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daenerys comments on January 2012 Media Thread - Less Wrong
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Movies Thread
I just watched "The Edge" for the first time tonight; an older movie from 1997 starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin.
The basic conceit of the movie is that Anthony Hopkins is a very smart and capable fellow, and when disaster strikes he manages to get through it because of that.
There are a number of silly and stupid parts, but the central theme that knowledge makes you succeed, when you apply it with the right attitude, is very powerful and relevant to rationalists. It's not without tragedy, but I felt like it was a good work of rational!fiction.
A fun movie I've watched last year that involves Omega, boxes, $1.000.000, choice under uncertainty, overstepping ethical injunctions and some common problems with utilitarianism.
It's more concerned with leaving the viewer hooked and mystified than with preserving even a shred of coherency, but hey.
Oh, and it's by the director of Donnie Darko. Haven't seen that one, but sure heard a lot about it.
I quite liked this one (the Box). It does decohere some towards the end, but I quite enjoy the plot layering, where just as you think you have it figured out, the next layer is unveiled. Donnie Darko is one of my favorites, but for some reason I never managed to look up the director, so thanks for the recommend.
Moneyball wasn't amazing, but I like that there was a well-done mainstream movie about the triumph of Bayesianism. It's the feel-good sports drama of last year.
Mars, while not being very deep, was a fun and warm sci-fi flick shot in a rather unusual style. Here is a clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DASBmOnuCI It's streaming free on Netflix in US at least. (IMDB ratings are way lower than mine, so caveat emptor).
In general it seems to me there is an omission in the movie spectrum - I think a lot more good movies can be produced in anime style based on high-quality niche sci-fi (I'm thinking of things like MOPI or Watts' Blindsight). There is too much anime with good production values that I just can't watch because it's silly. Hi-quality Anime episodes run about 200K, I imagine you can put together a movie for around 1M.
I thought Sucker Punch was the most powerful movie I've seen in a long time.
It was a powerful answer to religion. Religions provide narratives and characters within them that people find moving and empowering. (Or disempowering, as the case may be.) The power of such narratives are real, even if the characters are fictional. Why not harness that power with narratives of your own choosing, narratives that are more affirming of your values and empowering to you?
I tend to like layered, highly symbolic fiction in the first place, and found Sucker Punch an exceptionally well crafted example of the type. It reminded me of a painting I saw once, where the perspective and attention of one of the characters drew me into the painting, and drew me to see what they saw in it.
I thought Sucker Punch was a great idea that has been completely ruined. It had the potential of being the new Matrix but they botched it.
This being said, the soundtrack is great and the visuals are good.
I'd say the reverse. :)
As for the movie... the idea of watching a movie which ends with the protagonist being lobotomized is abhorrent to me. It would be more distressing than simple death.
Surely you except Brazil.
The story wasn't actually about Baby Doll, it was about Sweat Pea.
But in the Baby Doll story, she won.The world is an imperfect place, sometimes the protagonist doesn't survive, but she did win, both in her story, and in taking Sweet Pea beyond her story, and getting her home.
Which rules out the only other movie with this type of ending that I know of - One Flew Over Cukoo's Nest - which was actually great. Suckerpunch sucked for me, I expected Zach Snyder to do much better based on Watchmen. Hopefully better next time.
Shutter Island also ends with a labotomy. Speaking of which, I found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable film. The plot was a bit weak (an astute viewer should be able to see most of th twists well in advance), but the acting, direction and general mise-en-scène more than make up for this.
I'm glad it didn't become the New Matrix, which started with some decent ideas, but devolved into standard scifi/fantasy with All Powerful Hero.
On your points.
I don't have a problem with the one-dimensional characters, because I see them as serving functional roles in a symbolic narrative - the point is to fulfill the effect.
I thought the link between layers was fine, but more importantly, the link to us was very well done.
Not seeing her dance was a practical necessity. What would she have actually been able to do that would have warranted the reactions she received?
I also disliked the bus driver bit, because it seemed to subvert the entire point for me. The voice over of Sweet Pea says early on that our angels "aren't here to fight our battles, but to whisper from our hearts, reminding that it's us, it’s every one of us who holds power over the world we create." Yet there is the bus driver, saving her bacon at the end.
One of the best movies I've seen in a long time was 50/50. It's about a 20-something year old guy who gets cancer and all of the stress it puts on him, his girlfriend, etc. It may be because my girlfriend went through something very similar and I was able to relate, but I thought it was fantastic.