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Grex > Cinema > #62: Grex goes to the movies-- the Spring Movie Review item | |
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tod
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response 159 of 278:
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May 24 19:04 UTC 2004 |
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katie
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response 160 of 278:
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May 25 20:33 UTC 2004 |
Shrek 2 is wonderful. I'll have to see it a few times to catch all the
stuff.
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gull
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response 161 of 278:
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May 26 13:54 UTC 2004 |
Supersize Me - In case you aren't familiar with the premise of the
movie, here's how it works: A guy decides to eat nothing but McDonalds
food for a month. The rules are he can only eat things that are sold at
McDonalds, he has to eat three meals a day, he has to try everything on
the menu at least once, and if they ask him if he wants to supersize it,
he has to say yes. The effects on his health are dramatic -- he gains
about 20 pounds, much of it in the first two weeks; his cholesterol
skyrockets; his liver starts to shut down; he suffers mood swings and
depression that are only relieved by eating more food.
Now, to get the main criticism of the movie out of the way, no, there's
nothing particularly unique about McDonalds food. If he'd eaten 5,000
calories a day somewhere else, he probably would have gotten pretty much
the same results. But there's more to the movie than that -- he talks
about how fast-food advertising is targeted at children, how the
advertising we see favors unhealthy foods over healthy ones, how portion
sizes have expanded over the years, and how school hot lunches are now
mostly reheated convenience foods instead of healthier food cooked at
the school.
It's a funny and thought-provoking movie, and it'll make you wonder
about your own diet. Even the doctors he consults with are astounded at
how dramatic the effects on his body are in just 30 days.
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tod
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response 162 of 278:
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May 26 17:55 UTC 2004 |
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richard
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response 163 of 278:
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May 27 03:33 UTC 2004 |
At the screening of "Supersize Me" that I saw here in nyc, the director
spoke afterwards. He made it clear that one reason the effects of all
that eating McD's were so dramatic in his case, is that he did not and
does not regularly eat junk or high fat foods. His girlfriend is a vegan
chef. So his body was not in any way conditioned to that kind of diet.
It is like if you have two guys who decide to go on a booze binge, and one
of the guys is a habitual regular drinker and the other guy is normally a
teetotaler. Who is the binge drinking going to affect more? Answer-- the
guy who doesn't drink normally because his body isn't used to it. So
naturally, a guy who is mostly a vegetarian and never eats fried food, to
all of a sudden eat nothing but fried food for a solid month, is going to
have tolerance issues. As he said, once his body adapted to the high fat
fried food diet, the physical problems would be reduced. He was less sick
at the end of the month than he was seventeen days in. His body was
adapting.
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tod
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response 164 of 278:
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May 27 16:52 UTC 2004 |
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krj
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response 165 of 278:
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May 28 17:29 UTC 2004 |
resp:126 through resp:128, on the immortal James Bond: The creators of
series fiction set in the present day have to make a decision: either the
characters move through time at a normal human pace, which means they grow old
and die, or else they become "decoupled" from the flow of events.
To pick two contrasting examples from the comic strips: the Peanuts
characters are immune to the changes of time. In "For Better or Worse,"
however, the characters are moving through life; characters who were
introduced as young children are now young adults.
Two good examples from mystery/spy fiction: John Le Carre's agent &
spymaster George Smiley is clearly moving through time, aging,
coming to the end of his career. Which means, no more George Smiley
books! On the other hand, the detective team of Nero Wolfe and
Archie Godwin (author Rex Stout) settled into their "eternal now"
sometime in the late 1930's; the world marched forward around them,
and stories changed from the murder of movie stars to the murder of
radio stars and onto the murder of TV stars. But Wolfe remained around
55-60 years old, and Archie maybe in his early 30s, for about 40 years
of books.
If I remember the novel CASINO ROYALE correctly, the literary James Bond
began as a British officer in World War II; but clearly the movie
character of the same name can no longer have any sort of datable
origins.
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tod
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response 166 of 278:
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May 28 17:59 UTC 2004 |
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aruba
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response 167 of 278:
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May 28 19:11 UTC 2004 |
Re #165: I haven't read any Le Carre books lately, but as I recall Smiley
was already retired in "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold", in 1963. So if
he's still kicking, I'm not sure he's aging with the times.
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krokus
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response 168 of 278:
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May 28 22:49 UTC 2004 |
so who else is looking forward to seeing the latest Earth snuff film?
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gelinas
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response 169 of 278:
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May 29 04:39 UTC 2004 |
(I don't remember Mr. Smiley in "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold."
I guess I need to read more of Mr. Le Carre's work. I'd also like to read
all of the James Bond series. I made progress, back in '73, I think it
was, but I guess I missed a few. And I know that I wasn't reading them
in order.)
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richard
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response 170 of 278:
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May 29 20:27 UTC 2004 |
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW-- This is a good popcorn story. A good old
fashioned disaster movie. There is a massive ice melt in the north pole,
due to global warming, and it causes huge climate changes. Tornados
devasate Los Angeles. Softball sized hail tears up Tokyo. It even starts
snowing in New Delhi. Eventually what happens is the mother of all winter
storms comes roaring down from Canada prepared to return much of the
United States to the ice age. New York City is flooded by tidal waves,
and then frozen over by -150 degree temperatures.
