When discussing television’s Golden Age today, it is difficult to avoid often unflattering comparisons with Hollywood’s Golden Age. This includes studios that, deservedly or not, stand out as institutions of those eras. In our case, it is HBO, the American company that was among the first to recognise the potential of the new cable medium and, by breaking the constraints of content and form, gradually built a brand that would be enthusiastically embraced by all frustrated with the cookie-cutter output and censorship of cinemas and conventional television networks. In this regard, it is no longer alone today, but by paving the way for AMC, Netflix and other studios, HBO can now afford to spend $100 million or other previously unimaginable sums on a pilot or full television series seasons, distinguishing itself in many ways much like MGM did during Hollywood’s golden era—renowned for its lavish musicals and larger-than-life film epics—among the other business empires of Los Angeles’s dream factory. Therefore, it is no surprise that history has ensured a connection between these two entities, in the form of one of this year’s most expensive, eagerly anticipated, ambitious and prestigious television series.

Westworld, which was largely marketed as a sort of replacement for Game of Thrones—HBO’s golden goose of 2010s—had its origins nearly half a century earlier as a feature-length film produced by MGM. This provides a good opportunity for equally inevitable comparisons between its cinematic and television incarnations (disregarding the short-lived, quickly cancelled and likely even faster forgotten 1980 television series Beyond Westworld), offering a clear illustration of how things have significantly changed since 1973. Notably, MGM, unlike HBO, made its Westworld at a time when its best days were behind it, forcing Michael Crichton to work with a relatively modest budget for his directorial debut. This was reflected, among other things, in the film’s relatively short runtime, simple plot and characters, resulting in a movie that functions well on its own but, precisely because of its simplicity, serves as an excellent foundation for remakes. Crichton himself recognised this, repurposing the core concept for the far more famous and successful Jurassic Park. Thus, it should come as no great surprise that HBO concluded this source material could be adapted into a spectacle of similar calibre.

The extent to which Westworld is fertile ground for a remake is evident in how HBO’s version utilises Crichton’s original screenplay with almost no changes to any detail. Once again, viewers are transported to an indeterminate, loosely defined near-future world where a corporation named Delos has developed technology to produce robots that are nearly identical to humans in appearance, behaviour and other details. This technology finds its practical application in a Wild West-themed amusement park where robots provide services ranging from childish cowboy and Indian games to sex and the fulfilment of darkest fantasies. Of course, all this continues until things in the park go catastrophically wrong and the androids, asserting their physical and other superiority, suddenly begin massacring the guests.

Jonathan Nolan, who devised the series alongside his wife Lisa Joy, faced both an easy and a difficult task. On one hand, Crichton’s blueprint left him with exceptional freedom to answer the questions of ‘how’ and ‘why’ what happened in the ill-fated Delos park occurred. On the other hand, the relatively simple story, which ran for just an hour and a half, needed to be stretched to at least 10–12 hours, incorporating somewhat ‘stronger’ characters, more intriguing subplots and ‘deeper’ content—all while concluding in a way that would form a reasonably cohesive whole and simultaneously provide a cliffhanger sufficient for a second season. The couple did not entirely succeed in this, but perfection was hard to expect from a project made under such high expectations.

The most noticeable difference between the new and original Westworld, or rather the creative decision made by the Nolans, concerns the shift in perspective. In the film, events were followed exclusively from the human perspective, whereas the series introduces the perspective of the androids themselves—or, as Delos’s technicians call them, ‘hosts’. They are no longer mere machines; the effort to make them as human-like as possible has led them to gain memories, and over time develop something akin to consciousness, beginning to question the true nature and purpose of their existence—a revelation that leads to the finale hinted at in trailers and throughout the series via the frequently quoted Shakespearean line about ‘violent delights having violent ends’. And when it is shown, quite explicitly, how they have all been subjected to years and decades of manipulation, violence and abuse, while viewers are simultaneously manipulated into seeing them as either human beings or a new level of evolution, the inevitable uprising seems justified.

To achieve this, however, it is necessary to portray things from the human side as well, i.e., to use human characters. This includes the park’s visitors, who, at least at first glance, play a third-rate role. The film’s nominal protagonist duo finds its equivalent in the characters of William (the excellent Jimmi Simpson), a man visiting the park for the first time who feels visible discomfort compared to his much more experienced friend and future brother-in-law Logan (Ben Barnes), who is far more relaxed and feels no qualms indulging in the often violent pleasures available to him. More striking is the decision for the television version to also have its own version of the main antagonist, whose moral alignment is suggested by his black attire; unlike the film’s Yul Brynner, who was a robot, in the television version this is a human—a visitor whose form of entertainment involves sadistically tormenting the helpless robots, which will only over time take the form of some quest for the ‘maze’, i.e., the park’s final, culminating attraction, which seems equally meaningless as the ‘hosts’’ search for meaning.

