Movies

[stardustpilgrim]

I rented a fairly interesting movie, Chaos Walking. A big part of the reason it had Daisy Ridley in it. She is a 3rd generation space traveler, born in space, it takes 60 years to go to the planet people from earth have colonized. She crash lands, her fellow three astronauts are killed in the crash. She lands near a village of men, all the women have been killed some 16 years previous. She meets a young guy played by Tom Holland (the latest Spider-man). What's unusual is that all the thoughts of the men are on display about their head, you can hear their thoughts and see images of their thinking. This phenomenon is called Noise, it somehow comes from the planet. Now Todd doesn't know it until he meets Viola, but women do not have Noise. So for Todd it's a highly unusual experience not to see or hear Viola's thoughts. That's the basic hook of the whole film. Todd also finds his town is not the only town of colonizers, that he and Viola have to go to Redbranch to be able to contact her main spaceship, which is to land in a few days, which is big enough for 4,000 people. All of her equipment was rendered useless in the crash.

It's an almost ordinary B movie, except for the Noise. Noise makes it interesting. Imagine being subject the thoughts of everyone in your vicinity (this is where the title comes from). By the time I finished I wanted to watch all the extras plus the voiceover of the director and producer during a second watch of the film. It was based on a popular trilogy for teenagers. The writer of the book also had some input into the extras. The director also did the film Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise, a very good time-travel film.

[Deleted]

‘The straight story’ is well worth a watch zendancer.
You could find it in uTube.

Also,
‘Remi, nobody’s boy.’

Both films a delight.

[Reefs]

Ad Astra (2019) is another movie I can recommend, not just for sci-fi fans. TBH, I had rather low expectations but I was pleasantly surprised. This is a really good movie and really good acting by Brad Pitt as Roy, the astronaut who is sent to Neptune to save the world (and deal with some unfinished personal business). And for a sci-fi/action movie, it is surprisingly quiet, subtle and down to earth.

As with many such movies, the hero's journey portrayed on screen thru the vastness of space is usually just a representation or metaphor for his inner journey thru the vastness of his own psyche, and this movie is not much different in that regard. This becomes especially clear when Roy is already well on his way to Neptune thru the omnipresent darkness and emptiness of outer space.

One very prominent feature of the movie is the topic of self-assessment. Roy is under very tight surveillance thru-out his mission and constantly has to do self-evaluation checks with an AI which then approves his mental fitness for the mission. The irony here is that despite putting himself under a microscope all the time, Roy has no idea who he really is - not in the psychological sense and certainly not in an existential sense. And we don't learn much about Roy anyway, other than that his entire life seems to be dedicated to space travel, that his personal relationships are in shambles and that his pulse never went above 80, even in an emergency situation - which seems to be one of his main achievements in life and what makes him some kind of hero among his peers and especially his superiors. Because what they needed for that mission to Neptune was more or less a flawlessly functioning bio robot. And in many ways, Roy fits that bill.

His trip to Neptune seemed to take forever, and floating all alone thru empty darkness of deep space must have felt to Roy like spending a couple of months in a deprivation tank. Haunted by suppressed memories and trying to come to terms with his inner demons, he finally reaches his destination and his mission to save the world suddenly becomes intensely personal.

I could write more, because the movie covers a lot of topics, but I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen the movie yet. To those who have already seen it, let me know what you think. BTW, the title reminded me of the Latin phrase "ad astra per aspera" and there are some elements of that in the movie, because one other big topic that is covered is the dangers of extreme idealism, idealism gone bad so to speak.

[laughter]

Sept 4, 2021 13:29:54 GMT -5 Reefs said:

Ad Astra (2019) is another movie I can recommend, not just for sci-fi fans. TBH, I had rather low expectations but I was pleasantly surprised. This is a really good movie and really good acting by Brad Pitt as Roy, the astronaut who is sent to Neptune to save the world (and deal with some unfinished personal business). And for a sci-fi/action movie, it is surprisingly quiet, subtle and down to earth.

