Did it make very much money? And I liked it better than The King's Speech.

[woot]

It was in theaters here maybe 2 weeks. We got a sitter to see it, canceled at the last minute because a kid got sick, went the next weekend and it was gone. Did it make very much money? And I liked it better than The King's Speech.

I assume it was profitable, but yeah I don't think it made a bunch. I also really liked The King's Speech and Social Network, but those movies got plenty of publicity (too much, in the case of the former). It's a shame when such a great movie is seen by so few people.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I'm not sure of the geography, but Blue John was the second or third stop for him on that trip, so it's possible they included a bit about those previous stops. Unlikely, I guess.

No. He did meet the two girls that day, but there is no underground pool in the area. They just made that up for dramatic effect.

[woot]

No. He did meet the two girls that day, but there is no underground pool in the area. They just made that up for dramatic effect.

Yeah I was talking about the bad geography on the drive there. The pool was indeed made up.

[BoylenOver]

Finally watched this. Awesome. James Franco was fantastic, and now that I've seen three Danny Boyle movies (Slumdog and Millions as well), it's cool to get a feel for his storytelling.

The lone complaint I have: the text at the very end of the film was impossible to read. The shots of Ralston swimming and hiking mountains were nice, but damn, I wanted to see what they put up there.

[Hsaru]

Danny Boyle's best two movies are Trainspotting and 28 Days Later by a long shot, should check those out.

[RobinFinderson]

Danny Boyle's best two movies are Trainspotting and 28 Days Later by a long shot, should check those out.

I couldn't agree more. Danny Boyle continues to make very competent and entertaining movies, but it is a shame that he may very well never top those two films.

[ERCougar]

Last night, I went to the premiere of "Gorging", a documentary on the history of canyoneering. Gorging was what the original climbers who started exploring the slots in the 70s called it. Our local guru, Rich Carlson (ACA president), plays pretty prominently through the film. Rich is a great guy and comes across as the most normal of the old time canyoneers--by a long shot.

An interesting idea (that I'm not sure completely worked) that the filmmaker did is follow a guy (yeah, random guy--it was a little weird) through as he learns the sport, paralleling the history of the sport as it developed. He's pretty rough at first, but gets better as the film progresses, and at the end does a 4A X canyon (X meaning potentially life-threatening) called Don't Do It Canyon. Involved a section where he stemmed a canyon for 4.5 hours straight. Ten minutes of stemming is a workout--I can't even imagine 4.5 hours. And the whole time, I'm thinking, what about the cameraman? Someone asked in a Q&A afterwards and the filmmaker replied it was him, and he got an applause for it. And no GoPro stuff either--real camera, hanging from his neck. Pretty amazing.

Lots of great footage, some familiar, some not, including some fun old photos. Worth a watch if it comes near you.

http://gorgingmovie.com/

[Green Lantern]

Last night, I went to the premiere of "Gorging", a documentary on the history of canyoneering. Gorging was what the original climbers who started exploring the slots in the 70s called it. Our local guru, Rich Carlson (ACA president), plays pretty prominently through the film. Rich is a great guy and comes across as the most normal of the old time canyoneers--by a long shot.

An interesting idea (that I'm not sure completely worked) that the filmmaker did is follow a guy (yeah, random guy--it was a little weird) through as he learns the sport, paralleling the history of the sport as it developed. He's pretty rough at first, but gets better as the film progresses, and at the end does a 4A X canyon (X meaning potentially life-threatening) called Don't Do It Canyon. Involved a section where he stemmed a canyon for 4.5 hours straight. Ten minutes of stemming is a workout--I can't even imagine 4.5 hours. And the whole time, I'm thinking, what about the cameraman? Someone asked in a Q&A afterwards and the filmmaker replied it was him, and he got an applause for it. And no GoPro stuff either--real camera, hanging from his neck. Pretty amazing.

Lots of great footage, some familiar, some not, including some fun old photos. Worth a watch if it comes near you.

http://gorgingmovie.com/

Wow, cool recommendation.