test
Movie Review: Hancock
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 07/03/08 at 10:07:45 am
I think I’ve visited the theater more times this week then I would normally go in an entire month, out of the movies I had seen over the past few days I decided to write a short review for Hancock because I have a feeling it won’t get the attention it deserves, most of the early reviews I’ve read so far are bad, it’s not necessarily a bad movie but there might be better ones playing. *cough* Wall-E *cough*
I’m going to be honest; I’m a Will Smith fan. It’s so annoying when people whine about stuff in some of his movies because I find them impossible to not enjoy with his acting. Will Smith is a good actor and he’s good in a wide range of characters and while Hancock isn’t going to be my favorite movie of the summer, I thought he did a decent job.
So, the movie is supposed to be about a borderline alcoholic superhero that has fallen out of favor with the public. He saves the life of a public relations professional (Jason Bateman) whom wants to return the favor by repairing Hancock’s bad image. Given the solid acting in Hancock, where does it all go wrong? Well it’s hard to take the story seriously, there are a lot of hilarious bits in the movie and most of it is wildly unrealistic. Then all of a sudden there’s a serious moment and we’re supposed to see something in the character that isn’t there because they don’t care to expound on the plot until essentially the very end. In other words, the overall feel of the movie was confusing and the story was poor quality.
With that in mind I would say that the movie is still definitely worth seeing just because it’s so funny and entertaining. At the same time I doubt Hancock will be very memorable, let alone worth owning when it’s released to DVD.
Movie Review: The Happening
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 06/15/08 at 09:06:14 pm
What can I say about this movie? I really expected a lot when I went to see The Happening this weekend. I ignored all of the bad reviews I’ve been reading, surely it had to be better then what people are saying right? I mean, previews looked so good.
The Happening seems like it would be a good concept, another “The World is Ending” flick that fans of the genre would surely enjoy. It had a good twist too; instead of people turning into zombies they essentially kill themselves and the means of ‘infection’ is very mysterious. But the dialogue, acting, even how they went about executing the plot just didn’t do it for me. The movie was lame.
There were good parts, don’t get me wrong. The film has its moments of suspense but everything around those moments was either too loose, drawn out, or just plain tacky. It just felt low quality and thrown together, it felt like a movie I’d catch myself watching on FOX some Sunday afternoon. It’s sad because M. Night Shyamalan is the guy that brought us true modern classics including a couple of my favorites like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable.. I don’t know, maybe he needs to have Bruce Willis star in all of his movies.
The bottom line: The Happening had so much potential to be a summer hit but in reality it’s a decent rental at best.
Debut Trailer - The X-Files: I Want to Believe
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 05/12/08 at 03:05:51 pmI’ve already expressed my excitement for the return of the X-Files, this teaser only confirms my speculation that this movie is going to be truly excellent.
My official list of 17+ must-see computer geek movies – Part 2
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 04/24/08 at 07:04:07 pmContinuing from where we left off in Part 1, I’ve got another batch of must-see technology related movies that geeks, gamers, programmers, and nerds will all surely enjoy if they haven’t already.
Swordfish & Firewall
Two more Hollywood movies to make the list are Swordfish and Firewall. Swordfish is about a DEA dummy corporation codenamed SWORDFISH that was shut down in the 80’s who in it’s time had generated $400 million which they apparently let sit around; fifteen years later and the compound interest has put it to $9.5 billion. A covert counter-terrorist unit called Black Cell headed by Gabriel Shear (John Travolta) wants the money to help finance their vengeance war against international terrorism, but it’s all locked away behind super-encryption. He brings in convicted hacker Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman), who only wants to see his daughter Holly again but can’t afford the legal fees, to slice into the government mainframes and get the money.
Firewall is a typical Harrision Ford kidnapping movie that features him as Jack Stanfield, the chief computer security expert of a large bank in Seattle, Washington. A terrorist named Bill Cox (Paul Bettany) has been spying on Jack for the last year and he knows the family’s daily routines, friends, and personal information. Cox leads a team of mercenaries who break into Jack’s home and take his wife and children hostage. With the lives of his wife and children at stake, Jack is forced to steal $100 million from the bank by electronically transferring the money to an offshore account.
