andre_sanchez

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398808/ The movie isn't entirely bad or good either way. It has good elements and bad elements. I'm not here to discuss the details. Around the end of the movie, the little girl dies. I couldn't stop crying all the way through the rest of the movie. In fact, I'm still crying. I think this movie portrays loss in a very powerful way.

No, he does not. The only reason he works on his cure is to save his wife so he can spend time with her. He is obsessed not with the cure, by itself, but with his wife. Which is complete and utter nonsense. Nothing is created by death, it is the exact opposite of creation. Life is an act of creation, death is the absense of life. Yes, that is true. In a very real sense, the first living being on earth is still alive today in billions of different mutations. But we don't value life because of cellular mechanics, we value life because of identity. While in purely biological terms, you could say death doesn't even really exist (we just change bodies), the fact is that our identities are destroyed. To worship this "greater form of life" is a form of collectivism. He is punishing the queen because she seeks eternal life on earth. The movie's creator then I think you could say the Gran Inquisitor is actualy the point of the movie, not the villain. At best, he simply belongs to a different strand of death worship. Life gives death meaning, not the other way around. Writing this, I remembered the immortal robot analogy. It's important to remember though that the analogy is a demonstration that values are the things that protect us from death, that help us towards life. They are not given value by death, but by life. Yet the charachters who choose to live, are all given death by the movie's creator. Doesn't that tell you something? Up until I thought the bad elements might just had been part of an elaborate attempt to make the point that life is good and we should seek it. The way the movie starts with the Conquistador charging forward (and surviving) while his fellow soldiers run in fear (and are killed) was probably the best part of the whole movie.

I decided to rent this again to see why I liked it so much. I wasn't dissapointed. I liked it more than the first time I saw it. I deals with several themes tied to objectivism. The ending deals with justice (the importance of praising what is good), the movie itself is centered by the idea of goal-directed effort and hard work, and attempts to put it in it's proper context (the selfish creator). A few quotes:

I found this book to be very interesting and a great debunking of the whole "muslims hate us because of our imperialism" crap. They were enslaving not only europeans, but -americans-, pretty much the second after America was born. It also shows how the only way to deal with such thugs is by a show of force. Thugs, by definition, cannot be dealt with through reason and diplomacy. http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/products/...UseBVCookie=Yes

I rented this because I find that sometimes, I can be suprised by a movie. It seemed like a stupid, depressing rape title. During the first half or so of the movie, it seemed like maybe it really was that, but then it surprised me. This was an uplifting movie, and while it probably isn't quite "objectivist", it has a positive sense of life. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378793/

The movie was very well made, and if it had ended differently, I would have highly recommended it. It was very good visualy, that I cannot deny. The death worship however, is not something I can forgive. It is an anti-life movie and directly opposes objectivist philosophy. It degrades the very core of objectivism, that reason is man's tool of survival, and tells the viewer that we should embrace death, and that if we don't, death will embrace us anyway. The premise the movie is built on is the complete opposite of objectivism.

Disgusting... These two boxers ran away from the cuban delegation in Rio de Janeiro, during the Panamerican games. Fidel had the entire delegation brought back to Cuba, not even letting them stay enough to be awarded their medals, in fear that there would be mass defection. Now these two man got arrested by police and sent back to Cuba on a special chartered plane. Under the control of Fidel, and clearly scared as hell, they say they are very revolutionary and ran away because they got overweight and got scared they would be disqualified... These things make me sick. Let this serve as a warning to all cubans: Don't try and defect in a place run by those who admire and love the guy who keeps you in slavery.

Good theme, very objectivist. The robot hero is an inventor who struggles to make his dreams a reality. He goes to the city to find work with a leading edge company, but gets turned away. The villain has taken over the company and is trying to push high priced gadgets into the market by force. It's great how the hero uses the free market to fight the villain's plans. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0358082/

This movie was really without flaw. At least I can't recall any. If you have a kid, rent it. If you don't have a kid, rent it anyway. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0396652/

I don't recall if there were any specific details I didn't like, but overall, I really enjoyed this. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430634/