As with many such movies, the hero's journey portrayed on screen thru the vastness of space is usually just a representation or metaphor for his inner journey thru the vastness of his own psyche, and this movie is not much different in that regard. This becomes especially clear when Roy is already well on his way to Neptune thru the omnipresent darkness and emptiness of outer space.

One very prominent feature of the movie is the topic of self-assessment. Roy is under very tight surveillance thru-out his mission and constantly has to do self-evaluation checks with an AI which then approves his mental fitness for the mission. The irony here is that despite putting himself under a microscope all the time, Roy has no idea who he really is - not in the psychological sense and certainly not in an existential sense. And we don't learn much about Roy anyway, other than that his entire life seems to be dedicated to space travel, that his personal relationships are in shambles and that his pulse never went above 80, even in an emergency situation - which seems to be one of his main achievements in life and what makes him some kind of hero among his peers and especially his superiors. Because what they needed for that mission to Neptune was more or less a flawlessly functioning bio robot. And in many ways, Roy fits that bill.

His trip to Neptune seemed to take forever, and floating all alone thru empty darkness of deep space must have felt to Roy like spending a couple of months in a deprivation tank. Haunted by suppressed memories and trying to come to terms with his inner demons, he finally reaches his destination and his mission to save the world suddenly becomes intensely personal.

I could write more, because the movie covers a lot of topics, but I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen the movie yet. To those who have already seen it, let me know what you think. BTW, the title reminded me of the Latin phrase "ad astra per aspera" and there are some elements of that in the movie, because one other big topic that is covered is the dangers of extreme idealism, idealism gone bad so to speak.

Yes, the focus on self and external observation couldn't have been more obvious, as was the creative teams' emphasis on the value of non-reactivity. The metaphor of man as machine seemed to me to be quite overt. They also focus on the topic of nihilism, and it seems to me from the reaction to it that many people just didn't get this one. There is a huge emotional payoff at the end but it might come off as too subtle. The level of insight behind the story was definitely significant, even ambiguous as to the "realization status" of the writers who formed the screenplay. One criticism I'd agree with though is that there isn't much nuance or even creativity in the story itself, but I guess that actually facilitates the character exploration, and perhaps could even be considered a point in it's own right.

[zendancer]

Aug 20, 2021 23:01:27 GMT -5 @wally said:

‘The straight story’ is well worth a watch zendancer.
You could find it in uTube.

Also,
‘Remi, nobody’s boy.’

Both films a delight.

I loved "The Straight Story." We saw it when it first hit the big screen. I'll check out "Remi;" that's one I haven't heard about. Thanks.

Some of my favorite spiritual films off the top of my head:

Razor's Edge (the version with Bill Murray)
Groundhog Day
American Beauty
Happy Go Lucky (the earlier version)

[zendancer]

Sept 4, 2021 13:29:54 GMT -5 Reefs said:

Ad Astra (2019) is another movie I can recommend, not just for sci-fi fans. TBH, I had rather low expectations but I was pleasantly surprised. This is a really good movie and really good acting by Brad Pitt as Roy, the astronaut who is sent to Neptune to save the world (and deal with some unfinished personal business). And for a sci-fi/action movie, it is surprisingly quiet, subtle and down to earth.

As with many such movies, the hero's journey portrayed on screen thru the vastness of space is usually just a representation or metaphor for his inner journey thru the vastness of his own psyche, and this movie is not much different in that regard. This becomes especially clear when Roy is already well on his way to Neptune thru the omnipresent darkness and emptiness of outer space.

One very prominent feature of the movie is the topic of self-assessment. Roy is under very tight surveillance thru-out his mission and constantly has to do self-evaluation checks with an AI which then approves his mental fitness for the mission. The irony here is that despite putting himself under a microscope all the time, Roy has no idea who he really is - not in the psychological sense and certainly not in an existential sense. And we don't learn much about Roy anyway, other than that his entire life seems to be dedicated to space travel, that his personal relationships are in shambles and that his pulse never went above 80, even in an emergency situation - which seems to be one of his main achievements in life and what makes him some kind of hero among his peers and especially his superiors. Because what they needed for that mission to Neptune was more or less a flawlessly functioning bio robot. And in many ways, Roy fits that bill.

