Escape to the Movies: Transcendence - SkyNet? More Like SkyNot

MovieBob

New member
Dec 31, 2008
11,495
0
0
Transcendence - SkyNet? More Like SkyNot

Transcendence is a movie that's trying really, really hard to be smart, but ultimately comes across more insulting instead.

Watch Video
 

Evonisia

Your sinner, in secret
Jun 24, 2013
3,257
0
0
Seems to me like Johnny Depp's managed to make two really dumb actions while trying to seem smart within a year. If that's what he wants to do, I guess.
 

Under_your_bed

New member
Sep 15, 2012
103
0
0
I think John Cleese explains it nicely...


Also, I recently finished replaying Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and if you want a halfway intelligent and reasonable debate on "Is human Augmentation and Artificial intelligence a good thing?", I suggest doing the same instead.
 

ZZoMBiE13

Ate My Neighbors
Oct 10, 2007
1,908
0
0
Heh. Mrs. Doubtfire 2 is a strange one.

And if it makes you happy Bob, I got the Virtuosity gag before the test pattern and explanation. Your bizarre references do not go unnoticed!

As for the movie, I can't say I'm surprised. I remember seeing the preview and thinking it looked pretty weak. Not surprising to hear that the final product didn't live up to... well, anything. Too bad though. Depp used to be a sure bet for, at the very least, a fun ride. Now he seems doomed to picking roles that don't pan out.
 

orangeapples

New member
Aug 1, 2009
1,836
0
0
Something that seems hard for a lot of writers to grasp is that they need for us to actually agree with the protagonists and their motivations other than "because they're the protagonists"

I bet the Directors Cut is going to be on BluRay with 45 extra minutes of runtime and people will go, "Oh okay, now I get it."

Andrew Siribohdi said:
Exactly how in the movie does having control of computers make you able to make a new flesh body?
Because ummm... SCIENCE!
 

T3hSource

New member
Mar 5, 2012
321
0
0
So you're saying that this:

is actually smarter without ever trying to be anything less than just plain ridiculous?!
 

shteev

New member
Oct 22, 2007
96
0
0
The Lawnmower Man is a better film than this? I never thought I'd live long enough to hear anyone say that about a film.

5 bucks says The Lawnmower Man is on Movie Defence Force next week.
 

grey_space

Magnetic Mutant
Apr 16, 2012
455
0
0
Sounds terrible Bob. I wasn't really going to watch it anyway from the trailer alone I had figured that I'd wait until it came out on netflix or some such.


Even though I knew you had had watched this recently I was still kinda hoping the you were going to do Amazing Spiderman 2.

Since you hated everything about the first instalment I'm interested in hearing your thoughts about Garfield et al in this one:)
 

Izanagi009_v1legacy

Anime Nerds Unite
Apr 25, 2013
1,460
0
0
Under_your_bed said:
I think John Cleese explains it nicely...


Also, I recently finished replaying Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and if you want a halfway intelligent and reasonable debate on "Is human Augmentation and Artificial intelligence a good thing?", I suggest doing the same instead.
I got another piece of media that actually explores the topic of transhumanism well: Ghost in the Shell. The series is just as renowned in it's circles as Deus Ex for the exploration of transhumanism on politics, human interactions, law, and even the concept of what it means to be human (Stand Alone Complex's Tachikomas are a great example of this)

Serioulsy, if someone made an american version of Ghost in the Shell (yes, I know there are two Ghost movies already but I'm talking about American cinema, I'd watch it in a heartbeat.

Instead, we get stupid, Welcome to Hollywood.

Edit: interesting question, why is the "science is evil" thing still around? it's not the 14th century and the USA has produced numerous advances in medicine, energy, computing and so on. So why is it that the trope is still around like this.
 

PuckFuppet

Entroducing.
Jan 10, 2009
314
0
0
I didn't dislike the film but it was really bland. I actually get where Bob is coming from in regards the complete lack of any reasonable research on the part of those involved in creation/production, it literally plays like it was phoned in by someone who read a wired article on it. A wired article that was further distilling the actual facts of the situation down into cool sounding quotes for the sake of that "this is a quoted bit of text in a larger font/different colour" thing.
 
Aug 1, 2010
2,768
0
0
Too bad, I was excited as hell for this because I'm such a fan of the subject matter. I was hoping Hollywood would do a really interesting thing with transhumanism.

I'm not too disappointed though since my expectations were fairly low simply because Depp is in it.

It's also weird that apparently the terrorists are the good guys. From the trailers I thought it was finally a take on science and technology where the people against it were actually stupid and overeager and that's what caused the insane AI in the first place. But nope. Science bad I guess.

On an unrelated note, it must be terrible to be so utterly and completely wrong about Prometheus without knowing you are so utterly and completely wrong.
 

shrekfan246

Not actually a Japanese pop star
May 26, 2011
6,374
0
0
grey_space said:
Even though I knew you had had watched this recently I was still kinda hoping the you were going to do Amazing Spiderman 2.

Since you hated everything about the first instalment I'm interested in hearing your thoughts about Garfield et al in this one:)
Amazing Spider-Man 2 doesn't come out in North America for another two weeks.

And I'm pretty sure most of us can already predict his thoughts on it anyway.

OT: Hadn't even heard of this movie before yesterday, but reviews like this one with all of the fun gags and references are why I still like to watch this show, when Bob isn't hammering on about the modern superhero films.
 

Deathfish15

New member
Nov 7, 2006
579
0
0
@Moviebob


Please, please stop putting subtitles in your titles with your movie reviews. I feel that if people want the opinion that you're sharing, they'll actually watch the review. Instead, by giving out the overall opinion in the title, there really seems to be no reason to bother watching the actual review.



Captcha: Better with Lunch.
 

grey_space

Magnetic Mutant
Apr 16, 2012
455
0
0
shrekfan246 said:
Amazing Spider-Man 2 doesn't come out in North America for another two weeks.

And I'm pretty sure most of us can already predict his thoughts on it anyway.

OT: Hadn't even heard of this movie before yesterday, but reviews like this one with all of the fun gags and references are why I still like to watch this show, when Bob isn't hammering on about the modern superhero films.
I...did not know that information thanks! Yes we probably won't need a crystal ball to forsee it but I was stil looking forward to it guess I'll have to wait a couple of weeks.

As a reviewer I may occasionally disagree with Bob but I do continually find his videos entertaining.
 

Alterego-X

New member
Nov 22, 2009
611
0
0
The problem with AI's and brain uploading's and generally the Singularity's treatment in movies, is that any representation of them that is even vaguely similar to Vinge's, Kurzweil's and Yudkowsky's actual scientific theories, would be terrible entertainment material.
 

el_emmens

New member
Mar 23, 2009
145
0
0
Deathfish15 said:
@Moviebob


Please, please stop putting subtitles in your titles with your movie reviews. I feel that if people want the opinion that you're sharing, they'll actually watch the review. Instead, by giving out the overall opinion in the title, there really seems to be no reason to bother watching the actual review.

.
I get the feeling this is less Bob and more the website, Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation video's seem to be going in the same direction.


Also got a nice Chuckle at the Daniel Bryan Mario thing.