Slashdot Mirror
Review: On "The Beach"
There were some reasons to expect something special from the much-hyped "The Beach," given Leonardo DiCaprio's success in "Titanic" and Danny Boyle's dazzling "Trainspotting." Lower your expectations.
"The Beach" is a contemporary fantasy, part about living a disconnected, low-tech life. It mixes elements of "Blue Lagoon" with "Lord of the Flies" and "Heart of Darkness." The premise is that Richard (played by DiCaprio) is a somewhat lost American teenage tourist in search of adventure. He gets wind of a deserted island off the Gulf of Thailand, and sets out to find it along with two French kids.
He finds a dazzling paradise, but you probably already sense that the only time Hollywood invokes paradise is to create a paradise lost. Needless to say, this fantasy place -- no electricity, phones, beepers, pagers, computers, Net (there are CD's) can't last long, and trouble lurks behind every gorgeous waterfall.
The word many people are using to describe this movie is "eye-candy," which is a bit unfair. It's a gorgeous film shot in a beautiful place, but primarily, the movie is a vehicle for DiCaprio to be as scantily-clad as possible, and to try and make the point that he's a dark and complex actor. The movie's sub-themes are ambitious -- our common yearning for escape, the things we'll do to preserve our so-called paradise, the desires most of us have for adventure and excitement -- but DiCaprio's oh-gosh wholesomeness and winsome smile isn't up to pulling off so heavy a role.
The movie shamelessly invokes "Lord of The Flies," the dark novel about what kids do to one another when left alone on an island and even more blatantly, pulls from Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" and Joseph Conrad's "Heart Of Darkness." How odd that in such a place, all of the teen refugess assembled happen to be gorgeous.
But DiCaprio is no Marlon Brando, who played Colonel Kurtz in "Apocalypse Now" (inspired by Conrad's gloomy tale), and Boyle's great skill at invoking the world of lost kids in "Trainspotting" is in direct conflict with beautiful, half-naked boys and girls frolicking in an island paradise. His efforts at foreshadowing trouble and using this star to invoke darker themes fall flat. Still, the movie is cinematically amazing in parts, and when DiCaprio is playing a brave but tentative kid in search of meaning, he's not bad.
This is a movie worth seeing if you keep your expectations very much in check. Boyle is also clearly -- and very subtly -- trying to raise some issues about escape from a hi-tech, continuously communicative and invasive world.
I think they mentioned "Linux" or "Penguin" in the movie somewhere, therefore it is slashdot material.
It's you. How do you describe a movie with a weak plot that is overshadowed by dicaprio in little island boy outfits running about?
What R U A B17CH?!?!?!?!?
Nah, it's made from a book that came out a few years back. It's ok (the book) but nothing spectacular, I've no plans to see the movie. -Big McLargeHuge
I do my little thing in the cat box
yeah, the catbox
I do my little think in the cat box...
The best song is Moby - Porcelain. I wish there was an extended mix. Moby 0wnz me sometimes. When I listen to that song it puts a gorgeous image of the beach in my mind.. of just me and Virginie Ledoyen. ;)
FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE
What did you think about the part where it has Leonardo DiCaprio in a video game, and he's marching around???????????? I'm interested to hear responses for this.
Someone lock him up please. Ghgh Lkj LJL JHK skjla sdjhkcs s s;ldkc sdjhcjhd s;dlkc ;s slkdc skdjchs sdc lkhdcs sdc lksdcljsdc sd
OK, what gives with this movie review? Does the topic have any relevance on ./? Maybe he can give us a review of Titanic too. I am particularly interested in the detailed differences between the VHS and director's cut DVD release. Puh-lease.
What's with the snooty remarks of "here's my review - you all post yours below"? What are we, little children? Yes, Mr. Katz, thank you for giving me permission for posting my review too.
Someone *please* don't let this gasbag post anymore stories. Next thing you know, he'll be posting reviews of Brittney Spears albums and Real World reruns.
Please don't insult the intelligence of the Slashdot readers by allowing this spew to continue.
Katz is such a blowhard... His articles are either completely irrelevant or totally blown out of proportion.
I think it's a valid theme in the movie... some of the things that people requested when he went back to the mainland made sense... shampoo, soap, feminine products, etc. In the list of things they couldn't live without, though, we also found batteries (for their Gameboys, CD players, and who knows what else). The point, then, (maybe?) was that they were still tied to technology, even when they were trying to live the simple 'escapee' life. I'm sure there are more examples, but this was the first one that came to mind, because it stood out so much.
You're not alone. I'm almost to the point of actively hating computers and programming. What's the friggin' point? My co-workers spend their time talking about computers computers computers.... like there's not another thought in their head.
I'd go out and explore the world... but I'm an American and most of the world hates me already because of where I was born, and I'd probably be disembowled within 20 minutes of getting off the plane. So I darkly amuse myself watching American civilization slowly collaspe around me. Dancing in the ruins sounds like fun.
That's probably why he compares the movie to "Lord of the Flies" -- he's familiar with the original film due to the amount of naked (but not petrified) boys in it.
A better way of saying "f*ck you" to them would be to go out and buy Windows 2000. That'll show 'em.
(Not that I'm a Microsoft stockholder or anything... nah, of course not.)
I have to agree, what is Katz thinking? I guess he's pining for Rolling Stone or something.
Jon, You were doing so well after the "Flame" series. A softer less trolling approach. YTesterdays article was quite qell done, good positive comments, you came on down into the pit with the rest of us and posted honest and non-trolling comments. Hats off for a trying a different/softer track. But where did this come from? Not intended as a flame, but this was pretty weak. If your hurtin for content, do something like you did a few weeks ago and post a quick, short commment like your Internet World segmentation article. The positive comments will come, most of the folks here like your articles, but got to admit it, this one sucked.
What a fucking cock-gobbler. He should go do some gay porn or something.
The Open Source Movement extends beyond the boundaries of cyberspace. Open the source of this entertainment packet. Why have they redirected their database to the bit bucket?
http://www.discovery.com/news/earthalert/000207/pThat's all I've got to say about that
FreeBSD RU13Z!!!!!! OpenVMS fsckn' R0CKS!!!
Katz iz a !1337 B17CH-BOY!
Leonardo tak3z i7 up 7h3 aZZ!
Thank you
Look what they did to film this movie! They ruined a beautiful national park in Thailand, because it didn't fit their description of paradise. http://www.wildrockies.org/wve/beach.htm
What movies do NERDS tend to watch? Nerd-type things like GalaxyQuest maybe, or The World Is Not Enough, or Toy Story 2. How the heck did "The Beach" with ultimate anti-nerd DiCaprio get picked???
PLEASE lose Katz...he might be a fine writer , but not for this audience!
I wrote the article up above. I totally agree with you, and I am likewise American. I'm only 21 and I already feel that my life is a simple program stuck in an infinite loop..
1) wake up
2) go to work
3) random event (go out, stay home, work)
4) sleep
5) loop back to 1
I know I am almost to the point as well... and instead of enjoying life after retiring at 60 ready to die, I want to enjoy it now while I am physically and mentally able. OR no.. maybe God put me on this earth so I can run datbase queries and make websites while growing a fat ass.