His trip to Neptune seemed to take forever, and floating all alone thru empty darkness of deep space must have felt to Roy like spending a couple of months in a deprivation tank. Haunted by suppressed memories and trying to come to terms with his inner demons, he finally reaches his destination and his mission to save the world suddenly becomes intensely personal.

I could write more, because the movie covers a lot of topics, but I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen the movie yet. To those who have already seen it, let me know what you think. BTW, the title reminded me of the Latin phrase "ad astra per aspera" and there are some elements of that in the movie, because one other big topic that is covered is the dangers of extreme idealism, idealism gone bad so to speak.

Sounds good. I'll check it out.

[Reefs]

Sept 4, 2021 15:05:33 GMT -5 laughter said:

Sept 4, 2021 13:29:54 GMT -5 Reefs said:

Ad Astra (2019) is another movie I can recommend, not just for sci-fi fans. TBH, I had rather low expectations but I was pleasantly surprised. This is a really good movie and really good acting by Brad Pitt as Roy, the astronaut who is sent to Neptune to save the world (and deal with some unfinished personal business). And for a sci-fi/action movie, it is surprisingly quiet, subtle and down to earth.

As with many such movies, the hero's journey portrayed on screen thru the vastness of space is usually just a representation or metaphor for his inner journey thru the vastness of his own psyche, and this movie is not much different in that regard. This becomes especially clear when Roy is already well on his way to Neptune thru the omnipresent darkness and emptiness of outer space.

One very prominent feature of the movie is the topic of self-assessment. Roy is under very tight surveillance thru-out his mission and constantly has to do self-evaluation checks with an AI which then approves his mental fitness for the mission. The irony here is that despite putting himself under a microscope all the time, Roy has no idea who he really is - not in the psychological sense and certainly not in an existential sense. And we don't learn much about Roy anyway, other than that his entire life seems to be dedicated to space travel, that his personal relationships are in shambles and that his pulse never went above 80, even in an emergency situation - which seems to be one of his main achievements in life and what makes him some kind of hero among his peers and especially his superiors. Because what they needed for that mission to Neptune was more or less a flawlessly functioning bio robot. And in many ways, Roy fits that bill.

His trip to Neptune seemed to take forever, and floating all alone thru empty darkness of deep space must have felt to Roy like spending a couple of months in a deprivation tank. Haunted by suppressed memories and trying to come to terms with his inner demons, he finally reaches his destination and his mission to save the world suddenly becomes intensely personal.

I could write more, because the movie covers a lot of topics, but I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen the movie yet. To those who have already seen it, let me know what you think. BTW, the title reminded me of the Latin phrase "ad astra per aspera" and there are some elements of that in the movie, because one other big topic that is covered is the dangers of extreme idealism, idealism gone bad so to speak.

Yes, the focus on self and external observation couldn't have been more obvious, as was the creative teams' emphasis on the value of non-reactivity. The metaphor of man as machine seemed to me to be quite overt. They also focus on the topic of nihilism, and it seems to me from the reaction to it that many people just didn't get this one. There is a huge emotional payoff at the end but it might come off as too subtle. The level of insight behind the story was definitely significant, even ambiguous as to the "realization status" of the writers who formed the screenplay. One criticism I'd agree with though is that there isn't much nuance or even creativity in the story itself, but I guess that actually facilitates the character exploration, and perhaps could even be considered a point in it's own right.

While the movie is rather minimalistic and most of the acting happens more or less in the dark, it still does have to offer some aesthetic highlights. What I really liked were the scenes 'shot' on the Moon, outside the base. They managed to give you a really vivid impression of how it would look and feel like to move around on the Moon's surface, with that blue marble called Earth in the background... And actually, there is quite some character exploration, but it's very subtle and the audience has to connect the dots. Just think of that one scene on Mars where Roy's image of his father gets shattered and he got so upset that he didn't pass the self-evaluation test and had to spend several days in some kind of chill out room before he could continue with his mission. And then there was this scene where he had to send an audio message to Neptune. It's one of the more memorable scenes of the movie that shows that Roy definitely does have emotions, even deep ones, and he is also aware of them. But he has been trained to manage them completely to not let anything personal get in the way of whatever mission he is on. Nevertheless, he eventually does explore his emotions to some extent. And he's not really good at it but there's a certain honesty and sincerity about it, he does it in a very innocent, almost childlike way. And by the time the movie ends, when Roy comes back from Neptune, he's essentially a changed being with a whole new purpose in life, his focus not on outer space anymore but planet earth, not out there in the far distance, but right here and right now with the people close to him.

