Saturday Evening Movie Thread 12-15-2018 [Hosted By: TheJamesMadison]

A.I. Artificial Intelligence: A Revisitation

For those of you who pay very close attention to what I list I've been watching (which is hopefully previous few), you may remember that a few months back I went through the entirety of Stanley Kubrick's filmography in about two weeks. It was a wonderful experience since I love the man's movie's so much. But that experience birthed an idea in my mind that germinated for months until I finally followed through on it last week. I rewatched A.I. Artificial Intelligence, one of several films Kubrick had toyed with for years while leaving it unfinished.

In 1979, while Kubrick was filming The Shining in England, Steven Spielberg was also filming Raiders of the Lost Ark on the same studio lot. On a day when the lot was largely deserted, Spielberg and Kubrick found each other. In 1979, Spielberg was the wunderkind of Hollywood who had made Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but Kubrick was still the man who had made 2001: A Space Odyssey and Dr. Strangelove. Spielberg was in awe, and Kubrick was very open, inviting the younger filmmaker to see some parts of the sets and inviting him to dinner. The two became friends for the rest of Kubrick's life.

It wasn't merely a personal relationship that developed, but a proto-professional one as well, for when Kubrick began toying with the idea of making a movie about a robot boy, he included Spielberg in many conversations. At one point in the early 90s, Kubrick even tried to convince Spielberg to make the film himself, insisting that the material was closer to the younger filmmaker's sensibilities that Kubrick's, but Spielberg never fully committed. There were rumors that Kubrick was going to take up A.I. as his next movie after Eyes Wide Shut, but we'll never know if that's for sure.

As a tribute to Kubrick after his death, Spielberg took on A.I. as his next project.

Troubles

Based on what I've read, the reason that Kubrick had so much trouble tackling the project was the central character of David, the robot built to love. I think he could never quite answer the question to himself of whether David was something capable of love or just a program, playing out in service to his programming. As the artist in charge of bringing the vision to screen, he needed a firm answer, which he was never able to provide himself.

When Spielberg took over, it feels like he jumped at an answer (yes, David's love is real), and started making the film. However, that answer that Spielberg presumably provides in the movie actually ends up going against some things that are deeper into the movie's intentions, those elements that maintain the question from Kubrick's mind through to the final product. And that contradiction is what ended up fascinating me most about the movie upon this first watch of the movie in over a decade.

But first, let's cover some of the story.

The First Act

One of the things that Spielberg mentions when he talks about this movie is that it's essentially broken down into three parts. The first is everything up to David's abandonment, the second is everything from that point to the arrival at Manhattan, and the third is the rest of the film. He assigns chief authorship of the three parts to either himself or Kubrick. The first and third are all Kubrick's he says, while the second is mostly Spielberg.

I remember some early reviews of the film that got everything about that completely backwards. They assumed that the first part was Spielberg's because it dealt with the home and boyhood, the second was Kubrick's because it was "dark", and the third was Spielberg's because everyone hated it. However, when you actually watch the movie with Spielberg's explanation in the back of your mind, it becomes screamingly obvious about the questions of authorship.

The first act is one of the most Kubrickian pieces of filmmaking that Stanley Kubrick never lensed. The shot composition carries the kind of precision that Kubrick was famous for. The performances have a subtlety and exactness that feel as designed as anything anyone ever did for Kubrick. The scene of the first dinner with David, the robot before he is imprinted to love his mother, Monica, is so fulsomely Kubrick that I could believe it was filmed by his ghost.

In this first act, a grieving mother and father visit their real son who is cryogenically frozen as they await a cure to a life-threatening disease the boy carries. The father works for a major robotics company while his mother refuses to let go of her son. The head of the robotics firm offers a prototype robot to the family, one made in the form of a boy who is designed to love. They are beta-testers. Monica, the mother, is resistant to the very idea, but out of both curiosity and her own melancholy decides to keep the boy robot around. As she grows more fond of the little thing's quirks and she sees the possibility of finding some replacement for the boy she had lost, Monica imprints on David, a process that is irreversible. The twist comes when the real son, Martin, is brought back and the two children are set at odds with each other for the love of their mother. David's purpose is so simple that he has trouble understanding his place is this newly reformed family. After a series of misunderstood acts that look threatening, Monica must send David back to the manufacturers for destruction, but she cannot do it, leaving him in the woods to run away instead.

If this first hour or so of the film were the entire film, I think it might be the single best movie that Spielberg ever made.

The Second Act

That's not to imply that the second act is bad by any means, but where the first act feels so perfect in execution, the second feels inelegant, especially in comparison.

Back to supposition of the backend of production. Kubrick worked on and off of A.I. for almost 15 years. In that time he made two films (Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut) while also trying to develop other films (The Aryan Papers in particular). It's obvious that he never fully fleshed out every point, and I think this major second section of the movie is the part the received the least amount of his attention. We know that the Flesh Fair, where robots are torn apart to the cheers of a human audience, was the brainchild of Spielberg, but Rouge City and Doctor Know were mostly Kubrick's (Robin Williams actually recorded his part at the direction of Kubrick before the director's death). This is the section where the two filmmakers seem to clash the most. This is the section that feels the most Spielbergian.

It's much more active than the first or third acts, with many more moving parts. It introduces Jude Law's character Gigolo Joe, contains a lot of travel and an embrace of special effects in some rather gaudy ways that the other two parts don't share. The act itself is good, but a solid step down from the first.

Where the inelegance really steps up, though, is in two major plot points. The first is around the introduction of Gigolo Joe. Joe is a robot lover/prostitute who services human women. He goes into a hotel to meet a client, finds her dead and her husband there, having done the murder. Joe knows that this means he's in trouble, but the explanation for that is absent. Does Joe believe that he'll be apprehended for her murder? It's unclear why anyone would think so, and that murkiness opens up the second act with a sense of confusion. The second plot point is how David and Joe end up escaping Rouge City. The police arrive to arrest Joe, but leave their amphibicopter unprotected so David can just get into it, play around with the controls a bit, and save Joe. It's not a plot hole, but a point of plot convenience that's extremely unsatisfying that also feels like something that an artist with more time to iron out details would have figured out better.

Still, the images are stark, especially the use of the moon air balloon as the vehicle to steal rogue robots. I really like Joe as a character. The scene with Doctor Know is fun to watch. David's journey through different versions of love and hate, never finding any substitute for his core programming for his mother, is colorful and engaging.

The Third Act

From the moment we join Joe and David flying over the flooded Manhattan, we are firmly in Kubrick territory again. The movie quiets back down and focuses again sharply on David. They fly through the ruins of New York and find the hint they had gathered in Rouge City, the Lions who Weep, statues of lions with water streaming out of their mouths and eyes a hundred feet above the ocean.

It is in this building that the robotics firm has established a presence in wait for David's arrival, but there are surprises waiting for David, all that look exactly like him. David had been told by everyone around him that he was unique, one of a kind. But, according to Professor Hobby, David's creator, he's merely the first of a kind. Is David's love for his mommy unique anymore? He lashes out against the other active David, smashing his head in with a lamp. When Professor Hobby leaves to find others to talk with David, the robot, left with no meaning anymore, throws himself from the building into the water where he sees his next salvation. Joe saves David only to switch places with him in the amphibicoptor as Joe gets captured and David takes the craft into the ocean to face the Blue Fairy (more about her in a little bit) where he spends several thousand years begging her to become a real boy.

Before moving on to the coda, I just want to take a second to mention the marvelous imagery of this section. The lions weeping, the sight of New York, the line of robot boys, David peering through the face of another David to see where his first memory came from. It's all so striking and feels more like it came from the imagination of Kubrick than Spielberg. No offence to Mr. Spielberg, who is a very fine director, but Kubrick's use of imagery always feels more purposeful and thought out.

The Ending

According to Spielberg and Ian Watson (who wrote Kubrick's original treatment for the movie), this ending isn't a creation of Spielberg, but what Kubrick wanted. Kubrick wasn't known for rank sentimentality, so that reading of the ending, if you have it, might need to be revisited.
I recall talking with a teacher of mine after the movie had been out for some time who thought that the film overall was good, but the ending made it bad. I hung along with this opinion for a very long time, thinking that the ending was a mistake, until I watched the movie again recently. Instead of a schmaltzy coda that gave David everything he wanted, I saw a bitter, cynical ending about how David never got what he actually wanted. And that second reading of the film was much sadder to me.

In order to get to that reading though, we have to look at some of the mechanics of the ending.

David has run out of battery power in the ensuing two thousand years when a race of advanced robots wakes him from his sleep. They read his mind and exclaim that this robot knew humans! The next thing we see is David waking up in the home he shared with Monica. Called out to by a voice, he finds the Blue Fairy who promises to give David a long life in this place, but David only wants Monica, his mommy. The Blue Fairy grants his wish and disappears.

Before David sees Monica, though, he's visited by one of the robots who explains to him that they can bring back Monica from the dead, but she will only last one day before she will expire never to return again. Does he really want this? Yes, he wants his mommy. The robots decide to give him what he wants. David proceeds to have the happiest day with his mommy, coloring, cooking, and just having a joyful time before Monica begins to grow tired. David puts her to sleep and falls asleep next to her with the narrator's voice heavily implying that David never woke up again.

On the surface, this seems like David got everything that he wanted, and he received a happy ending, an interpretation aided by the very lovely music John Williams scored for the scene, but I think a different interpretation is in order.

David never actually woke up from his sleep, and the robots put him into a computer simulation. They wanted to learn about either humans or their early ancestor robots and thought that they could learn from David, hoping to use him to understand in greater deal than they already knew. They offered him a long life to explore, and what did he ask for? His mommy. Knowing that they could get no more from him, they learned what they could from his single day fulfilling his purpose of loving and being loved, and they shut him down. They put him down like a sick dog, because that's all he was good for.

Pinocchio

The single largest motif of the film is the children's story Pinocchio. This is another assumption that early film viewers made about the film, that the idea of including the story of the marionette into the film was Spielberg's idea. According to everyone involved with the film, it was Kubrick's. There's a small detail in Close Encounters of the Third Kind where the main character talks up the movie version of Pinocchio and tries to convince his family to go to a screening instead of Goofy Golf. And yet, it was still Kubrick's idea.

Like many motifs, the images tied to the ideas are there to highlight the themes and characters of the film. The parallels between Pinocchio's journey and David's are obvious, but the parallels end at appearance, and I think that's the point.

In the original story, Pinocchio goes through his adventures, grows, and eventually does become a real boy. David, on the other hand, is on a facsimile of Pinocchio's journey. He never really grows, and he never becomes a real boy. Even his final moments are a deception (perhaps a self-deception). It's an illuminating thread that helps highlight the central ideas at the core of the film, and I find it rather elegantly intertwined.

The contrast created the idea in my head that Kubrick wanted to say with finality that David's entire life was an act of cruelty. His creation, the imprinting, his abandonment, his journey, and his final day were all deceptions that acted only to create something that could never fully fulfill its mission. If David's emotions are real, then building a never aging robot who can love is purely cruel. He can never grow. He can never develop. He can never find satisfaction. The only way to give him anything like that is to end his existence once he gets a temporary sense of it.

A Note or Two

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for my family this week. Your thoughts have helped us through a difficult time for our family.

Also, I will be on a boat at sea right about now, so I can't comment tonight along with you. However, I will be reading them later, red pen in hand, to correct all of your incorrect opinions.

