Tuesday December 21, 2004

Bad Santa

Really bad movie.

Lorelai Gilmore, what would your mother say??!! She would wash your mouth out with soap for sure. And forbid you to see Billy Bob ever again. At least that's what I would do.

[GET IT]

(2004-12-21 14:55:40.0) Permalink

I, Robot

Roger Ebert didn't much like this flick, but I didn't think it was all that bad.

On the down side, the acting is pretty lame, and I'm a big fan of both Will Smith and Bridget Moynahan. He was great in Independence Day and Men In Black I and II; she was wonderful in The Recruit. But here, they are strictly one-dimensional; the movie fails to follow up on the intriguing angles of his divorce and her relationship with the man at the center of the movie, Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), whose apparent suicide Smith believes to be the work of a murderous robot, voiced well and eerily by Alan Tudyk. (One can observe that the humans give rather robotic performances, whereas the robot is intriguingly human. I don't think this was entirely intentional. :) Plot-wise, Lanning was the inventor of the "Three Laws of Robotics":

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

and thus his murder at the hands of "Sonny" presents a bit of a problem, the solving of which occupies Smith throughout the movie.

On the up side, the basic premise -- a hidden, fatal flaw in these deceptively simple and perfect laws -- is really intriguing, and full credit is due to Isaac Asimov, author of the 1950 volume of the same title, a collection of short stories around the theme of the (imagined) history of robotics, and, in particular, the impact of the three laws as they are played out in "real life". Asimov was a genius and a brilliant writer, the book is a classic, and for all its shortcomings, the movie it inspired can't help but be engaging and thought-provoking.

With better acting (and I have to fault the screenplay and the direction here), the movie could have easily garnered a fourth star. As it is, three is sui generis. (Get it?!)

[GET IT]

(2004-12-21 14:37:59.0) Permalink