Yes No Maybe So: The Imitation Game
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 at 12:44PM The Imitation Game trailer was released a few days ago, I think, but I'm just now breaking its code. If your patience has expired waiting for me to Yes No Maybe So this, that makes you Charles Dance. Nobody wants to be Charles Dance! He will never understand the importance of Yes No Maybe So but you do.
So join me for indecipherable gadgets, Keira's clipped sass, and elaborate hand gestures after the jump
YES
• I really dig Benedict Cumberbatch's voice work from what I'm hearing
• True Story: Whenever Keira Knightley speaks in super clipped sassy tones I go weak in the knees
• Beautiful infomational construction with the Enigma device for those who don't know their history
• Matthew Goode + Allen Leech (aka Tom from Downton Abbey!) = Bonus points (I didn't know they were in this but I love to look at both of them)
• All those loving sensuous shots of maps, machinery, spinny things, and typewriter-like code-breaking is making me hot. And I'm not even a gadget-obsessed guy.
• The stunning cascade of scary images that kick off the trailer suggest this has scope. FWIW the cinematography is by Óscar Faura, who lensed The Orphanage and The Impossible
• I also like the intro of the Enigma machine with a smart use of voiceover,though this part...
If you speak a word of what I am about to show you, you will be executed for high treason
...almost makes me fearful to speak several words of what they've just shown me. You know, like I'm doing right now.
NO
• The title cards are gaggy. Hopefully the movie isn't as heavy-handed as that.
• The trailer seems to be showing us the whole movie. DO NOT LIKE... though this does save us ticket purchase money
• You guys. I can't be the only person who is sick to death of teaser doing that metronomic like fade to black (or white) pulsing every ½ second while the music keeps pace with punctuation. Try something new, trailer people!
MAYBE SO
• The last movie I saw on this topic, Enigma was dull. Even with Kate Winslet in the corresponding girl genius role (though not playing the same character as Keira I should add)
• Ummmm. Benedict Cumberbatch already did this closeted gay and espionagey thing just three years ago in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011).
TWO MORE CATEGORIES THIS TIME
"YAAAAAAS"
These flourishy hand gestures are giving me life: Goode with an upright spirit fingers prototype, Cumberbatch with pray-cry mittens, and Keira doing the international sign for "ZOMG!" in places where you can't scream out like libraries, churches or code-breaking HQs.
"OSCAR?"
This trailer convinces me that Keira Knightley has a shot in Supporting Actress even though the one person I've talked to who has seen this didn't have much hope for acting nominations outside of Benedict. But I'm sorry. She looks so Supportive and you know how they get those two words mixed up during voting.
The Trailer in Question. Are you a Yes No or Maybe So?
Reader Comments (32)
But Knightly playing a brilliant genius??? I immediately thought of Denise Richards in the Bond Movie..... I am not feeling any nominations from this... And it does feel repetitious of Cumberbatch
Agree on BC's voice. Don't agree on KK's voice. As soon as I saw her I went, "Noooooooooo!" Don't turn it into THAT.
Anyway, fingers crossed. Still love me some BC, and the story is an amazing one, so let's hope they do it right.
Do you like Knightley because she looks like Noni?
Wow, look at how hard Cumberbatch is crying. He must really want that Oscar nomination.
If this were all the movie? I'd probably be a maybe so. But look up the movie and you'll see that this is one of those "whole life" biopics. My reaction to cogently absorbing that? "Didn't everyone pretty much agree to stop doing that after Walk Hard?"
I feel like this movie was genetically engineered to make me happy...from cast to subject matter to tone. And I'm with you on Keira. Just saw "Begin Again" and think she's doing great work these days. Why the hating when she's out there pushing herself like the divine Nicole with interesting material and directors.
So, yeah, I'm a no based on that knowledge.
/3rtful -- i wasn't aware she liked Winona or i've forgotten it. I like her because she pushes herself. A trait in actors I almost always respond to.
Tom - agreed.
Jamie - that's way harsh, Tai.
Reread what I wrote.
I'm a resolutely YES! Alan Turing's life is spectacular and he's probably the most important scientist/researcher of last century (yes, even more important than Einstein.) I'm glad more attention is being given to him.
Keira looks fantastic, and whenever I see some of her current work I find myself clapping my hands.
On another topic/film: The trailer for Miss Julie came out yesterday. Can we do a YNMS for it? Pretty please? ;)
Ditto on the Yes, No, Maybe So treatment for Miss Julie...now THAT movie looks interesting.
