Limitless - 2011

Category: Movie

Genre: Sci-Fi

Writer: Leslie Dixon and Alan Glynn

Director: Neil Burger

Producer: Relativity Media, Virgin Produced, Rogue

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Robert de Niro, Abbie Cornish, Andrew Howard, Anna Friel, Johnny Whitworth, Tomas Arana, Robert John Burke and more

Tagline: What if a pill could make you rich and powerful?

This is about a desperate writer Eddie named Morra (Cooper), who was rejected by his girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) and confirms his belief about himself about not having a future. One day an old friend introduces to him an experimental drug called NZT, that allows him to be laser focused and more confident than any man alive and allows him to use 100 percent of his mind. As he becomes into the perfect version of himself, and begins to rise in the top of the financial world, he begins to draw the attention of Carl Van Loon (De Niro), a business mogul.

I was actually intrigued by the concept, a pill that can allow you to tap the untapped potential of the human brain. Of course, the ideal way would be achieving it through Self Mastery.... but then in a very Western way of thinking, they would always come up with a "pill solution" for everything. It's quite thrilling but it could use room for some improvement here and there and it would be a spectacular blockbuster! :) But, nevertheless, it was a good concept and I enjoyed it. :)

Network - 1976

Category: Movie

Genre: Classic

Director: Sidney Lumet

Writer: Paddy Chayefsky

Producer: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), United Artists and more

Cast: Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall, Wesley Addy, Ned Beatty, Arthur Brughardt, Bill Burrows, John Carpenter, Jordan Charney and more

Tagline: Prepare yourself for a perfectly outrageous motion picture!

The corporate structure of the UBS Television network is changing. Meanwhile, Howard Beale, the aging news anchor of UBS, is losing his once strong ratings share and so UBS decides to fire him. Beale reacts to it in an unexpected way which affected the ratings of the network.

Saw a trailer of this movie over youtube, actually a clip and i found it interesting and decided to check it out. Indeed it is a classic. It deals with the subject of television and programming and how it is far becoming a source of mass madness. Also it is also how TV networks are working right now....

Its also an answer to the question of: "How can one individual influence society when the individual is influenced by society itself."

It is tricky right? :)

Classic and needs creative thinking whenever you watch this film. I love the script! :)


LINES I LIKE...

Howard Beale: I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, God damn it! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"


Max Schumacher: You need me. You need me badly. Because I'm your last contact with human reality. I love you. And that painful, decaying love is the only thing between you and the shrieking nothingness you live the rest of the day.
 Diana Christensen: Then, don't leave me.
 Max Schumacher: It's too late, Diana. There's nothing left in you that I can live with. You're one of Howard's humanoids. If I stay with you, I'll be destroyed. Like Howard Beale was destroyed. Like Laureen Hobbs was destroyed. Like everything you and the institution of television touch is destroyed. You're television incarnate, Diana. Indifferent to suffering; insensitive to joy. All of life is reduced to the common rubble of banality. War, murder, death are all the same to you as bottles of beer. And the daily business of life is a corrupt comedy. You even shatter the sensations of time and space into split seconds and instant replays. You're madness, Diana. Virulent madness. And everything you touch dies with you. But not me. Not as long as I can feel pleasure, and pain... and love.
Max Schumacher: And it's a happy ending: Wayward husband comes to his senses, returns to his wife, with whom he has established a long and sustaining love. Heartless young woman left alone in her arctic desolation. Music up with a swell; final commercial. And here are a few scenes from next week's show.

19 Purchase Street - Gerald A Browne

Category: Book

Genre: Corporate

Author: Gerald A. Browne


Andrew Gainer's sister was murdered one day and he swore that he will avenge the murder of his sister together with his lover, Leslie. Gainer then joins a cabal operated by a master strategist. Racing through Manhattan, Zurich and Paris, this is a pulsing, sophisticated thriller.

It took me awhile to really get on with the story.... but however once I picked up it just went on and led me to a story of vast amount of money, greed, revenge and murder.


Books by Gerald A. Browne:

Stone 588

Inception - 2010

Category: Movie

Genre: Action, Mystery & Sci-Fi

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writer: Christopher Nolan

Producer: Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Syncopy

Tagline: The Dream is Real.

Cast: Leonardo di Caprio, Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy and more.


The movie is about Dom Cobb (Leonardo di Caprio) who is a world class skilled thief a.k.a an extractor when it comes to stealing valuable secrets from someone's subconscious in dream state. The rare ability that Cobb has opened up a new world of corporate espionage but it also made him a fugitive. Now, someone is offering him one last job where he can return to his country and get his life back if he can do something other than stealing an idea from someone's mind but plant one - called Inception. He then looks up for the perfect team for the task.

