Posts by Elizabeth Harris6

Something like this:



That second photo looks like it’s from the Oktal Pharme Facebook page... does anyone happen to know where they actually have their retail locations?

Now that it’s finally hitting theaters, does anyone know which version we’re getting here in the States?

I’m assuming it’ll be that condensed Western cut...

gentletiger20 said:I mean, how would we even stop being unique? It’s not like they’d be some different species of people... I mean, they’d be living beings, sure, but we’ve got plenty of those walking around right now. Honestly, it’s hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that a human could ever look at some other creature's existence and decide that's enough reason to step out of their own damn center. I don't think it's just not in our DNA. Maybe—and this is a big maybe—if we ran into some divine entity, something we're actually a part of, something higher than us... But aliens? On their own, compared to us, they'd just be this totally separate, disconnected group.
And those consequences you're asking about... man, it's almost impossible to gauge because there are infinite ways that kind of intelligence could show up. Our reaction is going to depend entirely on *how* they manifest... For me, just speaking generally, all I can really see is this massive sense of being threatened, mixed with a desperate, obsessive curiosity about their biology and how their civilization works...

I actually think it works the opposite way; if these beings were somewhat similar to us, after a while we’d just start viewing them as another group of humans, and we'd still go on believing ourselves to be one-of-a-kind...

We consider ourselves unique even though there are people with dark skin or people who are only five feet tall, so I imagine we’d still feel just as singular even if we discovered a race of people who looked like three-armed praying mantises...

If these creatures were fundamentally different in some deep, structural way... well, I suppose the reaction would depend entirely on the nature of that difference, so it’s hard to make any broad generalizations about what might happen...

Olivia Hill3 said:Did anyone actually wrap their head around the ending? 😕

Optimus Prime spends the entire movie preaching about how he’ll sacrifice himself if he can't take down Megatron. And then, well, he couldn't. So comes his big "sacrifice" -> Mulac just stuffs the Allspark right into his chest, there's some minor grumbling, Megatron is dead, Optimus is fine, everyone's happy...
I mean, where exactly was the sacrifice in that scenario!?

Also, what even happened to the rest of the Decepticons? It never clicked for me. I get the feeling they were just rushing to wrap up the movie as fast as possible.

Something else that bugged me: they barely showed the Decepticons at all (most of the screen time went to that little radio robot, and Megatron didn't even show up until way too late). They showed them fighting here and there, but NEVER showed them acting like a team or even talking to each other. That really bothered me, because I didn't really get the vibe of "powerful, organized villains."

Still, I thought the movie was pretty good. I can't wait for the sequel. I just hope the next one focuses immediately on the Transformers (especially the Decepticons!) rather than revolving around some teenager. And hopefully, the plot will be a bit more detailed—there were way too many random scenes that had nothing to do with the main story.

Oh, and did anyone notice that one (pretty major) blunder? When they introduced that Decepticon tank (which is actually named Brawl), they mislabeled him as Devastator. They mentioned that the Constructicons would show up in the sequel and that they could combine to form a much larger robot. Well, that robot is actually called Devastator. They kind of messed that up quite a bit 😬

So, I'm treating Transformers 1 as just an "intro." I'm hoping Transformers 2 has a slightly better, more detailed main plot, more robot-to-robot dialogue (especially with the Decepticons), and a climax that feels a bit more spectacular or, you know, clear.
We probably won't see Megatron anymore. I'm expecting a reincarnation in the form of Galvatron (but pleeeaaase, not just in the last thirty minutes again) and maybe even the appearance of the Dinobots 😎

Based on my memory, supplemented by a quick bit of searching:

Devastator (the tank guy) gets blasted by Marines, while a wounded Bumblebee is hauled away by a tow truck driven by a mom.

Optimus Prime just decapitates Bonecrusher with his sword...

The Marine commander shoots Blackout (the helicopter) right in the transformer version of the groin.

Scorponok (the scorpion one) gets chased back into the sand by a Warthog and Spectre, leaving him without a tail...

And Barricade (the "to punish and enslave" guy 😎) seems to be half-forgotten and just sort of disappears by the end...?

Starscream (the F-22) flies off into orbit somewhere, probably halfway through his credit card debt...

Anyone up for Transformers 2...? 😁

Nathan Cox25 said:I didn't really wrap my head around how the movie ended—like, Megatron just melting during that scene with the Cube
did the energy just surge right through him?
I've got some crappy, low-res version of the film at home, so I guess I'll have to rewatch the ending to make sense of it
plus, I was kind of expecting everyone to merge with Optimus Prime, you know, like they did in the cartoons

Well, since Optimus Prime was prepared to sacrifice himself by merging the Allspark with his own spark, it seems he figured Megatron was the more logical sacrifice...😁

As for the specific technicalities of how that actually went down, I think they've laid it out best here.

