"The Social Dilemma" is a documentary that I think everyone should watch. It's about the negatives of using social media. I think everyone can agree that there should be a balance in our lives when it comes to using social media and/or cell phones. But some of the statistics and inside details on this show are alarming.
The show focuses on technical experts from all various big-name companies such as Google, Instagram and others who talk about the dangerous human impact of social networking. What these former design architects, programmers and executives disclose from the company perspective about the purpose and use of social media is scary. I actually captured many quotes (most are paraphrased) from this show and am listing them below so you can get an idea about the things we as humans need to think about when we're using our favorite application.
“We are now the products, not the customers because the AI (artificial intelligence) needs to have us buy and use things.”
“Cell phones are a digital pacifier for ourselves.”
“...false information makes more money for the technology engines than the truth...”
“...people have no idea what is true and now it is a matter of life and death as far as COVID due to fake news.”
“...it is more about advertising than social interaction...”
“...AI can easily manipulate the truth now with social media.”
“A study showed false information on Twitter was passed 6 times faster than the truth.”
“We are a nation who no longer talks to each other.”
“AI cannot solve the problem of fake news or conspiracy.”
“It is about the technology being able to bring out the worst in people that is the problem.”
“...as this all goes on, it will result in civil war and/or the downfall of society...”
“...it is a simultaneous utopia and dystopia.”
“We need regulation regarding things like data privacy, making sure users are safe and are more important than profits of huge companies.”
“These tech people don’t even let their kids or teenagers have social media.”
“...wants some people to get off of social media so that there are people out there who are not influenced or manipulated by social media.”
This is an important show that needs to be watched. It's streaming on Netflix now.
The MCU is set to roll out its first movie featuring an Asian superhero this September. Relax. If you can't wait to see Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, you do have other options. We've put together a list of the best movies featuring Asian leads that are available for your viewing pleasure right away -- and for much less than Disney's asking.
8. Arranged Love
In this good version of Crazy Rich Asians, runaway bride and orphaned Meera reluctantly flies back to her native India -- with fake husband in tow -- in order to trick her aunt and uncle into believing that she's satisfied the terms for receiving her inheritance. Will she get the funds needed to save her startup? Will a real wedding be in her near-future? Where does her actual boyfriend fit into all of this? Homecoming shenanigans ensue in Crazy Rich South Asians (if you will).
7. Bachna Ae Haseeno
Bachna Ae Haseeno (Watch Out, Ladies in English) is a Bollywood feature about an Indian player and tech whiz who looks back on his three most memorable relationships: His first, a brief teen romance while on vacation; his first long-term relationship, with the woman whom he leaves at the altar; and the time he spent with the one who got away. Raj Sharma's love life begins innocently enough when he meets naive and equally inexperienced Mahi on a train to Switzerland. When Mahi misses her train after a stop, Raj offers to get her to the airport, which gives the two teens an opportunity to get to know one another and consequently allows them to discover first love and share a first kiss. Unfortunately, this fling leads to heartbreak for sheltered Mahi. Raj then recounts that he'd achieved the perfect life years later: a job as a videogame designer for Microsoft and a live-in model girlfriend (Radhika). Life soon gets even better. He's offered a job working on "Halo". However, accepting the job, in Sydney, Australia, means leaving India -- and Radhika -- behind. And though Radhika volunteers to give up her career in order to follow her man, Raj isn't as committed to the relationship. After the two quickly become engaged, Raj catches a flight to the land down under while Radhika waits for him in her wedding dress at City Hall. Five years later, Raj meets part-time cab driver and full-time business school student Gayatri. Though Gayatri's aversion to marriage mirrors his own, Raj falls hard and proposes. And the ladies' man catches the love boomerang squarely in the chest when his lady-love says no. He then puts himself through his own 12-step program in order to recover from the heartbreak and decides to seek forgiveness from both Mahi and Radhika -- no matter the cost. Bachna really is a relatable look at relationships in different stages of life, complete with an examination of the emotional toll that comes with being careless with other people's feelings. It's a treat for those unfamiliar with Indian cinema and Bollywood connoisseurs alike.
