just put the kettle and ready to give it a go.
What DVD / Video did you watch last night? (pt3)
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just put the kettle and ready to give it a go.
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
Westworld. A swinging pleasure resort turns into a total downer when the robot mannequins turn on their human . . . exploiters? It's definitely a metaphor for something, I'm not sure what. What is interesting is how scifi seems to have turned away from anxiety about the future and the effects of technology after 1977 (and the release of a certain other scifi film).
Reno
The In Kraut
Loads of scifi films about anxiety about the future and technology have been made since 1977.
Just off the top of my head, some of the most famous:
The Terminator 1,2,3 & 4
The Matrix 1,2 & 3
Blade Runner
Jurassic Park 1,2 & 3 (which was Crichton's dino variation on his Westworld)
Robocop 1,2 & 3
Total Recall
A.I.
Minority Report
Alien 1,2,3 & 4
paulE
New Member
i watched a few episodes"Breaking Bad" while on vacation cause my brother in law loves the show. i am right there with you. it's like "Weeds" in that the premise is people in desperate situations reduced to desperate actions. i don't get the entertainment value in watching such stories? if i wanted that i could watch Donald Trump abuse his apprentices.
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
indeed, it's the most dominant theme of sci-fi, i'd say, and that certain other sci-fi film isn't that representative of sci-fi in general. some would argue that it isn't science fiction at all (it's a fantasy western if you want to wind up certain fans)
Reno
The In Kraut
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
i would like to dislike this post. 'people in desperate situations reduced to desperate actions' is the staple of every thriller and horror film and pretty much all drama.
paulE
New Member
i take your point but you must admit there is a difference in the quality of the desperation in"the Old Man and the Sea" and "Sophie's Choice" or Oedipus and Ulysses and certainly different from that found in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels". i think this also has to do with the films POV. are you meant to identify with the protagonist or simply be a voyeur?
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
Lock Stock is played for laughs and the others aren't.
and Breaking Bad certainly gets you to identify with the protagonist.
and Breaking Bad certainly gets you to identify with the protagonist.
discokermit
Well-Known Member
i don't give a fuck what anyone says, lock stock is a great film.
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
Oooh, hark at her.
Anyway, here's Slade in Flame, the last film ever made about a rock group:
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
It is utter fucking rubbish, and not even enjoyable rubbish, even if the lad who says "they're a bit tasty, they've got a bit of an arsenal" has a certain comedy value.
Reno
The In Kraut
discokermit
Well-Known Member
i do not agree. sting is shit in it though, as he is in everything.
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
To clarify - in the post Star Wars environment, spectacle took over from ideas, even if some of the films you list did try to engage with ideas. But only some - Matrix 2 and 3 were hardly as cerebral as the first movie, and while I haven't seen the Robocop sequels, I doubt if they added much to the ideas of the first movie.
As for Alien, it's not scifi, it's a horror movie in space, as Aliens is a war movie in space. Anxiety about technology is not that important when your major source of anxiety is an indestructible xenomorph that wants to use you as a breeding container for its offspring.
Reno
The In Kraut
Not sure why you are focusing on sequels as if that disproves that dystopian scifi flicks haven't been made since 1977. I'm not making any points about the quality of the films. The ideas in Westworld aren't exactly that amazing and I wouldn't hold it up as the most thoughtful of scifi films. Since the 70s Hollywood films as a whole have been less thoughtful and ambitious.
That said, you are merely backtracking from a post that wasn't that well thought through in the first place and you can't expect people to mind read what you meant when you wrote something quite different.
Alien is a scifi AND a horror film. Aliens is a scifi film AND a war/action film. Plenty of films are genre hybrids and therefore fit more than one genre. They still are scifi, dealing with dystopian ideas about all powerful corporations, artificial intelligence and space missions (futuristic technology!)which are supposed bring back lethal organisms for use in biological warfare (bad!).
Agree with you on Lock, Stock... though
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
Er, you seem to have forgotten the antics of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation in the Alien films.
And what about Blade Runner and Total Recall?
And what about Blade Runner and Total Recall?
discokermit
Well-Known Member
c'moooooon.
paulE
New Member
i just couldn't identify with the characters in BB or in Weeds and without that no point in watching. one of the best films dealing with desperation i did like and who's central character i could sympathize with is played by Michael Douglas in the film "Falling Down" the line that still sticks with me is "i am not economically viable".
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
You don't have to identify with anyone to enjoy a film/tv programme (like in The Sopranos) but Breaking Bad is all about making you identify with people crossing moral lines. It seems a ridiculous thing to complain about as there are so many other crappy tv shows to throw that complaint at.
october_lost
It's not hip any more...
No Country for Old Men - liked this immensely. Really tight action/thriller with good performances all round. Going to mull over the ending for sometime to come.
paulE
New Member
maybe you don't have to identify with the characters in a film of TV series to watch but i do and so do film critic who will note the lack of chemistry by actors in a film or inability of characters to make a connection with the audience. maybe you listen to music that you don't connect with either. hey it's your time to waste however you want but just cause you are willing to watch dreck don't insist i do. i never had any interest in the Sopranos either. you are right about the amount of crap on TV but i don't have to watch.
Col_Buendia
sort code
We sat down to watch "A Prayer for the Dying", but got a mere 40mins into it before we gave up in derision. God, it's awful (don't tell me it picks up after the first hour!). The ganster/undertaker character is a joke, and Mickey Rourke's Norn Iron accent, although solid enough, tends to wander round the six counties in terms of where it actually comes from. And why did they smear vaseline on the lens of the cameras every time they made films in the 1980s?
Reno
The In Kraut
Hanna, which is basically a Bourne movie with a young girl kicking ass. I like Saoirse Ronan who has a compelling otherworldly quality, but this isn't much of an acting show case for her. The film is atmospheric and often visually inventive but it's a simple chase story that doesn't add much that's new.
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
nuff said
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
Sunshine - daft, but quite enjoyable. Would probably have looked good on a big screen.;
Ten hours or so of Buffy - fitting with SyFy's top 20 rundown (Amends at 11? How? Why??), choosing a bunch of the episodes they omitted/I missed. Damn it was great when it was good.
Ten hours or so of Buffy - fitting with SyFy's top 20 rundown (Amends at 11? How? Why??), choosing a bunch of the episodes they omitted/I missed. Damn it was great when it was good.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
SyFy know nothing about anything. They cancelled Begbie in space ffs
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