Jeremy wrote:
] I'll try the straightforward approach: forget "Elf" and go see
] "21 Grams."

I certainly plan on forgetting Elf baring some sort of phenominal peer recommendation, but the question is, are movies about what you think or how you feel. For most people the answer is the latter. People don't shove money at the film industry because it expands their understanding. They don't want their understanding expanded. They want to forget about their troubles for 2 hours... Increasingly, we have so much media available to us that it almost becomes like selecting a drug... Want to feel sad? Happy? Excited? Horny? Scared? Silly? Angry? (Angry... Not enough film makers do Angry...) Want to go on an adventure? Want to fall in love? Its like all the little pockets on the inside of the trench coat are filled, offering anything you want. Take a hit...

This is really where video games can fit right in if they had the guts. I don't have the attention span to play something that takes a month, and I don't like silly puzzles... We're still in the "book" stage of video game media maturity, where attention spans are long and its all about the artistry. The graphics.... We obviously want two hours of escapism, and we want to do it with friends... Can't you tell a compeling story that we can work together to move through that completes in an couple hours? I think someone can... Its all about what the experience makes the audience feel... The advantage of an interactive version is that it may have more staying power over time because its not always the same. Different versions become a topic of discussion, which is a marketing vehicle... How can the new technology assist you in desgining a better drug?

RE: How to Spread the Word When the Word Is 'Grim'

The critics are wrong. There are flaws with the film, but it doesn't suck. If fact, it kicks ass. I HIGHLY recommend IMAX for this one even if it means waiting. You won't be disappointed.

] This is no Neo wave like the pop cultural tsunami of the
] first Matrix. But it would have been nice to have ended
] the trilogy with a big bang, instead of a dull thud.

The critics rip the matrix...

Matrix's third ends it all with a dull thud - NOV 5, 2003

] Japan has always had a cachet of cool, but it was a type
] of subcultural cool that appealed only to certain tastes.
] This notion of cool has long been in vogue with readers
] of Beat Generation or cyberpunk literature. Now,
] however, Japan's cultural cool is appealing to a wider
] base of media fans that are, of course, consumers who
] express their cultural desires monetarily.

Killing in Translation

INTERPRETER (In English, to Bob): Right side. And, uh, with intensity.
BOB: Is that everything? It seemed like he said quite a bit more than that.

This is the English translation of a very funny scene from Lost In Translation.

I saw an ad for this last night. I'm not sure if its going to be a great film, (looks like a romantic comedy) but the footage of Tokyo looks really nice. It might be worth watching simply as a way to experience a little of Japan.

What Else Was Lost In Translation

] Based on the Bram Stoker Award nominee short story by
] acclaimed author Joe R. Lansdale, Bubba Ho-tep tells
] the true story of what really did become of Elvis. We
] find the King (Bruce Campbell) as an elderly resident
] in an East Texas rest home, who switched identities
] with an Elvis impersonator years before his death, then
] missed his chance to switch back. Elvis teams up with
] Jack (Ossie Davis), a fellow nursing home resident who
] thinks that he is actually President John F. Kennedy,
] and the two valiant old codgers sally forth to battle
] an evil Egyptian entity who has chosen their long-term
] care facility as his happy hunting grounds...

Good, Bad, this movie is going to rock.

Bubba Ho-Tep

Well, this is neat... someone smart recommended this movie to me today. Haven't seen it but it sounds cool. Did a google for it and found this javascript map. I think most of the films referenced in the map, so I'll bet I'll like this one too... Interesting on multiple levels...

Movie Map: Donny Darko

] I was sure we'd see a silly "Hackers"-esque 3D animated
] "hacking scene".
] Not so! Trinity is as smart as she is seductive! She
] whips out Nmap (!!!), scans her target, finds 22/tcp open,
] and proceeds with an über ssh technique! I was so surprised,
] I almost jumped out of my seat and did the "r00t dance"
] right there in the theatre!
]
] There can be only one explanation: Carie-Anne has the
] hots for me!

OK, if Fyodor gets Carie-Anne can I have her Ducati?

Nmap Hackers: Whoa!

The animated matrix series. Oh yes, I'll be hitting this link on a monthly basis.

THE ANIMATRIX

] I think what happened here is that the filmmakers were
] fascinated by the original article, did some research
] that hooked them on this world, and then trusted the
] world would be enough to power the movie. It isn't. We
] need a stronger conflict, as we had in "The Fast and the
] Furious," and better and more special effects (the
] crashes all seem to happen at a distance).

I.E. Its not enough to provide a look at the biker culture. The main characters have to make their money dealing drugs, and they have to kill about 300 people on screen before the movie is over.

Honestly, this movie does sound like it makes some stupid mistakes in terms of how it manages the audience's emotions, but what the critics are most unhappy about, it seems, is the fact that the characters sound like they approximate real people, and not whacked out machine gun bearing movie super criminals.

An interesting contrast here to most media about "computer hackers" and how people in that scene feel about how they are protrayed. I wonder what the motorcycle scene will think about this movie.

The people demand unrealistic super criminal depictions of sub cultures, and are angry when they don't get it, and yet on the other hand when they do get it, they then actually expect real people who are involved in said subcultures to fit their unrealistic super criminal movie depictions, and hold them responsible as if they did.

Its gotten to the point where "suspension of disbeleif" kicks in because there AREN'T enough explosions.

Media hates BIKER BOYZ because its realistic