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A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Widescreen Special Edition)

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Widescreen Special Edition)

List Price: $12.99
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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: rent is nothing else's in. it's too long though!
Review: I wanted more out of this movie. What I got was a flick with too many different plots all trying to be intertwined. While I didn't find this movie hard to follow at all. I did find it hard to really feel any of the story, since it seemed to be going in so many directions. I also didn't like the slow pace of the movie, maybe worst of all. It was simply too long! It could have ended 45 minutes eairler, had they just cut some of the weird sub-plots out. Haley does a very good job as the robotic boy who wants to be able to feel. An interesting fact I heard about him. All on his own, Haley decided not to blink durring any of his scenes. Because this would make him appear more more like a real robot. It might not seem like anything, but if you think about it, I at least, found that to be quite amazing. What made him think of such a thing? I definitely didn't notice this while I watched it, but I wasn't looking for it either. It might make it worth re-watching just to see this strange, but cool feat. One of the highlights here was without a doubt his robotic teddy bear "Teddy" I know it was nothing but a computer generated character, but the way it moved, talked and acted was darn cool. It had me wondering when our world will see such an advanced toy :)

Overall I slightly enjoyed the movie, but it just never came together like I had hoped. It's a shame because the premise here could have been something incredible, but sadly what we got was an over-FX'ed, drawn out movie that tried to do everything. As the saying goes this movie is "a jack of all trades, master of none"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: No one tops Haley Joel Osment
Review: It surprised me to see some reviewers critising this movie for its boring , its ending, its storyline ....etc. Hey, only the acting of Haley Joel Osment is worth everything.
Don't expect to see a Starwar or ID4like action packed sci-fiction movie. A.I. is all about love, the uncoditional love from a child for his mommy. I felt sorry for Monica(Frances O'Connor), she asked for the love(by impriting David - Haley Joel Osment) and yet, not dare to accept it. Only at the end of the movie when she can't remember anything but David, she told him,"I have always loved you". That's the moment David had been waiting and hoping for his whole life and it's the most touching moment of the movie.
On the contrary to some reviewers, I think the ending is perfect. Because David went to sleep for the first time in his life and in his dreams, he will be with his beloved mommy forever. It is indeed "happily ever after" ending.
Of course this review is for the one who has already seen the movie, as for the one who hasn't, you will love it if you have love in you.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Spielberg's best.
Review: First off, I'm aware that people are free to express their opinions. What confuses me everytime is when they argue length. Many have said this film is too long, and quoting " the ending should have come 30 minutes earlier." I don't get it. This film doesn't drag at all. You wanna talk "drag" see Pearl Harbor.

The movie is the perfect length for the amount of information packed in it. The effects are brilliant, the acting, fantastic. I'm the first to admit that effects aren't everything, but in this film, they serve the story very well. (I'm a big fan of films that take place in one room).

I loved this movie, it was incredible, it made you want to be there( and also pull teddy right into your living room--- that little scene stealer--)

The only thing that bugged me really was the music. At moments, it seems not quite right. Overall it works--but just those little bits are odd to me. I wish i could pin-point where they are in the film, but it's not that big a deal anyway.

Incredible achievment in film.

Teddy rules!

A.P.L

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: More is Less
Review: Two famous directors, lots of big name actors, Great Special Effects, 140+ minutes... and you end up with this dreck?? Sometimes you can tell a big story in a small way..you don't need to span thousands of years, toss in a new evolved life form (unless your on UPN) and have honky tonk robot cities.. a smart story, script and believable plot would have worked out better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A.I. is a masterpiece.
Review: I saw A.I. when it first came out and couldn't shake it for a long time. I forgot about the whole Kubrick and Spielberg angle, and just immersed myself in it. I don't even know that I understood it, but it got under my skin almost like no other movie. As I read these reviews, I am beginning to remember the impact A.I. had on me all over again. It's no wonder there is such a love/hate reaction to this film. It's a deeply disturbing and challenging film. A.I. demands something from it's audience. I think we are spoonfed so much cinematic pablum in the US, that when an American film comes along that actually asks you to think a whole lot more deeply, a lot of people get angry and bored. This is one of the most haunting, heartbreaking films I've ever seen. It makes you question your core beliefs. If you want a film you can really sink your teeth into and think about for a long, long time, buy this DVD. I don't think you can see it one time and get all of it. It's a one of a kind work of art--not easily accessible, but extremely rewarding if you open your mind and your heart to it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Odd blend of the utterly superb and the downright wretched
Review: This movie is baffling, because it does some things about as well as an be done in a film, while just [stinking] horribly at other times.

Let's do the good first. Haley Joel Osment is just extraordinary. Is he the best child actor of all time? He certainly is a leading candidate. Margaret O'Brien was certainly as good in the 1940s, and perhaps better. But I can think of no other boys who were as good as he has been. His performance is utterly convincing, and deeply nuanced. The script demands that he evolve and grow during the course of the film, and he does so marvelously. There is no question that he carries this movie on his back.

