Battles are Raging

www.noisecontrolpub.com - Battles are raging in IRAQ. The tall and short of it is we can expect to see a whole slew of war movies in the coming years. Oh well. I'm tuned in for I Robot this summer, and don't plan to look much far further than Spider Man 2. Oh Doc Oc, Where are you coming from...??

My spider senses are tingling and they are telling me, we aren't going to be out of the trenches soon. Pray for peace people...

Lord of the Rings 3

Scott says he wants to go to see the Return of the King at the cheap theater. I say sure, but I don't think it's there. I'm guessing its about to come out on DVD. Last thing I heard of it was at the Acadamy Awards Sweep. Who knows. I'll have to look in the paper, and hope he's got the cash. Cause I'm broker than a record.

 

The Matrix Revolutions

www.noisecontrolpub.com - This morning, I gave The Matrix Revolutions a second glance. It was a birthday present, but I haven't had much time to watch it until today. The powers that be were brokering for a big fight down to the last straw. It turns out that Smith is in it to destroy not only humanity, but to take command of the machine world as well. In the end, Reeves is forced to make a deal to save humanity and the machines so that they might co-exist and Zion might be saved. Unfortunately, there isn't much left of Zion in the end of the madness of the war that ensued. Was the Architect correct?

Van Helsing looks like it will be a good one. Stay tuned for a review in May. My aunt doesn't want to see this one, so I probably won't be taking her. But I do plan to see it.

I've been watching old Star Trek Voyager Episodes on DVD since I spent all my money for the month. They aren't bad actually. In one episode, the bad guys actually transported the little dude's lungs out of his body. Egads. The Doc was cool and calculating though, and you know he had to survive. I got bored and started reading.

Well. I think it goes without saying that a viewing of Kill Bill Volume 2 is a must. I plan to get some cizzash together so I can get out to see it this opening weekend.

Talk to you soon,

Chris

Blade Runner
A Review by Christopher J. Bradley
(c)2004

Blade Runner is a film based on Philip K. Dick's "Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep?" The book is one that I have never read, nor have I ever been able to completely read a Dick book, because they are just so contorted it is hard to get through the first page. But that's a story for the Lexicon page. The truth is, this story is about the human condition and whether or not we can keep Androids or Genetically Engineered superhumans as slaves to do our bidding.

This is an ethics question that know doubt, my Philosophy instructor Larry Castellani would have been rolling in his chair about. He's just like that, he likes to take things and mull them over.

At the beginning of the movie, Decker is assigned to hunt down and kill or capture, four androids. One is played by Rutger Hauer, and another is played by Darryl Hannah. There is a Snake Dancer that I don't recognize who dies in a shower curtain looking dress in the street after they are tracked by the scales of the snake which are imprinted with computer code, because of course, the reptile itself was also an android.

During his visits to the headquarters of the company that developed the androids, he falls in love with a beautiful one, whose name I cannot recall at this moment. Her role is small but telling. She is the face of perfection in Ford's eyes, and he wishes his entire profession were not based on the slaughter of these people who can be so perfect in form.

There is a dramatic scene at the end, where Hauer, the slave android, gives his life to save Ford's. Decker ends up with the girl. Ces't La Vie.

However, there are some important points to note. This was one of the first films I saw where they attempted to show a cityscape that contained flying automobiles, being a logical predecessor to the Fifth Element which took off and ran with the concept 20 years later.

Can I get an Amen ? Sure, you can give me one. You might even sing Halleluia!

The Heavenly Kid
A Review by Christopher J. Bradley
(c)2004

I was just inspired by a poem posted in Digital Noise Control to write about this movie I saw when I was a kid called the Heavenly Kid. A 1957 dude goes off a cliff in a game of chicken and then on his way to heaven has to ride the subway. Then when he finally gets there, he is sent back to help out another kid in the 80's in the same position. In the end it turns out it is his illigitimate son. It is a good family movie, kids could watch it, it's more of a young teen craze film.

The son was played by the same Kid that stared in that movie Iron Eagle with Lou Gosset Jr. Remember Lou Gosset, fishfood in Jaws III?
Chris

The Black Hole
A Review by Christopher J. Bradley
(c)2004

The Black Hole was a late 70's Disney shot at outer space in live action drama. The characters all seemed very real but somehow vacant. I was a child when I saw it. It seemed the robots had more emotion than most of them. But then, they were scientists, so what did I know?

