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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Nov 27, 2017 13:34:58 GMT
I've finished watching The Road for the 1 millionth time. Naughty Dog said The Road was one of their inspirations for The Last of Us. The story is about how an unmentioned cataclysm has killed off most living things in the world,much of the world is covered in ash,most of the vegetation is dead,so are most of the animals,and the climate is freezing,and the sky is always grey. Many survivors have resorted to cannibalism as a last ditch effort for survival,the cannibals travel in gangs trying to find humans to capture and eat. Some survivors refuse to hunt humans and try to scavenge whatever food they can find,whether it be canned food,or insects etc. The story centers on an unnamed man,and his son,whom are trying to survive.The man has decided him and his son should head south,hoping there will be warmer climate there,and they try to avoid cannibals on the way,while trying to find food. During the story,the man has flashbacks of his wife,before and after the post apocalyptic events,and you see memories of when him and her were happy before the apocalyptic event,and how her mental health deteriorated after the apocalyptic event. The Road is one of my favorite survival movies,it's bleak atmosphere is beautiful in an artistic kind of way,and it's music is beautiful and delicate and fits the mood of the movie.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Nov 28, 2017 11:23:20 GMT
Ex Machina is one of my favorite Sci Fi movies. Just like Blade Runner,it asks philosophical questions,while applying science very heavily. In the movie,a question was asked 'why did the robot designer give his robot the personality of a woman'? He answered by mentioning how in nature,most living things have either male/female characteristics. Since his design was meant to have a human-like personality and emotions,this means the robot will need to be either male or female. This means a female robot will want to have sex,will want to flirt,can be attracted to men,and will want to dress and look pretty. I thought this was an insightful answer,because feminazis think there should be no differences between men and women,and associating women with sexual desires or a submissive role is 'sexism', but I think sexism is a normal part of nature. Even animals have clear differences between the behaviours and desires of male and female. If men stop behaving like men,and women stop behaving like women,and political correctness controls what we can do,then we will become like robots. Another interesting question is if a robot can play Chess,is it displaying human behaviour? The answer given in the movie is it's not about how good or bad the robot is at Chess,but whether it has an emotional response when it plays chess,and does it realize it's playing chess? Does it enjoy playing Chess? Or does it find Chess boring? For a long time,we have been able to program a computer to play Chess by programming it to use algorithms.But a human can have a desire to play Chess,or feel emotion when playing Chess. Another aspect of true AI is it can choose who it wants to create a bond with,and who it doesn't like,and it can make someone fall in love with it.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Dec 7, 2017 13:47:10 GMT
Automa ta is a Spanish/Bulgarian Sci Fi movie that took me by surprise. The story is about how in the late 2030's,solar flares killed most life on Earth,bringing the world's population down to 20 million people. Obviously,the solar flares fried much of the world's electronics,hence things such as cars and planes are rare,but robots start being built in an effort to rebuild society,since society is on the brink of collapse. The robots are used for manual labor and sex services,and are programmed so they cannot harm a human,and cannot modify themselves or other robots. An insurance investigator for a robot building company named 'Jacq' is investigating cases of robots being able to modify themselves,and is trying to find out why. It's a dangerous case as conspiracies are uncovered,but Jacq's boss offered Jacq a transfer out of the run down city,and to a location near the beach if he can solve the case. Since Jacq has a pregnant wife,he wants a better life for his family,and has to risk his life to solve the case. I like how the movie shows remnants of futuristic technology still remain in the world,such as nuclear batteries,and obviously the robots themselves,but the technology and parts aren't available to many people,and many people live in slums. I think it was clever how the programming for the robots that prevented them from harming humans,or allowing humans to be harmed becomes a hinderance when some robots drag Jacq through a radioactive desert wasteland to flee from bad guys chasing them,but Jacq tried to explain to them he will die in the radioactive wasteland,and the lives of his wife and child were in danger. The movie obviously has influences from Blade Runner and other AI movies,but I think the characters were likable enough,the movie has atmosphere,and the story isn't memorable but entertaining enough. The action scenes are a bit sloppy,but I'll take an interesting story over action anyday.
