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I Robot

Started by Mr. DS, August 03, 2007, 10:57:27 AM

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IzzyDedjet

Quote from: ghouck on September 06, 2007, 04:51:51 PM
QuoteWTF?  I've never met or talked to The Good Doctor (as he is known to those who know him), but by all accounts the above could not be more wrong.  One must remember that simply being a member of MENSA does not make one always right.
Some excerpts from WikiPedia:

The wikipedia is NOT the most reliable source, especially for this type of information. What's worse, is that you are trying to pass someone's opinion off as fact. True, IzzyDedjet's proclamation is also opinion, but, as death has a way of making men into martyrs, I would take that wikipedia entry with the same scrutiny I would any other entry, maybe more.

I personally have met several Mensa members in my liftime, and the only one I encountered that was NOT an ass, was Ebolamonkeyman. Weird, but NOT an ass, and I've not met him in person, only through emails have we conversed.

Just my experiences. . 






Thanks for the shield there bud.  :)  I was gonna let this one go.  Like you said, it was my aunt's opinion, and also that of 2 friends.  Unfortunately, Mr. Azimov died before I submitted my application to MENSA, and upon further review of the organization, decided not to pursue said application any further. 
According to my friends, I'm not missing much.
Again, it was just my relaying an opinion that has been voiced on numerous occasions.

ghouck

I dated a girl for a short time that was a mensa member, as was her Mother and Father. They seemed OK at first, but after a short time, I learned all the niceness was fake and they were VERY weird, kept pushing me to take the test or such. I'm not a genious, but I can at times argue really well, which is more of throwing a person off their game than being smart. I met a few other members through them, and realized how many things were just plain wrong, , like the fact that the ones I met were VERY racist, but 'justified' it with 'facts'. Made me want to puke. It was strange how a few of them talked about how people of different races should not have kids, because those kids will be in some "grey area" when some big race war happens, and will mean a less-decisive win one way or another, so less humans will survive due to the sides being too close in power. The "can't we all just get along" idea completely eluded them, and some of what they said sounded alot like Charles Manson's rhetoric. Strange indeed.

As for the Wikipedia entry for I.A., I'm kinds surprized there wasn't a flag on the page stating much of the article was uncited and arose from a non-neutral source. IOW, it largely sounded like someone's opinion.
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Killer Bees

I liked it so much I bought it on DVD.  I especially liked the Will-Smith-in-the- shower scene.  I keep yelling at the tv, "turn around, darn it!"   :teddyr:  (Yes, I'm a girl!)

I've read lots of Asmiov books and consider myself a fan, but I wasn't upset by this movie.  I never get upset when a book is made into a movie.  They are always two different animals and I take them all on their own merits.
Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine
Heal what has been hurt
Change the fates' design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine
What once was mine.......

HarlotBug3

Quote from: The DarkSider on August 03, 2007, 10:57:27 AM
That and Will Smith doesn't really act like Will Smith in the movie which is refreshing.

Don't say that unless you mean it, because I don't believe it.
"Do you have something against droppings?" "Well, no, I..." "Sure, everyone says that till they step in it."

DistantJ

This is interesting. In my local DVD shop recently I saw a box set including i, Robot the film along with the book. On the box it read "Read the book, see the film!" perhaps the film was thought up as another story based on the three laws and other recurring themes from the short stories, rather than any kind of adaptation?

Killer Bees

Quote from: ghouck on September 06, 2007, 04:51:51 PM
QuoteWTF?  I've never met or talked to The Good Doctor (as he is known to those who know him), but by all accounts the above could not be more wrong.  One must remember that simply being a member of MENSA does not make one always right.
Some excerpts from WikiPedia:

The wikipedia is NOT the most reliable source, especially for this type of information. What's worse, is that you are trying to pass someone's opinion off as fact. True, IzzyDedjet's proclamation is also opinion, but, as death has a way of making men into martyrs, I would take that wikipedia entry with the same scrutiny I would any other entry, maybe more.

I personally have met several Mensa members in my liftime, and the only one I encountered that was NOT an ass, was Ebolamonkeyman. Weird, but NOT an ass, and I've not met him in person, only through emails have we conversed.

Just my experiences. . 