Movies of Today

Opening in Theaters:
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse
The Mule
Mortal Engines

Next in my Netflix Queue:
The Tale of Princess Kaguya

Movies I Saw This Week:
Predestination (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 3.5/4) Poster blurb: "Wonderfully twisty with a great pair of central characters." [Netflix DVD]
Altered States (Netflix Rating 3/5 | Quality Rating 2.5/4) "A bunch of interesting ideas in search of a story." [Netflix DVD]
Enemy Mine (Netflix Rating 2/5 | Quality Rating 1.5/4) "Represents the absolute worst of science fiction. Obvious, plodding, rote, predictable, and preachy." ["Library"]
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 4/4) "Makes me want more directors to direct a series of short films around a theme. Absolutely fantastic." [Netflix Instant]
The Experiment (Netflix Rating 2/5 | Quality Rating 1/4) "Predictable, unbelievable, and just not that well written." [Netflix Instant]
The Place Beyond the Pines (Netflix Rating 4/5 | Quality Rating 3/4) "Intelligent, if a bit emotionally underwhelming, tale of violence." [Netflix Instant]
The Lord of the Rings (Netflix Rating 3/5 | Quality Rating 2/4) "An interesting failure of an adaptation that feels more like a highlight reel than a story." [Personal Collection]

Contact

Email any suggestions or questions to thejamesmadison.aos at symbol gmail dot com.

I've also archived all the old posts here, by request. I'll add new posts a week after they originally post at the HQ.

Posted by: OregonMuse at 07:31 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Popcorn time

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 07:29 PM (/rm4P)

2 Corgis dutifully called

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 07:30 PM (/rm4P)

3 Mrs. Muse and I watched the Fred Rogers biopic, Won't You Be My Neighbor? last night. A good documentary about a genuinely good man.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at December 15, 2018 07:30 PM (H+6se)

4 Hey, what did you do with James Monroe?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at December 15, 2018 07:31 PM (93ZJL)

5 I really like AI, especially hearing the bear talk. I wanted one of those bears. And of course one of those helicopters.

Posted by: Eromero at December 15, 2018 07:32 PM (zLDYs)

6 No. 1 Son loved The Mule.

He is often wrong about movies, despite being a film major whose only interest in life is movies. He's young. Young people are mostly wrong.

But still, a good report on The Mule is encouraging. It looks from the trailers as if it could go either way.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 15, 2018 07:32 PM (fuK7c)

7 If you want to see Peter Jackson's* WWI documentary "They Shall Not Grow Old" better get tickets soon. It's only in theaters for two showings, and it was nearly sold out for the show I'm seeing.

* No jokes about him stretching the war to 12 years and three movies

Posted by: josephistan at December 15, 2018 07:34 PM (Izzlo)

8 hiya

Posted by: JT at December 15, 2018 07:34 PM (nlUp2)

9 Enlighten me, did willow change her nic to bah? If so, I might have embarrassed myself.
Posted by: Ben Had

Yes she did.

Posted by: JT at December 15, 2018 07:35 PM (nlUp2)

10 watched AI a few months ago. Interesting and sad.

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at December 15, 2018 07:35 PM (BJlbN)

11 I do admit after these long analysis of movies here I will be willing to give the subjects more attention at the next opportunity.

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 07:35 PM (/rm4P)

12

Spielberg's movies are kinda stupid and childish.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 07:36 PM (2aDQU)

13 9 Enlighten me, did willow change her nic to bah? If so, I might have embarrassed myself.
Posted by: Ben Had

Yes she did.
Posted by: JT at December 15, 2018 07:35 PM (nlUp2)

Humbug

Posted by: josephistan at December 15, 2018 07:36 PM (Izzlo)

14

Okay, so get this: My local fake news showed me a house in Wisconsin with some "interesting decorations."

Anyway, on the front yard is parked an RV, with a long black hose, at the end at the curb is a mannequin in a white bathrobe holding the end of the hose.

Who gets the movie reference?
(I don't.)

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 07:38 PM (2aDQU)

15 Watching Return of the Jedi, it really does get silly with the Teddy bears with pointy sticks.

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 07:39 PM (/rm4P)

16 I liked Gigolo Joe's little song and dance

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at December 15, 2018 07:40 PM (BJlbN)

17 Spielberg ruined this flick. Candy coated schmaltz.

Posted by: 13times at December 15, 2018 07:41 PM (K3B2k)

18 Who gets the movie reference?
(I don't.)
Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo

Christmas Vacation?

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 07:41 PM (LOq4H)

19 This is interesting if you like film noir movies.

"Detour" (1945) - was made on a microbudget, yet is one of the most famous B-movies and film noir evah!,

is coming in March on Criterion blu-ray.

Interesting choice cuz it's been in public domain forever.

Anyway, if you've never seen it, here it is on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TfWhy--6a4

It's only about an hour long.

Check it out.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 15, 2018 07:41 PM (CRRq9)

20 Who gets the movie reference?"

Christmas vacation...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at December 15, 2018 07:42 PM (6qErC)

21 Anyway, on the front yard is parked an RV, with a long black hose, at the end at the curb is a mannequin in a white bathrobe holding the end of the hose.

Who gets the movie reference?
(I don't.)
Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 07:38 PM (2aDQU)

---------------

National Lampoon - Christmas. Mannequin is Cousin Eddie.

Posted by: Calm Mentor at December 15, 2018 07:44 PM (ffYR/)

22 21

Christmas Vacation.

Posted by: Calm Mentor at December 15, 2018 07:45 PM (ffYR/)

23

Is it Christmas Vacation? That makes sense.

I thought it was maybe The Big Lebowski.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 07:45 PM (2aDQU)

24 Ready Player One was crap.

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at December 15, 2018 07:46 PM (PUmDY)

25 I am simply amazed at the quality work of TheJamesMadison every weekend about movies.

One could spend a hundred grand+ and go to USC film school, or could save that hundred grand for whiskey and pudding cups and log into AoS every Saturday night.

You already know the path I have chosen.

Posted by: LeftCoast Dawg at December 15, 2018 07:46 PM (UsCnO)

26 Who gets the movie reference?

Citzen Kane.

Posted by: it's not easy being a movie cricket at December 15, 2018 07:46 PM (Qvo9h)

27
Here's the Wisconsin story:

https://tinyurl.com/ya6a8yr3

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 07:46 PM (2aDQU)

28 Once again, I haven't watched any movies this week (unless you want to count the old Atlas pad camera films I watched this afternoon), but I made a batch of popcorn to keep in the spirit of things on the Movie Thread.

Posted by: rickl at December 15, 2018 07:46 PM (sdi6R)

29 Only saw Enemy Mine once, that was enough for me too.

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 07:49 PM (/rm4P)

30
"I thought it was great. Anybody who has watched this movie enjoys it. Seeing Cousin Eddie out there, it's funny,' said Lodi police Lt. Craig Freitag. "I had to come back around to see if it was a real individual."

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 07:49 PM (2aDQU)

31 I hate AI

Though I admit that part of the reason I don't like is the way the robot is treated.

Perhaps the story is more a commentary on real children and their parents in a self absorbed world.

Posted by: MAGA at December 15, 2018 07:49 PM (oYSbJ)

32 I thought Jude Law was amazing in AI.

Posted by: squeakywheel at December 15, 2018 07:50 PM (g/cxV)

33 Once again, I haven't watched any movies this week

I watched one which I'd already seen. Atomic Blond.

It's very stupid if you care about, oh, plot. But it's Berlin when the Wall is falling. And it's Charlize Theron kicking ass, getting nekkid, and doing lesbo stuff.

In Berlin, at one of my favorite points in history.

I will watch that again before I re-watch Citizen Kane.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 15, 2018 07:51 PM (fuK7c)

34 Who gets the movie reference?"

Gunga Din

Posted by: Anon a mouse at December 15, 2018 07:51 PM (6qErC)

35 Asked earlier on KT's thread but no takers,
Is Wizard of Oz a musical or just a movie with a few songs?

I hate musicals but always loved WoO

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 07:51 PM (/rm4P)

36 28 Once again, I haven't watched any movies this week (unless you want to count the old Atlas pad camera films I watched this afternoon), but I made a batch of popcorn to keep in the spirit of things on the Movie Thread.
Posted by: rickl at December 15, 2018 07:46 PM (sdi6R)

----------

You rich guys with your homemade popcorn.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at December 15, 2018 07:51 PM (93ZJL)

37

Who gets the movie reference?

Horny Co-Eds 5 or was it 6?

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 15, 2018 07:52 PM (SiINZ)

38 New laptop, Win10 mercifully slaughtered, Linux encamped.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at December 15, 2018 07:52 PM (oVJmc)

39 I thought Jude Law was amazing in AI.
He's no Brian Dennehy.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at December 15, 2018 07:53 PM (oVJmc)

40 The movie thread duties have been split between different Cobs, but would add they both do a fantastic presentation week after week.

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 07:53 PM (/rm4P)

41 OM, have you seen that documentary about Kubrick's assistant? Very entertaining.

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at December 15, 2018 07:54 PM (PUmDY)

42 Who gets the movie reference?

Horny Co-Eds 5 or was it 6?
Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 15, 2018 07:52 PM (SiINZ)

-----------

I was thinking Ben-Hur but then I realized that Ben-Hur doesn't have an RV or a guy in a bathrobe.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at December 15, 2018 07:54 PM (93ZJL)

43 Rewatching Mission Impossible Fallout again. Great action sequences--restroom fight was awesome and the helicopter chase scene really entertains. Tom Cruise brings it every time.

Posted by: squeakywheel at December 15, 2018 07:54 PM (g/cxV)

44 Watched "A Very Murry Christmas" today. Much more enjoyable than I predicted.
Also watch some old "Keystone Cops", one of which is my wife's great grandfather. Still gives some laughs. Love slapstick.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at December 15, 2018 07:54 PM (r+sAi)

45 AI is top ten one of the worst films of all time, up there with Blood on The Sun, Hollow Man and Inception.

Posted by: Kreplach at December 15, 2018 07:55 PM (qxq6t)

46 Democrat Socialist Ocasio-Cortez Met With Bill De Blasio's Wife To Discuss Mental Health Issues

-
My name is Ojos Locos and I'm crazy as hell!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 15, 2018 07:55 PM (+y/Ru)

47
If it I wasn't so senile I could remember Willow's nic before "willow."

She used several until we suggested she settle on one.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 07:56 PM (2aDQU)

48 Oh and I hate human looking aliens in movies.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at December 15, 2018 07:56 PM (r+sAi)

49 Whoops, JM.

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at December 15, 2018 07:56 PM (PUmDY)

50 "And so, they all lived unhappily ever after".
"Gee, mommy, that was depressing. Read it again!"

Posted by: Anonymous White Male at December 15, 2018 07:57 PM (3sjI6)

51

That crazy millennial thinks she was elected president of the world.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 07:57 PM (2aDQU)

52 I've posted here before how a recurring theme in many Kubrick movies is the question of what it means to be human. e.g., HAL is more human than the astronauts in 2001.

Best example is A Clockwork Orange, and it's my favorite Kubrick.

The Igno-Son saw AI with his grandparents years ago and said it sucked donkey dicks. I trust his judgment and never saw it. Suspect it had something with Speilberg Disney-fying it

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 15, 2018 07:59 PM (1UZdv)

53 This afternoon I watched a 1940 war film, "Forty-thousand Horsemen" about the Australian Light Horse in WWI and Battle of Beersheba. what struck me was not only did 1987's "The Lighthorsemen" pretty much copy it in its entirety, but Peter Weir flat-out copied several scenes very closely in "Gallipoli." not kidding. i guess he figured no one would go back that far to some obscure WWII flic.

