Wednesday, August 19, 2009

"Please make me a real boy?"

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"And always let your conscience be your guide."
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21 comments:

Chris Na Taraja said...

wow, even a still picture from AI is just too unbearably long to look at! I can't believe I actually sat through that film, it started off alright, then just never ended! Where were the editors for that flick?!

Christine said...

I agree, Chris. Terrible, terrible movie. I've never been a big Spielberg fan, but even for him, this is pretty heavy-handed and over-the-top. That said, Jude Law is pretty cute in the film. For me, that pretty much is the film's only redememing quality.

Tom Steele said...

Oh, I *loved* Artificial Intelligence. I never saw it in a theater, though, and movies in theaters often feel augmented in length to me. I'm more inclined to become restless. Screenings, somehow, are different. Anyway, AI made me weep. I predict it will be "discovered" in another decade or so.

Jason Adams said...

AI is flawed but fascinatingly so, and has several passages that reach greatness. There are a ton of images forever seared into my brain, and HJO and Jude give fantastic performances. The mixture of Spielberg and Kubrick is just so odd. At odds. But in a way that I like. Would that so many big budget movies try something so hopelessly bizarre as this one did.

Anonymous said...

I genuinely really liked AI. It was odd for me to see the hatred for the ending as being too sappy when it's anything but - she dies at the end you know. And can never be brought back again. It paints his entire emotional journey as a bizarrely programmed one.

I just found it fascinating, personally.

Honestly, wouldn't we rather have another AI than another Indiana Jones?

Bailey said...

Omg, AI was so sad at the end that it gave me actual physical abdominal pain in the theater. So sad, when Teddy crawled up onto the behind as the camera was moving away I just lost it. The movie was overly long but very affecting just the same. I'm kinda scared to see it again, lol.

Christine said...

When I think about directors who are flawed but fascinatingly so, I think of someone like Ken Russell, not Spielberg. One of Spielberg's biggest strengths, in my mind, is the ability to create tight, suspenseful films, and this seems all over the place. There are some beautiful scenes, but not enough to sustain a film.

The major flaw in AI for me is the clunky exposition. Also, there's a lot of really heavy-handed Donna Haraway-Cyborg Manifesto stuff that got obnoxious after about two minutes.

Agreed that Jude Law is fabulous in the film though.

karen said...

AI was far too long but simply unforgettable. Teddy is one of the best nonhuman movie characters ever. I was in a weird kind of pain after watching the movie; it was the kind of film that you almost wished that you didn't watch because it made you feel so strange inside.

Anonymous said...

When I saw A.I. I was probably ten(maybe eleven) I thought it was stupid especially the ending. It was interesting but not that special.
Also, honestly, I didnt like Pinocchio at all. He annoyed me terribly, the cricket also did.

Unknown said...

Absolutely, whole-heartedly LOVE AI. Haley Joel's performance would maybe be a nominee for my favorite leading male performance of the decade. Love love love love this movie. ...and how can you not with Jude Law as an android prostitute?

steve said...

lol @ chris

i have mixed feelings on that one... thematically brilliant, but there's something awry in Spielberg emulating Kubrick

Glenn said...

I'm in the middle with AI, but I haven't rewatched it since I first saw it. Good, but not exceptionally so, but rarely BAD.

mB said...

Trust Disney's Pinocchio to get the shaft in a conversation when it's pit against one of Spielberg's most divisive films in recent memory.

Anyone else love the animated flick? I mean, it gave us Jiminy Cricket for god's sakes! Also: it features the craziest animated sequences of any Disney film.

For Your Speculation (Big Ted) said...

Oh how I love A.I. Yes there's lots in it that make it far from perfect, but Osment and Law (and all the technical work) make it worth watching. And say what you will about the length, the ending still makes me teary.

Chris Na Taraja said...

Thanks MB, I was just thinking the same thing. Disney did this story better.

I"m partial to GOT NO STRINGS. What is so crazy about the sequences in this film though? You think this is crazier than Fantasia, or Alice in Wonderland?

Henry said...

AI is an underrated movie in my opinion. Yes, Spielberg cops out with the syrup-y ending/coda/whatever that was, but everything up to the encounter with the Blue Fairy was brilliant.

Jordan Wellin said...

Pinocchio is my favorite (and I think the best) animated film of all time.

If you rewatch it as an adult, you'll have forgotten how genuinely creepy it is. Remember that kid turning into a donkey screaming "I want my mother!" That gave me nightmares for weeks.

But the beauty of the animation is so memorable, and it truly is one of the best coming of age films out there.

Anonymous said...

OMG the banner is all for my favourite actress! :D

dusty said...

Disney's Pinocchio = classic.

When I was a kid my parents didn't like to shell out money for movies, so all I had was Pinocchio as recorded off the Disney channel. When I picked up the DVD a few years ago I was amazed how beautiful a film it was -- without the recording lines and scrolling messages at the bottom of the screen.

JS said...

I remember everyone being in tears in the theater at the end of AI...so heartbreaking!

Michael said...

A.I. is one of the best movies of the decade. So layered, so heartbreaking, so visually spectacular. And anyone I know who's seen it a second time LOVES it. Needs to be seen twice to be appreciated. Also, remarkable how it still inspires passionate debate eight years later!