the present

Who Am I - Kein System ist sicher (2014) poster

(on Wikipedia)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3042408/

A young, broken, man, enters an underground community of computer crackers, trying desperately to prove himself but with consequences.

An extremely good movie. While not quite mandatory, it’s definitely a proper advancement of the “hacker kid” movies that have sullied past movies. Highly recommended, even for people that “know their stuff”, as it doesn’t lay on the techno-babble which describes everything painfully wrong. Instead, it takes a reasonable middle ground, staying away from pop culture and fairly-firmly on the social side of storytelling.

Trailer
In English, the title is Who Am I: No System Is Safe
This movie is in the German language.
See also Fight Club – (1999 movie)
- And cross it with your choice of cheezy 1990s hackers film, like Hackers – (1995 movie).

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Fatal Instinct – (2014 movie)

2016-03-04

disliked, entertainment, fiction, Masiela Lusha, movies, police entertainment, police movies, reviews, the present, TV-MA rated

Entertainment > Movies >

(on Wikipedia)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3036654/

Something about a rape-murder and police that care a bunch about stuff and things.

This is just an extended tv episode, and a bad one at that.

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Synchronicity – (2015 movie)

2016-03-03

disliked, entertainment, fiction, Michael Ironside, movies, R rated, reviews, science fiction entertainment, science fiction movies, the present, time travel entertainment, time travel movies

Entertainment > Movies >

(on Wikipedia)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2049543/
http://magnetreleasing.com/synchronicity/

A physicist works in secret to build a wormhole generator, but its failure leads to surprising consequences.

While I don’t regret watching this, it’s only fair at best in my mind. While it does get tangled up in some of the more interesting themes of time travel fiction, it dances around things and is generally too fluffy for me to keep the tough stuff in my mind.

Synchronicity is a concept in psychology.

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Abashiri Prison – (1965 movie)

2016-02-28

black-and-white movies, crime entertainment, crime movies, disliked, entertainment, fiction, foreign language entertainment, foreign language movies, glances, Japanese language entertainment, Japanese language movies, movies, reviews, the present, unrated, Yakuza movies

Entertainment > Movies >

(on Wikipedia)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058869/

Some Japanese guys are in a prison.

I have no idea what’s going on with this, but after nearly a half an hour I’m just going to give up.

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X – Past Is Present – (2015 movie)

2016-02-27

disliked, entertainment, fiction, foreign language entertainment, foreign language movies, glances, Hindi language movies, movies, romance movies, the present, unrated

Entertainment > Movies >

(on Wikipedia)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5207116/

When around one girl, a man repeatedly has visions of his past girlfriends.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech

Properly titled X: Past Is Present (2015)
Though much/most of it is in English, the rest is in Hindi.

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Clerks 2 – (2006 movie)

2016-02-23

black comedy, black comedy movies, comedy entertainment, comedy movies, entertainment, females, fiction, Kevin Smith, liked, movies, R rated, reviews, the present

Entertainment > Movies >

(on Wikipedia)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424345/
(www.clerks2.com archive)

A guy, trying to finally pull his life together, has it ruined by a woman who forces him into fatherhood.

Very funny, but ultimately dark as hell.

Properly titled Clerks II
The woman in the poster is in the movie. I assume they photoshopped some cracker onto her.

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Better Call Saul – (2015 show)

2016-02-17

crime entertainment, crime shows, dead, disliked, entertainment, fiction, reviews, shows, the present, TV-MA rated

Entertainment > Television >

(on Wikipedia)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3032476/
https://www.amc.com/shows/better-call-saul–1002228

A down-and-out semi-lawyer bumbles around his life, trying to make ends meet.

After an entire season I still don’t feel anything for this show.

This show is a spinoff for a character from Breaking Bad – (2008 show)

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The Blacklist – (2013 show)

2016-02-14

crime entertainment, crime shows, dead, entertainment, fiction, James Spader, liked, police entertainment, police shows, reviews, shows, spy entertainment, spy shows, the present, TV-14 rated

Entertainment > Television >

(on Wikipedia)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2741602/
https://www.nbc.com/the-blacklist

A bad guy blackmails the good guys because he likes this one good girl.

My impression from the first few episodes was:

Seems “ok”. Unless this has a more interesting story-arc, I won’t consider this particularly good. The predictable and episodic nature of television bores the shit out of me. It makes a series only valuable only the course of multiple episodes and individual episodes become the shit I have to slog through.

My later impression, from the end of the second season:

Characters were slow and stiff until they were developed more fully. When they were, a broader story arc took hold, making this show quite a bit more interesting.

My final impression:

It gets repetitive and annoying.

Avoid cliffhangers: Watch more when it’s part way into the next season.

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Of Silence – (2014 movie)

2016-02-13

disliked, entertainment, fiction, horror movies, males, Masiela Lusha, movies, reviews, sanity, the present, unrated

Entertainment > Movies >

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1405413/

A story about a man being a man.

A man, like all men, must “man up” instead of showing weakness. Not allowed to talk about his feelings, or ask for help, he is never diagnosed with mental disorders. When his wife dies, he is never offered and can’t seek counselling. When he spirals into depression he cannot talk about it or seek help. When his disorders flare up, he again cannot ask for help. His bills unpaid, he’s still required to suffer quietly until he is driven to suicide or is thrown into the streets. He can’t even talk to his family. He is a man who must be a man.

A movie with no characters, no plot and no purpose. Though I wonder if it intended it, this movie supremely highlights the silent suffering men live with.

1 comment