Let's not be silly. YES for Imitation Game *and* Miss Julie. Seriously.. ;)
I'm a maybe so. Enigma was dull and I don't get all the Cumberbatch adulation. He's okay but as far as I've seen nothing special. But it is an interesting story and I like both Keira and Allen Leech so perhaps.
This was going to be one of those stodgy period films I was dreading having to see for awards season. However, Knightley and Goode give me hope. I know Cumberbatch is going to be good, I know he's going to get awards traction. I just am not a huge fan. Maybe this will change it.
Again, ditto to the Keira love. It seems she went away for a bit and has now come back trying to do really interesting good work.
It's a shame that Enigma was so tedious, because the story really isn't. The real shame is that the title would work sooo much better for this film.
I'm a definite YES because the subject matter and treatment appeal to me, plus Knightly and The Batch. But towards the end of the trailer, the line "Sometimes we need someone unimaginable to do something unimaginable" or whatever very nearly switched me to NO. Sometimes it takes unimaginative dialog to make me imagine shooting myself in the face.
To crack the code, the British government assembles a team of only the most cut-glass accents and cheekbones.
Really looking forward to this movie, as a fan of both the subject-matter and Keira Knightley (who's been having a very good year; after Atonement she started to keep a much lower profile for a while).
Gregarius: As I mentioned: This is not a cliffs-notes of the ENTIRE movie. It's a cliffs-notes of Act 2. And, as I said: Didn't we agree to stop doing full-life biopics once Walk Hard got digested?
It looks amazing, but I automatically wondered if I was going to wish they'd switched Matthew Goode into the lead role. Love both actors though, and Keira is consistently underrated. It seems odd that she's only had one Oscar nod, and that one was a surprise.
Yeah. it's a YES for me. Though, the trailer itself is a NO.. I agree, cheesy taglines and wayyy too much reveal.
Yes to this and YES to Keira. I also have to admit that dialogue moved me. (I am drunk).
There was a slightly shorter UK trailer that had all the key beats but didn't feel like it was revealing the whole story. I was meh on this movie till I saw that trailer, now I'm excited.
Definite Yes! for Allen Leech. And love the hand flourish screen grabs, LOL.
volvagia -- i doubt people digested Walk Hard (i.e. took it seriously). COMEDY.
steve g -- thanks. i love when people enjoy the details.
Keegan - save me a drink. i'll be right over.
Yes. Alan Turing is such an overshadowed yet important figure that at leat I feel like I should see this just so that it's hit and everybody go get to know he's story. Plus the trailer gave me a feeling that there's more to it than it shows. Maybe I'm wrong. Also, the cast is great.
I'm enjoying the Kiera love. Boy she's really come a long way since the Pirates films, who would've thought she'd become as great as she has off of that?
It's a lesson really. Imagine if she did a Marvel film after that, she'd be stuck in sequel hell for a decade, no one would be able to see how talented she really is and her career would die young.
I like Keira, but this looks dull.
Always a YES to a Keira film. Her posh British is the best around.
Although not loving the blonde hair.
Also Nate, have you seen the trailer for Laggies? Thoughts? Could Keira score double - or even triple noms at the GGs? Before Again/Laggies Comedy Musical, Imitation Game Supporting??
I'm kind of tired of Cumberbatch being the best thing about what he's in.
There's just something about shots of people throwing things when they're upset that makes me say REALLY? <B>REALLY?</B>
In real life, you hardly ever throw all your things no matter how upset you get. It's such a cliché. It makes me fear for the script quality.
I'm a Maybe So.
YES. As a British person who's gay, I was very happy when Alan Turing got his Royal Pardon from the Queen last year. His being gay is just a part of my interest, and I'd like to know more about how the machines that Turing made worked, and about his life.
Also my granddad was at Bletchley Park. He was only 16 when he joined in 1942 because he excelled at German, and didn't have much to do with the things in the film, but I'll be interested to see what was going on at the time he was there.
Plus, I like Keira, and would put her performances in A Dangerous Method and Anna Karenina in my Top 5 for their prospective years.
I´ve never gotten Ms. Knightley´s appeal and at this point I think I never will. She is my personal box office poison.
Ouch, that's really a superficial review, I had read a lot of good ones and then I came across this one... i hope this is run by a fangirl/boy or something because seriously.. "True Story: Whenever Keira Knightley speaks in super clipped sassy tones I go weak in the knees", "Benedict Cumberbatch already did this closeted gay and espionagey thing just three years ago in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Cez -- this is not a review of the film. This is a review of the trailer. VERY different things. I have not seen the film.
Trailers are commercials and must be treated as such -what are they selling? does the trailer make you want to buy it. etcetera. Commercials should never be taken seriously. Often they lie as their job is to sell.