Posted by: goatexchange at December 15, 2018 07:59 PM (GspXG)

54 That crazy millennial thinks she was elected president of the world.
Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 07:57 PM (2aDQU)

---------

She should start smaller. I suggest Venezuela.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at December 15, 2018 08:00 PM (93ZJL)

55 When does Leni Speilberger do a movie about Herr Mueller?

"Triumph of the Will 2-Perjury Boogaloo".....

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at December 15, 2018 08:00 PM (Z+IKu)

56 TJM, my sincerest sympathies for what you've been through. Glad to know the prayers helped. :-)

And wow, great piece. I've been wanting to watch AI for a long time and now I think I'll officially do it. Glad to finally learn what the whole story is.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:00 PM (miE9U)

57 The Wiz is a musical, the WoO is not.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at December 15, 2018 08:01 PM (r+sAi)

58 >>He's no Brian Dennehy.

Funny story. When I lived in CT, I saw Brian Dennehy shopping for groceries two times, one year apart. What's weird is both times it was the day before Thanksgiving when the grocery store is like a mad house. I almost never saw anyone I knew in the grocery store...not a neighbor or a friend. I only ever saw my own father once while shopping, even though he went to the same dang grocery store I did multiple times a week, but Brian Dennehy I see twice?! What are the odds?

Posted by: squeakywheel at December 15, 2018 08:01 PM (g/cxV)

59 Enlighten me, did willow change her nic to bah? If so, I might have embarrassed myself.
Posted by: Ben Had

Yes she did.

Posted by: JT at December 15, 2018 07:35 PM (nlUp2)

Thanks to the both of yez. I'd have been wondering what the heck was going on until you cleared it up!

I guess now terminal threads are bahhed?

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at December 15, 2018 08:01 PM (f3oO4)

60 She should start smaller. I suggest Venezuela.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero)
Hell, mayor of Detroit.

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 08:01 PM (LOq4H)

61 I also wanted to share here, BIG news:

GOSNELL is coming out on DVD only (no blu-ray that I can find), on Tuesday, February 5. The price at Amazon is $9.99.

I've already pre-ordered my copy.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:02 PM (miE9U)

62 Democrat Socialist Ocasio-Cortez Met With Bill De Blasio's Wife To Discuss Mental Health Issues

A real "meeting of the minds", so to speak. That must have been a hoot.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at December 15, 2018 08:02 PM (Tyii7)

63 I very badly want to see They Shall Not Grow Old, the WWI Documentary that Peter Jackson put together. I hear amazing things about it.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 15, 2018 08:03 PM (2eKoI)

64 TJM, just one more thing to add to your review of AI:

It just struck me, the way you described it, reminds me a bit of Lolita, which is the only Kubrick film I've ever watched that I thought had a real emotional wallop, especially with regard to its ending.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:03 PM (miE9U)

65 He M. Night Syamalamadingding-donged Pinocchio, some with a little bit of "History shows again and again how nature points points out the folly of man" Changeawarmology Godzilla thrown in. Though I would like one of those Teddy robots to hand me wrenches when I'm underneath a vehicle, or to call my shots at the range.

Posted by: The Practical Popeil at December 15, 2018 08:04 PM (ysAcm)

66 New laptop, Win10 mercifully slaughtered, Linux encamped.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at December 15, 2018 07:52 PM (oVJmc)

Embrace the differences, and enjoy the Linux experience ~!

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at December 15, 2018 08:04 PM (f3oO4)

67 Just saw Green Book. It's good, but a bit ABC Movie of the Week. Two principals are great and will get Oscar nods. And it has Linda Cardellini, who I love.

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 15, 2018 08:04 PM (1UZdv)

68

They couldn't get a theater release of Gosnell movie?

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:04 PM (2aDQU)

69 I only ever saw my own father once while shopping, even though he went to the same dang grocery store I did multiple times a week, but Brian Dennehy I see twice?! What are the odds?

Posted by: squeakywheel at December 15, 2018 08:01 PM (g/cxV)

He's stalking you

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 15, 2018 08:05 PM (SiINZ)

70 Soothsayer, there was a theatrical release of Gosnell. It was playing at an Edwards Cinemas nearby me for just over a month.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:05 PM (miE9U)

71 She should start smaller. I suggest Venezuela.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero)
Hell, mayor of Detroit.
Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 08:01 PM (LOq4H)

Mayor of Detroit? Whoa, nellie! Let's not get carried away. Who do you think I am? Jesus?

Posted by: Anonymous White Male at December 15, 2018 08:05 PM (3sjI6)

72 They couldn't get a theater release of Gosnell movie?

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:04 PM (2aDQU)

Narrative uber alles!

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at December 15, 2018 08:05 PM (f3oO4)

73
Oh.

Your "on DVD only" confused me.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:06 PM (2aDQU)

74
Harold and Lillian, a hollywood love story was a good documentary I saw a few weeks ago. I learned all kinds of stuff about movie making that I never imagined.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at December 15, 2018 08:07 PM (r+sAi)

75 Sooth, sorry. I was just emphasizing that only a DVD edition of the movie will become available, not a blu-ray.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:07 PM (miE9U)

76 >>He's stalking you

Heh. I suppose that would make life interesting.

Posted by: squeakywheel at December 15, 2018 08:07 PM (g/cxV)

77 I always assumed the middle part was Spielberg cuz it was s-o-o-o-o-o on the nose and splashy.

Zero subtlety. That's probably why Kubrick had such a hard time finishing "AI", he knew that it blew.

Great beginning - but how to get to that 3rd act to get the ending he wanted.

He wanted to show the difference between humans who don't love a robot - it's just a toy.
And a robot who loves, truly loves, when he's just a toy to them. This (hint, hint) is the function in the movie of the teddy bear.

It's a toy that mimics love and caring.

Is this all that David is?

Kubrick's solution would not have been Spielberg's solution. Kubrick knew the value of silence and quiet in his movies. Spielberg doesn't know this at all.

And it's why this movie feel like it's back is broken.

We need that middle section to work in a Kubrickian way to accept David's sad ending.

The middle programs us to expect an "escape", if you will, to a happy ending.

The middle doesn't let us know that whether or not David's love is real, it doesn't matter to those around him whether alien or human. They just want him to function within their parameters.

In the end, David's love is a flaw for the aliens. And he is put down for his flaw.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 15, 2018 08:07 PM (CRRq9)

78 Movies of historical events will be similar. I read two different books on Andersonville prison in the Civil war, wasn't sure they were different books for awhile but they were from two different prisoners. The Andersonville movie is exactly from them but which?

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 08:07 PM (/rm4P)

79 Posted by: Anonymous White Male

Hey! I used the lower case "m" in Mayor.

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 08:07 PM (LOq4H)

80
I learned something, then.

DVD and BluRay are considered different media.
I thought Blu Ray was a special kind of DVD.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:08 PM (2aDQU)

81 Who gets the movie reference?
(I don't.)

That's Cousin Eddie.

Posted by: t-bird at December 15, 2018 08:09 PM (98WNR)

82 I've never seen this, nor can I. You need to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy a movie.

But this concept of an AI becoming conscious is so stupid I could never suspend disbelief.

Because for whatever behavior an AI exhibited, no matter how complicated and human, we could offer a full account of it, based upon its programming that had no need to invoke consciousness.

Therefore to invoke consciousness is magical, superstitious, irrational thinking. It violates Occam's razor. Why would you need to say "we've managed to get this machine whose functions we can explain, to behave like a human. THEREFORE *boom* it must be conscious".

It's pure superstition to think that an advanced imitation can become the thing imitated. We don't yet understand consciousness, and it's stupid to think that producing a sophisticated fraud will magically produce the same thing.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at December 15, 2018 08:09 PM (/qEW2)

83 The best "robots as human" movie is still Blade Runner.

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 08:10 PM (LOq4H)

84 Sooth, blu-rays are printed digitally on a disc, just like a DVD or CD. But a DVD player can't play a blu-ray.

A blu-ray player can, OTOH, play a DVD or a CD. And a DVD player can play a CD.

So for simplicity's sake, I call the three of them, whole different formats.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:10 PM (miE9U)

85 Prayer for comfort for you and your wife TJM.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at December 15, 2018 08:10 PM (EZebt)

86 I'm swimming...drowning...in content bb

Posted by: Diogenes at December 15, 2018 08:11 PM (0tfLf)

87
Ah, so, (anyone remember "Ah-So" sauce?), DVD's max out at sub-HD resolution, or 480p.

Whereas Blu Rays are HD, FHD, and Super HD.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:11 PM (2aDQU)

88 Merry Christmas, Clark! Shitter's full!

Posted by: Cousin Eddie at December 15, 2018 08:11 PM (Tyii7)

89 Speaking of Kubrickian movies...

"Memento" is on cable this month.

What a great great great piece of ice cold character dissecting modern film noir that is!

Keeps you guessing till the bleakest ending possible emerges at the end.

If you've never seen it, watch it now. Right now!!!

Posted by: naturalfake at December 15, 2018 08:12 PM (CRRq9)

90
But all the discs are in DVD form.

Just like all soda is "Coke."

And all microwaves used to be called "Radarranges."

And all skidsteer loaders are "Bobcats."

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:13 PM (2aDQU)

91 Steve and Cold Bear, it almost sounds as if you're making Kubrick's argument for him, as I interpret it via TJM's explanation of AI.

Basically you're saying, that the film is saying, that a robot could be, and was, invented that could actually perceive and feel things at 100% the levels, metaphysically, physically, emotionally, whatever, that a human would.

But because David as a robot CANNOT grow and mature physically like a human can, his ability to feel all these things, becomes a curse to him. Thus, his entire creation was an act of cruelty.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:13 PM (miE9U)

92 Ex Machina was a good robot movie.

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at December 15, 2018 08:14 PM (PUmDY)

93 You need a blu-ray player to see that kind of disk, will a DVD play also?
I have a DVD player so blu-ray wouldn't do me any good.

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 08:14 PM (/rm4P)

94 naturalfake, I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:14 PM (miE9U)

95
Grump and grammie aren't around...

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:15 PM (2aDQU)

96 Cosmic, yup.
And, Ex Machina seemed to embrace the POV that Steve and Cold Bear is expressing above, which is that a robot is a robot... it can only feel or express things so much as to benefit *itself.*

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:15 PM (miE9U)

97 naturalfake, I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not ;-)
Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:14 PM (miE9U)

About what?

Posted by: naturalfake at December 15, 2018 08:15 PM (CRRq9)

98 Skip, your DVD player will play DVDs and CDs.
It will *not* play blu-rays.

Call me crazy, I think a BR player is worth it these days. Besides the fact that it's the very last physical media likely to ever be available, the players are now easily as inexpensive as DVD players were ($99 for a well-reviewed Sony at Amazon, for instance).

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:16 PM (miE9U)

99
Cousin Eddie drained the RV's poop-hold in the gutter?

I wonder how many people know the curbside's storm drain is not a sewer drain. Two different systems.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:17 PM (2aDQU)

100
Just like all soda is "Coke."

And all microwaves used to be called "Radarranges."

And all skidsteer loaders are "Bobcats."
Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:13 PM (2aDQU)

----------

And all adult diapers are Depends!

*hic*

Posted by: Hillary! 2016, Who Will Never Be POTUS at December 15, 2018 08:17 PM (93ZJL)

101 Soothsayer, I'm old school; I remember when CDs were something new and special, and set out in a special small little corner of the record store (MusicPlus, Wherehouse) by themselves with a big shiny sign: "CDs!!"

