Mars Express A pair of private investigators travel between Earth and Mars to probe into the disappearance of a college student and her roommate, who have been jailbreaking androids from their constraining moral programming. This was a French film, which I suppose means something. I was ready to dislike this because a movie about advanced … Movie Review: Mars Express
Note: This will probably be the last review post I’ll publish for a while. In the early days when I was recovering from shoulder surgery, I tried to read as much as I could but there’s a limit to that when you’re in pain and/or on painkillers. It was much easier to watch TV to … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 42
Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045, Season 2 The threat of the posthuman virus and its part in the Sustainable War scenario increases. I had a hard time following the story here, because the animation is way too distracting for me. However, I may have figured out the big reason why Production I.G. went the realistic, … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 36
Anon The video record (people’s eyes record everything and everyone’s basic personal data is visible) of a spate of murder victims is replaced with the murderer’s point of view, so the investigator protag doesn’t know the culprit’s identity. Investigator-protag coincidentally comes across a woman who does not have any data. Hazard a guess as to … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movie and Series Reviews, Part 15
Spoilers, mmkay? Avengers: Endgame I’m leading off with this for obvious reasons. A capstone to a good run of movies that were very precise and intentional in their cinematic aesthetic and marketing. All of the movies took very few narrative chances, except for this one and its prequel, Infinity War. Nearly ruined by the most … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movie and Series Reviews, Part 4
This scene still gives me the chills—the English version more so than the Japanese, because of the actor’s (Tom Wyner) performance in voicing the damaged android. Generally, the subtitled versions are better because they are more accurate to the original Japanese, and they often are better performers. Sometimes, as in this case, the English actor … Project 2501’s Speech
The Wisecrack Youtube channel has a great video on the philosophy of Ghost in the Shell (the original one). It’s actually a very Western movie because it’s Hegelian through and through, and Hegel is as Western philosophy as it gets. I left a comment on the video that I will cross-post here, for those interested. … The Philosophy of Ghost in the Shell (1995)
tl;dr – a very good retelling of the original Possible spoilers below. See my previous posts here and here about the film. Thoughts, in no particular order: 1- Visually and aesthetically impeccable. Director Rupert Sanders did an excellent job of portraying a society figuring out its relationship with acute, mechanical, physical augmentation. He skirts the … Ghost in the Shell (2017) Review
Shut Up About ‘Whitewashing’ in Ghost in the Shell 2017 Good idea, since “cultural appropriation” is usually a one-way criticism. I didn’t like the idea of Motoko played by an Anglo actress for different reasons, but the narrator makes a decent case against it. A related video. A Spell to Bind Donald Trump and All … Links of Possible Relevance, Part 20
I have to admit, it doesn’t look bad at all; they’ve mirrored some iconic scenes from the original. My only qualm is how it seems director Rupert Sanders is treating Motoko’s identity crises, and it’s important because that was the theme of the original film. How can we know ourselves? What separates us from, and … Official Ghost in the Shell Trailer
Gillian Anderson is cool with being a James Bond incarnation, because the Internet brought it up: Anderson is on Tumblr under the name Chewie’s Girlfriend (a reference to Chewbacca from Star Wars). She recently answered a series of questions on the platform, one of which was “What’s the best rumour you’ve ever heard about yourself?” … Everything Has to Really Be Something Else
There’s a pilot ordered for a Nancy Drew series on CBS: Described as a contemporary take on the character from the iconic Nancy Drew book series, the CBS project will center around a diverse, 30-something title character. A more mature version than the classic story, Nancy is now detective for the NYPD where she investigates … At What Point Does Nancy Drew Become Not Nancy Drew?
If you’re my friend on Facebook you’ve seen me briefly whine about Scarlett Johansson’s role in the Americanized, live-action version of Ghost in the Shell (GitS). As I’ve said on there, I don’t care much about race qua race in most contexts, but within the GitS fictional world it matters a lot. Since both movies, … Scarlett Johansson’s Race and Ghost in the Shell
Some decent thoughts here, with requisite spoiler warnings if you haven’t seen the entire film. The film is, however, must-see for science-fiction or technology/futurist enthusiasts, as long as you’ve already gotten past the “animation is for kids” reservation that you may have. If you haven’t yet, please do get past that assumption before watching it … Video: Ghost in the Shell vs. The Matrix Analysis
I’ve thought before that, sociologically speaking, people look to attribute God’s qualities to other phenomena, like the universe, politics, aesthetics/art, or science. People much smarter than me have undoubtedly come across this before, like Voltaire when he said that if God didn’t exist it would be necessary to invent him. I like that quote because … An Inexhaustive, Scatterbrained Post on Atheism and Science Fiction