PDA

View Full Version : I, Robot ....


llbbl
07-16-2004, 06:33 AM
:eww


If you are expecting I, Robot to be a superior sci-fi film, you might as well search for classics like Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in your video collection.

But those who are easily charmed by Will Smith, technical wizardry, and low entertainment may flock to the new film, turning it into quite a success.

Let me warn you though: the story does not bear much resemblance to the famed book by Isaac Asimov.

The film offers a handful of entertaining moments, especially in a hair-raising sequence wherein vans full of vicious robots attack their relentless foe. The shimmering robots also put up a stiff fight in the climax endowing the film with a bit of belated energy.

Director Alex Proyas was at the helm of the cult favourite, The Crow, which was a medium-range success in theatres, but made millions in video and DVD sales.

Proyas's new film, despite a big budget (over $100 million) and Will Smith's presence, lacks the humour and humanity of the sci-fi entertainer Men in Black.

If I, Robot had been made on a low budget, I would have dubbed it passable entertainment. But with such vast resources at his disposal, Proyas disappoints.

The story of a detective realising the dangers robots pose to humans and his efforts to control the bad ones of the lot isn't excitingly narrated.


http://inhome.rediff.com/movies/2004/jul/16robot.htm



It might be a matter of splitting hairs instead of atoms, but the filmmakers behind I, Robot took care to mention that their movie was only "suggested by" author Isaac Asimov. Director Alex Proyas and the boys knew that "inspired by" would be pretentious as well as false. And "based on" would imply that Asimov's future-shock collection of short stories would somehow be given a cinematic equivalent here.

Actually, even "suggested by" is too strong. This movie is more like "vaguely associated with" -- the filmmakers bought the title.

The truth is that Asimov, who died 12 years ago, probably would have been "appalled by" this cartoonish creation, which was a decade in development yet invokes only the most simplified elements of his written universe.

This is a step down even for Proyas. Unlike his earlier, more sophisticated films -- Dark City and The Crow -- his version of I, Robot is just a lame-brain summer romp for 12-year-old boys.



http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/Spotlight/2004/07/16/544686.html

What did you guys think? It doesn't look like its going to be very good. I don't think its going to be as good as Minority Report and its not quite underground enough to be a cult classic.

IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343818/
5.6/10

Yahoo Movies
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1808461629
C+

My suggestion. Go see spiderman again ... but if you do see this movie .. LOL let us know about it.

IronSerif
07-16-2004, 07:32 AM
Critics...blah. Movie is gonna rock. Will Smith is the man :P

Might try to see King Arthur tonight and then I Robot sometime this weekend

Ioman
07-16-2004, 08:57 AM
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_robot/

Looks like it is getting more favorable reviews than not, so I will definately check it out. I kind of felt like they showed too much of the movie in the previews though. I mean we all know what its about already!

ECA
07-16-2004, 10:28 AM
I believed a Review one time, and almost MISSED a great movie.
I believed a review one time, and DIDNT miss a BAD movie.

WISH it was from Asimov tho...

neuroking
07-16-2004, 06:59 PM
Metacritic seems to think it's trash, too. 55/100?

http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/irobot/

Ioman
07-16-2004, 07:56 PM
I plan on seeing it tonight so I will let you guys know what I think.

Ioman
07-16-2004, 10:56 PM
Saw it tonight and I thought it was an excellent movie, I was thoroughly entertained and recommend it.

theguy
07-17-2004, 12:46 AM
It was a pretty good movie......although i enjoyed the book more.......

Archon
07-17-2004, 01:42 PM
I wasnt expecting much from this movie, I wasnt actually going to go see it, but with that said:

this movie is awesome, one of the best I have seen in a long time

IronSerif
07-19-2004, 07:05 AM
Saw it friday night and loved it.

Will Smith (and the rest of the cast) didn't dissappoint. The story line was excellent!

mikeywalnutz
07-20-2004, 04:10 PM
As I much as I want to hate Will Smith, I’ll have to say that I do like this movie. There wasn’t excessive action in this like his other blockbusters. Of course, we have to deal with the obligatory twelve clever lines they have to give Smith in order for him to sign on, but that’s a given. The twists were pretty cool. I enjoyed the sci-fi stuff and Isaac Asimov’s three rules of conduct for robots. I’m interested in picking up his book. I, Robot gets 4,951 out of 6,723 spatulas.

ECA
07-20-2004, 04:38 PM
If you READ the book, get the SET, theres only a few..for the beginning.

llbbl
07-20-2004, 09:23 PM
yea this is the first book in the robot series.. i been wanting to read that series forever !

