But Turing didn't understand the human puzzle, he understood logical ones. He is the teller of his own story, that is the framing device and, IMO, it's a fairly novel one. Biographical pictures that adopt the personality of their protagonist tend to be more effective.

ArmandFancypants wrote:But Turing didn't understand the human puzzle, he understood logical ones. He is the teller of his own story, that is the framing device and, IMO, it's a fairly novel one. Biographical pictures that adopt the personality of their protagonist tend to be more effective.

While much of what you've said is true, there's the feel goodery of it, and how there's so many shots of people rather jerking eachother off at their own accomplishments. Tense tense tense HOORAY PANNING SHOT OF CHEERING.


-Vader

Yeah, and Armand you're talking about the man instead of the picture, which - like Vader says - hardly avoids that side of the story. On the contrary; I'm sure my parents will say it's 'based on a true story, and a wonderful movie'.

Vader182 wrote:

ArmandFancypants wrote:But Turing didn't understand the human puzzle, he understood logical ones. He is the teller of his own story, that is the framing device and, IMO, it's a fairly novel one. Biographical pictures that adopt the personality of their protagonist tend to be more effective.

While much of what you've said is true, there's the feel goodery of it, and how there's so many shots of people rather jerking eachother off at their own accomplishments. Tense tense tense HOORAY PANNING SHOT OF CHEERING.


-Vader

This is true, but I think Moore/Tyldum felt it critical to sell Turing as a war hero. Which is precisely what he is of course and is meant to be the "takeaway" I guess. As I've also mentioned the film is also very comical and light in its early stages which also runs counter to his personality... I think it is something gradually brought to the foreground over the course of the film rather than what permeates the whole endeavour exclusively.

m4st4 wrote:Yeah, and Armand you're talking about the man instead of the picture, which - like Vader says - hardly avoids that side of the story. On the contrary; I'm sure my parents will say it's 'based on a true story, and a wonderful movie'.

I'm talking about how the film reflects the man. How using a logical assembly rather than a freewheeling, artistic, broad brush approach is organic in and of itself because it is Turing telling the story to Kinnear's character.

I'm with Armand on this one, a well done polished biography that has a little bit of everything in it. Nothing utterly spectacular but it is hard to find a thing to dislike about it. Cumberbatch is great, perfectly fine with him getting a nom even in a year as strong as this. It is his best work to date. Knightley is quite good as well (not sure why she is a complete lock for a nom but it is a weak year in supporting actress I suppose). As for the rest of the supporting cast I mean everyone plays their part well, if I had to pick a highlight it would be Matthew Goode, always a good presence. Dance's character in this is basically Tywin Lannister 2.0. But yeah, the narrative really flowed organically which is not always easy when you go back and forth in time. So props to Graham Moore for a really well written script.

Seeing this tonight. Only Oscar contender playing at my local theater.

Mark Strong was a badass in this film.


Discuss

This was great. Cumberbatch was fantastic and Knightley was great. Supporting cast was strong as well. Really enjoyed the score, script and even the editing worked very well at points.

The Imitation Game

Yeah so, here's a film that seems to play everything safe, yet simultaneously proves why playing things safe does in fact work. Nahm sayn? I mean, I don't know how true the events are to what actually happened, but the filmmakers really didn't have to throw every cliche in the book at this material.

HOWEVER, I gotta say I found it incredibly relatable and emotionally resonant, especially since Turing was It's a pretty tragic story of an extraordinary human who essentially becomes a victim of society. Ben Cum is also perfectly cast in this role, he gives it such a gravitas and makes it something entirely his own instead of playing it straight (pun intended). Thank fuck for that, because I'm sorry to say this would have been painful with DiCaprio or whoever.

Actually no, I'm not sorry.

It is strangely relatable, with Turing's aniti-social traits, as well as being pitted in positions he didn't want to be in. I'm sure a lot of Turing's personality was exaggerated to heighten the drama of the script, but I reckon it worked in its search for making Turing completely sympathetic.