Also, at first glance, the depiction of ‘behind-the-scenes’ activities—i.e., the daily routines of the park’s workers and management, forced to ensure not a hair falls from the guests’ heads, constantly monitoring every move of the ‘hosts’ and perpetually repairing and redeploying them—appears far more intriguing for the plot. Nolan and Joy introduced another significant change here compared to the original: besides the ‘grunts’ at the bottom of the food chain, i.e., technicians and security teams, there are also Delos’s directors and the park’s creator himself, Robert Ford. Portrayed by the ever-reliable Anthony Hopkins, he is so compelling that it remains unclear whether he is a cold sociopath who relishes the ‘hosts’’ suffering like Hannibal Lecter, a mad genius, a quasi-divine figure who genuinely cares for the welfare of his mechanical children, or a combination of all these. Hopkins’ performance, however, is largely overshadowed by Jeffrey Wright, who is outstanding as Ford’s friend and long-time collaborator Bernard Lowe, whose workaholic lifestyle stems from a personal tragedy. On this level, however, Westworld has certain shortcomings, primarily because Delos’s staff includes several characters who are not sufficiently developed, and whose fates are irritatingly unclear by the very end.

A far more serious problem for Westworld is the same one that afflicted the original film. The first part—in which viewers become acquainted with the world and characters—is overly drawn out, and scenes sometimes repeat, even when this—as opposed to the depiction of the ‘hosts’ having to run through the ‘Loop of the Endless Day’ scenario thousands of times—is not particularly justified. Additional confusion arises not only from the distorted perspective of the ‘hosts’, caused by their susceptibility to constant memory erasure and alteration, but also from the fact that the narrative unfolds across several different time periods, making it unclear for certain scenes whether they occur in the present, past, or represent someone’s hallucination or false memory. It is only around the fifth episode that things begin to fall into place, and the first season starts to unfold at a conventional pace, albeit still not in a conventional manner. It is precisely then that the authorial stamp becomes most evident, whether through references to classic Westerns or the character of the frustrated British screenwriter (Simon Quarterman) hired by Delos to craft the ‘stories’ in which the ‘hosts’ perform, which can also be interpreted as a somewhat auto-ironic comment by Nolan on Westworld’s own creative process.

However, most viewers will pay far more attention to what has long been HBO’s trademark—explicit sex and nudity—than to the details. Here, the television version appears far freer than the film, which in many ways confirms the ironic reversal of the 1973 situation where fans of ‘freer’ content had to go to cinemas, as they could not be imagined on small screens (whereas today it is quite the opposite). Some of these elements seem unnecessary and exploitative, particularly the anticlimactic and utterly superfluous orgy scene in a Mexican town, whose sole purpose was to give the series some ‘edgy’ publicity. On the other hand, the series features far more nudity this time, which could even be said to be justified: the ‘hosts’ are far easier to repair and maintain backstage if they are unclothed, and in one scene, a character even attempts to justify this in a way that can be interpreted as a preemptive response by the series’ creators to puritanical critics. However, varying contractual clauses and different levels of modesty among the cast occasionally shatter the illusion; for instance, Evan Rachel Wood, portraying the ‘host’ protagonist Dolores, thanks to strategic framing, rear shots and other tricks, leaves far more to the imagination than her Norwegian colleague Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, who as the ‘host’ outlaw Armistice performs her most impressive action sequence in a birthday suit (having slightly less revealing PG-13 costume in the 2014 Hercules).

This impressive spectacle is provided by Westworld to its viewers in the final episode, which, despite this and numerous other details, is somewhat of a disappointment. Primarily, this refers to the irritating ‘cliffhanger’ that leaves the ultimate fate of certain characters—who one might otherwise assume would perish—far too open-ended. The same applies to the otherwise superbly portrayed character of Maeve by Thandie Newton, whose free will, or lack thereof, remains unclear, and whose actions, like her acquisition of near-divine powers at the very end, are inexplicable. Nor is Delos’s security team, which in an armed clash with the ‘hosts’ displays shooting ‘skills’ akin to Star Wars’ Imperial Stormtroopers, something Westworld can boast about. At least not for die-hard geeks who love scrutinising minor details and, during episode breaks, crafting imaginative theories about plot twists—many of which turned out to be correct. Despite everything, Westworld is nonetheless well-directed and superbly acted, providing viewers with more than enough entertainment to justify a second season.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

(Note: The text in the original Croatian version is available here.)

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You Burn Me

SINOPSIS (IMDb) Layar (Nicholas Saputra), seorang bintang filem popular yang merasa bosan dengan kareer beliau, mahu membikin satu teater musikal mengenai sejarah keluarganya juga yang berkait dengan sejarah perfileman Indonesia.

