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Sci Fi Movie and Book Recommendations


Dean Pomerleau

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19 minutes ago, Gordo said:

Have you seen Tenet?

No we haven't. My wife and I watched the trailer a while back and though "meh". It looks like too much of an action film for my tastes. Give "A History of Time Travel" a try. It is one movie where time travel is done well in terms of handling paradoxes etc. And it is anything but a special effects action packed movie. Plus it is only 1h:10m, not a 2.5h commitment like Tenet.

--Dean

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9 minutes ago, Dean Pomerleau said:

Plus it is only 1h:10m, not a 2.5h commitment like Tenet.

That's easily solved, by time travel! Seriously, since I often have little patience, I go fast forward on slow scenes, so I travel time in the virtual film reality, making it significantly shorter. Although it happens that I miss something significant and have to travel back in time...

I

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On 2/16/2021 at 9:30 AM, Dean Pomerleau said:

My wife and I just watched the movie "The History of Time Travel" on Amazon Prime Video. I highly recommend it. It isn't a special effects blockbuster. Just a cool no-tech sci-fi movie that makes you think. Probably the best time travel themed movie I've ever seen.

Thanks for that. The first new release on Netflix I've enjoyed in months :)

Cheeky and rather clever indy low-budget flick.

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On 2/21/2021 at 2:45 AM, Dean Pomerleau said:

t looks a lot like "Palm Springs" with a slightly younger cast. I enjoyed Palm Springs. Have you seen it Gordo? How does it compare? 

Palm Springs was an entertaining take on Groundhog Day (it paid homage to it by mentioning it).

I found The Map of Tiny Perfect Things unwatchable.

Not related to time travel, but the Michael Moore produced The Planet of the Humans documentary on renewable energy is pretty good. While it's currently available for streaming at $10, it can still be found on YouTube, where it was released initially:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x7UgKfSug0

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It's not a movie, but I suspect it might inspire one:  I just finished reading a terrific "time-travel" sci fi ebook:

"Recursion", by Blake Crouch.  It's a great story -- and also presents a fascinating, and I think original, theory of the nature of time.  Believe me, you'll enjoy this.  It's debatable whether or not you would call the "time shifts" in the novel "time travel" -- I wouldn't.

Disclaimer:  I think that the "many worlds" explanation of some of the peculiarities of quantum mechanics is very plausible; but the hypothesis on the nature of time suggested in the story plot, while fascinating and I think original, is, INMHO, bullshit.  But the novel is a great read -- I think the best sci fi book that I've read since the days of Van Vogt.

The book is available in Amazon Kindle format for about $10.

  --  Saul

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22 hours ago, Ron Put said:

Palm Springs was an entertaining take on Groundhog Day (it paid homage to it by mentioning it).

I found The Map of Tiny Perfect Things unwatchable.

I thought they were both amusing, but liked "Map" better.  Interestingly, I remember Map paying homage to Groundhog Day by mentioning it, but not Palm Springs (maybe I was falling asleep and missed it, haha).  

Anyone watching WandaVision?  I guess there is "sort of" a time travel element to that series.  Its entertaining, but the last episode went a little too Disney for me with all the witch nonsense.

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2 hours ago, Gordo said:

I thought they were both amusing, but liked "Map" better.

I might give "map" another try, maybe I gave up too early. I did find the acting and the editing a bit too "TV movie"-like, which is the main reason I quit watching it.

BTW, I had not seen the end of The Planet of the Humans I recommended above, and now that I have, I withdraw my recommendation. It devolves into a nonsensical anti-capitalism drivel, ignoring the primary cause it correctly identifies, human population growth.

Of course, human population growth is the lowest in the most developed capitalist societies, and the highest in the Third World economies that are the furthest from a free market economy. But that's an untouchable subject.

 

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20 hours ago, Saul said:

Recursion", by Blake Crouch.  It's a great story -- and also presents a fascinating, and I think original, theory of the nature of time.  Believe me, you'll enjoy this.  It's debatable whether or not you would call the "time shifts" in the novel "time travel" -- I wouldn't.

If you are looking for a very clever, fast-paced sci-fi book with a truly novel take on time travel, Split Second by Douglas E. Richards is one of my all-time favorites:

https://www.amazon.com/Split-Second-Book-ebook/dp/B014TE4FUS

Best of all, its available on Kindle Unlimited for those of you with a subscription ($6.99 otherwise).

--Dean

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19 hours ago, Gordo said:

I thought they were both amusing, but liked "Map" better

What have you been smoking Gordo? 😉 My wife and I could only get through 47 minutes before giving up. I wanted to like it, but it was just too slow and predictable.

[Minor spoiler below]

 

 

 

 

 

I called it early and without seeing the ending that the "med school" student is really calling about someone she loves who is sick with cancer. We looked up the ending and are grateful we didn't bother finishing it. Palm Springs was basically the same movie except with adults and it was much sharper and funnier, IMO.

--Dean

 

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I've read "Split Second" and the sequel, and in fact all the douglas e richards books, except for the chidrens' ones.  He has another (adult) book coming out next week, on March 4 -- like all of them, it will be available for free on Kindle Unlimited (I'm a subscriber).

  --  Saul

 

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20 hours ago, Saul said:

I've read "Split Second" and the sequel, and in fact all the douglas e richards books, except for the chidrens' ones.  He has another (adult) book coming out next week, on March 4 -- like all of them, it will be available for free on Kindle Unlimited (I'm a subscriber).

  --  Saul

I too have enjoyed nearly all of Douglas E Richards books. I really like the Mind's Eye trilogy. Imagine my surprise when I found him quoting my research while I was at Intel on page 19 and 20 of Mind's Eye.

 Here is the passage:

Screenshot_20210228-161459_Kindle.jpgScreenshot_20210228-161519_Kindle.jpg

--Dean

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