Movie fictions: hardest to swallow [Archive] - Page 2

wmansir

28th January 2004, 07:50

If your an Asimov fan this (http://www.irobotnow.com/) should get you excited.
(Edit: This will be by the same guy who directed Dark City and The Crow, Alex Proyas. )

As far as Starship Troopers:

It's weird because I just typed up a response to almost the exact same criticism on another message board. The original story had each soldier equipped with a tactical armor suit which made them, in effect, flying nuclear tanks. These were not in the film, probably because of cost, but also to make the characters more sympathetic and humane.

Besides, ground troops are always a better story. Look at Space Above and Beyond (a very similar story), these guys are the best fighter pilots earth has, yet they spend most of their missions on ground patrol. That doesn't make much sense, but it's more entertaining.

StrawMan

28th January 2004, 13:52

Originally posted by wmansir
If your an Asimov fan this (http://www.irobotnow.com/) should get you excited.
(Edit: This will be by the same guy who directed Dark City and The Crow, Alex Proyas. )

As far as Starship Troopers:

It's weird because I just typed up a response to almost the exact same criticism on another message board. The original story had each soldier equipped with a tactical armor suit which made them, in effect, flying nuclear tanks. These were not in the film, probably because of cost, but also to make the characters more sympathetic and humane.

Besides, ground troops are always a better story. Look at Space Above and Beyond (a very similar story), these guys are the best fighter pilots earth has, yet they spend most of their missions on ground patrol. That doesn't make much sense, but it's more entertaining.

I would have to go with cost. Why would the filmmaker want to make the troopers more sympathetic when they are the bad guys?

r6d2

28th January 2004, 17:01

Originally posted by dragongodz
thus the new terminators dont need flesh while the old(arnie) one does.
So, Arnie and Kyle could have brought in weapons, provided those were covered with flesh? Why didn't they then? :confused: (The other terminators needed no weapons, of course.)
that being its actually impossible(so a mistake) but made possible for the use of tension and to get the common person to think there is some danger.
So the AutoMac guy was an expendable resource just put there to have the audience more thrilled? Quoting "The last American hero": Big mistake! :D
"I've always wondered why nobody has taken the Foundation series to the silver screen."
complexity, cost, the risk of a very big backlash from fans if they stuffed it, all of the above. :D
Yes, quite a bunch of casting would be needed indeed. My choice for Hari Seldon would be Antony Hopkins and Danny de Vito as The Mule. :)

However, if well done, I think the fans would swallow it all, just like the Lord of the Rings saga. Just think about all the gadgets that could be built as collectibles!
its a pity that the connecting series he had planned (from 'robots and empire' to 'foundation') will never be written.
Well, maybe his brain could be restored and put back to work again in the near future. ;)

dvd_master

29th January 2004, 02:19

I forgot which movie it is, but a guy ruined a huge network of encrypted computers by typed "upload virus" in the screen.

And for some reason, big huge computers in lots of movies has HUGE amounts of technical graphics (usually the green outline things) with semi-transparent screens and quickly scrolling text. :rolleyes:

That new movie coming, with the teenager on a mission, and there's the super genius kid with them that made a projection model of a building with the green-like thing, it just looks ridiculous.

r6d2

29th January 2004, 03:46

Originally posted by dvd_master
I forgot which movie it is, but a guy ruined a huge network of encrypted computers by typed "upload virus" in the screen.
Not to mention the almighty search engines those computers have:

% Find "John Walken, Arizona"
Found 5 entries.
Walken, John K., DECEASED
Walken, Johnattan, DECEASED
Walken, John F., 4 years old
Walkenson, John L., DECEASED
Walken, John W., DANGEROUS CRIMINAL

:D

Wolfman

29th January 2004, 05:43

In the film "when dinsoaurs ruled the earth" (maybe) the tribe of blond haired proto people throw raquel Welch out of their tribe, for being Dark haired, I mean, would you? totally unbelievable!