A long time ago, I read an Asimov biography.  He struck me as being a nice man, but a little flaky around the edges.  More concerned with his writing than anything else.  His wife was lonely because he was never emotionally "there" but his daughter Robyn was his whole world.  There is even speculation that he had an affair with some woman once.  Can't remember whether she was a professor or an events organiser or a secretary or something.  As I said, it was a long time ago.  He also hated flying and only ever too trains to conventions and such.

Overall, he came across and a decent human being, but focussed on his own internal world.  I would categorise him as an absent minded professor.
Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine
Heal what has been hurt
Change the fates' design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine
What once was mine.......

Oldskool138

Quote from: Killer Bees on January 07, 2008, 11:21:39 PMOverall, he came across and a decent human being, but focussed on his own internal world.  I would categorise him as an absent minded professor.

Plus, the dude had sideburns that would make Elvis blush.   :bouncegiggle:
He learned almost too late that man is a feeling creature... and because of it, the greatest in the universe........
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Killer Bees

Quote from: Oldskool138 on January 08, 2008, 07:51:24 AM
Quote from: Killer Bees on January 07, 2008, 11:21:39 PMOverall, he came across and a decent human being, but focussed on his own internal world.  I would categorise him as an absent minded professor.

Plus, the dude had sideburns that would make Elvis blush.   :bouncegiggle:

Well, yes, that's that too   :bouncegiggle:
Flower, gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine
Heal what has been hurt
Change the fates' design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine
What once was mine.......

soylentgreen

I too enjoyed this film.  Much more actually than I thought I would.  My wife is a bit of Will Smith fan so it was a foregone conclusion we'f end up going to see it. The FreshPrince factor was dialed down enough to overlook and Smith was backed by a great supporting cast.  While the civvy mob vs the malevolent robots street showdown smacked of cliche, the general feel of the film was fantastic...one of a bright and technosaavy future that below the surface wasn't all that perfect.  Plus, the racial metaphor was beat too hard into your skull.

Again, the cast was a real asset to making the film work.  The always great-to-see Bruce Greenwood gave what could've been a two dimensional corporate toad a shade of complexity that was nice.  Greenwood has never failed to disappoint, whether in indies like Egoyans EXOTICA or SWEET HEREAFTER or his incredible JFK in THIRTEEN DAYS(Now THERE was an oscar nomination robbery!).  He was even fabulous in THE CORE, a gravely misunderstood flick that willingly channeled the ecstatic lunacy of 50s sci-fi and smeared a high-end fx patina on it.

Alan Tudyk did a bang up job with Sonny.  It takes a certain kind of "actor" to convey in voice alone the volumes he did.   I consider it in the same league as, say, something from Hugo Weaving.

While I could ditch Shia LeBoof without a second thought(though honestly speaking, the role was clearly written for that kind of irritating post-pube persona), Chi McBride was great as the (required in any cop oriented film) frustrated but sympathetic superior...again a potentially 2-D role given a little more breadth by a strong character actor.   After intitally assuming she was just a bland actress,  I suspect that Bridget Moynahan's notably wooden performance was deliberate in order to make the human emotion-studying psychologist more robotic and make the robot Sonny more emotionally alive.

Of course, I never fail to be moved by James Cromwell's speculating on the "ghost in the machine".  Cromwell's delivery, Beltrami's core and some very well thought out editing make it all come together.  Of all the moments in the film, any time I watch it, it's always the sequence that I look forward to.


ps...As with I, ROBOT, despite being very different(!) from the source material, I AM LEGEND does feature a very good performance from Smith.  Makes one wonder just how great he could shine with no studio meddling on the screenplay end.  He seems fully willing to take on some unorthodox roles.

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ER

I utterly hated this movie. As in it actually angered me. If people don't want to faithfully translate a story from book to film then they shouldn't keep the title. I think Will Smith has always been a prick but the industry covered it up until it couldn't anymore. That "hold my pie or wear it, sir" was Smith slipping in a line he found funny because it fit his nature to be an ass. I wouldn't be this upset over a sci-fi book I liked being ruined until Oprah Winfrey eviscerated A Wrinkle in Time years later. At least she didn't get away with it like Will Smith did.
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