Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

By tortuous I'm guessing you mean sloooooow. Yea, it's slow, I like slow movies and I still thought it was too slow for me at times.

Good call, just last night I watched a DVD extra feature on the making of 2001 and they did indeed mention what you just said. That at times in the movie the music stops and we here breathing being used as a soundtrack. It also happened with the astronaut is outside of the big ship in a rescue mission.

I'm going to give it a second go for the list. Too slow for my taste first go round. Inevitable that it will top the list anyway. Good review CR.

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Thanks Sean...also in the DVD extras Arthur C. Clarke who cowrote 2001 said the movie is like a silent film in that there's very little dialogue, but lots of visuals. Yes, it was slow and I was tired. I need to rewatch it when I'm well rested as it's a challenging film.

It's a movie I've evolved with. As a kid I fairly despised parts of it. Later, I would skip the psychedelic part. Last time I watched it, I watched the whole thing and it was like a new movie to me (although I still hate the scary chorus noise the monolith makes - it freaks me out!)

That moaning monolith sound is creepy! and it was loud, I had to turn down the TV sound during that part. Did you ever think that the end scene in the room with an older Dave was an inspiration for Star Trek TNG episode The Royale?

You'd have to refresh my memory on that episode, Rules. I think I've seen them all, but don't know them by title.

Director: Robert Cohen
Writer: Robert Cohen
Cast: Robert Cohen, Cobie Smulders, Seth Rogen, Nathan Fillion
Genre: Documentary, Comedy

This is just something I seen at Netflix and thought it might be worth a watch. It's only 90 minutes long and is a light-comedy documentary which follows a Canadian, Robert Cohen, across country as he tries to discover what it means to be Canadian. The premise sounded more interesting than the actual film which is largely composed of interviews with a famous Canadians mostly celebrities who then are asked questions and give amusing answers. I had hoped to see more of the unseen Canada, it's small town, quaint costumes and lesser known points of interest.

But the star of the film, Robert Cohen is a Canadian who had been a successful Hollywood comic writer for American TV sitcom shows. So that's mostly what he delivered, laughs from other celebrities. I didn't hate it, and I did laugh a few times. But it really wasn't that well done, but not bad for a Canadian documentary (that's a joke from the film).

You do get to see a whole bushel of stars who hail from Canada. Too many to list. Of course they talk about beer and maple syrup but nothing about back bacon, which I found odd. But oh well, it was a decent 90 minutes.

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I'm not real good at describing episodes, so here's a link to Memory Alpha's site

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/T..._%28episode%29

And indeed they do mention 2001 on that page. I noticed it when I was watching the movie and the older Dave ends up in a fancy room. That made me think of the ST episode, but just the part where Riker, Worf and Date beam down to a mysterious planet and find an Earth hotel with a dead, missing astronaut in bed.

Interesting. Although sounding vaguely familiar, I don't have much memory of that episode (now I want to see it!). But yeah it sounds like it was inspired by 2001.
It was a common theme in Trek that some alien entity or civilization would build something or create a society around some artifact of Earth's past. Like in TOS "A Piece of the Action" where the aliens based their whole society around a book about the gangsters of 1920's Chicago.

And you're familiar with my theory that ST-The Motion Picture was inspired by a combination of films: Solaris, 2001 A Space Odyssey, and two particular episodes from the Original Series.

Yup! I remember we talked about Solaris's possible influences on ST-The Motion Picture. But I don't remember talking about 2001 influence on STTMP, but I wouldn't be surprised at all that it did influence it. Come to think of it, the worm hole scene in STTMP is like the split screen star tunnel in 2001.
I don't know if you ever told me about that, which two episodes?

Don't feel like looking them up right now... but the one with Nomad (like V-ger: seeking it's human creator) and the one with Decker's father (where there's a giant V-ger like machine, destroying everything in its path on it's way to Earth).

I've gone over what I felt were similarities to Solaris before, but the influences of 2001 on ST-TMP are numerous - the calling out of an alien entity from beyond, the journey to intercept it, some vague similarities between HAL and the Ilia probe / V-ger (both Dave and Kirk try to outwit a machine), the long psychedelic trip in 2001 & the long psychedelic trip through V-ger, and of course the endings where a new life form is created in TMP (McCoy even compares it to a baby delivery and the cosmic baby in 2001). There are a few stylistic & special effects similarities between the films too.

Oh yea, now I remember talking about that and yes Nomad being very V-ger like. I agree.