So for me, I actually still kinda think of DVDs and blu-ray as super-advanced CDs.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:18 PM (miE9U)

102

I bought my first DVD player in 1999, I think.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:18 PM (2aDQU)

103 There were a TON of plans for CDs that never came to fruition, BTW.

I believe in the early 1980s, some of the predictions were:

- there would eventually be double-sided CDs, just like LPs were double-sided.

- "CD Video" would become a big thing.

- And of course, recordable CDs, which came about but didn't seem to set the world on fire like some people thought it would.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:19 PM (miE9U)

104 Sooth, Bobcat and Bobcat dealers get pissed off when they hear other skidsteers called Bobcat. PISSED OFF.

Posted by: Eromero at December 15, 2018 08:20 PM (zLDYs)

105

Speaking of old CDs...

no one remembers PUTT PUTT?

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:20 PM (2aDQU)

106 Sooth, I got my first DVD player in 2001. Was a bonus from my boss at the law firm I was working at, at the time.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:20 PM (miE9U)

107 My kids played Putt Putt. Putt Putt Goes to the Moon.

Posted by: freaked at December 15, 2018 08:21 PM (UdKB7)

108

Well, I don't know if Bobcat invented the skidsteer, (they probably did ), but they sure did make them popular.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:21 PM (2aDQU)

109 108

Well, I don't know if Bobcat invented the skidsteer, (they probably did ), but they sure did make them popular.
Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo

I think it was Case...AOP may know.

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 08:22 PM (LOq4H)

110

I think I still have a Putt Putt CD, and a Mavis Beacon CD. Nice gal. She taught me how to type.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:23 PM (2aDQU)

111 I was reading the other day about how it's now impossible to really "own" a John Deere anything, because they all have to use JD's proprietary software to run... and JD will only ever LEASE those licenses.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:23 PM (miE9U)

112 I never watched A.I. Artificial Intelligence and I like Sci-Fi, I just had my fill of Haley Joel Osment by the time it came out.

Posted by: lowandslow at December 15, 2018 08:23 PM (4thlk)

113 Ready Player One was crap.
Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at December 15, 2018 07:46 PM (PUmDY)

I spent the 80's in HS and college. I like the 80's. I don't need the nostalgia fest that was Ready Player One. Since I went in with low expectations, it was okay. No hate for it. It was simply not that interesting.

Posted by: WOPR at December 15, 2018 08:24 PM (J70i0)

114 Sooth, Bobcat did invent the skidsteer loader but everybody and their dog builds them now. Except maybe DeWalt and Mikita.

Posted by: Eromero at December 15, 2018 08:24 PM (zLDYs)

115

The Chinese make the John Deere, now.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:24 PM (2aDQU)

116 Evening Morons. Had a very relaxed day sitting on my fanny on the sofa.

Posted by: ALH at December 15, 2018 08:25 PM (cS3Yq)

117 AoSHQ. Come for movie talk.

Stay for skid-steer/Bobcat talk.

Never a dull moment.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Gentleman Moron at December 15, 2018 08:25 PM (fmOMA)

118 ALH, you too huh? ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:25 PM (miE9U)

119 113 Ready Player One was crap.
Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at December 15, 2018 07:46 PM (PUmDY)

I spent the 80's in HS and college. I like the 80's. I don't need the nostalgia fest that was Ready Player One. Since I went in with low expectations, it was okay. No hate for it. It was simply not that interesting.
Posted by: WOPR at December 15, 2018 08:24 PM (J70i0)

The riffrtax roast looks pretty good

www.rifftrax.com/ready-player-one

Posted by: josephistan at December 15, 2018 08:25 PM (Izzlo)

120 Never seen AI, and never had any real reason to seek it out. See you guys next weekend.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at December 15, 2018 08:25 PM (l9m7l)

121 114 Sooth, Bobcat did invent the skidsteer loader but everybody and their dog builds them now. Except maybe DeWalt and Mikita.
Posted by: Eromero

I stand corrected.

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 08:26 PM (LOq4H)

122 111 I was reading the other day about how it's now impossible to really "own" a John Deere anything, because they all have to use JD's proprietary software to run... and JD will only ever LEASE those licenses.
Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:23 PM (miE9U)
-------
Some of their newer, bigger equipment is complex as shit. My little tractor and Gator get around just fine without all the new-tangled stuff.

Posted by: Weasel - bluebell sez sign up for the &*#/@ NoVaMoMe at December 15, 2018 08:26 PM (MVjcR)

123 118 ALH, you too huh? ;-)
Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:25 PM (miE9U)

Yup.
We did go out for dinner as I was too lazy to fix anything.

Posted by: ALH at December 15, 2018 08:26 PM (cS3Yq)

124 I hate AI

Though I admit that part of the reason I don't like is the way the robot is treated.

Perhaps the story is more a commentary on real children and their parents in a self absorbed world.
Posted by: MAGA at December 15, 2018 07:49 PM (oYSbJ)

I hate it for the exact opposite reason. I hate that humanity is made to be so ugly while machines are the true good beings. As Heinlein said, I'm rooting for humanity.

Posted by: WOPR at December 15, 2018 08:27 PM (J70i0)

125 Are robots considered AI?

Posted by: ALH at December 15, 2018 08:27 PM (cS3Yq)

126 I hate that Deere turned the gator, from a work horse, into a glorified golf cart

Posted by: Ben Had at December 15, 2018 08:27 PM (Nv4st)

127 125 Are robots considered AI?
Posted by: ALH

Depends on the software package.

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 08:28 PM (LOq4H)

128 Basically you're saying, that the film is saying, that a robot could be, and was, invented that could actually perceive and feel things at 100% the levels, metaphysically, physically, emotionally, whatever, that a human would.

But because David as a robot CANNOT grow and mature physically like a human can, his ability to feel all these things, becomes a curse to him. Thus, his entire creation was an act of cruelty.
Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:13 PM (miE9U)

I agree if it were possible that would be a cruelty. To design something that was conscious (perhaps based on some genetic technology) that was just designed for one function, and could not mature beyond that, it would be sadistic. But I haven't seen the movie. I'm not a big Haley Osment fan

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at December 15, 2018 08:29 PM (/qEW2)

129 ALH, depends on how advanced the robot is.

I don't think a roomba is considered AI. Too basic.

IMHO, arguably the closest things you can actually acquire that use "AI," are the Alexa-type devices.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:29 PM (miE9U)

130 I think all Cats under 100 hp are built other than U.S. If I was buying a backhoe these days it would be CaseIH, probably same with skidsteer loader, but Kubota for tractor/loader/bush hog/boxblade combo. Need that winning lotto ticket first.

Posted by: Eromero at December 15, 2018 08:29 PM (zLDYs)

131 126 I hate that Deere turned the gator, from a work horse, into a glorified golf cart
Posted by: Ben Had at December 15, 2018 08:27 PM (Nv4st)
-------
I know what you mean. My '09 620i is a tough little customer, though. 4WD and an electric dump bed. Solid little unit!

Posted by: Weasel - bluebell sez sign up for the &*#/@ NoVaMoMe at December 15, 2018 08:30 PM (MVjcR)

132 Steve, I'm not either to be honest.
Haley has a Spielberg face, not a Kubrick one :-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:30 PM (miE9U)

133 Speaking of CD's, anyone besides me have one of those retrofit car CD players that had an attachment that went into the cassette player? They didn't work to good, since they sat on the floor or dash every bump in the road you hit it glitched.

Posted by: lowandslow at December 15, 2018 08:31 PM (4thlk)

134 lowandslow, yup, those things were a waste of money. Just useless junk.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:32 PM (miE9U)

135

You don't want a conventional backhoe.

Cat now makes a mini-excavator that can operate like a skidsteer, and comes with a half-ass loader bucket that goes on the dozer blade.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:32 PM (2aDQU)

136 naturalfake, I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:14 PM (miE9U)

Hey, qdpsteve,

I'll assume you're referring to
"Memento".

No sarcasm. It's a great movie.

Basically, it's the movie that made Not sure why it worked thatHollywood make Christopher Nolan the director for the Dark Knight Batman Trilogy.

Not sure why it worked out that way cuz the movie is very Kubrickian. And nobody would call Kubrick an action director.

But, it was a good call ultimately.

Anyway check out "Memento" it's great.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 15, 2018 08:32 PM (CRRq9)

137 That hand job at the end of AI was bananas!

Posted by: pro edger at December 15, 2018 08:33 PM (UkK38)

138 I did. Power source was lighter.

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at December 15, 2018 08:33 PM (PUmDY)

139 naturalfake, will do, thanks.
I believe it's one of the films Syd Field recommended in his book "Screenplay."

He also recommended Cold Mountain, Seabiscuit, The Matrix, and Crimson Tide, as movies that aspiring screenwriters can learn from.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:33 PM (miE9U)

140 What about a preprogram able coffee pot?

Posted by: ALH at December 15, 2018 08:34 PM (cS3Yq)

141 Oh no, wait.
The movie Syd Field was talking about, was Magnolia.
Never mind!

Posted by: qdp "Emily Latella" steve at December 15, 2018 08:34 PM (miE9U)

142
Speaking of CD's, anyone besides me have one of those retrofit car CD players that had an attachment that went into the cassette player?

Oh ya.
I was kinda amazed at the magic of it all.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:34 PM (2aDQU)

143 You don't want a conventional backhoe.

Or a conventional ho in the back, for that matter... ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:35 PM (miE9U)

144 Weasel, mine has 4w drive but my bed area can hold almost 2,000 lbs and still dump. Looking at the bed size , I've got as much as twice as much bed area.

Posted by: Ben Had at December 15, 2018 08:35 PM (Nv4st)

145 Watched "It's A Wonderful Life" again today with my hubby who had never seen it before. Love that movie so much!! Hubby liked it too, even commented, "why can't they make good movies anymore?"

Posted by: jmel at December 15, 2018 08:35 PM (OeWgo)

146 My first car had an AM radio.

Posted by: Weasel - bluebell sez sign up for the &*#/@ NoVaMoMe at December 15, 2018 08:35 PM (MVjcR)

147

Magnetic Tape devices, which are obsolete, are like mysterious magic to me.

Heck, how television signals float through the air and magically appear on my tv as people is like magic..

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:36 PM (2aDQU)

148 I always cry at the end of It's a Wonderful Life.

George Bailey was one of those home town heros.

Posted by: ALH at December 15, 2018 08:36 PM (cS3Yq)

149 Exciting end to the Camelia Bowl.

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at December 15, 2018 08:37 PM (PUmDY)

150 Ah Sooth, good and decent friend, backhoes, like helicopters, are almost as strong a.....stimulant.....as valu-rite. To me anyway. A 'conventional' backhoe it is. By the way, I have operated a Bobcat inside a boxcar.

Posted by: Eromero at December 15, 2018 08:37 PM (zLDYs)

151 144 Weasel, mine has 4w drive but my bed area can hold almost 2,000 lbs and still dump. Looking at the bed size , I've got as much as twice as much bed area.
Posted by: Ben Had at December 15, 2018 08:35 PM (Nv4st)
------
I think the bed capacity on mine is something like 1750 pounds. It's not huge.

Posted by: Weasel - bluebell sez sign up for the &*#/@ NoVaMoMe at December 15, 2018 08:37 PM (MVjcR)

152 145 Watched "It's A Wonderful Life" again today with my hubby who had never seen it before. Love that movie so much!! Hubby liked it too, even commented, "why can't they make good movies anymore?"
Posted by: jme

I love that movie, but if one watches with jaundiced eye, George is one bitter, angry man.
(I kid, a little.)