ALso why do all space battles have thier roots in either sea warfare "the engines cant take it Capt", & rocking from side to side? to the less than ininitely fast light beams (phasers) which are shoot-outs with guns. Except of course for star-wars which uses a samurai metaphor (jedis and light sabres). At least Dune tried something new even if it wasnt totally successful. And why is Kirk the physical equal (barely) of all the aliens he meets? Anybody who gets into that many fist-fights would be retired from service..with a pyschiatric discharge. And theres also the "hiding in an asteroid cloud".... ww2 fighter planes.

adam

29th January 2004, 08:24

How about legal movies where the underdog lawyer manages to win the impossible case in their closing argument. Like in a Time to Kill he manages to get a lifelong racist, who had already decided to vote guilty, to find Sam Jackson innocent just by making an emotional closing.

dragongodz

29th January 2004, 12:13

"So, Arnie and Kyle could have brought in weapons, provided those were covered with flesh? Why didn't they then?"
to blend with normal populace ? save on budget ? i dont know ? :)

"Danny de Vito as The Mule"
hmmm yes he could but i would rather someone else.
"However, if well done, I think the fans would swallow it all, just like the Lord of the Rings saga."
true but you have to remember that peter jackson had to fight for LOR to be 3 movies. the studio wanted the 3 books in 1 film and he thankfully refused no matter what they said. i dont know if foundation would have the same clout to force the issue.

"why do all space battles have thier roots in either sea warfare 'the engines cant take it Capt' "
maybe because they fly spaceSHIPS. :sly:

"why is Kirk the physical equal (barely) of all the aliens he meets? Anybody who gets into that many fist-fights would be retired from service"
gene roddenberry sold star trek to the studio as a western in space. the first pilot(the cage) he made was far from it and was rejected, they wanted fist fights and shoot outs damn it. so that had to be added to keep the studio happy and keep the show on the air.

r6d2

29th January 2004, 14:00

Hmm... Perhaps the Foundation series might better be shot as a TV series, with several episodes spanning several seasons. Due to the high rotation of characters, they would not have the problem of the regular cast end up asking for millionaire salaries if the show succeeds (like Friends, for instance).

About the effect of final emotional closings in legal battles, several movies exploit the fact of a guilty party getting a not guilty verdict due to plain emotions. Outstanding examples are Regarding Henry, where Harrison Ford wins a case of malpractice, from the hospital side. Or Primal Fear, where Richard Gere frees Edward Norton (terrific performance of this guy). And of course The Devil's Advocate. (And let's not forget Witness for the Prosecution.)

Also, 12 Angry Men (I saw the remake, with Jack Lemmon as the defecting juror) is a living parody of how fragile human justice can be. One single juror votes again the guilty verdict, and the whole movie shows how this guy gets to convince all the other ones of the defendant's innocence.

I certainly would like to have Lemmon as a juror on any case against me. :)

adam

29th January 2004, 14:06

Oh yeah 12 angry men is a great example. The straw that finally breaks the camel's back is that the guy brings in a knife which is identical to the murder weapon, to show that the kid's possession of one like it doesn't really prove anything. You can't do that! Jurors can't go out and do their own investigating. Still a great movie though.

I got another one. How about in Jaws 4 when they manage to attach a strobe to the shark. By flashing the strobe it somehow hurts the shark and causes it to jump out of the water?

StrawMan

29th January 2004, 15:28

Is that like putting a fricking laser on his fricking head?

markrb

29th January 2004, 19:42

"However, if well done, I think the fans would swallow it all, just like the Lord of the Rings saga."
true but you have to remember that peter jackson had to fight for LOR to be 3 movies. the studio wanted the 3 books in 1 film and he thankfully refused no matter what they said. i dont know if foundation would have the same clout to force the issue.
If you watch the extra's in the first extended edition of the series this statement is proven false. Peter Jackson actually went to them with the idea of making the 3 books into two movies thinking that there is noway these people will fund three movies. The Studio head came back with "there are 3 books, why shouldn't there be 3 movies?"

Mark

r6d2

29th January 2004, 21:07

Originally posted by markrb
Peter Jackson actually went to them with the idea of making the 3 books into two movies thinking that there is noway these people will fund three movies.
AFAIK, he shot the whole three movies together, so Elijah Wood would not grow up during the resting periods. :)

Did two or three movies actually made a difference in funding budget? I don't think it would have been significant in costs.

Besides, by doing three, they collect income for three years in a row for basically the same work. IMHO, the studios now their business. ;)

ppera2

30th January 2004, 13:58

Originally posted by r6d2
Did two or three movies actually made a difference in funding budget? I don't think it would have been significant in costs.
Besides, by doing three, they collect income for three years in a row for basically the same work. IMHO, the studios now their business. ;)

That's not correct. Large part of costs went to special (CGI) effects, which are made during long period.

r6d2

30th January 2004, 15:29

Originally posted by ppera2
That's not correct. Large part of costs went to special (CGI) effects, which are made during long period.
Even if the cost of 3 movies was 50% higher than 2 movies (i.e., it is linear, which I don't buy anyway due to scale economies), the profit of 3 is much higher than of 2, so the studios made more money after all.

