Remember Me movie discussion

[Amanda Beth]

Saw Remember Me today...and I hadn't read ANY reviews so I had NO spoilers in mind.

I got home at 3:30, it is now almost 9:30 and I'm STILL DEPRESSED. Granted, my reason for being upset is probably completely different from the reason other people would be crying. Don't get me wrong, I'm very open to different ways to write stories and believe whole heartedly that you can end an AMAZING story even if doesn't end with the main characters skipping into their happily ever after... but this just got to me and in a bad way. It ruined the entire movie for me.

Mod Edit: moved from Actors of Twilight, their other works thread.

[Jazz Girl]

~~REmember Me Discussion~~

GAH!!!!!! I am literally blown away. I know I might be just the littlest bit biased when it comes to Rob, but oh my gods!!! He was so just perfect in this role. It could have been so easy to take Tyler to over the top or beyond real and Rob was just perfect as Tyler...so amazingly subtle and knew exactly when to explode. His scenes with Ruby Jerins, who plays his little sister Caroline, were just so so so so so amazingly sweet and the adoration between them is so beautiful, which makes one of Aiden's (Tyler's best friends) lines towards the end just even that much more perfect.

Rob and Emilie together are just...wow. Rob said in an interview that they had to edit the love scenes because they were told that the emotional connection between them was to intense and crossed the PG13 line. The scenes between them were just so tender and touching. Yes, the love scenes are pretty amazing. But, I'll tell you what. When I got back from seeing the movie, a friend texted me and said she was on her way but had to take her 12 year old daughter. She was worried about the love scenes. I was so blown away by the film as a whole, it actually took me a minute to think back to those scenes and be able to tell her about them. The most beautiful scene between them happens towards the end when Ally comes to support his little sister (it's the scene on the stoop for those of you looking for reference). Just beautiful.

Yes, there's pain. There's a twist that no one really sees coming and it hurts. But, the message of this film is just so amazingly beautiful to me.

Seriously, girls, boys and others, Go. See. Remember. Me.

Mod Edit: moved from Actors of Twilight, their other works thread

[bac]

A thread to discuss the movie Remember Me.

[Amanda Beth]

Thanks bac!

I just read Roger Ebert's review and I think we were on the same wave length. EXACT same wave length
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbc ... /100319993

[JulieM]

I saw Remember Me today. Wow! Like Amanda Beth it's hours later and I'm still feeling sad. Rob's performance was great as were the other characters. I hadn't read any reviews about the movie beforehand, but I knew that something big happens at the ending. I didn't expect the ending to be what it was though. Utter shock and sadness.

The part where Tyler's little sister goes to the slumber party really got to me also. That was so unbelievably sad, I cried.

I don't really have anything else to say, I think because I'm still feeling sad, empty, and shocked. Don't get me wrong, I really liked the movie and Rob's performance, but it definitely didn't leave me feeling happy at the end. Know what I mean?

*goes off to watch Twilight to bring my spirits back up. *

[Susie]

I saw Remember me at a Friday matinee. I wasn't prepared for the shocker ending and feel the same way as Julie and Amanda Beth. I know that if Rob had been saved, it wouldn't have been like the reality of 9/11 when so many people didn't get saved - they didn't have a chance. We really feel how random and unfair it was.

So, I was sad for two reasons - 1) sad that my beautiful Tyler died, sad for his family, friend and girlfriend too - So tragic! 2) But I was also sad to remember 9/11. I also felt a little guilty because I didn't know anyone who had been personally affected by that day. Somehow, this movie made me realize how horrible it was for New Yorkers - I knew that logically before, of course, but now I felt it emotionally. It was such a waste.

The rest of the movie was great, and it is too bad you don't leave the theater remembering all of those things.

I thought all of the acting was well done. I loved being able to see adorable Rob for 90% of the screen time. I especially liked his relationship with his sister Caroline. Anyone know if they really got along well behind the scenes too? It was so believable; I'll bet they really hit it off.

I loved the scene of Tyler riding his bicycle to his dad's office at night clutching Caroline's drawing. Even though he has a lot of anger at this point, he looks so GOOD riding a bike.

What makes the movie especially tragic is that Tyler was just starting to get it all together - He was getting along with his dad, his dad was spending time with Caroline, Ally had come back to him. Tear jerker ending - cemetery, Aiden with a "Tyler" tatoo. But then some hope - Caroline and her dad at MMOA, Ally getting on the subway.

I don't know how well this movie will do. People just don't like it when their main character dies at the end. It reminds me of Pay it Forward, which should have done better, with that cast, but NO ONE liked the ending.

In one of Rob's interviews he was talking about why he decided to become an executive producer for the film. He said he wanted to make sure the film made it to distribution. Do you think he was worried about public reaction to the 9/11 ending? I think they intended to honor 9/11 victims in their portrayal of totally innocent people, with families and friends, dying that day. It has been over 8 years, but it may still be too soon for some people. It is especially hard because it is a surprise ending and people aren't expecting to revisit the emotion of 9/11.

Revelation! I just realized why it was intentionally meant to shock us - why were weren't supposed to know the ending: The reality of the day on September 11 was that of course no one was expecting anything unusual that day. Everyone was going about their everyday business. In the movie we truly get the feeling of how life was just going on as usual and then it abruptly and unfairly ended for some.