This is one of the best of the Hollywood movies I've ever seen. It's something different from the usual Sci-Fi - robot-filled scenario... but they delved into the subconscious. I watched it twice. It's a highly original film that I consider it's one of the best movies in 2010. (Although I am aware about the technicalities when it comes to "dreams" because they claimed he was just inconsistent with some theories.) but, wth? i was entertained.

Leonardo di Caprio did great... as usual... but this time... it is not only him who would get your attention but he shared the limelight with the rest of the team. I love all of the actors. They were really perfect for their roles. I love the twist of the movie... gives you the adrenaline edge even if it's all about "dreams". Great great great. I could watch it over and over again. A couple of years and this would be a classic - must see film!!!

this was my favorite scene:

Ariadne: What's happening?
Arthur: Your subconscious is looking for the dreamer; me. Quick, give me a kiss.
Ariadne: [She kisses him and then looks around]
Ariadne: They're still looking at us.
Arthur: Yeah, it was worth a shot.

Haha.


Saito: Don't you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone!

Cobb: You create the world of the dream, you bring the subject into that dream, and they fill it with their subconscious.
Ariadne: How could I ever acquire enough detail to make them think that its reality?
Cobb: Well dreams, they feel real while we're in them, right? It's only when we wake up that we realize how things are actually strange. Let me ask you a question, you, you never really remember the beginning of a dream do you? You always wind up right in the middle of what's going on.
Ariadne: I guess, yeah.
Cobb: So how did we end up here?
Ariadne: Well we just came from the a...
Cobb: Think about it Ariadne, how did you get here? Where are you right now?
Ariadne: We're dreaming?
Cobb: You're actually in the middle of the workshop right now, sleeping. This is your first lesson in shared dreaming. Stay calm.

Cobb: What do you want?
Saito: Inception. Is it possible?
Arthur: Of course not.
Saito: If you can steal an idea, why can't you plant one there instead?
Arthur: Okay, this is me, planting an idea in your mind. I say: don't think about elephants. What are you thinking about?
Saito: Elephants?
Arthur: Right, but it's not your idea. The dreamer can always remember the genesis of the idea. True inspiration is impossible to fake.
Cobb: No, it's not.

Arthur: So, a totem. It's a small object, potentially heavy, something you can have on you all the time...
Ariadne: What, like a coin?
Arthur: No, it has to be more unique than that, like - this is a loaded die.
[Ariadne reaches out to take the die]
Arthur: Nah, I can't let you touch it, that would defeat the purpose. See only I know the balance and weight of this particular loaded die. That way when you look at your totem, you know beyond a doubt you're not in someone else's dream.

Disclosure - Michael Crichton

Category: Books

Genre: Corporate

Author: Michael Crichton

Overview and Review of Disclosure by Michael Crichton.

*Already a Movie

A book that involves Title VII, Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Title VII is a shattering case that would ruin a person's career and family.

This story involves Tom Sanders an up-and-coming executive at a a computer firm called DigiCom. Tom Sanders is a man whose corporate future is certain after working for about a decade in the company. Everybody in the company thought Tom Sanders would lead the AGP Division and would be deemed as Vice-President of the company, but they were wrong. A woman, named Meredith Johnson, Tom Sander's ex-lover back in Cupertino would be everybody's new boss.

After a closed-door meeting with Tom's new boss, Meredith - Sanders finds himself caught in a nightmare where he was branded as a villain.

Sanders tries to defend himself from the accusation, while doing so he unravels an electronic trail into the company's secrets.

At the afterword it says that this novel was based on a true story. But, it is also important to emphasize the fact that the story in it's present form is fiction. Because, all the information and necessary facts can be a risk to individuals and corporations involved, it was but necessary to disguise the real event with utmost care. All the principals in this case agreed to be interviewed with the understanding that their identification would not be revealed.

A clever, swell corporate-slash-techie-slash-law thriller. A modern technology with intrigue. Just like Robert Ludlum, Crichton sure knows how to keep the story moving, saving the best for last. This book shows that sexual harassment is not reserved for men on high positions but for women who can be at the top as well. I think, the book stresses the point that Harassment involves Power and thus it doesn't matter whether you are male or female. Anyone is capable.
Nice intriguing, informative and eye-opening book. I also love the techie jargon in this book. I still like his "Jurassic Park" novel better. Hehe.

Recommend: For people who loves "law and order" stories, "techie people", or for people who is into "corporate intrigue".