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Reviews
Outbound (2021)
A psychedelic roadtrip through a dying sinner's conciousness
This is my definition of an independent low budget film. To have a meaningful point to say and to entertain while using the minimal budget in an optimal way. Don't expect any groundbreaking stuff but it is a time well spent. The project took only one actor and several other voices, a decent camera, some expensive looking Roland plaza outfit, a classy Samsung phone, a quasi-luxury Tissot watch, a rented Nissan car, some free creative commons media content and perhaps some permission from local goverments to shot on an abandoned location. (don't mention the crappy head injury makeup -- I think a bottle of ketchup would have been better).
The metaphors of the movie were sometimes too trivial (train=life, loudspeaker=conciousness, owl=wisdom, etc), and the moral of the story is a simple religious theme told a thousand times earlier (self sacrifice and unselfishness will lead to salvation).
Yet, it worked. The creators managed to build tension and tell a story which I wanted to follow till the end. I started to feel compassion for the protagonist, despite he seemed to be a real loser during his life. Atmoshpere is great, sound effects too, camera and editing served the purpose. As Tarkovsky's Stalker explores an individuals's search for hapiness, this movie is about an individual seeking the right track. Alas, too late.
2001: HAL's Legacy (2001)
A must for 2001 fans, computer scientists and for the general public as well
The documentary was made in 2001 but is still very interesting to watch many years later. David is probably one of the biggest fans of the movie and at the same time a very respected and knowledgeable scientist. According to his own words, the movie made him start his career as a researcher working in various fields of AI (which relate to different properties of the HAL computer including computer vision, text to speech, or even common sense and emotions). This makes the film very authentic. It is about to what degree AI technology managed to achieve in 2001 profecies predicted in 1968 when the movie was made. In retrospect, it is also interesting to think about how much have we advanced since then (in 2018). It turns out that "simpler" tasks such as face recognition, speech, lip reading or playing chess are advanced enough to fool us humans that the other party is not an artificial entity. However, in terms of higher cognitive properties like common sense or emotions, the AI technology advanced close to none in all these decades. The documentary also includes a lot of interesting details about the movie and its making, which is a must for fans. Oh, and it is entertaining too. Unfortunately, it is not publicly available for the general audience, which I believe is a real shame, as it contributes to the general knowledge about AI, its possibilities and limitations, which is again a hot topic today in 2018 (think about autonomous cars and the question of responsibility if one fails, for instance).
Budapest Noir (2017)
Very moody, professionally executed enjoyable film
Don't listen to some of the "professional" reviewers, this is a great film to watch. There is suspense, romance, humour and lots of atmosphere in this movie. Very nice images of 1930s Budapest and the interiors are great as well. Add to this excellent music, great acting, a not- too-complicated story, and there you have a start for a great evening with your spouse.