I don't think it's fair to say that Project Hail Mary has a multiple-ending problem: no spoilers, but there's basically no way the story can end how it does without the winding path that some people are calling multiple endings. Definitely pay attention to the last 20 minutes! I don't think it's a perfect adaptation--it leans a bit too hard into the whimsical aspect of the story for my taste--but it is a good one, and they did an admirable job of cramming A LOT of story into that runtime.
Yeah unlike the LoTR endings, the “extra” ending in PHM contains important character development. And from a filmmaking perspective it’s elegant that it ends up back where it started.
I’ve only read the book - does the movie ending basically match? If so I agree, it’s not really multiple endings at all. Basically there’s “a place it could end, but whoops here’s one more challenge and important character development”, then there’s “the end”, then there’s something of an epilogue that wraps things up.
I'll continue with the trend of ignoring the larger (good) points the article was making as I offer a plug for seeing PHM on a big screen (either a theater or your the 65"+ most people have that dwarfs my 43"). I average about 3.4 theater movies each year. I tend to fall asleep and tend to feel that I'm being sold something that's ranges from not really what I want to buy to insulting for it's presumption that I or anyone would buy it. I didn't know much about it when I went in other than it was generally well-received, but I enjoyed it a lot and came away with the overall impression that the tons and tons of cuts (I'd estimate at every 3 to 8 seconds) over scenes forward and backward through time were very well sequenced and visually very well done. I didn't know the run-time, but never thought it was dragging/going on too long. Good script. Good balance between telling the story with dialogue and showing it visually. Three days later when the other kid wanted to see it I went back willingly. And enjoyed it again. It should hold up on a smaller screen, but the visuals are an added dimension of quality and are worthy of a larger one.
"I like stories where a competent group of people tackle a problem without their petty grudges getting in the way — you know, fantasy." Great line.😁
That is definitely a mini genre, I guess Apollo 13 being the major example.
I slightly prefer a closely related genre, where competent people tackle a problem WHILE their petty problems get in the way. Like any genre, these range in quality (Adam McKay's The Big Short is excellent, near classic; That movie with Matt Damon about Air Jordans was an entertaining enough time killer, the one about the Blackberry Phone that stared Denis from Always Sunny was very fun.)
Even with something as inconsequential and time killer-y as a substack, less is often more.
You see it all goes back to Thomas Paine and The Right of Man......🙄😅
I thought PHM was pretty good, but even with its insane runtime, they *still* managed to cut some of the best dialogue in the book and replace it with a karaoke scene for some reason.
Wait what is wrong with camels? I guess I haven’t studied them since elementary school, but I thought the humps on their back store water for the desert(?)
I liked The Martian, too, so that's not enough to ensure a good experience with Hail Mary. It's crazy long, and some of those endings are even more ridiculous than the premise of a star being eaten by a fungus, or whatever. I could have lived with the premise if the movie came in at 100 minutes.
I was an advocate for people being willing to see longer movies in-person before superhero movies took over everything, but it can be quite nice to see a short movie at the theater and then realize the sun is still out when you leave and can do more things during the day. The fact that people aren't willing to go on a date to a romcom for 90 minutes, so all comedies are now streaming, is quite sad. Are you really going to go to a three hour movie for a second date and not feel tired afterwards?
Horror movies with reasonably short runtimes still get released in theaters a lot. Last week I saw "Exit 8," a lean 95 minute movie about a man trapped in what I can only describe as a "haunted time loop." A lot of people think horror movies are even better date movies than romcoms.
Or you could take my route and just date someone who wants to see the three hour superhero movie because she enjoyed reading the three different comic-book storylines it was adapted from.
While I agree that movies have definitely gotten bloated, I will argue that PHM is actually not particularly overstuffed given the material. There's just a lot going on. If anything, you can kind of feel where where deep cuts were made to bring the movie down to its run time. Still great, though.