I'm taking a class that covers a lot of basic computer concepts and the teacher has brought up 2001 at least 3 times to point out the flaw that HAL was way too big. "A computer that size would generate so much heat that blah blah blah. As computers get faster they HAVE to get smaller because blah blah blah."
"I'd kinda like to hear his critiques on the orgy scenes in Kubrics final film, Eyes Wide Shut.
"It's all wrong. When we have huge, baccanalian sex-parties, we always wear the SILVER masks with the GREEN robes. Have you ever tried to clean oil-based lube out of a black robe? Kubric was an uninformed jerk!"

That's interesting. I wonder why your computer teacher thinks the the size of the main frame of large computer like HAL would generate to much heat? Seems to me it would provide better air movement for cooling. Maybe HAL's processors were located on the outside of the ship for maxxium cooling by the ultra cold of space. I guess Kubrick knew for sure.

Review: I thought this was a cool story that instantly drew me in and kept me involved. I really liked all five of the main actors and they did an excellent job. All the three bad guys were really nasty and each had his own quirk. I thought John Payne made a good regular Joe, who's forced to take on some tough thugs to clear his name. I liked Preston Foster, he seemed genuine as both the big man and as a father. And of course I liked Colleen Grey.

I liked how the film took us to four different 'worlds'. Each was interesting to see: I liked the crime set up and the actual job part. I liked even more the time in the police station when the cops rough up poor John Payne. But I really liked the time in Mexico, both when he's on the tail of Jack Elam (who was great in this) and finally when they all meet up in a sleepy Mexican fishing village. I like the ending too and how the story wrapped up.

Kansas City Confidential is gritty and gripping with a lot of interesting scenes and characters.

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I haven't watched The Space Children or Space Master X-7, but I think most of these old sci-fi B-movies are basically the way you described them. They're fun movies with some plot holes, but they're also entertaining. I'd be surprised if they make the Sci-Fi Countdown, but they're usually worth watching for just for the fun of it.

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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

I liked Harry and Tonto, but not quite as much as you did. I thought it was kind of depressing at times, but overall it's a pretty good movie. I've seen Art Carney as Ed Norton for so many years, so it was nice to see him in a different role for a change.

I've seen 2001: A Space Odyssey a few times, and sometimes I think Rock Hudson may have been right. I don't quite "get" the whole story, but the visuals and the music are enough to draw me in, hold my attention, and make me want to watch it again. The beginning of the movie is kind of boring, but it picks up after the part with the apes. I doubt I'll ever fully understand the movie, but I like watching it to pick up new things about it each time I see it.

So here is the back and forth between my professor and I after I sent him your response and a quick explanation:

Gooch: "Somebody on a movie forum was talking about 2001: A Space Odyssey, and I posted what you'd said about HAL being way too big. I mentioned the problem with the heat he would generate. This was the reply:"

Citizen Rules: "That's interesting. I wonder why your computer teacher thinks the the size of the main frame of large computer like HAL would generate too much heat? Seems to me it would provide better air movement for cooling. Maybe HAL's processors were located on the outside of the ship for maximum cooling by the ultra cold of space. I guess Kubrick knew for sure."

Gooch: "I was curious about your thoughts on this. I know that they didn't have enough air moving to cool down HAL inside the ship, and aside from exposing their computer to the random elements of space, absolute zero temperatures would be too much for a CPU to function in.
Again, not urgent."


Goochs Professor: "Interesting, but I didn’t say a HAL sized computer would generate too much heat.
What I said was the size of the computer (distance the bits would have to travel through the system and the time it would take) would slow processing speed and thus severely limit processing speed. As a result, it would be impossible to develop a LARGE and intelligent computer.
I’ve attached a short clip out of a book I have that partially explains what I was actually saying. What I did not explain in class is the compromise between speed and inefficiency (heat generated). Small is faster but heat is a big problem. Large is slower, but heat is less of an issue.
I’ve attached a short clip out of a book I have that partially explains what I was actually saying."
(had to re-write this since it was just a link to a picture of some text. The header in the top right corner said "Quantum Physics".)
"The small size is important for speed, since the velocity of signals that travel down wires is less than the speed of light. In one typical computer cycle (1 nanosecond, or a billionth of a second), light can travel only 30 centimeters, or 1 foot. So to be able to exchange information with other parts of the computer, the whole thing must be small."

I don't know why but often I tend to enjoy them more than serious sci fi movies. I have 3 more B sci fi's to watch soon. I forget their names, one is Attack of the Crab Monsters.


I can give you a brief 'what the film is about' if you want me to.