If you have numbers to back up your statement, I'd be glad to hear them.

ppera2

30th January 2004, 16:52

I think that we don't need some numbers here. It's simple not possible to put 10 hours in 2 movie. It's not possible to make all work in 1 year. Making of LOTR serial started much earlier than shoting, just to mention.

Beside it, I don't care how filmmaking costed, how much they will profit and similar. If movie is good, I will gladly pay for watch it.

P.S. I just saw our avatars :) Normal that we started fight :D

nikthebak

30th January 2004, 17:14

Each time science is involved. Physics, biology, medicine and most of all, computer science.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the worst example of them all, which is:

INDEPENDENCE DAY

Scenario:

A guy uses his modem (ITU-T V.32) to dial up to aliens' modem (ITU-T V.32). Then he uploads a COMPUTER VIRUS (Win32 executable, probably written with MASM) to the aliens. The aliens' computer runs either on Windows or some system that executes Win32 object code. Bang! Their systems crash.

That's vile. That's bad. That's the most revolting thing I've ever heard. Just thinking about it makes me feel so dirty that I must go and wash myself with soap.

Wolfman

30th January 2004, 17:28

The aliens' computer runs either on Windows or some system that executes Win32 object code. This simply proves BG Is an alien from another planet.. and that NO human could write such bad code. No wonder the interface is rubbish? its written for 10 armed octopie who see in the infrared and live for 10000 years.. so boot up time and defragging is not a problem!!

Kedirekin

30th January 2004, 18:32

And they have a wonderfull three day ritual for saying hello.

Just kidding. A little STNG trivia from my favorite episode.

We're mostly tech-heads here, so it only makes sense that it'd be mostly science fax paus that would drive us nuts. I wonder if Humanities majors get similarly distracted any time there's an art fax pau in a movie.

I was thinking yesterday one of the things that gets to me are transformations - it just raises a red flag in the back of my mind. When Dracula transforms into a bat, why isn't he a *huge* bat with a 60 foot wing span (that incidentally would break off if he tried to flap them)? Where did all the extra mass go? There are tons of movies with transformations like this. I thought League of Extraordinary Gentlemen got it right with their vampiress transforming into a whole gaggle of bats, but then they've got Jekyll transforming into a much more massive Hyde.

Another one that got to me was The Core. I had real problems swallowing a ship that could drill through solid rock at 30 MPH (or however fast it went) and could withstand pressures 100's of miles down. This exceeds even my ability to come up with pseudo science, and I consider myself pretty forgiving in that respect.

AND THEN ... they got out of the ship ... in a big geode ... that was filled with air. My hair is standing on end just thinking about it now - I think I might have laughed out loud when I first saw it.

r6d2

30th January 2004, 22:10

@nikthebak, dragongodz sort of convinced us of not touching ID some pages ago: :D

Originally posted by dragongodz
i wont go in to films like indipendance day which had so many holes in it they should have called it leaky bucket.

But yes, it is an absolutely unbuyable stuff. The Win32 stuff also proves that if you use Win32 on a mission critical application, you may get screwed. :D

On the Humanities major thing, yes, we are almost all sort of techies here. But that does not preclude us from finding interesting stuff too.

For instance, I wonder why most popular aliens are sort of man-like figures, though with variations. Or any other known species like insects, or gators, etc.

Why are script writers so unoriginal? if life existed somewhere else, why possibly should they look like us? Our body is well engineered, of course, but are we the only possibility?

(I once read that God must have been an engineer, since only an engineer would install a recreation facility besides a sewer system exit.) :)

Why aren't they much bigger, or much smaller? Why do they live on our same time scale? They might have, for instance, a much slower, or much faster metabolism. They might not be visible on our visible spectrum. They might even not be able to detect us...

So many unexplored variations...

r6d2

31st January 2004, 00:55

Originally posted by ppera2
I think that we don't need some numbers here. It's simple not possible to put 10 hours in 2 movie.If he was only going to make 2 movies, he would have not shot 10 hours. :)

BTW, numbers are good when supporting stuff. ;)
P.S. I just saw our avatars :) Normal that we started fight :D
This reminds me of Cats & Dogs, an excellent piece of work with animals.

