Westword (1973) - Michael Crichton

Out of curiosity I watched the original Westword, to sum up the movie in a sentence: it is a crossover between Jurassic Park and Terminator. The attraction park has gone wrong and a robot tries to kill you no matter what. 

Honestly I am really disappointed (story wise). Even Westword has seemingly touched the subject of morality, sadly it didn’t translate as much as it was expected. Since when did we set rules on how we treat robots or machines? The main protagonist questions his behaviour in the park, maybe it has something to do with how immoral to hurt and kill the robots but I think it is more about self assuring. Killing machines which basically act and even die like a human can be read as human wanted what they were forbidden. The need of breaking rules excites them. 

It is a bit degrading how they depict woman. Man wants to kill and shoot things and woman just want to get laid by hot guys?! The social stereotype in the 70s was really something. And there is a big plot hole, if all the guns were programmed to which they couldn’t fire while aiming at something thermal then how on earth the Gunslinger could even kill anyone? (please correct me if I’m wrong.)

One thing admirable about Westword is the fact that it is a thriller. There is no doubt that the Terminator was based on the Gunslinger. Westword paved the way of this new genre (sic-fi thriller, the battles with the  A.I.s). It was pretty forward in it’s time.

Looking the Movie (2016) - Andrew Haigh

I love the tag line for the movie, “The end is a new beginning”. 

The final chapter of the HBO series Looking, a year later after where season 2 ended. Patrick (Jonathan Groff) comes back to San Francisco for a weekend to attend a wedding. 

Obviously, this movie is about closures. Maybe I am a bit basis, I have been and always will be “Team Kevin”, the scene where they meet for the last time just breaks my heart. I feel like it has happened to all of us before. There are a lots of “what if” throwing in the air, I am not saying we should just forgive our cheating boyfriends and start all over again. It’s more about facing the problem, how you handle your emotions and most importantly how you deal with it. Running, of course is a solution but it will probably lead you nowhere. Relationship is about “the spark”, yes, but the most crucial thing is how you work it out. Every relationship has their ups and downs, but if we always run away from them, what good does it do to us? The whole Kevin situation happened because Patrick is running away from his problems with Richie in the first place. 

What I love about Looking the series and the movie in general is how the show runners and the creators convey the emotions we all have, yes, it is a gay-themed series, but it happens to we all. It will be equally good even if it’s a heterosexual series. 

I guess the reason why it didn’t work with the audience is because it’s too real, too cruel. They are just like Patrick turning away from their problems and try to turn a blind eye to what is really happening around them. People hate conformation, they like something they could relate to but not too much. 

I love the idea that the movie could be called “the weekend” too, if you what I mean.