[Jazz Girl]

Susie~ An interview I watched with I believe it was the AP really got to the heart of that question. I believe Rob was afraid of how the studio would market the movie. I believe he was afraid that, rather than a story about life and love and loss, they would focus on the connection to 9/11 and Allen Coulter and Jeremy Fetters never intended it to be that way. 9/11 is not at all the focus. I looked at it as an afterthought, honestly. You are absolutely right. It's a way of reminding us how unexpected life and it's changes can be. Yes, it looks at the biggest moment possible when we all learned that. But, it does it in a way really that shows us it could have been a car accident or an illness or a mugging on a train platform.

I agree that the ending (and I mean that the heroe dies, not how he dies) might turn off a lot of people. It is similar to Pay It Forward or City of Angels. Both of those movies are on my list of movies that, if they ended 5 minutes earlier everyone would be so much happier. Honestly, RM doesn't make that category for me. Because, in a really strange way, it made sense to me. Tyler's death brought his life full circle and gave his family the opportunity to learn everything he needed to show them, but couldn't figure out how.

For me, there were a so many great messages to take away from Remember Me. In the most heartbreaking of ways, his family got a second chance at dealing with tragedy and loss, and at helping a child through it. Tyler learned that he can choose to go through life miserable and bitter or he can accept that no one is perfect, least of all himself, and find peace inside himself. Ally learned that all life is chance. You can't shut yourself off, or let others shut you off, from people and life. Oddly, while I was sad, I still left the theater feeling...hopeful.

[newtonscricket]

Hey everybody, it's great to read your reviews! I've fallen behind on the Halfway House thread again, still catching up there.

So I saw Remember Me today and here is what I thought....you should know I went into this blind, I had avoided all spoilers. Don't read this if you have not seen the movie!

I can't really judge movies with Robert Pattinson in them. I feel too strongly about him to be objective.

That said, I think a lot was good about this movie, I think the acting was great for every single character and I loved the look of the film. Although I thought Rob did a great job portraying him, I don't like Tyler Hawkins. I read "Catcher in the Rye" at the appropriate age of 16 and even then I couldn't stand whiny tortured rebels who brood self-righteously. Even so, I would definitely stick around to try and cheer Tyler up because, damn, he looks just like Robert Pattinson. Yeah yeah, he's been traumatized, I get it (believe me I get it), but Ally was traumatized too and she decided to become a social worker and eat dessert first.

I loved the bedroom scene, just wish it hadn't been edited for "emotional connection" ....and the very intense kissing in the hall scene.

There was something about the rhythm of the movie or at least in some scenes that just seemed off, I can't put my finger on it. A problem of editing?

The most terrifying scene in this movie to me is not the end, it is when Tyler loses it and nearly hits an eleven year old girl and smashes up a 6th grade classroom full of children. What is most effective about this is you pretty much feel he's completely justified and just wish you could hit that girl yourself.

So many of the scenes in this movie are excellent, starting with the first one (hey Martha Plimpton, why did you want to be uncredited?) But damn, killing Tyler off just when things were looking up for everybody, I wanted to grab the writer by the collar and scream at him..."haven't you put these people through enough pain?" I knew as soon as the caption "10 years later" came up on the screen that the movie would end on September 11, but a story that ends like this is not a story I want to hear. Sure, that's what real life is like, so all I need to do if I want to hear stories like that is pick up a newspaper, or, occasionally, the phone. I don't go to see movies so everyone I learn to care about can have their hearts ripped out.

I don't have a better idea for the ending though. The movie is really sticking with me and I'm going to go see it again.

I was ravenously hungry after seeing it, even though I had eaten right before. Does being very emotional (because the movie was tearing me up the whole way through) burn a lot of calories? If so maybe I will reconsider my position on downer movies.

Emilie de Ravin has amazing eyes.

[Jazz Girl]

NewJen~ Hey there, hon. Long time no see. I'm right there with you. Tyler's reaction to Michael's death, or more importantly, how his dad dealt (or didn't) with it is one of those things that you look at and just want to shake your head. But, at the same time, it is so... real. I know so many people who deal with tragedy like that, by shutting themselves down and lashing out. I think that, more than anything, is why I related to Tyler. There were moments in his story where I seriously saw myself. Like the phone call when he invites Charles to supper the night of Caroline's art show? The frustration and rage on his face when his father just makes him wait...I have soooooooo done EXACTLY that while on the phone with my mother.

Like I said, in a really strange way, for me, changing the ending would make the film so much less. I know why people are tuned off by it. But, at the same time, it just fits. But, I will say, I didn't react as strongly as far as how it was handled. To me, it gave teh family what they needed. I know it's a really odd way to look at it. But, through Tyler, they get the opportunity to go back and fix what they screwed up the first time. They get to start over, in a way. And, that, to me, is a beautiful thing.

EDIT: I just found this article on Robsessed where the cast discusses the end of the film. It clearly was something they all took extremely seriously and very much to heart. The responsibility they felt to get it right is clear.

[Avia]

At the end of the movie, during the huge twist, Tyler does a voiceover. "Michael, Caroline asked me what I would say if I knew you could hear me. I (something) knew. I love you. (Something). I forgive you."

Can someone please fill in the something's!? I couldn't make out the words.