Animals also have shown extraordinary abilities in the movies. Remember Gremlins? You surely think those were just muppets, right? Well... No! Gizmo was for real! :D

SeeMoreDigital

31st January 2004, 01:08

"Deep Throat"

........Need I say more!

nikthebak

31st January 2004, 01:47

Originally posted by r6d2
@nikthebak, dragongodz sort of convinced us of not touching ID some pages ago: :D

Okay, I didn't notice that :)

Yes, maybe it's better to just plain ignore ID4 because it's a pathological case. It's just that the "computer virus to aliens" scenario is the worst display of computer illiteracy I've ever seen. Yuck.

Whenever someone hacks into Pentagon/CIA/FBI mainframe virtually just by typing "hack pentagon" (and "download files") into his laptop, I feel pretty sick. But those regular, everyday Pentagon hacks are nothing compared to the ID4 stunt. It's just totally off the charts, unbelievable that someone actually wrote something like that and didn't get fired and/or shot in the head instantly. Even Star Trek's "unsolvable geometric shape" is a LOT better than that.

It seems that when a Hollywood writer starts to spew out computer fiction, everything turns crazy. Down go all computer science, rational logic, and even common sense, everything is possible. Making of the movie costs millions of dollars, and yet no one bothers to do even a little bit of research on what's even remotely possible. And this applies for other fields of knowledge too; geography, culture, language, history, philosophy, psychology, everything.

The only place you can find even semi-decent computer fiction are games, and that's because game programmers know pretty much about computers, because they are game programmers.

Let me proceed to the "ntb Comp-Fi Rule #1":

Only people with ten or more solid years of programming and hardware experience should be allowed to write computer fiction.

Sounds cruel but it's the only way to make the pain stop :devil:

Okay, having said all that, there is one exception. I consider the "deposit the rounding error to my account" hack from Office Space (and Superman III) very believable. I wonder was it really done for real back in the 70's? In times when non-programmers couldn't possibly imagine a thing like that.

smok3

31st January 2004, 03:37

interesting thread, btw, there is a half-belivable story about the making/scaling of the tech used in lotr here:
http://www.cgnetworks.com/story_custom.php?story_id=1883
(shortly, it wasnt really a linear proces, they had to redo/reinvent lots of stuff for the 3rd part)

about terminator, why the machines didnt send something like killer-car for example? (would be hard to detect with some morphing abilites), or in matrix i still dont get why they just dint kill all the people and use cows instead, iam sure it wouldnt be that hard to generate big green surface for the virtual enviroment for those..

and a lil comic i remember from somewhere:
two cows sitting in a cinema watching horror movie - something about vampires, and one cow says to another: "they come back from the grave to drink the milk of the living".

adam

31st January 2004, 04:47

Originally posted by smok3
or in matrix i still dont get why they just dint kill all the people and use cows instead, iam sure it wouldnt be that hard to generate big green surface for the virtual enviroment for those..

Not a bad point. Assuming it could be done with humans, (only in the movies) any large lifeform should work. But maybe all major lifeforms except humans and cockroaches died when the humans blacked out the sun? There's also some poetic justice in enslaving your enemy, and according to some of the scenes in Revolutions, the machines actually might think like that.

The Mootrix might not make such a bad fan film. "Moo" really isn't that far from "Whoa" and look what that did for Keanu.

Soulhunter

31st January 2004, 19:59

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
"Deep Throat"

........Need I say more!
LOL... :D :D :D

r6d2

2nd February 2004, 23:45

It is worth to note that horror movies typically are more a comedy than anything else. I have had a hard time getting scared by a horror movie. A very notorious exception is The Ring (the remake). Also The Blair Witch's project, but man, I got really, and I mean really scared when I watched The Ring.

I've been thinking a lot about what does that movie have which makes it so different from all the others.

I think the most scary scenes were those shot clips or flashes that showed something terrible, but were short enough to not giving you time to think "oh, it's a trick". So you just end up jumping on your seat with the sensation of something weird surrounding you.

I'm about to watch Ringu (the original) one of these days, to see if it produces the same effect.

dragongodz

3rd February 2004, 04:40

"It is worth to note that horror movies typically are more a comedy than anything else. I have had a hard time getting scared by a horror movie."
this is really more prevelant nowdays of course. go back to the horrors made in say the 70,s and 80's and the majority are straight horrors. nowdays it seems people either expect or need the comedy to break the tension up.

