fleggett

Hi, all. Not quite a first-time poster (see the comic section), but have lurked for a long time in this forum and others.

I just watched A.I. tonight. I've seen it several times, but the ending turns my internal waterworks on full. Yes, I know I'm maudlin, tragically sentimental, and far, far too sensitive for anyones good (I also start gushing at the end of ST2). Each time I've been in the company of others and it has taken all my willpower to not cry buckets during A.I.'s beautiful finale & denouement. John Williams' fantastically haunting score perfectly melds with Spielberg's elegiac onscreen imagery and Frances O'Connor and Haley Joel Osment provide terrific capstone performances. There is just so much to gaze and wonder at in A.I. that I can't believe it has only garnered a 6.9 on the IMDB.

Now, I am aware that many people have problems with A.I. It's ragingly pretentious, lacks focus, is too distant, needlessly brutal and cruel, is an uncomfortable and incomplete mesh of Kubrick's and Spielberg's visions, etc. Even though I find it an almost transcendental piece of filmmaking, no one movie can be everything to everyone.

And this leads into my question - just when has a movie succeeded? What criteria justifies the $10+ theatre expenditure? Is it primarily on an emotive or intellectual level, or both?

The first time I saw A.I. was in a theatre setting. It was the latest Spielberg sci-fi production, so I had to go. I was with a friend at the time (which almost turned into a colossal embarrassment on my part). It was some weeks into release, so the crowds had thinned, but there were still a respectable number of people in attendance. About ten minutes until the closing credits appeared, a few people began to leave. Plus, my friend was looking more and more bored. I was both aghast and incredulous. This film, which was bringing me closer and closer to outright sobbing in front of my friend (who would never have let me live it down), was apparently a total failure and waste of time to others. And if the IMDB is to be believed, it was only a "pretty decent" picture in the minds of most and not the masterpiece that, to this day, I firmly believe it to be. A movie that probably would never be greenlighted today.

When was the last time a film left you fully satisfied, probably with the intent of purchasing it at or near its day of release onto home video?

dan30oly

A.I. was one of the most miserable movie going experiences I have ever had.

I swear had I not been on a date, I would have left half way through the movie.

Absolutely horrible.

toddly6666

The Fall
The Fountain
Watchmen
Amelie
Dark City
Gladiator
Heat
The New World
Schindler's List
Requiem For a Dream
Matrix

Boba Fett

Black Dynamite.

Solid Snake

Star Trek
The Dark Knight
Inglourious Basterds
Watchmen
Taken
Up
Wall-E
Iron Man

gmanca

For me, a film that has succeeded will have kept me engaged, not wanting the film to end or looking at the time to see when it will end, and when I have to think about what I just saw. As an example, I just saw Cutter's Way, a decent-to-good movie that did keep me interested but once it was over, I was done with it. I appreciate John Heard's awesome performance but that's it; I would say that, overall, it did not succeed.

whoopdido

Seriously dude, was that really necessary? The OP wasn't looking for opinions on A.I. He wanted to know what makes a successful movie. He even said that, for most people, it was just an ok or even less than ok movie. He just happened to really like it.

He just spent 3 paragraphs gushing about how much he loved the movie so what was the point of giving your negative opinion and not even answering the question?

dan30oly

You want an answer to the question?

Here goes.

Transformers The Movie (1986)

Most satisfying movie going experience in my life.

james2025a

Well i recently got the BR of Dr. Zhivago and for me that film truly is a success in every respect. It tells a captivating story, it has great actors and performances all round. The music fits perfectly. The film educates the audience and manages to perfectly capture a time and a place (and one not usually seen in many films). The direction is top notch and i think that overall it is a great work of art that acheives everything that it sets out to. Even the sets and locales are all perfect.

Again another film which i mentioned before on a thread asking about perfect films is Goodfellas. See everything i have said above and match it to Goodfellas as well (except for maybe a time and place not being seen often on screen).

MrSmearkase

That was John HEARD in Cutter's Way, not Hurt.

Ash Ketchum

KILL BILL, VOL. 1 was the last time. I saw it four times on the big screen and I have two different editions of it on DVD. (The second one being the Japanese cut.) It was the only film I've seen that many times on the big screen since all my trips in the '70s to see things like THE WILD BUNCH, M*A*S*H, the Leone trilogy and the Connery Bonds multiple times on the big screen. Or old classics at revival theaters like CASABLANCA, CITIZEN KANE, OUT OF THE PAST, THE BIG SLEEP, the Marx Bros.' early films and assorted Hitchcocks and Fords.

Before KILL BILL, it was PRINCESS MONONOKE, which I saw three times in theaters when it played here in 1999. (And I'd already had three VHS copies of it, two in Japanese without subs. and one a fan-sub.) And of course I have it on DVD. Do you all remember the fan outcry when Disney originally announced it as an English dub release only? They sure got the message on that one.

Bobby Shalom

One of my most memorable theater going experiences was seeing Five Corners.

I was in a really sad mood, and my parents were going to see it, and I had nothing better to do, so i went with them.

It's rare for me that a film will actually take me completely out of a rotten mood, make me laugh, think and inspire me. It's a low budget little film, but I thought it was wildly successful at what it was trying to do.

Michael Corvin

That happens probably too frequent to discuss, but I do have one example that stands above the rest:

The Bourne Supremacy

I walked out of that theater wanting to buy a ticket to The Bourne Ultimatum right then and there. I could not wait to see where Bourne went next. Waiting three years to find out was painful.

whoopdido

Transformers The Movie absolutely sucked. Probably the worst movie I've ever seen.

tylergfoster

In my mind, a movie has succeeded when it achieves what it has set out to accomplish (which is a subjective thing) in a satisfying manner. Sometimes I find movies that try weird, wildly original things and fail are "successful" as well.

whoopdido

Ha ha. Well played sir.

DeanoBKN

Fahrenheit 9/11 succeeded in getting Bush out of office.

...Oh wait.

cpgator

I disagree. The response was very predictable and I left half way through reading it. I found the post very unsuccessful, and I would not purchase the DVD.

cpgator

Sadly, I think it was... Maybe i am just bitter.

Dr. DVD

Star Trek (2009)
Almost Famous
The Dark Knight
LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring- this is a rare instance where a movie pretty much gave me everything I wanted and envisioned out of a book.

Larry C.

A film has not succeeded unless Buttmunker has started a thread about it.

HN

i don't recall the last memorable theater experience. I do have one for rental, though:

as soon as i finished watching L.A Confidential, i rewound the tape and watched it again. what a great movie.

hardercore

Recently, The Dark Knight, Inglourious Basterds and There Will Be Blood had that effect on me.

bunkaroo

A film is successful for me when I don't want to look at my phone or laptop while watching it.

gmanca

Yeah, thanks.