Watch the trailer in High Definition: 1080 | 720 | 480
I’m really quite looking forward to this as I’m a big fan of pretty much anything Holmesian and think Guy Ritchie has found his form again with his last film RocknRolla.
Year: 2009
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HMRC could use Identity Register to enforce tax
Henry Porter of the Guardian writes that ID cards could grant the taxman access to your bank records
Secondary legislation laid before parliament last week reveals that the taxman will have access to the log of a person’s major transactions, hotel bookings, airline tickets, holidays, car payment plans etc. Naturally the subject of this inspection will have no idea that HM Revenue and Customs is examining their spending log or what deductions, false or otherwise, will be made.
It seems that the fears of opponents to the ID card system were in fact well-founded. The system isn’t even in place yet and there is already function creep.
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CCTV has little effect on crime
The Guardian reports that CCTV schemes in city and town centres have little effect on crime.
The review of 44 research studies on CCTV schemes by the Campbell Collaboration found that they do have a modest impact on crime overall but are at their most effective in cutting vehicle crime in car parks, especially when used alongside improved lighting and the introduction of security guards.
CCTV has become like security theatre, the cameras’ primary purpose is to make it look like something is being done about crime in a particular location.
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Nitpicking Angels and Demons
My stream of consciousness review/nitpick of the movie Angels and Demons based on the novel by Dan Brown.
Lab coats at CERN! Maybe, but not likely if they are doing all their science sat behind computers. I guess it’s a shortcut to indicate that these people are “scientists”.
Looks like it was really the LHC and the Vatican.
Apparently it wasn’t really the Vatican.
Father Marco Fibbi, a spokesman for the Diocese of Rome, said: “Normally we read the script but this time it was not necessary. The name Dan Brown was enough.”
The ambigram thing that is a significant plot point defies logic as they clearly have been created by the producers of the movie so naturally cannot have been nigh on impossible to create and believable as a thing of myth.
Vittoria upon discovering Silvano murdered says “my God!”. In situations like that surely people revert to their first language which would be Italian in this case so “Dio mio” is more correct.
Illuminati before they became violent were scientists who were driven underground.
– Are you anti-Catholic?
– No I’m anti-vandalism!Extremely combustible material known as antimatter. Strictly speaking no it isn’t combustible, but how do you describe antimatter/matter annihilation and the resulting massive release of energy? The God particle is mentioned. Not in the book but makes more sense for this to be an issue for the Vatican and the questions over the creation of the universe that this raises. Two opposing forces will annihilate. Paralleling antimatter/matter annihilation with the Vatican/Science conflict.
Destruction of the Vatican through light is the ancient Illuminati threat.
Four fundamental elements of science. Fire, Earth, Air and Water.
1668 – Church kidnapped and branded four scientists.
Neat framing for a thriller in that they have until midnight to thwart the plan to destroy the Vatican.
Would the Camerlengo really be Irish?
Energy research! In reality in order to create antimatter you need to put in more energy than you would get out.
English is the language of radicals. Shakespeare and Chaucer! That is why Galileo used it for his secret path of illumination message.
Treasure hunt where they only work out the next destination just too late.
Better thriller than The Da Vinci Code even if it is based upon pseudoscience and religious myth and misrepresents the conflict between science and religion.
– Stem Cell research is murder.
– Condemning sick people to die.
– Man is not God.There have been incidents in the past where the Vatican has tried to suppress science and scientists and many religious people nowadays feel under attack by those in the scientific community particular in regards to evolution. But the film really overhypes the situation. The conflict between science and religion isn’t really that extreme.
It’s a race against time to save the cardinals and yet Langdon still has time to wash himself and change his clothes. Plus they are being extremely slow in the switching off lights sector by sector in the Vatican city plan.
How does Vittoria, a physicist, have knowledge outside of her field of expertise and be able to describe the signs of a possible overdose of the Pope’s medicine?
Why would the Vatican archives not have a failsafe should power be lost? In this case it is obviously not an accident as it would mean having to turn of the backup as well as the primary power to the archives. This coupled with the theory that the pope was murdered indicates an inside job and hence a very limited number of suspects. However neither group knows at this point of the information the other has gathered.
