We have always been fascinated by the future, virtual worlds and real to life games. The late 90’s and early 2000’s was evidence of this abundance of cheap thrill virtual fantasy movies. There are 3 movies from my past I totally forgot about that looking back I actually really enjoyed but to be honest, they were held back by the technology at the time. These 3 movies in my opinion could do with a remake right now.

Let me start with “Lawnmower man”. This movie was about a scientist played by Pierce Brosnan, who had an idea to stimulate the mind with virtual reality and raising intelligence.  Like most ideas ahead of their time, no one wanted to invest in such a radical concept. The scientist like most creative’s gets desperate to realize his work and uses his basement as the platform for his experiment and unethically uses a mentally challenged lawnmower man played by Jeff Fahey, in his neighbourhood as his subject. Not only does his experiment succeed in making this man more intelligent, his intelligence actually exceeds the intelligent of every human being and the results become catastrophically diabolical. The story was solid, the acting was solid, however, it was challenged by the CGI of the times. I can see Director Joseph Kosinski from Tron Legacy directing this. Not sure who the writer should be though.

Second movie I think should be remade is “Virtuosity” starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. This movie was about a simulation of the ultimate serial killer. Take all the worst serial killers and just greatest evil minds of all time and stuff them into one virtual being. One can see how this would be initially useful. After all, you can train better law enforcers with a knowledge base like this. Of course in true late 90’s early 2000’s fashion, the virtual being finds a way to create a physical version of itself. Back then that was pretty farfetched, but with Today’s 3D printing technology, Nano-technology and cloning, it could very well be plausible. When this super killer escapes they find no holds barred cop Denzel Washington, a man who has snuffed out a few serial killers in his tenure to help out. Of course, this leads to non-stop action. This movie had better special effects than Lawnmower man, being that it was made in 1995 a full 3 years later. Still, the CGI is aged now and could do with a revamp. Definitely, who I would want to see direct this would be Bad Boys” director Michael Bay. I know some of you just cringed when I said that, but to be honest, “Virtuosity” was a full out action movie about blazing guns of glory. The only other directors I would contemplate is Rian Johnson of “Loopers” coupled with writers Thomas Harris and Ted Tally of “Silence of the lambs”.

The last movie I would remake is “Brainstorm” starring Christopher Walken from 1983. This movie explores something I have always wondered about. What’s it like in someone else’s mind from their perspective? How different is it from my own. Of course, it gets controversial when the military uses it control the minds of people they want to use as pawns to commit unethical acts and control pilots in enemy air crafts to attack their own in warfare. This story is a played out one, but with scientists now knowing how to control the mind of a roach, it’s a matter of time before they figure out how to use microwaves to control the mind of a human, especially if injecting chips in us becomes legal. Just a matter of time before a cell phone becomes an under the skin embedded device. There was no real CGI used in this, mostly point of view angles, so it was very effective, but I feel this movie has long been forgotten and deserves a rehashing. I am thinking JJ Abrams for this one.

I am sure some of you hate my list. I am sure some of you hate my director picks. Share your thoughts with me in the comments below. Let me know your thoughts. Are these movies worthy of being remade? Who would you choose to direct? Nivek Pro Jamaican Filmmaker out.

I did not mention this before, but when Heart Shaped Box was premiered at Showroom 0, we experienced several glaring flaws which were quite embarrassing. It was plagued with sound issues from the half way mark, the explosion looked more like a kitchen fire and the bathroom scene felt blah.

Showroom 0 was really a feeler event, with specially invited guests, so the debacle that was Heart Shaped Box affectionately called HSB wasn’t that bad. It was a busy week and we had rushed things a bit to facilitate the premier for students documentary final year project. We shouldn’t have rushed however, it turned out for the best because, the documentary turned out to be a great artifact that I think everyone should see. I am glad I was a part of that.

We reviewed the HSB video and corrected all the audio issues, enhanced the special effects, thanks to the guru Jayson Moo-Young and Robin Chin went in and added some close ups to the bathroom scene.  I could not have been happier with the end result. It felt like we performed surgery on the video and after we dropped it on youtube, calls and messages came pouring in. Countless people who I normally never get compliments from actually gave this short a good review and are asking for more and this time I think I am going to give it to them. It always feels good to please your audience.

In my last blog I spoke about David Johnson from Boncrek Films who did a documentary on film making in Jamaica and heavily featured Nivek Pro and ERS’ Robin Chin.  The documentary far exceeded my expectations and it is hard to believe this is a student effort. This young man I believe has a bright future in documentary making. His attention to detail, determination and passion shine bright. Take a look for yourself.

What is Kiddify and why am I talking about it?

In short, it’s Youtube or Vimeo for kids, but it’s more than that. It’s about sharing knowledge and nourishing that natural state of openness and curiosity kids were born with.

Kiddify does this through peer-to-peer shared videos where kids from anywhere in the world can explain or do a tutorial on anything from making a toy, to cooking, tips on crossing the street, making a news paper or doing a summersault. Anything the kids imagination can dream up, they can do a video and put it online for others to learn from.

What I like about this site, is that it is kid friendly but it is doing much more than providing a safe haven away from the often distracting and uncensored content of the internet. It is getting children, from all different races; social strata’s, geographic locations to interact with each other, and discover that they are all alike. They all share the same challenges and curiosity. Where there are differences, they learn to appreciate them. It brings the outdoor playing experience right into the internet, because these kids have to actually do something to participate. They are no longer sitting back and absorbing content. They are actually creating the content and accomplishing something, building their confidence and making friends while doing it.

How Am I Involved?

It is important to Kiddify, to get as wide a perspective as possible, so they don’t want the videos to come from only one region. I currently film kids in Jamaica who want to make videos but don’t have the ability to film themselves, because of no access to a camera, or no clue how to start. So far you can see some clips I shot in Jamaica for their promo video. 

Kiddify Promoi Video Link
http://com-kiddify-videos.s3.amazonaws.com/kiddify-image-720p-german.mp4

I doubt you will be able to pick out my clips, but there are a few mixed in there. I am proud to be a part of this project, even though I don’t have kids yet, but the idea is a good one and it is the brain child of a Jamaican living in Germany.

Security Concerns

I had some safety concerns when it comes to monitoring content and ensuring that kids are not targeted on the site. I was assured that they have moderators that continuously sweep the site for inappropriate content and interactions. I am really happy about that, because this world has become very scary, especially for kids.

Conclusion

I really hope this site gets popular, because kids need a place where they can share their knowledge and experiences freely. It’s easier for a child to learn from another child. It’s less intimidating for them and it makes them more confident to step out of their comfort zone and maximize their potential. This is definitely Nivek Pro endorsed.