posted
I watch movies for the "thinking" aspect, too, and I thought A.I. sucked. The first part was pretty good. Then he suddenly goes to New York, kills his clone, and gets trapped underwater. I started thinking "Well, that was an interesting ending, but it went too quickly.". And then the movie went on for another hour or so.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Well, they could have just left off at the under-the-ice part, I admit. The last part was really just a showcase for special effects (look at the skinny aliens!).
posted
Spielberg is the MAN when it come to movie making!
I mean, sure, he's really running out of ideas recently, and started tomake big-budget-eye-candies-crappy films instead of "meaningful" films, but man, he kicked ass all the way up to the late 90s.
Some of the masterpieces by Spielberg:
Abyss E.T. Encounter of the Third Kind Saving Private Ryan (One of the best, if not, the best war film ever made!) Schindler's List
and SHITLOAD of others.
While on the topic, how come so few of you mentioned LOTR, it's only one of the best fantasy film ever made, plus, ALL CRITICs so far give it a five thumbs up.
On the side note, WTF were those dumbass idiots thinking when they gave "Shakespare in Love" best picture instead of Saving Private Ryan. I swear, the Oscar Board that year are all fu#king retards!!
-------------------- "George Washington said, 'I cannot tell a lie.' Richard Nixon said, 'I cannot tell the truth.' Bill Clinton said, 'I cannot tell the difference.'"
-- comedian TOM SMOTHERS, from his latest stage act with brother DICK SMOTHERS.
Registered: Jan 2000
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OnToMars
Now on to the making of films!
Member # 621
posted
A.I. was neither meaningful nor well written.
I am not saying Spielberg is a hack, though my former drama teacher would argue such a point. Some of his movies are quite good and provocative: Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Close Encounters. But he isn't Kubrick and he never will be.
The Abyss was James Cameron.
And people, there is a difference between 'moving' and 'thought provoking'. If you walk out of a movie saying, "Ya, that is pretty fucked up, come to think of it." That's thought provoking. If you walk out saying, "That's some fucked up shit!" in tears, then that's moving. Black Hawk Down was more moving than thought provoking in my opinion.
-------------------- If God didn't want us to fly, he wouldn't have given us Bernoulli's Principle.
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
I saw only one new-release movie in 2001, and that was way back in February or so, I think. It was Snatch, which I found to be quite enjoyable. Other than that, I watched nada last year. ::shrug::
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
Registered: Mar 1999
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I like movies that explore humanity. A.I. was a deeply human movie, and that is what struck me about it. It essentially retells "Pinocchio" with an artifical boy trying to find out what it is like to be real and it is in that quest that he askes questions of himeslf and ultimatly of us.
Ultimatly the film is about David's relationship with his "mother," his understanding of consciousness and desires, human morality in treatment of sentient beings, and finally David's understanding that his is not a unique existance.
Is it flawed? Oh, yeah. Too long and too many coulda shoulda endings.
And Lee, I'm sorry our friend has done that to you, I assure you that I do enjoy film, old and new and try to watch both as often as I can.
Part of the reason I posted this was to stimulate debate. Good, just one film, but good nonetheless. But also to give people a list of some very fine films I saw this year that they might not be aware of. I am fortunate in many ways to live in Los Angeles and am able to go see a movie like Amores Perros when it comes out. But Amores Perros is a film from Mexico and I wonder if many people have even heard of it but it had a great story, and fascinating structure and good performances.
Clearly these are just my thoughts. For every movie you see, someone will love it and someone will hate it. Movies are very personal.
[ January 22, 2002: Message edited by: Jay the Obscure ]
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Well, it's been a while, so I don't remember completely clearly, but I know that I also thought they were aliens, until I was talking to the people I saw it with, and everyone else said they thought the "aliens" were actually the future versions of the robots. I don't remember why, but it made a lot more sense than aliens at the time.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I only watch 7 movies this year, and I only would only recomend three of them. First there's Life As A House; I don't know why but it kind of reminded me that life's short and take each day at a time, something I'm doing right now by trying to get along wiht my family. Second was Ali; go figure I would watch a movie with Wil Smith on just because he's staring. And third was Sidewalks of New York; it goes to remind me that Ed Burns does know how to act.
Well that -ish was my two cents... if you don't like it then go take a Type 3b phaser rifle and shove it where the sun doesn't shine.
-------------------- "It speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow, it's not all going to be over with a big splash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans." -Gene Roddenberry about Star Trek
Registered: May 1999
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posted
Jay: it's not something that's really been done to me. I mean, this is the guy who's gonna be my best man. It just annoys me when he puts on these airs about knowing so much about films, yet hasd probably never seen anything by, say, Kurosawa, or Robert Aldrich. . .
Memento was an amazing film. We argued about it for hours afterwards.
As for Spielberg, I'm divided. He can deliver the goods, but in both his best films - Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan - he does some very powerful work only to compromise it later by reverting to schmaltz. I haven't seen A.I. but it sounds like it's the same; I wonder what Minority Report will be like?
posted
Speilberg is like the Star Trek movie series; there are good ones and bad ones...just hope that he makes a good one this time.
-------------------- "It speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow, it's not all going to be over with a big splash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans." -Gene Roddenberry about Star Trek
Registered: May 1999
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