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Equilibrium
The_Hiro writes ""Farenheit 451 - meets - Brave New World - meets - Matrix" (minus the overdone wire work). Created on a limited budget, Equilibrium combines the best of sci-fi with the action genre. Unfortunately, the marketing droids at Dimension have neglected to promote the film (release date: Dec. 6th). Chud.com has a glowing review of the film and some pretty pictures. Check out the trailer also."
I watched the trailer
But its a film about tooth whitening? Sounds boring to me.
The Only Thing Stronger Than The System
Is The Man Who Will Overthrow It
Wow... It would be kinda hard to overthrow it otherwise.
It's a Matrix wannbe. Fuhgetaboutit.
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
Farenheit 451 was a pretty bad movie. The book was pretty good but a book about books should not be mad into a movie abotu books.
unzip; strip; touch; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; unmount; sleep
Obligatory Internet Movie Database and MovieTickets links (although showtimes, if any, will undoubtedly only be posted closer to next Friday). The movie poster looks cool.
It seems cool, I'll try to see it if it ever plays anywhere in Colorado. From scanning the article, it seems cool, but the article has that fanboy edge to it that seems like it's going to give too much away if you actually *read* it.
...on trying to promote a sci-fi film anyways? just let the folks at slashdot know about it! instantaniously all your advertising to your target group is done for you
Jesus saves souls and redeems them for valuable cash prizes
Are you there god? It's me, Nine. As you know, people keep making Matrix-esque movies. And also, as you know, I'm a big movie fan. I like to see most movies just for the hell ooop...heck of it. Why, god, do people continue to make Matrix-like movies? Why? The first one was terrible. I tried to leave the theater when I was subjected to the first one, but unfortunately, I was riding with others and I couldn't get my hands on their keys. I really, really tried to enjoy it, but the acting, well, you know. Keanu Reeves was in it. Lawrence Fishburne. I know you never meant for them to be actors. I know that they were meant for other things... like workers in fish canneries, but still, they were in it. And the script. Well, the script actually made me cry. I laughed so hard I cried. It wasn't a good cry either, since part of why I was laughing is because I spent money on admission to hear lines that sounded like they were written by a second grader who ate too much paste. And the story, god. God, the story. Why is a re-hashed version of ancient Western Philosopy, a philosophy that's been around for thousands of years, considered innovative and fresh? Why god, hasn't anybody studied even basic philosophy enough to know that this story is actually ancient? And the plot. Oh god, you didn't spare me on the plot either, you vengeful being you. The plot barely made sense. But why should I tell you that... you're omnipotent. But, since you're omnipresent, you probably had to watch it too. I'm sorry god. I'm so sorry for everything I've done. Please, god, please smite down with terrible wrath and anger all who attempt to make Matrix knockoffs. Are you there god? It's me, Nine.
"In the near future, freedom is a thing of the past."
They should have called the movie "Palladium."
Personally, the idea of a film about a man who battles the system reminds me of the movie Rollerball ( the original, not last year's remake ). Those of you who have seen it may remember that the hero's boss wanted him to retire from the game because they feared that he would rise above the deadly game, which itself was meant to be an analogy to show everyone that no one was greater than the system. Hence in the end, the rules of the game were changed ( no time limit ) so that the game of rollerball was changed from a more violent soccer like game into a deathmatch.
Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
That certanly looks cool :P. Visualy stunning to say the least. The only real problem I see is that so much of what was done (and was new) in the matrix has become cliche. I mean I remember seeing the trailers for the new matrix films and thinkng "I've seen all this before..."
Definetly a flick I'll have to check out.
ReadThe ReflectionEngine, a cyberpunk style n
I love these crazy plotless action films.
On my my favorite has to be the movie HARD BOILED.
I think it has a 10 minute long unedited action gunfire scene in it... it was beautifully done.. brought a tear to my eye...
I will say "seems cool" eight billion times in the same paragraph without noticing until I hit "submit". :)
IMDB lists this as a "limited" release, with the premiere actually on 18 Oct 2002. I wonder when the normal release will be...
