ehrich-3 Reviews

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

A Masterpiece

[10/10 · 3 July 2001]

Many film critics and moviegoers have panned AI. The beauty of this movie will not be realized for sometime. It is noteworthy that many people walked out of 2001: A Space Odyssey when it first premiered.

The secret of AI is it forces the viewer to recognize our human capacity to love and our desire to be loved. By using a non-human form, a robotic boy, the story allows us to examine the love we as human beings give and love we require to be happy.

When the Blue Fairy tells David `Your Wish is My Command,' it invokes a commonality among all humankind - We dream. We dream of things not possible or known, things that bring joy to our lives and those we love, we dream of living in a better place, we dream of living forever.

As others have reported on this board, the movie is broken into 3 parts. The last segment of an archeological dig of a flooded and frozen 2000-year-old Manhattan is awesome in scope.

I highly recommend this movie. You will think about the messages for a long, long time.

From the Earth to the Moon (1998)

An inspirationally movie, a Must-See for Everyone

[3 February 2001]

From the Earth to the Moon is a stunning masterpiece that captures the triumph of a defining moment in the history of the world: Humankind's arrival to, short exploration of, and return from, it's planetary neighbor the Moon.

Tom Hanks brought together actors, writers, directors, producers, and composers of the highest caliber to deliver an accurate, outstanding, hard hitting film.

From the Earth to the Moon is a 12 hour movie spanning the United States involvement in the space race from the first man in space in 1961 to the last lunar landing in 1972. The movie teaches, gives insights, paints portraits of real people, and is simply fascinating.

The stories told in From the Earth to the Moon are inspiring, captivating, funny, thrilling, and heartbreaking. The true stories are absolutely unforgettable, stories of the men, women, and machines of the Apollo era.

All the stories presented in the film are special, and one that touched me was the story of Apollo 7. With the tragedy of Apollo 1, the movie reveals how Apollo 7 and its crew were America's last chance to make it happen. The movie beautifully presents the pressure Wally Shirra, his crew, and NASA were under before the lift-off of Apollo 7. Had Apollo 7 failed, the space program certainly would have stopped and the world would have never experienced Apollo 11's lunar landing.

The live footage shown from the Apollo 7 lift-off is awesome and spectacular. Generations from now will watch Apollo 7's lift-off to be amazed that humans could achieve such an engineering and technical marvel and scholars will debate in awe how the political, social, and economic environments of the time made such an event possible.

After viewing the entire movie, I was struck with sense of sadness. The Apollo program seemed to allow people's ideas to flourish and pull together around one common goal. That goal, of landing a man on the moon, was noble and exciting. It drew on man's positive strengths to explore, learn, move forward, and better the human condition. Someday, mankind must again reach for the stars.

From the Earth to the Moon will stay with you for a long, long time.

Cast Away (2000)

Good Movie, not great, but very good

[30 December 2000]

A fine, highly quality film. If you have not seen it, please do so.

It never quite achieves classic status, however. The best parts are of course the island scenes.

Unlike many other comments, I actually thought the end part of the movie was good. It basically makes the viewer think about his or her own life, as Chuck Noland does, at his cross roads, both literally and figuratively.

Once he returns, his path of life is again uncharted and open to anything. That is, except for any future with his love Helen Hunt.

Tom Hanks is simply the best all around actor. We are enjoying this man in the prime of his life. If nothing else, see the movie to see Hanks.