I, Robot

[rousie13]

Is anyone going to see this movie or seen a sneak preview? I'm going to see it tomorrow and just was seeing what you guys had to say about it. Hopefully it's good, which it looks like it should be decent.

[BB Turbo]

Damn to this movie to hell. I looks crazy stupid as well as the robots. Seems really cheesy, and the robots accents sound pretty homosexual too. I hope this movie does bad as well as the little kid (the kid that played in holes and even stevens, he has a new altima on spinners, Jay Leno made fun of him for having spinners) Will Smith isnt exactly a good actor though. /opinion

[rousie13]

Yeah it may suck, but might as well go see to find out.

[PalmerWMD]

I want to see it.

dangerous robots that are sneaky= cool

Fred..

[slipnfall]

About 5-6 years ago I read the book I, Robot. The book is actually a collection of short stories, written by the infamous Issac Asimov. They detail the robots' psychological struggles. As you probably know this is the book that made the 'three laws of robotics' well known(I think they were published in a scientific journal/publication 1st).

There was also a screenplay written in '94(after Asimov's death) by Harlan Ellison, so I'm eager to see which the movie follows closer.

Anyways, it's PG13, which sometimes deters me from a movie, but I'm an addrenaline junkie who's a sucker for eye candy flix like this.

</geek>

[silkk]

it looks pretty good.

i want to see it this weekend

[nametakennow]

I'll probably see it soon, but probably not tomorrow, I hate going to movies opening night.

[DAEDALUS]

I think Will Smith is a good actor. He's no Jack Nicholson, but he has great timing and delivery.

[rousie13]

If you see it tomorrow, post your responses. I know I will.

[I30T]

I think Will Smith is a good actor. He's no Jack Nicholson, but he has great timing and delivery.

I hope I'm not the only one that considers Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to be one of the best shows of the 90's. He's a great actor on that show. Not necessarily in terms of dramatic acting, but comedically, he's great.

[rousie13]

That show was awesome....I still watch it. It's so funny.

[Rockenreno]

Gah, after reading 'I, Robot' I can assure you that the movie is in NO WAY WHATSOEVER related to the book. Robots never go crazy and attack people in the book. The worst thing that happened was that a robot got offended and ran away once, and they had to trick it into identifying itself among a group of identical robots.

That said, this movie looks like crap. Let me know if I'm wrong.

[rousie13]

That said, this movie looks like crap. Let me know if I'm wrong.

Will do. :pface

[szh]

About 5-6 years ago I read the book I, Robot. The book is actually a collection of short stories, written by the infamous Issac Asimov. They detail the robots' psychological struggles. As you probably know this is the book that made the 'three laws of robotics' well known(I think they were published in a scientific journal/publication 1st).

Besides the "I, Robot" collection, Asimov also wrote the full-length series of books called "The Robot Novels". About "R. Daneel Olivaw".

Check them out - they are pretty cool. Particularly given how long ago they were written.

If the movie shows robots attacking people, then it completely goes against the premises of Asimov's robot worlds and should be appropriately chastised ... hard.

Z

[Megaseth]

yeah, my dad and grandfather and i were all specualtive about the release. when my dad saw the preview he was a little disgusted because the movie was so far from the book. and the funny thing is, the guy who did this screenplay said he wanted it to follow the book as close as possible. i figure they should have done something with a Bladerunner-esque atmosphere. hell, they should have got danzel to play the detective.

[VimyJ]

I read Asimov years ago and remember the robot stories to be more psychological thrillers exploring ethics and humanity. A twist or tangent on traditional detective stories. That was the cool thing about Asimov and the other great SciFi writers: They explored the mind as much if not more than technology.

Stuff like that does't stand a chance these days. Those guys like Bradbury, Clarke and Asimov were world famous. Now we have M&M (candy/sugar pun intended), booty, cash thrown around and spinning rims.

(BTW, the rap video I like these days is "Let Me Be Your Manager" with the quick edits to the violinist. She is so damn saucy and pouty! Best thing in it. )

[Rockenreno]

Vimy, this may be the only time I ever agree with you. Well said.