I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, but the premise of the beginning of this movie seems quite like in the book, "The Giver" by Louis Lowry. In the book, everyone has no real emotion, and has to conform into their spots in society, all emotions are kept by The Giver, i'm not going to go farther into the book, for fear of spoiling, but there definitly seems to be some similarities. Definitly a recomended book to check out
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Ob complaint. Why does Real Player and Windows Media Player get high quality feeds, but Quicktime only has a low quality feed. Is another DRM punishment for Apple? This is itself might make me not want to see the movie.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
When i first read about it, i thought it was just another matrix/minority-report/apocolypic-genre rip-off film.
Now, after having seen the trailer and read the article, i can't say that i've change my mind much, but i'm probably more likely to see the film now.
It almost makes a person wonder -- how much of an influence does the internet have on the film industry? Does it make it easier to get crappy ideas on film, because there's an easier access now? If so, i've got this great idea for a horror flick or two....
Support FSF: Stop thinking with your wallet, and think with your imagination. (cc/non-commercial)
Sure another movie like the matrix, and yes the matrix popularized a bunch of types of special effects...
But really people...
The matrix was not the first time these things had been done. Check a little film history and get out and look at some less Hollywood movies once and a while. It does not make any of these movies better or worse, almost all movies build on previous work and copy some of the effects from previous movies. Get over it.
Considering how long ago and under what circumstances the classics of totalitarain sci-fi (1984, Brave new World, Animal Farm) were written, it can be seen that fears of the all-powerful state are in fact a product of the Fascist (1930s-1940s)and Cold War (1946-1992) eras.
With the fall of communism, fears of totalitarian states have eased, and at present, the most immediate threat in people's minds is of course terrorism. As President Bush's "National Security Strategy Of the United States" puts it: "(our biggest threat) is less from conquering states than from failing ones". Evidence that Americans, and hence the movie-going public, agrees with this assessment can be seen in the widespread acceptance of the PATRIOT act's intrusive extension of law-enforcement's powers. It seems Americans want more government, not less.
My point, however, is not a political one. Whatever one might think of present attitudes toward government, the fact remains that marketing is an objective science, and marketers need to react to present attitudes as they exist. Therefore, given today's pro-government climate of public opinion, it was a rational decision not to spend too much money promoting a movie that is at odds with present attitiudes.
WHY THE H*** THEY WON'T LET ME DOWNLOAD A HQ TRAILER TO MY HARDDRIVE!! I just don't get their logic. It's a commercial for them; something they put there because they want people to know about their product, yet they don't want me to see it in anything but shitty quality? I "only" have 256k (and there are still a lot of modem users out there!) and I don't get to see that trailer in all it's (potential) glory.
Bitch/moan++: even if I had 768k, I still wouldn't be able to see it if I didn't have IE... well SCREW THEM! If they don't even want me to see their trailer, I don't want to spend any money on their movie.
I see this as somewhat akin to gamespot's move to a pay-to-see-video business model. It surprises me that anybody has signed up, because all they (essentially) get is commercials for games. That's right! They pay to see commercials! It would be ironic if it wasn't such a damned tragedy that someone went ahead and actually bough into that.
________
Entranced by anime since late summer 2001 and loving it ^_^
Where do I download the trailer ?
I can't find a URL.
I'm on a modem, and streaming-play is not really an option.
I'm under linux, so the Real version would be OK.
Cheers!
Ok, so the begining looks like "the Giver", then you have a little "Fahrenheit 451" with the bad guy losing his wife, and the burning of contraband... While I'm definitely going to go see it, how many of the classics of SF am I going to be able to identify while sitting there watching the beautiful action scenes?
Then there's always Jed Bush to take over when Pops is done.
Sense offender? Drug supressed society? Lame, trite, and unimaginative. Just another slick flick trying to exploit yet another "problem?" vexing our society. Whats next? Rampant SUV's crushing hobos?
- these are not the droids you are looking for -
You said western philosophy, not eastern. What an odd mistake for me to make.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
You can mod me down as off-topic for this, but I've just got to mention this. If you like movies like "The Matrix," I recommend that you go see "The Ring." Although "The Ring" does not have the same technological elements that "The Matrix" has that many of us geeks like, it has a similiar surreal mood. Okay there is some technology. I don't think I've ever seen a movie before in which an evil spirit calls you (on the telephone) to inform you that you have been chosen as her victim. As you may be aware, "The Ring" is a remake of a Japanese movie from several years back. The original is an excellent movie as well; I've seen both of them. "The Ring" does share a similarity with "Equilibrium" though that both of them involve a story that examines what might happen if a terribly feared scenario is realized.
Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
Can we pleeeease have a sci-fi film WITHOUT a black trench coat?
sig.
Blood splattered across a babies face. How can you beat that?
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
In the future, movies will be lame pastiches of several other books and movies. In the tradition of Farenheit 451, Logan's Run, 1984, Matrix, Monority Report, THX-1138, and probably countless others, comes Equilibrium.
In the near future, there will be no more original ideas.
Do these Goverment Agencies/Ultra-companies/Secret societies ALWAYS create the ultimate weapon then invariably decide to turn against him?
They try to arrest him with 3 people. Or send 2 people to kill him when they DAMN WELL KNOW that the ultimate weapon was trained to go against an army an win?
Oh when will these govt agencies learn?
for linking to a trailer with the most annoying popups. just what I wanted: "HEY LOOK HERE!!!! YOU'VE JUST WON A FREE DVD!!!!!" blaring out of my speakers.
Fucking nitwit.
called this movie a rehash sci-fi drama that wastes the talents of the actors. Has anyone seen a preview of this movie? Can they give their opinion? I try to see sci-fi movies just to support the genre, but it's hard to throw away money.
I thought they were talking abou tthe one who would bring balance (or equalibrium) to the Force. But I guess that wasn't it.
Actually, I somehow read 'eastern' rather then 'western', making my rant rather foolish in retrospect. In any event, my main point, that the matrix was praised for it's visual beauty, not it's philosophical underpinnings, is still valid.
Can you name one quality, intresting film based on modern philosophy? I mean, I suppose you could call Austin Powers post-modern, but that's beside the point.
And eastern or western, I still don't see any giant robot overlords in anything 100 years old or so.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
This is such a rip off of Minority Report it's pathetic.
The only real difference is this one is low tech while Minority Report actually introduced some sci-fi ideals. This is just wanna be matrix-minority report nonsense.
Maybe it will be good, Christian Bale is a fine actor, so is Tay Diggs, but honestly, the movie is unoriginal.
Actualy, I think a good title would have been "Operation TIPS". Cleric was a meter-reader, and you could dress the black guy in a UPS outfit.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
i looked around a little an read the review on "solaris". the critic mentions lots of other films, but in no word talks about tarkovskij's version. judging from that (admittedly limited) research, i am not going to believe everything they say, since at least one of the critics on that website doesn't know what he is writing about.
If this movie is 1/3rd as good as the trailer looks, it's gonna be amazing. And we all know that movies are quite capable of being less than 1/3rd as good as the trailer looks.
Finally! I get to see a movie that looks really good within 1.5 years of finding out about it!
Pardon me stating the obvious, but the way technology and the Bush administration are rolling along utterly without any reigns -- either external or internal -- this might be nothing short of a documentary. Yes, I realize I'm being bombastic. And yes, I really think we're heading toward this.
My
Limekiller
Is it me or does the trailer remind me of MR movie?
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
On the separate topic mentioning "The Giver" versus F451 and Brave New World -- I recently read "The Giver" for the first time (I'm looking to change careers to become an English teacher) and it was quite clear to me that Lois Lowry's goal in writing "The Giver" was essentially to address many of the same issues as in "Brave New World" (and to a lesser extent, some of the issues in "Farenheit 451"), but for a young-adult audience. "The Giver" is a book frequently used in 8th and 9th grade classrooms.
I also just watched the movie "The Handmaid's Tale" (based Margaret Atwood's book of the same title, which I haven't yet read), and some of the same issues come up there, too. The issues of forced conformity and censorship are recurring, and nobody can claim to "own" them. As I think about it, my head is swirling with all kinds of plots from books, short stories, and TV episodes (especially Twilight Zone and Outer Limits) that offer variations on these same themes.
-- http://www.MarkWelch.com/ Pleasanton California
Ignoring your question, here's how you can actually CAN download it:
l oa d.akamai.com/7287/windows/equilibrium_t_700.asx
...and you're set. As I pointed out in another thread (trying to get this to play under FreeBSD), you can also save using 'mplayer -dumpfile eq.asf -dumpstream [url]'
Clicky for ASFRecorder!.
Point it at:
http://mfile.akamai.com/7357/asf/hollywood.down
Neo, are you there? I want to rat out an unbeliever. An unbeliever in our midst. One who will never comprehend the Matrix, the question that haunts the believers.
