Difference between revisions of "Theater Discussion Night"

Revision as of 05:42, 4 September 2017

Theater Discussion Night

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Next Movie to be Watched:

"Theater Discussion Night" is a monthly event for adult members and non-members to get together to enjoy a range of fictional movies for educational purposes and discuss the movies afterward.

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The Basics

• What: This event is for the educational watching, appreciating and discussing a variety of fictional movies.
• When: Second Friday of every month at 9PM (21:00) - Please see the FamiLAB calendar for date information: FamiLAB Calendar
• Where: FamiLAB Classroom
• Why: It's just fun to watch movies together and discuss them with people.
• How: We watch them in the classroom with the projector, duh.  :)
• Who: Anyone who wants to come who's an adult (18+). This event is open to members and non-members. Non-members should be accompanied by a member.
• Food: Food and drink may be brought and enjoyed privately or to be shared but is entirely voluntary.
• Who organizes this event: Dustin and Lloyd organize this event.

Movie selection process:

1. Movies to be shown are not voted upon by attendees or outside parties. Movies for showing are decided upon by the organizers of the event, Dustin and Lloyd.
2. If someone has a strong desire to see a specific movie they may request it by speaking to Dustin and/or Lloyd. However, no promise can be made that the movie will be shown.
3. The decision making process has other factors involved which may not be apparent to others.
4. All movies being considered for showing are previewed first by the organizer(s).
5. All movies being considered must be legally obtained by Lloyd before being shown.

During the movie:

• Anyone objecting to the movie being shown, in part or in whole, at any of the events may leave the classroom during the movie as it's not mandatory for anyone to stay for the duration of the movie.
• This event is adults only due to the potential for the content of the movies to be of an adult nature (Non-Rated, Rated R, Rated NC-17, and Unknown).

Discussion

Basic Discussion Rules:

1. Please use some common sense when discussing the movie.
2. Please keep discussions peaceful, no arguments are to start. The whole experience is to be educational and enjoyed by everyone.
3. If the discussion is political due to the politics in the movie, please keep it reasonable.
4. Do not bring current day real politics into the discussion unless they're relevant to the movie.
5. Do not bring your ego into the discussion. Nobody is right or wrong in discussing fictional movies.

Possible general discussions could include the following:

1. Compare the ethics that existed in the fictional reality of the movie to ours.
2. Compare the fictional reality to our actual reality we're dealing with currently, is it better or worse.
3. How would the movie reality would evolve in it's future.
4. Compare the technology they have to ours. Is it better, worse, totally fictional, a joke, etc..
5. (Optional:) Compare the types of people. Are they even comparable in intelligence, etc..
6. Are the main characters likeable? Do you identify with the antagonist or the protagonist?

Apocalyptic Movies:

1. In an apocalypse movie, what could've changed to prevent the apocalypse that occurred.
2. What will happen to that world after the apocalypse. (Providing the world still exists in some capacity.)
3. Could one person have been instrumental in changing the course of events.

AI (Artificial Intelligence):

Example Movies: "2001: A Space Odyssey", "2010", "Colossus: The Forbin Project"

1. What type of AI was featured in the movie.
2. What did the AI have in mind for the humans and could it have been changed.
3. What kind of OS could it have been running on or was it totally fictional.
4. Was the AI actually sentient and at what point did it become sentient.
5. Did it have assistance from a human to become sentient.
6. How did the AI evolve over the course of the movie and how long did it take.

Androids (also related to AI):

Example Movies: "Android", "Automata", "Bicentennial Man", "Ex Machina"

1. If androids looked similar to real people would you accept them as other people or just machines?
2. For men: If there were female looking androids that could pass for human (and anatomically correct) would you date them or avoid any romantic involvement?
3. For women: If there were male looking androids that could pass for human (and anatomically correct) would you date them or avoid any romantic involvement?
4. Do you believe androids can achieve sentient status or do you believe they can't obtain that status because they're not organic?
5. Could androids obtain sentient status by being sufficiently complex to obtain a soul?
6. Have you considered the implications of AI in androids becoming equal to or better than humans in intelligence?

Aliens (if applicable):

1. Are they even realistic? Too human? Too alien?
2. Would you accept them into our society if they were real?

False reality situations:

Example Movies: "The Matrix", "The Truman Show", "Dark City"

1. If you were to find out that your perceived reality was fake how would you feel about it?
2. If the situation was favorable to you, would you leave it anyway or stay?
3. Would you try to find out who made the environment you live in or stay away from them?

Additional discussion questions for this list are welcome. Please submit them to Lloyd Black on Slack @lloyd.black

The Suggested Movie List

Movies to be suggested should be primarily from the 80's science-fiction genre but can also range to other eras and genres as well, depending on the content of the movie.

Just because a movie is in the list doesn't mean it will be selected to be shown. This list is just to give options to pull from.

Current movies in the list being considered are in not of any particular meaningful order or priority.

"Unrated" and "Unknown" movies will be considered "Rated R" unless other information can be provided indicating what it should be rated as or equivalent to.