I know this is not what my life was meant to be, and I hope many of you feel the same way. I do know that I am breaking this loop soon.. and abandoning the "civilized" culture.
There is so much out there, so much I want to see. but I want to see it, smell it, hear it, touch it, experience it up close an personal. Not while sitting in a chair staring at a screen, clicking a mouse thousands of miles away.. Or if we keep working our asses off maybe we can duplicate it? f*ck that, I'm going out to experience the real thing. C-ya.
[rant on]
As a 'former' frequenter of this site (who fondly remembers the halcyon days of late '97) I can honestly say...the whole lot of you regulars (and trolls) are a bunch of WHINING CHILDREN.
Back in the 'old days' of Slashdot, there was a lot of decent commentary going on around here. Rob would post something whether it be a movie review, something about Pete Townshend or about Lego, and there would be a lot of good cameraderie, lots of good conversation and very little bitching about "waah! this isn't news for nerds!".
But now? Look at yourselves...how many posts in this section are griping about how VA killed Slashdot? Blame yourselves, you pathetic whiners! This place had a community defined by participation. All YOU people do is complain. THAT'S why this site is in decline, it has NOTHING to do with VA/Andover/whatever. If you folks need someone to blame, then BLAME YOURSELVES.
Rob & Co are still doing what they've always done...post news for nerds, whether it be a movie review or whatever. Rob & Co still like GNOME a lot so they still put articles up about it...it's Rob's site, he has every right (and remember, VA doesn't necessarily have a vested interest in GNOME either...that hasn't stopped Rob from posting news about it). Rob likes Pete Townshend...what does Pete have to do with 'news for nerds?' About as much as DiCaprio does...Rob thinks it's newsworthy. I haven't seen any "VA is wonderful, VA is GOD!" articles from Rob....he still runs this site pretty much like he always has.
Really folks, not a lot has changed here, except for the addition of Jon Katz (a plus in my opinion.) This site has ALWAYS been more about community than 'news'...hell, if you want REAL linux news, go to Linux Today. This site has always been about more. YOU people have turned it into a cesspool of whines, gripes and trolls....thank yourselves for destroying Slashdot, not Rob/Andover/VA.
[rant off]
Obviously, you've never read the book, but instead read a review which made a similar claim. If you had read the book, you would have known it took place during WWII, and the story isn't about what kids left on an island will do to each other.
Additionally, the movie is about one thing pure and simple: weed. You should be able to comprehend that, since you've obviously had first-hand experience with vast quantities of illegal drugs.
Please go back to wherever you came from. And take this new-fangled lame-ass slashdot along with you.
I have to disagree even though my first post was a troll. I was in thailand staying in phuket when the film was shot (well partly) and I saw that the locals were genuinely concerned. As regards to your justification by saying they made it "considerably nicer" I'm sure you wouldn't take that attitude if someone came to a national park near you and made it "considerably nicer" -- no sig
I don't know any girls that look like that that worry about specs on dedicated servers.
Hey Slashdot, show that ad more.
Rackspace.com girl fan club -- head of security
Was all of that weed in the movie real? If so, does anyone have a map on how to get to that island?
Is there any truth to the rumor that the cast/crew also made rather copious use of the many child prostitutes supposedly available in Thailand? (Unlike the environmental damage, I haven't seen this rumor discussed anywhere even semi-reliable.)
Talk about a bad review! Escaping from technology is not the point of this movie... Don't worry though, Mr reviewer, you are not alone because every review that I read of this movie has been bad. It seems that too many people are missing the point of this movie.
Let me give you the core meat of what the movie is about... ignore the fact that it takes place on a beautiful island, ignore leo-crapio, and ignore all of the drugs. This movie was heavy on the symbolism.
Computer technology and the internet are used as a symbol during the end of the movie, nothing more! They are used as a symbol of going back to "normal" society, but a normal society that is not necessarily bad... possibly just slightly bland. The contrast to this, is during the middle of the movie, some of the characters go back to society every now and then, in order buy stuff they can't get on the island. When they go back during the middle of movie, society is depicted as a bunch of noisy people party and drinking, puking, fighting, etc. There is a subtle difference during these two different occasions of returning to society.
Now, the main point of the movie was to show that people cannot escape the problems of the common society as we know it today. You can move out to a secret beautiful island, but that won't change anything! Why? The movie's answer is: "because are you human." So yes, the movie makes a far stronger point than this reviewer claims. The movie implies that the problems of society are a part of each and everyone of us. We all have lusts for sex, intoxication, and sometimes, we even wish physical harm towards another human. The movie accents this animalistic view of people by making leo's character act just like a wild monkey (a monkey that is encountered during the begining of the movie).
The movie repeatedly shows hallucination-scenes of the main character fighting in a pseudo war like scenerio, in a city visited during the begining of the movie. War is part of society. War is a part of humans.
I would like to stress that the movie did NOT try to use computer technology as a symbol of society's problems. Computer technology was used in a neutral to positive light. From the gameboys that people were playing on the fantasy island (neutral), to the computers seen in the very end of the movie (positive, yet possibly boring/bland).
I would hate to see the reviewer's review of "Taxi Driver". He might try to convince us that the whole movie is about being a taxi driver. Symbolism is something to look for and value.
Dare I say that I enjoyed "The Beach". I do not like de-crapio, and I have no bias towards the movie, except that when I saw it, I was entertained. I agree that it isn't a great movie, but it is a good movie.
"darkly comic and powerful "Trainspotting""
I usually have a decent sense of humor, but I found this baffling. While I agree Trainspotting was powerful (watching people self-destruct literally made me nauseous), I find it remarkable you found it comical. I suspect you marturbate while tearing wings off flies.
Just when you thought the movie, The Beach, was an insight into
what paradise really looks like, you find out this...
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is another example of the blatant,
argoant disrespect the USA (and *some* of it's citizens) has for everything, when it comes to money...
http://www.wildrockies.org/wve/beach.htm
I think it only fair to remove the "Stuff that matters" from your page if youre going to include movie reviews.
yes
Bah. Just don't wear huge white tennis shoes, and don't assume everyone you meet speaks english, and you'll probably be fine.
I vote to remove Katz as editor.
there is some iMacs at the end of the movie... running MacOS... no penguin or linux PPC here ..
i vote in favor of removing Jon Katz as an editor. but i guess a cowards vote doesnt count? jp
I was just searching my old e-mails for that link. I'm glad you got it out there. Anyhow, there is no way in hell I'd ever support that movie.
Given the relatively low intelligence of your average Slashdot reader, it seems unlikely that we would have been able to figure the comment out on our own. Oh, my! What is that squishy feeling? Hark! I've shit myself again. Mother! Bring the plastic pants, please!
Bullshit and you can FUCK OFF! I have submitted *plenty* of worthwhile articles and a couple of "ask slashdot" questions with jack results! But still they post drivel like this. I contribute plenty it's just that the nature of a medium reflects the editors. period.
'the beach' was shot in thailand. it was shot on a beautiful beach. hollywood didnt like the beach so they paid off the government to 'rework' the beach how they liked it. it has become severely eroded from all the damage they did to it. many people of thailand did not want the beach to be destroyed. they had no voice in their government to stop it from happening. go look it up.
Boycott it.
