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ITs really cool.I want to appreciate him for this effort.

Big Harry Potter spoilers in here, Dr K. I thought you'd have learned your lesson after revealing the ending of The Half-Blood Prince.

How do you know what Super Mario Galaxy is?!

Unfortunately I missed this blog the first time around, but after flicking through the first fifty or so replies I have given up and just have to give a shout to the 1987 film 'Made In Heaven'. It's a very interesting depiction of the afterlife - takes some cues from previous interpretations and looks a lot like a foggy Earth - but is still engaging, particularly in the first ten minutes. The film itself suffers from being a bit over-sentimental, but it's a great visual experience and was certainly the first film that got me thinking about the afterlife. Apologies to anyone that mentioned it later on in the blog!

Hey I said Brainstorm too. Where's my mention? Jeez Louise. What's a guy gotta do to get a little credit in this town?

Love Douglas Trumbull, and love Silent Running too. It's all about Bruce Dern for me, one of the most intense actors ever filmed. Always so much going on in his (slightly crazed) eyes.

Mark is always giving away spoilers, intentionally and unintentionally.

Classic example, last Friday (12/03), Mark reviewed Hachiko: A Dog's Story, he said that there are two tragic things, so it's obvious what happens towards the end to either the owner, or the dog, but he gave away the ending whilst reviewing Shutter Island, when jokingly he said that Gere dies in the end.

What is the point of listening to the film reviews, when either Mark, Simon, and whoever else is with them either unintentionally reveal, or try and guess the ending.

I'm just glad Dr. K has kept to his word and marked the homework!

Also I agree that we have here a great film discussing community on Kermode Uncut.

@ Stuart Yates

Not as bad as mine, the good doctor revealed a big scene in "Ringu" b4 the film started when dong a horror week/month/event for Channel 4.
But I have forgiven him now, I did tell someone the big twist of Fight Club to someone on accident once.
That was far worse tbh, I deserved a big telling off for that, thought he had seen it mind.

I think Mr. Thornton may be overlooking an a crucial point in that heaven is only a boring device if it really is just perfect. A much more interesting type of film is where the character discovers heaven isn't particularly satisfying after all. That may sound like a contradiction of the definition but then so is the religious concept where it's described as a rather vacuous, unfulfilling place where people just loll about in gardens and fountains and green pastures chatting to their dull, dead friends, praising gods and running into few virgins knocking about the place - hardly transcendent paradise, and more like a bad office party that's spread to the outdoors. However, the premise of feeling disenchanted and swindled by the promise of religion is probably much more in line with contemporary sentiments, and would make for a much more interesting film, though you wouldn't really get a studio to greenlight it until any theistic critique was diluted to the point of a flaccid, generic Golden Compass style adventure.

i think it's a bit unfair to say that peter jackson just made the afterlife look like super mario galaxy. it's literally just one shot where you can see them running around a very small grassy planet, and even that i would argue is more likely a direct reference. after all, we know that peter jackson is a gamer because of his involvement in the would-be halo film.

i had both fight club and the usual suspects ruined for me, but i still found them extremely gripping upon first viewing. mark kermode, peter griffin, and a host of other people (real and fictional) have ruined citizen kane for me, but i've still got high hopes for when i finally get round to watching it.

Heaven is just wishful thinking and works best in comedy. It seems to be mostly used as a moralistic device for storytelling and is very anchored to its roots in superstition and religion.
The most difficult and challenging films are those that wrestle with life and death without slipping over the fine line into speculation and make-believe.

Having just watched the directors cut of "The Plague Dogs" I think the best film portrayal of heaven is right at the end of the film where the imaginary island Rowf and Snitter swimming for appears

Then sob your heart out

The painful truth about 3D -

@fortunesfool73 Pretty off topic, but because this horse isn't quite dead yet, I'm totally willing to keep beating it. 3D is doing my head in. It's more than just a way to stop piracy, it's a way to make people spend insane amounts of money on EVERYTHING. I keep seeing adverts to get us excited about 3D TV and Sky has announced that it will be releasing 3D channels and we're told that in something like three years 3D TV will become standard. Well goddamnit, I've only just updated to HD within the last year and now I'm being told that I'm gonna have to update again? It doesn't stop there either, if films and TV shows are being shot in 3D, they're gonna need to release 3D touch screen phones and Nintendos, since people love watching stuff on those tiny little screens. It's just total insanity and it's only happening to keep people buying stuff. All this and they're still telling us we need to wear glasses!

Avatar is a silly judge of whether the people want 3D or not. The marketting campaign for it has been so intense, the director so famous, and the spectacle so massive, it doesn't take and idiot to see that the film was gonna be popular. What they should have done as a test was make something unspectacular (as in some generic crime thriller or something) in 3D and see how people react.

The point in that article where he states, "We use our eyes everyday and whether you know the geek stuff or not it's just not what we are used to seeing" is exactly how I feel about it. I remember when 'Hulk' came out, I criticised it to someone I worked with saying that the CGI was rubbish, and he responded with 'You can't say that because you know nothing about CGI', but I still know what looks real and what doesn't, and The Incredible Hulk has never looked real.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

I don't know if it counts as a theological critique but in The Prophecy we see a vision of some Otherworld where the impaled rotting bodies of angels cover the wartorn landscape. Very memorable. Jigoku's vision of Hell was fun too. The Devil has all the best films.

