Let's see. Which is happier? A boy who makes a long trek and finally gets to see his mother before he dies -OR- a boy making a long trek finding out that all that he'd hoped for was in vain and the his whole life had been a waste. It may not be the classic happy ending, but it's certainly more happy than the alternative.dws1982 wrote:I'll never understand, as long as I live, how anyone could claim that AI has a happy, sentimental ending. Only if you choose not to look beneath surface does the ending seem like a happy ending.
Scorsese and DiCaprio return to Boston
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OscarGuy
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Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
This is my yearly chance to bash The Age of Innocence. True, the movie was a feast for the eyes, but it was as emotionally engaging as a blank wall. Daniel Day-Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer had zero chemistry (only Winona Ryder’s performance had any zest to it), and so this “bloodbath” at the end of the movie had no effect—I literally didn’t care by that time what happened to them. This was the complete reverse of Wharton’s masterful novel, a genuinely stimulating read; and the last thing I wanted was Joanne Woodward reading the book back to me.
(Ironically, I didn’t mind Hugh Ross reading passages from The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford in that film; that was partly because I haven’t read that book, partly because that movie was so enthralling and fascinating, and partly because Ross has a far sexier voice than Woodward!)
(Ironically, I didn’t mind Hugh Ross reading passages from The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford in that film; that was partly because I haven’t read that book, partly because that movie was so enthralling and fascinating, and partly because Ross has a far sexier voice than Woodward!)
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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OscarGuy
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How is a happier, more sanitized ending less safe than a depressing death, lost at the bottom of the sea finding the tale that gave him hope only to be a giant piece of crap. It's the fairy tale ending that doesn't exist in modern filmmaking. Taking it beyond that gives the robot boy closure and makes the viewer all warm and happy when the story really shouldn't have given you the warm and happy. His story shouldn't have been resolved because defeats the whole purpose of the fatality of belief.
"safe little version of a fairy tale" is better used to describe the last 30 minutes intact than whacking off the last 30 minutes. It's more tragic, poignant and affecting to climax at the bottom of the sea.
And you're partly right, partly wrong...it is credited as "Concept by Stanley Kubrick" which is what makes the fact that it's a Steven Spielberg film all the more tragic.
And for the record, I think Minority Report is fascinating and I think Schindler's List is a masterwork of the genre. It may not be your idea of a societal polemic. It's not safe and portrayal all Nazis as evil and Germans without a soul. It actually brings humanism to Amon Goethe and Oskar Schindler and while it does over-glamorize Schindler's war profiteering, it nevertheless tells a powerful human story about how selfish ambitions can find a way through tragedy to become selfless ambitions.
Spielberg's problem is that his fatalism is always tempered with some form of happiness. He can't let an ending go wholly dark. He must let the audience grieve or find some kind of happiness. He can't intentionally kill characters whom one could possibly care. He also seems to focus too much on the build up and not enough on the conclusion. War of the Worlds' flaws are the jumbled and hastened final twenty minutes. A.I. suffers from trying to provide a more generally-happy closure. Sometimes, the things left unsaid are far more satisfying than the things forced on the viewer, one of Spielberg's weaknesses as a director. Schindler's List has a more suitable closure, but it's hard to tamper with a real story. The fact that millions of people won't watch Schindler's List for the first time or a second time is because it's painful for them. They have been told or know from experience how difficult it is to see human tragedy inflicted before their eyes. That's great filmmaking in my mind. Tell the truth. Be honest about reality. A.I. never had that honesty. It had a Spielbergian ending.
Scorsese doesn't have the happy-ending-itis that Spielberg has, but he's a similar filmmaker. He takes relatively safe subjects, does them well and treats them as popcorn fare. Age of Innocence was a departure for him, thus perhaps why I like it far more than The Departed. Gangs of New York seemed too much like "I want an Oscar" picture. The thing I love about The Aviator is how it captures filmmaking history. Whether you like or loathe Howard Hughes isn't as important as his embodiment of the industry. He lived during the slow emergence of Hollywood as a powerhouse. His downfall is almost paralleled to it. His tragedy is that much of his egocentrism helped bring success to the industry but his personality caused the industry to pull away from it. Then there's the gorgeous filmmaking. Scorsese focused on cinematographic visions of history. The one most notable is on the golf course where Kate (a sublime Cate Blanchett) and Howard are playing golf. The scene is dressed in the blue-red coloration of the period. Using these scenes peppered throughout to exemplify the style and technique of filmmakers at the time makes this as much a film about celebrating history as about a megalomaniacal studio executive...I mean Howard Hughes.