...but I think I heard a huge wave of "I agree" when you posted that...
he dead
From what I heard, the makers of this movie destroyed the Beach where they shot this film. There is a strong call to boycott this movie because of the ecological damage.
... it can't be worse than Jon Katz's prose in the review. For chrissakes, Jon, stop trying to force EVERYTHING to be some kind of metaphor about the tragedy of living in a technological world. Get over it already!
I actually think this was review was worth posting just because it was the BEST article he has EVER done. It makes sense and he didn't even once allude to how the internet is changing the way people in tazmania are pissing on bushes!! I saw the movie and had VERY low expectations going in... so I was totally thrilled when it turned out to be an average film. I find that is often the best way to see a movie. Expect it to be horrible... that way you can only go up from there. Anybody ever read the illuminatus trilogy? remember the party for lowered expectations? -Rob
It has an AWESOME soundtrack which I downloaded using napster, which is being sued by the MPAA and THAT was a story on Slashdot... So now you have your /. connection for why The Beach should be reviewed. Stop your whinning. PS I intend to buy the CD once the record companies stop inflating the price of CD's beyond market value.
The 2.0 version, released on time for the Slashdot interview just can't cut it, though. Sure, it answered the questions (in its humorous little jonkatz way), but look at the recent posts: Continents on the internet? running "dialog" with Slashdotters? A movie review?!!
I don't know who's responsible for this, but I wish they would put the bot back in its pen, and set its little neural networks back to training mode. This thing is going haywire.
Maybe if they ran it on Linux and published the source code afew dedicated hackers could restore jonkatz to his beta version glory. Random output based on news stories and tech issues is far better than free-form prose about movies, cybergeography, etc. At least the beta version dealt with things pertaining to Slashdot (in its half-assed way).
Please remove Jon Katz as editor. Thanks! Thanks!
*ooooo!! wow!* an "AWESOME" soundtrack. What a bunch of crap. Like anyone cares. This artical and this pathetic so called /. "connection" that this moron wrote is just the bunch of CRAP that doesn't deserve to even be considered to be posted on a site that's supposed to be "news for nerds. What's happening here? I'd give up my tin-boxed Quake III copy rather that have to be tortured by another Leoanardo di Craprio movie..especially on Slashdot. Perhaps the Geeks in Space are seeing how pissed off we'd get. That would sure be funny from up top.
I think everybody missed the point about this review... Many guys are flamming Jon Katz, but how many news and comment about Phantom Menace and /. were there? So the the point is: Forget Nathalie Portman and look at Virginie Ledoyen, the girl that count in kilometers not in miles. It's worth a look isn't it? (and at least she's not a kid, but a true women) But I bet that all you, stupid saxons, can't admit that any french can be better than you. But, talking about movies, i think that there are some americans that are awaking today with movies like american beauty and even in the beach there are some interresting points. So no you can flame me. Send any personnal comments to sam-mendes@for-president.com or virginie-ledoyen@for-president.com or dicaprio@for-president.com A+ A+
Don't you see? Katz is Kurtz. Kurtz is Katz. Now all Andover needs is a jungle and some gullible natives to do Katz-Kurtz's bidding. Oh the horror!
Nonsense. There have been no changes whatsoever in what gets posted. Don't give in to the trolls crying foul at every chance they get. There has been no sign of influence, and no reason to suspect otherwise of CmdrTaco and Hemos.
I don't think that what you say is quite true. There has been one very noticable change. I think the most likely point in time the change can be found is when Andover bought /.. Don't forget that the reason they did so is that the site had just started to attract a larger audience. The change is probably not rooted in lower quality in reporting but rather more people wanting something to complain at. This is also noticable in the increasing volume of idiotic trolls and other unfortunate incidents. But I think there can be no doubt about that /. has changed. Wether for better or for worse, you decide...
Tor Magnus Castberg
BTW: this is first post... for me! I've been reading /. for a few years now, since before Andover, and I still enjoy the site.
BTW2: It's late, I'm tired. Please think content not presentation if you find spelling errors and such.
No, YOU can fuck off, WHINING PISSANT! This is Taco and Hemos site, not yours, and they can post WHATEVER THE GODDAMN HELL THEY LIKE AND YOU CAN'T STOP THEM. If you don't like it, GO SOMEPLACE ELSE, ASSWIPE!!!!!
I think the movie review is good idea. I am a nerd and I can't live without going to see a movie once a week. I'm a movie addict. The Beach is a great movie. If you don't like movie review, nobody pays you to read. FOOLZ
So what if is not news for nerds, i mean it matters to me, you cannot possibly have technology, linux articles the whole time, is boring! i agree with a little diversity, the movie is new, why not check out the reviwe of the inner critique, who btw did a fine job describing the movie! (i saw it yesteday). Is as simple as we have 7-12 new posts every day why on earth should you like all of them? we're a diverse crowd, leave Katz alone! i thought it was interesting!
Slashdot is more fluff and a lot less meat than it was a year ago. Where is the edge? Where is the tech? Where is the stuff that matters... reading the crap on MS's web site is almost as interesting as this site now. John Katz doesn't belong here, his writing is boring and a distraction. Time to find a new tech site. And why the hell don't the icons match up across the top - to the stories below? Lets go back to slashcode .01
I agree. Film reviews are one of the things I associate with Slashdot and they're something I value. I'm sure a most readers go to the cinema or watch videos occasionally and it's nice to get the views of other self-declared geeks on what's worth watching.
It isn't just the editor's postings that make Slashdot what it is to me (they're usually just links to other sites anyway). It's the comments that readers make. Out of the time I spend reading /., 95% is probably taken up reading the comments. In this case it took me a hell of a lot longer to read the "PUT IT TO A VOTE" post than it did to read the review it was complaining about. Why should JonKatz be taken off the team? As far as I'm concerned, his Hellmouth articles, and the opportunity they gave people to vent their feelings on their treatment at school, were Slashdot at its best. If nothing else, they've surely given him the right to be treated better than this?
Vote to keep JonKatz!
And it won't matter whether you do see it, either, since it's doing excellent box office and projections are it will take in 50 mil after international play. Talk is cheap.
I kinda saw how Star Wars may have met the "standards" to a bunch of nerds, but this? Leave this to Ebert. If I want movie stuff I'll get it on my own accord.
Its not so bad in the fact I could opt-out for movies (I'm guess I can), but what REALLY pisses me off is they only do a handfull of stories each day and someother story, far more worthy of nerd news was passed up.
Yuck.
Even more stupid... BSD news, which is computer related news gets shunted to non-front page status half the time, while this SHIT makes front page.
news for nerds indeed.
Not only is it a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, but The Beach has ruined, potentially forever, one of the most scenic beaches in Thailand. Avoid seeing the movie so Hollywood will not destroy more environmental treasures! Coverage can be found at http://cnn.com/2000/ASIANOW/southeast/02/09/thaila nd.beach.ap/index.html
I must say the movie basically sucked, but I was moreso captured by the beauty of the beach, and of Virginie Ledoyen. I wish I could jump into the screen and become a part of the movie. It's funny how ironic everything is. I, as well as many other my computer geek friends, we have an undying curiosity and passion for computers.. but at our jobs it is just not fun anymore. Give us all the money you want, and it still won't be fun.. Deadlines, pushing paper, meetings, etc... No more nights of staying up 24/7 hacking on the computer, living solely on mountain dew and pizza..