Camerlengo arguing for a kind of Vatican III. End the brutal battle between science and religion. Science too young to understand.
The pacing of the film is wildly off. The second hour i.e. between murders 2&3 is much longer than the first and third hours. Between the third and fourth murder 14 minutes shrinks to 5 minutes in about 30 seconds.
Good misdirection with the mercenary, he’s in it for the money not for the cause, and then Commander Richter of the Swiss Guard acting strangely.
Why was Silvano conflicted? Is it only about the so called God particle? Surely he was pursuing this area of study to prove God’s part in creation not dismiss God as creator.
And again the Camerlengo must be lacking in faith if he believes that science was seeking to and could take away the power of creation.
Doesn’t matter whether you believe or not events can be interpreted both ways. God sent Langdon to save the church or perhaps he did not.
More factual errors made by Dan Brown in the novel Angels and Demons.
CERN’s response to the questions moviewatchers may have about them and the LHC following the movie.
Edit: More things occur to me regarding the film.
Why reveal the plan to kill the cardinals at the appointed hours? It only introduces more chnace for the plan to fail.
You can understand why the Swiss Guard might initially be distrustful of Langdon but why when he has proved himself as on the same side do they continue to hinder his efforts.
Also the film will further the confusion of laypeople between the creation of antimatter and the search for the so called God particle at CERN.
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Review: Angels & Demons
Angels & Demons is a good but flawed thriller that revolves around the quest of Robert Langdon a Harvard University professor to unravel a plot to annihilate Vatican City by the secret society called the Illuminati using antimatter stolen from CERN.
I think that this is a very good adaptation of Dan Brown’s book and is my opinion an improvement over the book. The film is an action packed and pacey thriller whose main flaw I feel are due to the source material. As a sequel it is also an improvement over the movie of The Da Vinci Code as there is significantly less standing about and spieling off of expository bits of dialogue. Also where the end of The Da Vinci Code seemed to fizzle out to nothing Angels & Demons has a very explosive finale.
The one flaw with the pacing of the film is that the structure of the plot with rigid deadlines to be met means that variations in pacing become noticeable where one hour between events passes quickly the next hour can pass much slower.
There have been a a number of changes made in the adaptation which tighten up the story. There is much less set at CERN although it looks like that they really did film the LHC there. the character of the Camerlengo has been altered slightly and is here portrayed as a Northern Irish priest by Ewan McGregor. The character of the Hassassin has been changed to become more of a mercenary than a zealot.
The acting is excellent with McGregor and Mueller Stahl as stand outs amongst the cast. Tom Hanks reprises his role as Robert Langdon and is more believable as an academic turned reluctant action hero than Nic Cage in the similar National Treasure.
This is a far less controversial film than some Catholic organisations might have you believe, the premise of the story is this supposed battle between science and religion but this is merely misdirection. The Vatican and the Catholic church come out of this relatively unscathed, they were guilty of the persecution of scientists in the past most notably Galileo but they haver admitted their mistakes in that regard already.
To conclude this is a good thriller and is a fun ride that is best enjoyed with your brain turned off.
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Review: Angels & Demons
Angels & Demons is a good but flawed thriller that revolves around the quest of Robert Langdon a Harvard University professor to unravel a plot to annihilate Vatican City by the secret society called the Illuminati using antimatter stolen from CERN.
I think that this is a very good adaptation of Dan Brown’s book and is my opinion an improvement over the book. The film is an action packed and pacey thriller whose main flaw I feel are due to the source material. As a sequel it is also an improvement over the movie of The Da Vinci Code as there is significantly less standing about and spieling off of expository bits of dialogue. Also where the end of The Da Vinci Code seemed to fizzle out to nothing Angels & Demons has a very explosive finale.
The one flaw with the pacing of the film is that the structure of the plot with rigid deadlines to be met means that variations in pacing become noticeable where one hour between events passes quickly the next hour can pass much slower.
