Some bloggers are going to see Minority Report this evening, the new Tom Cruise / Steven Spielberg flick. It was well received by critics, and it'd be kinda tempting to go.
Chicago Sun-Times / Roger Ebert:
This film is such a virtuoso high-wire act, daring so much, achieving it with such grace and skill. Minority Report reminds us why we go to the movies in the first place.Film Threat / Clint Morris:
Where Minority Report succeeds is by dishing up a little bit of everything � to see no one leaves the theater disgruntled. There are helpings of science fiction marvel, there�s some interminable tension and a real human story underneath it all. The specials effects are damn impressive to boot.Salon.com / Andrew O’Hehir:
It's a dark and dazzling spectacle.
And, I’m not just cherry-picking the reviews, either — those are all reviewers that I feel I can trust. However, my long-standing boycott against the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is still intact.
The reason for my boycott is that, under pressure from the MPAA, the Norwegian government earlier this year indicted teenager Jon Johansen for writing software to enable DVD playback on Linux.
In exemplary cases over the past few months (Lord of the Rings, Episode II, and the like), I would make donations to Johansen’s legal defense fund. However, I'm now in a bit of a moral quandary. Up until now, my procedure has been to avoid MPAA films if possible, and make matching defense-fund donations if I do attend a movie.
Thinking it over, I could tweak the “boycott” such that I would instead be a “matching-funds consumer” (or something). That is, under this new idea, I would attend movies as if I had no “boycott”, but continue making the matching donations. That would allow for the entertainment value of the movies, of course, but it may also mean net-positive monies towards The Good Guys. That is, though I would pay (say) $8 for the movie and $8 to the EFF, the money would act as $8 gross revenue for the movie industry but $8 net revenue for the defense. Hmm, not bad.
Man, principals can be tough.
Not to worry, Alex. The solution to your moral quandry is simple:
Black Market bootleg videotapes.
Why support the freedom-hating mass-media when you can go around them and still enjoy the fruits of their labors? Bootlegs offer a simple, convenient way to see all of the latest films that Hollywood has to offer without giving your hard-earned money to the bad people. With a simple push of the ‘Play’ button, you’ll be doing your part to boycott the evil MPAA…assuming, of course, that you still own a VCR.