I can totally relate to this movie, as can my friends. We're sick of the day to day 8-5 bullsh*t. Is this what our lives were meant to be? It's not fun anymore.. we feel like we're wasting away. We don't feel human anymore.. some people live their whole lives doing the same day to day 8-5 bullsh*t without really living and experiencing life. It's just a matter of time before we decide to end our ties to this digital culture in the concrete jungle, and go out and experience the world, just as they did in "The Beach".. I wish I could do that.. I'm envious.. I want to turn in my laptop for a backpack and a passport, and someday I know I will. It just all matters when I think I have enough money set aside, just in case.. and then go with the flow and live life as I believe it was meant to be lived.
Here's an idea: Instead of griping, bitching and complaining ENDLESSLY about how Slashdot has gone downhill, why not contribute something yourself?
If there is any reason why this site is in decline, it is the fault of all you regulars who sit around bitching and moaning and contributing jack squat to conversation. Stop blaming VA, Andover, Bill Gates and every other boogey-man...BLAME YOURSELVES. A community is only as strong as those that participate in it, and I don't see much participation going on here anymore...just a lot of whining and bitching about very little else.
Danny Boyle's last major movie was "A Life Less Ordinary" released in October of 97.
The parent comment should be marked "Funny". It's a reference to the fact that Brainball is played by trying to minimize brainwave activity. (See today's "Brainball!" article on slashdot.
--synaptik
If you want to flame me, do so here.
HSJ$$*&#^!#+++ATH0
NO CARRIER
--
I second that!!
When I saw this Jon Katz article, the first thing I thought was "I have to post something about boycotting the beach!!"
Luckily, a bunch of people have already beaten me to it. It's good to know that Slashdotters are staying socially conscious.
Michael Chisari
Perhaps, it has something to do with the main focus of the movie being escape from the technological confines of the rest of the world?
--== So many idiots, so few comets. ==-- --== Stupidity should be painfull. ==--
This movie is obviously going to not draw as many protests at the theatres as the DeCSS case has but I just wanted to ask /. readers to boycott the movie. This movie was shot on a beautiful but ecologically fragile island off the coast of Thailand. From all reports, the crews ruined the beach and it was strewn with litter.
Sanity.html - Error 404 not found
The Beach is based on Alex Garland's excellent book of the same name.
;-)
Whetever you think of the movie, read the book as it's many times better -- the movie is a badly stripped down version of the plot without the inner workings of Richard's head. Plus the hero is English in the book
I read Slashdot to avoid the off-topic crap in Usenet. Does Katz now have a license to post whatever pleases him?
Offtopic PS: I agreed with everything Katz said, but this is just not the forum for it.
Get off my lawn.
Here's the "Beach" document from the WVE site, at http://www.wildrockies.org/wve/beach.htm
Not really--Katz has been around since before the VA deal. And there have been off-topic or silly articles even before Katz.
Who cares about a movie review? If I wanted a movie review I would go somewhere else, I want news for nerds, stuff that matters, what happened?
I don't mind them. Besides, I think you can filter them out if you like. We could cut out a whole lot of stuff if we wanted to, but I don't think we should. I think this place is not just a tech-news site; rather, it's a place where events (tech, political, social, cultural, religious, whatever) can be discussed from a geek viewpoint rather than the mainstream-society viewpoint that we get out of television networks, msn.com, and newspapers.
I'm a huge fan of these three (and the unofficial 4th member - Ewan McGregor). Three? I hear you say?
Yup it's not just Director Danny Boyle, but also producer Andrew MacDonald and writer John Hodge.
I was quite disappointed when they didn;t put Ewen McGregor in this film.... but never mind - I quite like him as a Jedi Knight - the only scotsman in TPM who isn't a Sith Lord.
So I should remind everyone that the 3 have produced 2 classic flms with their first 2 efforts - 'Shallow Grave' - which has convinced me never to share a home with anyone, and 'Trainspotting' which is quite easily the coolest film of the 90's and also made "Born Slippy" one of the greatest musical moments of hte decade. It also launched Johnny Lee Miller who most people here will recognise from Hackers.... and Robert Carlyle didn't do too badly from it. (BTW - was it true that this was dubbed in some US theaters because of the scottish accents??)
Then came along "A Life Less Ordinary" - Personally I think it's fantastic - maybe becuase I'm into surreal wierd stuff.... Definately good fun though. Every slashdotter should see this film.
And I also hear they did something called 'Alien Love Triangle' or at least one part of it.
I want to see the beach - not because of Leo, but because of the team behind it, and because it has an 'interesting' soundtrack.
It's crap like this that really makes me hate corporate america and corupt governments. Personally, I went down to the Cinemark and asked for how long they were going to be showing 'The Beach'. They said they didn't know. I replied that I wouldn't be seeing any movies there till it had left. As Cinemark owns all 3 theatres here, guess I'll be catching up on my movie rental. Anyone else have any semi-clever ideas for getting your point across?
USA-Democracy is 270 million YESes and NOes a day, not one every four years.
Katz wastes bandwidth. If he wants a a forum with a built-in audience, let him seek it elsewhere. I could see this post as a link in a quickie, but only if it offered some insight on the movie as commentary on technophobic escapism beyond the obvious. But it doesn't, it reads like someone trying be Gene Shallit to the geek set. There are already numerous hype and review sites, slashdot does not need to become one. Even the simpsons movie post was more targetted to promote discussion on this board than this.
Perhaps this is a misguided attempt to boost readership. Perhaps someone thinks that slashdot is too "nerdish" and could use a generic movie review to attract a mainstream audience. Slashdot is not about readership, its about discussion. Most of us who read here do so for the content provided by other readers, not to read the editor's attempt at being a movie reviewer. This post did nothing to create new or interesting user content. It's fluff.
I don't want to see him banned from Slashdot, sometimes what he writes shows a modicum of insight and thought that I have come to expect from slashdot. I just don't want him submitting posts without going through some editorial process. The rest of us have to do it. Katz has clearly shown less restraint and good judgement than any other editor, put him back down to the level of any other poster, where he belongs.
If you feel that Jon Katz has wasted enough space with articles that are poorly editted, poorly thought out, or just off topic, please follow this message up with a vote in the affirmative.
I will be doing something that I never wanted to do, and shutting off all posts by a /. editor.
Never send anything unencrypted that you don't want to have appear in court.
I even bought the same pair of Airwalks that McGregor used in the movie, probably because all the advertising affected me so much. Or maybe it was coincidence. Still have them, though.
for a /. coffee break 'news nugget' - not too short and one doesn't start getting bleary eyed from trying to slog thru a 'wall of text' - monitors aren't books - decent compression - a word to the wise is sufficient.
But this crowd does go for coding issues.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
I got dragged along to this one. Two women met in the foyer while I was waiting in line for popcorn.
Said one : "What you seeing?" the other replied : "The beach. A couple of hours of staring at DiCaprio's gorgeous body."
That about summed it up for me going in.
But actually I was pleasantly suprised.