 What is also interesting is how the movie dealt with the alien/extraterrestrial life question. And this is one of those nihilistic elements you may be referring to. I don't want to get more specific or else I'll spoil it for ZD and the others who haven't watched it yet.

And just out of curiosity, how would you gauge the movie on the emotional scale? Most of the movies of this genre in recent years are pretty much down at the extreme negative end of the scale, mostly hopelessness or fear, but this one is definitely more in the neutral range, ending almost on a positive note.

[inavalan]

Sept 4, 2021 13:29:54 GMT -5 Reefs said:

Ad Astra (2019) is another movie I can recommend, not just for sci-fi fans. TBH, I had rather low expectations but I was pleasantly surprised. This is a really good movie and really good acting by Brad Pitt as Roy, the astronaut who is sent to Neptune to save the world (and deal with some unfinished personal business). And for a sci-fi/action movie, it is surprisingly quiet, subtle and down to earth.

As with many such movies, the hero's journey portrayed on screen thru the vastness of space is usually just a representation or metaphor for his inner journey thru the vastness of his own psyche, and this movie is not much different in that regard. This becomes especially clear when Roy is already well on his way to Neptune thru the omnipresent darkness and emptiness of outer space.

One very prominent feature of the movie is the topic of self-assessment. Roy is under very tight surveillance thru-out his mission and constantly has to do self-evaluation checks with an AI which then approves his mental fitness for the mission. The irony here is that despite putting himself under a microscope all the time, Roy has no idea who he really is - not in the psychological sense and certainly not in an existential sense. And we don't learn much about Roy anyway, other than that his entire life seems to be dedicated to space travel, that his personal relationships are in shambles and that his pulse never went above 80, even in an emergency situation - which seems to be one of his main achievements in life and what makes him some kind of hero among his peers and especially his superiors. Because what they needed for that mission to Neptune was more or less a flawlessly functioning bio robot. And in many ways, Roy fits that bill.

His trip to Neptune seemed to take forever, and floating all alone thru empty darkness of deep space must have felt to Roy like spending a couple of months in a deprivation tank. Haunted by suppressed memories and trying to come to terms with his inner demons, he finally reaches his destination and his mission to save the world suddenly becomes intensely personal.

I could write more, because the movie covers a lot of topics, but I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen the movie yet. To those who have already seen it, let me know what you think. BTW, the title reminded me of the Latin phrase "ad astra per aspera" and there are some elements of that in the movie, because one other big topic that is covered is the dangers of extreme idealism, idealism gone bad so to speak.

There is some interesting information about "ad astra" phrase on wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_astra_(phrase)

I'll forget most of it, but I'll hardly forget that in Latin "pennis" means "wings"!"

    "opta ardua pennis astra sequi" ('desire to pursue the high[/hard to reach] stars on wings')"
     --  Virgil, Aenied XII 892–93. Spoken by Aeneas to his foe, Turnus, in their combat.

[laughter]

Sept 4, 2021 22:44:20 GMT -5 Reefs said:

Sept 4, 2021 15:05:33 GMT -5 laughter said:

Yes, the focus on self and external observation couldn't have been more obvious, as was the creative teams' emphasis on the value of non-reactivity. The metaphor of man as machine seemed to me to be quite overt. They also focus on the topic of nihilism, and it seems to me from the reaction to it that many people just didn't get this one. There is a huge emotional payoff at the end but it might come off as too subtle. The level of insight behind the story was definitely significant, even ambiguous as to the "realization status" of the writers who formed the screenplay. One criticism I'd agree with though is that there isn't much nuance or even creativity in the story itself, but I guess that actually facilitates the character exploration, and perhaps could even be considered a point in it's own right.