Sneakers
Sneakers is another great caper film from 1992, it’s about this guy Martin Bishop (Robert Redford) who is the leader of a group of experts that specialize in testing security systems. When Bishop is blackmailed by government agents into stealing a top secret “black box”, the team find themselves embroiled in a game of danger and intrigue. After they recover the box, they discover that it has the capability to decode all sorts of encryption systems and the agents who originally hired them didn’t actually work for the government.
The Net
Angela Bennett (played by the beautiful Sandra Bullock) is a young computer software analyst. A fellow analyst from Cathedral Software, Dale, sends her a program on a disk that when run displays a peculiar symbol in the lower-right corner. When clicked in addition to a couple keystrokes the software reveals a bug that gives the user entry point access to government and military computer systems. When Angela discovers the potential in this security flaw her life turns into a nightmare. Her records are erased from existence and she is given a new identity, one with a police record. Throughout the movie Angela struggles to find out why this has happened and who is behind it all.
After The Net there was an unsuccessful TV series by the same name that ran only 22 episodes on the USA network. There was also a direct-to-video sequel called The Net 2.0 released in 2006 that I have yet to see.
The Matrix Trilogy
Ok well, technically this is three movies and I’m not going to bother writing a synopsis for the whole trilogy. Most people are familiar with The Matrix and unlike many I’m personally a fan of all three movies and I recommend them equally. If you consider yourself a Matrix fan make sure you check out The Animatrix. The Animatrix is a collection of nine animated short films that detail the back-story of the “Matrix” universe and the original war between man and machines, which led to the machine’s creation of the artificial reality for humans. The short films fill countless plot holes created in the original trilogy and the artwork alone is truly stunning.
Enemy of the State
Another good Hollywood film that isn’t too farfetched is Enemy of the State. Will Smith stars in this film as Robert Clayton Dean, a lawyer with a wife and family whose happily normal life is turned upside down after bumping into a college buddy at a lingerie shop. Unbeknownst to the Dean, he’s just been burdened with a videotape of a congressman’s assassination. A group of National Security Agents chase him and track his every move by using surveillance from satellites, bugs, and other sophisticated devices, the NSA infiltrates every detail of Dean’s existence. Driven by intense paranoia, Dean enlists the help of a former NSA operative named Brill (Gene Hackman) to stay one step ahead.
Mercury Rising
NSA thrillers must have been a popular theme in 1998 because Mercury Rising is essentially the same movie except instead of a videotape they are after an autistic boy named Simon who has an affinity for puzzles and is able to crack the NSA’s new ‘unbreakable’ encryption. Instead of Will Smith playing a lawyer the movie stars Bruce Willis as Art Jeffries, an undercover FBI agent who protects Simon from the NSA agents trying to terminate him.
Live Free or Die Hard
I bet the last movie you would expect to see on this list is the latest chapter of the Die Hard anthology, but despite Live Free or Die Hard following the typical ‘Die Hard’ storyline it does have a geeky twist. Even if it didn’t who could not like the Die Hard movies right?
12 years after John McClane (Bruce Willis) stops the German terrorists from successfully robbing the Federal Reserve, he’s about to face a new kind of challenge more difficult and personal than ever before. An organization of cyber terrorists led by Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) is taking control of everything in the United States from public utilities to the stock market. McClane, accompanied by Matthew Farrell (Justin Long), one of the hackers who accidentally assisted the villains in setting up the system, must stop Gabriel from taking over the country completely. In response to McClane’s diligence Gabriel also manages to take McClane’s daughter hostage.
Pirates of Silicon Valley
Last but not least is Pirates of Silicon Valley. I almost didn’t include a synopsis for this movie but it’s actually not bad and the characters did a decent job playing the roles of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Pirates of Silicon Valley was an unauthorized made-for-television docudrama that’s loosely based on the book Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer by Paul Freiberger. The film documents the rise of the personal computer through the rivalry between Apple Computer and Microsoft.
More?
Johnny Mnemonic, 23, Breach, Tron, Total Recall, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Thirteenth Floor, all great movies you could look into and I’m sure there are plenty of others that I’m missing so feel free to post your own favorites in the comments.
Looking for more must-see computer geek movies? Check out Part 1 of this list.