Yes its Lord of the flies, yes its been "Americanized" to make it palatable to the US market. It isn't great, but it was better than what I was expecting and I'm willing to bet it wasn't that poor woman in the foyer was expecting either.
BTW, why is Jon Katz writing about every possible unrelated topic possible? I've nothing personal against the guy, but what the heck? The movie's not even almost tech-related... The Daily Show's review of "Beach" this week is pretty funny, though. Comedy Central's neat.
this accusation might be true. However, I did watch some silly documentary on the filming (normally I would not) on HBO. Based on what I saw, I have my doubts about these accusations. They showed pictures of that same beach before they touched it, and it was literally COVERED in debris and trash, I'd be suprised if they could have left it much worse off. I'm not sure how much traveling many of you have done, but believe it or not, many 3rd world countries have an even worse problems with polution and depris than any US metropolis...even bummfuck Thailand. While it is quite likely that the transplanted trees and sand created some erosion, the area that they altered was quite small, and in the grand scheme of things it is NOTHING. I find it hard to believe that anyone on slashdot is qualified to really speak about what happened, other than 3rd and 4th hand knowledge. Furthermore, even if they did, most everyone who reads this, lives enough of a consumer lifestyle (which inevitably creates polution, like it or not), that they can easily be called a hypocrite and then some. In fact, I suspect if you looked at the value added (dollars added to their economy) relative to the damage, you'd discover that your shoes or shirt or even your computer parts manufactured in Thailand (and other similar locations) cause proportionately more damage.
That being said, wild horses couldn't drag me to this movie. I despise DiCaprio, and
particularly any movie that would star him in a teen heart throb roll.
If Jon Katz ever plays brainball, my bets are on him.
bp
Slashdot, Andover, VA, whoever you are now, and whoever is in charge...
/.'s coprporate handlers think interests us?? If so, and if VA is driving Linux's future, than we're on the wrong side.
/. at all, PLEASE take away Katz posting rights. Subject his articles to the same level of scrutiny that you have over normal users articles.
/. into a clone of Ain't It Cool News!! At least AICN makes no qualms about being an MPAA rumor-mill and hype pump.
Who cares about The Beach or Leonardio DiCrapio?
Since the VA buyout, Katz is posting pure crap!!! Entertainment stories and fluff-pieces seem to get priority over News For Nerds! WHY?
Is this what
I'm sorry, I know this will get mod'd out of existence, but I just have to spew!!
Rob, if you have any control over
Katz is making
Rob, slashdot is bleeding out.
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
If you think Dilbert and User Friendly are books, you should have your head checked. There are differences between classic literature and comic books. I'm 15, and we read Lord of the Flies in school last year. It's a great book.
My plan is to pimp before they realize I'm a jackass. Hit 'em hard and fast.
Ummm... are we putting 2 and 2 together to get 5 here ??? Slashdot was posting movie reviews before andover.net... let alone before VA. Granted this review has questionable geek content (from my point of view), but I don't mind a little bit of varied content, just makes things a little bit more interesting. If you don't want movie reviews, don't read them... no one forces you to read every article posted.
Best thing about the movie was the soundtrack.. Very excellent techno feel. Orbital / Underworld / Angelo Badalemnti / etc.. Full 5 channel techno in the openning sequence just made me drool..
The music rocked.. I dug it a great deal.. Check out the soundtrack if you can..
...it's recent here in Germany, and what can I say, my GF digs Leo. So, we went to see it. I was not disappointed; the movie pretty much sucked. It had great scenes of the island, Leo wasn't too bad, but was there any plot in the movie? Nope. The Beach is just a very well camouflaged and really, really badly executed clone of "Lord of the Flies".
Now, they showed a preview of "Sleepy Hollow" which is gonna premier here in a week or two, now THAT is a movie that I expect to rock.
Actually there IS one reason to watch this movie: the track New Order has contributed, the first new song after seven years or something.
I'm really getting kind of offtopic here, but the greatest rock band ever deserves some reward.
The movie/book weren't about escape from technology per se, but they were about escape, in a sense --- about the search for something new and different, something exciting, that isn't a part of the day-to-day world.
Most people who have travelled extensively have felt this yearning --- a deep-seated, burning desire for something that just isn't there in normal everyday life back home. I know I did, and most of the people I met on the road seemed to as well; and that's just as much an indictment of the world we left as it is a comment about our personalities.
What does this have to do with technology? The answer to that has to do with, to what degree do you believe that technology is responsible for the things that are bad in modern society? I tend to think technology is not the cause of the problem --- but if I didn't think that, if I had any doubts about the beneficience of technology, then I would blame wanderlust on it too, and thus the movie would appear to be about it.
I didn't get that at all. The core theme is still there, it's just made less ambiguous and more stark ... suiting the american movie-going audience's tastes, i'm afraid.
For a hollywood adaptation of a novel, while it wasn't great, neither was it awful; they oversimplified it, but they didn't, AFAICT, massacre it.
The Beach was definitely not another "Lord of the Flies" in that a whole group of people go savage. These people who went to the island were technologists, just like "Swiss Family Robinson", taking control of their environment to suit their needs. Certainly they were much more aesthetic than SFR was in melding their shelters and crops into the tropical landscape. But I think any remote island society that plays gameboys, listens to walkmans, dances to techno music, and uses chainsaws to cut down trees deserves the tag "technologists."
That book was an awful, confused mess they make High Schoolers read. High handed and overly abstract, that book was just trash.
Read something worthwhile, like Dilbert or User Friendly, for a more relevant commentary on the need to escape technology.
I vote you find something better to moan about.
I actually wanted to read a review of this movie, because I'm a movie geek and I'm interested in other movie geek's opinions on this one. I also didn't read, and didn't want to read about the Anti-Spam law passed in Colorado. Hell I don't even know where Colorado is! Not all geeks live in your part of the world, and not all of us care about your political shufflings. All geeks are able to see movies (hopefully?), and hell, not all articles need to be heavy 'your future depends on it' stuff..
So settle down, take your pills, perhaps get some fresh air, and leave Kats alone.
el bobo
You Say: "The Beach" is director Danny Boyle's first major movie since the darkly comic and powerful "Trainspotting" a few years back"
.^
Um.. How about A Life Less Ordinary
^.
Advertising, of course.
Is this the worst story ever posted by Slashdot?
Alex Garland's book is quite possibly one of the coolest things I've ever read. The details of what's going on in Richard's head caused me to have trouble putting the book down. In fact, I missed an exam because of it. That's true. I highly recommend the book to anybody.
When I found out that Boyle was making a movie from it, I thought "great!" I loved Shallow Grave (not many people have seen it, which is sad) and Trainspotting. Ewan MacGregor was to play Richard. When I found out that DiCaprio replaced him, I was shocked. This moron?! Then I remembered The Basketball Diaries and was somewhat comforted... Somewhat.
Then I actually saw the thing. Cinematically, it's not hard to tell that Boyle was at the helm. The camera work is great, and has Boyle's unique visual style.
The events and characters captured by the cameras are another thing altogether. I know, I know, most people will hate a movie because it's "not like the book" if they had read it. I'm not that type. I didn't mind that Richard played Rampage on his Gameboy instead of Tetris. I was disappointed that that all of the changes were really badly chosen. I wanted to see Jed. How could they remove him? DiCaprio really played on the "I'm American" thing in a very bad way as well. How could you not hate him? He was a complete asshole. In the book, Richard did some stupid things, yes, but at least we could actually like him. When Leo got in front of the still camera and started acting like a complete idiot, I wanted to shoot him.