I would like to see, as a verrrry expensive experiment, a must-see movie (think Batman vs 007: The Day The Avengers Were Destroyed By Optimus Prime and Elmo) made where they say "we are only putting this in theaters for the first YEAR." Would movie-goers flood the theaters? Would they say, "no we will not wait a year" as lo and behold, the dopamine reward structure that was built around quick to cheap-streaming disappeared? Or would the public say, "meh. I'll just kill time on ___social_media_platform___ until... zzzzz (because I am a child and everything bores me)...." . We will never know because Carolco no longer exists.
One gloss to put on your point about CGI being un-cuttable: in the days of practical effects, I would guess that a significant percentage of shots just didn’t work very well and never made it into the film, which meant that those sequences tended to be pretty lean.
Now, it’s more likely to be the opposite. The CG company will do a decent job of every storyboard that’s sent to them; and the usual pattern is that individual shots get *longer* because there are a lot of moments that the CG people want more time for than was in the early storyboards/animatics. Once they get into the weeds, they just find that a bit of animation needs more time, or it’s more effective (in the moment at least) to linger on some money shot or other.
I’ve probably seen more films from the 1920’s than the 2020’s(not a brag, but an admission of a failed life)so I appreciate you filling me in. How come you’ve never made fun of smaller films that sponge on celebrity. Nixon & Frost, Nixon & Elvis. Basically any time two famous people have met in an elevator is now a film. Seems ripe for parody. Or is that genre now over? You can tell me.
I have NEVER felt as seen as when I read “owning a movie theater is like owning Party City in Eastern Ukraine.” We own a small town theater in Texas…
I don't think it's fair to say that Project Hail Mary has a multiple-ending problem: no spoilers, but there's basically no way the story can end how it does without the winding path that some people are calling multiple endings. Definitely pay attention to the last 20 minutes! I don't think it's a perfect adaptation--it leans a bit too hard into the whimsical aspect of the story for my taste--but it is a good one, and they did an admirable job of cramming A LOT of story into that runtime.
Yeah unlike the LoTR endings, the “extra” ending in PHM contains important character development. And from a filmmaking perspective it’s elegant that it ends up back where it started.
To be fair the extra endings in LOTR are important character development too, but they had to be somewhat rushed in the movie
I’ve only read the book - does the movie ending basically match? If so I agree, it’s not really multiple endings at all. Basically there’s “a place it could end, but whoops here’s one more challenge and important character development”, then there’s “the end”, then there’s something of an epilogue that wraps things up.
Yes, the movie ending basically matches the book ending.
I'll continue with the trend of ignoring the larger (good) points the article was making as I offer a plug for seeing PHM on a big screen (either a theater or your the 65"+ most people have that dwarfs my 43"). I average about 3.4 theater movies each year. I tend to fall asleep and tend to feel that I'm being sold something that's ranges from not really what I want to buy to insulting for it's presumption that I or anyone would buy it. I didn't know much about it when I went in other than it was generally well-received, but I enjoyed it a lot and came away with the overall impression that the tons and tons of cuts (I'd estimate at every 3 to 8 seconds) over scenes forward and backward through time were very well sequenced and visually very well done. I didn't know the run-time, but never thought it was dragging/going on too long. Good script. Good balance between telling the story with dialogue and showing it visually. Three days later when the other kid wanted to see it I went back willingly. And enjoyed it again. It should hold up on a smaller screen, but the visuals are an added dimension of quality and are worthy of a larger one.
"I like stories where a competent group of people tackle a problem without their petty grudges getting in the way — you know, fantasy." Great line.😁
That is definitely a mini genre, I guess Apollo 13 being the major example.
I slightly prefer a closely related genre, where competent people tackle a problem WHILE their petty problems get in the way. Like any genre, these range in quality (Adam McKay's The Big Short is excellent, near classic; That movie with Matt Damon about Air Jordans was an entertaining enough time killer, the one about the Blackberry Phone that stared Denis from Always Sunny was very fun.)