[Scorch]

prequal to the matrix anyone?

[Sopdadope]

I'm approaching this film with some trepidation. I consider Isaac Asimov a progenitor of modern sci-fi and I, Robot is certainly one of his finer efforts. Likewise, I've been an avid fan of Alex Proya's films - he has an unmatchable gift for creating eerily surreal atmospheres. The Crow still stands as one of my favorite comic book adaptations and his highly undervalued Dark City successfully mixed sci-fi with classic film noir elements no other film has. I'm obsessed with the sci-fi films dealing with robots/cyborgs in general - Blade Runner, The Day the Earth Stood Still, What Dreams May Come, Metropolis (both the silent flick and the anime), A.I. are among some of my favs.

Having said all that, I'm wary of adaptations of classic literary works. The encumbrances of the film industry will most likely hamstring the finer points of the book (consciousness, devaluation of human qualities/obsolescence, misanthropic undertones) and dilute it to nothing more than a two-hour special-effects extravanganza with Will Smith crackin' jokes. Enough ranting from me, I'm seeing it tomorrow night and report my verdict then.

[VimyJ]

Vimy, this may be the only time I ever agree with you. Well said.

You are learning, Grasshopper. Now snatch the pebble from my hand.

[Dattebayo]

The robots never attacked people in the preview, you just looked at the dramatic representation of a 30 sec. event cut off and speeded up for TV.

Gonna check it out on saturday sometime, but i may not get to see much of the movie due to my date being around...

LINK TO TRAILER BELOWhttp://www.apple.com/trailers/....html

[VimyJ]

I'm approaching this film with some trepidation. I consider Isaac Asimov a progenitor of modern sci-fi and I, Robot is certainly one of his finer efforts. Likewise, I've been an avid fan of Alex Proya's films - he has an unmatchable gift for creating eerily surreal atmospheres. The Crow still stands as one of my favorite comic book adaptations and his highly undervalued Dark City successfully mixed sci-fi with classic film noir elements no other film has. I'm obsessed with the sci-fi films dealing with robots/cyborgs in general - Blade Runner, What Dreams May Come, Metropolis (both the silent flick and the anime), A.I. are among some of my favs.

Having said all that, I'm wary of adaptations of classic literary works. The encumbrances of the film industry will most likely hamstring the finer points of the book (consciousness, devaluation of human qualities/obsolescence, misanthropic undertones) and dilute it to nothing more than a two-hour special-effects extravanganza with Will Smith crackin' jokes. Enough ranting from me, I'm seeing it tomorrow night and report my verdict then.

I still love SciFi but switched to the Classics because all the scifi made me want to see from whence it came. Not enough time, dammit!

I didn't go to see Troy for precisely the reason you mentioned about pop translations of classics into film. Will probably rent it. Why not call it the The Illiad? "Danger!Warning Will Robinson!"

Lord of the Rings is the exception to that rule. Fantastic adaptation. I was never disappointed except for two little things. One, the scale of the landscape was too small (that's New Zealand for you); and two, Tolkien specifically mentions in his work that the voices of the Ents sounded like reedy like a bassoon. The latter is a very minor complaint but it surprised me considering how excellent and true the adaptation was overall. Looking forward to "The Hobbit."

[JESTER]

I will have to go see it tommorow. I love that kind of movie. I think Will Smith is an excellent actor. But, I dont think it will be as good as Spider-Man was. I hope so, cause I love a good action/science fiction movie.

I have to go see Cat Woman this week end too. And can't wait for Alien VS Predator in August. It looked pretty sweet.

[Dattebayo]

i looked through the stuff at the site, and nevermind what i said about the robots attacking humans, i was wrong.

[Sopdadope]

I still love SciFi but switched to the Classics because all the scifi made me want to see from whence it came. Not enough time, dammit!

I didn't go to see Troy for precisely the reason you mentioned about pop translations of classics into film. Will probably rent it. Why not call it the The Illiad? "Danger!Warning Will Robinson!"

