An AI-Written Short Film Is Surprisingly Hilarious

I honestly didn't think anything like this was possible, but Ars Technica has defied the impossible and has trained a computer to write a screenplay for a short film entitled Sunspring.

The way it accomplished the task was they had to first build an algorithm, which now calls itself Benjamin. They based it on text recognition and text prediction. Then they fed numerous sci-fi screenplays into the algorithm. After "learning" from the many different types of things that happen in a sci-fi movie, Benjamin was then given a few prompts to go on such as the title, a small scene, and an idea.

Then the impossible happens, Benjamin actually spits out a screenplay. The screenplay can be downloaded from Ars Technica's site (here).

Honestly what came out was exactly what one would expect from a text prediction algorithm. It is completely nonsensical and one of the worst things ever.

However, that isn't the most exciting part of this project because then a director and actors were hired to actually perform out the screenplay that was written by Benjamin. A lot of creative liberty had to be taken to make any sense of what was in the screenplay, but overall, the short film that was created is entirely based on what Benjamin created.

So without further adieu, I present to you the "Oscar caliber" short film adapted from the screenplay written by Benjamin the algorithm. Here is Sunspring.

That is the weirdest yet most interesting thing that I have ever seen, and I can't wait to see what else Benjamin can come up with.

I watched it a second time while reading the screenplay along with it, and it surprisingly made more sense that time. I'm still 100% confused, but the overarching story was a little more clear... if there is an overarching story. Anyways, so definitely give that a try as well.

So what do you think of Sunspring? Leave your comments below and remember to always keep it unpopped.

11.22.63 (Hulu)

11.22.63 is an eight part mini-series based on the novel by Stephen King. It features James Franco as an English teacher in 2016 that discovers the means to go back in time to the early '60s. So with this great power, what does he decide to do? Well, the only logical conclusion is to stop the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Will he be able to figure out the forces at play in time to save JFK, and will the past let him? Only time will tell.

The Good:

The thing that I liked most about the series is that when James Franco travels through the time hole, it always transports him to 1960. That means he has to spend 3 years following Lee Harvey Oswald and others attempting to find the best method of stopping the assassination. However, the more time he spends there, the more connected he gets to the people in the past.

The story was also really enjoyable and took many twists and turns that I wasn't expecting. Although Franco's main mission is to stop JFK's assassination, much of the story is dedicated to him meeting others. Since the series is broken up into eight parts, we get to spend a large amount of time with these characters, most of which are really enjoyable.

I also liked the time travel itself. The series establishes very clear rules for time travel early on,  and throughout most of the story these rules are strictly adhered to. I feel this differs from other time travel stories since most of them have a difficult time sticking to the rules that were established, but 11.22.63 sticks with them the entire way.

The Ehh:

Unfortunately one of the biggest disappointment with 11.22.63 is James Franco's performance. He is refreshingly different from his other roles since he is playing a well-educated semi-serious role. However, even with his different performance, he overall just seems bland and uninterested in many things he encounters. There are times when he does break out of this and shows a large range of emotion, but most of the time it's pretty flat.

The Bad:

The best part of the series were the first 6 episodes. For some reason I found the last 2 to be the low point of the story. There are still interesting moments and seeing the story come to a close was still fulfilling, but compared to the 6 episodes that preceded, they just seemed a little less interesting.

Conclusion:

Even though 11.22.63 was my first Hulu original series, I was very pleased with the story that was told and I honestly can not recommend it highly enough.

What are your thoughts of 11.22.63, and what are some of your favorite time travel movies or TV shows? Let me know below, and remember to always keep it unpopped.

11.22.63 is rated TV Mature for language (a lot of f-bombs) and violence (it can get pretty brutal occasionally). All 8 episodes are available for streaming with a Hulu subscription.

Angie Tribeca Season 1 (Hulu)

Angie Tribeca is a spoof on procedural police dramas that was created by Steve Carell (The Office) and his wife, Nancy Walls Carell. The 10 episode comedy initially premiered with a 24 hour marathon on TBS. Angie Tribeca is much in the vein of Police Squad, Naked Gun, and Airplane, so if you enjoy those kinds of movies, this show will probably be right up your alley. With Angie Tribeca finally coming over to Hulu, I've been able to watch it and tell you all what I thought.

I need to begin this review off by saying that I'm not a huge fan of satire as a comedic tool. That could be because I haven't seen many, I still have not seen Airplane, Hot Shots, or Scary Movie. However, I enjoy many of Mel Brooks movies. Spaceballs is one of my all-time favorite movies. So even though satires aren't my favorite there was still a lot to like in Angie Tribeca.

