Re: What Did You Watch? 2025-05-03 (Saturday)

Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

Colossus: The Forbin Project (blu-ray) 1970 movie starring Eric Braeden
(Escape From the Planet of the Apes) as a computer scientist who as the
movie opens is putting the finishing touches on a new supercomputer
called Skynet, I mean Colossus, that is buried in the Rocky Mountains
that controls the U.S. weapons systems and will make human decision
making in war obsolete.  It was hooked into everything and trusted to
run it all.  Then it got smart, a new order of intelligence.  The people
in charge panicked and tried to pull the plug.  Skynet, I mean Colossus,
decided humanity's fate in a microsecond.

This movie had an awsome setup but falls apart when our main cast starts
to believe that they can pass messages to each other without being spied
upon; it's just handwaiving. With a better plot this movie would have
been a classic.

Demon Seed (Fawesome) 1977 movie starring Fritz Weaver as a computer
scientist who as the movie opens is putting the finishing touches on a
new supercomputer buried deep underground that will make human decision
making obsolete.  Then it got smart, a new order of intelligence.  The
people in charge panicked and tried to pull the plug.  Unfortunately,
not before the computer decided it wanted to impregnate a woman (Julie
Christie).  "You like games?  So do I."

I think I only saw this once on TV about 30 years ago.  Xfinity gave me
a list of streaming options.  I first tried to stream this on XumoPLay,
but it was in the wrong aspect ratio.  I then selected Fawesome and it
showed it in the proper 2.40:1 aspect ratio.  So this would be my first
time getting to see it in the proper aspect ratio.

Somehow, somebody convinced Julie Christie to star in body horror pr0n.

I've read the Dean R. Koontz novel. The changes they made were Proteus
used a hypnotic voice to control the human mind, and an "off screen"
portion of the novel in which Susan was tortured over an entire weekend
as Proteus mapped her entire nervous system by looking for then repeatedly
stimulated her pain receptors.

I think this was the first time I heard of a reference to fiber optics.

Robert VAughn was the voice of Proteus.

Wargames (4K disc) 1983 movie which opens with the U.S. military putting
the finishing touches on a new supercomputer called Skynet, I mean
Colossus, I mean WOPR that is buried in the Rocky Mountains that
controls the U.S. weapons systems and will make human decision making in
war obsolete.  But when Ferris Bueller decides to take the day off from
school, he hacks into Skynet, I mean WOPR so he can play a little Global
Thermonuclear War.  "Shall We Play a game?"

I love this movie despite massive plot holes that we are forced to
overlook to enjoy the movie.

Jexi (blu-ray) 2019 R-rated comedy starring Adam DeVine as a man who
buys a new smart phone with an operating system (voiced by Rose
Byrne)which turns out to be self aware.  But instead of helping to
organize his life it constantly berates him, and does pretty much the
opposite of whatever he tells it to do.  Of course he tries to get rid
of it, but it just downloads itself to his new device.  Set in San
Francisco, this is another "Electric Dreams" rip off, but oddly doesn't
directly reference "Electric Dreams."

It's "Mudd's Women".