Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Movie Monday
This was going to be a blog about Avatar which I saw last week. It's a visually stunning movie which really captures the meaning of "move" in movies. It soooo beats out Titanic since the love scenes are played out in graphic novel picture style and I didn't have to sit through that miserable hokey, unbelievable, stereotypical fairy tale tripe found in Titanic.
More of Avatar next week though. I want to see it again because some stuff just had to be explained to me (I am thick) and that took away from total comprehension (I am really thick.)
I did see Surrogates with Bruce Willis and James Cameron reprising his I,Robot role with a twist. I have no idea of the critical reception to this movie but I liked it. The premise is that humans have robotic surrogates whom they send out to live their lives while they stay home in a special sleeping chamber. Ugly humans can be roaming the city as beautiful people; old humans can have young surrogates; you get the picture. The glitch comes when a surrogate is killed and this also kills his "human."
This is a derivative of Asimov's 3 rules of robotics in that human death should never occur this way. Somehow the fail-safe protecting humans is disturbed and the movie has Willis, an FBI agent, investigating this crime(s), first in his surrogate form and then in his human form.
Of course, it's fantasy, but it's good fantasy. The writers were kind enough to explain plot points; you learn something at the start of the movie which you need for believability at the end of the movie.
You do have your obligatory car chases; your CGI stunts, your over-the-top plummeting of the hero (in real life, the guy would be dead), but you also have some interesting human and ethical dilemmas. The Willis character is carrying some heavy traumatic baggage and the ending leads you to think: Would I have made the same decision?
So it's part action hero saving the world but with some interesting thinking components. I'd even say that it could bring about some interesting dialogue between teens and their parents regarding the virtual reality world crowding in on human existence.
Definitely worth a Netflix pick.
More of Avatar next week though. I want to see it again because some stuff just had to be explained to me (I am thick) and that took away from total comprehension (I am really thick.)
I did see Surrogates with Bruce Willis and James Cameron reprising his I,Robot role with a twist. I have no idea of the critical reception to this movie but I liked it. The premise is that humans have robotic surrogates whom they send out to live their lives while they stay home in a special sleeping chamber. Ugly humans can be roaming the city as beautiful people; old humans can have young surrogates; you get the picture. The glitch comes when a surrogate is killed and this also kills his "human."
This is a derivative of Asimov's 3 rules of robotics in that human death should never occur this way. Somehow the fail-safe protecting humans is disturbed and the movie has Willis, an FBI agent, investigating this crime(s), first in his surrogate form and then in his human form.
Of course, it's fantasy, but it's good fantasy. The writers were kind enough to explain plot points; you learn something at the start of the movie which you need for believability at the end of the movie.
You do have your obligatory car chases; your CGI stunts, your over-the-top plummeting of the hero (in real life, the guy would be dead), but you also have some interesting human and ethical dilemmas. The Willis character is carrying some heavy traumatic baggage and the ending leads you to think: Would I have made the same decision?
So it's part action hero saving the world but with some interesting thinking components. I'd even say that it could bring about some interesting dialogue between teens and their parents regarding the virtual reality world crowding in on human existence.
Definitely worth a Netflix pick.
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