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Minority Report
The resonance between this story and the current war is so strong that it's almost impossible to watch it for what it is, a good murder mystery conceived well before September 11th retelling a short story that was published long ago in 1956. The movie is half a work of philosophy and half a head-scratching what-if narrative exploring the merger of computers, extra-sensory perception, and genetic research. All of this is painted on the screen in the sad muted browns, sepias, blues and greys of an amateur watercolorist who can't keep the colors from turning to mud.
The conceit is the kind of classic conundrum that made science fiction great: the police in 2054 can tap the minds of three "pre-cogs" who see visions of murders a few hours before they will happen. Tom Cruise plays a cop who flies off in a jet pack to nab the soon-to-be-bad guys and lock them away before they kill. Can we really be sure the crime will be committed just as the pre-cognitives predict? Cruise is an earnest believer in the system's perfection until, it should be obvious, the system implicates him in the pre-murder of someone he's never met.
The yarn unfolds as a long string of chase scenes mixed with some flashbacks and some pre-cognitive dodges. Cruise's character, we're told, is a fast runner and he spends plenty of time running fast. The plot is crisp and layered enough to unfold several times. The hinge points are as good as the philosophical question they serve.
The biggest failure of the movie may be the set design and the look. At one moment, we see computers to inspire the next generation from Apple, in another moment we're in a mall that isn't as fancy or as new as the mall around the corner from my house. The logos for the Gap and Pepsi haven't changed since they were faxed over from the product-placement department. Many of the scenes look contemporary, with minimal set dressing, but then along comes a great car chase tricked out like the wet dream from some 19-year-old in an art school in Southern California. The unity of vision that delivered the oily dystopia of Bladerunner is missing this time. I wouldn't be surprised if someone tightened the budget screws in the middle of the film and sent them scrambling to save money on some scenes.
The tone coming from the actors is also a bit uneven. Spielberg managed to toss in funny moments in the Indiana Jones trilogy and whole schtick came together with the amazing certainty of comic-book escapism. The bits of humor in this movie's chase scenes, though, ruin the nervous paranoia and amped-up tension crackling through the narrative's ganglia. Is this supposed to be summer joy ride or a serious exploration of the meaning of justice?
These errors in execution don't matter too much because the storyline is so strong and central to our current struggle with terrorism. No one probably wants to hear that Dick wrote this story just a few years after the Supreme Court finally decided that it wasn't really legal to lock up Japanese-Americans on the off chance that they might take their orders from Tokyo. The movie theater where I saw the film is only a few miles from the prison that held much of Baltimore's City Council during the Civil War.
Despite the uncomfortable fact that moments like these happen again and again in history, there's no way to escape wondering whether Spielberg is some kind of pre-cog being who gets his version of the zeitgeist delivered early. The timing is just eerie.
Peter Wayner thinks his new book, Translucent Databases is about ten years ahead of its time. His book about steganography, Disappearing Cryptography , may be a few months late."
And i was impressed by the attention they gave to the issues they were addressing. Now only if they got a better chick to play agatha, and perhaps not so disgusting scenes (that sandwich was disgusting), I would of given 5 out of 5.
Good review, btw.
Think nothing is impossible? Try slamming a revolving door.
so if this future comes about does it mean ill be charged for music i download before i even listen to it? damn the riaa would have a field day with that! =)
12ft of rope, 4 bottles of vodka, 2 midgets, 3 cheerleaders, 1 crazy weekend
In the first paragraph of the summary say: "Go see this movie" or "Don't go see this movie".
*afeared of Lone Gunmen Spoilers*
"Derp de derp."
what does this movie have to do with minorities?
He who knows not and knows he knows not is a wise man. He who knows not and knows not he knows not is a fool.
A JonKatz review not written by JonKatz!! Who would have thunk it?!?
The biggest failure of the movie may be the set design and the look. At one moment, we see computers to inspire the next generation from Apple, in another moment we're in a mall that isn't as fancy or as new as the mall around the corner from my house. The logos for the Gap and Pepsi haven't changed since they were faxed over from the product-placement department. Many of the scenes look contemporary with minimal set dressing, but then along comes a great car chase tricked out like the wet dream from some 19 year old in an art school in Southern California.
In the 1950s we were all promised flying cars through the amazing miracle that was atomic energy. But we're still driving plain old cars that run on gas. Not everything will change in the future. And also, I could see malls like the ones today being set up because of nostalgia.
Also, did anyone else notice that Spielberg switched camera lenses or something during some of those past-looking scenes? Everything looked fuzzier, like from glare or something.
I wrote a review of Minority Report in my Journal as well. Just wanted to write one before Katzdid =)
Hasn't anyone else read Isaac Asimov's tale of the mighty Multivac and how it can predict crimes before they happen? Amazing!
How much did you pay Slashdot to place that ad at the bottom of your review?
Michael Loves Me!
what does this movie have to do with minorities?
Think of minorities in election results, not populations. To tell you any more would be spoilers. Are you incapable of going to see this movie?
FWIW, I thought it was very good.
we'll have cars that drive themselves down the sides of buildings, be able to prevent crimes from happening in the future, have really sweet video processing systems with haptic interfaces.
But we'll still have to sneakernet media from one workstation to another via removable media. Nothing ever changes.
it's not going to stop until you wise up, no it's not going to stop. so just give up.
Very well written as the rest of us would agree.
As for me, Minority Report is on my list of movies to see along with MIB II. A little bit of both worlds..
Rapid Nirvana
The biggest failure of the movie may be the set design and the look. At one moment, we see computers to inspire the next generation from Apple, in another moment we're in a mall that isn't as fancy or as new as the mall around the corner from my house.
I disagree. That's one of the strengths. It is ony 50 years in the future, and Spielberg uses a few advances to make it both close to home and alien.
To get all Darko Suvin on the matter for a moment (Suvin is an esteemed critic of and thinker about sf, read his stuff, it rocks), it is clear that the makers of this movie know what their novum (the "difference" that makes it sf) is, and they're sticking to it - precrime. Other lesser nova include the retina-scans and neuroin. What is very, very successfully done is their ability to focus on the important nova and their effects on society without getting too fancy with flying cars and moon malls and so forth.
What I'm trying to say at 4:48 pm after a long hot day is that the movie is a masterful example of putting an alien concept in a familiar context - for maximum effect on the viewer. A bonus is the gritty feel, and it was cute for me as a DC resident to see the future of the city (you know, we have Lexus plants _all over_ Capitol Hill).
Good movie. See it.
Karma: T-rexcellent.
The people we are locking up are NOT citizens of the USA. The two or three that ARE US born are having trials as we speak. Maybe you should read the newspaper something, or turn on the TV.
That would be the Glendale Galleria (in Glendale, CA), which looks outdated even today, appearing suddenly in the middle of DC in 2054. On the other hand, there are plenty of things around today that were here in 1952. Surely, EVERYTHING would not change in 50 years...
I have not seen it yet but it is on my wish list. Dick was a great author, very visionary. I would also say that he greatly influenced William Gibson in the realm of cyberpunk. If you want to know why check out A Scanner Darkly, a book about an undercover narc in the future who uses technology to his advantage, but also has a habit that is killing him slowly. Dick was a heavy addict at one time and this book reflects his experiences. It is actually a darkly beautiful book and the forward is dedicated to all of his friends who fell into the world of heroin abuse. Blade Runner(Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) was a very good book although the movie was only 'vaguely' based on it. BUT the movie kicked ass. Rutger Haur as the phliosopher replicant was great. He adlibbed most of his scenes and they kept em. One of my fav's still. So if they keep it on the real with the book it should be good. Heard a rumor once that Lucas wanted to adapt Dick books. God save us all. Puto
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
It was all there:
- the pointless "humorous" hijinks interrupting the flow (oh! the protagonist is going to eat a moldy sandwich! ha! ha! ha!)
- the sappy/happy ending when this movie really deserved an unhappy one
- the trite music from John Williams (which seemed especially bad this time...
- and worst of all, the constant need to explain every minor plot twist three times because Spielberg assumes (correctly?) that his audience is really quite stupid.
Minority Report would be a decent movie if it just wasn't so fucking annoying.is he even trying anymore?)
I thought the conception and excution of the film's near future was actually very well done. It is important not to change TOO many things, or you end up with a future that isn't "relatable."
Put another way: I think a mall which is largely recognizable, but has just a few odd tweaks, is a more effective way of delivering future shock than a totally unrecognizable one.
And, realistically, the near future WILL still have lots in common culturally with the current-day and even the past. I don't find the notion of The Gap logo not changing a stretch (however, I might expect it to be a place where geezers go to shop . . . comforting fashions for elderly Gen-Xers).
Stefan
they filmed part of this in my town. I've not seen it yet, and don't really intend to, so i can say which ones they were. From trailers i've seen, that house with the water around it looked familiar.
Anyway, because they were here all last summer i've got a copy of the book signed by spielburg and cruise. I am not exactly proud of this, though. Anyone liked the movie or the book that wants this one?
And I *know* I'll get modded down as a Troll (I've noticed that anyone who disagrees with the main author with respect to movies get's modded as a troll) but that movie blew chunks. *SPOILER ALERT* For starters, in order for the pre-cogs to have seen Tom Cruise's character commit murder, he'd have to have been set up *in advance*, and the person doing the set-up (Max von Sydow I presume) *would have to know **in advance** that Tom would go snooping around old muder files*, in effect, Max von Sydow would have to be a pre-cog himself, which obviously he isn't, and therefore the *entire* premise of the movie is invalidated. Next: The pre-cogs, we are told again and again, starting from childhood and going from there, that they can only see murders, yet when in the mall, she sees every little thing, like the oriental woman having an affair, when to hide from the cops, etc etc etc... And although the pre-cogs are "apparently" never wrong (although they do see things slightly differently) they didn't see Max von Sydow kill himself...ooops. In short, poorly written, very poorly written. It's as bad as Swordfish was (that had *no* plot...which is worse than a bad plot, no plot whatsoever)
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
This review makes too great a logical leap by trying to tie the pre-cogs/precrime plot of Minority Report to the 'War on Terrorism'. Not only is it, well I don't really have a better word, stupid -- but it seems the reviewer is trying to make a political point. Albeit with all the striking power of a wet noodle.
/. editorial staff will try not to drop such obvious dreck on us in the future. Of course history tells me differently...
Sorry, this article doesn't cut it as a movie review -- or -- as a philosophical statement. It sucks on far too many levels. Moderate me offtopic if you like, but don't moderate as a troll or flamebait, this is truly my opinion and I stand behind it.
I would hope that the
Jack William Bell
- -
Are you an SF Fan? Are you a Tru-Fan?
and worst of all, the constant need to explain every minor plot twist three times because Spielberg assumes (correctly?) that his audience is really quite stupid.
