Computers. Hacking. Big corporation. These three phrases relate to the recent hacking of Sony Picturdes, presumably because Sony was going to release The Interview, a comedy with Seth Rogan and James Franco about the assassination of Kim Jong-un.
The hacking was apparently huge and compromised Sony. Because the hackers threatened to target theaters that showed the film, chains started cancelling the showing of the film. We were essentially being held hostage, through censorship, by a little snit of a dictator in a very isolated country.
An outcry ensued and theaters and Sony ultimately relented and allow us to watch this movie in various online formats for $5.99. The movie also opened at selected theaters around the country. Not at a lot of theaters, but at enough so the film will probablyi be huge. So this evening, after a lot of hassle with the computer and online viewing, Rob, Megan and I watched The Interview.
With any Seth Rogan movie, you have to be prepared to be grossed out. He breaks all the rules about what the consensus moviegoers want to see and gives you his version of a worldview about life in North Korea. James Franco, as the TV host who lands an interview with Kim Jong-un, is terrific.
He was the protagonist in 127 Hours, a drama based on a true story. I found that movie so uncomfortable that at one moment I turned it off to watch the news. It was nominated for three Golden Globes and a bunch of other awards, and thrust Franco into the America lexicon of I know this guy.
In this movie, Franco really steals the show from Rogan. At one point he does an imitation of Smeagol from Lord of the Rings that is so spot on the three of us were in stitches. The Interview is political satire at its best, gross and irreverent and yeah, I understand why Kim Jong-un might be offended by it. It’s as if Mark Twain intervened.
But hey, Kim dude. You’re a despot, your people are apparently starving, and in this movie, karma is not your friend.
Kudos to Sony for changing course. A foreign despot should never be able to censor what we watch or read. What I took away from this movie was a sense of the absurd: that some silly little guy half a world away could intimidate a huge corporation to pull a film.
When we live from a fear-based reality- we’re going to bomb or attack any theater that shows this film – then we become the terrorists, the censors, the silly nuts who perpetuate their agenda.
For six bucks, you can rent the film. Let North Korea know that you will not be censored!
It’s worth it. And really, even though a lot of the laughs are gross, there’s something to be said for this sort of comedy to be made – and then censored!
We will probably watch it, someday. It wasn’t on my radar but because of the hacking exposure we’ve heard enough about it that we’re interested to see it now. I’m always willing to take a chance on a comedy.
I tried to watch “127 Hours” but couldn’t.
And it really is funny- and sorta gross!
Meh. I have to agree with the marketing ploy. The “embarrassing emails” weren’t that embarrassing, IMHO. Calling an actor an a**hole for asking for more money is par for the course in Hollywood. I’m sure Adam Sandler and Angalina Jolie laughed all the way to the bank. But it did manage to whip up some interest. Not enough for me to pay money to see it, however.
We rented it for $5.99 and three of us watched it, so not a bad deal. Cheapest movie I’ve seen for a long awhile!
And you can make your own popcorn! We hardly ever go to the movies anymore. It’s so easy to watch at home with direct streaming.
Sounds like I need to see the film!
It wasn’t on the same scale, but I remember all the threats Bill Meyer got for his “Religulous” film – definately demonstrating that fundamentalists of all kinds have absolutely no sense of humor.
I remember the Meyer hoopla. Loved that movie!
Okay. Stop. Too many synchro’s…. I had 3 boys in our pool the other day, all 3 Aquarius, all 3 single children. Last night we watched The Interview. and there were more now recently, what’s up? Moon acting up?
Too funny! Isn’t the moon always acting up?!
Great marketing ploy by Sony,methinks.
Making a mountain of cash out of a molehill of a threat.
I’ll will watch it eventually,as I like Franco,but I don’t care for seeing Rogan’s fat ass all over the screen.
Rogen’s naked body being flaunted on a big screen is an act of visual terrorism by itself,which may be the real reason Sony released it to the small screen on second thoughts. 😉
Franco is very funny in this movie! Much different than 127 hours.
Rogan is…well, Rogan. Visual terrorism: great term!
One of Megan’s friends suggested the hacking was an insider job, that it was all a stunt to promote the movie. Pretty cynical, and most likely not true, since some of the interoffice memos released were very embarrassing for the head honchos. It’s a good idea for another Seth Rogen movie, though. lol
“A female hacker by the name of “Lena” may have actually been behind the Sony hack, casting doubt on the FBI and studio’s claim that North Korea was the culprit.”
“After doubt was cast on the possibility of North Korea having the capabilities to hack Sony, the final nail in the coffin of that theory was in an article put forth by Marc Rogers in The Daily Beast.
Rogers is the director of security operations for DEF CON, the biggest hacker conference in the world, and the primary security researcher for global CDN and DNS provider CloudFlare. He is also recognized as one of the foremost hacking experts.
The article he wrote was titled No, North Korea Didn’t Hack Sony and his hypothesis can be summed up like this: someone inside Sony wanted to humiliate the company. It was an inside job.
Other leading cybersecurity experts have echoed Rogers’ theory.”
https://heavy.com/news/2014/12/lena-sony-hacker-disgruntled-employee-inside-job-guardians-of-peace-the-interview-fbi-president-obama-north-korea/
Fascinating! Thanks for the link. This sure sounds a lot more plausible that NK doing the back.
I believe President Obama said that, in his opinion, the movie should be released. Not sure I particularly want to watch it, but we definitely can’t have guys like Kim Jong-un telling us what we can and cannot watch. But in saying that, I think there’s also an opinion that the hacking wasn’t anything to do with N Korea.
To me, it seems unlikely that NK could do that kind of hacking. Unless the Chinese helped them?