Hunters

How appropriate to find a discussion about World War II and America. This captivating takes on ideas that have been floating on the internet for years and turns them into a viable thoughts for exploration. Some of it though makes sense. If you bring in the scientists without trying to alter their belief system with the hope of harnessing their brilliant technical minds, how much damage have you really done by eliminating a few architects in a trial in Nuremberg. 

The story then is a look at this subject and the battle between a few older people who were on one side of history as they seek to find justice against those who were on another side of history. We are deliberate about not being to clear about history because we have learnt that the victor tends to skew history in favor of himself. 

The motion graphics utilized in the credits make reference to a sort of chess board…and this it is. Several characters are brought together to help deal with men and women who survived and thrive and would like to see the completion if a task they started in 1939 and possibly even earlier. 

From what we gather. The God the people worship seems to be at war with the world. To deal with this God, the world is at war with a people who call themselves by His name. And so the battle lines are drawn. It is this haunting destiny with eternity that many seek to depart from and have been known to cross over to the dark side just to avoid the curse of being called His people. 

Anyway, a rag tag force is formed consisting of a troubled Japanese Vietnam Veteran, an attractive African American single mother growing up during the great black awakening, a Jewish couple skilled with all things electronic (signal intelligence) but with trauma from the concentration camps, a not so successful actor, a German girl smuggled out of Germany and raised in a convent and a wealthy Jewish man with a controversial past. 

On the other side there are politicians, Federal Agents, Journalists and a group of young friends fresh from high school who somehow find themselves stuck in this story. With a mix of humor (so difficult to do when you are dealing with such a touchy subject) the writers and director manage to weave a compelling story interwoven with music, art, history and yes unbridled violence. 

The Peripheral

This is a look into the future written by a Canadian-American Author William Gibson. 

I recently had a conversation with a friend about the definition of the word prophet. My response was initially based on the standard definitions that I have from a Christian upbringing. We are taught that a prophet has a role that is split into two major aspects. First, he is tasked with the job of foretelling (like forecasting) second, he is really a. Voice of the divine or what we call forth telling. In the history of cinema, there are quite a number of authors and story tellers who have proven to fit quite well into the category of foreteller. In a sense, if we collectively believe what they say, we give it power. Those who subscribe to religious teaching will tell you that we have power through what we say and write to create the future we desire. 

One could safely say that if you have spent a decent amount of time studying science fiction, you are likely to come across a few ideas that will emerge in the future. 

This is what the peripheral is. It feels like a memo to developers of 3D modelers, Augmented Reality Developers as well as Metaverse Enthusiasts about what is possible in the future. 

The protagonist (Chloe Grace Moritz) and her brother (Jack Reynor) are make a great team and are fond of playing online games with headsets until they are asked to test out a very realistic game that turns out to be a little too real. We are then taken back and forth into the future in a world a little similar to what we saw portrayed in the film Surrogates featuring Bruce Willis where humans can subscribe or have access to a humanoid that they can control while laying in a semi living state. The surrogate does all the work and is remotely controlled by the human master. 

On the other side…or in the future you have a whole race that lives in a post apocalyptic but quite advanced world where quite a number of features that they see are simulations. On one side you have a leadership team of villains led by (T’Nia Miller) who made an appearance in the Diplomat where she plays the role of a politician’s troubled sister. You also have a law enforcement official (Alexandra Billings). You also have a Russian AntiHero (JJ Field) who seems to get a kick out of being brutal. Then you have the resistance led by a brother sister team. 

You also have a supercomputer that has major transformative properties. Interesting applications in the military, defense also exist such as a means of connecting soldiers and enhancing their abilities to communicate with each other as well as ‘inhabit’ one another. There are also some applications about health and medication with an ability to get remedies form the future and make use of them in the past. 

For those who are trying to find portals or looking at the potential that exists with technology and different realities, this should prove to be a great viewing. 

Slow Horses

Image from http://www.impawards.com/tv/slow_horses_xxlg.html

Here is an interesting collaboration between British Actors and The Apple Company. While not sure if Microsoft plans to get into the movie making business, this directional shift seemed in some way really natural. With the input of Steve Jobs in the creative and design process and the skill with which the company delivered their famous Apple Computer ad in the early eighties, you could almost have predicted an entrance into Tinseltown. In the present day, there is quite a lot of emphasis on Ecosystems and this is leading companies to become one stop shops. Devices, Software, Microchips, Data, Entertainment and more. I suppose the great CEO’s brief expulsion from his own company and his subsequent entrance into a digital animation company also probably informed the company’s decision to get into film. 

Garry Oldman, Jack Lowden, Christine Scott Thomas, Rosalind Eleazar, Saskia Reeves and Christopher Chung.

As such there is a good list of very well done films including Slow Horses. 

The film’s first triumph is the use of a well chosen list of conflicting characters. Throw in a little office romance, failures in leadership (and repulsion by previous bosses higher up in the food chain), a smart but visibly troubled boss, an older caring secretary and a geeky slightly perverted techie, and you have the recipe for quite a show. 

The story revolves around this team that is cut off from the HQ of British Intelligence for previous wrongs and that has to handle less desirable cases as a means of being redeemed. This rag tag force though, has a super intelligent leader who is not afraid to bend the rules and whose deceptively old age often leads his adversaries to underestimate him. 

There are some stories in the series that are unique episodes but there is a sense of continuity. I have had some discussions about the use of location and sets to invoke certain feelings and this idea seems to be fully utilized with the sharp contrast between small office occupied by this small intelligence force and the large security-filled complex that hosts the HQ of the intelligence office. 