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 08:38 PM (LOq4H)

153
Backhoes are good. It's a backhoe and a loader -- I get it. A good value.

But I can do more with a wheeled excavator.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:38 PM (2aDQU)

154 "My first car had an AM radio."

With one sun dried speaker in the dash.

Posted by: lowandslow at December 15, 2018 08:38 PM (4thlk)

155 Watched Predestination when it came out. I think it is one of the best adapations of a Heinlein story out there, even though it adds another layer to the story.

Posted by: redchief at December 15, 2018 08:39 PM (mL4jt)

156 Anyone here ever see "Noises Off"?

Hearing it's pretty funny.

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:40 PM (miE9U)

157 Georgia Southern wins! Highway 41 indeed!

Posted by: Eromero at December 15, 2018 08:40 PM (zLDYs)

158 It wasn't Spielberg who ruined the film, it was Kubrick. Somehow the creator of two of the greatest science fiction films of all time forgot how to do science fiction.

It's totally inconsistent. We have a world we are told is resource-poor and on the verge of societal collapse. And in that poor world we have: pretend-child robots (no displaced children in need of families?), robot demolition derbies (because in a resource-poor world destroying expensive machines is something you do?), an entire city devoted to sex robots, flying submarine police cars, and robot-salvage hunters in hot air balloons (HUH?).

It DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 15, 2018 08:40 PM (+gvbf)

159 146 My first car had an AM radio.
Posted by: Weasel - bluebell sez sign up for the &*#/@ NoVaMoMe

Well lah tee dah. (first "car" 52chev PU)

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 08:40 PM (LOq4H)

160

Ever use a Blaupunkt car stereo?
I'd rather have a Delco (Philco?) AM radio.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:40 PM (2aDQU)

161

Philco was...Ford?

And Delco was....GM?

Then WHO Chrysler?

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:41 PM (2aDQU)

162 Eromero, that was fun to watch.

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at December 15, 2018 08:42 PM (PUmDY)

163
Well lah tee dah. (first "car" 52chev PU)
Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 08:40 PM (LOq4H)
-------
Nice!

Posted by: Weasel - bluebell sez sign up for the &*#/@ NoVaMoMe at December 15, 2018 08:42 PM (MVjcR)

164 Philco was Ford.
Then it got sold to... GTE.

My dad worked for GTE and was able to buy electronics made by their subsidiaries for cheap at the company store.

So... my family's first VCR was a Philco VHS machine. :-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:42 PM (miE9U)

165 156 Anyone here ever see "Noises Off"?

Hearing it's pretty funny.

I liked it, your mileage may vary.

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 08:43 PM (LOq4H)

166 I have cd's, but don't think I ever played one in my truck that has a cd player.

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 08:43 PM (/rm4P)

167 Watched Predestination when it came out. I think it is one of the best adapations of a Heinlein story out there, even though it adds another layer to the story.
Posted by: redchief at December 15, 2018 08:39 PM (mL4jt)

I agree.

Posted by: WOPR at December 15, 2018 08:43 PM (J70i0)

168 25 I am simply amazed at the quality work of TheJamesMadison every weekend about movies.

Posted by: LeftCoast Dawg at December 15, 2018 07:46 PM (UsCnO)
_________

I agree. This post is making me rethink a film I dismissed and now I have to see it again. Not just because I'm a fan of both Kubrick and Spielberg but because I never saw this depth of meaning in it, and especially his analysis of the ending.

Posted by: Jim S. at December 15, 2018 08:43 PM (ynUnH)

169 I was just flipping thru channels last night and TCM had just started The Blackboard Jungle. Ashamed to admit I have never seen it. So.. watched the whole thing. Great movie and to see a very young Sidney Poitier, Vic Morrow was something else indeed. Also, a very young Jamie Farr! Anne Francis was such a beauty. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I felt so much of it rang true today.

Posted by: Jewells45 at December 15, 2018 08:44 PM (dUJdY)

170 The beautiful and tasteful Mrs naturalfake was a big Queen fan, so-

off we went to see "Bohemian Rhapsody" this week.

It's pretty good.

Basically, the movie is two and a half parts.

The first part is how the band got together and made BH and their climb to fame.

The second part is a homosexual melodrama about how Gay-Yoko broke up the band and the fallout from that.

The half-part is how Freddie Mercury confronts his mortality by performing at LiveAid.

Great acting. Good directing. Storyline was what it was.

If that sounds lie the kind of thing you'd like, you probably will.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 15, 2018 08:45 PM (CRRq9)

171 It DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.
Posted by: Trimegistus at December 15, 2018 08:40 PM (+gvbf)

True. Plus I thought the guys at the end were aliens, not robots.

Posted by: WOPR at December 15, 2018 08:45 PM (J70i0)

172 Obamacare RIP.

https://preview.tinyurl.com/y9ecwedt

Posted by: ryukyu at December 15, 2018 08:45 PM (vKhgw)

173 naturalfake, hearing good things about Bohemian Rhapsody, but I just can't get excited about going to see it. Don't ask me why.

Now when there's a Weird Al bioflick, katy bar the door!! ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at December 15, 2018 08:46 PM (miE9U)

174 I don't care for A.I., any of it. It's one of those films that I want to like, because it deals with subjects I am interested in, but I just don't.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at December 15, 2018 08:47 PM (H5knJ)

175 If that sounds lie the kind of thing you'd like, you probably will.

I loved it.

Posted by: Jewells45 at December 15, 2018 08:48 PM (dUJdY)

176 @172
Hold My Beer!!!
--Random Hawaiin Judge Number 5

Posted by: Kreplach at December 15, 2018 08:48 PM (qxq6t)

177 I thought I was alone in my love for 'AI.' I didn't know Kubrick was involved but in retrospect should've guessed. Re David's ability to love, of course he can. Dogs can love, in their way. But just because it's common doesn't mean it isn't special. Anyway, I'm the type who watches & rewatches favorite movies except those that are--to me--an emotional ordeal. 'Requiem for a Dream' is one such. So is 'The Passion.' So is 'AI.' I've only seen it twice.

This was a powerful & insightful review, by the way. I always enjoy your reviews.

Posted by: troyriser at December 15, 2018 08:48 PM (1JpTT)

178 Watched Predestination when it came out. I think it is one of the best adapations of a Heinlein story out there, even though it adds another layer to the story.

Posted by: redchief at December 15, 2018 08:39 PM (mL4jt)

I agree.

When I heard they were making a movie of "All You Zombies",

I thought "there is no way this can work".

But, I was wrong. Excellent adaptation.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 15, 2018 08:48 PM (CRRq9)

179 3 Mrs. Muse and I watched the Fred Rogers biopic, Won't You Be My Neighbor? last night. A good documentary about a genuinely good man.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at December 15, 2018 07:30 PM (H+6se)

Mrs IMG and I are watching it as I write.

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at December 15, 2018 08:49 PM (di1hb)

180 I saw Bohemian Rhapsody and liked it. Multiple Queen earworms for days thereafter, until Dr. Mrs. T. finally fired up Pandora for a Queen marathon to purge our brains.

Best part of BR: Freddy's promiscuous gay club scene period is treated as something bad. He is encouraged by bad people to make bad choices and suffers tremendously as a result. There's no "beautiful doomed boys" made victims by "ignorance and bigotry."

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 15, 2018 08:49 PM (+gvbf)

181 145
Watched "It's A Wonderful Life" again today with my hubby who had never
seen it before. Love that movie so much!! Hubby liked it too, even
commented, "why can't they make good movies anymore?"

Posted by: jmel
Your husband had never seen it???? Then I'm guessing he's never seen "Meet John Doe". Same director, Frank Capra, made just before the war. Guarantee it will be on TV where you are between now and Christmas. Trust me. Most underrated Christmas movie of all time.

Posted by: Vertov at December 15, 2018 08:50 PM (mDieY)

182 Followup about Bohemian Rhapsody: I note that the movie has a split rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences like it a LOT more than critics. The critics apparently want there to be more pro-gay promiscuity propaganda.

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 15, 2018 08:51 PM (+gvbf)

183 I second the recommendations of two other movies mentioned on this thread: Memento and Predestination. Both are incredible.

Posted by: Jim S. at December 15, 2018 08:51 PM (ynUnH)

184 The Rocketman trailer is very promising.

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at December 15, 2018 08:52 PM (PUmDY)

185 Obamacare RIP.

https://preview.tinyurl.com/y9ecwedt
Posted by: ryukyu at December 15, 2018 08:45 PM (vKhgw)

The MFM is already predicting that will kill the GOP because everyone LOVES BarryCare and no one wants to see it go because everyone will DIE if it does.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 15, 2018 08:52 PM (SiINZ)

186 Then I'm guessing he's never seen "Meet John Doe". Same director, Frank Capra, made just before the war. Guarantee it will be on TV where you are between now and Christmas. Trust me. Most underrated Christmas movie of all time.

I've heard of it but have never seen it. Will have to check it out.

Posted by: Jewells45 at December 15, 2018 08:53 PM (dUJdY)

187 There's no "beautiful doomed boys" made victims by "ignorance and bigotry."
Posted by: Trimegistus at December 15, 2018 08:49 PM (+gvbf)

This analysis actually helps me, as I decide whether I want to see this movie. I still have time, as I won't see it until it's available in other media.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Gentleman Moron at December 15, 2018 08:54 PM (fmOMA)

188 Haven't watched any Christmas movies yet, Its a Wonderful Life is one usually see at some point.

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 08:54 PM (/rm4P)

189 Congratulations, Mr. Peebles !

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at December 15, 2018 08:54 PM (mfOi4)

190 Speaking of not making sense, I watched part of Interstellar again this morning.

Briefly, the movie is about this engineer/pilot who is trying to find a new world for earth's population to move to b/c earth's climate has been so compromised that the planet is becoming one big dust bowl.

They show the engineer and his family living in a big farmhouse with the windows WIDE open, dust and sand everywhere on every surface in the house, they drive cars with the windows WIDE open, and they put on cheesy dust masks and goggles when the big storms blow in.

I may not be an engineer, but I would sure as shooting have an improvised filtration system for my family, especially given the plot point of this engineer's family members dying because of all of the dust in the air affecting their lungs. Makes no sense that they live in the dust when it isn't necessary to do so. Seems so contrived and simply stupid. Then they add to the incredulity by building eleven or so spaceships to travel into deep space, and even in proximity to a worm hole, yet can't figure out how to filter the air back on earth?

?!Arg!

Posted by: squeakywheel at December 15, 2018 08:55 PM (g/cxV)

191 The follow up last night was To Sir With Love. Another great movie. God, I remember when that song came out. I'm old.

Posted by: Jewells45 at December 15, 2018 08:55 PM (dUJdY)

192 185 Obamacare RIP.

https://preview.tinyurl.com/y9ecwedt
Posted by: ryukyu at December 15, 2018 08:45 PM (vKhgw)

The MFM is already predicting that will kill the GOP because everyone LOVES BarryCare and no one wants to see it go because everyone will DIE if it does.
Posted by: TheQuietMan

After the Planned Parenthood non-decision by SCOTUS, I'm not optimistic about O-care dying.

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 08:56 PM (LOq4H)

193 I was thinking about AI the other day. It had some really memorable scenes . I am notorious for forgetting major parts of the plot of a movie though. I'm glad you covered it TheJamesMadison.

