| Author | Message | ||
     Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
I saw this yesterday and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It's not a perfect film, like DD the directors cut, some of the explanations are too far OTT and the movie would be better (and still make sense if not make more sense) without them. The acting is uniformly good throughout, and the story (barring the unnecessary explanatory bits) is excellent. The atmosphere genrated is genuinely creepy and (I suspect this is the reason that the American preview audiences and Tony hated it) the ending is extremely downbeat - almost bleak. One girl sitting in the cinema behind me screamed about 5 times at different things, and I heard her talking to her friend on the way out and she said she didn't know why she screamed, even though the film wasn't scary it frightened her... I highly recommend this to anyone who loved Donnie Darko. Ignore Mr Schadenfreude, we all know how much we trust him. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
Another quick note on this, although my main complaint about this film is the higher levels of explanation being too OTT, one of my favourite things is that nothing is spoonfed to the audience. Like Donnie Darko, there are numerous repeating motifs, phrases, objects, but Kelly doesn't feel the need to highlight this. We the audience are left to spot them for ourselves. There's no montage of clips to tell us, here, we showed you this before. He wants us to use our brains when we watch this. It's definitely a film that will reward multiple viewings. This is - on first viewing - a 7.5 out of 10. I may reconsider that at a later date. It dropped the points for the reasons stated already and for Cameron Diaz's lips. I may even have to rewatch Southland Tales when sober to see if I was wrong first time. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
I've been tempted by this ... but now I think it's a must-see. Thanks, Weber! | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
The only thing making me curious about it was that Richard Matheson wrote the story - which I've never read but know the basic premise of... Sounds like a good plot for a 'Twilight Zone' or 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episode but perhaps a bit strained at feature length? Your review has me thinking of going to see it now. Thanks Weber. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
Sounds like a good plot for a 'Twilight Zone' or 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episode but perhaps a bit strained at feature length? The quandary given - "push the button and someone you don't know will die and you will receive $1m" is only the starting point. When she pushes the button and he gives them the money and walks away saying words to the effect of "Now I'm taking the box to the next family who, I assure you, you don't know", the real push of the movie starts in earnest. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
I think it was actually a Twilight Zone story, if my brain is working correctly on that one? | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
You're absolutely correct, Caroline! Just checked and it was adapted for the 1980s (unsuccessful) revamp of 'The Twilight Zone' - lacked any of the original's atmosphere or charm. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
Based on the Richard Matheson short story Button Button as opposed to the Twilight zone episode which was also based on the story - two quite drastically different takes on the same source material | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
I fancy seeing this - thanks for posting your comments, Weber. |