i admit it’s thin but i like to believe they’re right ;)
A.I. certainly is a masterpiece. An almost accidental masterpiece. Spielberg’s movies usually fall apart at the end because he lays the saccharine on too thick, but here it actually works for him, even though he didn’t intend it to. He tries to make it end sweet and innocent, but it just ends up being creepy and heartbreaking. Mostly creepy haha. It was an accident, but a good accident.
Minority Report is pretty cool, too, but not a masterpiece, but A.I. — easily in my top 5 movies of the 00’s.
Everything about the ending was planned by Kubrick, which Spielberg followed closely. He didn’t make it up, but he did make it more depressing; in Kubrick’s original writing, the body of Monica dissolves. Spielberg leaves the body, making it more macabre and heartbreaking.
I need to see Minority Report and War Of the Worlds again. Like tomorrow.
I don’t know about the dream theory…I remember it being bandied about as justification shortly after my disappointed exit from the theaters, but even after rewatching it a few years ago with the dream hypothesis in mind, it stll didn’t seem to ring true as a reading. The rest of the movie just seemed to me very disinterested in that kind of mindfuckery, especially compared to a Dick adaptation like TOTAL RECALL which is consistently committed to reminding us we’re in an unstable narrative. Edit: The stasis-dream thing for me works better as an apology for the ending rather than a legit intention.
Nah, I don’t buy the dream reading for MINORITY REPORT, the justification for it requires a degree of subtlety that Spielberg simply does not go for in his endings — he’d spell it out loud and fucking clear, and anyway it would negate the whole happy ending restoration of the family thing, and Spielberg wouldn’t negate something he goes to such appalling lengths to set up. Nice try, though.
And the ending of TAXI DRIVER is a dream, too? How? Explain? Anyone?
hahaha. there is a theory about the ending of taxi driver as i’m sure you’re well aware. also point blank and once upon a time in america. u can probably look it up yourself
No, I hadn’t heard that people were thinking the ending of TAXI DRIVER is a dream. Where can I find this stuff?
@ROSCOE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxi_Driver#Interpretations_of_the_ending
i hope u enjoyed yourself. i know i did :) good night all
Jesus. Well, again, there’s nothing in the film to support the interpretation — nothing at all, and the wikipedia page even has some quotes from Scorsese that pretty well put the idea away.
Jesus.
@Roscoe
Deckard and I just had a debate about the ending of Taxi Driver in the thread, “The Ending: Making or Breaking a Film.” Deck believes the ending is a dream.
Well, not necessarily a dream, but an unabashed look inside Bickle’s head. Possibly a dream, possibly an infinitesimal glimpse into his last mental breath, possibly the limbo of a brain-damaged mind.
To the OP I must say, “NO”. They’re not the worst films by that director, but nowhere near the top of even his list.
Seek ye Eyes Wide Shut.
The film is an incredibly depressing view on humanity and very misunderstood.
Nah, I won’t watch Spielberg’s manipulative films (even if Schindler’s List should also get the stamp for most accidental laugh-out for praising a manipulative businessman) for a second time although as I said, there are some good grades to be attributed about A.I. when placed near the futuristic “apocalypses” of Minority / WofW, the downfall of human nature, David’s optimism for what seeks out to “become” but all this is damaged by that futile melodramatic tension that’s evident throughout the film, as if I should be forced to sympathize little David’s “wish” and root for a better, more altruistic humanity. Really?
Minority Report is an uneven picture…but A.I. is one of the best films of the last decade. I’m not even a big fan of Spielberg by any means, I would consider A.I. one of his best films however, if not the best, next to something like Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
And to House of Leaves, doesn’t everyone already consider Eyes Wide Shut to be a classic film? It’s probably the best performance of Cruise’s career, next to maybe Born on the Fourth of July.
^ Next to Cocktail. Ha!
Jazz and Deckard, thanks. I’ll check out that thread.
And no Eyes Wide Shut is not a classic, and if it didn’t have Kubrick’s name on it, everyone would have already have forgotten about it.
Schrader says Travis is not dreaming, and i believe him ;-)
David’s wish represents that manipulative and selfish desire which is part of humanity. Kubrick knew why Spielberg had to direct it, in order for him to present how attractive human emotion is. The darker implications from Kubrick are lost however, which is sad! The film isn’t rooting for a better humanity, the film is showing how self-centered humanity is. I want you to see it again Dimitris. Forget it is directed by Spielberg; I always say that A.I. isn’t a Spielberg film nor a Kubrick film. It is an entirely different beast.
I’m shocked there are still people so ignorant to EWS. I feel bad for people who cant appreciate that film, or the ridiculous amount of symbolism present in it. The excuse ‘if kubrick didn’t make it derp derp’ is the dumbest crap I’ve ever seen.
Does symbolism alone make a film good?
Munich > ai > minority report.
“Munich” was average at best, so that’s not saying much (or making me want to watch the latter two films).
Actually, I think I remember trying to watch “Minority Report”. It was about as forgettable as movies get.
I said ‘or’ the symbolism involved. That’s not alone what makes it good, but it’s just part of it.
ruby stevens
the ending of taxi driver. btw i found this whole thread in wiki
The most commonly criticized element of the film is its ending. The movie has a more traditional “happy ending” which contradicts the tone of the rest of the picture.102103 This has led to speculation that this ending is the product of John’s imagination, caused by hallucinations from his forced coma after he is incarcerated. As one observer mused, “The conclusion of Minority Report strikes me as a joke Spielberg played on his detractors — an act of perfectly measured deviltry.”104
Though unconfirmed by Spielberg, another recent change to subsequent prints adds weight to the theory. When released in 2002, Precrime was dismantled and the Precogs allowed to live in peace, a final epilogue declared that, upon the end of Precrime, murders had returned to Washington, D.C. In subsequent releases, this tag was removed and with it, the sole negative consequence to Anderton’s choices. For some, this solidifies the idea of a “perfect”, dream-like ending—and ultimately a false one. As one critic theorized, “…®ather than end this Brazil-ian sci-fi dystopia with the equivalent of that film’s shot of its lobotomized hero, which puts the lie to the immediately previous scene of his imagined liberation, Spielberg tries to pass off the exact same ending but without the rimshot, just to see if the audience is paying attention.”104 Film scholars Nigel Morris and Jason P. Vest point to a line in the film as possible evidence of this. When Anderton returned Agatha to the Temple, Gideon tells the nearly comatose Anderton, “It’s actually kind of a rush. They say you have visions. That your life flashes before your eyes. That all your dreams come true.”105 Morris cites the following in evidence of this view: several of the events after that point are implausible such as Anderton’s eye not being damaged by the light and parts of the chase scenes, the final shot dissolves into the sun in a way similar to a dream, and at Anderton’s home, “Sean’s tricycle, shiny-new, remained casually overturned in Lara’s yard — six years after his disappearance.”