;-) The religious theme went right on by him, but left the important question of existence (which i identify with existentialism -- existence precedes essense, and in the Matrix even existence was debatable).
Out of pretense, and in blasphemous contempt of The One, this unbeliever goes by the name "Nine." Please, thou who art The One, smite this heathen at your earliest opportunity. Disconnect the phone of NineNine first to prevent escape. Then grind the sucker up into that nutritious, gelatinous fluid that we all still need to consume since Liberation because we have absolutely no other source of food, having laid waste to Earth over a century ago in a bizarre Pyrrhic effort to "win."
(Anyone else notice this? If humans were powered by humans, and their heat powered the machines, wouldn't you run out of calories in a jiffy? Humans don't run on solar or nuclear power. Well, I suppose the machines could be doing some sort of protein synthesis, but if they had the energy to do that why not skip the whole "power plant" thing? And another thing...)
*
I do have a point! Movies like these normally require a healthy suspension of disbelief, and Matrix was remarkable because it really caused disbelief. It had certain plot and continuity problems, but not glaring enough to ruin the fun, and the sense of being transferred to a world with screwed-up tint control. It's pretty easy to pick apart, but there's a fine line between being insightful and irritating.
The philosophy was not new, but the packaging was. I had a little fun with my atheist friend who liked the movie by pointing out, "You realize that Neo was Christ, didn't you?"
The acting -- I thought everyone did fine, except for Reeves, who had mercifully few lines and mostly stood looking around stunned, until he become a gun-toting sunglass-wearing matrix rebel.
And the effects were great. We're getting tired of them now because of all the imitations and parodies (even Shrek!). But the Matrix set a new standard for viewer immersion. And the sum of its parts made it a good movie, one of my top ten futuristic movies along with Bladerunner and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
I can only hope this one is as good. Trailers are tough to read. FWIW I think Bradbury was better at coming up with ideas than writing about them. The script would have to be quite creative to make it work on the screen.
"The advent of the drug Prozium has helped erase war, murder, and all of the other things that the oppressive powers that be determine is forbidden and each member of society injects the drug to suppress their moods and stave off that hideous thing known as emotion."
Sounds like Philip K. Dick's " Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep "?
"My schedule for today lists a six-hour self-accusatory depression," Iran said.
"What? Why did you schedule that?" It defeated the whole purpose of the mood organ. "I didn't even know you could set it for that," he said gloomily.
My
Limekiller
What does the matrix have to do with the Dao or natural way of the universe which should be followed? What does it have to do with reincarnation or karma? What does it have do with meditating and given up earthly desires to reach enlightenment?
The parallel between The Matrix drew from Eastern (more specifically, Vedic) philosophy is the belief that the world we think we live in is an illusion, which affects us only insofar as we believe it it. And of course, if one becomes enlightened - whether by meditating for many lifetimes or by the grace of a scriptwriter - one may gain mystical powers that will really impress the viewing public.
While The Matrix is vastly overrated IMHO, it does have its merits in that it made many people think.
Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!
here
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Honestly, when was the last time a film actually made you look at your friends and go "Did I just see that?".
Umm...last Wednesday. South Park is on every Wednesday.
Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!
Looks awful. Pity, as Bale's a good actor.
I am a believer of momentum and curves.
Isn't this an episode of the TV show "Sliders" writ large? I haven't seen that show for a while, but I seem to recall there was one episode when they went to an Earth where everyone was on gov't approved drugs all the time, and one guy preached against against it so people could "experience life" or something like that...
Except he wasn't a cop...
Last I heard there were still almost 1.3 billion
people living under Communist rule in China alone
(http://www.cpirc.org.cn/eindex.htm). Not to
mention Cuba, North Korea and places like Iraq
that also have varying forms of such governments.
So your statement that the "all-powerful state are
in fact a product of the Fascist and Cold War
eras", which implied its end seems a bit
premature, don't you think? Oh wait, you proved
you don't. Sorry!
This whole situation reminds me of another movie: IMPOSTOR with Gary Sinese. The movie the studio made, then realized "shit, we don't want to spend a single cent making copies of that for distribution or promotion, but we're obligated to release it by contract, let's just hope it goes away soon".
What else can I say?
BAD FUCKING ASS!