6. Slumdog Millionaire
How far would you go to reconnect with the one that got away? Eighteen-year-old Jamal Malik decided that his best bet to get that old thang back was to compete on (the Indian version of) "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, the most popular game show in the world, because if he could manage to stay on long enough she'd eventually see him. Right? Plus, if he won he'd also be rich. So, you know, win-win.
5. The Warrior's Way
The Warrior's Way boasts much more style than substance. But since that style is visual and damned near boundless, it's more than enough -- since this is a movie and not a novel.
Asian immigrants have a long and storied history in the American West and as a consequence, they have played a role in many a Western -- not all of them respectful. Warrior's plays around with the Western stereotype of Asians and turns it on its head.
The story centers on a legendary swordsman who makes his way across the Pacific Ocean out of necessity when he disobeys an order given by the head of his clan. He eventually settles in a town and into precisely the job anyone familiar with the genre would expect him to have -- the operator of the town laundromat. But this particular laundry operator only took the job in order to blend in and begin a new life. He doesn't even know what he's doing. His expertise lies not in cleaning clothes but in splattering blood on them. So when the local gunslingers come around looking for victims things gets messy.
4. #Alive
A zombie apocalypse would naturally consist of hotspots throughout the globe. We've already gotten great movies about walking corpses (or in some cases, humans suffering from weaponized rabies) in locations as diverse as Manhattan (I Am Legend), Los Angeles (Quarantine), London, Manchester (28 Days Later), Philadelphia, Jerusalem and Wales (World War Z). Now we have an idea of what an undead outbreak would look like in South Korea. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, movie lovers have compared it to zombie apocalypse fiction, what with the global spread of a lethal virus and mass quarantining. Well, #Alive makes that argument better than any film that's come before. Many zombie films feature worldwide infections and some even focus on the isolation of the survivors but #Alive is the first to so acutely examine the struggles of protagonists voluntarily confined to their respective homes.
During a live stream, other players alert student and avid gamer Oh Joon-woo to troubling news reports of people behaving strangely in Seoul, South Korea. After hearing an explosion, he takes a look outside of his apartment window only to witness what initially appears to be rioting on the street down below. When Joon-woo notices a young girl savagely attack and subsequently eat her own mother, he locks his front door. However, a neighbor tricks him into taking a peek outside, at which time the stranger forces his way in and begs for sanctuary. Realizing that the guy's been bitten by one of the infected and informed of the danger this poses by news reports, Joon-woo wants him out immediately. But before he can carry out the eviction, he witnesses the stranger transform from a rational person to a mindless killing machine right before his eyes.
SPOILER ALERT
After forcing his former neighbor into the hallway, Joon-woo is faced with another challenge: worrying about his family, who'd all left for the day prior to the outbreak. Realizing that he has little-to-no cellphone reception, he inventories what little food is in the apartment (Joon-woo failed to heed his mother's advice to go grocery shopping earlier in the day) and resigns himself to life inside his bubble.
Eventually, and through much effort, Joon-woo learns that his family has been attacked -- and likely killed -- at his father's office. Out of food and mourning his family, a despondent Joon-woo attempts to hang himself. But with his head in the noose he learns that another neighbor has survived. Joon-woo and a young woman directly across from his building, Kim Yoo-bin, instantly bond and share resources. And while Kim calls Joon-woo an idiot for attempting suicide, she fails to disclose that she'd tried to hang herself as well, only surviving because the rope snapped.
Don't worry. It's not all sharing food and walkie-talkie conversations. The action kicks in before you know it when Kim is forced to abandon her apartment and Joon-woo has to charge into the middle of Zombievania in order to save her from certain death.
Though you might expect Joon-woo's considerable experience playing first-person-shooters to be adequate preparation for peeling actual caps when necessary, he balks, then outright refuses to squeeze the trigger when he gets his hands on a revolver. But he's highly resourceful, employing his drone as a delivery system and turning his cell into a radio.