Angela Booth said:Yeah, seriously, does anyone happen to know where I can download that specific track used in that penultimate claymation music video?

Well, if you're looking, you can find it here, assuming you don't mind dropping about a dollar on it... 😁 Otherwise, you might have some luck searching for Gisli: How About that on Shareaz or some similar site...

Christian Alvarez said:Hey everyone, where did you guys see this?

I caught it at a theater in Boston. 🙂

brightscout63 said:Whatever I might want to say about the movie right now... it feels impossible to avoid the spoilers...

Any spoilers? I mean, does anything actually happen that catches us completely off guard...

Anyway, you can always just mark your spoilers or find some way to write them so they aren't accidentally read—maybe use ROT13, go with gray-on-gray text, or something like that...

There’s a certain quality to this film that just gets under your skin, a lingering sense of unease that stays with you... and the director manages to balance those heavy, dramatic beats with moments of dark humor quite skillfully, if you ask me. I've always had a soft spot for that kind of tonal tightrope walking...

When I was sitting there in the theater, I watched people laughing their heads off at those supposed "comedic" bits, but honestly... I can't quite put my finger on it, though it just didn't land for me...

So, you actually think there's something humorous about children going hungry?...
It really depends; are they sporting full clown makeup?...

I feel the exact same way about everything lately... It’s all such a mess that when something actually funny happens, it doesn't even register as humor. It just serves as another grim reminder of how broken everything has become. My first instinct isn't even to laugh; it's more like an exhausted, "Jesus, what a disaster..." rather than a genuine "ha ha ha!"...

The only thing that really pulls me out of the film’s subtle touch of surrealism is the realization that they were filming right next to that massive coal mine near Mount Rainier... 😁

I mean, that desolate wasteland really drives home the whole Western Atmosphere... there isn’t a blade of grass or a single thing in sight out there, which just perfectly sets the stage for Rade Šerbedžija and his saloon, complete with all the horses and everything else... 🙂

Has anyone actually sat down and watched this movie yet?

It’s based on the graphic novels by Enki Bilal, and directed by... well, Enki Bilal himself! Apparently, he's
some highly regarded French comic artist who was born in New York City (his legal name is
Enes Bilalovic).

I haven't spent much time reading his work, but I've heard enough recommendations from various
sources to pique my curiosity, so I decided to check out the film. My takeaway: it's exactly what
Sam & Max would say: "Weird. Creepy."

The whole thing has this cyberpunk vibe—though, honestly, it’s less cyber and more bio-medic-punk—but then you have
this massive flying pyramid, and Horus, and some sort of portal opening up to nowhere right in the middle of
Central Park... it's intriguing, if a bit deeply strange...

I'm curious to hear what you all thought of it.

casualotter21 said:On top of all that, I honestly can't tell if Keira's parents would even let her strip naked just for the money...

I couldn't say whether they approve or not, but she does it regardless...

casualotter21 said:Err... maybe through AT&T or something. Back on November 1st, when Big Brother Telecom was handing out free tickets to all the movie theaters, playhouses, and galleries...

Actually, I have to admit I'm feeling a bit regretful now that we didn't take full advantage of that to spend the entire day wandering through the city, hitting up every single museum and gallery we could find... 😢

But isn't that exactly what we ended up doing?

We went to see King Arthur.

And that was really it.

We visited every museum and gallery that caught our eye...

casualotter21 said:It’s true that we in the West have lost that sense of romanticism—that ideal of sacrificing oneself for the nation. World War I and fascism effectively killed any appeal found in nationalist ideology.

What on earth...

I have to wonder, how much does a ticket cost to get to this version of reality you're living in, where there’s absolutely no allure left in nationalist ideology for "us in the West"?

But, if I may steer things back to the actual topic, let's look at an example from the world of cinema: Braveheart.

neonfalcon6 said:My dear Lipi, Hero is hitting theaters at the end of August... 😁

We Can Only Hope...

And even before that mentioned Samsara, it’s going straight to DVD... you can only imagine how people would have flocked to theaters to catch a film like that... 😁
To be exact, it would probably trample over Passion too... 😲

Is that it... This...It sounds interesting, though that single review over on IMDb isn't exactly flattering... specifically, it just says, "This movie is absolute crap"...

BoLa said:The thing I just can't wrap my head around is... by what laws of physics are they actually flying?