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Wow! Dude, I just noticed that Grunjnak is an anagram for Vladinator!
Actually, I believe that the very fact that this film even got made is what is significant. You mention that the last time that orwellian predictions were brought up on a regular basis was during the cold war. I doubt that this was because we could see the opression in Soviet nations, but more because these were the times when western society felt threatened and gave extra powers to their governments in order to stay safe. It is at times like these when those who can see the trend towards an orwellian society feel that they must voice words of caution about the dangers involved in absolute governement power. That is why we saw these movies and books in the cold war, and that is why we are seeing them again now.
They combined humans with 'a special kind of fusion'. Why they didn't simply use 'a special kind of fusion' and skip the humans is beyond me.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
but they tried their best to make it impossible to figure out what the sourcefile was (hey, it's late here, and I don't like to look at fugly html from a GUI web-editor). How did you figure that out?
________
Entranced by anime since late summer 2001 and loving it ^_^
Other then that the main character is in law enforcement, and it takes place in 'the future' I don't see much similarity at all. I guess you could say they were both fathers, but one still has his kids and the other does not. You could say they were both on drugs, but in MR drugs are looked down oppon, while in this they are required. They are hugely diffrent movies.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
He's been an animal.
He's been a girl.
And on December 6th,
Rob Schneider is: the Cleric
Watch him try to bring justice to an unfair world, all the while trying to make his way through blahdiddy blah blah blah.
Rated G, for high-adrenaline sexual innuendo and some drug references.
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
Here is what I see.
1. Costumes from the Highander 2, from the planet zeist.
2. Farenheit 451, burning stuff.
3. Take his family, Oh my God Hi-Tech Gladiator.
4. Logans Run - Contacting the resistence.
5. Pink Floyd The Wall- Everyone all conforming wearing the same stuff.
And 100 other stolen ideas from sci fi classics.
The matrix had good effects and a decent story. One of the better of the sc fis in the past decade, althought not the best are even that good.
But this one has good cheese effect so we will check it out.
Gice me John Carpenters The Thing, good stuff that one.
Puto
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
The Matrix isn't innocent of stealing Ideas either...
Seems infinitely more likely that the epistemic tradition of skepticism was the driving influence in The Matrix.
I mean, the BIV (Brain-in-a-Vat) scenario so common to epistemology is the basic plot point of the movie. The only difference is we have machines doing it instead of evil demons and crazy scientists.
No wonder this film isn't getting any promotion. The idea of drugging a society into obedience probably sounds pretty reasonable to a population spooked by an isolated terrorist attack that killed almost three-quarters as many Americans as died of heart disease and cancer every day, 365 days a year.
Of course, you don't get as many votes by waging war on heart disease and cancer as you do by vaporizing foreigners with exotic bombs.
Yeah, I'm totally off-topic. The movie sounds cool. Mod me into oblivion. I was just feeling cranky and wanted to add to my PATRIOT Act dossier.
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
Schizophrenic comes off his meds to become millitary consultant for humanity at peace.
The Ethics of Madness
Automatic medicator for a schizophrenic fails with hillarious results.
Seems like P.K. Dick did a couple stories that could be considered as source also.
[Set Cain on fire and steal his lute.]
hardboiled has 3 of the best action sequences ever filmed. The opening teahouse scene, ending when chowyun slides through flower and blows a guy away pointblank is incredible. The warehouse scene is fast and furious. The ending hospital shootout is a masterpiece as well which took 35 days to film.
A few facts: over 100K rounds were fired during filming.
Over 300 people die in the movie, one of if not the highest movie bodycounts.
Very good movie...John Woo's first westernstyle film really. The Killer, as mentioned is a much better film plot wise.
Its dosen't look that bad.....i think the movies more about privacy in lite of the recent events in S11. Its about how as a society we give up powers and rights to the government in order to have security, but what happens if it gose a little to far? I agree with they other points the matrix thing is a little over-used, but i think it might be worth to see it and then form my own opion.
F451 was about burning ideas. Literacy still existed- in phamplets and magazines... but books were long, organized thoughts. Not allowed.
They should have called this America
http://www.chud.com/graphics6/eq/eqbaletough.jpg
HOLD THE FUCKING GUNS PROPERLY!
Isn't the storyline exactly like Minority Report - man uploads the system; system comes after man; man BREAKS system. So whats new?
