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

On Sun, 4 May 2025 09:21:14 -0700, Arthur Lipscomb
<arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

On 5/4/2025 8:07 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:

All I watched on Saturday was the Thur. episodes of DOOL and GH, and I
don't really feel like commenting on them. Otherwise, most of the day I
played my video game, and in the evening I did some grading and recorded
last night's Lifetime flick for later. (And, yes - my Lifetime/LMN movie
backlog on my DVR is now 10 TV movies deep! [sigh...] )
 

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You made me look.  I have 8, including a Hallmark Christmas movie from
2023, I've yet to watch.
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What did you watch?
 

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I watched:
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Colossus: The Forbin Project (blu-ray) 1970 movie starring Eric Braeden
(Escape From the Planet of the Apes)

No, he's best known for RAT PATROL and as Victor Newman on YOUNG & THE
RESTLESS

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.

I've enjoyed this a few times over the years.

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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."
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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.

I think I saw this once upon a time but can't remember any of it other
than what I see in trailers.

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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?"

Tic Tac Toe is the only game one should play with a super computer.

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Her (blu-ray) 2013 movie written and directed by Spike Jonze starring
Joaquin Phoenix as a man who buys a new operating system (voiced by
Scarlett Johansson) to help organize his life but the operating system
becomes self aware and the two fall in love with each other.  It's sort
of like a nonmusical version of "Electric Dreams."
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Have not seen this one.

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."
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Never heard of this one.