When he started fucking everything on two legs I couldn't help but feel that the book Richard's character, the one which made it famous, was indeed destroyed. The world at large will forever think of Richard as this little blond-haired jerk.
The choices were very bad, indeed. I really wanted to see the book's ending on the big screen, but got something completely different. I won't say anything about it deyond that it's extremely typical of Hollywood to change books in that manner.
As for Katz's statement about getting away from technology, I don't really think so. They welcomed technology on the beach. They played Gameboys, built houses, used technology to their advantage. They were trying to get away from traditional tourist crap. I'm the same way. I hate being a tourist, yet enjoy travelling. I'll be damned if I'm not going to bring along some electronic entertainment. Maybe you should watch it again (better yet, read the book). The scene where they go back for supplies shows this very clearly.
He finds a dazzling paradise, but you probably already sense that the only time Hollywood invokes paradise is to create a paradise lost.
More than that, it seems the only time Hollywood invokes paradise is to lose it -- that is, to destroy it. For an idea of the environmental impact that shooting this movie was to cause / did cause, look here. I'm not sure what the final result was, and I'm not sure the movie studio or the Thai government will tell you.
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
http://www.coopamerica.org/boycotts/bantargetchart .htm
says:
Womens Voices for the Earth alleges that the making
of the Twentieth Century Fox movie The Beach involved environmental destruction in Thailand.
On a related note, why would any of us see any movie given the state of the MPAA/DVD/DeCSS situation?
Cheers,
Slak
You may not like Katz. You may not like some of the subjects that show up. But invoking the Corporate Conspiracy is a bit much. Save it for when there really IS evidence of marketing manipulation.
I don't think so, it's just a star vehicle for Leo.
This sucks.
George
The problem with movies like this is that same problem that "wholesome" shows like Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons had. People think that if they eschew technology they will lead simpler, happier lives. Dream on!
Posting on how John Katz should be booted or about slashdot becoming decadent isn't going to help, either (the fact that Katz is part of /. and rallying everyone to "vote katz outta slashot!!" isn't going to magically boot him out has become somewhat oblivious...) - the more you gripe and whine, the more...well...the more nothing happens. If there is such a downfall of ./, its cause clearly points toward ./'s community. John Katz HAS poted some good stff, IMHO (the Columbine postings, for instance), and he isn't the black sheep of slashdot.
mmkay?
Have to agree with "lunatik17." If people would try changing their preferences to IGNORE "movies" or "John Katz" the world would be a better place.
Perhaps "Anonymous Coward" should be renamed "Lazy Coward."
:-) -sid
Shallow non-techie preteen girls who want their next leonardo the craprio fix?
/. readership actually LIKES technology. I can't speak for EVERYONE, but a large percentage of us appear to work in the tech industry. Why would we be in this field if we didn't like tech? Why cast away that from which we earn out livings?
Seriously tho... news for nerds this is not. Katz tries to justify writing this review by claiming that the movie is about an "escape from technology"? That's a specious jump at best. And that's ignoreing the fact that the majority of the
And aside from bad premise of posting the review in the first place, the review is lacking in quality, and more importantly, integrity. Katz has finally ventured into the realm of journalistic dishonesty. Want to know what I'm talking about? Go to the Chicago Sun-Times web page and look up Roger Ebert's review of "The Beach"; which was published a couple of weeks ago. Notice the striking number of similarities between Katz' review and Eberts?
I've never understood why so many people bashed John Katz before. I do now. As far as I am concerned, Katz just lost ALL his credibility, and ANY respect I might EVER have mustered for him.
I shall be checking my preferences to see if I can exclude him from my view from now on. I certianly hope I can.
john
Imagine all the people...
The original and best treatment of this subject matter is William Golding's Lord of the Flies.
Read the book:
Lord of the Flies at Barnes and Nobles
Or watch the movie:
Lord of the Flies (1963) at IMDB.COM
-konstant
Yes! We are all individuals! I'm not!
-konstant
Yes! We are all individuals! I'm not!
I think that this is the first positive review I've seen of this film. One reviewer suggested "Read the book and buy the soundtrack", rather than watch the film. I'd guess that Katz hasn't read the book or else he'd realise just how much they've fscked it about. They even switched the nationality of the main character from English to American, so that DeCrappio could play the part.
The book is definitely worth a read. Think I'll give the film a miss, though.
HH
Yellow tigers crouched in jungles in her dark eyes.
She's just dressing, goodbye windows, tired starlings.
You will not hear me talking this way about anyone else, but Leonardo DiCaprio, and here is why:
There was an italian family living in Germany, the DiCaprio family that has nothing to do whatsoever with the faggot Leonardo DiCaprio. They opened an ice-cream shop/restaurant and decided to call it DiCaprio (since that's their name). OK, now this faggot comes and sues them! because they are using HIS name to make money!
HE sues who is swimming in the money and popularity, who will probably fuck the most pretty women on earth for the foreseable future, who has the world at his feet? HE sues a family living humbly from their hard work?
And you know what? The court in Germany decided in favor of the faggot Leonardo DiCaprio.
Well, after this, Leonardo DiCaprio lost any redeeming attributes whatsoever.
Plus, "The Beach" caused a lot of damage to the echosystem where it was shot.
Sigged!
I have seen the movie, and thing the plot was paper thin at best. The cinematography was interesting during portions of the film, however the entire thing seemed too contrived. The music in the movie was interesting, and worth checking out, it is an eclectic mix of genres.
jesus, jon, what a cheap way to get flamewars/discussion/bashing started...
posting review of the mindless eye-candy flick on slashdot... granted, there's nothing against posting this review here, but why "the beach"?!!!
cheap.. cheap!!!
...sie sind nicht grün
Someone care to explain exactly why we're posting completely devoid-of-technological-content movie reviews on slashdot now? Aren't we supposed to be up in arms about what the MPAA is tryign to do with this money they get every time we go to a movie? I mean aside from the fact that noone gives two shits about what movie dicaprio is in now, the whole concept of evaluating stuff made by peopel you're boycotting is a little ridiculous.
good job, Katz - nice to see you stand up for the principles of the community. or did you even buy a ticket - this review sounds like you saw the commercial trailer, but I'm not sure you saw the actual movie.
Katz is bad enough when he has a reason to open his mouth and spew forth the crap he calls articles. gratuitous movie reviews of completely 0-technology-related cinema (and I use the term VERY loosely) are 100% unneccessary in this forum.
"The Beach" is actually a very excellent novel by Alex Garland and I heartily recommend it. I haven't seen the flick yet, but I am certain that with all of the plot changes (and character omissions) it can not come close to doing the book justice.
Jon Katz, I suggest that you take an afternoon or two to read "The Beach." Garland very definitely succeeds in weaving a tail of an island paradise transforming into a place of horror and despair.
What bothers me the most about this is that, while doubtless hordes of mindless, trend-seeking teenyboppers will run to see this film, it will turn off the intelligent among us who would be able to grasp the insight and complexity of the novel.