Edited By OscarGuy on 1193745801
"safe little version of a fairy tale" is better used to describe the last 30 minutes intact than whacking off the last 30 minutes. It's more tragic, poignant and affecting to climax at the bottom of the sea.
And you're partly right, partly wrong...it is credited as "Concept by Stanley Kubrick" which is what makes the fact that it's a Steven Spielberg film all the more tragic.
And for the record, I think Minority Report is fascinating and I think Schindler's List is a masterwork of the genre. It may not be your idea of a societal polemic. It's not safe and portrayal all Nazis as evil and Germans without a soul. It actually brings humanism to Amon Goethe and Oskar Schindler and while it does over-glamorize Schindler's war profiteering, it nevertheless tells a powerful human story about how selfish ambitions can find a way through tragedy to become selfless ambitions.
Spielberg's problem is that his fatalism is always tempered with some form of happiness. He can't let an ending go wholly dark. He must let the audience grieve or find some kind of happiness. He can't intentionally kill characters whom one could possibly care. He also seems to focus too much on the build up and not enough on the conclusion. War of the Worlds' flaws are the jumbled and hastened final twenty minutes. A.I. suffers from trying to provide a more generally-happy closure. Sometimes, the things left unsaid are far more satisfying than the things forced on the viewer, one of Spielberg's weaknesses as a director. Schindler's List has a more suitable closure, but it's hard to tamper with a real story. The fact that millions of people won't watch Schindler's List for the first time or a second time is because it's painful for them. They have been told or know from experience how difficult it is to see human tragedy inflicted before their eyes. That's great filmmaking in my mind. Tell the truth. Be honest about reality. A.I. never had that honesty. It had a Spielbergian ending.
Scorsese doesn't have the happy-ending-itis that Spielberg has, but he's a similar filmmaker. He takes relatively safe subjects, does them well and treats them as popcorn fare. Age of Innocence was a departure for him, thus perhaps why I like it far more than The Departed. Gangs of New York seemed too much like "I want an Oscar" picture. The thing I love about The Aviator is how it captures filmmaking history. Whether you like or loathe Howard Hughes isn't as important as his embodiment of the industry. He lived during the slow emergence of Hollywood as a powerhouse. His downfall is almost paralleled to it. His tragedy is that much of his egocentrism helped bring success to the industry but his personality caused the industry to pull away from it. Then there's the gorgeous filmmaking. Scorsese focused on cinematographic visions of history. The one most notable is on the golf course where Kate (a sublime Cate Blanchett) and Howard are playing golf. The scene is dressed in the blue-red coloration of the period. Using these scenes peppered throughout to exemplify the style and technique of filmmakers at the time makes this as much a film about celebrating history as about a megalomaniacal studio executive...I mean Howard Hughes.
Edited By OscarGuy on 1193745801
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
Uri wrote:The last one of his I really, but really, loved was The Age of Innocence, which, incidentally, is my pick for the best of ’93, with Campion as best director, so I can have a woman on my list.
And I know I’m the only one here who thinks so, but Out of Africa is a lovely film
Oh, good call, Uri. The Age of Innocence is such a sumptuous feast of eye-candy, so true to Wharton's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and so perfectly cast. And as far as it being a departure from his normal work as OscarGuy suggests above, I'd argue that the dinner May Welland throws for her cousin, Ellen Olenska, at the end of the film with the full knowledge of the affair Ellen's been having with her husband is akin to any bloodbath in any of Scorcese's other films. It just happens to be a Guilded Age brand of social violence.
Love Joanne Woodward's slightly ironic narration, too. It's just an all-around successful piece of film-making.
The Age of Innocencd also set the stage for future adaptations of Wharton's work, setting the bar high for The House of Mirth (2000), another faithful and well-cast production anchored by Gillian Anderson's Oscar-calibre performance. I wish they'd venture forth through Wharton's oeuvre and attempt an adaptation of The Custom of the Country. Undine Sprague is an utterly fascinating character.
Incidentally, I love Out of Africa, too. Especially, the masterful score.
Edited By flipp525 on 1193747850
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Since I too find all three of them to be less then satisfying, I want to know what a butt nugget is, please.Akash wrote:Sonic Youth wrote:I don't like any of them.