Posted by: goodluckduck at December 15, 2018 08:56 PM (V8zw+)

194 Gotta run, but tomorrow night is ABC's annual running of Christopher Plummer's most hated accomplishment. Three hour movie that will take 4 hours to show.

Posted by: Vendette at December 15, 2018 08:56 PM (ZWGeP)

195 Happy Trails to you until we meet again.
Say 0500 Sunday for cofveve here on the parade ground?

Posted by: Eromero at December 15, 2018 08:57 PM (zLDYs)

196 191 The follow up last night was To Sir With Love. Another great movie. God, I remember when that song came out. I'm old.
Posted by: Jewells45

Get in line sister, get in line. lol

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 08:59 PM (LOq4H)

197 Watched "A Very Murry Christmas" today. Much more enjoyable than I predicted.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at December 15, 2018 07:54 PM (r+sAi)

----------------------------------------

We'll have to agree to disagree. I tried watching that last year. Made it 15-20 minutes before I turned it off.

Posted by: No One of Consequence at December 15, 2018 08:59 PM (+F0Wk)

198 Speaking of Christopher Plummer...

I rewatched "The Silent Partner"(197

again this week.

Still a great little thriller set around Christmas time.

Available for Streaming on Amazon for $2.99.

Check it out. You won't be sorry.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 15, 2018 08:59 PM (CRRq9)

199 All politicians should report to the VA for their healthcare.

Prediction: VA gets biggest surplus in history,

Posted by: ryukyu at December 15, 2018 09:01 PM (vKhgw)

200 Haven't watched any Christmas movies yet, Its a Wonderful Life is one usually see at some point.
Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 08:54 PM (/rm4P)

-----------------------------

Watched "Twas the Night Before Christmas" the other day (AMC on Sling has a bunch of Christmas shows on demand). Fond memories from my childhood.

Posted by: No One of Consequence at December 15, 2018 09:02 PM (+F0Wk)

201 Just put It's a Wonderful Life in the DD player.

Posted by: ALH at December 15, 2018 09:02 PM (cS3Yq)

202 186
Then I'm guessing he's never seen "Meet John Doe". Same director, Frank
Capra, made just before the war. Guarantee it will be on TV where you
are between now and Christmas. Trust me. Most underrated Christmas movie
of all time.

I've heard of it but have never seen it. Will have to check it out.
Please do! I hate to say anything, because I don't want to spoil anything for you. But, with all due respect, have I seen posts from you that you're a pretty serious Christian?

Posted by: Vertov at December 15, 2018 09:03 PM (mDieY)

203 201 Just put It's a Wonderful Life in the DD player.
Posted by: ALH at December 15, 2018 09:02 PM (cS3Yq)

What's a double-D player? Sounds like fun!

Posted by: josephistan at December 15, 2018 09:03 PM (Izzlo)

204 Robin William in 'Bicentennial Man'. A sentient Mister Roboto.

Posted by: Cicero Boom chicka boom Kaboom! Kid at December 15, 2018 09:04 PM (QZGEv)

205 I meant to say DVD player.

You are so silly, josephistan.

Posted by: ALH at December 15, 2018 09:04 PM (cS3Yq)

206 199 All politicians should report to the VA for their healthcare.

Prediction: VA gets biggest surplus in history,
Posted by: ryukyu

"No Senators salary shall exceed the per capita income of their state."

"No Representatives salary shall exceed the per capita income of their district."

"All elected officials shall purchase health insurance in their state."

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 09:05 PM (LOq4H)

207 The Homecoming: A Christmas Story has always been one of my favorite Christmas movies, even if it was a TV movie. Hated the TV series though, horrible acting and too heavy handed with it's moral preaching. I other words, Patricia Neal was good and Micheal Learned wasn't.

Posted by: lowandslow at December 15, 2018 09:05 PM (4thlk)

208 Mrs and I watched the Kurt Russel Santa Claus movie this week. Both of us enjoyed it very much.

Posted by: Beartooth at December 15, 2018 09:05 PM (QWpu1)

209 Watching The Omega Man with Charleston Heston.

Still holds up. Heston was a stud.

Posted by: mpfs, Merry F'in Christmas at December 15, 2018 09:06 PM (HLjZZ)

210 Is this the ear you can't hear out of?

George Bailey I'll love you til the day I die.

Posted by: ALH at December 15, 2018 09:06 PM (cS3Yq)

211 83 The best "robots as human" movie is still Blade Runner.

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 08:10 PM (LOq4H)

++++

Except the Replicants are not robots or AI. They are constructed, but of flesh. That's why they are given fake memories: to try to manipulate and control them. But that was still inexact and ultimately ineffective.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at December 15, 2018 09:07 PM (l6adN)

212 The afternoon soaps and a bottle of cold brew.

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at December 15, 2018 09:07 PM (PUmDY)

213 I wonder how many people know the curbside's storm drain is not a sewer drain. Two different systems.

No, same thing, but one of them flows to The Bay.

Posted by: SF Streets Dept. at December 15, 2018 09:08 PM (nIvDu)

214 "Blast of Silence" is a rare Christmas noir movie

Posted by: josephistan at December 15, 2018 09:08 PM (Izzlo)

215 Heston is the only man who could wear a Moss green velvet jacket and a ruffled shirt and still be manly.

Posted by: mpfs, Merry F'in Christmas at December 15, 2018 09:08 PM (HLjZZ)

216 Except the Replicants are not robots or AI. They are constructed, but of flesh. That's why they are given fake memories: to try to manipulate and control them. But that was still inexact and ultimately ineffective.
Posted by: Anon Y. Mous

Respectfully disagree, if it is built by the hand of man, it's a robot, or synthetic, but, semantics.

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 09:09 PM (LOq4H)

217 Mrs and I watched the Kurt Russel Santa Claus movie this week. Both of us enjoyed it very much.
Posted by: Beartooth at December 15, 2018 09:05 PM (QWpu1)

----------------------------

The family and I watched it recently, on the recommendation of other Morons. We enjoyed it as well (though the elves were a little strange)

Posted by: No One of Consequence at December 15, 2018 09:10 PM (+F0Wk)

218 Watching a great Christmas movie, Revenge of Frankenstein, on Svengoolie. Peter Cushing was so awesome.

Posted by: Blutarski at December 15, 2018 09:10 PM (+Tibp)

219 "No Representatives salary shall exceed the per capita income of their district."

No should their time out of jail.

Posted by: t-bird at December 15, 2018 09:10 PM (nIvDu)

220 182 Followup about Bohemian Rhapsody: I note that the movie has a split rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences like it a LOT more than critics. The critics apparently want there to be more pro-gay promiscuity propaganda.
Posted by: Trimegistus

I read that the director wanted to make it a quasi-gay porn flick but the band said "Nah". Freddy was more than where he put his dick. Sure glad Brian and he band kept an eye on the process of the movie. FM was a supremely talented singer and a hell of a showman.

Posted by: Puddleglum at December 15, 2018 09:10 PM (WNAuL)

221 Dinner done.
Cosmos consumed.
Scotch poured.

Question to the Horde.

Is Animal House a Christmas movie???

Posted by: Diogenes at December 15, 2018 09:10 PM (0tfLf)

222 I wonder how many people know the curbside's storm drain is not a sewer drain. Two different systems.

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:17 PM (2aDQU)

++++

It's all pipes.

Posted by: George Costanza at December 15, 2018 09:10 PM (l6adN)

223

Your brother, Harry Bailey, broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine.
That's a lie! Harry Bailey went to war! He got the Congressional Medal
of Honor! He saved the lives of every man on that transport!
Every man on that transport died. Harry wasn't there to save them, because you weren't there to save Harry.

Posted by: Vertov at December 15, 2018 09:12 PM (mDieY)

224 It's all pipes.
Posted by: George Costanza

Great, now the movie thread moves to porno...

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 09:12 PM (LOq4H)

225 I watched a recent Sci-Fi movie last week called Life. Jake Gyllenhall (or whatever) and Ryan Reynolds on the International Space Station. They discover a Martian life form. Then stuff happens.

Great unexpected twist at the end. Gut wrenching, really. Special effects were superb.

Posted by: Blutarski at December 15, 2018 09:13 PM (+Tibp)

226 "We could call the police, but they'd be on my side."

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 09:14 PM (LOq4H)

227 Trading Places is a great Christmas movie.

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at December 15, 2018 09:14 PM (PUmDY)

228 The family and I watched it recently, on the recommendation of other Morons. We enjoyed it as well (though the elves were a little strange)
Posted by: No One of Consequence at December 15, 2018 09:10 PM (+F0Wk)

Yeah, elves took a bit to get used to. It was good to see Mrs Claus. Haven't seen her in a movie in ages.

Posted by: Beartooth at December 15, 2018 09:14 PM (QWpu1)

229 They couldn't get a theater release of Gosnell movie?
Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:04 PM (2aDQU)

I saw it in a theater.

Posted by: Emmie at December 15, 2018 09:14 PM (4HMW8)

230 'Tis the season to be jolly
Fa la la la la la la la la

Ilhan Omar
@IlhanMN
Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel. #Gaza #Palestine #Israel

-
Hmmm. Who'd a thought an Islamic representative elect who married her brother would be a crazy ass Jew hater?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 15, 2018 09:14 PM (+y/Ru)

231 Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?

Posted by: ALH at December 15, 2018 09:15 PM (cS3Yq)

232 It also has Thanksgiving and New Years

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at December 15, 2018 09:16 PM (PUmDY)

233 My first car had an AM radio.

Posted by: Weasel - bluebell sez sign up for the *#/@ NoVaMoMe at December 15, 2018 08:35 PM (MVjcR)

My first car had a rumble seat.

Posted by: Grannymimi at December 15, 2018 09:16 PM (u5LFV)

234 Watching a great Christmas movie, Revenge of Frankenstein, on Svengoolie. Peter Cushing was so awesome.

I have been trying to find Hammer's horror films on Blu-ray. It's hard to do so for a reasonable price. I love Hammer films, but there schlocky B-films at best, but are priced like they're treasure. It seems absurd to have to pay more for them than current films (that are usually better made). It's a shame there's not a large box set covering all of these.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at December 15, 2018 09:17 PM (H5knJ)

235 Suicide doors?

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at December 15, 2018 09:17 PM (PUmDY)

236 My first car had an AM radio.

Posted by: Weasel - bluebell sez sign up for the *#/@ NoVaMoMe at December 15, 2018 08:35 PM (MVjcR)

I learned how to drive in my mom's 64 Mustang. 4 on the floor.

Posted by: ALH at December 15, 2018 09:17 PM (cS3Yq)

237 He's baaaack! And this time Chalupa's with him!

Michael Avenatti
@MichaelAvenatti
I am now representing Alexandra Chalupa in connection with investigating and pursuing possible legal claims against Manafort, Trump and other affiliated individuals. She was targeted with baseless, bogus allegations, all designed to distract away from Trump's Russian collusion.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 15, 2018 09:17 PM (+y/Ru)

238 Respectfully disagree, if it is built by the hand of man, it's a robot, or synthetic, but, semantics.

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 09:09 PM (LOq4H)

++++

What about a clone? What about a genetically modified clone? I would still call those human, and the Replicants of Blade Runner were basically something akin to that. Though the humans of the movie wanted to deny that so they could have their slaves.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at December 15, 2018 09:18 PM (l6adN)

239 If Spielberg ever produces a biopic of his buddy Kubrick's life, it would move at lightning pace, have annoying kids always under Kubrick's feet as he dramatically attempted to direct his films, in the dark, with a lot of loud music accompanying, and somehow be set up for multiple sequels despite Kubrick being dead and buried at the end.