While the movie is rather minimalistic and most of the acting happens more or less in the dark, it still does have to offer some aesthetic highlights. What I really liked were the scenes 'shot' on the Moon, outside the base. They managed to give you a really vivid impression of how it would look and feel like to move around on the Moon's surface, with that blue marble called Earth in the background... And actually, there is quite some character exploration, but it's very subtle and the audience has to connect the dots. Just think of that one scene on Mars where Roy's image of his father gets shattered and he got so upset that he didn't pass the self-evaluation test and had to spend several days in some kind of chill out room before he could continue with his mission. And then there was this scene where he had to send an audio message to Neptune. It's one of the more memorable scenes of the movie that shows that Roy definitely does have emotions, even deep ones, and he is also aware of them. But he has been trained to manage them completely to not let anything personal get in the way of whatever mission he is on. Nevertheless, he eventually does explore his emotions to some extent. And he's not really good at it but there's a certain honesty and sincerity about it, he does it in a very innocent, almost childlike way. And by the time the movie ends, when Roy comes back from Neptune, he's essentially a changed being with a whole new purpose in life, his focus not on outer space anymore but planet earth, not out there in the far distance, but right here and right now with the people close to him.

 What is also interesting is how the movie dealt with the alien/extraterrestrial life question. And this is one of those nihilistic elements you may be referring to. I don't want to get more specific or else I'll spoil it for ZD and the others who haven't watched it yet.

And just out of curiosity, how would you gauge the movie on the emotional scale? Most of the movies of this genre in recent years are pretty much down at the extreme negative end of the scale, mostly hopelessness or fear, but this one is definitely more in the neutral range, ending almost on a positive note.

The effects and visuals were both high-production value and quite well designed and the climax action scenes were as satisfying to a sci-fi buff as any could be. The way I'd describe the emotional state of the creative force here is neutrally transcendent. It's not a pick-me-up. The view on human nature strikes me as critical - sort of sad, even, sad for the current state of humanity overall - with an underlying sense of gloom, but not unhopeful, and as you've alluded in both commentary, I think the creatives here were exploring various existential insight.

My take on the genre is somewhat different. There's the low-information, mass-market, comic-book stuff, and I've watched very little of that, so I can't comment to much depth, but I'd agree that material is essentially the horror genre dressed up with spacesuits. The classic franchises are different though: Trek, Wars, and the upcoming productions of Foundation and Dune concentrate on conflict and stories involving "evil" to create dramatic tension, but their vision, their world-view's are all over the map. On the negative end would be Battlestar and Dune, with Dune incredibly sophisticated relative to Galactica. The dark overtones of Dune are because of the focus on figures operating at "historical" levels where power politics are always at stake.

Foundation presents a bleak future picture for the inhabitants of the story but, like Battlestar the thought experiment is to project  human history onto the imagined future. So, collapse and disaster are part of the story, but so is what comes after. Foundation's past template are military/commercial empires. Battlestar uses a more expansive notion of cycles, but is far more simplistic in story, and more of a soap opera.

Wars and Trek, on the other hand, have an overt core of hopefulness and faith in the goodness of human nature - although my impression is guided by not having consumed the latest installments in either franchise .. you know .. "get woke, go broke"?

[Reefs]

Sept 5, 2021 0:19:35 GMT -5 inavalan said:

There is some interesting information about "ad astra" phrase on wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_astra_(phrase)

I'll forget most of it, but I'll hardly forget that in Latin "pennis" means "wings"!"

    "opta ardua pennis astra sequi" ('desire to pursue the high[/hard to reach] stars on wings')"
     --  Virgil, Aenied XII 892–93. Spoken by Aeneas to his foe, Turnus, in their combat.

Interesting. It certainly pays off to know a little Latin. After all, 2/3 of English vocabulary come from Latin.

Just for fun, look up what 'disco' or 'reddit' or 'fiat' means in Latin.

[inavalan]

Sept 5, 2021 22:26:45 GMT -5 Reefs said:

Sept 5, 2021 0:19:35 GMT -5 inavalan said:

There is some interesting information about "ad astra" phrase on wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_astra_(phrase)

I'll forget most of it, but I'll hardly forget that in Latin "pennis" means "wings"!"

