I, Robot

So, I saw I, Robot on Saturday night; somewhat against my will, since the trailers totally turned me off, but I'd sorta promised, so whatever. As expected, it wasn't the best movie, and dragged whenever Will Smith was onscreen. The first half hour or so, particularly. It felt like what might have originally been a thoughtful, philosophical sort of film got action scene after action scene tacked on until it was almost recognizable.
 
The film does shine, however, whenever the titular robot ("Sonny") is onscreen. He's easily the most interest character in the piece, and when the others interact with him, you can finally hear the words of Isaac Asimov coming through. It says a lot that the humans ultimately, grudgingly, come to respect him as the conscious being he is. I like the occasional hopeful vision of the future mixed in with the usual dystopian fare. But please, if you see this movie and it intrigues you at all, go back and read Asimov's original stories. They'll satisfy you far more.
 
So, in other news, Russ was up this weekend, so we had the usual gorge-and-guzzle fest. In other words, it was a blast. Converted a couple of new people to the joys of Four Swords, which is rapidly becoming my favorite game of the moment. Rewatched Bourne Identity, which wasn't as awful as I remembered it and actually makes me consider seeing Bourne Supremacy this weekend. And, learned that the Imperial Palace is closed only on Saturday afternoons. How bizarre is that?