The "last movie I saw" thread

[Flystripper]

my beef with unbroken is that it doesn't really show much of the good stuff that happened to him after

What, the bout with alcoholism followed by christian redemption? It would have been anticlimactic to continue the story into that phase of his life IMHO.

[Moliere]

The Imitation Game: Very good and entertaining movie. Cumberbatch does a wonderful job. The overall themes were really well done as well. I especially liked how they tied in the computer/machine/human being/reprogramming theme into his homosexuality. It wasn't heavy handed but also wasn't too difficult to see that the theme of the movie wasn't just about computers and winning the war, but about the indecent treatment of many in "free" Europe. I did have one big issue with the movie...

Spoiler for ...:

...which was mainly due to the way it was depicted for dramatic effect. I found the final clue to the puzzle to be, well, rather simple and I doubt it happened the way it's portrayed in the movie. When they first read the weather report back in the early part of the movie both MJ and I both thought that would be an easier way to help decrypt the code, simply just use a message to which you already know a word or two. I even thought they would use the weather report each morning along with the first message at 6am to figure things out. The way the movie plays it out for dramatic effect makes Turing seem kind of dumb for not thinking of it sooner.

[jay santos]

Saw The Hobbit last night. Two and a half hours, which felt like 10, I'll never get back.

[TripletDaddy]

The Imitation Game: Very good and entertaining movie. Cumberbatch does a wonderful job. The overall themes were really well done as well. I especially liked how they tied in the computer/machine/human being/reprogramming theme into his homosexuality. It wasn't heavy handed but also wasn't too difficult to see that the theme of the movie wasn't just about computers and winning the war, but about the indecent treatment of many in "free" Europe. I did have one big issue with the movie...

Spoiler for ...:

...which was mainly due to the way it was depicted for dramatic effect. I found the final clue to the puzzle to be, well, rather simple and I doubt it happened the way it's portrayed in the movie. When they first read the weather report back in the early part of the movie both MJ and I both thought that would be an easier way to help decrypt the code, simply just use a message to which you already know a word or two. I even thought they would use the weather report each morning along with the first message at 6am to figure things out. The way the movie plays it out for dramatic effect makes Turing seem kind of dumb for not thinking of it sooner.

Most of the movie is filled with inaccuracies (very important ones). by the time we get to the one you cite, who cares?? It isn't even entirely inaccurate, as there was such an exchange (loosely) in real life. The timing of it was altered for dramatic effect,though.

i still enjoyed the movie quite a bit.

[Applejack]

Most of the movie is filled with inaccuracies (very important ones). by the time we get to the one you cite, who cares?? It isn't even entirely inaccurate, as there was such an exchange (loosely) in real life. The timing of it was altered for dramatic effect,though.

i still enjoyed the movie quite a bit.

I saw this last night. I enjoyed it, but it was a tad cheesy in parts. Also, I hate Keira Knightley and this movie didn't do anything to improve my opinion of her.

[TripletDaddy]

I saw this last night. I enjoyed it, but it was a tad cheesy in parts. Also, I hate Keira Knightley and this movie didn't do anything to improve my opinion of her.

Wow I don't know Keira but she seems like a nice person to me.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Most of the movie is filled with inaccuracies (very important ones). by the time we get to the one you cite, who cares?? It isn't even entirely inaccurate, as there was such an exchange (loosely) in real life. The timing of it was altered for dramatic effect,though.

i still enjoyed the movie quite a bit.

We liked it a lot--one of the best we've seen in months, despite the pretty obvious historical inaccuracies. The movie was "based on" actual events, which allows a lot of poetic license. With really strong performances (Cumberbatch's Oscar nomination is a lock, and Knightley's surprisingly good--take THAT Applejack!), a nice script and a very compelling story, it made for a very enjoyable couple of hours.

[Mormon Red Death]

What were the obvious historical inaccuracies?

[TripletDaddy]

What were the obvious historical inaccuracies?

Well, I guess you can start with the fact that Turing wasnt the first to break Enigma, he wasn't the first to build a machine (bombe) to help crack cyphered Enigma messages, he didn't make one bombe nor were his machines named Christopher, and he didn't make or design his versions of the bombe by himself. There were lots of other inaccuracies beyond these and you could argue that each of them was quite significant.

Nevertheless, he was the first to design something on such a massive scale. His contributions to the war effort are without question but the movie took a load of license to tell the story. Which is why being bothered by the weather report issue is trivial. I suppose if you are entirely unfamiliar with the history of Turing and only know what is presented in the movie, the weather report stuff could be bothersome.

despite the creative license, I still really enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to anyone.

