Category Archives: Film

Saturday Matinee: Obsolete

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Source: Truthstream Media

The Future Doesn’t Need Us… Or So We’ve Been Told. With the rise of technology and the real-time pressures of an online, global economy, humans will have to be very clever – and very careful – not to be left behind by the future. From the perspective of those in charge, human labor is losing its value, and people are becoming a liability. This documentary reveals the real motivation behind the secretive effort to reduce the population and bring resource use into strict, centralized control. Could it be that the biggest threat we face isn’t just automation and robots destroying jobs, but the larger sense that humans could become obsolete altogether? *Please watch and share!* Link to film: http://amzn.to/2f69Ocr

Saturday Matinee: Britannia Hospital

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“Britannia Hospital” (1982) is the third installment of director Lindsay Anderson’s “Mick Travis Trilogy”. Like the other films in the series, it’s a dark comedy following a particularly eventful chapter in the life of Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) as he confronts various disturbing and absurd aspects of Britain and western society in general. In Britannia Hospital, Travis is a muckraking investigative journalist covertly filming a documentary on the prestigious Britannia Hospital as it faces a variety of challenges including the opening of a new wing, the arrival of the Queen Mother and other dignitaries, and protesters opposing an African dictator’s stay at the hospital as well as extravagant meals for VIP guests. As he gets further into his investigation Travis becomes embroiled in a secret transhumanist project directed by the head of the new wing. The Film’s central thesis is summed up by the following statement from Lindsay Anderson:

“The absurdities of human behaviour as we move into the Twenty-first Century are too extreme — and too dangerous — to permit us the luxury of sentimentalism or tears. But by looking at humanity objectively and without indulgence, we may hope to save it. Laughter can help.”

Watch the full film here.

Saturday Matinee: Summer Wars

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“Summer Wars” (2009) is a sci-fi anime directed by Mamoru Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) and animated by Madhouse studio. The film’s plot follows Kenji Koiso, an eleventh-grade math prodigy who, while visiting his friend Natsuki’s great-grandmother, is falsely implicated in the hacking of a virtual world by a rogue AI called Love Machine. With the help of his community, Kenji must undo the damage and prevent the AI’s spread into the real world.

Watch the full film here.

Saturday Matinee: The Parallax View

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“The Parallax View” (1974) is a conspiracy thriller directed by Alan Pakula and written by Lorenzo Semple Jr. (Three Days of the Condor). The plot centers on reporter Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) who, while investigating claims from an ex-girlfriend who witnessed a political assassination, uncovers a plot involving the mysterious Parallax Corporation run by a network of shadowy power elites. One of a number of films of the era (including Executive Action and Winter Kills) which conveyed political assassination theories through a fictional narrative.

Watch the full film here.

Saturday Matinee: Nothing

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“Nothing” (2003) is an existential comedy and third feature film from director Vincenzo Natali (Cube). The plot follows two friends and roommates: Andrew, an antisocial travel agent who works from home, and Dave, a prototypical office drone. After experiencing the worst day of their lives, they somehow will the world outside of their house out of existence. While this creates a temporary respite it also leads to new problems mainly in the form of boredom and cabin fever.  Will the two protagonists manage to keep their sanity and find their way out of nothingness?

Watch the full film here.

Saturday Matinee: Shadows of Liberty

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Synopsis from ShadowsofLiberty.org:

Shadows Of Liberty reveals the extraordinary money and power behind the news media dictating censorship, cover‐ups and corporate control.

Filmmaker Jean‐Philippe Tremblay takes an intrepid journey through the dark corridors of the American media landscape where global conglomerates call the shots. For decades their overwhelming influence has distorted journalism and compromised its values.

In highly revealing stories, renowned journalists, activists and academics give insider accounts of a broken media system. Controversial news reports are suppressed, people are censored for speaking out, and lives are shattered as the arena for public expression is turned into a private profit zone.

Tracing the story of media manipulation through the years, Shadows Of Liberty poses a crucial question: why have we let a handful of powerful private corporations write the news? We’re left in no doubt, ‘…what will save us is when we really know what’s going on, media not filtered through the lens or the microphone of a corporation.’

Saturday Matinee: BrainDead

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“BrainDead” (2016) is a political/sci fi satire created by Robert and Michelle King. It originally aired last Summer (on CBS!) in the midst of the heated presidential campaign and the story takes place in the same time-frame following aspiring filmmaker Laurel Healy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as she gradually uncovers a plot hatched by a parasitic alien species to divide and conquer the country via covert takeover of DC. The necessary tonal shifts of the plot are handled surprisingly well, balancing horror, comedy, romance, and conspiracy thriller. Instead of traditional plot recaps, episodes feature a clever musical synopsis by Jonathan Coulton. While enjoyable and provocative (for network TV at least), the writers missed an opportunity to incorporate the bizarre presidential campaign directly into the plot (though the connection is implied). While the plot serves as a satisfying allegory it fails to explain brain dead behavior of politicians and pundits before and after the alien invasion. Unfortunately this won’t be addressed in future episodes since the series wasn’t renewed.

You can watch the first and only season of BrainDead here.

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Saturday Matinee: Battle Royale 2

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“Battle Royale 2: Requiem” (2003) is an under-appreciated yet boldly provocative sequel taking place three years after the events of the first Battle Royale. The protagonists of the previous film have joined other survivors of past Battle Royales to form a terror cell known as Wild 7. After a major bomb attack, a new class of high-schoolers kidnapped by the government are forced to raid Wild 7’s island hideout and assassinate the group within 72 hours. Battle Royale 2 was director Kinji Fukasaku’s final project, who died of cancer shortly after filming began. The majority of the the film was directed by his son Kenta Fukasaku who wrote the screenplays for both films.

Watch the film with English subtitles here.