Skip to main content

Old

What I liked: In the words of Glad-OS "This was a triumph, I'm making a note here, huge success... for the people who are still alive." This is essentially the justification the bad guys have for their actions. It turns out it doesn't make much of a difference if it is a homicidal robot or some homicidal people singing the song to you, it still doesn't seem like a good excuse. But it does get stuck in your head, it's a very catchy tune. I like that if you invent a fantasy world you get to make up completely non-internally consistent rules for your world. What is affected by accelerated time? Living things-yes unless you're bacteria in which case no unless you are tetanus then yes again. Dead things-yes. Unless it's food or paper or clothes. Never alive things- no but also maybe yes. A single bolus dose of Magnetic waves, which are notoriously afraid of calcium carbonate. 

What I didn't: So, on a completely different topic, that has nothing to do with the movie, let's talk about scientific rigor. In order to interpret any results you need replicates because freaky unexplained one off things can happen any time. You need to see if something happens predictably the same way every time; that's why clinical trials enroll hundreds to thousands of people at a time. That is also why, hypothetically speaking, stranding less than ten people with diverse ailments on a beach is a terrible way to test anything. You could recruit a bunch of people with the same ailment or maybe a large family with affected and unaffected individuals. If I found myself putting together an accelerated temporal experiment I would focus on two of the greatest problems facing us: antibiotic resistance and cancer. In something the size of a large food cooler, that you may or may not have for a trip to the beach, you could complete hundreds of replicates over thousands of bacterial generations searching for new antibiotic substances. Similarly you could for screen fish or worms that did not develop cancer over hundreds or thousands of generations and thus discover anticancer genes. All this with the added bonus of not murdering anyone. Or if you are less academically inclined, this would be an excellent place to store nuclear waste, or other waste for that matter. And who set up the cameras? You know what would solve all the problems? Robots. Robots would solve all the problems. Why was no one using robots? Everyone should use robots. 

Who should watch this movie? People who dislike the beach. People who have not heard of robots or magnetic waves.  

Would I watch it again? No, but I do hope the screen writers stay in entertainment and don't seek a second career in research. 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Titanic

What I liked: Liked is definitely the wrong word for it but the scenes of the sinking of the Titanic were masterful. They were technologically impressive, apparently remarkably accurate, and emotionally gripping. The variety of ways in which different people dealt with a completely hopeless situation was both touching and thought provoking. Especially beautiful was the string quartet. In isolation from the love story, the sinking of the Titanic is a tragic reminder of the cost of hubris and the necessity of regulating emergency procedures and capacities. It carries similar gravitas as a war film. At the 25th anniversary of the film, I can appreciate how Titanic has impacted movies made later.  What I didn't: So here's the thing. I feel very bad for you if you died in the sinking of the Titanic. I feel less bad for you if you managed to get on a lifeboat on the Titanic and then decided to get off. I question all of your decision making and priorities if you decide to get off a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Annihilation

  What I liked: I liked the crystal trees and the creepy people plants. The multi colored lichen and flowers were cool too. I liked how disorienting the loss of time and flashbacks were, they did a good job of maintaining the disquiet and suspense. I liked that they remembered that mutation and evolution has no goal, it's just a thing that happens with all kinds of side effects. I liked their little boat trip in giant crocodile infested swamp. I'm not sure if I loved the silver skin suit but I can't deny that it was interesting.  What I didn't: The heroes are all scientists who go on a mission to find out what is going on inside the "shimmer". For being all scientists they don't draw very well on their test one variable at a time training. If nothing has ever come out of the shimmer, try sticking a stick in and see if you can pull it out. Step inside with a harness on so if you don't come back they can try and pull you back. Walk in a little ways and t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Vengeance

What I liked: The premise is absurd. A complete dumpster fire of a person from New York teams up with a Texan red neck to avenge the death of the sister. ... by making a podcast. If that approach to revenge is not the most terrible revenge plan I'm not sure what is. Oh wait, it's Dracula kidnapping a historian to catalog his personal book collection, but that is off topic. Along they way the character gets wildly out of his depth and does things that are definitely bad plans. Like meet with a cartel leader alone in a shed, drive a Prius, visit a music producer, more than once, and give an off the cuff eulogy. Certainly at the beginning it carries the awkward discomfort of The Office but it quickly expands to explosions and the conviction to a podcast found only among the certain portion of the coffee shop population. I thought they did a good job of picking fun at both the rural Texans and the big city New Yorkers. I think they really nailed the "intellectual" bros in...
Post a Comment
Read more