Dirk Gently’s Holisitic Detective Agency

There is much to appreciate about this series. The character choice is great as is the storyline. Interest was drawn from a post on someone’s timeline on Meta. The scene used was one where an strange looking dishevilled young lady emerges from a car in search of a man who she is out to kill. This an other scenes are used to draw the audience into a complex plot capturing the stories of several unique personalities bound together by fate. You are drawn into their stories and friendship, loyalty, self discovery and more over the next week weeks and they attempt to make sense of their lives. 

There are Sherlock Holmes vibes with the slightly effeminate lead character and his nervous and reluctant side kick played by Elijah Wood. Then there is a group of three ‘special’ young men whose task it is to consume energy. 

There is a group from a government program that is tracking some escapees. 

We have quite a number of theories about programs desinged to create the ultimate warrior…this series is an exploration of this subject taken to an extreme. 

Several historical figures just trying to make their way home. Machines, detectives with troubled pasts, time travellers, scientists and a machine that can swap between humans and animals.

There are mothers, children, faithful husbands, wives, police officers, ancient heroes and a lot more. Viewers might tire at the names used as well as costumes but this in my view is a gem worth watching. 

Hannah Marks reminds me of a slight crush i had on a young lady that was into gothic culture. 

Ballerina

There was a comment on social media about a certain genre of films that seems to be overdone. The tweep (do we still call them that) suggested that the story line of someone who was brought into a situations to sort things out was overdone especially stories woven around guys or gals that somehow had previous military training or that were part of some special ops team in the past. 

That said, i cannot get enough of these types of stories. And in reality these are some of the benefits of having people in a community that have at least served in the military. In times of distress, they can be relied upon to help those who are weak or aged. But the same can be said not necessarily of genres but of scenes. Car chase scenes are popular but no one does these like the Fast and Furious Crew. Shootouts are popular but it has taken the John Wick Trilogy to get us back to the screen for more. We have the team behind Karate Kid to thank for Danielson’s and Miyagi’s ability to turn ordinary activities into potenatial martial arts moves. Jackie Chan and Will Smith’s Son ofcourse in the third part of the same take it to another level. 

Ballerina is similar in that it involves a lady who must help a friend find justice. 

The friend who takes on this task, just happens…you guessed it to have had some previous training or at least history in that kind of thing (wet work as i found out it is called). 

Interestingly, i came across a scene from this piece from a timeline on META. Ordinary looking girl walks into 7/11 and finds a crime in progress. Proceeds to pay for her items, robbers try to take the wad of cash from her hand and the story ends badly for them. 

The rest of the film is really and journey exploring the past and present of these two young ladies from the time they meet in a cake shop to their blossoming relationship to the traggic end. It is also an exploration of the power dynamics between man and women. The most common Eastern Theme in this story is revenge. 

Missing

There are a few…okay there are quite a number of films that could be used as guides to help you navigate the current age in which we live. By this i am talking about a scenario where for example you need to get help finding a lost phone or gadget of some kind or maybe if you hit a dead end with the local police in your village. Granted some of these ideas may work a little better if you are in a country where there is some form of surveillance in place. There are those who oppose such major shifts in the modus operandi that are taking place in many geographies where for example under the guise of security and the fight against terrorism, many nations have found there citizens almost trapped in prison like states where everything and everyone is monitored and observed. Some countries are better equipped at this than others so average people need to get ahead of the game too. The ideas behind censorship and surveillance have been studied and written about by many. Perhaps the best and most adequate prophetic insight into a world gripped and controlled by this type of thinking is George Orwell’s 1984. Okay i may not have read it but i have seen us steadily drift into that sort of reality. While we agree that there may be some situations where some level of surveillance is necessary, how deep this goes remains to be a subject of concern. 

Here is a story from an actress who featured in the captivating and very well written tale about a few high school friends growing up post 2001 (911)-Euphoria. She plays the role of the protagonists sister. Supportive and brave fighting to defend her sister who she clearly looks up to but facing challenges of her own as she comes of age in a world she knows little about. Tossed to and fro from position to position in defence of her sister on one hand and support of her mother on the other. 

In this story she is a daughter who must harness all her resources to find her missing mother. And that is all i am going to say about that. Anything more would have me in the spoiler category. 

Watch this amazing film if you want to know what sort of resources are available to the citizen of most developed countries that can help you find a missing one. From tips about the use of Google Mail, Facebook (now META), to google maps to shopping records (for those who use Credit Cards) and much much more. 

Kimi

Ah i must say thar i am a little drawn to tales about those who have mental health challenges. And this is one such tale. The protagonist is a young lady that has difficulty leaving her house. As is the case with most of those that have mental health challenges, she is also very talented and bright and knows her way around the computer. But not just the computer, see she works for a Hardware Company with an assistive tool not unlike Siri and Cortana. Maybe this is a way that these companies have devised to get us to invest in more of these products. There are very interesting scenes about the capabilities of these prodcucts and the idea that they may be recording and storing some of the conversations that they hear. So there is a discussion about Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Data Collection, Data Processing, Internet Of Things and 5G Technology to name just a few. Then there is a hint towards Privacy, Surveillance, Non Disclosure Agreements and Red Tape. 

But there are also great lessons about situatiinal awareness, the importance of being familair with your surroudings especially in emergency situations and great ideas about the use of technology to help in desperate situations. 

There is a amazing scene that lets you peep into the world of hacking and the possibilirties that exist once you turn on your phone and how this can be used to locate you as well as turn on your phone when you turn it off. This goes for all gadgets as long as they have sim cards. 

The movie features Zoe Kravitz daughter of Singer and Actor Lenny Kravitz. 

Please look through this site to learn a little more about Agoraphobia. 

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/agoraphobia