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Speaking of unique aliens...

...notice how they physically emote.
Finally saw this...great movie.

(Nov 12, 2016 09:50 PM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]I still haven't seen Arrival (maybe this week).

But I'm told that it's very philosophical (by movie standards anyway). Apparently it revolves around the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, that holds that what we can think about, how we perceive things and our cognition in general is determined (or at least influenced, there are strong and weak versions) by our language's store of concepts and the logical syntax that ties it together. The characters actually talk about this Sapir-Whorf idea in the movie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity

I haven't seen it either.  It's not playing here yet.

That's fascinating, isn’t it, Yazata?  I had never even thought about it before until I read this article on how it can affect our perception of time.  It’s weird, huh?

How Languages Construct Time

A Different Sense of Blame in Japanese and Spanish

How Does Our Language Shape the Way We Think

The Effect of Language on Economic Behavior

(Nov 12, 2016 09:50 PM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]Apparently the movie has a surprise ending, but I don't know what it is.

Thankfully "It's a cookbook" can at least be ruled out as a possibility. (*v*)

This looks good.  

"It’s based on a true story about an African-American female mathematician Katherine Johnson, and her two colleagues Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, who helped NASA catch up in the Space Race.  Their calculations allowed John Glenn to become the first American astronaut to make a complete orbit of the Earth."

The Girl Who Loved to Count

Saw Hacksaw Ridge the other day. Mel Gibson is the new Sam Peckinpah, battle scenes pretty graphic. Good story, hard to believe the US army would be so anal over a guy who wanted to be a medic. But I guess that's the way it was. Huge bonzai charge by Japanese army seemed like the worst military tactic one could choose but then again we're not made aware of just how desperate they may have been at that particular time. I left wondering just how many heroic acts were committed by soldiers who never got a chance to relate them to anyone, IOW's story's not logged or lost forever.....must be hundreds.

Not sure why the scene where Japanese commander commits Hara-kiri was included. Seemed out of place, even for a war flick. 

I liked it. I give it 4 of 5. Looking forward to viewing Arrival soon.

(Nov 12, 2016 09:50 PM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]I still haven't seen Arrival (maybe this week).

But I'm told that it's very philosophical (by movie standards anyway). Apparently it revolves around the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, that holds that what we can think about, how we perceive things and our cognition in general is determined (or at least influenced, there are strong and weak versions) by our language's store of concepts and the logical syntax that ties it together. The characters actually talk about this Sapir-Whorf idea in the movie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity

So... as our linguist-protagonist gradually learns a totally alien language, she starts perceiving and thinking in a brand new way. Her companion is a physicist and there's stuff about the illusory nature of 'now', about 4-D block-time and all kinds of stuff. The movie gets a bit psychedelic.

The aliens are anatomically like giant octopusses, with blobby radially symmetrical bodies with eyes all around, supported by large tentacles that can function both as arms and legs. They stay behind a transparent barrier in a fog-like vapor and apparently aren't oxygen breathers.

They can "speak" with sounds that come out of a hole on top of them, but our linguist isn't sure that she can recognize their language's phonemes even with a spectrum analyzer. She certainly can't reproduce the unearthly sounds with her voice. So everyone opts for writing. The aliens write with octopus-like ink that comes out of their tentacles and forms Japanese brush-stroke-like patterns. And as our heroine learns to understand it, she finds her consciousness... changing.

Zen octopuses! Who knew?!

Apparently the movie has a surprise ending, but I don't know what it is.

I saw Arrival and was much impressed by it's realistic and thought out approach to the first contact trope. What I liked the best is living in that moment when the aliens first arrive. The literal chaos and dissonance that moment brings to the human race. Life going along like everyday, and then BAM!--here they are! Reality just turned into a sci-fi novel, and we're all left wondering what the hell to make of it all. That fascinates me. When man is confronted with a totally alien being and how he deals with that insane intrusion into everything he thinks he knows. In the movie not everyone recruited to communicate with the aliens survives it. Many start throwing up and have a nervous breakdown. It's too much to handle. What really makes this interesting is that it is a totally feasible event in our future. What a strange reality we would suddenly be hurled into. "Monsters are real Tommy. Now go back to sleep." What a stranger reality we may already be living in!

UP!

Did not enjoy Arrival. When I think of the most historic event that could ever occur on Earth, contact with intelligent extraterrestrials, the last thing I expected was psychic mumbo jumbo. What that was doing in there I can't figure out. Has anyone collected Randi's prize, I think not. Not only that but the usual hysteria and violent reactions one come to expect from humans in these first contact flicks is present. Near the end when the soldiers in the field pulled out submachine guns I thought, 'Are you kidding me?' I still can't figure out the explosive charge scene, why was that in there? What were they expecting that to accomplish? Aliens were some of the worst I ever seen in a movie, giant cephalopods who groan like they're starring in The War of the Worlds. The Muppets are more realistic. Worst sci fi movie since Keanu Reeves played Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still.

(Nov 30, 2016 03:20 AM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: [ -> ]Did not enjoy Arrival. 

I was finally able to see both Hacksaw Ridge and Arrival.  I enjoyed them both.  The sad part in Arrival was when she became aware of why her husband had left her.  He thought she had made a poor choice but she had no regrets.

(Dec 3, 2016 04:04 AM)Secular Sanity Wrote: [ -> ]

(Nov 30, 2016 03:20 AM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: [ -> ]Did not enjoy Arrival. 

I was finally able to see both Hacksaw Ridge and Arrival.  I enjoyed them both.  The sad part in Arrival was when she became aware of why her husband had left her.  He thought she had made a poor choice but she had no regrets.

The whole idea of a clairvoyant being present/involved at the greatest moment in man's history was too much for me. Turned me right off. Giant squids didn't help much either. When I get like that early in a flick I have trouble refocusing on the rest of the film. Can't remember the line near the end so I'm paraphrasing but it went something like 'Let's go make a baby" .  How many times has that line been uttered by a guy hoping for sexual conquest? How many times has it been successful?   I'd rather believe MR's stories before anything that movie put forward.