I'm sorry Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that ...
The title for this week’s update (no film review) is the infamous line spoken by HAL 9000, the malevolent computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Everybody’s talking about it: artificial intelligence. ChatGPT, IBM’s Watson, and AlphaGo … where are we headed? Should we be worried? Are all the AIs going to gang up on us and wipe out the human race, or perhaps a more pressing question: has school homework become obsolete?
Starting with Fritz Lang’s Metropolis in 1927 cinema has been prescient in exploring these themes. So for our promised double bill next week ReidsonFilm will be looking at two films with something to say about artificial intelligence.
The first is the 2013 Spike Jonze film, nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, Her. The second was not nominated for an Oscar and was described by the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw as ‘a soggy mess’: Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001).
Where words fail, music speaks - Hans Christian Andersen
ReidsonFilm have now posted on 18 films. If you have missed any you can find our back catalogue here:
One thing we have particularly appreciated is the integral part that music and scores play in making or breaking a film. So for your delectation here is a select playlist taken from our films to date:
And finally … in Dreams The filmmaker David Lynch has yet to feature on ReidsonFilm, although a number of our films have Lynchian themes and motifs. We put together our own ranking of his filmography (not including TV). Let us know if you agree:
1 Mulholland Drive (2001)
2 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
3 Blue Velvet (1986)
4 The Straight Story (1999)
5 Lost Highway (1997)
6 Eraserhead (1977)
7 The Elephant Man (1980)
8 Wild at Heart (1990)
9 Dune (1984)
… and Inland Empire (2006)? Need to see it.
See you next week.
Flouting the principle of cabinet collective responsibility again ...
Lynch is alway watchable but even he demurs: "I started selling out on Dune. Looking back, it's no one's fault but my own." Of course we had a near miss with El Topo director (see our review), Alejandro Jodorowsky's failed effort with his plan to have Salvador Dali as the Emperor and Pink Floyd doing the soundtrack.
If Inland Empire is Finnegan's Wake, surely Twin Peaks: The Return is Ulysses. In years to come, it will be recognised as the programme that changed TV for ever.
As for The Elephant Man, top of the list for any other filmmaker but not for Lynch surely? Having said that hard to argue with 8 Oscar nominations including Best Director ...
Even as a contributor to this post, I have to express my personal disapproval with Dune being at the bottom of the list. The film is by no means perfect, but compare it to the drab, sterile portrayal of Arrakis in Denis Villeneuve’s recent marvel reboot of Dune. It’s Lynch pulling out all the surreal stops - a rare and entertaining treat. The problem with Lost Highway is that it’s not quite Blue Velvet and not quite Mulholland Drive - I say take that down a peg or two.
Inland Empire can’t be rated against other films - it’s the Finnegan’s Wake of cinema.