Why isn't Silent Running on every other month? The rest of SF is catching up with it and Dark Star but such great films in every way.

I though "Heaven" in the Talking Heads song was a club.

Slightly off topic, but I wonder if Dr K saw this interview with the official Vatican exorcist in The Times a couple of days ago? Includes praise for you-know-what-film.

There's surely no sense in getting 3D television until enough programmes are being made in 3D. And what TV programmes would actively benefit from this technique? Most programmes, be they Antiques Roadshow or Mock The Week or Lark Rise To Candleford, are conceived with the small screen in mind, and as they lack scope beyond the corner of your room, they lack the need for an extra dimension. Unless you're actively thrilled by the prospect of Kirsty Wark's interview with David Milliband being thrust into your living room in eerie hologrammatic high-definition 3D, that kind of 3D is exactly the gimmick that Dr Kermode has, with due respect, thus far been wrong about....

Sorry, but Super Mario Galaxy is awesome.

I could not remember the name of the film that was going through my head when I watch the blog asking for films involving depictions of the afterlife and today I remembered what it was 'Flatliners'.

There's no heaven in flatliners just chilling dream like flashbacks to sins committed in their past, either by them or against them. These sins then start to haunt them and they have to go deeper into them to try and work them out.

In flatliners you get a judgement on your life when you die rather than a trip stright to the pearly gates.

i think mark's issue with peter jackson's view of the afterlife looking like super mario galaxy is more to do with his issue with videogames than anything else. i don't see why a film can reference other films, tv shows, books, music, etc. but not videogames. super mario galaxy is a work of art in its own right and i'm glad that people like peter jackson respect it, as i'm 99% certain it was an intentional reference.

I always liked David Niven in "A Matter of Life and Death" by Powell and Pressburger.

The simple effect of using B&W for Heaven and Colour for life on Earth.

Check out director Hattie Dalton and producer Kelly Broad's short film 'One of those days' for a witty and harrowing depiction: /filmnetwork/films/p004s4x4

I wanted to add "Bill and Ted's bogus journey" that had some great afterlife bits...

I think that rather than a movie, the afterlife will have a massive Oscars ceremony which goes on forever and has all the Hollywood greats like Monroe mixing with newer stars like, er, Scarlett Johansson. However, those of us who only have Ö÷²¥´óÐã Afterlife will not be allowed to see the Heavenly Oscars, only those deceased souls who have paid extra for [Spirit in the] SKY will be allowed to view such splendour.

@23

Also, as the protagonist is a young girl, perhaps her subjective view of the afterlife is coloured by her own fondness for Super Mario Galaxy - a work of art in its own right, as you say.

Mark, where the hell do I buy a legal PAL version of 'The Rapture'? I cannot find it anywhere, and I've tried most online stores. There's ONE copy on Amazon, but it's useless to me as it's an American NTSC version. And I aint buying a compatible DVD player just for one DVD!

It's really annoying to hear the film industry whine about piracy while they make it virtually impossible for anyone to buy particular films, especially ones that are obscure or old. Hell, I bet I couldn't even find 'The Rapture' on illegal peer-to-peer file-sharing networks! (No, I'm not endorsing those, I'm just saying some films are very hard to find!).

I think that rather than a movie, the afterlife will have a massive Oscars ceremony which goes on forever and has all the Hollywood greats like Monroe mixing with newer stars like, er, Scarlett Johansson.

"Is this Heaven?"
"No, it's Iowa."

Hey what have you got against Hell...? It comes in all shapes and size and is far more interesting...Even in comedy....

Frank: Good night Dwayne.
Dwayne: [scribbles on notepad] Don't kill yourself tonight.
Frank: Not on your watch Dwayne. I wouldn't do that to you.
Dwayne: [on notepad] Welcome to hell.
Frank: Thanks Dwayne. Coming from you that means a lot.

Still cracks me up every time I see it...

"I believe that when I die I shall rot and nothing of my ego shall survive."

- Bertrand Russell

Speaking of Super Mario Galaxy, Mr. Kermode, I'd like to know your opinion of BioShock; the (to semi-quote Cinefantastique) Citizen Kane of video games, which should be made for the big screen by Sir Ridley Scott, not - as 'threatened' - Gore Verbinski.

@34 - come on, it's still an FPS, the least original of all game genres

#35 - It's a genuinely affecting, aesthetically flawless FPS (and winner of a 'Best Game' BAFTA, incidentally).

@36 - SPOILERS: The final battle is widely considered to be rubbish (I would agree). Apart from its art design and veneer of Objectivism, it's still a fairly straightforward horror FPS. I could honestly see the twist with your ally really being your enemy, coming a mile off. I have played it through - and Bioshock 2 is just a retread.

#37 - The twist was widely celebrated, and the final battle being "rubbish" is in my opinion dependent on one's skill as a gamer. I agree about the sequel, though; its only appeal - personally - being getting to re-visit the wonderland that is Rapture.

"...and the final battle being "rubbish" is in my opinion dependent on one's skill as a gamer." - Not quite sure what you mean, it's certainly very easy.

#39 - A rubbish final battle is easy, a walk-in-the-park, not challenging. I didn't find it to be any of those things. Guess you're better at playing video games than I...

Natalie Wood died after "Brainstorm" wrapped. It was Louise Fletcher whose character died during the movie and whom Walken's gizmo recorded.