If Kubrick had filmed a biopic of his buddy Spielberg's life, it would start on the date Spielberg was born, include every major event in Spielberg's life, yet never show him actually working, be very colorful yet hideously boring, and last 8 hours.

Sigh.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 15, 2018 09:18 PM (bsdd3)

240 1941 is a Christmas movie.

Posted by: Hollis Woods at December 15, 2018 09:18 PM (QZGEv)

241 231 Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?
Posted by: ALH

Almost Live! Did a great parody where John Keister wonders about his life. Everyone is happier and more successful without his being born. At the end the angel pushes him off the bridge.

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 09:18 PM (LOq4H)

242 And this time Chalupa's with him! "
Drop the chalupa!

Posted by: Anon a mouse at December 15, 2018 09:19 PM (6qErC)

243 I'm being told my comments look like spam

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at December 15, 2018 09:19 PM (xJa6I)

244 My first car had an AM radio.

Posted by: Weasel - bluebell sez sign up for the *#/@ NoVaMoMe at December 15, 2018 08:35 PM (MVjcR)

******

I've met the inestimable Bluebell (and lived to tell the tale). I'm in Seattle and if I can swing it I will be at the NoVaMoMe.

Posted by: Diogenes at December 15, 2018 09:19 PM (0tfLf)

245 Why have you forsaken me, Pixy?!?!?!!?

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at December 15, 2018 09:20 PM (xJa6I)

246 What do you want?

Me? Nothing! I just came in to get warm, is all.

He's making violent love to me, mother!

Posted by: ALH at December 15, 2018 09:20 PM (cS3Yq)

247 1941 is a Christmas movie."

Hans agrees.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at December 15, 2018 09:20 PM (6qErC)

248

I don't have a strong feeling about the movie AI. I think Ex Machina does this theme and warning much better. But back to the movie on offer: I don't like it.

I don't like the characters, I don't like the vision of the future and I don't like the ending. Either interpretation is unsatisfying. That's a problem for me with a lot of Kubrick, it doesn't satisfy me. But then, his movies were always for himself, not for anyone else. You either go along with his ride or get off. And I jump off more often than not.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at December 15, 2018 09:20 PM (xJa6I)

249 237 He's baaaack! And this time Chalupa's with him!

Michael Avenatti
@MichaelAvenatti
I am now representing Alexandra Chalupa in connection with investigating and pursuing possible legal claims against Manafort, Trump and other affiliated individuals. She was targeted with baseless, bogus allegations, all designed to distract away from Trump's Russian collusion.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler

He posted that from his brand new office; a van down by the river.

Posted by: Puddleglum at December 15, 2018 09:20 PM (WNAuL)

250 It's amazing to me how right you can be about "the Ballad of Buster Scruggs" and so wrong about Lord of the Rings, TJM

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at December 15, 2018 09:20 PM (xJa6I)

251 Ha! Fooled you, pixy!

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at December 15, 2018 09:21 PM (xJa6I)

252 My mother has an old home movie with some uncle doing the Charleston.

Posted by: ALH at December 15, 2018 09:21 PM (cS3Yq)

253 Looks like "Meet John Doe" is on EweToob

Posted by: Emmie at December 15, 2018 09:21 PM (4HMW8)

254 My first car had an AM radio. "

You had a car?
1%er...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at December 15, 2018 09:21 PM (6qErC)

255 What about a clone? What about a genetically modified clone? I would still call those human, and the Replicants of Blade Runner were basically something akin to that. Though the humans of the movie wanted to deny that so they could have their slaves.
Posted by: Anon Y. Mous

Good point, but how did the memories get implanted? Machine?

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 09:21 PM (LOq4H)

256 Tried to watch The Chimes at Midnight with the wife.

She didn't like it and I had to stop it.

Ah well, I'll watch it alone later. I love Shakesphere and Wells but they are no longer universal loves.

It's lonely being weird.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at December 15, 2018 09:22 PM (xJa6I)

257 Almost Live! Did a great parody where John Keister wonders about his life. Everyone is happier and more successful without his being born. At the end the angel pushes him off the bridge.
Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018

*******

Almost Live.
Bill Nye's best days.
Who can forget The High Fiving White Guys???

Posted by: Diogenes at December 15, 2018 09:22 PM (0tfLf)

258 Who is Alexandra Chalupa? If Trump insulted her, surely I would remember.

Posted by: Emmie at December 15, 2018 09:23 PM (4HMW8)

259 The Family Man is a vastly underrated Christmas movie. Plus T�a Leoni was in her smoke'n prime.

Posted by: lowandslow at December 15, 2018 09:23 PM (4thlk)

260 Damn auto correct is crap. Chuck Heston!

Posted by: mpfs, Merry F'in Christmas at December 15, 2018 09:24 PM (HLjZZ)

261 259 The Family Man is a vastly underrated Christmas movie. Plus Tea Leoni was in her smoke'n prime.
Posted by: lowandslow at December 15, 2018 09:23 PM (4thlk)

Nicholas Cage, right? Always liked that movie.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at December 15, 2018 09:24 PM (Kpctk)

262 243 Stop telling everyone how you can earn amazing money sitting in front of your computer and that wouldn't happen

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 09:24 PM (/rm4P)

263 They couldn't get a theater release of Gosnell movie?

Posted by: Soothsayer SLX Pro Series II Platinum Turbo at December 15, 2018 08:04 PM (2aDQU)

It came and went about a month ago. Did very well in the very brief time it was allowed to play. During a 2-week period it was #10 or #11 on the box office charts.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at December 15, 2018 09:25 PM (8YQun)

264 The Chinese make the John Deere, now.

YOU BEEN HEAH FOR PLOWERS!

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at December 15, 2018 09:25 PM (oVJmc)

265 243 I'm being told my comments look like spam
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at December 15, 2018 09:19 PM (xJa6I)

They are kind of pinkish and gelatinous.

Posted by: Insomniac at December 15, 2018 09:25 PM (NWiLs)

266 Almost Live.
Bill Nye's best days.
Who can forget The High Fiving White Guys???
Posted by: Diogenes

For local TV it was dammed good. To brag, my name is in the credits on a few of those shows.

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 09:25 PM (LOq4H)

267 262 243 Stop telling everyone how you can earn amazing money sitting in front of your computer and that wouldn't happen
Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 09:24 PM (/rm4P)

Can I interest you in a lace wig? Or a buck of warm Sonobi?

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at December 15, 2018 09:25 PM (xJa6I)

268 @249
If Trump were half the monster that he's purported to be, he would have Vince Fostered all of these scumbags a long time ago.

Posted by: Kreplach at December 15, 2018 09:25 PM (qxq6t)

269 265 243 I'm being told my comments look like spam
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at December 15, 2018 09:19 PM (xJa6I)

They are kind of pinkish and gelatinous.
Posted by: Insomniac at December 15, 2018 09:25 PM (NWiLs)

LOL

Vivid, thanks

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at December 15, 2018 09:25 PM (xJa6I)

270 Gave up and I'm watching the Rifftrax Yule log.

Sigh.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at December 15, 2018 09:26 PM (xJa6I)

271 261 259 The Family Man is a vastly underrated Christmas movie. Plus Tea Leoni was in her smoke'n prime.

Posted by: lowandslow at December 15, 2018 09:23 PM (4thlk)

Nicholas Cage, right? Always liked that movie.
Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at December 15, 2018 09:24 PM (Kpctk)

That one's on my list to watch this year. After Die Hard.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at December 15, 2018 09:26 PM (8YQun)

272 Can I interest you in a lace wig? Or a buck of warm Sonobi?"

What, no ugg boots?

Posted by: Anon a mouse at December 15, 2018 09:26 PM (6qErC)

273 Can I interest you in a lace wig? Or a buck of warm Sonobi?
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at December 15, 2018 09:25 PM (xJa6I)

You know, I had almost forgotten Sonobi.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at December 15, 2018 09:27 PM (Kpctk)

274 Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at December 15, 2018 09:19 PM (xJa6I)

They are kind of pinkish and gelatinous.
Posted by: Insomniac at December 15, 2018 09:25 PM (NWiLs)

LOL

Vivid, thanks
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at December 15, 2018 09:25 PM (xJa6I)

Just trying to be helpful!

Posted by: Insomniac at December 15, 2018 09:27 PM (NWiLs)

275 272 Can I interest you in a lace wig? Or a buck of warm Sonobi?"

What, no ugg boots?
Posted by: Anon a mouse at December 15, 2018 09:26 PM (6qErC)

No, those I'm keeping. Muy Macho

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at December 15, 2018 09:27 PM (xJa6I)

276 261
259 The Family Man is a vastly underrated Christmas movie. Plus Tea Leoni was in her smoke'n prime.

Posted by: lowandslow at December 15, 2018 09:23 PM (4thlk)

Nicholas Cage, right? Always liked that movie.

Posted by: Aetius451AD
agreed!

Posted by: Vertov at December 15, 2018 09:27 PM (mDieY)

277 A few years ago I caught the beginning of a movie of TCM. It was about a man who wanted to track down what really happed to his brother, a chaplain, who was killed in World War II. It looked good, but I had to run, and never saw the whole thing , and can't remember the title. Does this ring a bell?

Posted by: josephistan at December 15, 2018 09:27 PM (Izzlo)

278 Omega Man is a great sci-fi movie, really a different take on a zombie apocalypse

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 09:27 PM (/rm4P)

279 272 Can I interest you in a lace wig? Or a buck of warm Sonobi?"
What, no ugg boots?

Posted by: Anon a mouse at December 15, 2018 09:26 PM (6qErC)

Replica watches! Get your replica watches right here!

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at December 15, 2018 09:28 PM (8YQun)

280
g'early evenin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at December 15, 2018 09:28 PM (KCxzN)

281 Good point, but how did the memories get implanted? Machine?

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 09:21 PM (LOq4H)

++++

I don't know if they told us. But, memories are formed with chemistry. They might even be able to use a virus to program memories, who knows.

Maybe they could use a machine to "program" them in, but maybe it would be done with an injection.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at December 15, 2018 09:28 PM (l6adN)

282 I also like that the movie did not cop out. Cage could not stay in the actual perfect life- he could only stay until he realized that he wanted it.

He had to live with the choices he made in reality (not the ones a better him had made and he got a taste of.) It forced him to try to make his real life a better one.

Kind of like the Christmas Carol in that way.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at December 15, 2018 09:29 PM (Kpctk)

283 For local TV it was dammed good. To brag, my name is in the credits on a few of those shows.
Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018

*****

It was excellent TV!
Keister and Guppy (if I remember correctly) were really on their game. I enjoyed every show.
Well done!!!

Posted by: Diogenes at December 15, 2018 09:29 PM (0tfLf)

284 Look up TCM, they have the month schedule ontheir website, or use to as haven't been there in a while.

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 09:29 PM (/rm4P)

285 g'early evenin', 'rons
Posted by: AltonJackson at December 15, 2018 09:28 PM (KCxzN)

Heya. What's new with you?

Posted by: hogmartin at December 15, 2018 09:29 PM (t+qrx)

286 Replica watches! "

Dating yourself, you are.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at December 15, 2018 09:30 PM (6qErC)

287 I loved Lord of the Rings by Peter Jackson. I have never read the books and enjoyed them so much. Husband and son read the books and hated my interrupting the movie for an explanation of what the f��=k was happening. But after I understood the story, I loved it.