There have been a a number of changes made in the adaptation which tighten up the story. There is much less set at CERN although it looks like that they really did film the LHC there. the character of the Camerlengo has been altered slightly and is here portrayed as a Northern Irish priest by Ewan McGregor. The character of the Hassassin has been changed to become more of a mercenary than a zealot.
The acting is excellent with McGregor and Mueller Stahl as stand outs amongst the cast. Tom Hanks reprises his role as Robert Langdon and is more believable as an academic turned reluctant action hero than Nic Cage in the similar National Treasure.
This is a far less controversial film than some Catholic organisations might have you believe, the premise of the story is this supposed battle between science and religion but this is merely misdirection. The Vatican and the Catholic church come out of this relatively unscathed, they were guilty of the persecution of scientists in the past most notably Galileo but they haver admitted their mistakes in that regard already.
To conclude this is a good thriller and is a fun ride that is best enjoyed with your brain turned off.
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9-11, 7/7 UK Terror Laws May Be Scaled Back
UK Justice Minister Jack Straw today signaled that some of the terror laws enacted after 9/11 and 7/7 may be scaled back. The announcement is the first indication that Labour ministers want to scale back counterterrorism laws, amid growing consensus that recent powers have gone too far.
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America’s growing surveillance state
The Obama administration isn’t just watching rightwing extremists. It’s watching us all – and we should all be concerned
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Maths can be fun – if only it’s taught properly
Mathematics should be one of the most useful subjects children learn in school – yet thousands leave school each year unable to use simple mathematical methods. Or, worse, they are traumatised by their experiences in maths classes. However Maths can be fun – if only it’s taught properly.
I think Clifford Stoll is the kinda guy that can make mathematics fun for the typical student.
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Lost 5.16 & 5.17 – The Incident
We finally get to meet Jacob, not only is he real but he has intervened in our Oceanic 815 survivors lives at crucial moments in their pasts. White shirt, and he’s joined on the beach to see the arrival of what is possibly The Black Rock by a man who wears a black shirt presumably he is Jacob’s dark counterpart.
Rose, Bernard and Vincent are alive and living a happy peaceful life on the island away undetected by both the Others and the Dharma Initiative. Being together is all that matters. It’s always something with you people.
In my experience the people that go out of their way to tell you that they are the good guys are almost always the bad guys. The circle of ash was broken and so whoever was constrained to the cabin has escaped. They believe it was somebody other than Jacob which suggests that it was the man in black which means that it was not Jacob that spoke to Locke and therefore the others may have been following the orders unwittingly of Jacob’s nemesis.
Jacob resurrects Locke after his ‘fall’.
It is about love. Rose and Bernard. Sun and Jin. Love eventually triumphs over adversity. “Your love is a special thing”. Jacob speaks excellent Korean, in addition to English and Russian (?).
We finally get to see the accident in the operating room that formed the basis of the story that Jack told Kate in the pilot episode where he overcame his panic and was able to repair the damage he’d caused. Interestingly it seems the reality of the situation doesn’t quite match Jack’s perspective, he believes that his father was undermining him when in fact Christian was genuinely helping him to overcome his panic and believe in his ability to operate.
The Oceanic survivors are there on the island for a reason. Jacob it seems is playing a long game and is placing his pieces for the final showdown with his nemesis.
Again with the love theme. Juliet loves Sawyer so much that she would rather that she never met him than worry that she might lose him.
Hurley is a great barometer for establishing other character’s intentions because he is so open and has no agenda which means that people tend to be open and honest with him. Hurley and Jacob’s conversation in the taxi cab shows Jacob to be a good man.
So that’s how Pierre Chang lost his arm!
Heartbreaking to see Juliet die.
Richard knows what lies in the shadow of the statue, what he says in Latin apparently translates to “He who will protect/save us all”. Does that mean Jacob? The man in black has manipulated Ben into killing Jacob but it seems that Jacob was expecting it and that although he’d prefer Ben not to carry out the act he is sanguine about it.
Juliet not dead yet and with eight hits manages to set off the bomb and the screen goes white. What the hell does this mean?