The story takes place on a disabled space craft hanging on the edge of a Black Hole in outer space. The craft is called Cygnus. The principal good robots are named Vincent and Bob. The evil robot Maximillian has a salad shooter for a wrist, and he wields it well. There are converted human androids milling around the ship mind controlled by a mad scientist who has turned them into drones. This is discovered about half way into the movie. And it is quite scary for a kids movie.

The cygnus ends up going into the black hole, the Mad Scientist and Maximillian, his huge red Roman looking bouncer robot, are ultimately defeated, and the crew survive as they must.

Oh, and I forgot, there was one significant moment where a huge red boulder of destructive gas is splashing down a hallway at them. The flames are huge and scary. Props to the Blue Screen guys for doing some slam bang work with the cameras. It really looked like they might not make it.

I give it 2 thumbs up for a tweener film.

Black Belt Jones
A Review by Christopher J. Bradley
(c)2004

Black Belt Jones was a riotous Funk Kung Fu movie that can be found on the action shelves of your local blockbuster video. It had all sorts of characters in it and culminated in a huge fight in a car wash where there were so many suds you couldn't figure out who was who and what fist was what ankle.

I give it one thumb up, but it's not a bad film really, if you can dig it.

Battlefield Earth
A film review by Christopher J. Bradley
(c)2004

Battlefield Earth is a story of the year 3000 after the great wars of the 3rd millenium where nuclear holocaust destroyed civilization as we know it today. People live in fear in caves, painting images of the great demons who are prophesised to come from the sky and enslave those remaining creatures on the planet.

John Travolta is a militant alien bent on crushing the rebellious humans into submission. One man, with the courage to lead, leads a revolt against the aliens in what turns out to be a stunning air war over a burned out city hull in the final action sequences of the film.

I gave the movie two thumbs. I liked the slow motion and action shots, and it kept me entertained right up to the stunning conclusion, where Travolta is served a dish of revenge cold.

Bandits
Was a film with Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton. They are Bank Robbers whose time begins to run afoul upon their meeting of a depression laden woman who can only cause them an even wilder ride than they are used to. It's a keystone capers type film with a mixture of Drama and Comedy that isn't likely to bore.


# posted by Christopher @ 10:03 AM
Bad Influence
This was a film with Rob Lowe and David Spader. In the beginning David is a mild mannered individual who is eventually corrupted and brought into the rampant world of partying in New York with Rob Lowe's character who is dark and deeply driven to all things alternative. It was a good 90's movie rental.

# posted by Christopher @ 10:00 AM
Artificial Intelligence
A modern pinnochio, a child named David, a Robot, is given into the care of two parents who have lost a child to a disease that affects his walking. They almost lost him completely, but when he returns to the family well, he ruins David's chances to live with the family and he is set free into the wild, where Robots are hunted by humans as scrap. They are hunted because of their surrogacy and the human hatred for what it does not understand. David comes face to face with the fact that he is not unique and falls to the bottom of the sea before an ice age. Thousands of years pass and he becomes the Anthropologists of the futures best record of the history of humanity. This was Directed by Steven Spielberg and

# posted by Christopher @ 9:57 AM
Amistad
Amistad was a tale about the emancipation of a ship filled with slaves. If I am correct in remembering this, the crew of the ship was killed before the ship ported and they were forced to shore in America, where they were technically free men, until someone tried to put them up for sale. A young lawyer takes their case, and with the help of a retired President, again if I am correct, James Madison, they are freed to return to Africa. Based on a true story.

# posted by Christopher @ 9:50 AM
American Pie
This was a classic comedy, about the teenage years of today's children. It deals with subjects as random as web cam porn, and the infinite party life. I am actually not certain how to seperate it from its sequel which I remember better having seen it more recently. The first one develops the characters well and the second one follows up with a college level story.

# posted by Christopher @ 9:46 AM
2010
2010 is another Arthur C. Clarke movie. It is about the construction of a second sun leaving the earth in a complete daytime. This film is very oblique with giant opaqe structures colliding in a mass. It was very difficult to figure out at the beginning but became clearer toward the end.



# posted by Christopher @ 9:43 AM
2001:A Space Odyssey
Was a film based on the author Arthur C. Clarke's novel. The film was set in the future (at the time, the future was about 30 years off). Where a ship goes into space to search for intelligent life. The computer which is based on an Artificial Intelligence of a sort named Hal, foils the plot killing several members of the crew. This film has depth and is famous for the soundtrack with several elements of new wave meets classical.

# posted by Christopher @ 9:41 AM