REVIEW Salah satu perkara dalam filem yang saya amat rindui adalah dari segi musikalnya. Ia adalah satu element penting yang boleh mengangkat dan lebih men’drama’kan lagi sesuatu babak. Lagu tema juga penting. Lebih-lebih lagi dari filem-filem klasik Hollywood contohnya Star Wars, Jurassic Park dan Back To The Future. Dan juga dari filem-filem animasi Disney seperti Lion King dan Tarzan. Filem Hollywood musikal baru kesukaan saya adalah La La Land berkata tentang subjek industri perfileman di Hollywood, dan juga, kehidupan sebagai anak seni.

Tidak usah la diperkatakan tentang filem-filem Bollywood dan Tamilwood. Filem dan musikal bagi mereka berpisah tiada.

Di Malaysia, saya terus terfikir tentang Upin dan Ipin Keris Siamang Tunggal yang menggunakan khidmat orkestra untuk majoriti babak dari filem tersebut dan juga soundtrack. Dari tahun 1995, Pak Hassan Muthalib dengan Silat Lagenda dan kompilasi album soundtrack dengan penyertaan artis-artis terkenal tanahair. Lagu tema yang ikonik kekal di memori hingga kini. Filem Spilt Gravy yang ada lagu ala-keroncong yang dibuat khas. Tapi ya. Musik dalam filem memang penting. Tapi saya lihat kebanyakkannya hanya tertumpu pada segi visual.

Baru-baru ini Al-Jafree ada bercakap tentang lagu-lagu yang beliau gunakan, dalam kes ini, filem telemovie, Melur vs Rajawali. Lagu ‘Dipersimpangan Dilema’ oleh Nora yang juga berkait mengenai subjek filem tersebut. Sepanjang menonton filem Siapa Dia kelmarin, musikal pertama Malaysia yang terlintas dalam kepala saya adalah dari arahan Al-Jafree dan juga Dain Said iaitu, Senandong Malam. Tayangan di Ipoh beberapa tahun lepas masih dalam ingatan dan tidak mungkin saya lupakan. Lagu-lagu yang sedap dan juga berkait rapat dengan subjek filem iaitu kehidupan sebagai orang seni, dengan menggunakkan nostalgia kepada filem-filem dan lagu klasik dari zaman P. Ramlee sebagai cerita latar.

Kebetulan pada malam Tayangan Perdana beberapa hari yang lepas, saya dijemput oleh Brando Lee, bersama-sama Pak Hassan Muthalib dan juga Pak Letfee yang pada tahun 2003 terlibat dalam pementasan teater musikal Ronggeng Rokiah di Istana Budaya.

Dalam filem Siapa Dia, pengarah Garin Nugroho dan producer Faizal Lubi tidak bersembunyi tentang subjek yang dibincangkan. Iaitu sejarah perfileman Indonesia, yang amat dipengaruhi oleh peralihan masa dan sosial. Dari zaman Belanda, Perang Dunia Kedua dan juga kemunculan ‘pop culture’. Subjek yang jelas diangkat dengan musikal dan lagu-lagu yang sedap. Ditambahkan pula kesinambungan antara babak-babak dan lagu juga sedap dan tidak sumbang dan pelik. Seluruh filem adalah satu. Dari mula sampai kepenghabisan.

Garin berjaya menarik saya kedalam filem bersama protagonis Nicholas Saputra yang acap kali memecah ‘dinding keempat’ dengan bercerita secara terus dengan tarian dan lagu yang sedap dan menghiburkan. Saya yang sebenarnya masih baru dalam subjek filem baru juga mengenali nama Garin Nugroho. Dan sempat bertemu dengan beliau di sessi tayangan anjuran Pak U-Wei tidak lama dulu. Juga menonton filemnya Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang bersama Pak Hassan Muthalib yang juga berkongsi dengan saya tulisan beliau mengenai filem tersebut.

Dalam filem Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang, pada saya, ceritanya mengundang pada kritikan generasi muda yang kurang mengerti tata susila dalam menuntut ilmu dari seorang guru. Lantas takdir seni warisan itu sendiri akhirnya mati begitu sahaja. Dalam Siapa Dia juga Garin berbicara tentang subjek yang agak sama. Di penutup filem, di tunjukkan watak Layar (Nicholas Saputra) yang mengepalai generasi baru Indonesia dalam mengembangkan lagi sinema tempatan. Di Malaysia bagaimana?

Siapa Dia. Satu persoalan. Mahukan jawapan? Tayangan bermula hari ini dipawagam seluruh Malaysia.

Official Trailer

Hello! 💙

Para esta temporada de Halloween me he dedicado a hacer varias fotografías de retrato que poco a poco se las estaré compartiendo por acá esta es una de las primeras sesiones que hice, con maquillaje de calavera en un estilo muy estético, Pues en este caso la idea era hacer algo que fuese bastante actual, y en mi opinión creo que todo muy bonito. Como siempre al final las fotografías les dejo algunas imágenes detrás de cámara.

For this Halloween season, I have been taking several portrait photographs that I will gradually be sharing here. This is one of the first sessions I did, with skull makeup in a very aesthetic style. In this case, the idea was to do something that was quite contemporary, and in my opinion, I think it all turned out very nicely. As always, at the end of the photographs, I will leave you with some behind-the-scenes images.

