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I like movies 100 times more simply because I can SEE what the author meant.

No, you're seeing the director's interpretation of what the author meant, as constrained by the producers, budget, ratings system, skill of the actors, etc.

Even with the adaptation of comic books to movies (both visual mediums), some authors (eg, Alan Moore) have made comments on how they are effectively two different stories, as how the reader/viewer interacts with the medium is different. (pause the movie, and go check out what happened 5 minutes before to see how it relates to what just happened? Maybe in your own home, but in theatres, it means you have to watch it over and over again.)

If you think that the movie is what the author intended, you're deluding yourself. The only time that *might* be true is when the movie came first, and the book was released second, or at the same time. (and not the 'book based on the movie', written by someone completely different). The only one that comes to mind where the movie and book are near equals was a TV series, not a movie -- Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

We've survived thousands of years without tv, tv-remotes, radio, computers, the internet, (mobile) phones, electricity, soap, toilets, toiletpaper, shoes, penicillin and the list goes on and on and on..... so that stuff is all "Massive technological overkill" (if we'd follow your line of thought) because we can survive without it.

Next thing you know, on unwrapping a DVD or your new DVR, it injects&infects you with a RFID chip and makes you a slave to the intruders taking over your life and your living room (once again, just turn on SciFi channel for a depiction - this time it's the biting black stones in Robin Cook's Invasion ;-)).

I wrote a little story about my failed attempt to try out for Jeopardy almost 10 years ago...

check it out - I was a Jeopardy Rejekt

Executive Summary: The Jeopardy tryout tests are VERY hard. 9 out of 60 people in my group even made it to the 2nd round. I was not one of them.

It's also a world where money trumps morals. OCP chief Dick Jones (a perfectly cast Ronny Cox) is a stiff and greedy lion drunk on his own power, and the slum denizens are constantly repeating the punch line from a bawdy TV show: "I'll buy that for a dollar!"
www.filmcritic.com

The entire point is to help people decide whether to spend their money on the film in the first place bu helping them make a judgment about whether they will or will not like it. Most people hunt around to find a critic with whom they tend to have similar tastes and take that person's advice regarding a (growing and substantial) investment of money and time.

Of course, many of us critics accept that with a film like LOTR, what we say is pretty much meaningless. (Oddly that doesn't stop the trolls from coming out in force when they disagree...)

CCN, filmcritic.com

Not a bad movie at all -- should definitely have gotten a bigger release.

filmcritic.com review here

If Arnold wins there will be a Total Recall!

You'll have a hard time convincing me anyone is going to profit from The League of Extraordinary Gentleman (the movie, that is).

Nobody would seriously suggest that the Matrix is some sort of basis for new world order.

Ha! You should see some of the e-mail I've gotten in response to my review of the movie. For the record, it's here.

Huh. Is this the same Christopher Null who does movie reviews for FilmCritic.com. If so, I'll definitely have to check it out; I've quite enjoyed reading some of his movie reviews and would probably enjoy seeing what he does with a longer form.

Like most interesting journalism, this is largely wishful thinking. EA will need to prove it's more than just a game company to become the player it wants to be. The company is largely beholden to other media companies for its content (LOTR game, James Bond game, Harry Potter game) and sports games are really a dime a dozen. Only The Sims has long-term promise as a stand-alone franchise... and once they try to make a Sims movie (and you know they will!) that will be the end of it. (Anyone remember the Wing Commander movie? Still trying to forget it, huh...)

But really, EA needs to look beyond gaming if it really wants to challenge Disney or any other major media concern. Sure, it's a powerhouse in the gaming world, but my mother's never heard of Electronic Arts, while she sure as hell knows who Disney is.

As the only film critic on earth who reads Slashdot regularly (not including Slashdot staffers, of course), here's my review of Nemesis.

And yes, it is worse than Solaris

Oh, and the official word from Trekkies who haven't seen the movie yet is that it is awesome and I am an idiot who is "going to hell" for panning a Star Trek movie, per my hate mail.

Cheers.

As the only film critic on earth who reads Slashdot regularly (not including Slashdot staffers, of course), here's my review of Nemesis.

And yes, it is worse than Solaris

Oh, and the official word from Trekkies who haven't seen the movie yet is that it is awesome and I am an idiot who is "going to hell" for panning a Star Trek movie, per my hate mail.