My official list of 17+ must-see computer geek movies - Part 1
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 04/22/08 at 11:04:19 pmFrom the outlandishly inaccurate to the surprisingly plausible, here is my list (in no particular order) of technology related movies that geeks, gamers, programmers, and nerds will all surely enjoy if they haven’t already.
WarGames
WarGames is a 1983 classic starring Matthew Broderick as David Lightman, a bright but unmotivated high school student who uses his 1970s vintage IMSAI microcomputer and modem to perform automated searches for computer systems connected to the public telephone network, which he then cracks. After seeing an advertisement for a new game David has his computer dial every number in Silicon Valley in an attempt to find the game manufacture’s computer system. When he later reviews the results, he finds a system that has a very intriguing list of games that later turns out to be a government supercomputer that runs real-life war simulations.
Hackers
Hackers although wildly unrealistic is another cult classic that features Jonny Lee Miller as Dade “Zero Cool” Murphy, a young computer hacker who, at the age of 11, was able to take down 1,507 systems in one day causing havoc in the New York Stock Exchange. Upon conviction for his computer crimes Dade was banned from owning or operating a computer or touchtone telephone until his 18th birthday. Fast forward to 7 years later, Dade and his divorced mother move to New York City and he quickly returns to his crazy computer cracking shenanigans under his new name Crash Override.
Dade later hooks up with a group of fellow hackers and together in their travels through cyberspace they discover The Plague (Fisher Stevens), a former hacker turned computer security expert for a multinational corporation. The Plague secretly allied himself with a group of criminals and is using his expertise to drain funds from corporate bank accounts. He is also smart enough to leave clues that would lead investigators to someone else (in this case, Dade and his friends) and has a secret weapon at his disposal, a computer virus that could wipe out the entire World Wide Web in a matter of minutes!
Track Down & Freedom Downtime
Track Down, also known as Takedown, is a movie about computer hacker Kevin Mitnick that is based off the book Takedown by John Markoff and Tsutomu Shimomura. Kevin Mitnick, the most notorious computer hacker in the nation uses the latest (at the time) electronic gadgetry to break into countless computers and gain access to sensitive and valuable information. But when he breaches the system of leading computer crimes expert Tsutomu Shimomura it sets off an epic battle between a pair of hard-driven geniuses operating on different sides of the law.
In Kevin Mitnick’s book The Art of Intrusion, Mitnick states that both book and movie are “extremely inaccurate” and are based on nothing more than media hype. In response to this hype the 2600 Magazine community created its own film titled Freedom Downtime which is supposed to depict a more accurate take on the Kevin Mitnick story and the Free Kevin movement. In my opinion, both movies are great in their own ways.
Antitrust
Antitrust is by far one of my favorite films of all time, and when I mentioned surprisingly plausible at the beginning of this entry I think this movie could easily fit the description. While working with friends to start their new software development company, Milo Hoffman (Ryan Phillippe) is approached by CEO Gary Winston (Tim Robbins) of a Microsoft like company called NURV for a programming position few would refuse. Despite the flagship product (Synapse, a worldwide media distribution network) being well on schedule, Hoffman begins to develop suspicions about the motives and methods of NURV. He eventually discovers that their employees are extensively monitored and much of the source code for Synapse is stolen from other programmers who are being contractually killed by the company. Hoffman begins a one-man investigation into NURV’s secrets, and by gathering his computer hobbyist friends and an FBI mole inside the company he manages to disrupt Gary Winston’s ultimate goal.
Revolution OS, E-Dreams & Startup.com
Revolution OS, E-Dreams, and Startup.com are all documentary style films. The latter two are about internet startup companies with E-Dreams being real footage that follows the founders of Kozmo.com as they raise money and file for an IPO only to suffer from the .com crash shortly after. Startup.com is a similar concept but it’s based off a fictional story. Revolution OS is an informative documentary about Linux founder Linus Torvalds and the twenty-year history of GNU, Linux, open source, and the free software movement. I recommend all three.
Looking for more must-see computer geek movies? Check out Part 2 of this list.
X-Files making a return?
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 04/05/08 at 10:04:38 am
The X-Files was a 90’s favorite, my mom and I were big into the show until it sort of fell apart towards the end, but I think I’ve seen most of the episodes by now. The 1998 X-Files movie “Fight the Future” is one of the many in my collection. I always thought that the X-Files movie was put together well and it worked by itself as a film or as part of the ongoing story in the television series.