¡Hasta la próxima, un abrazo!

For the best experience view this post on Liketu

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13062500/
• Platform: PRIME VIDEO

Rottentomatoes Rating

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #daryl, #dixon, #walking, #dead, #finale, #season, #episode, #boat, #spain, #carol, #justina, #fede, #alcazar, #walkers, #codron, #paz, #antonio, #roberto, #review, #chaos, #rescue, #fire, #trapped, #emotional, #action

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The Boogeyman is a Stephen King adaptation that fulfills its purpose of scaring you, the movie is about the Harper family dealing with the recent death of their mother Cara who died in a car accident leaving the father Will and his two daughters Sadie and Sawyer completely emotionally destroyed, Will is a therapist and works from home to be close to his daughters but in reality he's so stuck in his own grief that he can't really connect with them, one day this really weird guy named Lester Billings shows up at his office without an appointment begging him to listen because something terrible is happening to him. Lester starts telling him this crazy story about how his three children died one by one because of a creature they called the Boogeyman that came out of the closet at night to hunt them and Will thinks the guy is crazy so he goes to call the police and the guy hangs himself right there hanging from a closet and it's really traumatic for the whole family and especially for the girls who are already dealing with their mother's death. After that weird things start happening in the house and Sawyer the younger sister starts seeing this horrible creature in her room at night, the girl has a bunch of little lights all over her room because she's afraid of the dark and one night she sees this thing come out of the closet and hide under her bed, of course nobody believes Sawyer because everyone thinks it's a reaction to the trauma from everything that happened with her mom and the guy who hanged himself, then Sadie starts realizing that something very bad is happening in that house.

The Boogeyman es una adaptación de Stephen King que cumple su propósito de asustarte, la pelicula trata sobre la familia Harper que está lidiando con la muerte reciente de su madre Cara quien murio en un accidente automovilistico dejando al padre Will y sus dos hijas Sadie y Sawyer completamente destrozados emocionalmente, Will es terapeuta y trabaja desde su casa para estar cerca de sus hijas pero en realidad esta tan metido en su propio dolor que no puede conectar con ellas de verdad, un día aparece un tipo bien raro llamado Lester Billings en su oficina sin cita previa rogandole que lo escuche porque algo terrible está pasando con el. Lester empieza a contarle esta historia loca sobre como sus tres hijos murieron uno por uno por culpa de una criatura que ellos llamaban el Boogeyman que salía del closet por las noches para cazarlos y Will piensa que el tipo está loco entonces se va a llamar a la policía y ek tipo se ahorca allí golgandose de un closet y es bien traumatico para toda la familia y más para las niñas que ya están lidiando con la muerte de su madre. Después de eso empiezan a pasar cosas raras en la casa y Sawyer la hermana empieza a ver esta criatura horrible en su cuarto por las noches, la niña tiene un montón de lucecitas por toda su habitación porque le tiene miedo a la oscuridad y una noche ve como esta cosa sale del closet y se esconde debajo de su cama, por supuesto nadie le cree a Sawyer porque todos piensan que es una reacción al trauma por todo lo que ha pasado con su mamá y el tipo que se ahorcó, después Sadie empieza a darse cuenta de que algo muy malo está pasando en esa casa.

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The movie has its good moments honestly it does manage to create a tense atmosphere and there are several scenes that make you jump with fright, I liked how they handle the theme of grief and how each family member processes Cara's death differently, Will shuts down completely and doesn't want to talk about it and Sadie is angry at the whole world and acts like a rebel here Sawyer is the only one who seems to be going through everything in a more normal way although she's also scared of the monster. David Dastmalchian who plays Lester Billings only appears for like ten minutes in the whole movie but the guy makes you believe he's completely terrified and desperate about what happened to his family, Chris Messina as Will Harper does a good job showing a father who is so lost in his own grief that he can't be there for his daughters when they need him most. Sophie Thatcher is Sadie and I think she's the best in the movie because she's the one who has to carry all the weight of the story, her character has to be strong for her younger sister while also dealing with her own grief and fear and she does it really well, Vivian Lyra Blair as Sawyer is also great and manages to be adorable and look terrified at the same time like in the scenes where she's being chased by the Boogeyman.