Posted by: Abby at December 15, 2018 09:31 PM (fEll+)

288 I don't turn this tablet off soon the ONT is going to whomp me up side of the head.

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 09:31 PM (/rm4P)

289 I always thought Ex Machina played more like a prison break or slow con movie than some deep piece about artificial intelligence. It was more Shawshank Redemption than AI.
But I'm sure that's just me.

Posted by: lowandslow at December 15, 2018 09:31 PM (4thlk)

290 You've ever been broke, sonny?
Sure, mostly often.
All right. You're walking along, not a nickel in your jeans, your free
as the wind, nobody bothers ya. Hundreds of people pass you by in every
line of business: shoes, hats, automobiles, radios, everything, and
there all nice lovable people and they lets you alone, is that right?
Then you get a hold of some dough and what happens, all those nice sweet
lovable people become helots, a lotta heels. They begin to creep up on
ya, trying to sell ya something: they get long claws and they get a
stranglehold on ya, and you squirm and you duck and you holler and you
try to push them away but you haven't got the chance. They gots ya.
First thing ya know you own things, a car for instance, now your whole
life is messed up with alot more stuff: you get license fees and number
plates and gas and oil and taxes and insurance and identification cards
and letters and bills and flat tires and dents and traffic tickets and
motorcycle cops and tickets and courtrooms and lawers and fines and... a
million and one other things. What happens? You're not the free and
happy guy you used to be. You need to have money to pay for all those
things, so you go after what the other fellas got. There you are, you're
a helot yourself.

Posted by: Vertov at December 15, 2018 09:31 PM (mDieY)

291 Replica watches! "

Dating yourself, you are.
Posted by: Anon a mouse at December 15, 2018 09:30 PM (6qErC)

*******

Hey.
No shit.
Mrs D got me a genuine Seeko watch from a vendor near DuPont Circle.

Posted by: Diogenes at December 15, 2018 09:32 PM (0tfLf)

292
hey, hogmartin

good seeing you this evening

everyone made it home safely, I assume?

Posted by: AltonJackson at December 15, 2018 09:32 PM (KCxzN)

293 But, memories are formed with chemistry"

Ah yes. I remember the 60s and 70s.

Sort of.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at December 15, 2018 09:32 PM (6qErC)

294 Posted by: Diogenes

Thx, whereabouts in our liberal utopia are you?

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 09:32 PM (LOq4H)

295 Replica watches! "

Dating yourself, you are.
Posted by: Anon a mouse at December 15, 2018 09:30 PM (6qErC)

*******

Hey.
No shit.
Mrs D got me a genuine Seeko watch from a vendor near DuPont Circle.
Posted by: Diogenes at December 15, 2018 09:32 PM (0tfLf)

---------------------------

But was it a genuine fake?

Posted by: No One of Consequence at December 15, 2018 09:33 PM (+F0Wk)

296 No movies, no TV. Just eating a nice dinner prepared by the Skookumchuk Spousal Unit and listening to Bach's Christmas Oratorio. Then maybe some bourbon and fruitcake.

Burp...

Posted by: Skookumchuk at December 15, 2018 09:33 PM (CeJUf)

297 278 Omega Man is a great sci-fi movie, really a different take on a zombie apocalypse
Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 09:27 PM (/rm4P)

For all we make fun of Connery for his Zardoz phase, all the bigs went through something similar to greater or lesser extents:

Heston- his odd Omega Man, Soylent Green, Planet of the Apes.

John Wayne- McQ.

Heston did the best with his phase, IMHO.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at December 15, 2018 09:33 PM (Kpctk)

298 genuine Seeko watch from a vendor near DuPont Circle."

Hey, that guy had all the good stuff. Got some "okey" glasses and a real rolodex watch.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at December 15, 2018 09:34 PM (6qErC)

299 293 But, memories are formed with chemistry"

Ah yes. I remember the 60s and 70s.

Sort of.

I thought it was low level DC

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 09:34 PM (LOq4H)

300 Hey, that guy had all the good stuff. Got some "okey" glasses and a real rolodex watch.
Posted by: Anon a mouse

I picked up a Ferberger egg.

Posted by: some rat in the swamp at December 15, 2018 09:36 PM (LOq4H)

301 289, it was definitely that, but the interview parts were interesting.

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at December 15, 2018 09:36 PM (PUmDY)

302 good seeing you this evening

everyone made it home safely, I assume?
Posted by: AltonJackson at December 15, 2018 09:32 PM (KCxzN)

Likewise, great to see you and all the other Michigan horde. I haven't checked in with everyone but I'm sure they're fine. We're all grown-ups.

Except for shibumi.

Posted by: hogmartin at December 15, 2018 09:36 PM (t+qrx)

303 ONT is nood.

Posted by: Bert G at December 15, 2018 09:36 PM (OMsf+)

304 Then maybe some bourbon and fruitcake. "

Sounds tough to drink, but hey...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at December 15, 2018 09:36 PM (6qErC)

305 Not my job but ONT is up

Posted by: Skip at December 15, 2018 09:37 PM (/rm4P)

306 Thanks for writing about AI.

I always felt robbed fornot seeing in theaters because critics said it sucked. Then again, my only option in the real world of 2001 was a basic TV screen, now with a 100 glorioous inches of HD, I suppose I can enjoy the full effect.

ANYWAY, the movie did feel cruel but that's the gist, eh? If I design a computer program to ask for X but never get it, it's a loop.

So you make a good point, it's not that the robot boy was too dumb to make a good choice, he never had a choice. And the beings from the future, you say, recognized that and just put it down.

Posted by: billionaires! At the bottom of it all! at December 15, 2018 09:37 PM (7J5t2)

307 Is the prospect of a malevolent AI that scary? I remember hearing a few years ago that a cat brain was much more sophisticated than any supercomputer we have. If the worst we have to fear is an AI cat, how bad can that be?

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at December 15, 2018 09:38 PM (/qEW2)

308 "John Wayne- McQ"

I don't know if McQ and Brannigan were a phase, Westerns were dying out by that time and the gritty Detective cop genre was big.

Posted by: lowandslow at December 15, 2018 09:40 PM (4thlk)

309 307
If the worst we have to fear is an AI cat, how bad can that be?
Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at December 15, 2018 09:38 PM (/qEW2)

Um, the regular ones already have us enslaved.

Posted by: rickl at December 15, 2018 09:42 PM (sdi6R)

310 This week, our movie group watched Christmas in Connecticut (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, and Sydney Greenstreet. Splendidly funny movie with Stanwyck as a Martha Stewart-type happy homemaker for a major women's magazine, who in real life can't even boil water. Her publisher, Greenstreet, knows her only through her articles, and wants her to entertain a coming-home soldier (Morgan) at her "farm" for Christmas (she actually lives in an urban apartment). Needless to say, hilarity ensues, and we all had a good time.

But it brought up an interesting question: Besides Christmas in Connecticut, Barbara Stanwyck appeared in two other Christmas-themed movies, Remember the Night (1940) and Meet John Doe (1941). Has any other star appeared in as many Christmas movies? Someone else remembered that, besides It's a Wonderful Life, Jimmy Stewart had appeared in another Christmas movie, The Shop Around the Corner (1940).

But we couldn't think of anybody else who starred in as many Christmas movies as Barbara Stanwyck. Can anybody here hazard any guesses?

Posted by: DynamiteDan at December 15, 2018 09:47 PM (MqzWH)

311 But we couldn't think of anybody else who starred in as many Christmas movies as Barbara Stanwyck. Can anybody here hazard any guesses?

There were four Die Hards and four Lethal Weapons.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at December 15, 2018 09:55 PM (fuK7c)

312 243 I'm being told my comments look like spam

And his shits all retarded.

Posted by: Pixy at December 15, 2018 09:57 PM (kR3UB)

313 I wonder how many people know the curbside's storm drain is not a sewer drain. Two different systems.

Presumably, anyone who saw the movie.
The main character tried to object, and the consequences were extremely unpleasant for everyone in the vicinity.

Posted by: Luke at December 15, 2018 11:40 PM (4fUM9)

314 It is my considered opinion that if you have to rationalize something not being bad, it's bad.

The ending of AI was bad.
It doesn't really matter if you think you can see what the storyteller was attempting to do, if he doesn't successfully do it.
Saying the ending could have worked if earlier parts of the movie had been different, is the same as saying that the ending didn't work.

In general, it's very rare that a time skip before a denouement is ever a good idea.
I can think of only one example where such a thing actually strengthened the story, and since Tolkien had a series of the buggers and a major theme of history being a diminishing echo, that le was a very specialized case.

If AI had ended with the main character looking at the blue fairy with the accompanying narration, the ending would have worked. It would have been cohesive and coherent.
What occurred after that point, did not work. It was not cohesive with the rest of the story, it did not add clarity, did not add a greater sense of resolution, and did not achieve catharsis.
It was a thing that should not have ever been.

Posted by: Luke at December 16, 2018 12:32 AM (4fUM9)

315 If AI had ended with the main character looking at the blue fairy with the accompanying narration, the ending would have worked. It would have been cohesive and coherent.

Yes. Sad, heartbreaking even, but it would have been best to have the story end with David endlessly praying to the Blue Fairy as darkness falls and the power runs out.

The entire future evolved robots looking for their origin ending seems tacked on and pointless.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 16, 2018 09:56 AM (3BNM1)

316 To me, the ending was one of the most beautiful and heart wrenching scenes I've ever watched.
And the bear climbing up onto the bed and plopping himself down as the score crescendos is just perfect.
But then, my parents went through a very nasty divorce when I was 7, and it would be 16 years before I ever saw my mom again, so I may be a little biased.

Posted by: My Sharia Moor at December 16, 2018 11:41 AM (RjDqQ)

317 I dont care much for these liberal movies with their liberal messages and enviromental hype

Posted by: Spurwing Plover at December 16, 2018 12:29 PM (FLiOE)

318 This thread made me go back and watch the end of AI and it's really even more ex deus machina than I remembered. Plus, the future robots are all excited that "these robots knew people" when in fact, the future robots also "knew people" since they had been resurrecting them. The probably even knew more people than David and Teddy.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 16, 2018 03:11 PM (yQpMk)

319 Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 16, 2018 03:11 PM (yQpMk)

You're forgetting that the only reason the alien archeologists were able to resurrect Monica was because Teddy had saved a few locks of her hair.

Just sayin

Posted by: My Sharia Moor at December 16, 2018 04:26 PM (RjDqQ)

320 The greatest thing about telling a story on film is it's ability to connect viscerally with people.

The worst thing about telling a story on film is it's inability to connect viscerally with everybody,

Trouble with me is, I'm almost always in the former group.

Posted by: My Sharia Moor at December 16, 2018 04:36 PM (RjDqQ)

321 You're forgetting that the only reason the alien archeologists were able to resurrect Monica was because Teddy had saved a few locks of her hair.

I doubt they had any particular interest in Monica per se. Clearly though, they had resurrected other humans.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 16, 2018 04:45 PM (yQpMk)

322
I doubt they had any particular interest in Monica per se. Clearly though, they had resurrected other humans.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at December 16, 2018 04:45 PM (yQpMk)

My (admittedly simplistic) impression was that the aliens found David, and after rebooting him, discovered his intimate connection to the human race.
If I'm wrong, please let me know. This movie does mean a lot to me. Especially, the short story "Super Toys Last All Summer Long", which I'm a little disappointed to see the CoB didnt even mention in his review.

Posted by: My Sharia Moor at December 16, 2018 05:30 PM (RjDqQ)

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