"On the other hand, the early worm gets eaten."
I vote yes.
No comment at this time
SpamMan
I have to agree. The OVERALL quality of /. articles has steadily degraded; however, the quality of ads has gotten exponentially better. Keep up the great work! Neoflux
Jon Katz seems to be making a real effort to keep his articles shorter. I want to applaud him for that. Considering that we can't get rid of him, let's at least give him some positive feed back so his articles actually get better.
Next thing to work on: how do we get him to stop restating the obvious?
Here goes the obvious:
1) that this movie borrows from other ones
2) That a Leo movie only has hot chicks in it.
3) That Leo is no Marlon Brando
Here go things that should have been mentioned:
1) The movie uses forshadowing, but is still unpredictable. Unlike most Hollywood movies. And
2) The plot isn't stupid, again unlike most Holywood movies.
What I would have mentioned in the article,
--
Be insightful. If you can't be insightful, be informative.
If you can't be informative, use my name
Be insightful. If you can't be insightful, be informative.
If you can't be informative, use my name
They might give a fuck there.
It saddens and disheartens me, not only that this type of article gets press on slashdot, but that the press was favorable. It's turning the motto 'Stuff that matters' into a mockery.
Please join me and the above AC in boycotting this ridiculous movie.
Guvegrra?
They're leaving in a warm and sunny paradise... now what's the opposite of that on earth? Cold and bleak Antarctic!!!
:-P
And who lives in the Antarctic?...
You got it. Penguins.
Hence, Linux, hence slashdot material
Daniel
Carpe Diem
Nonsense. There have been no changes whatsoever in what gets posted. Don't give in to the trolls crying foul at every chance they get. There has been no sign of influence, and no reason to suspect otherwise of CmdrTaco and Hemos.
Who cares about a movie review? If I wanted a movie review I would go somewhere else, I want news for nerds, stuff that matters, what happened?
Slashdot has done movie reviews every now and then for some time; this is nothing new. As for why in the first place, I think it's kinda good to have a geek's perspective on the latest movies, don't you? With so many dumb pop culture movies targeted for teens these days, I think it's a little nice to have a forum that reviews movies as they would appeal to geeks in general.
Here's my DeCSS mirror, where's yours?
In the media, there are things called "Slow News Days". Lots of articles about puppies and orphans, not much of the gritty stuff most of us look for. I've noticed that all the Linux centric news sites have been pretty slow this week. Not much is going on other than some program being released by some company in Redmond.
/.
1 15),10);'
The sites have to find something to fill the space. Otherwise we quit looking and their ad revenues go down. It's just an ugly side effect of the coporitzation of the net and
For More information: perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(
I started with nothing and have most of it left.
this review sucks. next time why not just cut&paste Roger Ebert rather than plagerize him!
But if I want movie news, I'll go to IMDB. If I want news news, I go to CNN.com or MSNBC.com. And if I want to know the latest cool news in science or tech, I go to /. I do not come to /. to read a semi-literate technical person try to pretent they should be Roger Ebert's latest sidekick in an effort to score free movie tix.
This is really too much. /. needs to enforce its identity, before it loses it in an effort to be everything to everyone. I suggest you go read your own tagline again before posting trivel like this.
Somedays it's just not worth chewing through the restraints...
The only reason I'd go see this movie would be because of the amount of chicks that would be there. Even then, I'd be eyeing them instead of the screen [while they drooled over Leo.]
Here's a list of stuff you can do with the 8 dollars that you save by not going to this movie:
Pay the kid next door to shovel your driveway during the two next snow storms
Rent Apocalypse Now and Lord Of The Flies buy a bag of candy.
Make a political donnation to Duke's Presidential Campaign.
Buy 40 lbs of Raman.
Go see Magnolia.
Buy two porno mags, distribute their pages to 12 kids in your neigbourhood and gain 12 disciples.
Buy candy and offer it to strangers at the mall.
Give it to the 4 bums you pass on your way to work.
Put it your piggy bank Cheers, Bart
I think the question Katz is asking is, why are idyllic environments always lush, deserted, tropic islands with no technology and scantily clad women? Well, the women I can understand, but why no modern conveniences...
Is it because these movies are inherently written by low-tech writers? Is it because this is a more socially traditional viewpoint and therefore shows up more? Is it the minimalist in all of us? Or is it because modern technological inter-connectivity is not necessarily a good thing?
I'm guessing the whole desert island motif is going to show up more and more. Hopefully in better movies than this one. I personally will not be buying a cell phone any time soon, I like to be alone occasionally without people calling me left and right. I liked it a lot better when my friends couldn't ICQ me every three seconds when I'm trying to do work. Even the friends I like. Seems like modern communications are changing the signal to noise ratio in peoples lives for the worse with email and newsgroups, etc.
Oh well enough of my wining...
So far I've gotten all my Karma from telling people they are wrong... :)
"Hollywood studio trashed island paradise" is the kind of great black-and-white story a publicist dreams of -- a perfect, emotive headline to sell newspapers or excite activists. But for a more detailed and balanced report see the thaistudents' excellent site:
http://thaistudents.com/the beach/phiphi_0200/index.html
The film makers maybe should or maybe should not have been allowed to film on Maya beach. But they were clearly aware right from the start of the dangers of a publicity backlash; and they took considerable environmental care to try to avoid one.
Where they did make changes, such as bringing in the palm trees, they undid them once the three week shoot was over. In fact they apparently restored the beach to a standard which would have been better than it had been before they first went there, had the work not been partially undone by the unexpected violence of the monsoon storms.
The most serious danger to Maya beach now is the continuing effect of the large number of regular tourists who visit, rather than any direct impact from the film-making. The most pressing need is for a permanent ranger presence to manage use and access to the island. But apparently work to establish such a post, using some of the facilities brought by the film crew, has been vandalised by those with a stake in the current free for all.
Last Week: MPAA bad, DeCSS good, join the EFF, boycott the MPAA, etc.
This Week: "The Beach" is a so-so movie, and neither the movie nor the review have much to do with News for Nerds. Stuff that matters, but here's a review for you nonetheless. Go see it if you disagree with us.
XML causes global warming.
Just wanted to let all of you Leo-fans out there know that I've seen something quite amusing yesterday on german TV RTL (I guess it was): :))
There was a Leo-Lookalike contest happening somewhere in Italy in order to promote The Beach. Well, the funny thing was that not even the sex had to be the same so even girls took part in that competition. A 16-year-old school-boy won first price: To be treated like DiCaprio for one day which means limo, bodyguards, etc.
Nothing really spectacular, but funny thing was that even the tv-spokesman said, that the winner even looks better than the original.
Talk about a worn-out sentence. It's usually said whenever someone sees an article that doesn't interest them. Not everyone has the same interests, pal. I happen to enjoy movie reviews. If you don't thats fine with me. But you can take your immature and selfish sentiments somewhere else.
--------
-------
"Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief."
Ha ha ha. #9, #10, whatever. Another Leo movie. I like that fact that there is a change of pace on Slashdot, but Leonardo DeCaprio movie reviews?
I personally think that a review on the new Winnie the Pooh movie would be a lot more fun. No Microsoft, No Linux, No Leo...Just good old fashioned low brain activity inducing cartoons. I love Tigger.
