Nanocrowd recommends movies based on what it calls “nanogenres.” So after typing in a movie name on the main screen like “The Shawshank Redemption,” it will ask you to pick a 3 word nanogenre. This approach narrows down recommendations on one hand, but also opens up where a particular movie might lead you. So with Shawshank Redemption, are you looking for another movie dealing with prisons, or something profound and symbolic?
Also shows “Movies Most Like” and “Movies Least Like” in the sidebar once you’ve got your list. Type in any of the past SAC Movies and you’re likely to find other great movies. Check it out.
The best American TV drama of the past few years may very well be Battlestar Galactica. Not what most people might expect from a science fiction show, which is why the first two seasons were not talked about much in the mainstream media. But as more people starting giving the show a chance, they realized that the show was an ambitious study on humanity, morality, and the modern world.
Newsweek said that the show “achieves the ultimate in sci-fi: it presents a world that looks nothing like our own, and yet evokes it with chilling accuracy.”
I haven’t finished the series yet, but one of the episodes I recently watched took a fascinating angle on the morality of suicide bombing. In the show of course, it’s humans that find themselves occupied by an invader and it is their “insurgents” contemplating and seeking justification for suicide bombing and terrorism. Is suicide bombing ok if it will help the human race survive? Ah, bet you haven’t thought about it like that.
The show even participated in a United Nations Department of Public Information discussion.
Here’s a trailer for the first season from Youtube:
Might as well also take a look at the first few minutes of the miniseries which preceded Season 1:
Living in San Francisco, it’s particularly interesting and exciting to see a film like Milk. The movie takes place in San Francisco, back in the 1970s and covers a topic which has been another marker of San Francisco uniqueness over the past few decades: gay rights.
Not only is Sean Penn absolutely incredible as Havery Milk, but the movie does a nice job of making you feel the importance of that California vote regarding discrimination against gays in the workplace. For those of you uncomfortable with such a topic, the film is not a spectacle and gets you to see the struggle as what it really boils down to: a struggle for human rights.
I really liked this movie. I do however understand a lot of the criticism that it has received. Is this “poverty porn?” Perhaps for some yes, but I think with an open perspective and a willingness to be aware of parallels between occurrences in the movie and our own lives, it is not just a faraway tale that we watch because it shows such a different world and life.
As Indonesians, you are like the outside observer. What is your perception of the film?
Already one of my favorite movies. It tackles so many issues but does so without forcing it. The environment, human waste, laziness and technology, consumerism, apathy. The use of robots also brings up many discussions about human nature and artificial intelligence. What does it say about humans when a robot is the curious one, the one motivated to push for change and rebuilding?
Good luck with the new semester! There will be more SAC Movies, but since I don’t think there is a schedule for this semester yet how about some discussion regarding The Dark Knight. I imagine that many of you have seen it and we probably won’t be showing it soon (well I suppose it’s possible) so I would be interested in what people thought of the movie. More than just, “I liked it,” what did you think was good about it and what perhaps was not so good?
A perfect follow-up to The Prestige is The Illusionist. The film tells the story of “a magician in turn-of-the-last-century Vienna who falls in love with a woman well above his social standing. When she becomes engaged to the crown prince, the magician attempts to use his powers to free her and undermine the stability of the royal house of Vienna.”
The film stars Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, and Paul Giamatti.
So, what do you think of Eisenheim’s attempt to free Sophie from the Crown Prince?
Our second Christopher Nolan movie, The Prestige “follows Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, rival stage magicians in London. Obsessed with creating the best stage illusion, they engage in competitive one-upmanship with tragic results.”
Like Memento, the movie plays with our conception of time and ends with a twist. You’ll probably want to watch it twice!
The movie stars Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, and everyone’s favorite, David Bowie.
There are a lot of things going on in this movie, but the main questions end up being:
What happened to who? How did this actually happen? and of course…. What really happened?
Ok I’m late putting this up, but this movie Monsieur Ibrahim is about a young Jewish boy growing up without a mother and with a depressed father. This boy, Moise (Momo), is eventually befriended by an elderly Muslim man who runs a grocery store across the street from his apartment. Their relationship develops as Ibrahim begins to take on the role of Momo’s father, and they eventually travel to Turkey together, Ibrahim’s homeland.
What I didn’t realize when I first saw this title is that I have actually seen this movie! I believe I saw it in 2005, and remember enjoying it at the time. So I hope that some of you were able to watch. If you didn’t get to see it, there’s still time. The actor who plays Ibrahim, Omar Sharif, has been in many movies and is fantastic as usual.
Please join Pak Ibnu this Thursday for the Iraqi film Turtles Can Fly. This will no doubt be an amazing film, and the fact that it was even able to be made is amazing enough. Obviously the current situation in Iraq is one of the most talked about issues in the world today, so why not take some time and watch a film which gives a more intimate and personal look at what it may be like to actually be in Iraq.
Already 
Our second Christopher Nolan movie, 
