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Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $11.24
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: fantastic and confusing
Review: I honestly don't know how to describe Donnie Darko. After I got finished watching it I wasn't quite sure what it was that I just saw. This movie defies classification. It is set in the late 80's during the Bush-Dukakis presidential race. This fact is not so important other than it gives the movie a concrete sense of time. This is the when.

The film follows teenaged Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal). Donnie is in therapy for his schizophrenia and the movie switches between what we see as the reality of the movie and his visions of some creature that looks like it has a mask of a disturbing rabbit. This rabbit is man sized and it instructs Donnie to act and to do things. Exactly what these things are would spoil some of the wonder of the movie. In the reality, the film opens with the engine from a plane falling from the sky and crashing through Donnie's bedroom.

Donnie's family is fairly normal. He argues with his sister (played by Jake's real life sister Maggie). His parents try their best to provide for the family and to help Donnie with his therapy. He is somewhat of an outcast at school but has his group of friends. He meets a new girl at school (Jena Malone) and they begin a relationship that feels real despite the strangeness of their meeting.

The strength of this movie comes from Donnie's belief in his visions. It provides motivation as well as tension throughout the movie. As an added bonus this movie is so original that we don't quite know where the movie is going. There is discussion of time travel and hints of what might really be going on.

As a whole, this is a fascinating movie. It requires multiple viewings and since I have only seen it once, I'm not entirely sure of everything that happened in the movie. It is a little confusing, but definitely worth watching.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Whoa
Review: This is one of the most hypnotic movies I've have ever seen. Beleive me, I've seen many hundreds and am an avid collector of dvds. It is movies like this that make life worth living!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A wonderful break from the norm
Review: The last five minutes of the movie capture more emotion than ive seeen in any movie. And isn't that wat Donnie DArko is about, finding the whole "spectrum of emotion"?
I am very happy to find a movie that finally breaks the commonly used jungian structure, one that allows a lil bit of thought! I can watch it over and over again, and yet still i can't find an answer to the end. This is one of those movies that just makes u want to scream at the end. It stays in your mind day and night until u find an answer...which is unlikely. This can be either good or bad to you.
Donnie is an easy character to relate too. He likes girls yet he sucks at talking to them, he doesn't care to much for his family, and occasionally has a lil smoke. But he has this dark side of himself, or "frank" that reprents the fear within every individual. This character shows people what they are trying to hide within themselves, and thats why we LOVE him.
Donnie Darko is just mind blowing. You'll never find another movie like it, so don't pass up the chance to see it!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: How does this movie stink, let me count the ways....
Review: 1) Stupid title to a stupid name for a character.
2) Various flaws with the script, by a writer who obviously didn't do his research in the area's of Hawkings view on time travel, therapy, or even teenage interaction.
3) Continuity errors with Evil Dead add-in.
4) Abundance of lots of stereotypes.
5) Nonsensical scene's added in that lead to no where (and not in a David Lynch, intriguing, cool-as-hell way).
6) Annoying characters - really annoying.
7)Bad writing; this includes dialogue, plotholes, etc.
8) J.G. is not Tobey Macguire but he'd like to be.
9) Writer/Director tries was too hard to be clever by utilizing lots of unnecesary metaphors.

Good aspects to the movie are limited to good photography, and a damn cool rabbit. Worth seeing for the rabbit; everything else is overwhelming with mediocrity.

I'd like to end this with a quote from a much better movie, As Good As It Gets - "People who speak in metaphors should shampoo my crotch."

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful
Review: This is a simply wonderful movie, it is extremely original, deep, and unexpected. I only wish the movie industry would have the courage to explore more themes so original.
All actors deserve a 5 stars, Drew Barrymore was simply wonderful for the part and acting it out. I am not a particular fan for her look, but in this movie she is incredibly intriguing.
The remake of the song "Mad World" slow motion played at the end, has completely reached its peak of perfection. I believe "Tears for Fears", being themselves great artists, would share my opinion about it.
Great movie!!!!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Jake is King
Review: I loved "Donnie Darko". I saw it on a movie channel on TV a few months ago, and i absoultely loved it. i'm into these kinds of weird, not fully advertised strange movies, so i throughly enjoyed watching it. i mean, the way that Jake Gyllenhaal played such a different character than what i've seen him do, it was great to see the diversity. i reccommend this movie to all the freaks of the world who don't mind a little creepiness in their lives every once in awhile.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Darker, Darkest!
Review: DONNIE DARKO got a very limited release in 2001 because it dealt with an airplane crashing. Not that the movie had any other connections to terrorist acts, but that was enough to stifle this well-made indie flick in its theatrical run. But the DVD brings it to life in a very full way, and with LOADS of extras.

The story is twisting and would make David Lynch's head spin! Donnie is just your average all-American teen who sees big evil bunny rabbits on golf courses telling him about a coming apocalypse. He survives a plane engine hitting his house thanks to his visions. He may or may not be schizophrenic, or touched in a special way. He commits violent destructive crimes in his sleep, but they bring retribution somehow. And he may or may not be seeing destiny forming in front of his family - I mean this literally in a physical sense. Is he crazy? Is he a savior? Maybe both.

The cast is SUPERB! Drew Barrymore who also produced, Patrick Swayze, Noah Wylie, Catharine Ross, and Beth Grant all make strong use of their characters. The movie is bursting with eccentric well-constructed characters from Donnie's family to his friends. There are no weak links here!

And technically the movie is beautiful. Set in the mid 80s, the production design is dead on with just small touches here and there. The music is affecting! The camera work is sublime! Even the special effects work incredibly well given the budget. This is a labor of love for all involved and it shows.

And the DVD is the same labor of love. Two commentaries, deleted scenes, trilers, easter eggs! You could spend days on this disc and never get tired.

This is a no brainer! It's a must-have for anyone who loves movies.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Why can't people see the obvious. !!!WARNING: SPOILER!!!
Review: WARNING: DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THIS MOVIE. IT IS NOT WORTH IT TO RUIN THIS MOVIE BY READING THIS REVIEW. This movie is obviously misunderstood by some of the lower life forms out there. This movie will draw you in and keep you interested if you have the ability to follow complex stories. You have a right not to like this movie. But when I watch this movie I see the story of a person who fell in love, and when the choice was presented before him that he could go on living or sacrifice himself to save the person he loved. Donnie chose to sacrifice himself. The story is one of true love. He sacrifices himself for no honor. The girl he loves does not even remember him after the act. This is the story of a true superhero who sacrifices all for the one he loves.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beautiful and tragic.
Review: This is a film that can't be easily described, certainly not without ruining it. I think that this film deserves at least one viewing, perhaps more... its definitely the kind of film you need to reserve discussion time for.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Any film with over 300 reviews
Review: has got something going for it. I think the movie hits the literary equivalent of the "personal fallacy," wherein because something hits someone hard for personal reasons, they tend to rate it higher as "art" than it, perhaps, deserves. Well, I am one of the victims of the fallacy. While flawed, it has some genuinely beautiful moments and captures the strange and dreamlike world of some teenagers perfectly. For all of us who grew up feeling possibly border-line schizophrenic, its weirdness is like--oh, I don't know-- going back in time.


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