The Thin Man (1934)

Group Rating (out of 5):

Stevox: 3
Val: 5
Kyle: 4
Micah: 3

Averages to 3.75 drinks out of 5.

Shares this rating with The Princess Bride, Minority Report, and The Godfather.

Notes on a Theme: SciFi

This past Sunday we brought the theme of Science Fiction to a close. Minority Report, Contact and Terminator 2 were out choices. Within these three movies, there are multiple common sub-genres and themes of scifi that were covered. This included but was not limited to:

Futuristic Technology
Aliens
Future Dystopia
Time Travel
Robots
Complex Moral/Ethical/Social Issues

In Minority Report we saw a great deal of futuristic technology. Eye scanners, self driving cars, and that cool interactive hologram screen. Which is real by the way.

g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

More important to the plot we took a close look at the Ethical implications of arresting and judging people for crimes that they are supposed to commit in the future.

Contact was our alien movie. The bigger theme of the film is the exploration of the social issues that would arise from actual contact with extraterrestrials. *Spoiler Alert. On a side note, the first machine deserved to get blown up. NASA must have the crappiest security if bleach blond preacher guy can get onto the base, into a suit, out on the launchpad, up the structure, wander about for a couple minutes, get coffee, talk about the weather, go the bathroom, pretend to work to avoid getting actual work, smile like a creeper, and then stand around looking evil for five minutes before someone notices he's not supposed to be there.

Moving on, Terminator 2 had a our biggest collection of sub-themes. Time Travel, Dystopian Future, Robots and as a bonus, the very same ethical dilemma of judging someone for "crimes" they haven't yet committed. That particular theme is an undertone of the turning point in the story. Where they go from defense to offense.

I feel pretty good about the movies choices for this theme. The movies were old enough that they weren't fresh in our minds. Except Val with Contact, apparently she watches it all the time. If you are looking for other good Science Fiction movies here are a couple recommendations:

Primer (2004)



















A great indie film about time travel. The story telling is wonderful and the tech isn't over top, it's actually pretty 'realistic.' For as realistic as time travel can be.

Alien (1979)



















A dark, gritty space movie about average people, but they live in space. I think space was the biggest, most common scifi theme we didn't cover. In Canada the scifi channel is named Space. Space is the final frontier. It's also big, i mean really big. I mean massively, mind-bogglingly big. And so on, you get the idea. Anyways, the suspense is fantastic, and if you like scifi you need to see this movie. It's relatively violent though, so screen it for the kiddies.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)



















If you are looking for something a little lighter then you should consult the Guide. Based on a series novels, the first of which starts with the same name, this movie provides a light-hearted romp through the galaxy in a search for the ultimate question to life, universe, and everything. It is important to note that the Guide series is British. Which will explain a lot. Also, it's awesome.

I'm a big fan of Science Fiction, and I know Stevox enjoys it as well. So if you have any suggestions for scifi movies we should watch, not necessarily at movie club, that aren't your normal 2001 a Space Odyssey or Blade Runner, let us know.

Next Sunday we actually won't be having movie club. And I know, I'm disappointed too. But get over it, because you don't own us. Also, we are going to the beach. So there's that.

The Great Movie Review: Minority Report

I'll be honest, Tom Cruise is not one of my favorite actors. But as of late he's been gaining points, however slow. I enjoyed The Last Samurai, and Rain Man was excellent, but somewhere in between I forgot about Minority Report. It's helpful that Spielberg directed, but for the life of me I don't know how I could see this movie, think to myself, that was pretty good and then forget about it until about three days ago.

We start in a utopian future, localized around DC. We get introduced to the experimental Pre-Crime Unit, who arrest people for murders they commit in the future. Cruise plays the main character, John Anderton, who is "framed" for a murder he will commit in the future. Just watch it, it'll all make sense. Maybe. If your lucky and you pay attention.

I don't think i could handle living in DC with this going on. Sure murder is nonexistent, but in the back of my mind i would be paranoid the entire time that i will be arrested at any moment. It'd be terrible. Don't talk to anyone, don't interact, don't even look at people! Just yell you're sorry and that no one is going to get hurt! Or is that the opposite of what you should do?

Anyhow, the acting is solid. Cruise and Colin Farrell (hereafter referred to as Bullseye) both give very good performances. I also enjoyed the performance by Peter Stormare as the eye doctor. Your not sure if he's good or bad. And Lois Smith was great as the creepy plant lady.

The special effects haven't aged too badly. The jet packs needed work from the start though. They achieved flight through the magic of the camera. Which means it wobbled around they yanked people around on wires. Bleech.

Story telling. This was the best part of the film. The movie itself was based on a short story by Philip K. Dick. From the intro of the pre-crime unit, the explanation of the tech, to the unveiling of the murder that Anderson is being framed for, the chase and through the solving of the mystery, it grips you and moves you forward.

In the movie they discuss the ethics of arresting people for future crimes they have yet to commit. Obviously there is a great big Jabba the Hut sized problem with that. They haven't actually killed anyone. The justification is that even though it happens in the future, and they haven't done it, it would happen anyways. But by them stopping that chain of events that time line no longer exists. Meaning that the future crime they are supposed to commit no longer even happens. It's like getting arrested for nothing. But on the other hand, were they allowed to continue they would in fact murder said person. But they didn't, soooooo ... yeah the movie didn't do a good job defending this point of view either.

There's not a ton of funny in this movie. It's definitely a mystery/thriller. Even if you aren't into Sci-Fi, you should see this movie.

This movie is a Watch. Watch is good.

Spoiler alert!




Bullseye dies! How did i forget that!

Minority Report

Group Ratings(out of 5):

Stevox: 5
Val: 3
Kyle: 4
Micah: 3

Average of: 3.75

Shares this Rating with: North by Northwest.

In a fight: Minority Report all the way. Sure they have Hitchcock and he could pull out a plot twist/crop duster, but they'd just see it coming.