Jude Law is fine in his role, though he has been much better in other films. I absolutely adore Frances O'Connor (MANSFIELD PARK, BEDAZZLED, and in this springs THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, as Gwendolyn Fairfax opposite Colin Firth's Jack Worthing), and she does a good job in playing an emotionally conflicted character. Visually, the film is way too dark. I could have stood a little more light, but overall the film is convincing visually. I especially liked the scenes shot in a submerged NYC, though it is poignant now seeing the imagined ruins of the World Trade Center, which met a far more apocalyptic ruin than was imagined in the movie.

Unfortunately, the minuses equal or perhaps even outweigh the bad. One of Spielberg's greatest vices as a director is his emotional manipulativeness. All directors, of course, try to engage the emotions of the viewers, but Spielberg pulls out every trick in the book. His efforts are sometimes just a bit too heavy-handed and way too transparent.

A more serious problem is that the script is just awful. While there are many nice moments, the overall story is poorly constructed, and one doesn't get a sense that the story as a whole is one that is especially worth telling. The central premise is a good one, but I think the film would have been stronger if they had jettisoned the Pinocchio themes and struck out on its own. The first half of the film, as "David" is trying to fit into his new home is extremely interesting. The second half is more or less irritating. And I think most viewers will feel that the ending is not very satisfying. David finds love and happiness, but the script and Spielberg have to resort to the most incredible artifice to achieve this.

So, despite some very good elements, overall this is not a terribly strong film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Should Stand the Test of Time
Review: 'A.I.: Artificial Intelligence' has a unique history. Legendary director Stanley Kubrick originally conceived the project, perhaps as a companion piece to his 1969 masterwork, '2001: A Space Odyssey'. He struggled with the movie's concept for years before deciding to collaborate on it with Steven Spielberg, who wound up on his own after Kubrick's death in 2000. The result is a hybrid, a homage to Kubrick, one of the coolest, most intellectual filmmakers of all times, by one of the biggest icons of American pop culture. The results were not pleasing to most audiences. It had a smash opening weekend last summer, and then was promptly abandoned for easier to understand 'eye candy' fare.

The movie takes place in three acts. In the first one we find ourselves somewhere in the future. Global warming has caused sea levels to rise. Many coastal cities, including New York, are under water. Rich nations like America have compensated and thrived. Enormous strides have been made in artificial intelligence. Technology has developed robots that look and act like human beings. One day Dr. Hobby [William Heard], head of a corporation that makes these machines, sets out to develop the ultimate product, a boy that can actually love. Once a prototype is developed, a couple whose only child has been hospitalized for years with a rare disease is chosen to test the robot child named David [Joel Haley Osment]. After awhile the mother, Monica [Francis O'Connor] decides to keep David and says to him the seven words that unlock his 'love' program. And love her he does; in fact, he is irrevocably bonded to her. All is wonderful until the real son miraculously recovers and returns home.

The second act covers a period when, for good reason, David is separated from the family and is alone in the world. During this time, he meets other robots and learns from them some terrible truths about the world. No matter how real they look and act, robots are not human and are thus disposable. Many people have a fear and loathing for them, feelings, I suspect, that are perfectly natural. The third act takes place 2,000 years further into the future. I will not give away the ending.

Osment gives an incredible performance as David, even more amazing because he has to carry the entire movie. I don't know how he did it, but he made David truly seem an almost, but not quite, real boy by giving him a very subtle mechanical quality. Forget the fact that Osment is just a kid. He's one of the great actors of our times. Also wonderful are Jude Law as Gigolo Joe, robot love machine and David's savior in act two, and O'Connor as Monica.

'A.I.' is a flawed masterpiece. As such, many people will be too irritated by the flaws to appreciate its virtues. The story is linear, but each act has its own tone, pace, look and story. They are united primarily by David's belief that somehow he can become a real boy and make Monica love him forever and ever. The structure forces the audience to shift gears twice, something many people don't like doing when watching a movie. Ironically, this says a great deal about how we ourselves have been programmed.

On the surface, this is a typical Hollywood big budget movie. It is filled with lavish sets and special effects. None of this does much to hide the fact that this is a thinking man's movie. Spielberg can not resist his natural tendency to warm the story up, something the coldly calculating Kubrick would never have done. I believe his style helps the movie a great deal because, otherwise, it would be all too dark. The complexity of the subject matter remains as great no matter what approach is taken. It brings up what is real and what isn't, how we project our emotions on an object and what might happen if an object were capable of projecting them back at us. Ultimately, for all his nearly perfect imitation of a human being and for all his abilities to feel and express emotions, David is a machine. Knowing this makes us uncomfortable. We don't know how we are supposed to feel about him.