Considering how he was burned by A.I. ("What's with those aliens at the end?" and "I can't believe that sappy ending!"), it's not surprising that for this movie he decided to make things more obvious.
Your review is a lot more interesting than the rant here. Almost wish it was friday so I could get student matnee, damn I'll just scrouge 3 bucks and watch it. Thanks for the excellent review.
I think that IS important, but I also think Bush's initiative to create a Palestinian state is important. The point is, neither of these things really belong on Slashdot. It has nothing to do with technology, the internet, the future, or geek interests. It has to do with religion and tradition.
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
And I thought this was the findings of a study about black people. Oh man... What a ripoff. :)
I went to see this opening night and was extremely impressed. Definitely the best 2002 movie I've seen. Great effects, visuals, plot, acting, and endless fodder for discussion. Only minor negative was the Spielbergian melodrama, which occurs in a few scenes and does stick out a bit. Fortunately these are few and far between and are usually pretty short.
I think the number one impressive thing had to be how a pretty complex plot got set up and and they managed to resolve it without "cheating".
There's a few scenes that'll make you jump, and a few freaky ideas. Agatha certainly gives you the creeps a few times... "Murrdderrr!!!" :)
"Luck is the residue of design" -- Branch Rickey
I thought Minority Report was an entertaining movie and decent SciFi, but for some reason I got the feeling that the movie simply "could have been better" but I'm at a loss to point to specific instances where I felt some touch up was necessary.
In addition, the movie is actually quite different from the original short story, which I guess would be natural when someone like Spielberg tries to expand a short story to a two and half hour blockbuster which is designed to appeal to Joe Consumer.
Tom Cruise, Kind of
Yes, it's a joke-Enjoy
tcd004
***POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD***
(i don't give much away about what happens, but rather, what doesn't)
Maybe the original short story covers this, but I was miffed that this particular hole in the story was left untouched:
Why do they have to convict people of these crimes they haven't commited? (or whatever they call it when they arrest you for pre-crime) Why not intercept the criminal before the crime is commited, hold the suspect for like 72 hours, possibly giving them some kind of counseling, and then release them? If they never commited a crime, they can't really be guilty of it, so no harm, no foul. In the movie, they say that premeditated murder is almost extinguished, because no one is dumb enough to try it anymore. This would still be the case under my idea, and you could even consider imprisoning those who are repeat "offenders". But it would keep people from commiting crimes of passion, and allow them to continue their lives.
Thoughts, anyone?
The Free desktop that Just Works
It was a well executed movie, but there was some obviously biased left-wing exaggerations. Anyone who says this movie was realistic or "could happen" is a paranoid alarmist.
** SPOILERS BELOW **
First off, it seems the department of precrime has done away with the entire judicial system. You're caught and then hauled off and put in your little halo/tube thing with no trial or investigation. Also, if you think the American public would be cool with prisoners being plugged into the Matrix and sealed off, you're a moron.
If there in fact was a department of precrime, those who were prevented from committing murder would not be arrested but most likely be put into counseling along with restraining orders placed from those who were going to be killed. They wouldn't go to jail as if they committed a crime, simply because they didn't. If you think they would, you too are a paranoid alarmist idiot.
The kicker for me was at the end when the entire precrime system was abolished.. and this was something we were supposed to feel good about. Nevermind the fact that D.C. would probably shoot back to the number 1 murder rate city in the country overnight. Nevermind the fact that precrime could have been used legitimately and usefully, preventing murders by intervention but without punishment (what an idea!)
I also love the fact that our precog friends decide to live on a farm at the end where they can read books. Because as every good bleeding heart liberal knows, technology and society are evil. Please.
Oh, and of course everyone would be cool with them immersing the precogs in a vat of goo for all their lives. Starting the movie with this premise, something which would never be legitimate, and then breaking it down at the end to help us feel good about the conclusion is the cinematic equivalent of a straw man.
I realize it was just a movie, but I want could curb some of the alarmist reaction to this wholly unrealistic depiction of what the world would be like if we could accurately predict murder. Putting this out now after 9/11 makes it all too easy for the lefties to jump on it and say "See???" Don't let them.
--
I just got done reading Filthy's review of the movie: http://www.bigempire.com/filthy/
I go to slashdot's frontpage and what do I see? A review for the movie! Creepy.
"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking
Basically [a minority report] is, I believe, a dissenting opinion.
Thanks. You expressed it in terms that the legions of armchair lawyers on /. could understand without giving away the plot.
Now this immediately raises a question. Why didn't they just call it a dissent? Simple: If Fox called the movie "Dissent", then Interplay would hang them if they tried to make a video game out of the movie.
Will I retire or break 10K?
So the legislation that added "under God" to the Pledge of Allegience was ruled unconstitutional? Why should we care? How is that "news for nerds?" It's not even really "stuff that matters."
The Arizona wildfires are "stuff that matters," but unless they melt a cross-country fibre optic communications link, I wouldn't expect to see a story about them here.
(Please don't moderate this to -1 until the parent post is already there; it's even more off topic.)
I saw it saturday nite. It was deffinetly worth the $7.50. I thought the story was uniquly good... not quite as odd as last year's AI. I left feeling as though about 70% of that movie could be true ... except for the pre-cogs and jetpacks.
... (Other than being told that i need a nice cold Guniess, Id stay at home tho). The displays were impressive, but really not that impossible ... fighter jets use simlar tech. As for the gesture system, that was just down right cool. Anyone know were I can get one?
... I think it might they wanted the big display unnetworked, a way to make sure it was 100% secure. Secondly, when Tom is imprisoned, why is his eye still active. I mean in 50 years, when someone gets thrown in jail, I'd hope they would imeadatly have no access to secure area? Everything seemed to be integrated into one Database that id'd ppl by their eyes. Of corse maybe they use Passport ... ;)
Technicly I think it was a decent portaial of a not too distant future. The adds, while not really a new update of what is current, were technicly advance
There were a few weak technical points. Why did they have to sneakernet the data between the two machines?
All in all I though it was great. The cars were cool, albiet a bit far fetched. But it was done well. I enjoyed it.
/* Lobster Stick To Magnet!*/
Less of a movie review and more of a political diatribe, methinks. If Timothy is not comfortable with aggressively going after the bad guys, fine, but kuro5hin might be a better forum for him than /.
sig has been sent away for a few small repairs...
Bush does not serve another term 2-1
Cheney asks France for Asylum 10-1
Bush admits scoring coke behind White House 30-1
Bush resigns over instucting intelligence agencies
to NOT investigate bin Laden family 1-2
Read this:
"A court's inquiry should come to an end once the military has shown ... that it has determined that the detainee is an enemy combatant. ... [T]he court may not second-guess the military's enemy-combatant determination."
This was written by the Department of Justice. In plain English it says that the military may keep someone locked up for as long as they want, without trial. Even if they're an American citizen. Article available here.
And FYI: The recent arrest announced by Ashcroft was against a US citizen who they had kept in custody for over a month before announcing it. All based on their good word.
Which is, I hope you'll agree, somewhat suspect if for no other reason than they are humans, and are therefore fallible.
[mirror of article]
The site the article is hosted on doesn't get slashdotted. When it receives more traffic than its database can handle, it falls back on static caches of the articles and top-level comments.
The "Redundant" moderation of parent was fair.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Of course in the reviewer's own estimation, by this time everyone should wear pseudo-future space clothes and all restaurants are Taco Bell.
:))
I thought the mixture of futurism while maintaining modern elements is a pretty good guess. It's 50 years in the future, I don't see our society changing too much. But anything can happen. No one can predict the future (well, except maybe the precogs
This is just one view of the future, and it seems realistic enough. I thought it was done tastefully and thoughtfully, unlike such tripe as Battlefield Earth. My only qualm with the story was the ending, which, like AI, would have been better had they cut the last 10-15 minutes out.
[n/t]
Bitch moan bitch moan. Go back to your fucking precious kuro5hin or whatever. Get a life, nerdshit.
The plot is crisp and layered enough to unfold several times
I'm sorry to disagree, but I found the plot clumsy, inefficient, and not particularly thrilling.
Assuming that there was anyone in the audience unfamiliar with the premise, was it necessary to set up the premise in at least four repetative sequences, any one of which would have done the job:
1. In the 15 minute opening arrest sequence.
2. In the 5 minute discussion following that sequence.
3. In the Robocop-like "Precrime" commercial.
4. AGAIN by the tour guide?
Technology was inconsistant in the film:
1. Why didn't they use the spiders in the opening sequence when they didn't know which house it was? In fact, why didn't they just run in and check all the houses instead of having 50 guys just stand there?
2. You think the computers were Steve Jobs inspired? I was SHOCKED that they were using a FLOPPY to move files from computer to computer.
3. What was up with waving your arms around like a conductor to move windows?!
4. What was up with that horrible 3d projections system in Tom Cruise's house? Why would anyone use that? It was like bad UHF reception.
5. "If you don't wait twelve hours... you'll go blind." Or... maybe six.
6. Whats up with a giant organ in the prison room?
7. Don't you think the spider technology would have showed up in lots of other places?
8. If the cops have those stun gun things, why would using bullets be standard issue?
9. Wouldn't the revelation of PSYCHICS have tremendous scientific reprocussions beyond precrime?
10. The ads, which were supposed to be annoying in the story... were annoying in ACTUALITY. Part of the reason I think is that I know that this wasn't tongue-in-cheek made up ads, but ACTUAL ADS from ACTUAL companies who were paying big time subsidies for this VERY REAL product placement. How ironic.
11. Did anyone else get the feeling that this future had about 50 people in it total? I did not feel like this was a "real" world at all.
12. There were just a lot of plain silly and inconsistant things. I did like the cereal box tho.
Action Scenes:
1. The Tom Cruise Plays Car Frogger scene was dull.
2. Were there any other action scenes? I suppose some chases... blah.
3. The action, billed as on the same level as Indian Jones....wasn't.
Characters:
1. Did Tom's drug addiction go anywhere? Did anyone even buy this character?
2. Haven't we seen the "I never said she drowned" "whoops!" about a million times?
3. "Surely by now the precogs have predicted you're going to kill me. So you're caught in a paradox.. bwahaha" How the hell did Tom know what they predicted? They could have predicted what enivitably happened.
4. The surgeon who replaces Tom's eyes gives a big speech about getting screwed over, then does....nothing bad. Fixes the eyes, leaves a nice sandwich.
5. Tom's coworkers at precrime have no problem whatsoever going after him.
6. The precogs were just plain silly.
7. As for Max von Sydow, don't even get me started.
Plot
1. Why did Tom's crime of passion get a full 36 hours of lead time when they had established that such crimes come at the last minute?
2. As the film was kinda winding down, I turned to my friend and predicted not only who the guy Tom was searching for was, but what choice Tom would have and what he would do. I was right, but never could have anticipated...
