@freediverx @atpfm @caseyliss I just watched this movie for the first time in 25 years.

My favourite part was the directional microphone listening to rooms to identify their purpose. My least favourite part was the VGA display being used in 1969 as well as 1992. And I think seeing Microsoft Excel in Windows 3.1 — its true glory — made up for editing audio tape with physical cuts … in 1992 … by rich nerds!

In fact Whistler was easily the best character/actor combo. Dan Aykroyd — I liked him more 2 hours ago 😞 And River Phoenix, well, he was him.

I think I’m a bit too old to have the nostalgia bump that I have for other shows and movies — I will definitely forgive Casey for that. But I’m a little upset at @siracusa promoting the actors and A-movie values here … say what? Turns out I wasn’t put off by the technology, or the MacGuffin — but the mayhem comedy?

The acoustic coupler and “lie detector” didn’t bother me as much as how the NSA couldn’t hear everyone on speaker. The NCIS-style “enhance!” didn’t bother me as much as every. damn. time. someone bumped the surveillance camera enough to knock the subject out of frame 200% at telephoto zoom. And then there was the American Pie element.

Granted, it does swing wildly in tone — also not great — but when so many actors overact, you have to pin it on the director. Yet the same guy gave us “The Sum of All Fears” and 10 episodes of “Band of Brothers” 🤷‍♂️

But the First AD did work on such comical treasures as “Ace Ventura”, “The Witches of Eastwick”, and “Joe Versus the Volcano”. Yes, I think that explains it. And the tone shifts.

I really enjoyed seeing a young Ben Kingsley and in fact I liked his villainous cliché more than his later work, with the niggling worry that he was reminding me of someone else — or is Cosmo the trope-maker here?

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Sneakers

Instead of “War Games”, this movie turned a bit toward “Porky’s” and “Get Smart” — even the car pulling up!

The serious visionary stuff gave me hints of “Snowden”, which I want to watch next.

@rezmason @stroughtonsmith (What they didn’t explain was how to say “Aqua”)

/ˈækwə/ or /ˈɑːkwə/

Ahhquahh? ewww