The Weekly Standard’s Jonathan Last has seen the future, and he’s impressed:
‘Minority Report’ is a fully adult movie, different than anything he’s done before. Gone is the desire to give high-minded civics lessons. Gone is the obsession with the inner-child’s sense of wonder. Instead, he gives us a character driven movie.
Spielberg may be working on a gigantic canvas, but in many ways, ‘Minority Report’ is a small movie. Inevitably, comparisons will be made to ‘Blade Runner,’ but the film ‘Minority Report’ most closely resembles is actually ‘L.A. Confidential.’ It is, in every way, a triumph.
Sounds great. And in fact, most of the reviews I’ve come across have been equally glowing (if not a bit breathless…).
So. Somebody feel like lending me 8 bucks…?
How did Last feel about AI? That movie was serious, too—a serious disaster.
In the previews I’ve seen, there are no excrutiatingly cute child actors. That’s promising. There <i>is</i> Tom Cruise, however. But I’ve noticed that if you keep him moving, and don’t try to get him to do any subtle emoting, he’s quite tolerable.
It was pretty good—what wasn’t good was some sloppy plotting which meant time either had to be running too fast or too slow sometimes for it all to fit, and most of the “high-tech stuff” and exciting chase scenes had a very tacked-on feel.
Some other nitpicking that I won’t share due to spoiler content. I’ll just say that it definitely suffered from late-spielbergian sentimentality.
So, don’t get too excited, but worh a look.
Sounds to be about what I expected, Atrios. Thanks.
And Melissa: I <i>liked</i> the first half of A.I. No idea what the hell happened to it after that. Last didn’t like it much, from what I gather.
Likewise, I’ve liked Cruise in several movies, so I don’t think he’ll distract here.
OK, you’ve got your 8 bucks. Now go see the movie and report back.
OK, you’ve got your 8 bucks. Now go see the movie and report back. (…and feel lucky; movies are not 8 bucks in New Yawk)
I’ll give you $7. The first 7/8ths of the movie is pretty damn awesome. The last 1/8th? Phooie, it stank. Late 1970’s TV movie of the week stank. Oldest plot-resovling-device-in-the-world kind of stank.
No, I acutally gave him 8 bucks in the desperate hope that he’ll see it and report back. I haven’t been out the office in 8 weeks, which means I got about 6-7 movies a year. So I’m very picky what anyone with brains thinks of movies; I can’t afford to waste time on a bad one.
Why thanks, Jeremy! I’ve just ordered a collection of Dick short stories (including “Minority Report,” which I hope to read before I see the movie). But I’ll report back then.
JG
o, thank you—but don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a “gee, for 8 bucks I think I’ll try and order Jeff to go see a movie” – I just was hoping, b/c I really get out to the movies that rarely (for some reason, nothing was playing when I left the office at 3 am) and I have high hopes for this one