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Post by Uesugi-dono on Dec 7, 2017 13:55:07 GMT
Don't you mean Automata? hehehe
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Post by endorbr on Dec 7, 2017 14:19:43 GMT
Automa ta is a Spanish/Bulgarian Sci Fi movie that took me by surprise. The story is about how in the late 2030's,solar flares killed most life on Earth,bringing the world's population down to 20 million people. Obviously,the solar flares fried much of the world's electronics,hence things such as cars and planes are rare,but robots start being built in an effort to rebuild society,since society is on the brink of collapse. The robots are used for manual labor and sex services,and are programmed so they cannot harm a human,and cannot modify themselves or other robots. An insurance investigator for a robot building company named 'Jacq' is investigating cases of robots being able to modify themselves,and is trying to find out why. It's a dangerous case as conspiracies are uncovered,but Jacq's boss offered Jacq a transfer out of the run down city,and to a location near the beach if he can solve the case. Since Jacq has a pregnant wife,he wants a better life for his family,and has to risk his life to solve the case. I like how the movie shows remnants of futuristic technology still remain in the world,such as nuclear batteries,and obviously the robots themselves,but the technology and parts aren't available to many people,and many people live in slums. I think it was clever how the programming for the robots that prevented them from harming humans,or allowing humans to be harmed becomes a hinderance when some robots drag Jacq through a radioactive desert wasteland to flee from bad guys chasing them,but Jacq tried to explain to them he will die in the radioactive wasteland,and the lives of his wife and child were in danger. The movie obviously has influences from Blade Runner and other AI movies,but I think the characters were likable enough,the movie has atmosphere,and the story isn't memorable but entertaining enough. The action scenes are a bit sloppy,but I'll take an interesting story over action anyday. *SPOILERS* Now this one I've seen. I like how the ending was just left sort of open. Nothing was really resolved save for the threat of the bad guys and Jacq reuniting with his family. The world wasn't changed or anything and the story just kind of ends with them going their separate ways and the robots walking off into the wasteland.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Dec 8, 2017 17:41:26 GMT
The Martian felt like a breath of fresh air for me as far as Sci Fi goes,being driven by hardcore science and mathematics,rather than being another action film with futuristic technology. Being directed by Ridley Scott probably helped. The story is about how an astronaut named 'Watney' gets left behind on Mars after the rest of the crew believe he is dead when his suit's biomonitor gets destroyed during a dust storm,and the crew is forced to evacuate the planet. As you'd expect,he has a limited amount of food,but he fertilizes Mars soil using human waste, and uses it to grow potatoes. He knows the location of the Pathfinder,so he uses it to communicate to NASA using algorithms. SPOILERSSince the spacecraft the crew are aboard is already a great distance from Mars when they find out Watney is still alive,NASA tries to send a probe to Mars to deliver Watney food,but they have to wait until the Earth and Mars are close to being orbitally aligned(which adds another year to the journey),but the rocket used for the probe exploded. A last ditch plan is made to slingshot the spacecraft the crew is aboard using Earth's gravity to give the spacecraft the extra speed it needs to reach Mars quicker,while having it intercept a booster rocket with supplies in the process. Since the spacecraft isn't able to land on Mars and then launch afterwards due to thrust to weight ratio,Watney needs to use a Mars Ascent Vehicle to get into space again,and him and the crew have to calculate the altitude and speed in order to rendezvous with each other. I enjoyed this movie being for focusing more on science and using mathematics to explain exactly how they did things. The one thing I dislike about this movie is it does have a bit too much sentimentality for my liking(I usually like darker tones in Sci Fi).