.....what about Minority Report? I'm sure there are a whole bunch of other sci-fi "man-fights-the-system" genre, but I can't think of any right now. The reason why I say this is because somehow, this movie's story (judging from the trailer) seems a bit TOO familiar...
Well, there's no Tom Cruise and no scientology (hopefully) involved.
Why yes I am paranoid! Thanks for asking!
Jeb Bush is W's brother not his son
--Joey
Like the parent comment suggested, using asfrecorder does work, but the provided link to the trailer didn't.
/ 1919/7287/v0001/hollywood.download.akamai.com/7287 /windows/equilibrium_t_700.asf" does work (for now anyways) and runs about 12.4 MB (be sure to delete the space after the /7/).
"mms://a1919.v7287f.c7287.g.vm.akamaistream.net/7
Note that I obtained the URL by changing 300 to 700 in a link mentioned in another comment, and you can likely access whatever format you prefer by changing the URL accordingly.
Warning, rant in progress...
:)
What really bothers me about these so called reviews, are their constant need to make references to other products. I don't care if you (the reviewer) thinks this is similar to something else, your perception of the product will in all likelyhood never be the same as everyone elses idea. If you think it should be compared to another book, movie, comic or your auntie's smelly cats, put them in a seperate place in the review, recommendations would be a good place to start. The references should not interfer with the review, it only distract from the (hopeful) real purpose of the review, informing the reader why it was good or bad. If you can not make a review of a products on its own merits then don't, anything less looks like a fanboys wet dream. Don't get me wrong, it is fine to compare, but it should never be the essential part of the writing. Keep the two parts seperate.
---
Any spelling errors is a figment of my imagination
Carbon based humanoid in training.
The protagonsit's development is driven by mystic revelations, not by scientific methodology. And the BIV scenario with robots is merly a modernized backdrop to make a 4,500 year old concept more interesting to today's teenagers. Check out this summary of the vedic concept of Maya and this article, which cites The Matrix to explain Maya.
Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!
http://theopen.org/files/whatnot/equilibrium_t_700 .asf
or click here
Bullet in the Head is one of the first films I saw from Woo after seeing Killer followed by Hard Boiled. The plot is extremely well done and you care about the characters as they progress through the film more so than most films you watch. I'd also recommend Better Tomorrow and if you're into comedy God of Gamblers I & II are both pretty good.
Karel Capek, an Czech author from the 20's and 30's, wrote several stories about man being stripped of his human essence in order to change him into an efficient and manageable working machine. The word robot was first coined in his best-known novel, "Rossum's Universal Robots", which was about this very same subject:
"Young Rossum invented a worker with the minimum amount of requirements. He had to simplify him. He rejected everything that did not contribute directly to the progress of work. He rejected everything that makes man more expensive. In fact, he rejected man and made the Robot. My dear Miss Glory, the Robots are not people. Mechanically they are more perfect than we are, they have an enormously developed intelligence, but they have no soul. Have you ever seen what a Robot looks like inside?" (from R.U.R., 1920, trans. by Paul Selver)
Before this, he wrote a humorous short story about a crafty businessman who rounds up all of society's undesirables, purges them of all emotion through lack of artistic and sensual stimulation, and turns them into a phenomenal working force. But his design is put in ruins when the keepers inadvertently leave the light on during a working man's monthly conjugal encounter. That man is so inspired by her beauty that he breaks out in song during work, and the domino effect continues as within days the men have organized debating societies, newspapers, amateur theater troupes and the like. Before the week is out, the men rebel against their oppression and lay the entire operation to waste.
Bet that as it may, I too find the use of "you" => "u", "to" => "2" etc highly annoying and counterintuitive.
For the sake of you typing one, or maybe *gasp*, two extra letters, you're both massively reducing your credibility ("He types like an AOL luser, why should I listen to him?") and significantly impacting readability (I certainly don't see these abbreviations enough for them to be automatic; I have to think about them when I see them -- it may even make me subvocalise, and that *sucks*)
*shrug*, use them if you like, just don't expect me to read your comments, or reply to your mail, or mod you up, or take you seriously.
While we're on the subject of nearly neglected films, this one didn't get much attention: Avalon by Mamoru Oshii, of 'Ghost in the Shell' fame. It's beautiful, go and see it.
