Althouse: Johnny Depp, "uploaded onto the Internet... expands like the universe, growing larger and mutating..."

April 18, 2014

Johnny Depp, "uploaded onto the Internet... expands like the universe, growing larger and mutating..."

".... into a being who is godlike and yet far from divine," in the "predictable and ridiculous" movie "Transcendence."

Movies about computers... are they ever any good?

20 comments:

Ann Althouse said...: I'm just noticing that "Desk Set" was written by one Henry Ephron, and I suspected he was related to Nora Ephron, which he was. He was her father.; 4/18/14, 9:42 AM
Big Mike said...: "Colossus: The Forbin Project." 44 years old but still a worthwhile cautionary tale.; 4/18/14, 9:44 AM
Big Mike said...: PS: Who's that hawt woman pictured on your blog? What a great smile!; 4/18/14, 9:46 AM
Carter Wood said...: Movies about computers... are they ever any good?

"2001: A Space Odyssey" was pretty good, albeit about more than just HAL.

Very fond of "Colossus: The Forbin Project": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064177/; 4/18/14, 9:48 AM
test said...: Movies about computers... are they ever any good?

I can think of 3 offhand:

War Games
Terminator
2001: A Space Odyssey

Interestingly all have the same theme.; 4/18/14, 9:50 AM
Unknown said...: If you consider "War Games" to be a movie about a computer, then yes it is possible.; 4/18/14, 10:10 AM
Mark said...: Yes, once in a while. Case in point: WarGames.; 4/18/14, 10:23 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Mad Men is a retake of that Desk Set trailer, and the "good culture" whites had, all tra-la-la oblivious to the destructive obvious.

“The desire to get married is a basic and primal instinct in women. It’s followed by another basic and primal instinct: the desire to be single again.”

The Ephrons are a prime example of the type. Betrayers. Negative examples for men (the father) or women (Nora) rewarded, and "successful" beyond most of our wildest dreams, for writing the most mundane shit ("thinking of sex, what else is there?") and passing it off as insightful or hip. No comment on people accepting it as such.

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”

Thank you, Nora, and bless you, my child. Now, both of you - Ephrons - stay dead. Hey, I think that's what "Ephrons" should mean now:

Things that should stay dead, usually sugar-coated, probably poisonous.

See? I've only had one cup of coffee and, already, I'm making a more vital contribution to the culture.

"Bad culture,..."; 4/18/14, 10:46 AM
David A. Carlson said...: The Matrix (which quickly became stupid beyond with episodes 2 and 3) was a stunningly good movie when it came out.; 4/18/14, 10:48 AM
tim maguire said...: The original Tron. At least if you're a 12 year old boy.

Logan's Run, though it was somewhat tarnished for me by Joe Bob Briggs.; 4/18/14, 11:06 AM
George M. Spencer said...: "Colossus: The Forbin Project" trailer is here.

U.S. and Soviet supercomputers designed as ICBM early warning systems join forces to subjugate us.

Nice scene where William (Patty Duke's dad) Schallert gets nuked.

The President looks like JFK, of course.

Best part of the move....The Steve Job's inventor needs privacy to communicate with his human allies. Because the computer does not understand human emotions, he tricks it into thinking he must have privacy four times a week for sex with his foxy lab assistant--with whom he has a chaste relationship. But not for long!; 4/18/14, 11:11 AM
Anonymous said...: I rewatched "War Games" on network TV recently.

It was awful. Truly bad. How old must I have been when I thought it was good? It was like a Disney movie.

I think the first "Matrix" is great.

Others I'd count (quite a few of which are dated): Max Headroom (TV), Sneakers, The Net, Enemy of the State ( and its pre-digital past reference The Conversation also with Gene Hackman), Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Not a computer movie at all, but I'll put in a good word for "The Lives of Others" for an emotionally sophisticated spy crossover.

(God, quotes are a pain to do with one finger on an iPad.); 4/18/14, 11:24 AM
lgv said...: Weird Science
Minority Report
Pi
Lawnmower Man
Enemy of the State
I, Robot
Disclosure
Sneakers
Office Space, sort of

Besides those already mentioned.

There are far more bad computer movies, but that's true of all movies.; 4/18/14, 11:27 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I'm not talking about movies that have some computers in them — e.g., Minority Report — but movies where the whole main subject of the movie is computers. I'm thinking of the recent "Her."

Even "2001" isn't an example of that, though the computer is relatively important as a character, similar to robot characters in many other movies (e.g. The Terminator).; 4/18/14, 12:12 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Her" and this new Depp movie seem to be an emerging trend, as more and more of us are spending out lives in front of computers, having relationships through them and in them.

To many young writers are going to be giving in to the keyboard-induced fantasy: What if I could become the computer? What if I could live forever and rule the world by putting my mind on the internet?

I'm guessing this is a bad subject for a movie.; 4/18/14, 12:15 PM
Big Mike said...: I'm thinking of the recent "Her."

And I'm thinking that there are plenty of modern women who are much less empathetic than "Samantha." At least until the singularity occurs near the end.; 4/18/14, 2:30 PM
southcentralpa said...: Hmmm, was The Moon is a Harsh Mistress ever made into a movie?; 4/18/14, 3:44 PM
Anonymous said...: Big Mike said...
"Colossus: The Forbin Project." 44 years old but still a worthwhile cautionary tale.

4/18/14, 9:44 AM
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Yes, it still works.; 4/18/14, 5:11 PM
David said...: Space Odyessy.; 4/18/14, 5:14 PM
Eeyore Rifkin said...: Her is a satire which owes as much to You've Got Mail as it does to 2001. Nora Ephron lives!

Any abstract consideration of the professor's question is going to want to survey what sci fi has already accomplished....

Take Star Wars (1977). You may dismiss it as space opera with a couple of droids, so long as you don't mind being completely unserious about the question at hand. Star Wars is notable for narrating from the droids' point of view, for giving droids distinct personalities, and for raising ethical questions about the treatment of droids.

Obi-Wan describes the Force in a way that excludes R2D2, yet the film's narrative subverts its explicit statements about its own mythology, a subversion Lucas intended. The Force is about turning off your computers and blindly communing with all living beings. It's about feelings, which is why the scene when R2 gets blasted is genuinely provocative. Our feelings for R2D2 have no logical grounding in the film's authoritative pronouncements, yet the narrative structure, down to the crafting of touching little vignettes, invites us to imagine another telling of the story with R2D2 as the main protagonist. Skywalker without his navigating computer parallels R2D2 without his restraining bolt, suggesting that the whole story has unfolded according to R2D2's plan.

So 2001, Star Wars, Alien, Star Trek (1979), Blade Runner, The Matrix, A.I., Solaris and now Her demonstrate that movies about computer intelligence can be both entertaining and smart.; 4/19/14, 3:32 AM