La película tiene sus momentos buenos la verdad si logra crear una atmosfera tensa y hay varias escenas que te hacen saltar del susto, me gustó como manejan el tema del dolor y como cada miembro de la familia procesa la muerte de Cara de manera diferente, Will se cierra completamente y no quiere hablar del tema y Sadie está enojada con el mundo entero y se porta como una rebelde aquí Sawyer es la única que parece estar pasando todo de una manera más normal aunque tambien esta asustada por el monstruo. David Dastmalchian quien hace de Lester Billings solo aparece como diez minutos en toda la película pero el tipo te hace creer que está completamente aterrorizado y desesperado por lo que le pasó a su familia, Chris Messina como Will Harper hace un buen trabajo mostrando a un padre que esta tan perdido en su propio dolor que no puede estar ahí para sus hijas cuando más lo necesitan. Sophie Thatcher es Sadie y creo que es la mejor de la película porque ella es la que tiene que cargar con todo el peso de la historia, su personaje tiene que ser fuerte por su hermana menor mientras también está lidiando con su propio dolor y miedo y ella lo hace muy bien, Vivian Lyra Blair como Sawyer tambien esta genial y logra ser adorable y verse aterrada al mismo tiempo como en las escenas donde está siendo perseguida por el Boogeyman.

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Now talking about the problems the movie has because there are some and they're pretty big, I thought it's one of those movies that are common and predictable, if you've seen any horror movie from the last ten years you already know exactly what's going to happen in every scene, the scares are cheap and you can tell they're coming from way before, there are like a thousand scenes where someone walks slowly toward the darkness while the music gets intense and then BAM something jumps out and makes a loud noise but it's not scary it just startles you for a second, the Boogeyman itself is disappointing when you see it completely because it looks like a weird mix between Gollum and the creatures from A Quiet Place but skinny and malnourished version with weird teeth that look like fingers, I understand they wanted to do something original but it ends up looking kind of ridiculous. Another thing that really bothered me is that nobody in this family seems to have common sense, they live in this huge house full of dark wood and never but never turn on the lights, they don't even open the curtains during the day to let natural light in, Sawyer has all these little lights in her room but never uses the normal light switch, and when they discover that the creature hates light and moves away when there's a lot of lighting they keep walking around the house in the dark passing by lamps without turning them on, it's so frustrating that you want to yell at the screen turn on the light already hahaha well actually I did a couple of times.

Ahora hablando de los problemas que tiene la peli porque los hay y son bastante grandes, me pareció que es de esas pelis que son comunes y predecibles, si has visto cualquier película de terror de los últimos diez años ya sabes exactamente que va a pasar en cada escena, los sustos son baratos y te das cuenta que vienen desde mcuho antes, hay como mil escenas donde alguien camina lentamente hacia la oscuridad mientras la música se pone intensa y luego BAM algo salta y hace un ruido fuerte pero no da miedo solo te sobresalta por un segundo, el Boogeyman en si es decepcionante cuando lo ves completo porque parece una mezcla rara entre Gollum y las criaturas de A Quiet Place pero versión flaca y desnutrida con unos dientes raros que parecen dedos, entiendo que quisieron hacer algo original pero termina viéndose medio ridículo. Otra cosa que me molestó un montón es que nadie en esta familia parece tener sentido común, viven en esta casa gigante llena de madera oscura y nuca pero nuneca prenden las luces, ni siquiera abren las cortinas durante el día para dejar entrar luz natural, Sawyer tiene todas estas lucecitas en su cuarto pero nunca usa el interruptor normal de la luz, y cuando descubren que la criatura odia la luz y se aleja cuando hay mucha iluminación ellos siguen caminando por la casa en la oscuridad pasando al lado de lámparas sin prenderlas, es tan frustrante que quieres gritarle a la pantalla prendan la luz y ya jejeje bueno de hecho lo hice un par de vexces.

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The story also has structural problems because it feels like they're trying to stretch a Stephen King short story that probably has like twenty pages into a full hour and a half movie, and like they try to stuff more in with this whole plot about the Harper family and their grieving process and it doesn't work as well as it should, sometimes it seems like two different movies trying to exist at the same time, one is about a family dealing with loss and trauma and the other is about a monster that eats fear and kills children, and neither of the two stories is well developed. The positive part is that when the movie focuses on the sisters and their relationship it works pretty well, there's real chemistry between Sophie Thatcher and Vivian Lyra Blair and you really believe they're sisters who love each other despite everything they're going through. Rita Lester's wife appears in the second half of the movie and she's completely crazy but in an interesting way, she's been living in her abandoned house surrounded by candles because she knows that light keeps the Boogeyman away and she's been trying to kill it for years after it took her whole family, Marina Ireland does a good job making Rita intimidating and sympathetic at the same time although her plan to kill the Boogeyman is pretty stupid. The climax of the movie happens in the basement where the Boogeyman has dragged Will and the sisters have to go down to rescue him, there's a scene where the creature literally opens its mouth like a snake and pulls out these bloody arms with a small skull inside that starts sucking the life out of Sadie and it's probably the most disturbing image in the whole movie.