[Applejack]

Wow I don't know Keira but she seems like a nice person to me.

We liked it a lot--one of the best we've seen in months, despite the pretty obvious historical inaccuracies. The movie was "based on" actual events, which allows a lot of poetic license. With really strong performances (Cumberbatch's Oscar nomination is a lock, and Knightley's surprisingly good--take THAT Applejack!), a nice script and a very compelling story, it made for a very enjoyable couple of hours.

For you Keira knightley fanboys: what was her character's contribution to Christopher? It seemed that she was added to the team for aesthetic reasons.

[Applejack]

Ummm, no.






Finally got a chance to see this. Pretty brilliant stuff. Easily the best movie I've seen this year. The camera work was clever enough to play a prominent role in pushing the film along--almost a silent cast member, if you will--but without a single moment where the ingenuity distracted from the experience.

MILD SPOILER:Perfect example: the way the camera left the theatre after the underwear lockout and the grand re-entrance, only to wait in the hall for Riggan to appear and then promptly follow him down the hall to his dressing room. The viewer didn't need to be in the theatre to know he pulled it off, and the audible applause confirmed it.

Oh, and Emma Stone plays a mean Lindsay Lohan. Better than Lindsay Lohan plays Lindsay Lohan, I have to think.

I echo the applause for birdman. It will walk away with the cinematography oscar, and who doesn't like cinematography? Keaton, stone, and Norton were great and galifinakis is surprisingly good as the rational lawyer.

[Katy Lied]

I wasnt kidding when I said that I have a ton of books on code breaking, even one specifically about Bletchley Park. So I went back to it to review Turing's contribution to breaking the Enigma and the book seems to have "disappeared." This is what happens when your library is also the family TV room and your kids take an interest in some of your books while dusting.

PS: Keira Knightly has long bugged me as well; I hate the way her mouth moves. Her beauty puzzles me; sometimes she seems incredibly gorgeous, and at other times--mostly when she's in profile, or when displaying her utterly brittish teeth-- she seems quite ugly. I do think she's a decent actress, and I admire her for never getting a boob job.

[Uncle Ted]

Well, I guess you can start with the fact that Turing wasnt the first to break Enigma, he wasn't the first to build a machine (bombe) to help crack cyphered Enigma messages, he didn't make one bombe nor were his machines named Christopher, and he didn't make or design his versions of the bombe by himself. There were lots of other inaccuracies beyond these and you could argue that each of them was quite significant.

Nevertheless, he was the first to design something on such a massive scale. His contributions to the war effort are without question but the movie took a load of license to tell the story. Which is why being bothered by the weather report issue is trivial. I suppose if you are entirely unfamiliar with the history of Turing and only know what is presented in the movie, the weather report stuff could be bothersome.

despite the creative license, I still really enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to anyone.

The Turing character made a reference early in the movie to the Polish Enigma breaking efforts. It seems by academic standards the Polish were attributed. Turing contributions go far and beyond the war effort. A lot of theoretical computer science is the study of his theorems. There is good reason why the highest award one can receive in that field is named after him.

The movie does make Turing out as a "Mr. Spock" like character that is initially unwilling to work with the group. In reality, it was indeed a group effort lead largely by Turing. In fact, Denniston was an experienced cryptanalyst and was part of the group that debriefed the three Polish experts that figured out how it was possible to significantly reduce the Enigma's key space and most likely fueled the Engima breaking effort in the first place.

What bugs me more about the movie was that Turing's "Hut 8" group was doing productive work nearly from the very beginning of the war. There were different versions of the Enigma. The ones that the German army and air force were using used less rotors and didn't have the extra plug settings. In other words, the key space was significantly smaller. Earlier versions of the bombe were breaking codes for these within a few years of the war. Therefore, the push back from the military leadership was most likely added by the film's writers. On the other hand, German Navy version were much more complicated and took a room full of "bombes" to break on a consistent basis. In fact, I recall reading toward the end of the war there were somewhere around 9,000 people working on the code breaking effort. The movie implies that it was the German Navy codes that were the first to be broken.

The role the weather reports from Norway (I believe) played was is that it reduced the attack to what is called a "known plaintext" one. There was also a known plaintext from Africa that was sent every morning stating something like "Nothing new to report". If you don't have a known plaintext then you have to resort to statistical methods which require decoding more of the message for each key trial. With known plaintext you can quickly rule out a key with a single letter or two. Turing's "Eureka Moment" in the movie concerning the weather reports was indeed really dumb. I am sure the group was looking for known plaintext messages from the very beginning.

Also, I don't know about the entire Soviet Union spying subplot of the movie. The history I have read on the subject didn't mention that. I am guessing the writers took that from the atomic bomb effort.

