MovieWatch

I waited too, but didn't mind at all.  I predict Oscar nominations for the film and for Berry and Billy Bob Thorton (unless he is nominated for The Man Who Wasn't There).  This is a film that the academy loves.  Great performances, a well constructed and interesting story, topped by a message that rings true.  

The film walks a fine line between a display of the triumph and courage of the individual combat troops and the failure of the policy and strategy of the U.S. military and political leadership.  It is intense and graphically violent yet thought-provoking, compelling  and clearly one of the best movies of the year. 

The year: 2072

Amazing technology advances are everywhere:

1) to adjust the volume on the TV, just say "louder"

2) to increase water temperature in the shower, just say "hotter"

3) to save money on movie production, just say "reuse Blade Runner sets"

4) to avoid any semblance of creativity, just say "copy standard chase movie plot"

STOP HERE IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE

.... said "Does Cruise kill her or not?" or something like that, and I looked away but it was too late, and did you ever try to forget a line like that while watching a movie? Well you can't, so once again the press did it to me, and what do they expect to gain from headlines like that?  Did you walk up to friends on the opening day of The Sixth Sense and say "Hey, you should see this cool movie starring Bruce Willis, he plays a dead guy!"  Of course not, so why do newspapers do it? 

  NOTE: Redford is probably the only over 50 Hollywood star to not be subjected to the "improvement" of the plastic surgeon's knife.  He is a walking ad for sunscreen. 

SPOILER WARNING (key plot points revealed below): 

I never like it when movies start at the end, because I don't want to know how a movie ends ahead of time.  This one did, and I was disappointed at first, but they pulled a fast one on us and didn't end the movie the way they told us they would at the beginning when they told us how it ends. 

Tonight I went to see "Training Day" a  movie about another type of violence in America, where 50,000 Americans die each year from handgun murders and millions more live in fear every day as they attempt to survive in our  inner cities surrounded by crime, poverty, gangs and despair.  

The movie is very good, Denzel's performance is amazing, but be forewarned, this is not for the faint of heart. 

Rock Star is getting mediocre reviews, critics are saying that the story arc is too predictable.  But I found the characters to be fun, and partly because of my own rock star fantasies as a youth, I enjoyed every bit of this movie. 

This film was started four years ago and has been on the shelf because every time they schedule a release, there is another episode of teen violence in the news, and O has a teen violence scene too.  So apparently they felt their teen violence scene was inappropriate soon after one in the news, but appropriate during a teen violence "drought".   hmmmmm.....

Anyway, since I didn't know the Shakespearian connection, and don't have a particular problem with teen violence scenes, I saw this as just another movie, and it held my interest, was well made and made a good excuse for a popcorn meal. 

Remember Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video?  The extra's from that mini-movie were apparently recruited to run around in this one waiting to get shot by the good guys.  The plot is painfully simple, the good guys shoot the Thriller demons, and make their way to the Mars train to escape.  (The special effects for the train appear to have been developed by the same guys that did "Thomas the Tank Engine").  

There was one unintentionally hilarious scene.  We are told that notorious criminal James "Desolation" Williams (Ice Cube) is being held in "Deep Solitary" confinement.   When we see him in the cell, it looks like the one from the Andy Griffith Show and the only way to open the cell door is to push the large button on the wall 4 feet from the cell, in plain view.  Even Otis could have this triggered the button by throwing his shoe through the bars! 

NOTE: (Cube is addressed as "Desolation" throughout the movie by the Mars Cops that had never met him before, how rude!) 

This should have been titled "The Seventh Sense" OR "How to ripoff a successful plot twist" OR "They are all dead, but it is easy to figure out half way through".  This is a tedious haunted house movie with a twist that isn't and a surprise that didn't.  Don't bother.  

The story is secondary, consisting of a vague mission given to Ricky and Bobby (played by writer/director  Jon Favreau), to fly out east and assist in "the drop".  We never quite figure out what the purpose of "the drop" is, but you shouldn't care, you just want to see what Ricky will do next. 

The last act falls short. 

  *** Spoiler warning here. ***

I had the misfortune to glance at an ad for this movie that informed me  The Score had a "surprise twist".  Well, it was a surprise until I saw the ad.  (If the marketing genius responsible for that gem worked on The Sixth Sense the ad would have read "Willis is really Dead! Honest!").   So of course I spent the first half of the movie trying to figure out the surprise, and it wasn't hard.  Another problem with the end is that the thieves are very meticulous in their planning of the big caper EXCEPT THAT THEIR PLAN INCLUDES TURNING OFF THE SECURITY CAMERAS FOR 30 MINUTES WHILE THEY BLOW UP THE SAFE!  The guards stare at the static for 10 minutes then decide to call the security company.  HELLO! Try walking over to the room with the safe to see if  you are being robbed! 

So how about the story?  It is routine sci-fi, nothing special, so my recommendation is based largely on the amazing technical achievement displayed on the screen.  