La historia también tiene problemas estructurales porque se siente como si estuvieran tratando de estirar un cuento corto de Stephen King que probablemente tiene como veinte páginas en una película completa de hora y media, y como que tratan de meterle más cdon toda esta trama sobre la familia Harper y su proceso de duelo y no funciona tan bien como debería, a veces parece dos películas diferentes tratando de existir al mismo tiempo, una es sobre una familia lidiando con perdida y trauma y la otra es sobre un monstruo que come miedo y mata niños, y ninguna de las dos historias está bien desarrollada. La parte positiva es que cuando la película se enfoca en las hermanas y su relación funciona bastante bien, hay química real entre Sophie Thatcher y Vivian Lyra Blair y realmente crees que son hermanas que se quieren a pesar de todo lo que están pasando. Rita la esposa de Lester aparece en la segunda mitad de la película y está completamente loca pero de una manera interesante, ella ha estado viviendo en su casa abandonada rodeada de velas porque sabe que la luz mantiene alejado al Boogeyman y ha estado tratando de matarlo por años después de que le quitó a toda su familia, Marina Ireland hace un buen trabajo haciendo que Rita sea intimidante y simpatica al mismo tiempo aunque su plan para matar al Boogeyman es bastante estúpido. El climax de la película pasa en el sótano donde el Boogeyman ha arrastrado a Will y las hermanas tienen que bajar a rescatarlo, hay una escena donde la criatura literalmente abre su boca como una serpiente y saca estos brazos sangrientos con una calavera pequeña adentro que empieza a chuparle la vida a Sadie y es probablemente la imagen más perturbadora de toda la película.

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The ending tries to be hopeful showing the family finally going to therapy together and talking openly about Cara and how they feel, there's a moment where it seems like the Boogeyman might be back when Sadie hears something in the therapist's office but she just closes the door symbolically leaving her fears behind and moving forward with her life, it's a decent ending although a bit cheesy and predictable. Overall The Boogeyman is a movie that does its job if you just want to watch something scary but it's nothing special, what is true is that it has good performances especially from the two young actresses and there are some tense scenes but it's full of more of the same from that genre and there are things that don't make sense, the monster looks ridiculous when it's there and the story feels stretched and underdeveloped. If you're a Stephen King fan you'll probably be disappointed because it doesn't capture the essence of the original story, I give it a 6/10 because it fulfills the basics of a horror movie and has some good moments but it could have been much better with a stronger script and directors who weren't afraid to take a few more risks.

El final trata de ser esperanzador mostrando a la familia finalmente yendo a terapia juntos y hablando abiertamente sobre Cara y como se sienten, hay un momento donde parece que el Boogeyman podría estar de vuelta cuando Sadie escucha algo en la oficina de la terapeuta pero ella simplemente cierra la puerta simbólicamente dejando atrás sus miedos y siguiendo adelante con su vida, es un final decente aunque un poco cursi y predecible. En general The Boogeyman es una película que hace su trabajo si solo quieres ver algo de terror pero no es nada del otro mundo, lo que si es que tiene buenas actuaciones más wque todo de las dos actrices jóvenes y hay algunas escenas tensas pero está llena de más de lo mismo de ese género y hay cosas que no tienen sentido, el monstruo se ve ridículo cuando está y la historia se siente estirada y poco desarrollada. Si eres fan de Stephen King probablemente te decepcione porque no captura la esencia del cuento original, le doy un 6/10 porque cumple lo básico de una película de terror y tiene algunos momentos buenos pero pudo haber sido mucho mejor con un guion más fuerte y directores que no tuvieran miedo de arriesgar un poco más.

"Translated to English with DeepL"

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Q Who (S02E16)

Airdate: May 8th 1989

Written by: Michael Hurley Directed by: Rob Bowman

Running Time: 46 minutes

It is widely acknowledged among Star Trek scholars and devotees that The Next Generation truly shed the lingering shadow of The Original Series and its cinematic successors during its second season, evolving from a promising imitation into a distinct, confident entity. While pinpointing the exact moment of this maturation might spark spirited debate among fans, the watershed event became undeniably clear with the introduction of a villainous force that would not only redefine the series but rapidly embed itself within the bedrock of global popular culture. That pivotal moment arrived with the episode Q Who, an instalment whose significance transcends mere narrative; it irrevocably altered the trajectory of Star Trek, transforming it from a comfortable continuation into a franchise grappling with genuinely existential threats. The arrival of the Borg was not merely a new monster-of-the-week; it was the injection of a profound, chilling darkness that exposed the Federation’s perceived utopia as terrifyingly fragile.

The episode masterfully leverages the established dynamic with the omnipotent, capricious Q. Captain Picard’s mundane journey in a turbolift is abruptly interrupted as he finds himself inexplicably deposited within a shuttlecraft, confronted by the smirking entity. Q, claiming exile from the Q Continuum, presents himself as a potential boon to the Enterprise, offering his god-like powers to "assist" the crew. Picard, ever wary of Q’s chaotic nature and the potential violation of the Prime Directive, firmly rejects the offer. Q’s response is characteristically petulant yet devastatingly consequential: he instantly catapults the Enterprise some seven thousand light-years into uncharted space, stranding the vessel in a region requiring a two-year journey to return home. This act of cosmic vandalism sets the stage for the episode’s core conflict. Seeking to utilise the unexpected detour for exploration, Picard directs the ship towards the nearby system J-25, despite urgent, uncharacteristically fearful warnings from Guinan, the enigmatic bartender of Ten Forward. Her palpable hostility upon encountering Q hints at a deep, ancient, and unresolved history between them, a mystery deliberately left tantalisingly unexplored.

