6 posts tagged “movie”
I have no problem with freedom of speech, or religion, or creationism, or evolution, or science. I think you're free to believe whatever you want to believe - science or religion, but to claim that Intelligent Design is a theory of science is pure folly. That's like sticking a chapter from a physics textbook in the Bible because I feel that I have a theory about how Moses was able to part the Red Sea using fluid mechanics.
Ben Stein is hosting a documentary propagandist movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed that is scheduled for a nationwide release in theatres in April. I won't criticize the movie since it's not out yet, but in the trailer he talks about how he is a writer, public speaker, activist, speech-writer for Presidents etc. as if this means we should automatically treat him with credibility. He doesn't mention that he's not the writer, director or producer of the movie so he's really just some guy reading what's handed to him.
The trailer doesn't present any facts or arguments one way or another, but does present lots of images of Nazi Germany, concentration camps and crematory furnaces. It does suggest that there is a conspiracy between the scientific community, the legal system and the education system to silence all mention of Intelligent Design because, "Darwinists are afraid, they're hiding something". Riiight. Tinfoil cap wrapped a little tight?
He suggests that all notions of Intelligent Design are being stifled and is breaching the First Amendment asking, "why we tolerate free speech in every other aspect of society, but not here? [showing footage of Martin Luther King] What makes this situation so different?" as if the issue of Intelligent Design hasn't been all over the media in the last few years. There's no one stopping you from talking about it, but you will certainly come up against some opposition if you try to incorporate it into a textbook as factual evidence. I can certainly talk about the Flying Spaghetti Monster all I want and write my own textbook about the subject for anyone that wants to read it, but I can't very well incorporate a chapter on Noodly Appendages into a biology textbook.
There is little information presented in the trailer, just propaganda and fear-mongering. It concludes by suggesting that you are watching this movie at your own risk since doing so you may lose your job, your friends, your reputation and that the Darwinist boogyman might drag you off to the concentration camps and then there will be no one left to tell the "truth". Tell me when I should start panicking.
Supplimental:
Scientists Feel Miscast in Film on Life's Origin, New York Times, Sept 27, 2007.
Dr. Dawkins and other scientists who agreed to be interviewed say they are surprised — and in some cases, angered — to find themselves not in “Crossroads” but in a film with a new name and one that makes the case for intelligent design, an ideological cousin of creationism. The film, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” also has a different producer, Premise Media.
“I have certainly been taped by people and appeared in productions where people’s views are different than mine, and that’s fine,” Dr. [Eugenie C.] Scott said, adding that she would have appeared in the film anyway. “I just expect people to be honest with me, and they weren’t.”... the filmmakers were exploiting Americans’ sense of fairness as a way to sell their religious views. She said she feared the film would depict “the scientific community as intolerant, as close-minded, and as persecuting those who disagree with them. And this is simply wrong.”
Update:
Well, I tried ... but I was Expelled! It was kind of weird - I was standing in line, hadn't even gotten to the point where I had to sign in and show ID, and a policeman pulled me out of line and told me I could not go in. I asked why, of course, and he said that a producer of the film had specifically instructed him that I was not to be allowed to attend. The officer also told me that if I tried to go in, I would be arrested.
Roger Avary is working on the Return to Castle Wolfenstein movie based on the video game by Id Software, Gray Matter, and Nerve. Unlike a lot of the other doomed (har-har) video game to movie adaptations I think RTCW had a lot of depth to the storyline and a lot of unexplored potential. As long as Avary stays away from the cliché CG action/horror movie genre, I think this could go well.
RTCW was an instant classic video game in my books partially because what may initally seem as a bunch of nonsensical fantasy involving WWII Nazis dabbling in weird occult and technological research is actually partially based off of semi-factual references.
Castle Wolfenstein is of course a reference to the Nazi owned Castle Wewelsburg, "known for becoming the ritual headquarters of the SS in 1934 under Heinrich Himmler", who appears in the game. There are quite a lot of references to Nazi Occultism in real life, "Himmler has been claimed to have considered himself the spiritual successor or even reincarnation of Heinrich the Fowler [the final boss guy], having established special SS rituals for the old king and returned his bones to the crypt at Quedlinburg Cathedral." The Holy Grail even makes an appearance in the game in true Indian Jones style.