3. The extra 20 minutes or so following that, which like was totally unnecessary and cheesy.
4. What is the point of putting the precogs in a barn somewhere?
I still don't see why murders stopped by precogs NECESSARILY need to lead to arrests and prosecutions. I mean, say they had stopped the murder of passion at the top of the story-- rather than putting the dreaded headphones on the husband, couldn't they have gotten him into some family counceling? I mean, having a precog to stop a murder doesn't automatically mean you have to prosecute the pre-murderer.
With the 95% positive response on rottentomatoes.com I was expecting something really impressive.. But as time goes, I'm just left with... "well, that was kinda mediocre..." Certainly not at all thought provoking.
I think many critics are smokin' crack.
First, I wonder why the person writing the /. article is touting Spielberg as such a visionary. The story is by Philip K Dick, who really was a true visionary, but the article's comparison is like me reading Shakespear and touting myself as a great playwriter.
Second, Im sure that you can draw any paralels you want to anything. If you fold up a dollar bill like a paper airplane you will see the twin towers burning on the back; big deal. Its just like numerology, it isnt really a science, its just manipulating the facts like tetris pieces, trying to make them fit.
Actually, I enjoyed the Pepsi and Gap advertisement logos, just the way they were. I thought it was a bit of commentary on consumerism and cultural permananence: We may lose our rights, but we'll always have cool, refreshing Pepsi.
It reminded me of that bad-yet-good movie Demolition Man, with Sylvester Stallone, where in the future, all restaraunts are Taco Bell.
------ What's sadder than realizing you've filtered out your own comments?
Many successful logos never change. If you bought ads in this movie, you're buying your way into the future.
Think Coca Cola's logo will be much different in 50 years?
Also, how could the reviewer call that mall normal? Holy crap. It was like walking into a physical version of Amazon.com.
PLUG:
Read this Interview with Tom Cruise, sorta
tcd004
The reason it's important is that most slashdot readers are not just interested in computers, but also in constitutional rights. Much of what you see here has only a shred of connection to nerds, but more importantly has to do with things nerds tend to be interested in... More important, it's not very off topic, as the title says, because the movie review is about people getting stripped of their rights without actually doing anything. It has to do with the article and with slashdot because slashdot is a stronghold of those who believe in freedom of thought and information.
You're right though: your palestine story has nothing to do with slashdot.
1. I found it ridiculous that a highly secure police station/temple would not do something so basic as to change the [retinal] locks when one of its employees was accused of murder.
...
2. The underlying movtive for murduring the Agatha's mother was very weak as well. Given the amount of effort required to do it, wouldn't it have been easier to discredit her 'cleaned up' image by planting drugs on her? There are tons of non-murdering crimes which would have kept her daughter in the precrime program without having the daughter know that her mother was killed and by whom! Maybe I've just read too many Agatha Christie novels
my 2 cents
Jose Padilla, the "dirty bomb" suspect, is a US citizen. He has been placed in military custody as an "enemy combatant." He was placed in military custody, because in order to keep him in police custody, law enforcement must charge him with a crime and present evidence of it. They are unable or unwilling to do so, so they are doing an end-run around the constitution .
Perhaps thousands (the justice department won't say) of non-US citizens are being held without being charged with any crime. The justice department's secrecy on the issue, and its trampling of Mr. Padilla's constitutional rights, could lead one to wonder if more US citizens are in custody without due process.
Don't forget that Friday is Hawaiian shirt day.
The resonance between this story and the current war is so strong that it's almost impossible to watch it for what it is.
Huh? I watched the whole movie and never twigged to this 'coincidence', and I still don't buy it. I think it was about what it's about: an action flick around a novel premise.
The yarn unfolds as a long string of chase scenes mixed with some flashbacks and some pre-cognitive dodges.
Those dodges were a lot of fun. But you don't mention the thing that intrigued me the most: the series of encounters with some really interesting characters (who oddly never show up again outside of their independent vignette): the gengineer, the underground surgeon, the guy with the holosuites (he reminded me of Quark), and Leo Crow. I found that to be an intriguingly unique element.
Tom Cruise plays a cop who flies off in a jet pack to nab the soon-to-be-bad guys and lock them away before they kill.
I don't recall him putting on a jet pack. In the fight scene with the jet packs, the gimmick is that he is the only guy NOT wearing jet pack.
Episode I gave a whole new meaning to the word "jarring."
Dunno about the Gap logo thing. I think the fact that it even exists is a bit of a stretch. I mean, how many clothes manufacturers in 1950 are still popular today?
c-hack.com |
2054 looks to be a terribly advanced age, except for one thing: sneaker-net. Cruise's character uses the large interface to view and interpret the precogs' visions, but he must first upload the data from the small terminal on the other side of the room, using what must be a mid-21st-century floppy disk. And I thought we would have made progress in networking by that time. Maybe we run out of IPv6 addresses too, and decide to drop the idea altogether.
This guy has so many axes to grind that I think he forgot he was reviewing a movie halfway through.
And for those of you who aren't pretentious, my review is: good movie. The only baggage it has is that which you bring with you. One big "suspension of disbelief" hole and one big plot hole, but very enjoyable to watch.
Holes listed here, but since they're spoilers:
This is an amazing misrepresentation of the facts. The guy was with al Qaeda learning how to make weapons, and was sent back here to scout out what to blow up. Interestingly enough, this has happened before....
The US District Court (or might have been the Supremes) ruled on something very much like this back in the World War era. A US citizen left to fight with the Italians. He was captured. They carted his butt back here. When he got into court he said, "Hey! You can't do this! I'm an American citizen! I haven't broken any laws here."
They ruled against him.
The people we are locking up are NOT citizens of the USA.
Even so, the Constitution (Article 1, Section 9, Amendment 5, and Amendment 6) guarantees rights to "persons", not just to "citizens." From Article 1, Section 9: "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it." But does this wag-the-dog war on terrorism require such a suspension of habeas corpus?
Will I retire or break 10K?
Philip K. Dick could write a helluva lot better than Spielburg can ever direct.
Anybody seen this AND read the short story? Any comments on how faithful the adaptation is?
Anybody looking forward to a JK review?
:)
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
heh that's the second time I've been modded a troll over requests to avoid movie spoilage.
I guess what the moderators really want me to do is say stuff like this:
* Imagine a beowulf cluster of Minority Reports
* I'll never buy this movie on DVD because I run Linux
* Here's a link to the first 3 reviews I found on Google
* This isn't news! I've seen movies before!
and
* The movie's already available for download on Kazaa
"Derp de derp."
This comment is not funny. Why did you moderate it up? Its just the usual formulaic "Apply story situation to Slashdot effect/RIAA/MPAA/open source/Microsoft/linux/Star Wars.
Heh. Paying to see this movie is a spoiler in itself, but anyways.
My favourite bit. In the future, when pre crime predicts that one of their own officers is going to commit murder, they decide that removing your security privelidges isn't necessary. You can walk right on in to 'the temple' , where the @#$%ing precogs are lying around, and it's all fine and dandy because the lazy bastard pre crime admin doesn't see any problem with letting a fugitive access the building.
Bravo to the story writer on that one.
Oh here's a classic - The pre cogs have apparently been lying in that stupid indoor pool for 6 years, and they have more of a tan than me.
And i'd love to see who was in charge of all those usability studies which showed that clean sheets of glass are much easier to read text on than todays computer monitors.
... and networked computers are ruled out of the highest security classifications in the future, just like they are now.
;))
...
(Or maybe it's just a typical movie glitch
Need to read the short story, too
the law clearly states that if you join a foreign army, you renounce your American citizenship. I realize that al-Queda is a nationless army, but we have declared war on them nonetheless.
What is the strict definition of "foreign army," I wonder...
Detention plan for 'dangerous' mental patients
Comment removed based on user account deletion
It says "Here there be Idiots."
Another movie where they could have cut the last 15-20 min out of is Castaway. They should have just ended the movie when he was floating by the barge.
I knew you were gonna say that!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
If you intend on seeing Minority Report, don't read the reviews. MR relies on suprise to a point that if you know what's going to happen, and you will if you read one of the many crap reviews out there -- even Ebert is guilty of discussing too much --, you will have nothing to think about until half way through the film (unless you're like Oprah).
Now go, go see this film and be partially, or even significanty entertained. Lighten your wallet a bit and maybe some day, somebody might actually do PKDick a good turn.
_KhlER3L
Not everything changes at the same rate... You can have a modern neighborhood next to an older more classical neighborhood. Minority Report is completely faithful to reality in reflecting this. I thought the disparity in the settings was *genius*.
FWIW, I thought the pseduo-3D holographs (from John's family etc) were also genius. Someone obviously did at least some amount of research on image-based rendering and the limitations of displaying 3D that's captured from one angle.
They didn't let Jon Katz loose on this one. He surely would have cut-and-pasted something from one of his other lame reviews about how this was "out of touch with the new sense of unity and trust in government that has captured the nation since September 11" or some such thing.
Yes, really, in times like these, critical thought is more relevant than ever.
"(Man) tries to live his own life as if he were telling a story. But you have to choose: live or tell." --Sartre
The resonance between this story and the current war is so strong that it's almost impossible to watch it for what it is
Which war is he talking about? Aaahh maybe he means the Bush-government CNN hype that has brainwashed almost all 160 million Americans over the past 8 months.
Of course terrible things happened in the States, of course I feel very sorry sorry for those involved. But, to compare it to a war, to compare it to all horrible things that happen in the rest of the world right now?
Here in Europe we have been living with the treat of terrorism for the last 50 years. We do not feel incredibly sorry for ourselves, and we do not dramatize it in every way. And certainly NOT by comparing it to a movie!
Did anyone catch the significance of the wooden balls? I think they spouted something about the grain of the wood making the balls unfakeable, but I'm not sure.
Did anyone else think that the evil head of the pre-crime unit killed Anderton's kid to help recruit Tom Cruise? The thread was never explained and I thought that was going to be piled on top of his list of offenses. But it was only Agatha's mom.
Flying cars. They promised me flying cars. Where are the flying cars?!?
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
Okay, I'll bite, but only because the quote in the original article doesn't make any sense. (though I'm probably putting my karma on the hibachi here)
... to a profession that we are a nation 'under Jesus,' a nation 'under Vishnu,' a nation 'under Zeus,' or a nation 'under no god,"' it said.
"A profession that we are a nation 'under God' is identical
Huh" It's not the same at all. "God" is a blanket term to mean the divine creator, be he Jesus, Vishnu, Zeus, or whatever you call him. "One nation under Jesus" would be unconstitutional, since it insinuates that we're all Christians. The reality is, this nation was founded "under God," by people who were pretty religious. I'm not sure it would even be possible to completely seperate church and state, and I feel pretty sure the majority of the citizens here wouldn't want to anyway. This has little to do with the freedom of religion thing though. I don't believe you need a completely secular state for people to be free to worship whoever they want, even if it's Satan or simply nobody.
It's funny, I always thought it peculiar that they outlawed prayer in schools but kids still had to say the pledge of allegiance. Ahh, nothing like a good self-contradiction.
c-hack.com |
The physics were completely XP.
To start off with, our boy TC jumps from one rapidly falling car thingy to another more-rapidly falling car thingy just like anybody could jump from a three foot portch. Hello? Newtonian physics?
Then there's the jetpack scene. Guy in jetpack is flying around at incredible lift/weight ratios with standard rocket propelled thrust. As if that wasn't bad enough, these things can actually cary THREE PEOPLE, with armor weapons and backpacks! And all of this done with about an 8 inch flame. And evidently for a gosh-darn good amount of time.
To top it off, these amazing devices can skim the ground at about 3' without any wings to use for lift!
Then there's the whole problem of temporal paradoxes. Evidently TC has been set up to find this guy by his 3V|7 boss who pretends to be the man who kidnaped his kid. Fair enough. But how did the "precog" see this happening when seeing it happen is what caused it to happen. There would have had to be an initiator for the temporal paradox to have occurred. Somewhere along the timeline something would have had to put TC in the room with the fake-rapist without the intervention of the precog. But wait, we can't travel in time, so that's not possible. Evidently this "precog" isn't just seeing the future, she's creating it.
Then there's the villain himself, who somehow turns from noble champion of justice into a person willing to do anything , including murder innocent people, just for the perfect justice system. Yet he's not portrayed as a madman, because he shoots himself in the end.
My $0.02 will always be worth more than your â0.02, so
I would argue that this movie doesn't belong on slashdot either. The whole idea of pre-cognition is fundamentally religious. Sure you could validate it scientifically to some extent but only to the extent that you can validate the statement "God answers prayer." I'm sure they threw in a couple of gadgets to make it seem slightly techie, but that's all window dressing on a political and religious film.
Anyway, Filthy only gave it two fingers so it can't be worth much discussion.
Never underestimate the power of fiber.
Now I wonder, does this mean sites will be slashdotted before they're even uploaded to the server?
Tim Dorr
Owner/Manger
A Small Orange
Two movies come to mind; both released LONG before Sept 11th.
1) "The Long Kiss Goodnight": (Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson) A movie where the CIA, conspiring with it's supposed enemies, attempts to commit a terrorist act to kill 4,000 people, and blame it on Arab terrorists. All this, for no other reason than to increase their federal funding. Does everyone remember the Slashdot stories around Aug/Sept 2001 where this CIA/NSA said their lack of funding was imparing their ability to do their jobs and protect Americans?
2) "Canadian Bacon" (Alan Alda, John Candy): The president's approval rating is very low because of the end of the Cold War (munitions factories close everywhere). So, the president authorizes agents, posing as canadian terrorists, perform small-scale terrorist acts against the USA. Using the media, they impose the fear of Canada in Americans, even using the line "They Walk Among Us" (Startlingly Similar to the term "Sleeper Cells" of today).
Both movies are VERY good in their own right. I suggest EVERYONE check them out.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
The system is based on deterrence, not prevention.
Once someone has (subjuctively) committed murder, dealing with that criminal is not what the justice system is for. The goal at that point is to kill/imprison/prisonrape that criminal as an example to to future criminal-wannabes.
Of course, I have to admit, when you're dealing with future crimes, I'm not sure what the difference is between the criminals and the criminal-wannabes. And maybe that's your whole point. :-)
I guess there must be some threshold of intent that they cross? Instead of the real life point where a person crosses the line of considering to murder and actually committing murder, you have a point where someone considers considering murder, and considers committing it. Ugh.
You know what? The whole thing is so ridiculous, that I don't think you should take it seriously and worry about the problems. It all leads to time-travel paradoxes anyway, and no one ever gets anywhere with that crap. ;-)
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Interestingly enough the movie skips on issues it should have addressed. For instance we already have 'pre-crime'laws like conspiracy to commit murder, overthrow the government, etc. The Precrime system also doesn't distinguish between crimes of passion/manslaughter and pre-planned murder. I wonder if they freeze drunk drivers who get into accidents too.
Spielburg's films are consistently rank with sentiment. From swelling violin soundtracks to cute little kids with bowl cuts, Spielburg takes the 'more is better' approach and packs it all in. Minority Report is no exception.
Scenes of Tom Cruise's character bawling over the loss of his son and wife quickly became nausiating. Did we REALLY have to sit through all his stupid home video's? After all, everyone knows watching someone else's home videos is about as exciting as watching paint dry. It's like "OK! We get it, he's missing his son...Please, don't make the little dork run again!!"
If it wasn't for Speilburg, this might have been a good film (that goes for A.I. as well). As it is, you'll need a barf bag to deposit all the extra sentiment that you just can't stomach.
The resonance between this story and the current war is so strong that it's almost impossible to watch it for what it is.
I can't wait till he reviews Two Towers. In fact, I can't wait till the US population as a whole gets wind of this being released!
"If you are on fire you can just stop, drop, and roll. If you fall into Lava you are just dead." - my 5yr old daughter
---SPOILER WARNING--- ;)
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Follow the advice I was given for A.I. -- when you *feel* like the movie's done, just walk out. You'll have experienced a better movie than those who stay all the way through
Warning, this post will contain spoilers (although if you're read this far, you probably don't care).
The resonance between this story and the current war is so strong that it's almost impossible to watch it for what it is, a good murder mystery conceived well before September 11th retelling a short story that was published long ago in 1956.
The movie had almost nothing to do with the short story. It was similar in that it was a murder mystery, there are precogs, and these precogs detect murder. The places where the movie took off from the story are numerable, and the places where the movie actually went against the story starts about 1/3 of the way through and continues until the end.
The movie is about a guy in charge of precrime who discovers the fallibility of the system and goes out of his way to bring those in charge of it (who were involved in multiple wrongdoings) to justice. The "echos" weren't even addressed in the short story, nor the possibility of faking murders beforehand.
The short story is about a guy in charge of precrime who discovers a potential fallibility in the system, but goes ahead with the murder because he believes in the system.
The difference is really quite striking.
Timothy's far reaching generalizations, extrapolations and interpretations lead many Slashdotters to believe that he is actually the evil JOHN KATZ. :)
/.'ers as just "too eerie" to be coincidence.
The similarities in writing style were described by some
WWJD? JWRTFA!
This is an excerpt from a comic by Robert Crumb, Weirdo #17.
quoting:
"It is an interesting graphic interpretation of a series of events which happened to Dick in March of 1974. He spent the remaining years of his life trying to figure out what happened in those fateful months. "
IMO, a must-read for anyone who enjoys Dick's work.
m-
You catch enchiladas by picking them up behind the head and holding them underwater until they don't kick anymore -VeGas
The worst is that the PreCrime unit is chasing one of their own, yet they never cut off his security access to the building - even after they catch him!!.
:-)
Okay, so maybe the movie is pretty accurate on corporate security...
I wouldn't recommend this movie because the ending (last half hour?) really dragged and dropped the ball. Oh well, at least I didn't waste money on popcorn and soda
RC
Well, seems you're right... the Pledge of Allegiance made the front page after all :)
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
didn't anyone enjoy seeing agatha "receiving" these visions. they appear very gratiftying, as she trembles in pleasure everytime she receives one.
I used to love watching the teaser/trailers while waiting for a movie to start. Now I do all I can to avoid them.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Why why WHY does Speilberg have to blow most of his movies in the last 15 minutes? I was really into it until it all tied up in a big shiny bow. The bad guys are punished, the good guys come out on top and life is better. COME ON. Movies should tell you something, not BEAT you OVER the HEAD with a HAMMER with "The world is a better place" engraved on the handle.
Bah.
Triv
His book about steganography, Disappearing Cryptography , may be a few months late.
You mean there's a whole friggin' science devoted to the science of studying stegosauruses now? Screw being an general palenotolgoist -- when I grow up I wanna be one of those high-priced specialists!
GMD
watch this
I think they could have cut about 143 minutes of Cast Away. What interesting ideas did this movie explore? This movie came out 300 years ago and it was called Robinson Crusoe. Only then, it actually had some action in it. And I don't remember Crusoe going nutty after a week on the island.
***Spoilers Ahead***
... dark, futuristic and believable, not futuristic and unbelievable, action packed and fast, not action challenged and slow.
Minority Reports is all that AI wasn't: dark and interesting not dark and
It's basically a "film noir" mixed with a Sci-Fi thriller. A top police officer is suspected of a crime and has to fight hard to be exonerated and find the real perpetrator. This is an old theme but it feels fresh here because it is set in the future and because the crime he is accused of has not yet happened. The twists are many and it's hard to predict the outcome because of the new format. I have seen nothing like it before. It suited my tastes perfectly.
Because I speak Swedish I thought I'd share with you all what Dr. Solomon that operated on Anderton said in Swedish. It adds very little to the story but it was funny. He is talking to his lovely assistant: "Wipe your a**, woman [actually closer to "bitch"] and come out here and help me." This references the lack cleanliness in the doctor's office. She comes out singing a traditional Swedish kids song: "Little frogs, little frogs. Neither ears nor tails do they have. Neither eyes nor tails do they have" which is a reference to the operation that's about to take place. The real song does not talk about eyes.
The Doc
"peterwayner writes: "Everyone has heard stories......Read the rest of his review below.
This is 100% false. A complete lie. Typical leftist propaganda. Ideology before the truth.
The only "American Citizen" to being locked up outside, the American Taliban John Walker Lindh, is Jose Padilla, a.k.a. Abdullah Al Muhajir. He has a lawyer, who has appeared in front of a judge. Her name is Donna Newman and she appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mukasey to plead Padilla's case. Its not like they picked him up off the street and threw him in the brig. Once his conspiratorial behavior with Al Qaeda was documented before the highly respected Judge Mukasey, Padilla's status was changed and he was thrown into a military prison where he belongs (right before the firing squad). Two seconds on google would have pointed that out. But John Ashcroft bashing is in vogue for the politically frustrated left, so these little pesky details never seem make it out when dealing with Padilla. Your Civil Rights are fine, you just don't have the right to make people listen to this "Sky is Falling" hysteria.
Mr. Dirty Bomber was not arrested for changing his name into something most American's cannot pronounce. He was arrested for travelling to a nation that harbors terrorists and meeting with Al Qaeda officials in order to plot out a radiological attack against innocent American Citizens. This is a conspiracy to commit terrorism. Terrorists are referred to by the Geneva Convention as "unlawful combatants" giving you pretty much the permission to put a gun to their head and blow their evil brains out. But this is America and we play nice with evil people. We give these unlawful combatants the benefit of the doubt and try them through military tribunals instead of executing them on the spot.