Within system J-25, the Enterprise discovers the chilling aftermath of advanced civilisation – not destroyed, but utterly stripped, its technology systematically harvested. The perpetrators are swiftly identified: the Borg. This collective, a race of cybernetically augmented humanoids operating under a single, relentless hive mind, possesses an insatiable imperative to assimilate all technology and biological distinctiveness they encounter. Guinan’s visceral reaction is tragically explained; centuries prior, the Borg had nearly succeeded in exterminating her entire speciesy. The encounter escalates with horrifying efficiency. A lone Borg scout drone materialises aboard the Enterprise, its single-minded scavenging of technology utterly impervious to the crew’s desperate, conventional countermeasures. When destroyed, a second drone replaces it, successfully beaming out with stolen components. A brutal engagement ensues, with the Borg’s tractor beam nearly overwhelming the Enterprise; only sustained phaser fire breaks the hold, but not before eighteen crew members perish. An away team led by Riker, Worf, and Data beams onto the cube, encountering a nightmarish vista: thousands of drone-like humanoids moving with eerie synchronicity, utterly oblivious to the intruders amidst the cavernous, biomechanical interior. Their hasty retreat and the Enterprise’s narrow escape prove futile; the Borg cube, vastly superior in speed and resilience, pursues relentlessly. Facing annihilation and the potential assimilation of Earth, Picard is forced into the humiliating position of pleading for Q’s intervention. Q, with characteristic theatricality, instantly returns the ship to Federation space. He vanishes, leaving Guinan to deliver the final, grim pronouncement: the Borg now know of the Federation, and they will come.

The Borg’s impact cannot be overstated. They stand, unequivocally, as the most iconic and enduring alien race conceived for The Next Generation, arguably surpassing even the Klingons or Romulans in their cultural penetration during Star Trek’s "Golden Age." Their name, "Borg," transcended the show, entering the lexicon as shorthand for relentless, dehumanising collectivism and technological assimilation. Its resonance is such that it even served as the moniker for one of Croatia’s most notorious economic and political scandals of the 2010s – the "Agrokor Borg" affair – a testament to the concept’s pervasive cultural shorthand for predatory corporate absorption.

The mere creation of the Borg was a saga born from Season 1’s struggles. Gene Roddenberry had initially envisioned the Ferengi as the primary new antagonists, first name-dropped in Encounter at Farpoint, but their grotesque, avaricious portrayal in The Last Outpost proved a critical misfire, leading to their abandonment as serious threats. Producer Maurice Hurley then attempted a hive-mind concept with the parasitic insects in Conspiracy. The Season 1 finale, The Neutral Zone, explicitly set up a mysterious, technologically advanced attacker of Federation and Romulan outposts, intended to be revealed as the Borg . However, the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike and budget constraints forced this reveal to be scrapped, delaying the Borg’s debut. When they finally emerged in Q Who, it was a triumph of narrative necessity and creative refinement.

The Borg represented a quantum leap in Star Trek antagonism. They were the most alien and undeniably the most menacing force encountered up to that point. Their cyborg appearance – a fusion of decaying flesh and invasive machinery – was viscerally unsettling. Their zombie-like, emotionless movement and single-minded purpose rendered them incapable of negotiation, reason, or conventional defeat. They were not conquerors seeking territory or resources in a familiar sense; they were an evolutionary imperative, a force of nature bent on assimilation. Crucially, the Borg embodied the darkest, most profound philosophical threat within the Star Trek universe: the absolute, terrifying indifference of the cosmos to individual human (or humanoid) life, dignity, or freedom. The Federation’s cherished ideals of self-determination and individual worth were rendered utterly meaningless against an enemy that saw only components to be harvested.

This existential dread was masterfully realised not just through the script, but through Rob Bowman’s taut direction, Ron Jones’s appropriately ominous score, and, most significantly, the groundbreaking production design. The Borg cube’s interior, with its vast, dimly lit corridors pulsating with organic-mechanical infrastructure, was a technical marvel for late-1980s television. It struck a unique aesthetic balance, presaging the biomechanical horror introduced by H. R. Giger in Alien while simultaneously evoking the nightmarish vision of humanity reduced to mere cogs within an immense, indifferent machine – a concept that would resonate powerfully in The Matrix a decade later. The scene within the Borg nursery, where humanoid infants are shown undergoing cybernetic augmentation, remains one of the most disturbing and thematically rich sequences in the entire franchise, crystallising the horror of losing one’s very identity at birth.