"I think the most scary scenes were those shot clips or flashes that showed something terrible, but were short enough to not giving you time to think "oh, it's a trick". So you just end up jumping on your seat with the sensation of something weird surrounding you."
agreed. of course some older movies also did that for budget reasons(cheap crappy monsters). nowdays its "look at the cool fx, we spent millions for this 1 minute piece of footage".

r6d2

3rd February 2004, 07:26

Originally posted by dragongodz
this is really more prevelant nowdays of course. go back to the horrors made in say the 70,s and 80's and the majority are straight horrors.
Yes, I agree. Scary Movie seems to be the final proof. However, I never got scared with pure 80's horror like Jason or Freddy anyway. On the 70's I got scared with Jaws, but I was too young then, so it does not count I guess. :)
nowdays it seems people either expect or need the comedy to break the tension up.
Interesting. Never looked at it that way. Me, if looking for comedy I'd rather go with Friends or Seinfeld instead.
of course some older movies also did that for budget reasons(cheap crappy monsters).
Remember Frankenstein's bride? :)
nowdays its "look at the cool fx, we spent millions for this 1 minute piece of footage".
You know, when I first watched Jurassic Park I just could not believe my eyes. I thought: "These guys can do anything now", and I foresaw a personal inability to be amazed again by a special effect.

My prediction turned into a fact in my case. When I see Gollum from LOTR, I think we are close to the day of watching Humphrey Bogart again on the silver screen, any minute now.

Cyberman

3rd February 2004, 12:49

Originally posted by echooff
I always liked the world they traveled to in Stargate. Sand and dust as far as the eye could see. Where did all the food and water come from to sustain the population. How about all of the fires burning in Armegeddon after the shuttle crashed on the asteroid. Fire with no oxygen?

Well, if I´d drop you in the middle of the Sahara, you wouldn´t belive there´s any food or water anywhere, yet it´s only a part of our world. And even there we have water and plants. Even animals.

As for Armageddon: perhaps it came from the shuttle itself? AFAIK they´re using oxygen/hydrogen for propulsion(at least in space, where they don´t need that much power).

dragongodz

3rd February 2004, 15:47

"if looking for comedy I'd rather go with Friends or Seinfeld instead."
yes but i mean they seem to use comedy when tension starts to build, almost like they are frightened to scare people too much. :)

"Remember Frankenstein's bride?"
oh the horror....indeed.

"I foresaw a personal inability to be amazed again by a special effect."
i am afraid i suffer that problem aswell.

"I never got scared with pure 80's horror like Jason or Freddy anyway"
well i agree somewhat but the first friday the 13th was pretty good and original. also dont forget the first 2 halloween movies. probably throw in the first poltergeist aswell to a smaller degree. :D

r6d2

4th February 2004, 00:29

Originally posted by Cyberman
they´re using oxygen/hydrogen for propulsion(at least in space, where they don´t need that much power).
This reminds me of another faux pas on the Sci-Fi arena. I cannot remember the name of the movie, but it is about a guy who is supposed to travel alone on his ship to another planet with a bag of vaccines to help on a huge epidemics.

When he has already left, the computer warns him that there is some excess luggage on the ship. He searches and finds an unexpected extra passenger: a girl who wanted to see her only brother on that planet, and managed to get unnoticed into the ship.

The guy receives a “direct order” to get rid of the extra load, or the ship won’t have enough fuel to reach its destination.

Obviously, he refuses because of compassion. He and the girl try to solve the problem in another way: dump everything not strictly needed. They cannot dump the vaccines, for obvious reasons. They rip the ship apart, which takes them hours. They manage to dump an amount of weight similar to that of the girl.

Happy with his duty, the commander checks the computer again. But guess what... The computer says it still needs to cut some more weight. How come?

Well, according to the computer, the extra weight they had to release the first time was considering an immediate dump. Since the journey had taken some hours already, they had consumed more fuel than expected during that time.

I won’t tell you the ending of the movie, but that scriptwriter was not aware that ships in space don’t use up any fuel whatsoever, they move in a straight line along their path. Since there is no friction, there is also no speed loss (or gain).

Fuel is only needed for the changes in direction, and on a long trip like this one you can minimize that for sure, particularly because empty space is really empty, there are no stars to skip or planets to avoid. (Two galaxies can cross their paths without a single contact of their contents.)

