I saw Wall*E today and I still can't stop thinking about it.
In a good way.
Wall*E, as I'm sure you know, is the latest movie from Disney's Pixar studio. It's the story of a lonely robot left on Earth after humans departed her after rendering the atmosphere completely toxic (I'll give you three guesses how we did that).
For over 700 years, Wall*E goes about dutifully cleaning up after us and discovering artifacts of our "throw-away society". Then, one day, a huge spaceship lands on top of him and the and adventure ensues.
This movie should be required viewing for anybody espousing to be even remotely interested in either movies, science-fiction or science-fiction movies.
Wall*E contains several messages. Obviously the "Green" message is front and center. But so much more is going on here. And to it's credit, the none of the messages are being pounded into you.
Of particular interest to me were the story elements about machine sentience. Many of the machines throughout the movie seem to be divided into two distinct types. Awake and asleep. Awake machines (like our protagonist) exhibit curiosity, affection, and reasoning. Asleep machines, of course, show themselves to be adept automatons, going about their business as they were programmed. They make a perfect analog of human beings.
Overall this is a grand addition to the Pixar hat full of feathers. Even in the nonpareil collection of films that Pixar has produced, this one stands out.
Do yourself a favor. Go to the movie theater, get in out of the heat, and watch this film. Then find people around you and go see it again.
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Now That I've Seen It
Last night I stayed up late and watched the first two episodes of PBS's Carrier.
I tried to keep an open mind, and not be prejudicial, but sadly, I'm so close to the material in question that I failed miserably. In any event, because I went and made a big fuss in the last post, I feel I owe my two readers, an explanation of how I think.
I like the over-all format. Stick a camera on the USS Nimitz as it deploys, and see what happens. It's pretty honest, and really educational to Navy outsiders. But the show is chock-full of musical montages, and it comes across as a bit "Top Gun"-ish. But they are well interspersed and provide information and action to what would otherwise be just a big collection of interviews, so I consider that element a wash.
I said before that the life being depicted is old-hat to me. It's all as I remember it. I didn't serve on a carrier, but the kinds of people you meet, the dynamics, and the stress are all there. My enjoyment in this series came in answering some of my wife's questions, and seeing her get some clarity on why things are, the way they are. The sailors they pick to follow are pretty typical, and provide a very nice example of the kinds of people that make up the fleet. I especially liked that they opened with the Command Master Chief, introducing him and his job gives a great contrast to all of the junior sailors that we end up following later. The Commanding Officer actually managed to appear to be candid without spewing practiced PR speak. But in the end, it was just appearance, and little of consequence was said. The one sailor they followed that I had any problem with was airman Garzone who is a bit of an amateur documentarian (in his bid to join the Navy's Journalist cadre). The show follows him for a bit in what felt like one filmmaker gravitating to another. A moment I found impressive was the Disciplinary Review Board (DRB), where the chief's mess was dressing down an airman for having alcohol on board the ship. I would have liked to have seen the subsequent Executive Officer's Inquiry (XOI) and the Captain's Mast (that typically follow the DRB). But I certainly understand why we can't. But later we learn the results, and the viewers learn about the concept of non-judicial punishment. I'm hopeful that there are more such surprises later-on in the series.
Finally, I found the program to be well produced, and clearly the labor of love. Big props go for not contriving drama in the editing room (at least not detectably) and somehow getting what would normally be a closed-off group of people (and I'm referring to the entire crew of the carrier) to almost pretend the camera isn't being stuffed in their faces, and that deserves your attention.
I tried to keep an open mind, and not be prejudicial, but sadly, I'm so close to the material in question that I failed miserably. In any event, because I went and made a big fuss in the last post, I feel I owe my two readers, an explanation of how I think.
I like the over-all format. Stick a camera on the USS Nimitz as it deploys, and see what happens. It's pretty honest, and really educational to Navy outsiders. But the show is chock-full of musical montages, and it comes across as a bit "Top Gun"-ish. But they are well interspersed and provide information and action to what would otherwise be just a big collection of interviews, so I consider that element a wash.
I said before that the life being depicted is old-hat to me. It's all as I remember it. I didn't serve on a carrier, but the kinds of people you meet, the dynamics, and the stress are all there. My enjoyment in this series came in answering some of my wife's questions, and seeing her get some clarity on why things are, the way they are. The sailors they pick to follow are pretty typical, and provide a very nice example of the kinds of people that make up the fleet. I especially liked that they opened with the Command Master Chief, introducing him and his job gives a great contrast to all of the junior sailors that we end up following later. The Commanding Officer actually managed to appear to be candid without spewing practiced PR speak. But in the end, it was just appearance, and little of consequence was said. The one sailor they followed that I had any problem with was airman Garzone who is a bit of an amateur documentarian (in his bid to join the Navy's Journalist cadre). The show follows him for a bit in what felt like one filmmaker gravitating to another. A moment I found impressive was the Disciplinary Review Board (DRB), where the chief's mess was dressing down an airman for having alcohol on board the ship. I would have liked to have seen the subsequent Executive Officer's Inquiry (XOI) and the Captain's Mast (that typically follow the DRB). But I certainly understand why we can't. But later we learn the results, and the viewers learn about the concept of non-judicial punishment. I'm hopeful that there are more such surprises later-on in the series.
Finally, I found the program to be well produced, and clearly the labor of love. Big props go for not contriving drama in the editing room (at least not detectably) and somehow getting what would normally be a closed-off group of people (and I'm referring to the entire crew of the carrier) to almost pretend the camera isn't being stuffed in their faces, and that deserves your attention.
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