The Good:

The characters. Rashida Jones (Parks & Recreation) plays Angie Tribeca, and although she was honestly my least favorite character as Anne in Parks & Rec, she does a great job as a detective in this spoof. On top of Rashida Jones, everyone in Angie Tribeca do an excellent job delivering ridiculous dialog with a completely straight face.

The writing. One of my biggest problems with satire in general is that many of the jokes are too crude for my humor. Luckily, Angie Tribeca premiered on TBS, so the humor had to be kept at a PG-13 rating, and while that hurts comedies sometimes, I felt that the writers had find ways to be more clever and they ended up finding a sweet spot. And while there are still some jokes that do miss the mark, the pace is so quick that there is always something funny right around the corner.

The cameos. Like any good spoof, there are a number of cameos throughout the show. Many of them are quick and may have only 1 or 2 lines, but the surprise and humor that they bring are almost always worth it.

The opening. I don't want to give away how every episode of the show opens, but fans of CSI: Miami will definitely get a laugh at the beginning of every episode. I enjoyed seeing how the opening was going to be spun.

The Ehh:

As I said before, there are some jokes that fall flat, but they can't all be winners. So I'll give it a pass.

The Ugh-ly:

Nothing!

Conclusion:

Angie Tribeca isn't revolutionary in its style or humor, and I wouldn't even call it a great television show, but it did keep me entertained for 10 episodes and I'm very excited to see what they bring in season two. I even can see me putting it on in the background like I do with other comedies.

So if you like straight procedural police dramas or satires, and honestly even then the show might not be for you, and that's ok. I'd say give give Angie Tribeca at least a one episode try, and if you don't like the first episode, you won't like the others much either.


So that's what I thought of Angie Tribeca Season 1, what did you think? And what other comedy satires do you like? Leave your comments below, and remember to always keep it unpopped!

Angie Tribeca, now streaming on Hulu.

Pleasantville (Netflix)

My wife and I were searching for something to watch on Netflix. After a few minutes of searching my wife said, "I'm going to put on Pleasantville." It has been many, many years since I had the pleasure (That will be my only pun... probably) to watch Pleasantville completely through.

Luckily, seeing a younger Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon enter this 1950's black and white universe was just as great as I remembered.

The Good:

The use of color is nothing short of spectacular. Seeing black and white characters interacting with their color environment or even with other full color characters is extremely striking. I can't even imagine the time it took to make sure that not a single pixel of a character was the wrong color. This was apparent in one particular scene. After the mom changes into color, Tobey Maguire applies makeup to help cover it up, so as to not hurt her husband. Once the application is complete, her eyes are still every so slightly green, like the actresses. That little touch shows that they really took care to make it perfect.

Also, the black and white TV show troupes were absolutely hilarious. Seeing the movie presented as a fish-out-of-water story was definitely the best way to go. It allowed Tobey and Reese's characters the ability to point out just how ridiculous the world of Pleasantville really is.

The Ehh:

Most of the message of the movie was to show how choices affect our life and how we shouldn't be afraid to make those choices. However, there was a weird point in the movie when the movie turned from about making choices into straight up racism. As far as story telling goes, the script demanded that it escalated to that caliber, but it just seemed to hit a little too hard for a little too long. It would have been find if the fear of color was the focal point through the whole movie, but it wasn't, the fear of change was.

The Bad:

The ending was kind of weird. The sister stays in Pleasantville, the brother goes home and the tv mother is with her husband or maybe the diner owner. The ending just felt thrown together without giving reasons for what was going on or why.

Conclusion:

I really enjoyed watching Pleasantville again. It was just as funny as I remembered and just as good.

I looked up the director and saw that it was the first movie directed by Gary Ross. Ross is the same director of Seabiscuit, The Hunger Games, and one of my most anticipated movies of 2016, Free State of Jones (trailer below). After seeing Pleasantville again, now I'm even more excited for this film.

If you have a Netflix account, maybe it's time to revisit the good old days of 1954 through the eyes of the 1998 movie Pleasantville.

That is what I though of Pleasantville. What did you think? And what are your thoughts on Free State of Jones? Let me know below with your unpopped comments and what other streaming films should I watch for the first time or spend time to revisit.

'71 (Hulu)

Today I watched the 2014 film '71. It features Jack O'Connell as a rookie British Soldier that gets separated from his unit during a riot in Belfast, Northern Ireland at the height of The Troubles in 1971.

