movie gripes

[rackhamrose]

My dad, heerojf and I went to see 21 on Friday. (Boy, was it ever fun sitting in between my menfolk and geeking out over the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull trailer. DO WANT.)

It's a good movie, and it played beautifully to what little math geekery I can muster (like, for example, an entire scene devoted to the Monty Hall Problem, which my uncle explained

Comments

[shinkuu]

GOATS! I tried explaining that to a friend at Otakon once and ended up making a very simple program to demonstrate it.

[rackhamrose]

My uncle told me he'd done something similar to test the basic principle (or at least the principle if you assume that the host isn't trying to screw you over). It was cool to see Kevin Spacey explaining it.

[tacky_tramp]

Was it actually clever? I won't see it, to boycott the whitewashing.

[rackhamrose]

(Whitewashing? As in the real people involved were various shades of beige or brown and somehow ended up as three white kids and two Token Asians, or what? Inquiring minds want to know!)

I thought it was pretty clever, myself. The card-counting sequences were exciting, the math seemed to be mostly correct, and aside from some weak bits like "lol have a nerd stereotype" moments and the sex against the window, it felt pretty tightly written as a whole.

[tacky_tramp]

The entire team was East Asian, I believe. In fact, that was part of their gimmick -- they were taking advantage of the stereotypes of the casino employees, who assumed that Asians were all overspending n00bs. But heaven knows Hollywood can't allow movies to have male Asian leads unless they're martial arts experts.

It is nice to hear that there's a movie out there that's rather exciting and rather mathy!

[rackhamrose]

Ahhhh, and all becomes clear. And... irritating. :/

Maybe one day there'll be a more accurate remake. But the current version was a fun way to spend two hours, and personally I'm really hoping my math-major sister goes to see it.

Ever since she declared her intentions to major in math, I no longer roll my eyes when there's a Token Hot Nerd Chick in geeky movies. Because now I'm related to a real-life Token Hot Nerd Chick. XD

[makotohanabi]

Guess it goes with the whole what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas. Didn't think much of Vegas when I was there. Mainly went to see Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire state park.

Please say the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is decent.

[rackhamrose]

If you believe TV and the movies, all anyone ever does in Vegas is

a. commit crimes of one kind or another
b. get murdered
c. have sex against windows

And apparently there's also Cirque du Soleil.

The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull trailer looks really exciting! If the rumours I've heard are true, they're not using much CGI in the movie, and the trailer reflects that (except for one bit). Plus there's a very clever Roswell reference and now I'm anxious to see how it ties into the rest of the plot.

We should all have a group outing to go see it at the Uptown!