Reviews
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Two Bad Films In One
This schizoid production is a composite of two bad films. The first film is comprised of the first 1/2-hour and the last 1/2-hour. The second film is the middle segment, commencing with Dave's abandonment.
The first film is E.T. Redux. The second film is Mad Max Thunderdome.
Two of the most commonly committed errors in move-making are: 1) propelling the action by means of characters committing acts that cannot be justified based on previously established character-definitions; and 2) blurring, or losing, the storyline through political-motivated self-indulgence.
Unfortunately, this film is the poster boy of Both Errors. First Error. I don't care how artificial Dave is, this Mother WOULD NEVER wake up one day and take him out in the Woods and abandon him. What's up with that? I mean, that's just STUPID. It's indefensible. Second Error. Unfortunately, although Liberals make a great pretense of championing the Common Man, in fact Liberals really hate people and promote big government as the means of controlling them. The "Flesh Fair" makes intelligent movie-goers cringe with its stereotypical cartooning of human nature. In fact, is there a single likable human in either of the movies?
One of the things that distinguishes good storytellers from bad ones is the extent to which the characters are NOT cartoons. Spielberg is not a particularly good Storyteller because his characters are rarely allowed to be anything but one-dimensional, cartoonish stereotypes. A.I. is no exception. Contrast A.I. with, say, "The Green Mile." Notice how natural and human the characters in TGM are. If Spielberg had made TGM, ALL the guards would have acted like the Bad Seed, because Spielberg would try to force us to believe that all Criminals Are Good and All Guards are Evil, just as in AI, all the humans are evil, selfish, shallow stereotypes.
Opportunity wasted.
Point Break (1991)
The Sum is larger than the Parts.
Movies are like Bands. People come together--maybe they're not even the greatest musicians individually--but together, something meshes and they make great music. It takes more than great musicians to make a great band. Just so, some movies, no matter how much money, talent, and horsepower is brought to bear, just don't coalesce. Others, like Point Break, come together with an ineffable "rightness" that defies any of the parts, logic, or analysis. This is one of my favorite movies. Period. Everything "works." This movie ROCKS.
Phenomenon (1996)
Heavenly but down to earth
I really, really like this film. As a spectator and as a critic. I think the screenplay is outstanding. The film is warm without being smarmy. It is enlightened in a future-think way without being pedantic, trendy, or self-conscious. It works as romance; it works as future-think; it works as slice-of-life. It's a People Movie existing within a metaphysical harmonic envelope.
What has happened to the lead character? It seems so obvious there has been some sort of extra-terrestrial intervention. Wham! The transition from extra-terrestrial to biological caught me completely off-guard. But the transition made so much sense, and expanded the meaning so well, that I cheered the screenwriter.
Bravo!
Mike