Even with something as inconsequential and time killer-y as a substack, less is often more.
You see it all goes back to Thomas Paine and The Right of Man......🙄😅
That genre is called, “competence porn.”
I, appropriately, have gotten a boner.
Nothing showy or gauche, but it's present, focused, and gets the job done.😁
Also that first Star trek reboot with Chris Pine as Kirk
It was a long movie, but it didn’t feel long. 10/10 would recommend seeing in theatres
I thought PHM was pretty good, but even with its insane runtime, they *still* managed to cut some of the best dialogue in the book and replace it with a karaoke scene for some reason.
Wait what is wrong with camels? I guess I haven’t studied them since elementary school, but I thought the humps on their back store water for the desert(?)
Nah, it's fat. Same basic idea -- the camel can go for a really long time without eating.
🤯
Nothing, but people prefer the Menthols.
I liked The Martian, too, so that's not enough to ensure a good experience with Hail Mary. It's crazy long, and some of those endings are even more ridiculous than the premise of a star being eaten by a fungus, or whatever. I could have lived with the premise if the movie came in at 100 minutes.
I was an advocate for people being willing to see longer movies in-person before superhero movies took over everything, but it can be quite nice to see a short movie at the theater and then realize the sun is still out when you leave and can do more things during the day. The fact that people aren't willing to go on a date to a romcom for 90 minutes, so all comedies are now streaming, is quite sad. Are you really going to go to a three hour movie for a second date and not feel tired afterwards?
Horror movies with reasonably short runtimes still get released in theaters a lot. Last week I saw "Exit 8," a lean 95 minute movie about a man trapped in what I can only describe as a "haunted time loop." A lot of people think horror movies are even better date movies than romcoms.
Or you could take my route and just date someone who wants to see the three hour superhero movie because she enjoyed reading the three different comic-book storylines it was adapted from.
“your gritty drama about a heroin-addicted poet will turn into an animated romp starring a rapping beaver.”
I would pay to see that.
Plus if you're at home you can take pee pee breaks and no one says you have to share the bottle of wine you bought from concessions
Yeah, but if you're home you won't actually watch the movie because you can watch it anytime.
While I agree that movies have definitely gotten bloated, I will argue that PHM is actually not particularly overstuffed given the material. There's just a lot going on. If anything, you can kind of feel where where deep cuts were made to bring the movie down to its run time. Still great, though.
I would like to see, as a verrrry expensive experiment, a must-see movie (think Batman vs 007: The Day The Avengers Were Destroyed By Optimus Prime and Elmo) made where they say "we are only putting this in theaters for the first YEAR." Would movie-goers flood the theaters? Would they say, "no we will not wait a year" as lo and behold, the dopamine reward structure that was built around quick to cheap-streaming disappeared? Or would the public say, "meh. I'll just kill time on ___social_media_platform___ until... zzzzz (because I am a child and everything bores me)...." . We will never know because Carolco no longer exists.
One gloss to put on your point about CGI being un-cuttable: in the days of practical effects, I would guess that a significant percentage of shots just didn’t work very well and never made it into the film, which meant that those sequences tended to be pretty lean.
Now, it’s more likely to be the opposite. The CG company will do a decent job of every storyboard that’s sent to them; and the usual pattern is that individual shots get *longer* because there are a lot of moments that the CG people want more time for than was in the early storyboards/animatics. Once they get into the weeds, they just find that a bit of animation needs more time, or it’s more effective (in the moment at least) to linger on some money shot or other.
I’ve probably seen more films from the 1920’s than the 2020’s(not a brag, but an admission of a failed life)so I appreciate you filling me in. How come you’ve never made fun of smaller films that sponge on celebrity. Nixon & Frost, Nixon & Elvis. Basically any time two famous people have met in an elevator is now a film. Seems ripe for parody. Or is that genre now over? You can tell me.
I loved the camel explainer! Did you think of that yourself?