Copied from Rob's thread about a Saturday Party:
I intend to run a War Movie Marathon Friday night for players (and cast if they're equally capable of enjoying themselves under the stress) for as much people as we can reasonably fit in a room. I'll prolly pick up a case of beer or something.

I'd prefer for this to not turn into a Saturday-Night intensity party... mostly just getting pumped and watching some kickass flicks before getting sleep.

If you have a movie you want to toss up as a possibility let me know. I'll put together a list as the day gets closer. I figure we'll queue up a list of 5 and see how many we can get through.

Starship Troopers should be an automatic add, and also Aliens. I know they're both bug movies, but they're good against overhwleming odds type of movies. Plus Aliens has all the creepy underground complex fighting.

Aliens was already on my list. Starship Troopers is an excellent addition.

Part of me wants to say Avatar?

Power armor vs Genengineers

Versus you say? Maris asks why not both?!

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder Power armor vs Bugs!

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Leader of Vanguard Squad, Archipelago Liberation Forces

"Glory", I should think....

Firefly... Space ships, Colonization, Abominations/Cannibals (Reavers)... what else do you need?

GLORY

yes
Yes
YES

If any of Firefly or Serenity does end up getting shown, try to let me know when, and if my head is not completely exploded with game prep, I will totally try to make it for at least that segment.

I could see us watching some terminator movies too.

Jes sayin.

Kyle Reese is our Patron Saint on this mission. Grinner's got it right.

Chronicles of Riddick anyone?

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Leader of Vanguard Squad, Archipelago Liberation Forces

Oh come on, if we're gonna watch any of those movies let's watch Pitch Black.

Split the difference, Matrix Revolutions!

I got the first movie you posted, Michel. The Matrix was awesome. I haven't heard of the second, "Revolutions". What is this "Revolutions" you speak of?

One part action movie, two parts philosophy-fest and my favorite film.

I've been all over IMDB. The only "Revolution(s)" is that TV show.
Though there are some pretty good Mech fights on Youtube that look like they'd have come from a Matrix Sequel, if one existed.

wylfing.net

We can just watch The Matrix three times and pretend they made sequels.

/agreement

(prepares to receive incoming fire)

Whilst I truly love The Matrix, the premise of using a human body as a battery makes no sense. It takes much more energy to keep us alive than we would provide. I truly wish they could have come up with a more reasonable premise.

(runs to bunker)

Well yeah, that and how did Cypher get him self in and out of the Matrix when is entire backstab depended on that not being possible, that’s one of the things I’ve always considered odd the sequels are considered worse yet the first has more plot holes despite being far simpler.



Edited 2 times. Last edit at 11/22/12 10:53PM

Nope. Can't make that argument. That is part of the premise of the movie. What if this were true. Thats why it's science "fiction". If you want to nitpick scientific implausibilities then you can't enjoy any science fiction. It can always be proven impossible using real world science. It only needs to be internally consistant. In The Matrix part of the premise is that people can be used as batteries so you are required to look past that. If you can't look past the premise of a movie then there really are no science fiction movies that can be enjoyed. You can always find a flaw in the science. I could probably point out why almost any science fiction movie is scientifically implausible but that would mean we're not supposed to enjoy them, which defeats the purpose. And no this isn't a challenge for you to bring up a scientifically plausible sci fi movie.

Hold on. No flaming, now, but this is huge. This is along the order of entropy. This isn't like time travel, where you can argue a theoretically possible solution, or FTL travel, or pretty much anything under the "If only we were smart enough" situations. Organic systems in general require constant energy input, almost always the Sun (or some star, elsewhere) which the brothers eliminated almost immediately.

You could probably come up with a reasonable scenario where using an inefficient human battery made sense for plot purposes, but "No Solar, we need to do this to survive" isn't it.

Which doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the movie.

All scifi movies have that plot hole. You're attribuing your level of education to everyone. Sadly the majority of people don't know the second law of thermodynamics. As a biologist I could say the plothole in Jurrassic Park that DNA has a halflife so there is no way it could have been preserved in amber is huge. You feel its huge but that is the premise of the movie. What if machines started using people as batteries? One can tear down any science fiction movie for having plotholes but the fact is that using people as batteries is consistant with the rules set up for that movie world.

The argument "it's Science fiction" I feel is poor plot insulation. In TNG when it was pointed out that that teleportation is imposable do to (among other things) the heisenberg uncertainty principle, they inserted a device called the heisenberg compensator. Humorous sure, but it’s also an acknowledgment that they know it’s a problem and are winking at us.

The human batteries by contrast have no such acknowledgment and this was first pointed out to film’s producers by, ironically the wachowski brothers. The studio tweaked the first film quite a bit, like the final scene where Neo is talking to himself on the phone and a few other things so the film could stand alone, as at the time; it was believed it would not make enough money for a sequel. Luckily when watching the film now you can see several lead ins to Reloaded, shots of the Architect’s monitors the beginning of Smith’s nihilism, the prevalence of the number 101, ext.

Cop out. Just because Star Trek recognizes that it's impossible doesn't make it any less impossible. They also have plenty of other examples of impossible science which they don't recognize. In any case the point is not that it gets a pass because its science fiction. It's because it is internally consistent and uses that premise to set up the movie.

www.penny-arcade.com

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timothy xavier

Sure and both are internally consistent and that‘s what matters, but there is a difference between a contrivance handled well and one delivered in a way that makes your brain want to pack it in(great comic). A little more flavor text to explain why humans make better bio batteries then cows would have gone a long way, possibly by inserting it where the scene discussing transgender people was cut.



Edited 2 times. Last edit at 11/23/12 02:23PM

GET YOUR REALITY OUT OF MY SCIENCE!!!

spaceballs.....the movie.... that is all

Sabrina wins the argument.

D-Trip won my argument.

heehee she said balls.

Penny Arcade wins.