CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

bylot_uk This documentary promises to shed light on the history of the internet, especially the time before the invention of the World Wide Web, in 1990. What we get instead is a procession of middle aged kooks pontificating randomly on AI takeover, sun spot events and the end of the world, and the internet being embedded into walls.The framing of most of the interviews is quite flippant. Normally a WH documentary is irreverent, but fond. Here though the viewer feels like an intruder into the world of a series of out-of-step eccentrics, whom the internet had long since left behind and taken on a life of its own - this being brought painfully into view when the question "does the internet dream of itself"? is raised.It seems what was intended to be a film about the, mostly undocumented, innocent history of the pre www internet, took on a life of its own as the subjects started rambling about other things. It ended up showing only the wide-eyed naiievety of both Herzog and the interviewees, as they wandered away from their areas of expertise and into what is essentially uninformed futurology.There was a veteran "Hacker", who "hacked" into this and that, we're told. That he'd done 99% of his "hacking" by calling companies and pretending to be a manager wasn't made clear. A bizarrely posed family who'd had a picture of their daughter that had fatally crashed on a joyride in the father's Porsche published online, told us the devil was in the internet, listing some nasty things that had been emailed to them about their daughter and her death. In the same vein, an apocalyptic prediction by three fervent geeks, who think we're on the edge of a societal collapse caused by solar flares.All in all, the film misses the mark. If it had been presented a bit differently, I think it would have been a more worthwhile watch, but as it is, it comes across as nothing more than the poking of some Silicon Valley eccentrics with a stick, and seeing what they do.

Leofwine_draca LO AND BEHOLD, REVERIES OF THE CONNECTED WORLD is the latest documentary work from Werner Herzog, one of my favourite directors of all time. This isn't quite as good as his other documentaries although fans will be well pleased by the choice of material. Herzog's production is typically reverent; the director contributes his trademark softly-spoken narration and there are some good visuals and music throughout.The theme this time around is the Internet, although the narrative structure is broken down into smaller chapters, or vignettes, exploring various aspects of the Internet that interest the director. Therefore we meet a grieving family whose life has been ruined by tragedy and subsequent cyber-bullying, and a group of woodland recluses who claim that wireless technology makes them sick. Individually, all of the stories are interesting, although I prefer the director's work that concentrates on a single subject matter at greater depth, such as GRIZZLY MAN.

Simply Put Whilst this documentary tackles a very meaty subject (technology and its effects on humans, the world and the universe), it unfortunately is very dry in its delivery and quite limited in its effectiveness.I think this is for 2 main reasons - firstly, Herzog mainly interviews people who are very tech-savvy, tech-driven people who are completely and totally immersed in their chosen field. As such, they talk very enthusiastically in very technical terms about very dry topics. Imagine asking a Maths Fan Club to tell you all about what their favourite prime number is and why and then filming it....DRY, BORING & INDECIPHERABLE for those of us not on the same page, right?! I feel like a lot of the film was like that! I learned a couple of interesting facts from these people, but not enough to sustain a whole film's worth of interest. The more 'human' element, where Herzog talks to people about the effect technology has had upon them, is far more interesting - but there is much less of that in the film than the technical stuff. I think he was trying to link the 2 together - i.e. here is what the intent was/is, but this is actually what has happened/will happen - but he doesn't pull it off.This brings me to my second point - Herzog has picked a really expansive subject, and as such, cannot possibly give each element the attention it needs or deserves. He should have just stuck with, say, the effects of the internet, or the looming figure of artificial intelligence. There is not enough time and space in one film to link all aspects together efficiently.So, if you are a very logical, tech-savvy person, who enjoys technically informing documentaries, you may really like this. If like me, you're more into the psychological/emotional angles, you likely won't.

Barry Peet Yes, summed up, I would say 'unworthy'. From both the perspective of the Internet: way too complex, large and important to be portrayed the way it is in this 'documentary'.And from the perspective of the maker. Werner Herzog can make very nice films, were his style and humor is a real benefit. This is just not one of them. It seems to be due to a total lack of knowledge and feeling with the subject.Watching this movie feels like someone picked a very at random words and then tried to make a movie on The Internet around it. Monks.. Mars.. Robots.. Dreams.. Radiation.. Stars.. and this just continues.If the purpose of this movie was to let Mr Herzog have a laugh, I'm sure he succeeded. But pretending it to show the history of The Internet, and it's social impact.. No way!Shame on you Werner!