Being an average American, I am regrettably uninformed when it comes to international political uprisings. However, I do find them very intriguing and love to learn more about them. So when I first heard of '71 in 2015, I had hoped to eventually be able to see it. Well, it is now on Hulu streaming for everyone's viewing pleasure, and what a pleasure it was.

What I liked so much about '71 was the realism of the whole situation. The entire movie takes place throughout the streets of Northern Ireland where the locals are fed up with the occupation of British Soldiers. Although the movie was relatively small in scope, in that it only follows Gary Hook (O'Connell) fleeing angry locals, you could feel the tension between the locals and soldiers.

'71 also has a way of being extremely relevant in today's society. It depicts both police brutality and the extreme effects that rioting has on a local community. Although it focuses very heavily on these subjects, it does so without being too "preachy." It accomplishes this by not taking a side one way or the other, but instead, showing how both aspects can destroy a local community.

If these types of themes aren't your kind of thing, don't let that deter you, there is still a lot more to enjoy. After Hook gets assigned to his station at Belfast, it is almost a non-stop thriller focused on if he is going to get out alive. Being surrounded by locals that hate him, Hook has to find unlikely allies to help get him back to his barracks.

The only caveat I will state is that the movie is British made were the f-bomb is much more common in film. So expect to hear a rather large amount peppered throughout.

'71 is a non-stop, entertaining thriller that was so exciting that I could hardly look away. If you have a Hulu account, there really is very little reason to not see '71 at some point.

What did you think of '71? Leave your unpopped comments below and let me know of other streaming movies that you would recommend.

Pee Wee's Big Holiday (Video)

Paul Reubens returns as the child trapped inside a man's body that we all love

2001: A Space Odyssey (Netflix)

15 years ago 2001 has come and gone. There are no space stations on the moon, no manned missions to Jupiter, but artificial intelligence could be right around the corner. 2001: A Space Odyssey was recently added to Netflix. Does Stanley Kubrick's '68 classic stand up to more modern space epics?

Having been born in the 80's I am one of many people alive today that did not have the opportunity to see 2001 in the theaters. I also never put aside the time to actually sit down and watch it... until now. Having never seen 2001 before, my hope is to bring a unique and modern look at whether the film holds up to today's standards.

The Good:

+ The visuals are the first thing anyone should notice in the 2001. And let me say... they hold up perfectly. I love modern technology and they way that it allows us to create anything with computers. Allowing us to literally see anything we can imagine. But there is something to say about the earlier movies and the way that had to create techniques and tricks just to get close to what they were imagining.

+ The sets. Rotating space stations that simulate gravity is one thing, but then to utilize those sets to find unique angles for shooting the film is remarkable. Almost every angle is slightly angles to give the illusion that directionality is all relative in space.

+ The silence. "In space no one can hear you scream." Modern movies feel that there always has to be something going on. A character talking, singing, or dancing. Maybe some traffic in the background. Or in Michael Bay's case, maybe a few explosions. However, in 2001 the suspense get to build, not with sound tracks or action, but with visuals. It is truly a perfect way to depict space.

+ HAL 9000. "I'm sorry Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that." The monotone robot voice is the perfect creepy antagonist needed for any good sci-fi movie. And 2001 was the perfecter of it.

+ The Ending. I loved Interstellar even though there were many people out there that didn't. If you didn't like Interstellar's ending then you probably won't like this. It is just as weird and confusing which I personally love.

The Ehhh:

~ Evil AI. I only give this an ehhh, because today it is a very common theme. Every other  movie depicts some kind of Artificial Intelligence that is out to destroy humanity.

~ The pacing. I'm going to preface this that much like the silence i mentioned before, I actually do like the pacing. However, I can see that many modern audiences might see this movie and be turned off by it's slow pacing. Just know that the silence and the pacing is done to building the story and represent the isolation of space travel. So put the phone down, sit back and just relax as you take in the stunning visuals.

The Ugh-ly:

- The characters. Ok... I'm cheating with this one a little. The small cast does a remarkable job acting their parts. However, all I saw was generic guy #1 and generic guy #2. I never remember their names, or even have any idea what there personalities were. The only defining mark was their hair style, but even that made it difficult for me to tell who was who.

Overview:

2001: A Space Odyssey, even with its forgetful characters and slow pacing, truly shows how a great director can sculpt a masterpiece of a film. If I ever see it come into a local theater, I will definitely have to make time to see it on the big screen.

Grade: See in Theaters (if possible)