I haven't seen the film, but it has nothing to do with technology. It has nothing to do with escaping technology. If I think of beautiful tropical islands, I think of going there for the pure breathtaking beauty of nature. Not to escape technology. Katz is trying to put technology into anything he can get his little grubby hands on. Stop!
So why is this news item posted here? Its not related at all!!
I have sex on my brain most of the time. Katz has technology. Thats fair enough, but I suggest Katz puts down his laptop and gets out and interacts with the world and all that lives in it face to face.
Disney's Beauty and the Beast contained nothing about football. Does that mean it's a film about people escaping from football? Stupid example I know, but no more stupid than Katz posting this.
I know, I know - I'm too lazy to change my settings to escape Katz.
Newsflash!! Crivens runs away to remote tropical island to escape reading Katz postings!!! Extra Extra! Read all about it!
Mark Papadakis, WebDeveloper
Technology ramblings : Simple is Beautiful
It's actually one of the best books I've ever read. It was originally a novel by Alex Garland, a brilliant writer, much in the vein of Douglas Coupland... pop culture and all that. Having said that, the movie horribly slaughters the book with a 6" dull spoon. First, they deleted and changed various characters in the book. Second, they changed the main character from British to a smiley-eyed dull-brained morally-superior American, a change which destroys about half the character right off the bat. If you read the book, you'd see. Finally, they throw out all of the main themes of the book, and focus on Leo bangin chicks on a beach in Thailand. Like, wtf? The movie was such an insult to Alex Garland and his fine work I thought I was going to throw up. Luckily I left before I did. Once again the movie mantra holds: If there's a book, $@&! the movie. Kaii
It seems that during the filming of this movie, they caused a LOT of environmental damage to the island. Which Fox promised to correct - but guess what? They didn't. And reportedly half the beach was washed away in the first monsoons, due to lack of plant life that would prevent erosion (Fox didn't keep its promise to replace the plants they removed for filming.)
i ronment.html
There's a story on MotherJones about this, at
http://www.motherjones.com/news_wire/leo.html
There's also a boycott by Womens' Voices for the Earth. Info is at
http://www.wildrockies.org/WVE/beach.htm
And, ironically, guess who is the host of Earth Day 2000? You guessed it...
http://www.leonardodicaprio.com/environment/env
...
God, first the MPAA pulls that crap with DeCSS, and now this. Is this _really_ an organization you want to give money?
reverend lola
the titanium sheep
provider of steel wool
How in the world did he come up with that? So out of place, is almost seems made up, just so it had a little technology aspect to it. This movie is nothing more than "Lord of the Flies" with a little more mature crowd and a little nudity thrown it to keep the "R" rating. Escaping from technology is quite a leap.
More race stuff in one place,
than any one place on the net.
This thread I can almost see the possibility of socio-impact comments on what happens to culture in isolation etc. Could be interesting, However I think there are much better vehicles that Leo's latest movie.
More race stuff in one place,
than any one place on the net.
I didn't really like Trainspotting too terribly much, but I saw that it was an ambitious, well-crafted, well-acted piece.
The Beach, on the other hand, is so utterly worthless that I can scarcely believe the half-positive review you gave it.
Movies filmed in beautiful areas are not beautiful films. They're films with nice sets (in this case, a glorified swimsuit calendar with a nice set). And trying to present kids as dark and complex is one damned trend I've had quite enough of.
Why is it that we suddenly can't go two weeks without some crap-fest that attempts to strike at the hearts of "misunderstood" youth culture? Gag me.
And as for the comparisons to Conrad and Copolla, PUH-LEASE. The closest THIS comes to HoD is the foliage. And The Beach is to Apocalypse Now what Cheezits are to brie.
as someone said in another comment this is news for nerds not movie reviews. what is going to come next news about the backstreetboy's new cd. damn wake up people
why am i here?
I fail to see how you make the connection between a "bad" Katz article and VA buying andover.net. Katz was posting stuff the people didn't like long before VA. In fact he's done movie reviews before. Also each Katz post doesn't equal one less post by someone else so just ignore posts by Katz if you don't like him.
Oh now give the guy a break. He doesn't know jack-shit about Linux or Unix or any of those things that made slashdot what it was. He's on the payroll, so they've got to let him write stuff. This is the kind of crap you get when hire a TV guy.
Deconstructing Katz
Rumor had it that Boyle replaced his ever trustworthy Ewan McGregor (from his films Trainspotting and A Life Less Ordinary) and replaced him with DiCrappio half way through production because they needed a teen "heart throb " to boost box office sales. If McGregor (sic?) had the role of Richard, the movie would be much better than the sorry state it is in, though they totally fscked the plot ontop of poor casting. BTW DiCrappio would have been a good Ettiene (the french dude), at least if the plot had stayed true to Alex Garlands' excellent book. Just my $0.02 (US)
I think that ever since VA took over slashdot, the news has gone steadily downhill. Who cares about a movie review? If I wanted a movie review I would go somewhere else, I want news for nerds, stuff that matters, what happened?
Dr Fgets Strikes again!
I read Alex Garland's novel (the one this movie is based on) a while back and thought to myself
that it wasn't that bad of a novel, tho obviously an authors early work in their carreer.
A little rough in places and WAY too similar to Lord of the Flies...
And then I saw a preview for the movie, with "gosh-I'm-so-Cute" diCaprio and thought well, they're going to ruin that one...
I have no plans to go see the movie... based on what I've seen from the previews / trailers it looks like just another poorly made movie, loosely based on an OK novel, but all jacked up to a sensational HOLLYWOOD level, of consequence to no one.
-PsI
Part of the film was shot in Phuket - about 2 hours (flight time) away from Bangkok. If you want to have a peaceful vacation, this would be a good and affordable place to visit, especially considering the currently favourable exchange rate.
Have you ever been to the location where the film was shot? If so, you would have realized that the producers did a fairly good job of restoring the place back to what it was like before. Other islands in the surrounding region had suffered much more from popular tourism. Part of the problem is the general lack of self control. Admittedly, Phuket is much cleaner than other tourist spots, but wherever you have massive amounts of people coming and going, the environment is going to be impacted - like it or not. This situation won't get better until the Thai's (I am Thai myself) learn to respect the environment.
The locals are a pack of liars... have you seen the before and after pictures?
The crew removed 3 tonnes of litter from the island, along with making the beach used on most of the film considerably nicer. They have done them a favour in many ways. AND they have increased tourists for the year ahead.
I can't comment on the erosion problem, but neither can the locals really... you need more time than the under a year given to monitor it.
the columbine troll has an interesting conspiracy theory to point out to you.
/. after his Hellmouth articles. Since then, the flow of Katz articles has increased manyfold.
JonKatz became widely read on
It is entirely possible, I think, that Katz actuallt PAID ERIC HARRIS AND DYLAN KLEBOLD to commit the massacre so he could write about it and get famous!
Brilliant plan, Jon, but you've been exposed now, your secret's out, and when the cops find out, you're gonna get the chair!
This movie looks like it a girls movie. Leo running around without a shirt on and swimming and stuff like that. I wouldn't mind seeing it on rental though. I a mnot sure about the story plot but this movie will sell.