So this scriptwriter in question did not even know Galileo’s laws of motion! :D

And not only that: there is no such a thing like "weight" on a ship in space. The weight is always zero! :D:D:D

Wolfman

4th February 2004, 01:16

Since there is no friction, empty space is really empty Both of these statements are'nt true as even interstellar space has some Gas in it. The amount of friction is almost undetetectable tho. Space is not a Vacuum. just 99.99% of a vacuum.

"Scientists have long theorized that a shock wave exists where the hot solar wind bumps up against the thin gas of the interstellar medium. A similar shock wave precedes aircraft flying faster than the speed of sound, causing a sonic boom."

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/11/05/voyager.solar.boundary.ap/

Kedirekin

4th February 2004, 01:37

That story is based on the short story The Cold Equation by Tom Godwin.

I can't speak for the screen adaptation, but the short story is pretty solid science wise. The ship is under a tight time constraint to reach its destination to stave off an epidemic. The ship is already stripped to the bare to get there in time (nothing to jettison), and taking off with a stow-away has used all of the safety margin. As I recall, in the short story the girl records a farewell message for her brother and bravely steps into the air lock. It's quite heart rending.

It's the time constraint that buttons it up. You need a certain amount of fuel to get a certain mass up to a certain speed so you can get there in time. Increase the mass by 50 kilograms, and suddenly that amount of fuel is no longer enough to get you there in time.

r6d2

4th February 2004, 02:50

Originally posted by Wolfman
Both of these statements are'nt true as even interstellar space has some Gas in it.
Hm... Well, you are technically right. In fact, according for instance to this (http://www-ssg.sr.unh.edu/tof/Outreach/Interstellar/index.html?what1.html) page, the interstellar space density is about 1 atom per cubic centimeter. I guess you can consider that, for all practical purposes, quite non-existent friction. :)
Space is not a Vacuum. just 99.99% of a vacuum.
In terms of volume, 1 atom of the most "ubiquitous" element in space (hydrogen) occupies only 1 preceded by 16 zeros percent of a cubic centimeter. So, space is 99.9…lots of nines…9% vacuum.
The amount of friction is almost undetetectable tho.
Of course, and any friction undetectable is absolutely negligible and does not slow down the ship.

Another interesting fact about emptyness, if you look closely into the atom you'll find that the ratio of the H atom's size to the proton size is 10^5. If the proton was the size of the Earth, the electron would be as far as 4 times the distance to the Sun. So, you can see that matter itself is made of a lot of empty space. :D
Originally posted by Kedirekin
It's the time constraint that buttons it up.
The way you put it absolutely makes sense. This (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacecraft_propulsion) link is related to that. I’ll look for the reference you quote, looks interesting.

BTW, you spoiled the movie! :D:D:D

r6d2

6th February 2004, 16:18

Originally posted by dragongodz
the first poltergeist aswell Agreed. Good stuff. Also the prophecies.

BTW, I watched Ringu the other night. I don't know if it was because I had already been to The Ring, but it did not produce the same effect. However, the scene when the girl comes out from the TV is very well achieved IMHO. Man, she was ugly!

Speaking about terror, don't forget suspense. I just watched Identity. An interesting movie where 10 people find themselves in a roadside hotel on a rainy night, completely isolated. Somewhat connected to "I know what you did last summer", the ending is very surprising and convincing. I liked it.

Wolfman

6th February 2004, 22:52

dont say anymore its on the "to-watch list"!
.R6d2.. yes I wz 2 lz 2 type 'tall :cool: Plus I think even 1 atom would slow a spaceship a little little bit.

KILL BILL IS A TRUE STORY

r6d2

6th February 2004, 23:30

Originally posted by Wolfman
dont say anymore its on the "to-watch list"!OK, so @Kedirekin, you've heard already... Don't post that the butler did it! :D

@Wolfman, will this movie atom refrain you from watching it? :D

Just kidding, there is no butler.

wmansir

7th February 2004, 08:11

I just saw Along Came a Spider and I have to say it has some of the worst plot hole I have seen in a movie.

SPOILERS (for a horrible movie)
.
.
.
.
Ok, the First we have the "criminal(ly insane) mastermind" who kidnaps a senators daughter. How does he do this? Easy.

Step 1. Become a master of disguise. Were not talking bad wig and an eye patch, but full body padding suit, fake beard, wig, mustache and facial skin appliances. And these have to be good enough so you can wear them 8+ hours a day, 5 days a week in very close contact with others without anyone noticing.