As in most great zombie thrillers, the marauding "creatures", as they're called by Kim Yoo-bin, are never actually referred to as "zombies" during the movie. These particularly dangerous biters are capable of quick movement and also retain minimal rational thought, which allows them to accomplish impressive feats like turning door knobs.
Though 2020 has seen murder hornets, global unrest, the return of the bubonic plague and a viral pandemic, nothing resembling a zombie has been spotted -- yet. And it still may be a good idea to follow Joon-woo's lead: keep an eye on the news and stay home as much as possible.
If you wanna see a South Korean thriller that's even better than last year's Best Picture Oscar-winner Parasite then #Alive is for you. And no fan of zombie flicks should miss it.
3. 13 Assassins
13 Assassins is likely the greatest non-black-and-white samurai movie that you'll ever see.
2. The Legend of Baron To'a
1. Ninja Assassin
Ninja Assassin is arguably the best ninja movie - not counting Batman Begins - of the 21st century. The title isn't merely perfunctory nor is it misleading. The film is packed so full of ninja lore that it makes you wonder if impressing the RZA and the other members of Wu-Tang was one of the filmmakers' goals. Ninja Assassin takes the time to show how Raizo, the most promising student of the Ozunu Clan, is forged into a killing machine through a grueling training regimen including unforgiving sparring sessions with real weapons. The best line: "The breath I take after I kill you will be the first breath of my life."
The War with Grandpa really takes the phrase "Everybody plays the fool" to heart. As usual for contemporary Hollywood, there are plenty of undignified and/or emasculated guys in this slapstick throwback but at least the humiliation is gender-neutral. The women, young and old alike, get disgraced right along with the dudes. In particular, coupled with 2016's horrendous Dirty Grandpa (and to a lesser extent, The Adventures ofRocky and Bullwinkle), The War with Grandpa completely obliterates star Robert De Niro's last shred of onscreen nobility.
Based on the 1984 novel of the same name, The War with Grandpa details the hostilities between retired contractor Ed and his grandson, Peter, when the former moves in with the family at the insistence of his daughter (and Peter's mom), Sally. The problem begins right away, because when Grandpa moves in Peter has to move as well -- straight into the attic. Infuriated by this turn of events and directing his anger in the wrong direction, Peter decides to make a formal declaration of war against his ancestor. Despite Ed's assurance that he a) Moved in under duress and b) Loves his grandson and doesn't want any bad blood between them, Peter is hellbent on getting his bedroom back at any cost. But there are caveats: no civilians (other family members) should be targeted and the "war" has to remain secret -- at least from Pete's parents, anyway.
Initially reluctant to do battle with a pre-teen blood relative, not to mention failing to take Peter's threat serious, and thus, falling victim to his opening salvo, Ed eventually retaliates against Peter's ever-increasing barrage of pranks. Having been in an actual war, Ed sees through some of his grandson's amateur tactics and teaches the upstart the same lesson he gave Bradley Cooper's character in Limitless: There's no substitute for experience. While the two nemeses do keep Peter's parents in the dark, each combatant nevertheless recruits troops to his respective side. Peter brings his school friends into the action. Meanwhile, Ed drafts fellow retirees and longtime buddies Danny and Jerry. And after a chance meeting at the grocery store where she works, he enlists a scrappy grandmother, Diane, as well. At one point he even bribes his Christmas-obsessed granddaughter, Jenny, into participating.
Phased, but still determined to reclaim his lost territory, Peter presses on and the booby traps and setups -- from both sides -- become increasingly outrageous, eventually requiring minor medical treatment for each general. Oh yes, there is blood. And collateral damage.
Cookies are promised, olive branches are refused, peace talks break down and snakes are unleashed, all leading to a literal broken home and a finale that would put even Kevin McCallister to shame. But this is a family movie so everything turns out fine...Or does it? In theaters October 9.
