Archive for category Movies
U2 at ‘Imiloa: A Review
Yesterday I received an invitation to see a sneak preview of the ‘Imiloa Planetarium‘s upcoming Friday Music Show featuring the music of U2. Produced by the Clark Planetarium, the “digital dome experience” features “U2’s timeless classics and modern hits, set to lighting and animation effects using the latest in CGI and laser technology”.
U2′s timeless classics and modern hits are there. Lighting and animation effects using the latest in CGI are not. The CG effects look incredibly dated — watch the trailer and tell me that those effects aren’t at least ten years old. Everything I saw looked like it could have come from a video card demo CD from 1995. Honestly, the videos could have just as easily come from a computer graphics class’s final project. I can see it now… “your final project is to take a U2 song and make some graphics for it. Don’t worry if the graphics don’t fit with the song, everybody loves flying through tubes when they’re in a planetarium!”
And if it wasn’t 3D computer graphics it was something out of an iTunes visualizer — except those usually have some kind of musical feedback so they change with the music. Not so the U2 videos, the effects were essentially random.
The video for Sunday Bloody Sunday really stuck out. It was CG, but in an incredibly ham-fisted over-the-top with symbolism kind of way. Kids playing chess and the pawns explode? Kids being stamped into soldiers on an assembly line? Isn’t that all a little cliched? And again the CG, it’s old! Seriously, it’s on the level of Anniversary, a CG short produced for the National Film Board in 1989! And that had more charisma and style!
I don’t remember seeing the “latest in … laser technology” either.
The only two things I can say about the whole thing is that the songs were good (although the sound quality was lacking) and that it was free.
I’ve found one other review and his verdict was that it was crap.
My verdict: save your money and go see a movie in the theater instead.
U2 at the ‘Imiloa Planetarium opens on 9 January 2009. Shows are Friday nights at 7:30pm and 9:00pm. Admission is $8 for members and $10 for non-members.
I have been commanded
Who am I to disobey such an direct order from PZ Myers? Here goes: Expelled is shaping up to be a horrible movie. I haven’t seen it, but Expelled is getting an absolute pasting from all kinds of people, from Time to Fox News to (obviously) Richard Dawkins. It looks to be a horrid little movie written by horrid little people narrated by a horrid little man.
For those who don’t know, Expelled is based on the theory that proponents of Intelligent Design are being persecuted by “Science”. It’s a ham-handed affair narrated by Ben Stein, who was made famous in America for being a teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Amongst its arguments is the idea that Darwinism is responsible for Nazism:
Darwinism is still very much alive, utterly dominating biology. Despite the fact that no one has ever been able to prove the creation of a single distinct species by Darwinist means, Darwinism dominates the academy and the media. Darwinism also has not one meaningful word to say on the origins of organic life, a striking lacuna in a theory supposedly explaining life.
Alas, Darwinism has had a far bloodier life span than Imperialism. Darwinism, perhaps mixed with Imperialism, gave us Social Darwinism, a form of racism so vicious that it countenanced the Holocaust against the Jews and mass murder of many other groups in the name of speeding along the evolutionary process.
This disgusting sentiment has been thoroughly debunked and shot down by a large number of wiser people than I. I suggest reading some of the reviews and articles about Exposed at the Expelled Exposed website.
Expelled opens in theatres on April 18, 2008, and will live a short life.
[tags]expelled, evolution, movie, intelligent design[/tags]
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the Movies category.
recent photos
Recent Comments