    "opta ardua pennis astra sequi" ('desire to pursue the high[/hard to reach] stars on wings')"
     --  Virgil, Aenied XII 892–93. Spoken by Aeneas to his foe, Turnus, in their combat.

Interesting. It certainly pays off to know a little Latin. After all, 2/3 of English vocabulary come from Latin.

Just for fun, look up what 'disco' or 'reddit' or 'fiat' means in Latin.

I knew "fiat" from "fiat lux", the luxury models of the Fiat automobile brand ... kidding. 

Fiat Lux - let there be light - link

fiat - be it
 so be it - fiat, ita fiat, esto

disco (verb)
 learn - disco, edisco, perdisco, cognosco, incognosco, rescisco
 study - exploro, meditor, perspicio, tracto, pertracto, disco
 acquire knowledge - disco, perdisco
 receive information - disco
 recognise - agnosco, cognosco, nosco, recognosco, noscito, disco
 recognize - agnosco, cognosco, nosco, recognosco, noscito, disco
 be told - disco
 become acquainted with - cognosco, disco, nosco

reddit - render

[Reefs]

Sept 6, 2021 0:14:51 GMT -5 inavalan said:

Sept 5, 2021 22:26:45 GMT -5 Reefs said:

Interesting. It certainly pays off to know a little Latin. After all, 2/3 of English vocabulary come from Latin.

Just for fun, look up what 'disco' or 'reddit' or 'fiat' means in Latin.

I knew "fiat" from "fiat lux", the luxury models of the Fiat automobile brand ... kidding. 

Fiat Lux - let there be light - link

fiat - be it
 so be it - fiat, ita fiat, esto

disco (verb)
 learn - disco, edisco, perdisco, cognosco, incognosco, rescisco
 study - exploro, meditor, perspicio, tracto, pertracto, disco
 acquire knowledge - disco, perdisco
 receive information - disco
 recognise - agnosco, cognosco, nosco, recognosco, noscito, disco
 recognize - agnosco, cognosco, nosco, recognosco, noscito, disco
 be told - disco
 become acquainted with - cognosco, disco, nosco

reddit - render

Right, that's from the first lines in Genesis: "Dixitque Deus: Fiat lux. Et facta est lux."

'Fiat' is the 3rd person singular subjunctive. 'The term 'fiat money' literally means "let there be money"...

And here's another fun word: 'Lego'

[inavalan]

Sept 6, 2021 1:34:57 GMT -5 Reefs said:

Sept 6, 2021 0:14:51 GMT -5 inavalan said:

I knew "fiat" from "fiat lux", the luxury models of the Fiat automobile brand ... kidding. 

Fiat Lux - let there be light - link

fiat - be it
 so be it - fiat, ita fiat, esto

disco (verb)
 learn - disco, edisco, perdisco, cognosco, incognosco, rescisco
 study - exploro, meditor, perspicio, tracto, pertracto, disco
 acquire knowledge - disco, perdisco
 receive information - disco
 recognise - agnosco, cognosco, nosco, recognosco, noscito, disco
 recognize - agnosco, cognosco, nosco, recognosco, noscito, disco
 be told - disco
 become acquainted with - cognosco, disco, nosco

reddit - render

Right, that's from the first lines in Genesis: "Dixitque Deus: Fiat lux. Et facta est lux."

'Fiat' is the 3rd person singular subjunctive. 'The term 'fiat money' literally means "let there be money"...

And here's another fun word: 'Lego'

Yes, interesting!

From a dictionary:

lego, legas, legare, legavi, legatus
    - bequeath, will, entrust, send as an envoy
or 
lego, legis, legere, legi, lectum
    - read, choose, select, to steal

Somebody else (found with google) claims to also mean “to gather or collect” ... (?)

Anyway, there is no relation to the Lego we all know to be.

[lolly]

I started watching 'Midnight Mass' on Netflix. It has great character development, moves at at a perfectly metered pace, keeps you wondering what's going on and has a very interesting take on perceptions of good and evil. Worth a look. 4*.

[laughter]