Many critics also dismissed 'A.I.' for various reasons. One complaint was the use of a children's story, 'Pinocchio', as the one that inspires and motivates David. To me, its use is most appropriate. It reminds us that the idea to play God and to create life is nothing new. It indirectly references the Disney animated movie, and what could be a better example of how we project our emotions on something that is entirely an artificial creation?

Fifteen years ago, both critics and the public, had a similar reaction to Spielberg's 'Empire of the Sun', which is now considered a classic in many circles. I have a feeling 'A.I.''s time will also come. Movies that challenge us have become increasingly rare in the last decade. If you are as appalled by this trend as I am, then I highly recommend 'A.I.' to you. You will be challenged, I promise.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Dazzling and Different, Unpredictable Yet Flawed
Review: I enjoyed this film because it is so different from the standard fare of love stories, war stories, and mystery stories. It is a kind of futuristic version of Pinocchio, where an artificial boy, David (Haley Joel Osmont), seeks to fortify his adoptive mother's love by becoming "a real boy," as did the wooden puppet of the famous Fairy Tale. Rejected and scorned by living boys his own age, David finds himself on a quest through a forest where fugitive, obsolete mechas (mechanical people) flee a futuristic posse who would capture them for termination in a Roman-like arena of death-sport. He is accompanied by a "super toy," a robotic Teddy Bear who is his sidekick and companion. It sounds like a kid's show, but it's not -- the future world is grimly realistic and the emotions it stirs are very adult.

The film promotes secular humanism while subtly denigrating religious faith. David would give up mecha immortality to be simply human, to love and be loved. Alas, he prays in vain to the Blue Fairy of the Pinocchio tale, the latter represented by a painted statue in a submerged Coney Island. The figure bears a passing resemblance to the Virgin Mary. It is science that finally fulfills David's quest, if only partially. The message appears clear: faith is futile, put your hopes in the advances of science. No blue fairies or other divine beings will intervene in your behalf.

The film's acting, special effects, sets and characters are all dazzling, original and the plot unpredictable. Unfortunately, the plot meanders a bit too much and reaches too far, until credulity becomes strained and the ending anti-climactic. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable film, certainly worth the time to view it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A.I. is the perfect fairy tale!!!
Review: About two or three times per year, I purchase a DVD "sight-unseen" based on reviews that I've read. Usually, it's because the comments and/or divided opinions about the movie intrigued me enough to have it in my collection. Sometimes it works out well; other times, it's a complete bust. One thing I've learned is that movies affect people in very different ways. All of my favorite films have been trashed by someone (often world-reknowned critics) and all of the films that I think are terrible are on someone's "favorite" list (sometimes winning best picture, to my dismay). Film reviewing is a very subjective occupation indeed. With that in mind -- on Thursday, I bought A.I. sight-unseen. Here are my thoughts, ...

1. A.I. is one of the very best movies that I've seen in years! I was captivated from beginning to end and I'm still thinking of it days later. I absolutely cannot understand why some of the reviews I've read were so negative. It was the perfect fairy tale.

2. I vehemently disagree with all of the opinions expressed about the ending (*** don't worry, ... no spoilers here ***). The ending was absolutely perfect. I thought that the film couldn't have tied everything together so perfectly with any other ending. A.I. was an epic, to say the least. I also don't believe that it ran one second too long.

3. I cannot understand why so many people thought that, of the three acts, two were Kubrik and the last was all Spielberg. I disagree. I thought that the movie flowed beautifully among the three acts. Although the ending certainly took me by surprise, I didn't think it was out of place from the context of what had preceded AT ALL! In fact, it was a breathtaking twist on the overall story and what made it so memorable.

4. This 2-disc DVD set is as well-done as anything I own (with a collection of about 150 DVDs right now). The picture and sound are perfectly done -- it is obvious that great care was taken in mastering this DVD. The extras are amazing and plentiful. My wife and I, after watching the movie, sat through all of the extras! I've never done that before, ever. A.I. is a great addition to my collection of DVDs. I look forward to watching it again.

5. The Oscars are totally fixed if A.I. does not get the following Academy Awards:

A.I. should be nominated for, ...

Best Picture

It should win (hands-down), ...

Best Actor (Haley Joel Osment)
Best Supporting Actor (Jude Law)
Best Director (Steven Spielberg)
Best Original Screenplay
Best Art Direction
Best Special Effects
Best Makeup
Best Costume Design

Of course, we already know that A.I. is going to get robbed due to its lack of success at the box office.

Shame.

All I have to say is, ... Don't pay any attention to the negative reviews that you may have read about this movie, ... they're nuts.

Go out and buy this film today. Don't expect Star Wars. It's not that. However, if you love character development, a deep story, and films that make you think -- you won't be disappointed!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Waste of Talent
Review: The outstanding performances by Haley Joel Osment and Jude Law cannot save this appalling movie! It's glitzy pretensions cannot cover a very feeble, muddled, and dismal plot.........Spielberg at his worst. Don't bother with this one!


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