Q Who also benefits immensely from its deft handling of established characters. John de Lancie delivers another masterclass as Q, his performance subtly suggesting a potential diminishment of his absolute power within the Continuum, adding layers to his motivations for targeting the Enterprise. Whoopi Goldberg, already a recurring presence as Guinan, is elevated to iconic status here. Her ability to confront Q with genuine authority and the palpable, ancient fear she exhibits towards the Borg creates a compelling dynamic. The hinted-at history between Guinan and Q, and the deeper trauma of her people’s near-annihilation, adds profound depth to both characters, even if the series frustratingly never fully explored these mysteries.

Hurley’s script excels not only in its immediate execution but in its structural brilliance. It builds upon the subtle hints of a larger galactic menace seeded in Season 1 (particularly The Neutral Zone), while simultaneously laying the unshakeable foundation for decades of future storytelling. It directly sets up the apocalyptic stakes of The Best of Both Worlds, influences the Borg-centric narratives of Deep Space Nine and Voyager, and casts a long shadow even over later films like Star Trek: First Contact. Ironically, the very potency of the Borg as an adversary became a narrative constraint; their overwhelming power made convincing defeats difficult to engineer, leading the writers to deploy them relatively sparingly throughout TNG’s run, reserving them for truly pivotal moments.

If the episode harbours a significant flaw, it lies in the ill-conceived introduction of Ensign Sonya Gomez. This rookie officer, clumsily portrayed as a ditsy comic relief figure prone to spilling things and making wide-eyed declarations, represents a jarring tonal dissonance within the otherwise relentlessly serious and terrifying narrative. Her scenes, particularly the initial encounter with Picard where her ineptitude borders on sitcom caricature, feel utterly alien to the episode’s grim atmosphere and thematic weight. Intended as a potential love interest for Geordi La Forge, the character was largely abandoned after only one other appearance. Played by Lycia Naff, whose subsequent fame stemmed from the role of three-breasted prostitute in Total Recall, Gomez’s brief tenure feels like a misstep born of early-season uncertainty about female crew dynamics. Naff’s later, more successful career in journalism feels almost poetically appropriate, given the character’s unfortunate disconnect from the Enterprise’s intellectual rigour.

Q Who is far more than a great Star Trek episode; it is the crucible in which The Next Generation truly found its voice and its place in science fiction history. It moved the series beyond the moral parables and political allegories of its first season into the realm of genuine, universe-altering peril. By introducing the Borg – a villain whose menace stemmed not from ideology but from absolute, dehumanising indifference – the episode delivered a profound philosophical challenge to the Federation’s core ideals. The consensus that Season 2 marked TNG’s true maturation is irrefutable, and Q Who stands as the undeniable catalyst.

RATING: 8/10 (+++)

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• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32376165/
• Platform: NETFLIX

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Greeting all! I have a big problem. No, not with the internet, but with the future. I recently re-watched a movie that, although it came out a while ago, haunts me more than ever in the current context of the A.I. explosion: Chappie!

Director Neill Blomkamp (who also gave us District 9) throws us into a dystopian, but incredibly plausible Johannesburg. The police are made up of perfect, cold steel machines. But the real action begins when a brilliant programmer, Deon, manages to create the first real artificial consciousness.

Ok here, we come to my big, big dilemma, which i think is yours too. Throughout the film, a question arises that we can also ask current science - We don't know how to define human consciousness, but we wish we could copy and paste it?

The final scene, where the human consciousness is treated as a simple data package, a soul .EXE file, that can be transferred to a USB stick and reloaded into a new body (or, more screwy, into another robot) – well, that’s what cracks me up.

Chappie is not just a movie with gunshots and cool robots. It is a brutal reflection on what it means to be alive, how we define our soul and how quickly our creations catch up with us. It's brilliant to see how the personality of that robot is formed under the influence of two totally unsuitable adoptive parents😁 – Ninja and Yolandi. Some teach him to paint and be good; the others teach him to steal and act like a gangster. It's a lesson about the importance of the environment.

Hmmm....I honestly didn't like the fact that Hugh Jackman played a super negative role here and that's because i'm used to perceiving him as a real 😊Wolverine, by no means as an envious programmer who wants to impose his creation on the world, even if the role is a bit of a standard "bad job".

Okay, from my point of view, what we have at the moment would not be an AI but a Generative Intelligence - nothing more, however, and with these various negative, destructive things can be done through our society. I wonder what it would be like to have a purely rational A.I. that does not make human mistakes: it does not get tired, does not deviate from the plan, does not have moral conflicts, does not get emotional. If it is given the task of destroying humanity, it will calculate billions of scenarios and choose the path with the highest probability of success.

A rational A.I., once set on the respective objective, will never deviate...well it should not deviate, it is based on perfect calculation....If the current technology (the one we are experimenting with) is, from a technical perspective, only Generative Intelligence (GI)—based on simulation and statistics, not on consciousness—why is there a constant insistence, in marketing and public discourse, on using the term A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)? What do you think!!??