Dennis Quaid is our hero, we always have one in disaster movies, the
Paleoplanetologist who tries to warn everyone of whats going to happen.
Once the storm hits he takes off on snowskis from D.C. to go up to NYC to
rescue his son (Jake Gyllenhall) who is stranded with his friends at the
main branch of the New York Public Library. There, since the city is
frozen over, they are forced to start burning all the books in the library
to keep the fire going. There is even a russian ship that gets washed in
from the seas during the tidal waves and ends up frozen on fifth avenue
outside the library.
Obviously the story and plot are preposterous. If it was really -150
degrees, Quaid would not make it to New York, he would freeze solid along
the way. But the special effects are awesome and there are good bits of
humor in this film-- such as when the U.S. is being destroyed by the
storm, the president decides to order everyone south of the mason dixon
line evacuated to Mexico. Mexico closes its borders and we see U.S.
citizens trying to break INTO Mexico, desperately trying to swim across
the rio grande.
Like I said, "Day After Tomorrow" is a good popcorn movie. A good "bad"
movie. Probably destined to become a cult favorite
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twenex
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response 171 of 278:
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May 29 20:31 UTC 2004 |
Sounds like a movie made by someone tryning ot make a point, not necessarily
about Global Warming, either.
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rcurl
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response 172 of 278:
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May 29 22:00 UTC 2004 |
Then, what? I haven't seen it, but adverts for it look like just another
disaster movie, almost none of which have any point(s)? The reviews
make it sound awful, except for the special effects. Might be worth seeing
for those, or if you can boo and hiss.
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twenex
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response 173 of 278:
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May 29 23:38 UTC 2004 |
Re: #172: From #170: " Mexico closes its borders and we see U.S.
citizens trying to break INTO Mexico, desperately trying to swim across
the rio grande."
Maybe that nothign lasts forever?
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richard
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response 174 of 278:
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May 30 01:57 UTC 2004 |
#172...the movie (day after tomorrow) is bad but it is humorous and enjoyable
nonetheless. Lots of in jokes, like the vice president being this gung ho
military guy who is a dead ringer for Dick Cheney, and the President being
a buffoon who seems to take his orders from the Vice President. Eight guys
are telling the President to declare a state of emergency and start evacuating
people, and the President turns to the Vice President, "uh what should we do?"
Also the Vice President later giving the big post-storm speech, promising
never to ignore the weather again, on the Weather Channel...
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jiffer
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response 175 of 278:
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May 30 02:56 UTC 2004 |
I go like how NPR made huge fun out of The Day After Tomorrow.
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krokus
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response 176 of 278:
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May 30 03:30 UTC 2004 |
I enjoyed the movie, yes it was preposterous, but so many movies are.
(This is an exceptionally high ratio in the disaster movies.) But it
an entertaining movie, with incredible effects. I stayed to watch the
credits for something, and was amazed at the number of effects houses
that were working on this. (ILM and Digital Domain, just to name the
two big ones.)
I saw this at Showcase lastnight, and would like to know who the
Richard Cranium was that decided to throw a concession tray in the
theater. It hit someone in the back of the head, then a girl's foot.
(I did see someone jump up towards the general direction it came from,
so if it was the parent of a tray-throwing kid, I get the general
impression that the kids got what was due.)
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twenex
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response 177 of 278:
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May 30 12:33 UTC 2004 |
Heh. I didn't know "Richard Cranium" had made it across the Atlantic. Of
coursxe, it's always possible that it came Eastwards, not Westwards.
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otter
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response 178 of 278:
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May 30 13:30 UTC 2004 |
Re: James Bond
007 is not a person, it's a job.
The "00"s are positions within MI-5, each with its own cover name and
set of duties. When one dies or retires, another assumes that job. This
makes it logical for us to see a Bond mature for a while, then become a
different (usually younger) person entirely.
It's much the same with the "alpha" positions, (ie: M and Q) except
that those don't use names, presumably because they have no public
contact and don't need one.
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twenex
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response 179 of 278:
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May 30 14:10 UTC 2004 |
"007" is not a person, but "James Bond" is. Whilst it's logical to look for
a replacement for "007", or even "otter" or "twenex" should that become
necessary or desirable, it *isn't* logical to look for a clone of Bond or of
Jeffrey Rollin or of Spock to succeed Spock. Unless, of course, we perfect
cloning *and* human cloning is legalized.
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bru
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response 180 of 278:
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May 30 16:03 UTC 2004 |
But the name "James Bond" can be a code name. He is a 00 agent. 00 agents
have a license to kill. Perhaps teh name goes with the job as well. All 007
agents are thus referd to as JAmes Bond. When they retire, they go back to
their real names, and another 007 takes over the job and the name of 007,
James Bond.
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twenex
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response 181 of 278:
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May 30 16:07 UTC 2004 |
Why have two code names? Why not just accept that James Bond is one
(fictional) person portrayed by several different actors?
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realugly
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response 182 of 278:
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May 30 16:27 UTC 2004 |
This response has been erased.
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jiffer
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response 183 of 278:
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May 30 17:51 UTC 2004 |
Because you haven't seen Casino Royale. There are many "007"s
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