Re:Review of "Quantum Project"
on
Quantum Project
·
· Score: 1
Oops...I should've done my homework. I know, I know, Bob Metcalfe did Ethernet, and Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn did IP, the precise reference in the film. Just couldn't come up with the other names ten minutes ago...sorry
forking to a "who invented the Internet" thread should probably happen somewhere else...:8-)
It doesn't look like anyone here has acutally viewed the movie yet, so here's my take on whether it's worth your $3.95 (or $5.95 for high-res ver).
Disclaimer: I hate the prorietary Microsoft formats, but I multi-boot 98/NT/2000/Linux/BeOS so I can experience as much as humanly possible until the world comes to its senses... The premise of this 32-minute movie stems from the Heisenberg cliche that reality is shaped by observation...which in the film and in popular consciousness has become conflated with shaping by desire. Protagonist Paul (Stephen Dorff) is an ersatz quantum physicist, and pulls it off pretty well. In fact, the acting throughout is superb. Most of us know what it's like to be in your own head too much of the time, and Paul definitely has this bug/feature. His maybe-girlfriend Mia (Fay Masterson) is a perfect foil, totally grounded and unconvinced by his strained analogies between physics and life. It's a little hard to hear him try to compare their relationship to charmed particles because I'll bet every/.'er has done something similar. While it starts off seeming way too pat, like we can see the next 25 minutes coming from miles away, it gets more interesting after the setup. I won't give away the rest, but the development of the movie is more or less will they get together. Formulaic, yes, but love is always a worthy subject... The CG effects are unusual and effective in advancing the atmosphere of uncertainty. The soundtrack likewise engages you without being "insert techno tune here". Where The Matrix sound design kicked, this is a little more subtle, with quite solid audio quality. The visual quality isn't bad, but can't compare to DVD (watched on my Tecra 8000 LCD). The aliasing bugged me at the beginning, but I soon stopped noticing it. For those of you who caught "Welcome to Paradox" on the Sci-Fi Channel a while back, this will remind you a lot of the better episodes, both in style and content. Being 32 minutes it feels compressed (no pun), but forgivably so. My favorite parts of the film: John Cleese as Paul's father, with his line "I was Ob/Gyn at the birth of the Internet" implying that he's maybe Bob Metcalfe's alter ego or something. Cleese is great, as usual, though I would have liked to see a little more of him. Paul flies into L.A. and as they're landing, the stewardess says "Welcome to Los Angeles. The temperature on the ground is, as always, a balmy 73 degrees." The ending is, well, pure Hollywood, with all that implies. Sort of predictable, but not completely. Sort of clever, but not really. The bottom line? I'll watch it again and enjoy the ride. I'll freeze-frame some of the CG, crank the audio, and maybe take it into the office and watch it projected on the wall to get the whole experience. Hey, the Metafilmics people are right, this is the dawn of something completely different (pun intended), and this is a really decent opening salvo at big bad tradition. Thanks for reading...
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Oops...I should've done my homework. I know, I know, Bob Metcalfe did Ethernet, and Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn did IP, the precise reference in the film. Just couldn't come up with the other names ten minutes ago...sorry
:8-)
forking to a "who invented the Internet" thread should probably happen somewhere else...
It doesn't look like anyone here has acutally viewed the movie yet, so here's my take on whether it's worth your $3.95 (or $5.95 for high-res ver).
/.'er has done something similar. While it starts off seeming way too pat, like we can see the next 25 minutes coming from miles away, it gets more interesting after the setup. I won't give away the rest, but the development of the movie is more or less will they get together. Formulaic, yes, but love is always a worthy subject...
Disclaimer: I hate the prorietary Microsoft formats, but I multi-boot 98/NT/2000/Linux/BeOS so I can experience as much as humanly possible until the world comes to its senses...
The premise of this 32-minute movie stems from the Heisenberg cliche that reality is shaped by observation...which in the film and in popular consciousness has become conflated with shaping by desire. Protagonist Paul (Stephen Dorff) is an ersatz quantum physicist, and pulls it off pretty well. In fact, the acting throughout is superb. Most of us know what it's like to be in your own head too much of the time, and Paul definitely has this bug/feature. His maybe-girlfriend Mia (Fay Masterson) is a perfect foil, totally grounded and unconvinced by his strained analogies between physics and life. It's a little hard to hear him try to compare their relationship to charmed particles because I'll bet every
The CG effects are unusual and effective in advancing the atmosphere of uncertainty. The soundtrack likewise engages you without being "insert techno tune here". Where The Matrix sound design kicked, this is a little more subtle, with quite solid audio quality. The visual quality isn't bad, but can't compare to DVD (watched on my Tecra 8000 LCD). The aliasing bugged me at the beginning, but I soon stopped noticing it.
For those of you who caught "Welcome to Paradox" on the Sci-Fi Channel a while back, this will remind you a lot of the better episodes, both in style and content. Being 32 minutes it feels compressed (no pun), but forgivably so.
My favorite parts of the film:
John Cleese as Paul's father, with his line "I was Ob/Gyn at the birth of the Internet" implying that he's maybe Bob Metcalfe's alter ego or something. Cleese is great, as usual, though I would have liked to see a little more of him.
Paul flies into L.A. and as they're landing, the stewardess says "Welcome to Los Angeles. The temperature on the ground is, as always, a balmy 73 degrees."
The ending is, well, pure Hollywood, with all that implies. Sort of predictable, but not completely. Sort of clever, but not really.
The bottom line? I'll watch it again and enjoy the ride. I'll freeze-frame some of the CG, crank the audio, and maybe take it into the office and watch it projected on the wall to get the whole experience. Hey, the Metafilmics people are right, this is the dawn of something completely different (pun intended), and this is a really decent opening salvo at big bad tradition.
Thanks for reading...