ECA
07-20-2004, 10:38 PM
NO,,,
I robot ISNT the first...
Malenium man was...

llbbl
07-21-2004, 06:16 AM
actually we are both wrong. I was closer to the truth... i think =)...


I, Robot (1950), the first collection of Asimov's robot stories, which were all included in The Complete Robot, but it contains also interesting binding text, no longer in The Complete Robot.

....


The Robot novels
The Caves of Steel (1954)
The Naked Sun (1957)
The Robots of Dawn (1983)
Robots and Empire (1985)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov's_Robot_Series

ECA
07-21-2004, 10:49 AM
Two of the stories, "Feminine Intuition" and "The Bicentennial Man", were inspired by Judy-Lynn del Rey. The latter was expanded into a novel, The Positronic Man (with Robert Silverberg), which formed the basis of the 1999 Touchstone Pictures film "Bicentennial Man".
"The Bicentennial Man" (Judy-Lynn del Rey, ed., Stellar Science Fiction #2, 1976)

He did write out of order, and later combined his short stories into books...
Makes it REAL hard to follow sometimes...

llbbl
07-21-2004, 11:39 AM
Hmm . I didn't know the connection between Bicentennial Man and Asimov . that is interesting.

I agree his work can be confusing !

I wanted 2 check out Caves of Steel from the libarary but my local branch didn't carry it. =(

I guess I will have 2 break down and buy it after all.

ECA
07-21-2004, 11:42 AM
try to find Robot stories...
Its one of the compilations...
Think theres 2 of them, and they cross ALOT.

llbbl
07-24-2004, 11:57 AM
Cory Doctrow has a review up over at wired. Its a good read.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.07/machines.html


Alex Proyas never got a high school diploma - a fact he blames on Isaac Asimov. It was Asimov's short story "Nightfall" that derailed Proyas' academic career. "It's a wonderful vision of how the world can suddenly descend into anarchy," says Proyas, 41, describing the chaos that ensues in "Nightfall" when all six of a planet's suns set for the first time in 2,049 years. "I tried to convince my English teachers to assign us some science fiction, but they wouldn't. It opened a rift between my creative desires and what the system wanted me to explore." So Proyas quit school and took his education upon himself, reading the works of Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, and Philip K. Dick.

ECA
07-24-2004, 08:09 PM
you know that Outer limits did ALOT of his stuff..
And matrix is an off shoot of some of his stuff..

kikyr
07-28-2004, 02:27 PM
I wasn't too thrilled with it. The lead actress was wooden. I'm so glad Denzel turned down the lead and left the action to Will. Don't get me wrong, it was mildly entertaining, but nothing special.

Ioman
07-28-2004, 02:31 PM
Seems like Denzel has had a few flops lately? Man on Fire (which I loved BTW) and that other movie where he was a detective both flopped hardcore.

I think the lady in iRobot was meant to be wooden. I mean she was a scientist, an engineer. How many engineers you know that have a personality? hahah just teasing!! :)

mikeywalnutz
07-29-2004, 02:36 PM
I agree with Ioman. She is supposed to be wooden because her whole life is dedicated to working with robots so she is so detached from society and overall human contact.

llbbl
07-29-2004, 03:47 PM
i don't understand how she is supposed to be wooden.

mikeywalnutz
07-29-2004, 03:52 PM
Wooden: emotionless, dry, no color, no personality, etc.

ECA
08-01-2004, 09:30 PM
Have you ever talked to a total software geek...?
Cant get there mind any place else..?
Including body functions?

llbbl
08-02-2004, 07:02 AM
I wasn't sure if wooden was the name of her character or used to describe her acting, Its not a commom adjective that I am familiar with. Thanks for the clairfication.

kikyr
08-03-2004, 04:28 PM
ok, I didn't mean to get into a discussion about 'wooden', i just thought she wasn't a very good actress, seemed to be reading her lines. As for the movie overall, still only barely ok, don't know what the hype is about.

llbbl
08-25-2004, 08:04 AM
I saw it two nights ago. I had forgotten to watch for her acting. I didnt' seem to notice it, so it must have not been that bad ...

I thought it was a good movie. What hype kikyr? It was supposed to be the big summer blockbuster.. I still haven't seen Spiderman 2 .. =( Its gone from the regular theatres, but I hope that it starts playing in the dollar theatres soon.

I forget . I think Spiderman 2 came out 2 weeks or so before I-robot did.