Open Thread Thursday

One awful movie.

I saw a special on TCM (I thing) about Stanley Kubrick. Spielberg was saying basically, that Kubrick nudged him into making this instead of making it himself. Or something close to this.

Obama just gave away all our Atomic Batteries.

Not Aliens at the end, folks. Those were much more advanced robots.

Weird that this is the poster today, I just watched this movie a couple of weeks ago. I saw it back when it was new and thought it was interesting. This movie is a very deep movie with many layers and a lot going on. I know many didn't like it, I am not one. I thought this movie along with Bicentennial Man were very good movies that speak to humanity and what makes us human. Of course both avoid spiritual issues completely, but both are science fiction so they shouldn't be viewed as movies rooted in reality.

But both of these movies showed us that even if technology advances to point of creating realistic artificial life, that it is still artificial life. AI made this point in the fact that the androids didn't cry out when they were being destroyed in the "flesh fairs". It also made this point when the love robot played by Jude Law is captured and carried away to his supposed doom, he says: "I am… I was." There is no fear for his life because he isn't life, he is a machine.

To view this movie on its surface, without dealing with the underlying themes of the movie, will leave the viewer unsatisfied. But to realize that this movie has a lot going on underneath about human-beings and how we deal with the world around us, then you can start to piece together what Kubrick and Spielberg were trying to do and to say. It also helps to watch this film multiple times.

I find that there are only two camps on this movie: those that hate it and those that love it. There really isn't many in the middle on this one.

I also have a huge crush on Frances O'Connor so that may have something to do with my liking this movie.

actually Spielberg wasn't totally honest about why Kubrick was talking to him about the movie. Kubrick was picking Spielberg's brain about Visual Effects for the movie. Kubrick was going to make it himself. But when he died, Spielberg just assumed that Kubrick would want him to do the movie. Pretty ego driven assumption, if you ask me.

I guess all Congress needs is a catchy tune

This movie lost me when they dumped robot boy in the woods like Homer Simpson getting rid of his clones….

It had potential but decended into a pretentious snore-fest….

True because any intelligence there is definitely artificial.

Arrrgh! Why did you remind me of that, now I'm going to be whizzed all day, all over again.

Too funny……probably true

I always hated this movie, and the tag line "His love is real" is both absurd and totally wrong. He was programmed specifically to love without regard to any external information. The woman treats him like crap but he loves her unconditionally. That happens in real life too, but the movie starts off false and goes downhill. And runs half an hour too long, they should have left him at the bottom of the ocean staring at the statue.

Awful.

I think most of us agree that the movie was about 25 mins too long, but how else was Spielberg going to deliver that last jab about global warning???

Don't you have it the other way around? Isn't Manhattan a frozen tundra at the end of the film (which would disprove global warming)? Or is there a line of dialogue I'm forgetting? I haven't seen the film in years.

I'm with you on this one. I enjoyed the film but got the feeling that they couldn't really figure out how to end it.

Ah. I'd forgot about that. Thanks.

you may have a point. But because it was vague enough to be either (at least in my memory) it pulled me out of the movie, and I stopped caring. If that is what really happened, I might care. I will rewatch it to see.

maybe so, but by then I had stopped caring, and was ready for it to be over.

No problem!

Well, even if I am right and it makes a little more sense from a narrative perspective, I still think the ending is flawed. Spielberg's need to give every movie a happy ending is what sort of sunk this one. The film should have ended with David trapped on the bottom of the ocean, repeatedly wishing to be a real boy while the world around him froze and died. Depressing, but better. (I won't comment on the accepted assumption that the world will eventual freeze through global warming…)

they already have one: "Dare to be Stupid" by Wierd Al Yankovick

but you are forgetting. according to Al Gore and the Day After Tomorow, global warming is going to cause the next Ice Age and make it happen overnight. We all better crank up or AC's and keep our window's open, making sure the colder air will heat things up to keep us from freezing.

I can see your point here. I had a buddy that thought it should have ended with David finding the Blue Fairy and continually asking to be a real boy.

Of course, Spielberg has to have a sappy, happy ending thus we get aliens using Monica's hair to bring her back if only for a day. And we see David content in the end since he had the one day with Monica. I tend to agree that maybe it should have ended with him at the bottom of the ocean begging the blue fairy to be a real boy. I think it would have said more as well.

Good one, though "Constipated" is a close second

You forgot to add that it will all be BUSH'S FAULT!!11!!ONE!!!

And here I thought it was "The Lifespan of the Dung Beetle"….

Apparently someone didn't like my post about Greg Iles. Unfortunately, since they didn't bother to post a comment, we won't know whether their issue is with the book or me.

I think it was that last bit about "spirituality"

Thanks for the recommendation!

really with Ishtar still on the table??

I had two problems with the film. First, it had a real schizophrenic feel. It felt like it had been made by two very different directors at once. Secondly, I think that Spielberg mistakes long periods of silence for depth. Unless there's some meaning to go with the silence, silence is just silence.

Something Interesting….

http://mediamatters.org/research/200907080007

I thought that was TOTUS?

I'm not sure how anything could be worse that Batman and Robin. Nipples on the bat suit …

That was totally weak dude. I'm not a big fan of Hannity, but citing a left-wing whackjob website as proof of anything is like I said…..weak….

a bit backwards there. Congress doesn't consume dung, they produce it.

Thank ye, Hank.

No fair! She gets her own ring and Hell has only given me a thank you card.

Love MST 3000! I've never heard of "Rifftrax". Explain Please?

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!?!?!?!??!

Well, was it a personalized card, engraved and hand-signed? Or just a form letter type of card?

thank you. but yes, it's the rest of us whom congress expects to consume it once their done.

only a form card. Apparently, like Pinky and the Brain, or Professor Kaos, I'm only evil "lite". All my attempts to take over the world have failed.

Perhaps you should leave "Jewish Ninja Zombie Stomper" off your resume

Hey now… Alicia Silverstone in a thong can't be a bad thing can it?

Absolutely not!! It was the lone saving grace for that pile of cinematic excrement….

BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

This just in!!!!

Should President Barack Obama declare a Michael Jackson national holiday?

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24703.h...

as i mentioned a couple of hours ago, by the time i got to that point in the movie, I didn't care anymore. Isn't the job of a movie to keep you interested? It was a step or two too far for me to follow them on. So whether they are alien robots or what, I could not have cared less.

I actually liked A.I. but I really agree with your point. If he had come to love the mom out of genuine compassion and come to love her not because he was programmed to but because he actually felt a connection, then I think the film would've been substantially better. If his love came from him, rather then what some robot scientist wanted him to feel.

the best part of Homer getting rid of his clones (did he? Marge seemed happy with his replacement) was the cacophony of Doh's! as they cascaded over the cliff chasing the giant donut… next to 'The Raven', best Halloween Simpsons short ever…

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