Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Audiophilander (A) on June 29, 2005 at 20:10:24

In Reply to: How can such a brilliant fellow, posted by tinear on June 29, 2005 at 16:50:27:

>>> "How can such a brilliant fellow, politically, be such a dunderhead in his film taste?" <<<

Minority Report is full of inconsistencies and lapses of reason, but AI has a poignant and believeable preformance by Haley Joel Osment that IS genuinely brilliant, and that doesn't even get into how stylistically beautiful Spielberg managed to make this film. IMHO, AI: Artificial Intelligence is intelligent; it's a thinking man's SF movie through and through, with few, if any, plot-holes to grouse about.

My response to Bulkington (July 23, 2004) casting a critical eye on Minority Report (i.e., before it decomposed) should give you a good indication as to how much I feel that AI is the better film:

>>> "Unfortunately, Spielberg went for the cheap thrills & gross out effects and expected folks to leave their minds and any semblance of "logic" at the door (i.e., fast pacing can cover a multitude of sins that are painfully apparent in repeated viewings). For instance, there's no way one could do a retina scan on a decomposed eye, which is exactly what Cruise's eye would be after the passage of any time and in consideration of the manner in which it was handled. The eyeball rolling across the floor scene had an almost Keystone Kop quality to it; it was predictable & lame. The fact that the security was tight when tension was desired and lax when a resolution was needed was far too precious. The spider-bots were cool, but the whole scene and bathtub set-up didn't really work, and again way to precious in terms of a last minute resolution."

"IMHO, AI-Artificial Intelligence, the film that Steven Spielberg completed prior to Minority Report is FAR and away the better SF film. I do believe that Minority Report is a "return to form" for Spielberg, but that carries baggage as well as kudos. Few Directors are as good at creating and resolving tension, developing interesting characters and producing believeable effects as Mr. Spielberg, but by the same token few are as sloppy when it comes to recurring continuity gaffs, precious coincidences and obvious audience manipulation, too. There are many of his films I dearly love, but I'm often frustrated with his sloppiness as a filmmaker, especially since it's obvious how passionate he is about his craft." <<<

Cheers,
AuPh

• One of my responses to your thread about the greatest SF movies (May 9, 2002):   (Open in New Window)