Simon's Movie Reviews

A unique marriage between the styles of Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick, A.I Artificial Intelligence (2001) is Pinocchio set in a dystopian future. Originally developed by Kubrick in the 1970s, it languished until 1995 when he handed it out to Spielberg who ended up directing the project after Kubrick’s death in 1999. The result is the engrossing story of a robotic child wandering a crumbling America as he tries to become a real boy. The movie came out in 2001, the year of one of Kubrick’s most famous movie. That year was also one of the last I spent in Peru, as my family and I were living in South America because of my dad’s job. This was one of many movies I saw in English playing with Spanish subtitles and like many Steven Spielberg movies I saw it with one of my parents. Between E.T and Tintin , Spielberg has given families plenty of films to watch together. My mom loved it and of course rooted for the robot to have a happy ending, even if at the end of the day he is an...

The movie that kick started M. Night Shyamalan’s career and featured THAT twist ending, “The Sixth Sense” (1999) is the best kind of ghost story there is. It relies on environment and tension, not gore, to scare its audience. Its protagonist is a nine-year-old boy haunted by spirits, making him a very vulnerable victim. His mother of course attributes his behavior to hallucinations and has a psychologist try to help out, but the doctor himself is unsure if he can do anything. That kid is in for some wild nights. Of course “The Sixth Sense” is known for its twist ending that put a whole new spin on the story. In case you are one of six people on Earth who have not seen it, no spoilers from me. Unfortunately, I accidently read the ending on a movie web site that listed the twist endings from Shyamalan’s three best films since 1999. This is why I always try to watch as many movies as possible over the weekend: you never know when you are going to miss one that everyone wil...