If you want to ensure that you do not end up like Mr. Muhajir, don't conspire with terrorists in a plot to harm vast numbers of Americans. Feel free to call John Ashcroft a religious poopy head, he won't stop you by calling you a terrorist.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
I agree with everything you said, yet it didn't detract me from enjoying the movie. I think the differences in our experiences are based in our expectations.
You: it got 95% positive response on rottentomatoes, it's gonna be impressive!
Me: It's a Tom Cruise/Speilberg movie, but it might be good anyway.
The problem with Hype is that it creates false expectations. Most of the people I know who enjoyed Blair Witch saw it before the hype. Most who didn't like it, enjoyed it afterward.
There are a bunch of differing opinions here about whether or not the precrime unit was wrong or right.
I'm on the side of wrong for a different reason. The pre-cogs were basically prisoners and treated horribly. They were forced to be pre-cogs, but at the end of the movie are shown to be able to live at least a decent existance.
Veramocor
Which constitutional american would circumcize his CUNT ?
Duyba seyz: Don't cricumcize your CUNT ! Otherwise our 1337 USAFTDAHSGM troopers will come after you.
Um, you are a bit mistaken.
There are a quite decent number of "material witnesses" being held without any charges and no access to a lawyer. Activists are also sometimes inprisoned at protests, held for a week, then released without ever being charged or arrested.
I don't think timothy is that far off here. The underlying philosophical question is whether or not we can hold someone guilty in the present for something that that person will do in the future. The United States has and is detaining people because of something that that person might do. This is an important question, because it has significant implications in regards to the "innocent until proven guilty" convention. How can you prove someone is guilty when the crime hasn't been committed yet?
Even without the link to terrorism, this has other significance to US policy today.
I'd say many of us are aware of how to perform a DoS attack. And many of us are not too happy with MS. Should it be legal to hold us responsible for a DoS attack that we might do if allowed to remain free?
Let the universe of discourse be wombats...
Actually, I think the unchanged nature of the logos can be chalked up to simple product placement. Firms like The Gap, Pepsi and Reebok paid a ton of money to get their logos into this movie, and they want to build brand-recognition in the here-and-now.
There's an interesting article over on Slate about the ads in Minority Report. Though product placement is nothing new, this film represents the first time corporations have actually hired outside advertising agencies to realize the full-length commercials that were played throughout the movie.
Arresting people guilty of "pre-crimes" is obviously a questionable practice. Instead, why don't the police use the precognitions as a TIP? They can stake out the (future) crime scene, capture the whole crime on video, and stop it in progress. There would then be no question about guilt PLUS the violent outcome of the crimes are avoided. This is a win-win situation.
cpeterso
Willfully or not, you are misunderstanding the concern here. Your nominal citizen was challenging jurisdiction. But you know what? At least he got a trial! It wasn't enough for the President to say, "Oooh, he's a danger... better lock him up." In the current wave of illegality, the President and his agents have specifically and deliberately denied -- to acknowledged American citizens -- their right of habeus corpus, their right to know the charges against them, their right to face their accusers, their right to counsel, and their right to a speedy and impartial trial by their peers. What is the justification? That the President claims that they are enemy combatants. They cannot even get a judge to review that determination... if the President says it is so, it must be so.
I am not usually a paranoid anti-establishment type, but if you wrote up the list of law enforcement expansions of the last year and showed it to anyone -- but made sure not to say it was the US -- there would be only one question: Is this Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia?
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
I disagree. The point was, if you could prove that precognition works, what impact would it have? Of course for precognition to work there'd have to be a particular metaphysical orientation in the Universe. But it is not a priori outside the realm of possibility that this could be a scientifically-verifiable, physically-reliable occurence.
Remember, the science ficton author doesn't have to believe his/her postulated physical laws are true, or even that they could be. The author need only explore what happens if they were true.
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
My mistake, sorry Tim!
peterwayner has obviously not read the short story....
Thanks for telling everybody the movie has a happy end ... geez
Life isn't like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.
And look, there you are with even more karma! Wow, I've working too hard trying to say intelligent, thought-provoking things.
Personally, I like the review here better. This slashdot review sounded a bit like Katz.
Nathan's blog
cruise does all his work using removable
volume holographic optical storage !!!
...or maybe because the 1954 short story it's loosely based on is named "Minority Report"
If you want to use your imagination, read a frickin book.
Spielberg is one of the greatest movie makers of all time. His movies are about HIS imagination, not yours, and I for one very much enjoy seeing what his imagination produces.
mje0w!!!1!
The company DBT Online, which compiled and prepared Florida's voter felon list (i.e. lists of citizens barred from voting) had 325 people who's conviction dates were in the future.a il.cfmartid=122&row= 1
Florida's liaison to DBT recommended that
subsequent 'future convictions' be left blank.
In the final list, 4,917 people had no conviction
dates.
http://www.gregpalast.com/det
Come on! Synergy my bullocks. Aside from having Pre-Crime, Pre-Cogs, John Anderton the story was drastically changed from that of the book. In the book Pre-Crime still went on in its existance. In fact Anderton, who is both the commissioner and the creator of Pre-Crime, points out that these kinds of set-ups would continue to plague each one of the Commissioners. These setups were perpetuated by a military trying to use it to regain the police state that had once had. Spielberg got the story wrong, but I guess that got in the way of his perfect ending.
READ THE STORY IF YOU HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE!!!!
Was I the only person who saw this movie and was disturbed by the scene where Tom Cruise takes a pre-cog to the Gap?
Philip K Dick must be turning in his grave...
"Teachers leave us kids alone
Can't delete anything you post on /., but it would be nice if some heroic moderator would mod it down. This is the 2nd time today this has happened though, so...
You're probably colourblind.
i *know* i'll get modded down for this, but it's my opinion and i'll stand behind it anyway...
seems to be the standard disclaimer for people who are posting something that is indeed offtopic or flamebait or trolling or whatever - but if you put that at the top of your post, you're pretty much protected from being modded down... you may even be modded up! Am I the only person who has noticed this?
Something the US Government took enough interest in to REALLY investigate. One of the MANY commercial spinoffs is here: http://lite.psitech.net/ There are some large corporations which are paying large $$$ for this. Who knows?
You might call this a failure, but the set design was my favorite part of the film. I hate to burst your utopian bubble, but the fact is that most things will stay the same in the future. We are living in the future of our past, and 2002 still a lot more like 1950 than a 1950's-era picture of life in 2002.
Here in San Francisco we're still using buses and streetcars, living in houses, and going to movies just like people did nearly 100 years ago. Rich people live in nice houses, poor people live in dingy houses, and Chinese people still live in Chinatown. The differences are the little things: the palmtop computers, ATMs and cell phones. Cars are swoopier and more efficient. Companies still market crap to idiots with stupid and annoying pitches.
Minority Report's refusal to bow to the unrealistic Star Wars / Blade Runner aesthetic was one of my favorite parts of the movie. (The giant plot holes, OTOH...)
In the real world, or the one in your head?
Once again /.ers have completely misunderstand our current legal regime.
The criminal justice system described in minority report is nothing like our current system and has no relevance to the Patriot Act or the war against terrorism.
With the exception of a few horrendous exceptions (such as Japanese internment), no one has been detained, arrested, or charged by our government wihout reasonable cause to believe that they had committed a crime or intended to commit a crime and had taken at least a prepatory step toward commiting that crime.
Yes, we do criminalize conspiracies in the United States. But this means that it is illegal to agree with someone to commit a crime. In other words, the illegal act is the agreement itself, not some unperformed future act.
All the "material witnesses" being held in Federal custody are illegal aliens from Al Qaeda sponsoring countries that already had deportation orders from the INS. So they are not "American Citizens" but foreign criminals. I feel safer at night that they are rotting in prison than running loose on American streets. Break the law, go to jail. Violate the immigration laws, skip deportation orders, rot in jail. They had an opportunity to return their country of origin when the deportation order was given.
There are not "Activists" in prison being held without trial nor are they held for a week without being charged or arrested. That is not even a logical statement. In order to be put in prison at a protest, you have to be arrested. Cops just don't grab you and throw you in the jail. They arrest you.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Re: Resonance ... try this on for size: The old Republic (an inefficient, but fundamentally peaceful democracy) is manipulated into giving Supreme Authority to an elected politician with questionable allegiances. In the process, the republic slowly becomes a royal, military dictatorship (or empire).
... seems like such crap. Then I remember an interesting meta study from the 90's, in which it was determined that AS A GROUP, people who believed in ESP, psychic pheonoma, etc scored higher (on average) on Rhine exams, etc than a similar group of "non-believers". Again, not talking about individuals, talking about group averages. So, I dunno, makes me think.
a) nazi germany
b) the republic of rome
c) star wars: attack of the clones
d) bush whitehouse
e) all of the above
Re: Relying on precognition as a plot device
Does anyone have any pointers to this study?
thanks
=brian
Progress makes its changes upon the present day in bursts and halts. Some things change rapidly, other things take decades. Typically, the things that change the quickest are the "everyman luxuries" such as cars, computer devices, and clothing. Our ever evolving concept of what "looks modern" is part of what drives that. Take a look at a six year old computer, it looks boxy and antique already -- yet when that computer was produced, it was likely at the height of what people considered Neat. The things that do not change as rapidly are extreme luxuries, and non-luxury items. Of course, there are always exceptions, but in general this is the case.
To bring this back to the film, the types of things that you saw looking wildly different and futuristic were precisely the types of things that go through rapid periodic aesthetic modification. Cars, electronic devices, watches, and clothing. The types of things that did not change are the things that haven't really changed in the past few decades for us either.
Secondly, as far as logos go, these do not rapidly change too much either, at least the bigger companies do not, and for a very good reason. If you go about changing your logo every two years, it stops having as much subliminal impact -- unless your company is already a behemoth, and then changes can actually be considered innovative, and people come to expect them -- however they usually revolve around the core idea. Pepsi Corporation is a good example of a company that has reworked their logo frequently, while always retaining the basic design that we all know by sight. How often has Proctor & Gamble fiddle with their logo? Even Microsoft has managed to hang on to their logo for a few decades now. Changes are made, but they usually are not often made, and rarely are they drastic.
I for one think that the concept of the future was quite realistic, and I found it refreshing in a way to see a design team correctly assess the way the world changes. I absolutely love the way Blade Runner looks, it is one of my favorite movies, and the design is a big reason why -- but it isn't necessarily all that realistic.
V
When they are trying to aprehend Anderton, in the trailer his ex-wife screams out "Valentine!" as they hold her back.
Remember when the investigator has a warrant to review the facilities? In the trailer the warrant was used against Anderton with this "I've got a warrant that says murder!"