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Post by endorbr on Dec 8, 2017 17:55:03 GMT
It also doesn't hurt that it's really visually stunning.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Dec 10, 2017 13:56:53 GMT
Predestination is a movie about a temporal agent who travels through time stopping crimes before they happen. He tries to stop a bombing in 1975 that kills 11 000 people in New York,but when he tries to disarm the bomb,it explodes and burns his face. He gets a face graft and travels back to 1970 to work as a bartender,while still trying to catch the bomber known as the 'fizzle bomber'. While working as a bartender,he has conversations with various customers whom are linked to both the agent/bartender,as well as the fizzle bomber,and other main characters.The movie tries to have you work out the intricate set of time paradoxes,as well as anticipate possible solutions,and I'll say the story is ingenious and mind-bending. It's hard to explain why this movie is great without giving away spoilers,but I think Ethan Hawke did a great job with his character acting,and the presentation of the story is great,and the story really makes you think,but it's a clever puzzle.
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Post by endorbr on Dec 10, 2017 16:24:31 GMT
Predestination is a movie about a temporal agent who travels through time stopping crimes before they happen. He tries to stop a bombing in 1975 that kills 11 000 people in New York,but when he tries to disarm the bomb,it explodes and burns his face. He gets a face graft and travels back to 1970 to work as a bartender,while still trying to catch the bomber known as the 'fizzle bomber'. While working as a bartender,he has conversations with various customers whom are linked to both the agent/bartender,as well as the fizzle bomber,and other main characters.The movie tries to have you work out the intricate set of time paradoxes,as well as anticipate possible solutions,and I'll say the story is ingenious and mind-bending. It's hard to explain why this movie is great without giving away spoilers,but I think Ethan Hawke did a great job with his character acting,and the presentation of the story is great,and the story really makes you think,but it's a clever puzzle. I’ve been waiting for this one to come to Netflix for a couple of years. Still waiting...
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Post by Uesugi-dono on Dec 10, 2017 16:50:14 GMT
Wait... Sarah Snook? SNOOK?
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Dec 16, 2017 15:02:16 GMT
I've watched Donnie Darko for the first time . It's an indie film that was released back in 2001. It kinda reminds me of a Shin Megami Tensei style story set in the 1980's. I like how the movie shows the use of simplistic rhetoric can do harm,and being made in 2001,it's like the movie is warning what will happen when political correctness goes too far,now we have so many SJWS. Coincidently,a part of the movie has Donnie talk to his science teacher about causality of time and space,and Donnie told his teacher if a timeline exists,then the future is preset,and we have no free will(just like causality indicates),and the teacher became defensive,because the teacher said God gives us free will. Donnie tried to point out what the science says,but the teacher became defensive and discouraged Donnie from using an open mind. The movie shows how psychologists and motivational speakers use a lot of psycho babble to simplify complex matters,and how many of them use indirect insults such as saying ''you are confused'' or ''you are scared'' or ''you are troubled' or ''you need help'' in an effort to win an argument. From Personal experience,psychologists and SJWs have used these kinds of tactics against me,as well as using false assumptions which they try to pass on as information,while ignoring real facts that can be proven. The movie does have supernatural and Sci Fi elements as well. It's definitely worth a watch.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Jan 20, 2018 12:10:17 GMT
Watched The Man From Earth Holocene. Another intelligent and thought-provoking movie. I can't explain what it's about,because doing so will give spoilers about the first movie. I will just say it does make you think about things Buddha said,and how things in the bible are interpreted. The cinematography is nice,just like in the first movie.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Feb 24, 2018 18:41:56 GMT
I've watched a couple of newer movies lately. One of them is a Korean movie named 'Along with the Gods' , which is about a guy who dies, and he needs to face 7 trials in the afterlife,which will determine his eternity. The movie focuses on aspects of Buddhism, portrayed in comical and serious tones. I thought the movie was meh. I've seen much better movies that focus on Buddhism,and that do it more logically, such as Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring,which is one of my favorite movies,and I'll need to review it one day. The other one is a Thai movie named 'The Promise', which is a ghost movie,that has amazing dark cinematography and music, it uses the Bangkok skyrise buildings in a dark and disturbing way, and the movie showed events many people in Asia can relate to,which was the Asian economic crash in the 90's when many Asians lost all their money and committed suicide. But the movie was too painful for it's own good,and it had potential,but didn't expand upon it's interesting premise and wasted the great cinematography/music.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Mar 2, 2018 6:20:21 GMT