Lord of the Rings is the exception to that rule. Fantastic adaptation. I was never disappointed except for two little things. One, the scale of the landscape was too small (that's New Zealand for you); and two, Tolkien specifically mentions in his work that the voices of the Ents sounded like reedy like a bassoon. The latter is a very minor complaint but it surprised me considering how excellent and true the adaptation was overall. Looking forward to "The Hobbit."

I've been a voracious sci-fi reader since 2002. I've recently been blown away by Stand on Zanzibar-by John Brunner and Chthon- written by Piers Anthony.

Though I regard The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a towering cinematic achievement, it isn't without flaws. Technically, the films were brilliant- the cinematography was solid, the art-direction was top-notch, the action choreography were well-done and the special effects were exceptionally rendered. Jackson wringed out the best performances possible from his cast.

However masterful the film was, technically and logistically, I found it severely lacking in artistic merit and emotional impact.

All the emotions presented in "The Rings" are mere symbols. The pain of loss of someone, the love for another human being, the fear of the unknown, and the temptation of power are all unmotivated, symbolically represented, and stripped of any true emotional values. They are almost dictionary definitions of what human emotions are--all easily explicable by a few words. Thus some scenes, especially those involving Frodo and Sam, seemed a tad on the maudlin side. Thus though I consider LOTR one of the finest engineered films I found it lacking in artistic merit, it just didn't speak to me on an emotional level.

As far as successful novel-film adaptations go, I'd say both The Last of the Mohicans, The Shining and Shawshank Redemption were superior to their literary source material.

[slipnfall]

I got a chance to see the movie Friday night - WOW! Like I said in my previous post, I'm a sucker for eye-candy flix, and this surely met that criteria. Very fluid graphics - it's amazing how far digital graphics have come. I don't get out to the movies often, so is this what I'v been missing? :pface

Honestly I don't remember a whole lot, detail wise, from the original I, Robot book. I do know however that there was no massive droidal attack on the humans from some central entity. Although the plot was quite suspensful, after it was all said and done I said to myself '..saw that coming'. I did pick up on a couple fragments from the written work, such as the 'Liar!' story/chapter. (the robot lying, or harming a human to preserve the three laws - an oxymoron or paradox of sorts). The breadcrumb trail concept should have been worked on a little more - the pieces didn't flow too well together. Or rather, I forgot about this concepts until another crumb was revealed. Maybe this was intentional, as to not look like a 'Paycheck' immitation.

Generally a great movie - I'd love to see it again. Smith did a good job IMHO.

I'm interested in hearing anyone elses opinion. I went by myself to see it(pathetic, I know - at least I didn't get dressed up for it. ;-), so I think I'll drag my G/F along to see it again.

-Jamie

[rousie13]

I was going to do the same last night, but I didn't have enough gas in my car to make it there. lol Maybe I'll go later tonight.

[stray]

[quote=" Sopdadope I'm obsessed with the sci-fi films dealing with robots/cyborgs in general - Blade Runner, What Dreams May Come, Metropolis (both the silent flick and the anime), A.I. are among some of my favs. [/quote]

What exactly did "What dreams may come" have to do with robots?

Anyway, a good movie list. Glad to see another film fan on these boards.

Tuco owns.

I, Robot will suck.

That is all.

[Sopdadope]

What exactly did "What dreams may come" have to do with robots?

Anyway, a good movie list. Glad to see another film fan on these boards.

Tuco owns.

I, Robot will suck.

That is all.

Heh my bad, I meant the 30's classic flick, Things to Come. While I was typing in Metropolis I was thinking of Robin William's Bicentennial Man for some reason and somehow that led to What Dreams May Come.

Ditto, good to see a film buff around here.

And yes, Tuco is one bad-as.s mofo!

[RMiller]

It's a pretty good movie. Only problem is you see Will Smith's naked body 30 seconds into the movie. Oh well, it's for the ladies. I recommend it, though.