I thought this was really good. Glad Lord & Miller did this instead of a big studio director who would have made this a sentimental movie with the comedic moments directed with Rocky’s level of understanding of humor. I’m glad it was life-affirming and silly instead of schmaltzy and depressing.
I didn't have emotional reaction to the book but did during the movie. Saw it on 70mm IMAX tonight and quite enjoyed it. I didn't love it but honestly I'm not the target IMAX demo. I feel like I get to feel the full movie more on small screens. Almost like my eyes can't take in the full screen when I see larger format or something. I agree with others that the flashbacks not really playing into the present was a minus, I also re-watched The Martian recently and it struggled from the same thing so probably just Goddard cutting fat but I get it. I read both books before seeing the movies. Think both are great adaptations. Excited to watch this again on a smaller screen. (I know I'm in the minority in that regard)
I loved the part where he erased the white board of the "Who Am I?' and immediately starts planning how to save Rocky. It's quite beautiful really because he knows who he is, he's a person who's planning to sacrifice himself for his friend and nothing else matters.
I think they missed a callback to earlier in the movie when she says something about having something worth saving. But it was implied in that scene.
I’m not super familiar with everything they’ve done. Have they directed a big movie like this before? I thought they were more niche with comedy and animated films.
Niche is a weird word to use to describe films with licenses like Spider-Man, Lego, and Star Wars. Plus their other non-licensed films have done very well. And there's Cocaine Bear, clearly the most mainstream friendly of their works.
They are well respected and in-demand studio guys through and through. Gonna be annoying with the meta reading of this movie being about their career. An unlikely duo (Lord&Miller/Grace&Rocky) come together after a huge disaster (getting fired from Solo/Only ones left on a space mission) to deliver a huge win (yelling at animators until spider-verse won an oscar/Saving their home planets) And Project Hail Mary is their victory lap
Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, their first movie, is the only one that isn't really a large-scale movie and it's still IP from a massive kids book animated by a large animation studio. 21 Jump Street, Lego Movie and a Star Wars movie are absolutely "big studio movies." Not that this actually matters lol.
My bad then. I had always thought those were smaller budget movies. This one seemed like it would have been a step up into a larger scope and level than their previous work.
Tbf they didn’t direct either Spider-Verse, just wrote them (and yelled at/scared animators), and I think they largely get credit for both.
I think the larger point is they mostly direct IP, but their style, especially their comedic sensibility, is pretty much unmistakable (except for maybe here because they’ve never done something so super sincere). Like, compare them to the Russos (both duos who came out of TV directing), who have zero style or anything that stands out, and they’re simply on two different levels.
I didn’t know they were let go from solo Star Wars https://ew.com/project-hail-mary-phil-lord-chris-miller-star-wars-11931193
A pretty huge turn in their career and a massive sign that the Disney Star Wars universe was not exactly the well-oiled machine we thought it was.
Yeah their career has basically been “let’s take the most cynical sounding Hollywood cash grabs and actually make them good movies” Without 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie, you wouldn’t have Greta Gerwig’s Barbie To date, this is their biggest swing (and test) as it’s not a massive IP (it’s a super popular book but you know what I mean)