It’s been 10 years since the release of the original Sci-Fi thriller and they are working on a brand new untitled sequel (also check out the teaser website) to be released this summer. The details are still sketchy about the plot behind the new X-Files movie but according to what I have gathered the new story featuring the return of the Mulder-Scully team will be separate from the overall mythology of the X-Files story. Instead, it will be a standalone thriller/horror story, similar to many of the “monster-of-the-week” episodes that were frequently seen in the TV series.
This big question is, could the new X-Files movie spark anything in the television arena? Only time will tell but one thing is for sure, this looks like it could be a must-see in July.
Movie Review: 21
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/30/08 at 02:03:44 am
I read the bestseller book Bringing Down the House while I was in high school, so when I was going to see 21 on Friday I was interested in how accurate the movie would be in comparison to the book or the true story behind the actual MIT Blackjack Team. The problem is the movie is loosely based on the book and the book is loosely based on the factual events so rather than expecting accuracy I just wanted to know if this movie is really worth the hype. I’m not going to sit here and write this review with a pompous “the book was better” kind of perspective as I was required to read Bringing Down the House for a class years ago and I only vaguely remember the basic elements of the story. Actually, the movie takes place in present day which already throws off the chronological setting as the MIT Blackjack Team originated in the 70’s and the book starts in 1993 meaning we can stop referencing the book altogether and just focus on the film.
The movie starts with Ben Campbell, an MIT student trying to find a way to pay tuition for Harvard Medical School. His amazing math and statistics abilities amaze his unorthodox math professor Mickey Rosa whom later invites him into a group of other mathematically-gifted students that have developed an intricate system of signs and signals combined with basic card counting. The group flies to Las Vegas every weekend with fake identities and the know-how to turn the odds of blackjack in their favor subsequently taking the casinos for millions.
I have to admit I was impressed by how the movie was put together. The story felt complete and gave just enough information without getting too sidetracked with the characters. While there may have been a heavy Hollywood influence with some of the scenes it all fit well with the basic plot. I think part of this high quality vibe I received from the film was simply the good acting. All of the characters were spot on including Kevin Spacey as Professor Mickey Rosa, Jim Sturgess as Ben Campbell and Kate Bosworth as a very beautiful Jill Taylor. However the acting didn’t make the movie completely; some of the special effects including a great score and some very slick camera work added a fresh definition to what was going on in the film.
Tonight’s review is going to be short as there isn’t a lot more that can be said without giving away all of the details. Overall, 21 may not have been entirely accurate to the book but the clever dialogue, cool effects, scattered hilariousness, and quality acting make it a great film that is going to be enjoyed by geeks and fans of the genre alike. This movie is easily one of the best I’ve seen so far this year.
When does a collector make the switch?
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/24/08 at 07:03:34 pmOver the last 7 years or so my DVD collection has easily claimed its own space in the bedroom. I did a count yesterday and I have a grand total of 268 DVD movies, about 150 ‘retail’ and the others well… we’ll call them ‘permanent rentals’. Now that I have a fair amount of money invested into these DVDs I got into thinking about where they will stand a few years from now.
The problem is the transition from standard definition to high definition discs won’t be quite the same as it was with VHS to DVDs in the 90’s. Eventually most of the new Blu-Ray players will feature backwards compatibility with standard DVDs and the only real difference will be the picture resolution, sound quality, and a handful of new features including the online functionality (which hasn’t really surfaced yet) and better copy protection Yippee! When compared to the transition from VHS to DVD where the advantages were night and day as it stands right now the whole upgrade doesn’t seem worth it.
So the real question is, with Blu-Ray being the clear winner of the HD Optical Disc War, when is the right time to pick up a Blu-Ray player and start buying overpriced Blu-Ray discs? Will regular DVDs soon become worthless, only to be found at garage sales and K-Mart stores or will Blu-Ray turn out to be merely an upgrade rather than the new standard?
Categories
Life Technology Internet Projects Articles Other Reviews Hardware Software Photography Minnesota Blogging Movies Web Development Productivity Holidays Microsoft Link Love Conferences & Events Work Monetization WordPress Web Hosting Politics Guides Music Gaming Art Security Dammit Wednesday Climate Crisis
Subscribe