Step 2. Get the (forged?) credentials to be hired at a top tier prep school in Washington AND get by a Secret Service/FBI background check (with your disguised look).

Step 3. Become an excellent teacher. Why? So you don't get fired during step 4.

Step 4. Spend TWO YEARS monitoring your target(s) by pretending to be their excellent teacher, while in makeup.

Step 4a. Thank God you have the summers off, that body suit would kill you.

Now here's were the real genius comes in to play.

Step 5. Instead of kidnapping your primary target (who is also a student of yours, and would be just as easy to kidnap). Kidnap his friend.

Step 6. After every teacher/parent/security personnel/secret service/FBI/Cop are on their toes because one of the kids has just been kidnapped, secretly contact your primary target, posing as the friend, and lure him out of his heavily secured mansion. Be sure and tell him "don't trust anyone" so he doesn't tell his dad or anything.

Step 7. Dress as a cop, then kill a couple of on-duty cops in their patrol car and use the cops' car to kidnap the primary target. But DON'T remove the cop's body from the passenger's seat, even though he has a big hole were his face was. Just drive around with his body in plain sight for fun.

(I'll have to continue this post tommorrow. The cough medicine I just took is kicking my *** and I'm about to pass out.)

dragongodz

7th February 2004, 11:30

"I just watched Identity."
"the ending is very surprising and convincing."

hmm ye it wasnt bad but the very very end was rather predictable i thought, well i predicted it anyway once it was clear what was going on. :)

r6d2

9th February 2004, 14:55

Originally posted by wmansir
I just saw Along Came a Spider and I have to say it has some of the worst plot hole I have seen in a movie.Man, you have not watched XXX I guess... :)

I went to the movies the other night. 21 grams. González Iñáritu is coming into my favourite director short list along with Tarantino (my top 1), Cameron and Spielberg.

The movie is very interesting. Some critics say he is repeating the formula of "Amores Perros", but I don't think so.

The movie has some of the Memento effects, but much lighter (similar to what is done in Identity).

You had to concentrate heavily or you won't get it. It seems I was too distracted with the popcorn bag because my wife got the keys much earlier than I did. It is worth to note that my wife did "tilt" at Memento, so I congratulated her a lot.

I usually have trouble getting my wife to understand my own stories when they have some of these racontos and flashbacks, so I'm trying to learn the Iñaritu technique to improve my writing.

There is another movie I've heard which uses some of these effects, Irreversible. Anyone has seen it yet?

crusty

9th February 2004, 22:25

ROFLMAO @ this topic!

LOL...people this is a fun topic really!

Anyway when it comes to 'hardest to swallow' I guess there are some that just stick 'head and shoulders' above the rest....

How about 'Battlefield Earth'? I mean it's just amazing.

You have a bunch of planet-of-the-apes like humans being completely subjugated by aliens. Then all of a sudden they are overthrown because basically one human got smart. LOL!

And if that isn't enough, how about these:

-Library of congress still has books after 1000 years of weathering, in fact it would be highly unlikely the damn place would even be erect after 10 centuries...

-Humans with less technical know-how not only learn to fly Harrier Jets in less than a week, they also become good enough to win.

And there are plenty of other little 'technicalities' in this movie that make it a must-see for the people in this topic..LOL.

Anyway here are some other thoughts....

@Sound in space:
If a ship or weapon in space would distort space-time itself, wouldn't that create sound to the human ear if the distortion shockwave would reach the human ear, or the hull of the vessel that the human is in?

@Computers and films:
That's why the term 'Hollywood OS' came into existence in the first place. It's basically the way computers work in hollywood movies:
They do what is written in the script in clearly visible and obvious way (so the public can understand) and all the actors have to do is type in some random charachters ormove the mouse a bit and the computer will go to the next scripted phase.

@Time travel & Planets revolving:
In theory you could compute the difference in space as well as time and compensate for that, if you also had some way of space travel.
In fact, some theories suggest that time travel would always be linked to some means of space travel.

