Thursday, January 23, 2014

Her

I was very surprised by this movie.  I did not think that I would like it.  Joaquin Phoenix has made some strange movies prior, so I thought this would be another one.  

It was set in the near future, the clothes people wore were familiar yet different. The locations they chose appeared futuristic but they were just existing places mashed together.  

 The main character is a personal letter writer, an interesting occupation.  He ends up falling in love with his new operating system, voiced by Scarlett Johansen.  The OS takes the name Samantha.  Some characters think nothing of the idea that he fell in love with his OS, but his ex-wife thinks it is weird.  He actually goes on a double date with his OS and another couple.  

The whole relationship falls apart when the OS outgrows Phoenix's character.  At one point the OS is talking with another AI/OS with the name Alan Watts, the name of a western Buddhist philosopher.  The OS begins having relationships with other people, ending up falling in love with hundreds of other people at the same time.

This film was a well put together science fiction movie, probably the reason I liked it so much.  Also because the movie raises so many questions about love, artificial intelligence, and simulations.  I recently read an interesting comment that said that the first person that copied did something very original by copying.  I usually think of technology as a tool, not something to fall in love with.  In one way the film was like a man falling in love with a hammer or screwdriver.  


Monday, January 20, 2014

The Hobbit: the desolation of Smaug

This is the second installment on the Hobbit trilogy.  This part was much more exciting than the first, which was mostly the gathering and setting out on the journey from the Hobbit's perspective.  This was more the dwarf perspective.  Also Stephen Colbert makes a cameo, which was fun to see.  

The Orcs, spiders, and even Sauron's depictions were spectacular.  There was some clumsiness with the key at the secret entrance to the mountain that was surprising, looked like a rubber hand turning a key.  Maybe they should've focused more on the key and the key hole, and left out the hand.  But that is a small complaint for such a great job they did on this engaging film.  A very action packed movie.