Even though I'm not a fan of war movies,one I do like is 'Gettysburg', because of it's heavy focus on military strategy. The movie starts off explaining how the Confederates have held out Yankee forces for the first 2 years, however, General Lee wants to change his focus from fighting a defensive war to going on the offensive and invading the North,because he plans to march onto Washington and force Abraham Lincoln to settle for peace. General Lee had an army of around 70 000 men, and the Union sent an army of over 100 000, and both armies encountered each other in Gettysburg,where they tried to out-strategize each other,using higher ground,mountains as cover,artillery,scouting for information,setting traps for the other and outflanking each other. Even though the Union army was better equipped and had more men,the South had the better generals. Hence, the Confederates created a plan to send some of their forces to attack a vulnerable Union flank, hoping if they got past that flank they could attack the Yankees from the rear and front. Colonel Chamberlain of the Union army, whom was in charge of defending that flank, countered the Confederate attacks by using right angle formations over higher ground, which kept the line intact,and held out large waves of Confederate soldiers. The Confederates were still able to drive the Yankees back, but Lee faced a situation where he had to decide whether to continue with their advancement,but it would stretch them thin, or to retreat and continue fighting a defensive war (which General Lee believed wouldn't be good for the morale of his soldiers if they fought hard to capture territory, only to allow the Union to retake it). The naval blockades the Union used against the South made it even harder for the South to acquire resources, and every Southern city lost at the hands of the Yankees stretched the Confederate resources even thinner, to the point there was food shortages and Southern soldiers experienced hunger. Lee wanted to send 15000 soldiers to attack an encampment of around 10000 Yankee soldiers,hoping to drive them off a wall,hoping thereafter the remaining forces of that 15000 men could march onto Washington. However, some of the other Confederate generals were opposed to this idea, because of the ''low mathematical probability it would work'' , since the 15 000 soldiers would have to walk over a mile of open ground, and would be bombarded by artillery and cannon fire, and the remaining soldiers would then need to make it to a wall, where close to 10 000 Yankee soldiers would be using the wall as cover, while shooting at the confederate soldiers. Lee believed the center of the Yankee wall was the weak part, and told his generals to focus on the center. His subordinate general Longstreet came up with a plan to have the 15000 confederates move in a series of left movements to stretch out the Yankees and to make their line thinner. General Pickett actually led the charge on the battlefield,hence this move is historically referred to as ''Pickett's Charge''. As Longstreet expected, the confederate army lost too many men before they even made it to the wall ,and to make matters worse, General Hancock of the Union army sent some of his soldiers to the flanks to shoot at the Confederate soldiers from side-on, when they were still quite a distance away from the wall. The few soldiers who did make it to the wall were easily repelled. Picket's charge turned out to be a disaster for the Confederates,as they were massacred,and many would argue the confederates never recovered psychologically after Gettysburg, being so close to winning the war, but then suffering a devastating defeat, which prolonged the war.
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Post by endorbr on Mar 2, 2018 16:58:47 GMT
I am a big fan of the film Gettysburg. Not just because I'm a bit of a Civil War buff but because the movie did a good job of not painting the North as the great white knight heroes and the South as evil moustache twirling black hats fighting to keep slaves. It had good (albeit it dramatized obviously) historically accurate representations of the people, places and events of the battle. It's also got a really great musical score. It's tough to watch this movie too often as its a bit long and has a lot of sweeping camera shots and such that can unfortunately make me sleepy in the right circumstances. I never have gotten around to watching the prequel to this, Gods and Generals.
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