Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft.

I need to check that out again.

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If you like dystopian movies, try this:

Divergent



I really want to comment on this, but... sigh... I don't want to ruin it for anyone. So... No commentary.

But if you like the genre, it's worth a watch.

Meh... Fuggit! Don't click if you don't want to ruin the film!

THIS WILL RUIN THE FILM FOR YOU!!!

The film is rather bland with a lot of the same kinds of action and all that stuff. The interesting part is the plot and the meta-story.

The thesis focuses on the primacy of the state and the acceptance of the state as we see in our own reality.

However, the "divergents" step outside the state's ability to control people's thoughts.

This film explores mind control a bit (in a very superficial way), and people's roles in "society".

Overall, this is pretty weak for any kind of argument, but the film is entertaining and fun to watch. Even if you're an anti-state anarchist like me.

@ Ren - Divergent looks very good. Adding it to my list. 

Note: the trailer also has what I suspect might be a spoiler scene in it. So probably best skip that too.

@Shades - adding Open Window to my list too. Thx!

Open Window - Reasonably good thriller applying capabilities of current computer and smartphone technology to the NSA's wet dream happen.

Ooooh! Sounds good!

Quote from: Renegade on December 13, 2014, 01:36 PM

Divergent

I'm starting to find these movies rather tedious being, seemingly, rather teen oriented.

Divergent
The Maze Runner (first of what seems to be a series)
The Hunger Games
The Giver (which reminded me of a toned down PG13 version of the far better Equilibrium)
etc

Sigh... yeah... I know what you mean. There are very, very few really good movies in this category.

Beggars can't be choosers?

I figure it's just a matter of enjoying what's available. And even bad ones are better than romantic comedies/dramas.

Two of the best dystopian films I've seen in the last few years are Atlas Shrugged I & II.

FWIW - Equilibrium was excellent! But for some reason, it always reminds me of Gattaca.

I'm starting to find these movies rather tedious being, seemingly, rather teen oriented.

Divergent
The Maze Runner (first of what seems to be a series)
The Hunger Games
The Giver (which reminded me of a toned down PG13 version of the far better Equilibrium)
etc

I don't get it.  They *are* teen movies, aren't they?  Based on teen books?  No more adult oriented than If I Stay, or Fault of Our Stars, right?

BTW - Am I the only one here who wasn't impressed by Equilibrium?

Maybe not the only one.  But I'm not in that camp.  I loved it.

BTW - Am I the only one here who wasn't impressed by Equilibrium?

I think a lot of it depends on expectations. It wasn't the best dystopian film, but it did well in other areas. The gun kata were novel. They managed to create a world that was quite different from many others. The merging of religious themes was certainly a nice twist.

I'll man up. I only bothered with Ultraviolet to get my dose of Milla.

@wraith808: I guess if you'd read the books or any of the hype then you'd know they were aimed squarely at teens.  I usually just go, "Sci-Fi, I'll have to give it a try." 

Plus, I guess, it's the hope that maybe one of these films will actually be worth the time

Or have a teenager.    I'm just glad that she reads all the time... and if that's what she wants to read and watch, then more power to her! 

@Ren - from the The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce

Liberty

n. One of Imagination’s most precious possessions.

   The rising People, hot and out of breath,
   Roared around the palace: “Liberty or death!”
  “If death will do,” the King said, “let me reign;
   You’ll have, I’m sure, no reason to complain.”
                                                           - Martha Braymance

Freedom

n. Exemption from the stress of authority in a beggarly half dozen of restraint’s infinite multitude of methods.
A political condition that every nation supposes itself to enjoy in virtual monopoly. see: Liberty. The distinction
between freedom and liberty is not accurately known; naturalists have never been able to find a living specimen
of either.

Did you ever watch a movie that had a very good premise, a mind blowing opening, ridiculously flawed plotting, and an ending that absolutely crashed and burned - and yet you still liked it?

I have. And I watched it again last night and still liked it

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I don't remember much about Smila other than that I watched the whole thing.

Bet if you think back you'll remember that controversial confrontational scene at her father's home between Smilla and her father's dancer-girlfriend (or maybe new child-bride?) Benja played by Emma Croft. When Benja gleefully informs Smilla: "I've called the police - and I told them you're here."

[attach]

^I couldn't really get my head around that book or the movie. All of the characters seemed extremely weak (I can only take so much northern euro angst before I want to dope-smack somebody) or flat-out crazy. Maybe it's also because I had trouble with how the story seemed to present virtually every male as a sexual predator - or inferred they were a potential sexual predator. Must be rough if you're a woman living in Sweden if that's even partially true.

Or maybe that was just my take on it.

Not a single half-likeable character anywhere in it either. Something I think is very important in a movie since there's so little time to build enough backstory for a viewer to independently develop sympathy for a character without a little nudge from the director.

In truth, the characters in Dragon Tattoo seemed rather flat to me. Take the two main characters. Mikael is a frustrating study in blundering ineffectual dithering. Odd for someone who's supposed to be a crackerjack investigative news publisher. Lisbeth is completely over the top. To be expected considering the degree of damage she's endured. But the humanity is so crushed out of her, that there's little most people could ever hope to relate to. She has more in common with the absolute rage of a Greek fury than a victim who's learned to fight back. And because of that she comes across as very one-dimensional. And it was also very hard for me to buy into her uber-hacker prowess. But in fairness, I have the same problem with virtually any hacker character you'll meet in a movie. Maybe knowing something about how hacking really works has spoiled it all for me. "So it goes."

I dunno. It was a well made movie to be sure. But something about it just left me feeling cold and detached from it all. Others may see it differently.

BTW - Am I the only one here who wasn't impressed by Equilibrium?

I've tried watching it 3 times now, and haven't made more than half an hour in before the IMO entirely paradoxical setting made me turn it off. It's well produced, and skillfully acted, but entirely too silly for me to ignore its major flaws. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief, not hang it by the neck until it's dead.

The other night I watched a movie that's sort of the opposite of that, called Radio Free Albemuth. It's an adaptation of the posthumously published Phillip K Dick book of the same name. I say book, rather than novel, since the story is clearly part pure fiction and part autobiographical stream of consciousness from Dick's famously mentally ill and drug addled mind.

It's an extremely low budget production and, frankly, poorly directed. Despite that, I found it extremely compelling, and not just because it makes Phillip K Dick look like a god damn profit in light of certain aspects of modern society.

Well, except for...

Admittedly, it was a little hard not to giggle every time someone referred to the secret police as fappers.