You're a butt nugget.
Gangs of New York is the one I liked the best – one hell of a mess, but the best parts had great flare and energy. Andy Hardy doing Howard Hughse, aka The Aviator, felt like a lifeless if well crafted chore Scrosese felt he was obliged to do for some reason. The Departed is exactly the kind of movie Scrosese’s bashers such as Damien would love to embrace as its director’s best, for it seems like it was made by quite a capable but undistinguished filmmaker. The last one of his I really, but really, loved was The Age of Innocence, which, incidentally, is my pick for the best of ’93, with Campion as best director, so I can have a woman on my list.
And I know I’m the only one here who thinks so, but Out of Africa is a lovely film, (though Prizzi’s Honor was that year’s best). And count me in with The Color Purple detractors – an embarrassment of a movie.
Ending on the floor of the ocean would have been far more poignant, introspective and appropriate...and far more in line with Kubrick's style of filmmaking. Chop of 30 minutes, great film. Leave it attached, it's a waste.
Cut the last 30 and it becomes safer and more self-enclosed and poignant. Take us thousands of years into the future where mankind has become an after thought is putting your cock out on the table like no filmmaker this decade has topped. Peter Jackson doesn't have half the scrot Steven Spielberg did in taking your safe little version of a fairy tale that Stanley never envisioned in the first place and making it into something completely terrifying, rationale, and philosophical about our place in the world. He sacrified fairy tale for apocalyptic fable and found something touching and beautiful that - honestly? - at this point people don't deserve to appreciate. It's there, it's not going anywhere, and if you seriously don't want it, then fine. Feel free to keep watching 'The Color Purple' as much as you like. It's your oxygen.
TANGENT!!!
I realize it's revisionist in nature to say this, but I think Spielberg is doing the most interesting work of his career this decade. While most of the films he's done have not been as outright entertaining and conceptually delightful as the likes of 'Jaws', 'Raiders', and 'E.T.', he has never made movies with more substance. 'Schindler's List' is an incredibly powerful movie and a deft piece of filmmaking, but it doesn't say nearly as much about what it means to be a Jew or the nature of good vs. evil as something like 'Munich' by half. Movies like 'Minority Report' and 'War of the Worlds' are not perfect at all, but they have so much more on their mind both in outright intent (former: free will) or subversive afterthought (latter: terrorism) than anything in Spielberg's Oscar-baiting or pre-00's "rides".
The one time I saw 'The Terminal', I didn't care for it and I doubt it has anything substantial to say about our American attitudes towards foreigners. I tend to view it as Oscar-baiting/Holiday shilling that sadly/fortunately was released in June before it could reap much gold or coal; however, it's still a triumph of Janusz Kaminski's cinematography which, this decade, has evolved past the already astonishing feats of Wjada-esque b&w or shutter ingenuity. His use of light on wet pavement brighter than the sky is far more fascinating as it shifts in nature and emotional register from film to film this decade.
Everybody I know is amped for 'Indiana Jones 4' and 'Lincoln' but barring a last minute miracle, I can't imagine they'll be as innovative as the latest from our most surprising Journey-Man Filmmaker.
Edited By Sabin on 1193730568
"How's the despair?"
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OscarGuy
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Ending on the floor of the ocean would have been far more poignant, introspective and appropriate...and far more in line with Kubrick's style of filmmaking. Chop of 30 minutes, great film. Leave it attached, it's a waste.
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
I think the entire film is pure (if admittedly heartbreaking) bliss. For me, it's Spielberg's one masterpiece.Penelope wrote:No, it failed because of that god-awful Solarbabies middle section; the last 20 minutes were pure bliss.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
No, it failed because of that god-awful Solarbabies middle section; the last 20 minutes were pure bliss.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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OscarGuy
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He rightfully earned NOTHING for A.I.. The man ruined a film that had so much promise and ultimately failed because of the lame, tacked-on 30-minute finale.
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
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Sonic Youth
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I don't like any of them.
I rented The Departed on DVD for another looksee. The thing plays like an extended Coming Attraction for The Departed.
If it works at all, its success can be attributed to the premise, which - as the success of the Hong Kong film can attest to - is can't-miss.
I rented The Departed on DVD for another looksee. The thing plays like an extended Coming Attraction for The Departed.
If it works at all, its success can be attributed to the premise, which - as the success of the Hong Kong film can attest to - is can't-miss.
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Win Butler