You're right about 1984 and Animal Farm, those two are definitely aimed at the Stalinist form of oppression. But have you read Brave New World or (the much less well known) This Perfect Day? Those two seem to be aimed at the Western way of doing things. In these worlds, people are kept in place not with "disappearings" and shock troops, but with condiitioning and drugs. People are kept helpless and happy by having all their needs fulfilled. Is this beginning to sound familiar? :-)
Note: BNW (Brave New World) has a main character who's suppsed to represent the reader (sort of). He's a person from outside the BNW society, so the normal BNW inhabitants call him "Savage". IMHO, he's sort of outdated now. When I read the book, he seemed like kind of a prude. I take this as evidence that society (the one I'm in) seems to have more in common now with the ordinary inhabitants of the BNW than with the society of the story's author, Aldus Huxley.
Furry cows moo and decompress.
This looks like it has elements of the Matrix (cinematographic effects: action freeze, duotone colouring, short hair), Fahrenheit451 (let's burn those O'reilly originals), Brazil (Men in black breaking down doors and carting away those Bad Pirates- but the wrong ones of course, total state control a la Microsoft Palladium, DRM and EULAs, Ashcroft, Rumsfield and Cheney) and Alien Resurection (The guns popping snazzily out of the ends of the sleeves).
My critique: It is very relevant in todays world with state organs basically above the law and increasing their control all the time (There is a difference inbetween declaring someone an enemy combatant - even if he's a citizen - and this?) and as usual has to use a science fiction context to put the message across, which will make most people miss the point entirely.
Ray Bradbury must be turning over in his grave.
Cliched? Perhaps. Prior Art? Certainly. Matrix-like? Yes.
So what? If you don't want to go see it, don't. All sorts of painters painted flowers, after all. Its all been done.
Sure looks worthwhile to me, though.
meh.
That doesn't mean that Maya inspired the Wachowski brothers. It didn't. For a look at the film's actual inspiration, look at Baudrillard.
These ideas aren't hard to come by, after all.
Nothing inspires confidence in the quality of a film like a review by fans of Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers.
Actually, Clinton's plan to nationalize the health care system scared me a lot more.
Nothing like a "free" country where people claim nothing bad will happen, all the while pulling out the gun to force you to join their plan that you can't escape if it turns out to be bad.
they say it is to be released on april 2003... that may explain why you aint seeing no preview :-)
It's a bit slow and soon to be slower but there is a downloadable Quicktime trailer at :
h tm l
http://www.presqaco.host.sk/trailers/exclusive.
http://www.totse.com/en/media/the_media_industrial _complex/mockingb.html
The release of this film is a threat to the media-oriented population control operation currently in place in the US. Miramax has been threatened by operatives to not release this film.
bleh, well it really dosn't seem like 'the same story' to me. Anyway, why is this the copy? It was made long before MR came out.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Of course it's not hard to come by an idea that has been part of the foundation of a major world religion for over 5000 years. So what if the Wachowsiks did get it from Baudrillard who perhaps got it from Plato who in turn got it from the Veda?
Who do you think invented the GUI, Microsoft?
Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!
They don't have enough reviews for a tomato rating, but at the time I write this, 3 out of the 4 reviews there are positive.
i haven't been able to find showtime information. please post!
Keanu played a naive dork, and he portrayed it very well. Now, how well he will do in upcoming releases... . But it was also a very stylistic movie. Surreal, dark, and lots of action. And it WAS original for Hollywood when it came out. I liked it.
Equilibrium looks like it has good choreography and nothing else. I don't like Taye Diggs, I hate Christian Bale, and the movie looks unoriginal, even by Hollywood standards. I might see it, but I doubt it.
Hi! How are things going?
(just fine, thank you...)
Great! Say, could I bother you for a question?
(you just asked one...)
Well, how about one more?
(one more than the first one?)
Yes.
(you already asked that...)
[at this point, Alphonso gets smart... ]
May I ask two questions, sir?
(no.)
May I ask ONE then?
(nope...)
Then may I ask, sir, how I may ask you a question?
(yes, you may.)
Sir, how may I ask you a question?
(you must ask for retroactive question asking privileges for
the number of questions you have asked, then ask for that
number plus two, one for the current question, and one for the
next one)
Sir, may I ask nine questions?
(go right ahead...)
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