------------------------------------------------------------------- Living Hell - Volume #1, Issue #4 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Extra ===== [ From: Phil Hanna in Raleigh ] > Mike, I'm going through Movie Hell withdrawal! > > What did you think of A.I.? I saw it last night and enjoyed it > immensely, but I wish I'd left the kids home. [ From: Mike to Phil ] > I was quite enthralled, *but*... I misinterpreted the ending. I > thought they were *aliens* and was very off-put, thinking it such > a deuce-eh-machine-ah device. Tone was way more clinical than I > expected, as well. (Interesting context of "boy as lab specimen" > throughout!) Was also disappointed at the over-allusions. Such a > literal, over-explained movie. Sigh. Visuals and some plot > points make you swoon, but I wish we weren't spoon-fed quite as > much. (I would've left out the opening; not introduced William > Hurt's character till the end. Heck, I'd even leave the audience > in the dark about the kid and origins until later!) [ From: Phil to Mike ] > It's been criticized as too long, but I didn't think so. The > trilogy-in-one technique (with his family, with Joe, with the > supermechans) added to the unreality surrounding David and his > hopeless situation. It was love, a feeling frozen (literally) > in a moment for eternity, always yearning but never able to re- > alize the object of its desire. Imagine looking at the Blue > Fairy for 2000 years, whispering "please... please." [ From: Mike to Phil ] > You know, I would've been *very* satisfied, had the movie ended > at *that* point. That would've been *real* daring. > > Knowing, now, that the robots at the end were just that, I'm not > nearly as offended by the double (or was it a triple?) coda. In > fact, I really liked its underdeveloped thread of "humans as so > precious that they can't be created/recreated." Just wish (at > the end) it could've been... spelled out without being spelled > out. :-) > > Brings back memories of James Cameron's painfully literal, cut- > for-theatrical-release-but-restored-for-special-edition ending > to his otherwise excellent ABYSS. Oof. About the latter writer: Phil Hanna is a software developer in Ral- eigh, North Carolina. He also recently authored the 876-page combin- ation bug killer-booster chair "JSP: The Complete Reference" (Osborne McGraw-Hill). Home Search Mike Legeros Copyright 2025 by Michael J. Legeros