Why do they have to screw around with trailers?
I saw this movie last night, it was an errie glimpse into the future, adverts that recongnize us by name and such, it was very bladerunneresque, but i felt it ended on too much of an upnote, *SPOILER* it would have been a better commentary on the direction our society is headed if cruise was imprisoned permanantly at the and and the vote for the national pre-crime system passed, an innocent man would be imprissoned and a flawed system would bring 'justice' to the country
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
To anyone who has seen the movie, please read the short story and compare. Both are based on the pre-crime idea, but you will see it carried to different ends. The message Philip Dick leaves in the story is far different than the 'you can change your future' end the film provides.
Both are fun and worthwhile so visit the library soon.
I wonder what the max karma anyone has ever received in a single thread....
Care to back it up with any facts?
As soon as someone gets booted their keycard doesn't work.
Also, the cops can tell when a Gap store eye scanner marks a bad guy but the scanners in the same fucking building can't?
Hollow words will burn and hollow men will burn.
> Terrorists are referred to by the Geneva Convention as "unlawful combatants" giving you
7 39003e636b/6fef854a3517b75ac125641e004a9e68?OpenDo cument
> pretty much the permission to put a gun to
their head and blow their evil brains out.
Americans like you might provoke some people to take other Americans and "put a gun to
their head and blow their evil brains out". Ever heard of the presumption of innocence? Not guilty until proven guilty before a court? YOU taught these principles, now you abandon them!
Some background:
"Unlawful combatants" are an invention of the American government. The term was used to justify the execution of German spies in the second world war. It has no foundation at all in any internationally recognized body of law or the written American constitution.
Proof: http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/7c4d08d9b287a42141256
Terrorists are either PoWs (Geneva Convention: fair treatment) or criminals (justice system, local court, International Criminal Court).
"Unlawful combatants" are an American legal fiction to be able to hold unconvicted people without either international or national legal responsibility.
BTW: George Washington was a terrorist.(Ask the British!)
Moritz
(And guys - if you're looking to improve the quality of submissions Slashdot gets, it would probably be a really good idea to allow a limited form of feedback for rejections - even if it was just a choice from a drop-down menu ("This story was rejected because we have a writer working on the same story right now", for example.)
Oh - and in response to one user's post - go see it, but with lowered expectations.
Review: Minority Report
Reviewers of Spielberg's latest film are falling over each other to laud his new, gritty noir vision of the future, "Minority Report", based on the Phillip K Dick short story of the same name. Roger Ebert loves it; the movie is currently standing at 93% at Rotten Tomatoes, and Salon gives it a thumbs-up. But what's the reaction of your average geek?
(Full disclosure - while I am familiar with his work, I have not read the Phillip K. Dick story - so you're not going to read any comments about how the movie did or did not live up to the book. It stands and falls here on its own merits. Plot of the movie is discussed, but the ending is not given away. Plot of other Spielberg movies is also referenced.)
For those of you who have not yet been saturated by press releases or the trailer - Tom Cruise plays John Anderton, an investigator in the "pre-crime" police division of Washington D.C. in 2054. The department's work is facilitated by "pre-cogs", beings with the power to see the future - in particular, future murders. Alerted to crimes before they happen, the pre-crime unit can interpret the waking dreams of the pre-cogs and intercept the perpetrators before the event. This program has been such a success that murders in the D.C. area have been practically eliminated, and the government is considering taking the pre-crime unit national. Pre-cogs, it is claimed, are never wrong.
As a final safety check, federal investigator Danny Witwer (played by Colin Farrell) is sent to inspect the pre-crime facility. Anderson and his boss, Director Burgess (Max von Sydow) fear that the program is going to be taken away from them. However, things quickly get far more complex than mere power games over jurisdiction.
Another alert from the pre-cog pops up. This time, Anderson sees himself killing a man - a man he does not know. Convicted by the infallibility of his own system and convinced he has been set-up, Anderson runs, determined to escape his own destiny by finding out who framed him.
The Washington DC that he runs to is a computerized Paniopticon, biometric readers omnipresent and blithely accepted by the populace. However the street (to paraphrase William Gibson) always finds a means to subvert every technological innovation - and to continue to run, Cruise must sink into the underbelly of the world he knows and confront his own past.
As a geek, your acceptance of Minority Report's plot will depend a great deal upon your stance on temporal paradoxes. The effectiveness of the pre-crime unit rests in the belief that once the future is "seen" it must occur, and Anderton's unit is therefore justified in taking pre-emptive action. However, as Witwer points out, by intervening you have forestalled the event - is it therefore right to incarcerate someone who has not committed an offense? Determinism is assumed to be a fact, but it turns into a question central to the film.
Spielberg has received a lot of recent press claiming how much "darker" and dystopian this movie is than much of his early work. I've seen comments that extrapolate from "Saving Private Ryan" through "A.I." to this movie that suggest the man is on a trip that rivals Poe in bleakness. Suffice it to say that anyone who believes this has "E.T" burned into their minds but has forgotten "Empire of the Sun" or even "The Color Purple", films as equally as grim as "Minority Report".
In fact there comes a point about fifteen minutes before the end of the film where Spielberg could have wrapped it up, leaving every plot thread neatly tied, and delivered a much darker ending. However Hollywood, or his own essential optimism, has driven him to deliver a brighter alternative, much like "A.I." It is not a completely unsatisfactory conclusion - the climax involves a very nice moral conflict - but it is not the bleak outlook I expected from reading the pieces on Spielberg's new "dark vision".
Spielberg does not fail to hit upon themes that are central to his work - the breathtaking innocence of childhood; the loss of humanity and its possible redemption; and the two-edged sword of technology. (Spielberg is no starry-eyed technologist - the potential misuse of man's tools has been an ongoing thesis since "Duel". In "Minority Report" there is an interesting sub-theme of technology as a new religion, with Anderton, the tool user, set against Witwer, a traditionally trained Jesuit seminarian before he became a cop.
Spielberg's visualization of the near-future of 2054 is complete and compelling. Animated advertising crawls over every surface; enhanced personalization of every experience has come at the price of a sharp loss in privacy; the gap between the well-to-do and the drug-addled poor has grown massively. One wonders, however, if the appearance in the film of companies we have today is there for verisimilitude or is merely clever product placement - how many corporations do you expect to survive another 50 years with the same logo? And while the technology shown is (for the most part) very believable, it is ironic that the cause behind the pre-cogs ability is somewhat glossed over.
In his directing Spielberg has taken note of his younger, hungrier competitors, such as David Fincher.. Part of this change was to hire Alex McDowell (the production designer of "Fight Club" and "The Crow"). In addition, his camerawork, in cooperation with cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (who worked with him on "Schindler's List") is more fluid than ever, using juxtaposition and video techniques to sometimes dazzling effect. And unlike his peer Lucas, who seems happy to place ultra-mirrored spacecraft in pristine environments and shiny robots on rich green grass, Spielberg's use of CGI is more subtle, "dirtier" and almost invisibly integrated in the scenes.
In terms of the cast, Tom Cruise is, well, Cruise. He's been chosen for roles for twenty years because he is an effective actor who is also cute, charming and bankable. His role as Anderton doesn't tax those abilities in any way. Max Von Sydow is the slightly scary Old Testament father figure he established himself in even before "The Exorcist". To me, the most effective player in the cast is Colin Farrell. Given a smaller role with far less screen time than Cruise he still succeeds in making his character deep, complex, and far more dynamic than the leading man's, with better lines and sharper delivery.
The plot is certainly enough to keep you guessing, with enough twists and turns to throw most. The movie has one "discovery" and an attendant chase scene that does stretch credibility somewhat, but otherwise the plotting is coherent and relatively bulletproof. There are holes, but none large enough to spoil the movie.
As a vision of the future, "Minority Report" is chock-full of ideas. As a movie, or even as a cyberpunk thriller, it leaves a little to be desired. After the film you won't want to tear your eyes out, but you may feel a sense of disappointment that Spielberg, who has demonstrated time and again that he can be deeply insightful into the human condition, warn of the dangers of technology while showcasing its attractions, and deliver a wild ride, could not quite succeed in delivering all three at once in this movie.
I got 12-13 points once in a thread I was reaaaaaaaaaally active in. It was one of the most obnoxious threads in my life because nobody understood what I was saying at all. So I responded to each person with my comments. A moderator must have modded up the whole thread or something. Either that or he was drunk, heh I dunno. I pissed a LOT of people off and the last thing I expected was to get modded up.
I was already capped when the thread started tho heh.
"Derp de derp."
you probably have no genitals
So many people confuse Time with Light. You cannot look into the future period. Future does not exist untill it comes to past. Don't delude yourself people.
MR
The biggest failure was that TWICE Cruise's account was used to sucessfully enter a restricted area. First when he was a fugitive and then by his ex while he was on ice. There's some sorry ass sys admins at PreCrime...
That, and the fact that the idea of keeping three people utterly enslaved for the good of humanity was never really addressed. Nobody questioned the morality of that.
Still... better than AI.
The broad strokes of PKD's "Minority Report" are faithfully reproduced: the department of precrime, the three "cogs", the inherent paradox of precrime, and the idea of a "minority report" where two cogs disagree with another. Also, the plot line has a similar feature in that John Anderton discovers that he is supposed to murder someone, and is attempting to find the minority report to clear his name. But everything else is quite different.
The original short story is way antiquated in technology, thus most of the technological details are completely new for the movie: like the eye scanners, jet packs, guns, cars, etc. Heck, in the story, John Anderton uses magnetic (or is it punch?) tape and printouts for interfacing with the reports for the cogs, not some uber hand flicking interface (very cool BTW). The cogs in the story are drooling idiots who babble stuff about the future, not the drugged, sentinent (photogenic) oracles of the movie. The story doesn't deal with the origins of the cogs (not that I remember at least). In the original, John Anderton is an old man (closer to the Max Von Sydow character of the movie), and there is no subplot involving missing/dead children or missing parents. In the original, there are no past crimes to dig up, nor old enemies, just a new one out to discredit the deparment of PreCrime. Compared to the movie, the short story is a much less layered, direct story dealing with the central paradox of precrime; the paradox of foreseeing the future and being able to act upon that knowledge. The movie on the other hand, touches on themes of privacy, identity, justice, societal benefit, and drug addiction in addition to that paradox.
On the whole, I prefer the movie to the book. well, except for the ending of the movie, that was typical Spielberg sentimental mush. Of course, without the incredible vision of PKD to begin with, there would have been no movie. IMHO, PKD remains one of the most influential SF writers ever.