And I whole idea that Turing confused computers with his first love, Christopher, was pretty humorous.

Finally, if you like the movie then you will love visiting the NSA Museum at Ft. Meade, Maryland. They have one of the "bombes" (the US version that NCR designed and built) and a number of Enigmas on display. The last time I was there you could actually encode your own message on one of the working enigmas yourself. If you expecting a history lesson then you should watch one of the many documentaries and visit the NSA museum rather than watch this movie.

[UVACoug]

The Turing character made a reference early in the movie to the Polish Enigma breaking efforts. It seems by academic standards the Polish were attributed. Turing contributions go far and beyond the war effort. A lot of theoretical computer science is the study of his theorems. There is good reason why the highest award one can receive in that field is named after him.

The movie does make Turing out as a "Mr. Spock" like character that is initially unwilling to work with the group. In reality, it was indeed a group effort lead largely by Turing. In fact, Denniston was an experienced cryptanalyst and was part of the group that debriefed the three Polish experts that figured out how it was possible to significantly reduce the Enigma's key space and most likely fueled the Engima breaking effort in the first place.

What bugs me more about the movie was that Turing's "Hut 8" group was doing productive work nearly from the very beginning of the war. There were different versions of the Enigma. The ones that the German army and air force were using used less rotors and didn't have the extra plug settings. In other words, the key space was significantly smaller. Earlier versions of the bombe were breaking codes for these within a few years of the war. Therefore, the push back from the military leadership was most likely added by the film's writers. On the other hand, German Navy version were much more complicated and took a room full of "bombes" to break on a consistent basis. In fact, I recall reading toward the end of the war there were somewhere around 9,000 people working on the code breaking effort. The movie implies that it was the German Navy codes that were the first to be broken.

The role the weather reports from Norway (I believe) played was is that it reduced the attack to what is called a "known plaintext" one. There was also a known plaintext from Africa that was sent every morning stating something like "Nothing new to report". If you don't have a known plaintext then you have to resort to statistical methods which require decoding more of the message for each key trial. With known plaintext you can quickly rule out a key with a single letter or two. Turing's "Eureka Moment" in the movie concerning the weather reports was indeed really dumb. I am sure the group was looking for known plaintext messages from the very beginning.

Also, I don't know about the entire Soviet Union spying subplot of the movie. The history I have read on the subject didn't mention that. I am guessing the writers took that from the atomic bomb effort.

And I whole idea that Turing confused computers with his first love, Christopher, was pretty humorous.

Finally, if you like the movie then you will love visiting the NSA Museum at Ft. Meade, Maryland. They have one of the "bombes" (the US version that NCR designed and built) and a number of Enigmas on display. The last time I was there you could actually encode your own message on one of the working enigmas yourself. If you expecting a history lesson then you should watch one of the many documentaries and visit the NSA museum rather than watch this movie.

I read that there was a Soviet Spy at Bletchley Park, but he was in a different section that had no contact with Turing's crew and that there was almost no chance that he new anything about the Enigma effort.

I'm not particularly bothered by any of the inaccuracies. Everything was a bit too vague to actually learn anything about what really happened, and the movie made me want to learn more about the man. I found it very entertaining, and like I said earlier, I was devastated at the end (although I have also read that they took a lot of liberties with the sexuality aspects of the film and there is evidence that his death was an accident that had nothing to do with his "treatment").

The dramatic license seemed to be executed much better than it has been in other films, such as say ... Argo. That movie was absurd. I have no idea how it won an Oscar.

[Topper]

The Imitation Game: Very good and entertaining movie. Cumberbatch does a wonderful job. The overall themes were really well done as well. I especially liked how they tied in the computer/machine/human being/reprogramming theme into his homosexuality. It wasn't heavy handed but also wasn't too difficult to see that the theme of the movie wasn't just about computers and winning the war, but about the indecent treatment of many in "free" Europe. I did have one big issue with the movie...

Spoiler for ...:

...which was mainly due to the way it was depicted for dramatic effect. I found the final clue to the puzzle to be, well, rather simple and I doubt it happened the way it's portrayed in the movie. When they first read the weather report back in the early part of the movie both MJ and I both thought that would be an easier way to help decrypt the code, simply just use a message to which you already know a word or two. I even thought they would use the weather report each morning along with the first message at 6am to figure things out. The way the movie plays it out for dramatic effect makes Turing seem kind of dumb for not thinking of it sooner.

Have you read the book? A lot of times the solution makes you seem kinda dumb once you are aware of it. I foundnit to be one of the better movies in a long time.