Can love be manufactured? Can a robot be programmed to love unconditionally and more importantly, can a human return that love to the machine?  These are the lofty questions that A. I. looks to answer and the problem with the film is that the answers are too easy.  It's just a robot, and the emotions he displays are programmed.  I didn't have any feelings towards him, I just didn't care, and therefore watching the film became an exercise in studying camera angles and use of light. 

The special effects are wondrous although at times Spielberg tosses them out just to show that he can.   I was reminded of the old 3D movies, if there was a pool cue in a scene, you knew it was going to be pointed right at the camera, and would appear to float in front of your eyes.  There are scenes in A.I. where characters posture only to allow for a full view of their facial effects. 

One of my minor complaints with the film is that the "aliens" that appear at the end of the film are standard issue Spielberg/Hollywood creatures.  They have the long bodies and oval heads, right out of central casting.  However,  I discovered after watching the film that the "aliens" are really robots!  Now my minor complaint is a major one.  There is nothing in the film to indicate that these are robots....  what was he thinking? 

All in all, a disappointment, and this next part is painful, but I enjoyed The Fast and the Furious more than A.I.! 

* Imagine you want to steal the contents of a semi-trailer truck.  Do you A) wait until dark, break into the truck and steal the stuff inside? OR B) wait until the truck is barreling down the highway at 65 mph, run it down with 4 souped up black Honda Civics, shoot grappling irons into the windshield,  climb onto the hood of the truck as it continues down the highway, enter the cab, force the driver out of the way, and take control.  The screenwriter chose B.  I got a kick out of it anyway! 

On the positive side, Travolta plays a compelling villain, almost comic book level, almost Satan, but he draws you in completely.  A nice recovery from Battlefield Earth. 

The challenge for writer/director Christopher Nolan is how to convey what memory man goes through to the moviegoer.   The solution is terrific.  Standard "read no more if you want to avoid hearing major plot points of the  movie warning  begins HERE" 

Borrowing from a Seinfeld episode (not that there is anything wrong with that), Memento is structured backwards.  The last scene is first, then the second to last, etc. until the we come to the first scene, which of course is shown last.  The effect on the viewer mimics how Leonard views the world.  He doesn't know what just happened because he forgets, we don't know what just happened because the scenes haven't been shown to us yet!   The effect is really cool and has to be seen to seen to be appreciated fully.  This is the type of movie that I love to see a second time.  

This is how Johnny Depp's character  tries to explain his arrest for smuggling 660 pounds of marijuana.   The judge is skeptical.  But I wasn't.  He is not bad guy, just a capitalist trying to make a buck.  He makes a lot of bucks, doesn't know when to quit but after awhile he isn't in it for the money anyway.  The cash is a scorecard, just as it is for the legitimate business man with 10's of millions of dollars in the bank who still works 14 hours a day.  In the end they make Johnny out to be a bit too much of a saint, but it still worked and like Traffic, has to make you wonder about how effective the "war" on drugs really is. 

NOTE: Exit Wounds has one redeeming value; in a scene in the drug kingpin's office, the obligatory huge fish tank with exotic creatures (in this case eels) DOES NOT GET SHATTERED BY GUNFIRE.  This is clearly a first in low rent movie making.  

NOTE: Ray Liotta costars in Heartbreakers, it's amazing what medical science can accomplish these days as he obviously recovered well from the "headache" he had in Hannibal.  

NOTE: I am becoming a real fan of Brad Pitt.  He could have easily chosen a pretty boy path, but instead he continues to deliver interesting characters in a wide variety of roles.  Consider the following: Snatch, Fight Club, Meet Joe Black, Twelve Monkeys, Interview With a Vampire...  in every case a very different role with a great performance. 

This is one you want to talk about afterward, and if you had seen it, I would want to talk about the two unnecessary cheap shots  Penn took at the end of the film. 

Obligatory "ending discussed next" warning:   

Cheap Shot # 1: So Jack is driving through fences and around cows to "get to the church on time" and rescue the girl from the really, really bad guy" (who also played the psycho in Last Action Hero, that massive forehead has him typecast in a big way), and he bursts into the church and sees that he is too late but OH NO, it's all in his head, HE IMAGINED THE WHOLE THING, but of course the audience doesn't realize at first that he is thinking, not seeing, so we jump out of our chairs. 

Cheap Shot # 2: Jack has the trap set, complete with the local SWAT team, but he loves the girl so much he is really tense about it, knowing that she is in danger.  The mother loves her daughter so much that when she finds out that Jack set the trap she rushes to save her (and yell at Jack).  So, does she run up and hug her daughter, quickly taking her to safety??? NO, SHE TELLS HER DAUGHTER TO "GET IN THE CAR" WHICH IS CONVENIENTLY LOCATED BEHIND SOME BUSHES SO WE LOSE TRACK OF THE GIRL AND OF COURSE THINK THAT THE BAD GUY PSYCHO KILLER IS GOING TO POUNCE ON HER.  The audience collectively gasped at this scene and I made a mental note to chew out Penn for this cheap shot. 

Despite the above, a very good film.