About the list table:

• Movie titles are linked to their IMDb pages.
• Movies are listed alphanumerically for ease of searching.
• The additional information listed is for those who wish to look for certain ratings and genres.

The Suggested List:

Already Watched:

(List table is maintained carefully by Lloyd. Please do not edit it.)

Suggesting A Movie

Movies can be suggested but the movie needs to be previewed by one of the organizers to know the nature of the movies before its selected to be shown.

These movies are for the enjoyment of viewing of traditional fictional movies for the masses.

If you have a movie you'd like to be considered, you may suggest it via the below methods:

1. Post it in the Slack channel #theater_discussion and post it as "Movie Suggestion: (movie title)"
2. Send a Slack DM (direct message) to @lloyd.black with the message "TDN-Movie Suggestion: (movie title)"
3. Email Lloyd at lloyd.black999@gmail.com.
4. Or manually email lloyd.black999@gmail.com, with the subject "FamiLAB - TDN" and in the message: "Movie Suggestion: (movie title)"

There's no promise it will be selected for watching, it's just to be suggested.

Lloyd Black organizes which movies are to be selected and the suggestions in general. You may reach him on Slack at @lloyd.black .

Please send suggestions to him and discuss suggestions with him.

If you are unable to reach Lloyd, please contact Dustin via Slack by Direct Message him @dustinbcox

Some restrictions when it comes to suggestions:

• No "Star Wars" movies. "Star Wars" movies have their own night and appreciation group. However, I've taken over "Star Wars Night". So, contact me regarding "Star Wars" movies.
• The MPAA movie rating would be beneficial when suggesting a movie so it may be properly listed. However, it's accepted that some movies, such as "direct to video" types, may be "Unrated".
• Historical or "Based on true events" movies are likely to be rejected as this event is for fictional movies only.
• No TV show series are allowed to be suggested, with some exceptions like a long movie turned into a TV movie which was split into segments.
• The event organizers, Dustin and Lloyd, may change TV series restrictions depending on the situation.
• Very short 'made for TV' series (TV movies) are allowed, like 2-6 episode for the entire series, like many 'Stephen King' TV movies. "Rose Red" is a good example as it's split into two segments.
• Romantic and romantic comedies are extremely unlikely to be accepted.
• Overly positive and 'feel good' movies are also extremely unlikely to be accepted.

Keep in mind, this event was originally supposed to be for fun 80's era Sci-Fi B-movies.

It has been expanded extensively but will never intended to be for uplifting movies.

Serious restrictions - (Movies that will NEVER be considered):

1. Actual porn. Porn is totally unacceptable for our events, no exceptions are made for this. This includes hentai style anime, it will NOT be shown at all.
2. Any movies that are literal or approximate reenactments of real past events. Again, this event is for fictional movies only.
3. Any movies that have strong religious or strong political themes.

Movie Rating System Information:

Basic Movie Rating Information:

Rated G: General Audiences. All ages admitted. Nothing that would offend parents for viewing by children.

Rated PG: Parental Guidance Suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

Rated PG-13: Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Rated R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Rated NC-17: Adults Only. No One 17 and Under Admitted. Clearly adult. Children are not admitted.

Not-Rated or Unrated: This means the movie has not been rated by the MPAA or is the "Unrated" version. Viewer discretion is advised.

For "Theater Discussion Night":

Unknown: No rating information was able to be found about the movie after many searches were conducted. Viewer discretion is advised.

Donations

If anyone would like to donate to "Theater Discussion Night" it would be appreciated.

Donations would go towards buying food for anyone attending the event.

The food planned would be two different trays of food from 4Rivers and a couple sides.

Other types of food are also being considered but 4Rivers is going to be the primary preference.

Donations are entirely voluntary and not required to attend.

The food provided would be for attendees of the event and not for general consumption of non-attendees.

Donations can be made by doing the following:

1. Go to our general donations link: https://www.paypal.me/FamiLAB
2. Specify how much you'd like to donate.
3. Go through the method of payment step.
4. Important: click on "Add a note" and type "For Theater Discussion Night" in the note field.
5. Click on "Send Money Now"

The organizers of the event deeply appreciate any and all donations made.

The Fine Print (Disclaimer)

• All movies being shown are for educational purposes.
• Anyone objecting to the content of the movies are welcome to leave the event. (If you don't like the movie, don't watch it.)
• In no way will this event ever be for pirating or illegally sharing movies.
• For all events, the movie being shown will be coming only from Lloyd's laptop computer. (The only exception being if his laptop isn't functioning.)
• The movie, in whatever format it may be, will not be available for sharing/copying.
• All movies being shown are will be legally owned by Lloyd and will only come from his own DVD/Blu-ray collection.
• The contents of this page are subject to change frequently without notice.

Some Informational Links Regarding Movies

IMDb (Internet Movie Database) - Popular Searchable Additional Movie information

MPAA Film Ratings Guide

FilmRatings.com (Searchable Movie Ratings)