The aliens' computer runs either on Windows or some system that executes Win32 object code.
Well nobody's perfect...Bill Gates is everywhere. :D :D :D

I remember watching ID4 with 30 people @ my student society....afterwards everybody came out with an incredulous smile thinking along the lines 'Somebody actually MADE this movie??'.
Only people with ten or more solid years of programming and hardware experience should be allowed to write computer fiction.
Naahh....wouldn't be 'fiction' then would it?More like 'FACTion'...
:)

or in matrix i still dont get why they just dint kill all the people and use cows instead, iam sure it wouldnt be that hard to generate big green surface for the virtual enviroment for those..
Yeah, or use bacteria or something. Even with something like a matrix, people would still fail because of two things that are scientificly proven:
-Humans need light to stay happy....proven by experience in arctic weather/sciencestations and submarines.
-The human brain can detect natural light right through the skull (just like many other animals).

Considering more 'plausible' films, I found 'The Thing' reasonably plausible...just a few bits and bobs that weren't sound, but as a whole pretty credible.
AFAIK they´re using oxygen/hydrogen for propulsion(at least in space, where they don´t need that much power).
That could very well be the cause of those fires, but they would be extinguished very quickly.
And that combination is not a weak power source really. That combination is very explosive, comparably to some proper explosives.
Stick them together andyou've got a Very Nice Big Explosion (tm).
Remember the Challenger explosion?
So, you can see that matter itself is made of a lot of empty space
That's exactly the reason why some scientists consider it possible that under certain circumstances mass can travel through other mass.
And it's the premisse of "Honey I shrunk The Kids'. ;)

In the end a film is just a film...enjoy it if it's a good one, laugh about it if it's a bad one.

r6d2

10th February 2004, 03:45

Originally posted by crusty
If a ship or weapon in space would distort space-time itself, wouldn't that create sound to the human ear if the distortion shockwave would reach the human ear, or the hull of the vessel that the human is in?I don't really know (not been to space lately), but I don't think so. No matter how distorted empty space-time becomes, it is still empty and sound needs a medium to propagate itself.
In theory you could compute the difference in space as well as time and compensate for that, if you also had some way of space travel.The problem with this is that if time did not pass for Einstein during that minute, then he could not travel in space. You require the pass of time to move, and he was suspended in time. Remember d=V*t. No t, no d.
-Humans need light to stay happy....proven by experience in arctic weather/sciencestations and submarines.Agreed, but remember that all your senses are connected to the computer, so the computer fakes sunlight for you. The leit motif of the movie is that you cannot tell a difference. "No one can tell you what the matrix is, you have to see it for yourself".
That's exactly the reason why some scientists consider it possible that under certain circumstances mass can travel through other mass.You mean like galaxies, which can cross each other indisturbed? Interesting, never heard that before. Do you have an URL to check on that?

Wolfman

10th February 2004, 04:00

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Humans need light to stay happy....proven by experience in arctic weather/sciencestations and submarines.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We already have artificial sunlight halogen lights ... I think they may have that worked out. sound cannot propagate in a vacumum but maybe waves of distortion can. Galaxies do not pass thru each other undisturbed .. they rip each other to shreds. Battlefield Earth..First Dvd I ever bought.. the thing? v good film. "Honey I blah blah", kids films.
EXterminate Exterminate..oh no they have gone up a flight of stairs!! exterminate!:rolleyes:

vhelp

10th February 2004, 04:09

Well, for me, as long as I go to the movies, I can be scared. Maybe
not as scared as walking in a smelling bathroom in a gas station, but..

I remember seeing Friday the 13th, back in '79 in the thearters.
Boy, did that scare me some. Oh, and Holloween I was another
one!! Like, every time I see the scene where the little boy walks
around the corner, and bumps into M.Meyers - - sheesh.. the music is
chilling.

But, those kinds of movies they don't make any mores. It's really
hard to make them ("originally" speaking) because we've all become so
synthasized to the "same'oll same'oll" scenario. But, every once in
a while, they come out w/ an originality plot.
.
.
Take for instance, Jeepers Creepers the first movie. That one
always gets to me in the opening scene, where they drivers (mr. creeper)
is tailing Darel (spelling) and he goes banannas because it just couldn't
figure out that the Mr. Creeper was not trying to get ahead of him, but
rather trying to "bait" him for "fear".. the start of this chilling
movie !! I love it.
.
.
I was dissapointed that the same Girl (character) was not inthe 2nd one,
of which I didn't even know exhisted unbtill I heard of it on vcdhelp
a month ago or so. I was shocked. But, the 2nd one (though I haven't
see it yet, but have the DVD now) leaves me wondering how good it is.
I have my doublts, but that's ok.

-vhelp