EnkiduEOT
There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself
-Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye
Gur ragrejvavat bs gur benpyr naq vgf pyvrag vf n pynffvp bs nyy svpgvba vaibyivat benpyrf. Frr, sbe rknzcyr, Brqvchf Erk, va juvpu gur benpyr'f cerpvpgvba gung Brqvchf jbhyq zneel uvf zbgure naq xvyy uvf sngure vf jung xvpxf bss gur riragf gung yrnq shsvyyvat gur benpyr'f cerqvpgvba. Frr nyfb gur benpyr va gur Zngevp, jub trg Arb gb oernx fbzrguvat va ure xvgpura ol cerqvpgvat ur'yy oernx vg. Jbhyq fhpu guvatf unccra jvgu n "erny" benpyr? Jub xabjf? Ohg univat gur cerpbtf frg va zbgvba va gur riragf gung yrnq Naqregba gb gur cbvag jurer ur'f ubyqvat n tha ba Pebjr vfa'g n cybg-ubyr; vg'f n shaqnzragny nffhzcgvba bs gur pbafgehpg bs na benpyr nf gurl unir vzcyrzragrq vg. Lrf, lbh pbhyq pbaprvir bs na benpyr gung qvqa'g vavgvngr frys-shysvyyvat cebcurpvrf. Ohg Fcvryoret naq Pb. unfa'g pbzr hc jvgu fbzrguvat cnegvphyneyl rtertvbhf jvgu guvf, naq fbzr zvtug nethr gung va snpg gur ersyrpgvba vg pnhfrf ba guvf frrzvat cnenqbk vf va snpg bar bs gur fgeratguf bs gur cybg, abg n jrnxarff.
Or did everyone else really enjoy the opportunity to see the future of mouse gestures? Thank you, Opera and Mozilla!
You zap the moderators with a wand of humor! The moderators resist!
So many people confuse Time with Light. One cannot see the future because the future does not exist untill it comes to past.
One cannot see the future but one can certainly change it.
Here's the tip:
To change the future: next week, remove Windows and install Linux.
No changes: next week you will remove Windows and install Linux anyway.
...the future belongs to you.
MR
Maybe he reviewed the wrong movie.
Jack
It's the logical extension of a hardware digital rights management system that will not let a piece of information exist in two places simultaneously.
This is particularly true for a system where they are concerned enough with non-repudiation and verification to laser their predictions onto wooden balls for the value of wood grain as a one time pad, in order to establish an unrefutable chain of evidence.
-- Terry
The ending was totally laughable I thought. Because some presumably small fraction of the time an innocent person may be convicted, the sage citizenry abandon the system as unjust? Keep in mind, we're talking about a system that prevented every murder but one over a five year period! Nevertheless, people would give it up because the creator was a bad guy, and it's better to just let murders happen rather than for one man to be wrongly convicted. Yeah, that sounds a lot like the America I live in...
Weren't haptic interfaces things recently done in Johnny Mnemonic.
Pick one: Reeves or Cruise; either one I can do without.
http://www.imdb.com/Title?0113481
If only those psychics could predict when a company was about to cook it's books, they could simply inform the press, so that good stocks wouldn't get taken down with the bad.
le sigh.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
I don't think anyone is denying the events that occurred. The problem is when we treat our response to terrorism as a war. Declaring a war on terrorism is as effective as declaring a war on murder. In fact, it's a lot like that. How do you declare war on murder? Find all people who are associated with murderers and plow tanks into them? That doesn't really solve the problem, all it does is make people think the problem is being dealt with. That difference is where the dog is being wagged.
The biggest failure of the movie may be the set design and the look.
Why SF must be futurist? In most of Philip K. Dick stories the idea is more important than even the story. Perhaps here the message is that out society will not advance in the next 50 years.
"I think this line is mostly filler"
I have to admit that, after his learning experience of walking in Kubrick's shoes to finish A.I., Speilberg now has at least a small idea of what it takes to have "an edge".
However, he failed to achieve with "Minority Report" the same level of sympatico that Ridley Scott was able to achieve with "Blade Runner", or even what Paul Verhoeven was able to do with "Total Recall".
In other words, Speilberg may know where the edge is, now, but he's afraid to go to it and look over, for fear of falling.
THe absolute worst movie ever made would be a Spielberg version of a Clive Barker short story.
Gary Fleder ("Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead") is more likely than not to turn in a morbid showing on "Imposter", due to be released later this year.
"Imposter" will probably suck. REmember that you heard it here first. My reasoning is that all of the other good Phillip K. Dick adaptations have been short stories. It will likely be impossible to cover an entire book in just one movie.
Frankly, I wish Ridley Scott had done "Minortiy Report"; I guess he's too busy producing the likes of "Blackhawk Down" to direct, though.
Given my choice of everyone, I'd like to see John Carpenter direct a Phillip K. Dick based movie; he did such a good job with "The Thing" (an adaptation of John W. Campbell Jr.'s -- former editor of Analog Magazine -- story), and "They Live", even though it was a comedy (written by Ray Nelson). He, like Kubrick, also has a good track record in science fiction (as opposed to Spielberg, who's science fantasy, through and through).
I don't mind Spielberg trying to stretch; but hiding in safety is not my idea of stretching, and if he can't bring himself to take the risk, he should stick with bringing us the next Indiana Jones installment, and if he wants to do science fantasy, then pick a science fantasy author whose stories are better suited to his talents. Now that Jack Clayton ("Something Wicked This Way Comes") is dead, maybe he could cover some of the other Ray Bradbury short stories? His talents would mesh well with many of the "The Autumn People" mileu, where you are supposed to be sympathetic to "the monsters".
-- Terry
Hmm... You make a good point. I had thought of the Cer-pbtf as more limited than an Benpyr, but I will certainly buy your version.
Thank you for not reading my post and responding. I said:
But what else can you expect from someone that has angry with America...falsehoods.
Terrorists are either PoWs (Geneva Convention: fair treatment) or criminals (justice system, local court, International Criminal Court).
Article 4 of the Geneva Convention states:
No members of Al Qaeda meet this standard therefor they cannot be afforded PoW status. They are not criminals in the same manner as a burgler or murderer. They are what they are. Terrorists. A group of individuals that do not care about the Geneva Convention, US Law and human life, including their own.We will do with them what we see fit. As a nation we cannot recognize the ICC as American Law trumps International Law under the US Constitution. If you don't like it. Tuff. They are lucky that when they are captured we allow them to continue to breath. Any other nation would have executed them on the spot. And it is a much better treatment than my apartment neighbor received from Al Qaeda. They still haven't found anything to identify his DNA in the rubble of the World Trade Center.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
I don't think your facts are correct. Padilla was arrested May 8, but the arrest was not disclosed until June 12, after he had already been transferred to a military prison. This transfer was never approved by the judge as you imply, in fact the Justice Dept claims that the judicial system has no say in the matter whatsoever. Your combination of poor fact-checking and vitriolic name-calling leads me to believe that you have been listening to too much talk radio. That stuff is bad for you, turn it off and stop being so angry.
In PKD's world even the future is grimy, scratched, the windows are sandscored plastic, the light is yellow, the blue plastic chairs have cig burns on them. There is either mass transit or shitty old cars. You breathe in dust and brown smoke. The best things in life are somewhere else and the worst prison in the world is in your own brain.
So you are saying that CNN is lying that Padilla's attorney argued his case in front of US District Judge before June 12th? I think you need to get your facts straight. And I will stop being angry, as a downtown NYC resident, when the organization that plotted and executed the murder of my neighbors is completely destroyed.
All things considered, I have been listening to NPR too much.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Cocaine was in sll sorts of shit when it was legal. Morphine was available in the Sears catalog. And 6 year old children could go into any drugstore and buy all the heroin they wanted. Heroin was a common ingredient in headache pills.
Somehow, the country (US) was able to survive without ffalling into the oceans.
I'm not saying any such thing. You said that it was after the judge made a determination on the facts of the case that Padilla was transferred, and the very CNN story you linked to says that's not what happened. The judge hasn't made any ruling of any kind, and is not even sure if he can.
The best special effects were CG'ing out Tom Cruise's braces.
"Oh no, 3 horny women and only 2 condoms...Thank god I read slashdot"
I was eating dinner at a cafe last night and talking about the RIAA, the TCPA, the DMCA, and other four letter words. The music was too loud and everyone agreed that they would rather not have it. Someone joked that the RIAA would still make us find a way to pay for it. We laughed. Then someone pointed out that ASCAP and the RIAA do go to cafes and hit them up for royalties. So some of what we paid probably did go to the RIAA. And we had no choice in the matter.
At least I got to listen to it.
Once his conspiratorial behavior with Al Qaeda was documented before the highly respected Judge Mukasey, Padilla's status was changed and he was thrown into a military prison where he belongs (right before the firing squad). Two seconds on google would have pointed that out.
The day I base reality on the results from a google.com search is also the day I scream Screw my karma, Microsoft 0wnZ j00! on slashdot.
This is not a dream, not a dream...we are transmitting from the year 1-9-9-9.
Yes, there's a difference, but that's not what I was talking about. This basic premise is that technology can pre-judge people and let us put them in jail before they do something. This is just as much part of the short story as the movie. The evolution is a bit different, but the assumptions are the same in both.
I thought that it was common pratice to have at least one Natalie Portman post for every movie review! WHERE'S THE GRITS?
404 File Not Found
The requested URL (sig) was not found.
So there I am, writing a rot13 codec and testing it word by word. It comes up with 'enterwining' for your second word, and I think.... What the hell!?? Clearly my code is broken! Then I realize it's Slashdot and you probably meant intertwining ;)
Interesting point though, I never thought of it that way.
Random is the New Order.
A /. member went to see a movie produced by a member of the Motion Picture Association of America starring in the lead role an ardent believer in the Church of Scientology, and that /. member didn't immediately burst into flames? Or would he have to have been wearing an "I (heart) .NET" t-shirt for that to happen?
Oh my God, I tought I was going crazy! I keep hearing that song over and over and over in so many trailers, I was starting to think I couldn't tell the difference between one tune to the other.
The theme has been repeated so many times, I started to think Judge Dredd ripped it off too. Thanks for comfirnming that, and I can't believe they keep doing that. Get some original music people!
- sigs are for wimps.
You're caught and then hauled off and put in your little halo/tube thing with no trial or investigation.
If you consider Ashcroft a leftist...
Yes, I did. Sorry, what can I say - I wrote it on STDIN to my codec with limited editing abilities. :)
It's very hard to imagine in the very near future due process of law will be eliminated. Just look at all the damn unmarked police cars, not preventing anything & traffic violators can be caught with just the conventional "marked" police car.
you're still reading /. movie reviews and comments for a movie you haven't seen? and you have the gall to actually complain about spoilers? jesus, where have you been
What the hell is the deal with that old woman kissing tom's character? Talk about random...
its ironic that this movie came out shortly before the supreme court's ruling today. If you listen carefully, they use an altered version of the pledge of allegiance, unfortunatly, I don't remember it off hand.