Cheers.

Sadly, the correct pronunciation of the title is the most interesting part of the movie! Anyway, as you noted, per the trailers and commercials (which presumably SOMEONE involved with the film has approved*), it's so-LAH-riss. And they're right.

Incidentally, my "it's largely crap" review is posted here at filmcritic.com.

And yes, Sun Solaris is pronounced So-LARE-iss, per numerous Sun employees I deal with all the time at my day job.

* Yes, I realize marketing people unrelated to the film produce the trailers for a movie based on early footage (which is why you often see shots in the trailer that aren't in the final cut of the film), but Steven Soderbergh is so anal that I can't imagine him letting something like the incorrect pronunciation of his film get by... hmm, unless it's pronounced "DEE another day"

It's about the journalist using his (own, by birth) name publicly and in connection with works that he authors.

OK, so I'm not acquainted with the "Dead" trilogy either, but there are plentiful reviews out there. And it seems that this oevre is missing the salient point as well.

Regular computer viri have been known to infect a system and turn it into a "zombie", at the beck and call of some originator. A regular zombie or vampire movie may describe a similar behaviour: people are "infected" or killed (computer: DOSed); if they are infected they go on to infect and kill in turn.
So far, so good. Now, the computer virus described in this article goes a step further: it attempts to infect a system. If it is successful, the system is turned into a "zombie". If it is _not_ successful, it keeps the particular system it was unable to affect in mind, and flags it as a top-level target for dossing, putting it above all other DOS targets in importance (to the degree of ignoring all other targets).

So: this virus attacks primarily or exclusively targets it was unable to infect.

What zombie or vampire movie or book describes a similar behaviour? Any?

Hint: standard-issue zombie movie, with the additions:
- not all live persons can be turned into zombies. Some are immune.
- if a person cannot be turned into a zombie, the attacking zombie, and all zombies with which the attacker is in contact, do their best to kill the immune person. This may happen with a time-lapse: the attcking zombie keeps a mental list of all immune persons, and shares this list with its compadres, staging a larger attack specifically on the immune persons at a later time.

This does not ring a bell, for me at least. Anyone?

This story reminded me of a similar tale about a Las Vegas company (of course) trying to set up a launch pad for space tourism in the Nevada desert. Here's one of the earlier pieces on it - http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/199 9/sep/10/509288711.html (from 1999) -- though googling for NDS Development Corp. takes you to press releases, et al. all the way back to 1996, at least.

Too bad this idea looks stillborn, though it's not terribly surprising. If anyone can figure out whatever became of this idea, I'd love to hear about it.

chrisnull.com - read my book, Half Mast - filmcritic.com - New Architect

Our review is here: http://filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/84dbbfa4d7 10144986256c290016f76e/97dd7b74d233c3d288256c1c007 0aeaa?OpenDocument ... a positive review, though my guy at the Telluride film festival thought it was pap.

That baby freaks me out.

chrisnull.com - read my book, Half Mast - filmcritic.com - New Architect

Our review is here: http://filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/84dbbfa4d7 10144986256c290016f76e/97dd7b74d233c3d288256c1c007 0aeaa?OpenDocument ... a positive review, though my guy at the Telluride film festival thought it was pap.

That baby freaks me out.

chrisnull.com - read my book, Half Mast - filmcritic.com - New Architect

Over the lifetime of the Macarthur Grant,

12 people have won in the category of DANCE, while 11 people have won in the category of PUBLIC HEALTH

Dance, genius, dance!

chrisnull.com - read my book, Half Mast - filmcritic.com - New Architect

chrisnull.com - read my book, Half Mast - filmcritic.com - New Architect

They were definately using Mac Powerbooks:

"Hackers PowerBook 540, clear PowerBook Duo 2300" http://maccentral.macworld.com/famous/movies.shtml

"Okay, so some liberties have been taken with technology (an Intel P6 chip powers an Apple PowerBook)..." http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/ddb549 0109a79f598625623d0015f1e4/b0177d0276fcfd878625623 d0019334a?OpenDocument

- Christopher Null

chrisnull.com - read my book, Half Mast - filmcritic.com - New Architect