If you're actually asking a question like that with a straight face, then there isn't really an answer to be given...

Richard Hernandez13 said:Well, if you ask me... Superman It’s really just a swordplay movie... there aren't any actual martial arts skills involved...

Fencing is an art form, really... almost like woodcarving, if you think about it...

nimblemarlin17 said:What about the actresses' characters?

I wasn't actually talking about the actresses...

Who cares? 😁 I never claimed this wasn't just a typical Hollywood popcorn flick meant for the masses. Please, spare me the lecture on character development and other "artistic" nuances. Dammit, I paid $10, I just want to be entertained. 😉

Exactly. And that’s precisely where the movie falls short...

I just wanted to touch on a few specific points:

nimblemarlin17 said:there are some good women,

Then there’s Helen, who comes across like your typical All-American high school cheerleader sweetheart, though we don't really get a sense of her actual personality.

Hector's wife is decent enough, in principle, but again, her character is barely explored...

There's Briseis, who isn't quite as "good" as Hector's wife, but she is actually a pretty great character...

It's true, there are good women. It's just that they exist in very small quantities—namely, Briseis, and that's about it...

plenty of babes

For sufficiently small values of "plenty."

I mean, the movie is about the Trojan War. And the war in this film lasts about sixteen days...

casualotter21 said:Me? What are they saying?

There isn’t anything groundbreaking there, really, though the way it’s framed within the broader narrative is quite intriguing... One of the characters muses on how it seems odd at first glance that Athena is considered a goddess of both war and crafts, given that the Greeks already had Ares for warfare and Hestia for domestic arts; he suggests it might be more accurate to view her as a goddess of technology rather than just wisdom or craft—more specifically, the kind of wisdom and intellect applied directly to solving complex problems, much like you see in the Odyssey with one of her favorites... He draws a parallel to Native American trickster gods like Raven and Coyote, noting the distinction that the Native Americans hadn't quite developed the specific level of technology required to merge that "Trickster with Crafts" archetype into this unique hybrid Technologist god... He also compares her to Loki, though the difference is that Loki is, well, a bit of a jerk who feels closer to Ares in temperament, even if his methods align more with Athena... It’s presented as the root of the American love-hate relationship with hackers—where the trickster was a positive, admired figure among Native Americans, but viewed as malevolent by the Norwegians... Finally, he posits that the Allies won World War II because they possessed superior technology, which they had precisely because they were essentially Athena worshippers, whereas the Nazis were more akin to Ares worshippers.

Of course, since the character speaking wears an Athena medallion and the author spends their time writing about cryptography, cyberspace, and data havens in East Asia, it’s hardly surprising they take such a decidedly pro-geek, brain-over-brawn stance...

Nancy Kim2 said:I mean, who wouldn't love watching a hot girl like Athena absolutely crush her idiot brother Ares, especially if he ends up crying and running away like a total coward... god, that would be something. Honestly, Athena has always been the hottest goddess in the whole pantheon to me; forget Aphrodite... give me Athens over Aphrodite every day!

A bit of a tangent here, but: have you ever read Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson? There's this one really interesting... way he approaches the whole idea of Athena vs. Ares...

Brandon Castillo4 said:Honestly, you guys are losing it.
Just look at all this deep philosophy being poured over a movie that basically only has three redeeming qualities: >>

1. Milla Jovovich (not that I need to say much, she’s stunning 😍 )

2. That laser scene ( 👍 )

3. Milla Jovovich (😁)

The laser scene? You mean the part where the security system is rigged so you can dodge the first three passes, but somehow the fourth one is unavoidable because that's just more "cinematic" and "edgy," rather than, you know, having the grid actually pass through everyone in the first place and slice them into cubes for a stew, which is what anyone actually interested in security would have designed.

It's pretty obvious that part of the system was designed by the same type of person who thinks the most user-friendly interface for people already forced to negotiate with an uber-intelligent A. I. would be a little blood-red girl with a British accent. Brilliant. It gives me major St Alia-of-the-Knife vibes from Dune. Just lovely.

And honestly, the Latina actress was better than Milla. That moment when that pansy shoots the zombie girl in the leg, and then she just stands up and empties her entire clip into her... ha! Probably the best part of the whole film.

(By the way, does anyone happen to know the name of the woman whose head gets taken off by the laser at the start? At first, I thought it might be Sophie Fatale from Kill Bill, but apparently not. Indra Ove? I haven't a clue, and since she barely matters to the plot, I can't find any photos of this Indra Ove anywhere. It's a cool name, though, in any case...)