"If little girls had Brains!" - How autocorrect is ruining inflight entertainment

On a recent United flight they played a Sandra Bullock Movie called The Heat.

There is a scene in this movie where the cop character played by Melissa McCarthy, is searching for the police chief's "balls". She is searching everywhere in the office and even annoucnes to the rest of the police force "has anyone seen the captains balls? they are small, tiny, the size of ball bearings? no.. they are the size of little girl balls, IF little girls do have balls!"

Or at least that is what I remember seeing in the trailer!

For some strange reason, United decides to play this movie in a flight that does not have personal TV screens. Why they would do that is beyond me as it is an R rated movie that is not appropriate for kids staring at the big screens, given all the language in the movie.

For a worse reason, they decide to "autocorrect" the dialogues in the movie.

I am not sure if this was United's doing or Fox pictures doing, but it was a bad call. They replaced words like shit with stuff, other four letter expletives with kids choice of abuses and the worst choice was to replace "balls" with "brains"! 

There I was half asleep, trying to fight my stomach convulsions trying to divert myself, put on headphones to see what the movie was about and the first dialogue I hear ? 

"they are the size of little girl brains.. if little girls had brains!" and it just pissed me off. Was thinking "why won't little girls have brains! My girls are smart. How insulting is that for any little girl who happens to be on this plane? what are they thinking?!" and then it came to me that the original script was not this. 

United seriously needs to rethink its movie choices and they need to stop this autochange feature. Given the new dialogue was in Melissa McCarthy's voice, I am surprised she would do a voiceover for a dialogue that needlessly ridicules girls!

Goooooooooo "ARGO"

Watched ARGO last night after the kids went to bed. 

In case you have not seen it.. go see it. Ben Affleck does an outstanding job of directing this edge of the seat suspense movie, if you can call it that because you know what is going to happen in the end but he still made you come to the edge of the seat and wish you had not drunk that extra bottle of water before coming to the movie theater!

A few things that stood in my mind other than all those facts already mentioned in the reviews?

The background score for one. There are two places in the movie where the song just starts off in the background and just soars. The Knopfler guitar solo from "Sultans of Swing" and Zeppelin's "When the Levee breaks, there is no place left to go".. they were brilliantly placed. Brought you back memories of early eighties, and the words made a few connections in the brain which fit the situation.

The second thing was the look and feel of the movie. They had taken great pains to bring a late seventies feel to the movie, right from the lighting to the clothes to the landmarks. Truly amazing!

Ben Affleck truly shines as a director. Eagerly awaiting his next directorial effort!

A new found respect for Christian Bale

One of the perks of being married to an IBM'er in Silicon Valley is the twice a year or so special screening of blockbuster movies for employees and family.

San got us tickets to watch The Dark Knight Rises for a 9:30-Noon special screeing.

We stood in line from 8 to get nice seats and am still replaying some stuff from the movie in my head as this post is being typed.

What a movie! Beats every other movie that we have watched in the last two years hands down.

Christian Bale actually gives this character life. Saw that most reviews say he could have done better. His performance was as good as if not better than all the other heavyweights who make you feel something deep down in your bones. Seriously, it takes a lot of talent to hold your own with Oldman, Freeman and Caine.

Bale pulled it off in style.

We did not feel the time go by.True entertainment!

Hats off to Nolan.

Bend it like Shyamalan

We saw "The Last Airbender" today at the local theater. Went in with low expectations because a lot of reviewers had said "stay away. not worth the money. story not adapted from the original cartoon, dialogues not understood, concept not obvious " etc. etc.

Came out saying "Wow! WoW! WOW!"

Literally had goosebumps watching the climax. More than the visuals, the music for the movie was simply amazing. If any movie should an Oscar nomination for sound mixing and sound editing, this movie should be on the top of the list.

San asked me a very simple question when we were on our way back...

"why do people say this is a bad movie? What was wrong with it?"

My theory iss that it has become fashionable to bash Shyamalan as a failure, one hit wonder etc. etc.

When mentioning the concept part, San said "I can totally see why non-asians won't get this movie. we are raised to understand supernatural concepts along the lines of earth, wind, water, fire and also have spirits and gods for everything from sun, moon, stars etc. Westerners who are not raised on a diet of Vayu bhagwan and varuna bhagwan won't get it"

She was right on. We have not seen the original cartoon series. So adherence to the original was not exactly a criteria for us. The plot was good, the special effects and the music spectacular and the story was self explanatory.

The whole concept of an avatar was amazingly explained in this movie. There are many avatars of divinity that are capable of saving the world or redeeming humankind. The one key element of an avatar is acceptance by the folks of that day that the human incarnate is indeed an "avatar"! It is people who confer the avatar title on someone special. That was shown very nicely in this film.

This is truly an epic film. Jr. should be ready to watch this one in a years time when she is less scared of fighting in movies. The little one might watch it though.

Looking forward to the next installment...

Shyamalan is still one good film maker!

A note to the Ladies and little girls : Please please go to the restroom before the movie starts. We understand that with all that water flowing in the movie and the water bending on a giant screen, there is an automatic reflex for you to go to the restroom.. but then when you go on a procession with your kids or your kids take you along, kind of makes it difficult for the other folks...

ps. Did not see it in 3D. So do not know if the 3D version would have been better.

also, Hindu mythology makes it easy to follow this. Vishnu came as a giant fish to control the ocean in his first avatar. then he came as a tortoise/ boar/ plough bearer to control the earth, as Krishna he is shown as being able to control the sudharshan chakra (a ring of fire), etc. etc. That makes you go "okay.. what next"...

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Concession

We were walking out of the movie theater with the entire family after watching "UP".

FIL saw the word Concessions written in large lettering on one side and said "looks like something is being given as a concession. should we check it out?"

we all looked at him for a second and said "Here concession doesn't mean discounted. It is the name for popcorn and sodas"

He was puzzled, to say the least.

Why would you call popcorn and sodas concessions? Is it because it is subsidized?

and we all said "it is sold at three times the normal price. it is anything but subsidized!"

Could not find the origin of how movie theater stalls got to be called Concessions..

If you know, please point us to a link..

ps. What a movie! Fantastic sums it up.
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