Urgo: "I want to live. I want to experience the universe and I want to eat pie!"
Jack: "Who doesn't??"
Speaking of Error in Execution, are you sure youre talking about the same "Minority Report" I saw?
"Tom Cruise plays a cop who flies off in a jet pack to nab the soon-to-be-bad guys and lock them away before they kill."
Tom didnt fly a jet-pack to nab soon-to-be-bad guys. Jet-packs were used to chase Tom, but he himself never flew it, except for being dragged by one.
"along comes a great car chase tricked out like the wet dream from some 19-year-old in an art school in Southern California."
Car chase, what car chase? There was no car chase in this movie. There was a scene of Cruise jumping from car to car, but thats about it. There was no cars chasing in pursuit of other cars.
"The unity of vision that delivered the oily dystopia of Bladerunner is missing this time."
oily dystopia? is that going to be on the test?
It has dawned on me that the most technologically advanced aspect of the movie, "Minority Report" is the obvious army of clerical workers who are busy creating a "positive buzz" for this piece-of-trash movie online.
My friend who also saw the movie (and thought it sucked just like almost everyone in the theatre), was incredibly amused at the scene where Cruise's wife tosses his eyebal onto the organ at the penal cology and the eyeball has this amazing ability to play a CHORD on the keyboard based on its weight... you see her throw the eyeball, then you hear it hit the keyboard and cause the keyboard to be playing, but when you look at the eyeball on the keyboard, it's not heavy enough, nor is it making the key on the keyboard depressed, but you still here, not just a note, but a chord. This is a good example of how one needs to suspend all form of disblief in order to enjoy this goofy movie. It makes no sense - there is no path or patter which justifies the "Department of precrime" and almost everything that goes on...
You have black market doctors who seem to have the capability to replace human eyeballs, but then when someone needs some data, a guy has to carry a plexiglass "data disk" across the room and insert it into some goofy-looking heads up display. It's hilarious.
Don't even get me started on the stupid "gross scenes" in the movie, obviously put there to amuse Spielberg's kids and of no benefit to the plot.
This movie sucks.
...but then I heard they cast that Tom Cruise guy in it for some reason, instead of an actor.
Oh well.
-Kasreyn
Kasreyn: Cheerfully playing the part of Devil's Advocate to hairtrigger
You don't understand.
The Cruise character merely dreams his escape and exoneration while halo'd in prison.
He never escape prison.
He never gets exonerated.
There is no happy ending
-Chris
Here's what worked:
And what doesn't work:
- The story lacks focus. It could have climaxed when Anderton
decides not to shoot the guy, but instead it prefers to fritter away
its philosophical motivation and become a poorly done action/suspense
flick.
- The ponderous belaboring of the missing child. Agatha's treacly
visions of Anderton's son while sitting in the bay window is by far
the worst scene in the movie. Oh, the pain!
- Filming the fight in the car factory with a visibly low
frames-per-second is at best distracting, and I found it actually
annoying. This is a cheap technique to make the action look more
violent; in the end it looks more like an MTV video.
- Everything is telegraphed. Was there any point in the movie where
you didn't know what was about to happen or had just happened? And
given that you did know, did an on-screen character ever fail to
explain it to you anyway?
- The eye surgeon claimed to have been sent up by Anderton, and now
was "returning the favor". How, by helping him out when he's
desparate? I was expecting the doctor to just take his eyes and leave
him blind.
- The department of pre-crime has the security of a day-care center.
Ok, maybe Anderton could manage to sneak in, knowing the building and
its operations as well as he does. But then his wife does
it too?!
- The precogs (at least Agatha) seemed to be virtual prisoners, yet
their existence was widely known. I mean, nice life; how did they
justify that?
The original story is much better written (and much different in plot). Go read it instead.-Mandos
Following your logic any CIA spy in foreign countries could be put before a military tribunal and them ne shot because:
He has no
- fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance
- is not carrying arms openly
- is not conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war
But most civilized nations don't put any spy they catch or any foreign national in a country they occupy before a "military tribunal", which is part of the executive and NOT a court. Ever heard of the seperation of powers? Spies are normally put before a court, their guilt is either proven ot they are free to walk.
America is abandoning it's own standards. Of course terrorists and enemies of the state should be punished. But using the democratic legal system! Not by having a few members of the army decide with no legal representation!
The crap happening right now in the USA is extremely Unamerican! It reminds me of Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union!
I won't comment on the ridiculous notion that the US Constitution is above international law. That is just too much crap.
Moritz
Film's not yet out over here. But...
Of course some of it's going to _appear_ derivative of other films. It's based on a book by Phil K. Dick, the guy who wrote the book "Bladerunner" was based off. The guy who had a massive hand in inspiring Gibson and others to go cyberpunk in the 80s. It's gonna be derivative in the same way that "Lord of the Rings" is derivative of "Willow" and "The Dark Crystal".
Grab.
Hey Bobo, how about writing a decent SF script then and pitching it before a studio to have it made?
For all the bitching people do, when it comes down to it, writing something new in this day and age is very difficult. It already has been done before, and not even well. Why do you think there are so many films based on SF books written in the 50's and 60's. We ran out of ideas.
I challenge anyone on this God forsaken blog to come up with a genuine story. I daresay the combined talents of a few people here could actually make a pitch a good SF movie. If I had the money, I'd even finance it.
the computer cruise uses needs to be secure in order to remove the possability of someone tampering with the the evidence. the other, smaller computer, is obviously connected to some sort of network, and to maintain the security of the former, information may only be passed via sneakernet.
IMHO this review is thinly veiled self promotion dressed up as pretentious twaddle.
Role on story moderation.
There's yet another explanation:
Vg'f ng yrnfg cbffvoyr gung jung jr fnj vf whfg gur fgnoyr ybbcvat irefvba, gur "svkrq-cbvag" vs lbh jvyy, naq gung gur "bevtvany" jnl gung riragf hasbyqrq vf gung nsgre frggvat hc gur thl jvgu cvpgherf bs Frna, Ohetrff qebccrq n uvag gb Naqregba, be neenatrq sbe uvz gb svaq n yrnq, be jungrire. Naqregba sbyybjf hc, svaqf guvf thl, xvyyf uvz. Nu, ohg gur cer-pbtf frr gung, erq-onyy gurve cerqvpgvba, naq va gur arj havirefr gung'f npghnyyl gur gvcbss. Ohg gur obbgfgenc qvqa'g arrq gb pbzr sebz gur cer-pbtf, cre fr.
``This, too, shall pass.'' ---Eastern proverb
nah, mate, all he is saying is that, wow, what an amusing coincidence that we have a film about locking up people before they commit the crime just as we have this happen in real life.
His point is fine - that the film intends to shock slightly - make you go oh that would never happen. Oops too late.
Your expansion to "The war on terrorism" bit is nebulous - its just the threat of the moment, as he says, it happened with a different threat in the past.
chill
I was watching Harry Potter at the weekend (or rather my wife was watching it - I think I was cleaning up painting gear), when I heard the Darth Vader theme (dar dar dar dum dee-dar dum dee-dah). I made my wife back up the video and replay it, because I couldn't believe even JW would stoop to such obvious re-use (he would have made a great C++ coder, though!).
It's when Harry discovers the Mirror of Erised, IIRC.
--
E_NOSIG
He didn't go blind! I mean...have you ever tried to do, well just about anything, with one eye covered? Things don't go so well. You can't tell if something is 2 feet away or 10; you lose all depth perception. He'd have been stumbling around breaking things.
"judging a 3d game by the framerate it produces.
Hey wait, I just described Tom's Hardware"
I have seen plenty of good Tom bashing jokes, but this isn't one of them. Tom's Hardware doesn't judge games. They judge hardware, notably speeds of processors and graphics cards.
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
SPOILER ALERT
First, the things about it that I thought were ok:
What I hated:
That scene would have seemed hackneyed and forced even in a crap-fest like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. (I loved the other Indy movies, but that one sucked and you know it.)
It's as if you were watching North by Northwest and suddenly there was a guest appearance by the Three Stooges. You know, just to ``lighten things up.''
(In case you missed that idiotic moment in the movie -- they glossed over it really quickly -- just after Max von Sydow shoots the Fed in Sydow's office, someone exposits that Cruise just killed the Fed in his home.)
Everything that was good about Minority Report -- which was the approximately ten minutes of the movie they (obliquely) devoted to the details about how invasive the government was -- was handled better in Gattaca.
Everything else about Minority Report was complete crap, and Spielberg is a pandering, ham-handed clod.
You might be right about Carpenter. Though it pains me to say that.
Lynch did OK with "Dune"; "Twin Peaks" still pains me, particularly near the end, when he was laughing at himself.
I really liked "Lord of the Rings", but Tolkien is really far away from Dick, so I think Jackson is more suited to Bradbury, too.
I haven't seen enough of Nolan's work (there *isn't* enough of Nolan's work yet) to say whether he'd be good or not. He may be too young, actually.
Maybe I can substitute Robert Zemeckis -- though "What Lies Beneath" is probably his best work so far, and he did do all those "Tales From The Crypt". I guess if we're going to discard Carpenter's early work, to his loss, we can discard Zemeckis', to his gain.
I guess, other than movies around Phillip K. Dick stories, there isn't really a lot of hard science fiction film out there that treats science fiction as the social commentary/criticism that it's supposed to be, so it's hard to pick someone to do the job.
Most science fiction ends up being all about the special effects, since you always end up with special effects any time you set a story in the future. Or it ends up being a formula story in a slightly different setting (e.g. "Alien Nation" was just a "buddy cop + racism" movie, "Starship Troopers" was just "war movie in space", "Outland" was just "High Noon in Space", etc.).
Maybe Wolfgang Peterson as a second runner up? Ron Howard would be my third runner up; it sounds like a bizarre matchup, but Howard is all about social commentary these days.
-- Terry
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jbhyq gurl whfg frr gur npg vgfrys be jbhyq gurl or qenja gb gur chccrgznfgre?
actually, you can be detained for up to 8 hours without being arrested. Sometimes they just find it convenient to not let someone out.
c C: straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,1870,11761 9-1020463140,00.html+%22material+witness%22+illega l&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:EKCdXYobg3
here is a short artical about the illegality of the detainments.
And, if they already had previous charges, they are being detained on those charges, not as material witnesses.
The one in my head.
The real world is even worse.
please shut the fuck up you fucking retard
shut the fuck up you fucking faggot. you have 40 comments but dont know enough about slashdot or internet movie discussions to know that spoilers are going to talked about? holy shit.
Minority Report was honestly the worst Spielberg movie ever-maybe that's because Tom Cruise is such a bad actor and ruins the whole story. If Spielberg didn't advertise products so much in the movie, it would have been better. What a waste of time and money it was.