Even some of the crazy aircraft in the game turned out to be actual German experimental planes:
Bachem Ba 349
Horten Ho 229
If they're going to make a movie based on RTCW, there's a lot of material that the game just barely scrapes, so there should be a lot they have to work with. This movie should actually write itself.
I didn't have very high expectations for this movie seeing as it was directed by Michael Bay but I was pleasantly surprised. A little cliché in some parts and they tried too hard to work in the humor, but overall it was awesome. Some great action sequences and a plot that was more or less faithful to the original series and the Transformers universe.
As a matter of fact, following the movie I watched the first three episodes of the original Transformers cartoon masterpiece and was surprised by the amount of sequences that were almost identical. Military personnel in the control tower calling for the Decepticons to stand down just before the control tower gets pulverized, Optimus Prime and Megatron in a one-on-one faceoff, the parallels were astounding.
A great summer blockbuster and highly recommended, even to those fans who will over-analyse every part of the movie (like the fact that Optimus has lips, that Bumblebee is a Camero, that Soundwave was downgraded to his minion Frenzy, that Starscream didn't have a high-pitched, raspy voice and didn't try to back-stab Megatron... well, you get the picture). This lifelong fan gives a thumbs up.
Went to see Spider-Man 3 last night with Karl, Andy, Mae and Suzanne. The reviews in the local papers lowered my expectations for it quite a lot, which was preferable since the movie ended up being better than I thought. Better to set yourself up for disappointment and then be surprised, right?
FYI, this post is spoiler-proof... so read away!
Karl, Andy and I went to watch Superman at Paramount on Monday night. It seems as if Andy found a loophole in the pricing system for movie tickets. He got a deal on gift certificates for normal movie passes, and although it explicitly says, 'not for IMAX', I don't think anyone at Famous Players really cared. IMAX admission for three it is!
The sound and picture quality for the IMAX show was pretty amazing. The 3-D clips were neat when the action was slow, but I had the impression that when there was fast moving action on screen, the image looked blurry and made me feel nauseous. It was really just a gimmick that I felt doesn't enhance the experience.
I have some mixed feelings for this latest sequel of the franchise. Superman Returns remains faithful to the original movies, which is perhaps the greatest liability Brian Singer could have brought. I enjoyed Batman Begins for the reason that it tossed out all the silly junk of the other Batman movies and replaced it with a darker, grittier Batman that was more faithful to the comic books. A clean slate is sometimes the best thing to work with.
Once again, out of all the interesting villains in the DC universe (Darkseid? Brainiac? Anyone else in the 70ish years of Superman villainy?), Lex Luthor is the antagonist. And like the other Superman movies, he brings along the same goofy, "Bwahahaha" manerism surrounded by even goofier henchmen. While Kevin Spacey does a good job of imitating the original, I felt a more sinister and serious Lex would have been ideal. Visually, everything had the same feel as the original. The Fortress of Solitude, the Daily Planet, Lex, Clark, even the opening title. Not much room for originality? Whatever happened to their conceptual art department, MIA?
On the plus side, there is an interesting change in plot. Superman has been gone for five years, and the world seems to have gone on without him. Kate Bosworth does a good job as Lois Lane, who has a son and is engaged to Cyclopse in a bit of DC and Marvel universe crossover. Dejected from his sudden disappearence, she writes an article, "Why the world doesn't need Superman". There is good emotional stress for Clark Kent/Superman as he now has to deal with not only his relationship with Lois and his double identity, but now that Lois has moved on, he is more alone than ever. There is a lot of good, wholesome, summer movie action that does impress and doesn't look overly CG.
I would have like to see something more epic and catastrophic ("How many f's are there in catastrophe", asked Lois Lane, the Pulitzer Prize winner) and a less boyscout Superman. I would have liked to see him suffer at having lost everything in his absense, to question why he even bothers to fight when no one needs him, to be angry, to put everything on the line and truly pay the ultimate sacrifice to save the world (Like in The Death of Superman), and then remind Lois and everyone else, why the world needs Superman. (They can always resurrect him for a sequel - as they do in comic books - but I think they should really have killed him this time around in some grand, apocalyptical way)
LOL! Lego Star Wars stop motion animated movie:
