8MM

Rating:
Summary: A disturbing, but good movie
Review: This movie was dark and disturbing. Cage is a Private Investigator who is hired by a wealthy woman to determine if a snuff film found in her late husband's safe is real or not. He precedes to the dark underworld of hard-core porn looking for answers. Cage is helped by a local porn store worker as he moves from city to city looking for evidence.

I was glued to the TV the whole time and followed along with Cage as he spoke to the girl's mother and friends. The interaction between him and her mother was great. I really felt for her and Cage. The ending was good and did not take away from the film at all.

The only drawback was the his wife and kid seemed out of place in the film. They did not really have much of a part and the movie would have been fine without them in it. This movie is worth watching at least once.

Rating:
Summary: "snuff"antastic, but it's good
Review: When you think back at "8Mm", what comes to your mind first is the depressing feeling you get during the whole movie. Joel Schumacher manages to create a special atmosphere: he uses pale colors, it's dark or rain almost all the time. Just like it's needed for a movie with a pretty original subject: snuff movies. Real or not? Tom Welles (Nicolas Cage) is hired to investigate if a snuff movie, in which a young girl is brutally murdered, is authentic or not. Cage enters into a dark universe filled up with lunatics or psychos. He gets very involved in the case, and ends up doing things he never imagined being capable of. As Joaquin says, "You can't change the devil. The devil changes you". Still the movie is sometimes too slow and boring (in the first part). A subject like this could've had the result a way better movie, but this one's worth to watch. You'll not forget it easily and whenever you look back at it, you'll see darkness and madness.

Rating:
Summary: Disturbing (mildly), nauseating (slightly), great(after all)
Review: After looking through some of the reviews of this film it seems to me that a lot of people disliked it for being too graphic. Well, being a huge fan of horror myself, I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't as graphic as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong - I don't get any pleasure from watching a young girl being tortured to death, but I found the middle road taken by director Joel Schumacher utterly disappointing.

If you want to make a disturbing movie, you can basically choose either of two options. The first is to not show anything at all - best showcased in the great "Blair Witch Project" - or you can show *everything* - as in "Seven" or many of the extreme (and I mean EXTREME) Japanese horror movies. It seems to me that Joel Schumacher wanted to make a movie that would appeal to hardcore horror fans as well as the general public, and thus used a few graphic scenes, but never too many or too graphic.

The plot is simple: a private investigator (Cage) is hired to investigate if film of a young girl being murdered is real or not. His search takes him into the murky swamps of the Los Angeles porn industry. Jaquin Phoenix is fantastic as a clerk working in an adult bookstore.

I think this movie would have been much better if Schumacher had been brave enough to make this even more graphic. I wanted a full-on splatter-fest; something to completely shock the audience. I want to see people leaving theaters because they can't bear it anymore; I want outraged critics saying it's exploitation at it's worst. When dealing with a subject matter this disturbing, at least make sure it *feels* disturbing, nauseating and gross. As it is, it loses a bit of the impact it could have had.

For a better film on the same subject, try to get a copy of "Tesis" (a Spanish film with basically the same plot, directed by Alejandro Amenábar). While not at all graphic, it's a disturbing movie, and better than "8mm".

Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: To all those out there that did not like this movie....you must have fallen asleep! The movie is disgustingly realistic. It will keep you on the edge of your seat and you will never forget it! Cage plays a fantastic role in the film, supported by a fantastic group of supporting actors. For those who enjoyed Seven, Silence of the lambs, etc.....you will love this one.

Rating:
Summary: A dark and disturbing thriller that stays with you
Review: This has to be one of the most dark and disturbing thrillers ever made. This is a movie which will hook you from the very first minute and not let go, even when it's all said and done. You better watch something funny after this, because this dark film will leave you feel very uneasy through the night.

Nicholas Cage is a private investigator who works for himself. He is called on to do many cases of survailance. One phone call is about to change the rest of his life forever. When a rich husband dies, the old widow finds a "film". The film turns out to be a snuff film. Cage believes that snuffs are only myths, that was until he actually saw what was on.

Now, it's his job to determine if the film is real or not, and if the little girl in it was really killed. The investigation pulls him into a dangerous game of "Cat and Mouse" when certain parties learn that he is snooping around, looking for answers to questions that should never have been asked. Soon, everything in Cage's life comes crumbling down on him.

The picture quality of the film is great. I also liked how it sounded. It would've been nicer to see some more special features on the DVD.

From the writer who brought you "Seven", "8mm" is a disturbing thriller with twists after twists. This movie will sicken you in many parts, and is not for anyone who is sensitive or who gets offended easily. This is a movie you will never forget, wheather you like it or not.

Rating:
Summary: very bad
Review: can you give a film negative stars? cage is not my favorite actor, but he really under-does himself in this one. the script fancies itself to be clever, but it's just boring. there's no logical flow to the story. the banal plot "twists" are totally predictable, unimaginative, and just don't make any logical sense. the music is contrived and not very original. it is possible to deal with a disturbing subject in an imaginative and artistic way - but this movie isn't even close to either. if you never see this film, you will be a better person for it.

Rating:
Summary: Dark, Gritty, often misunderstood
Review: Too often people go to a movie thinking "this is going to be like 'Seven'" or "Silence of the Lambs" and in thinking that they already have an idea of what they think the movie should be like in their head. More often than naught, they're disappointed. Yes, "8mm" is written my Andrew Kevin Walker of "Seven" fame, and it carries with it the kind of grit, darkness, and overall sense of evil that is evident in "Seven". But that's where any similarities end. As a movie unto itself "8MM" is an excellent movie that takes us into the depths of human evil and sadness more than other films. Like Nicholas Cages character, Tom Welles, says near the finale "Why?" we ask ourselves why people who live in this world would do such things as those that happen in the movie. The debate of wether "snuff" films are in fact real aside, the truth is that there are people out there who do the things that Eddie, Dino Velvet, Longdale, and "Machine" do, and if snuff films have only existed before as urban legends, then it's scary to know that there are people out there who could probably easily do it today if motivated (and disturbed) enough.

That said, the movie is absolutely mesmerizing in its art direction and cinematography. The journey that the "everyman" John Welles takes down through the bowels of darkness is very well done and easily takes the audience along for the trip. The fact that Welles is so "normal" (critics believe that this is a horrible acting representation by Cage, but in fact is very neuanced and subtle)and therefore shares more qualities with regular Joe citizen makes his feelings and actions very identifiable to the average watcher. Joaquin Phoenix as Max California is a great complementary character, in-between the two worlds, and very well acted. Catherine Keener and James Gandolfini give outstanding performances as well, and Peter Stormare, though a little over the top IMHO, is the epitome of sleaze. Schumacher does an excellent job in directing what is a disturbing movie, and after the creative bankruptcy that was "Batman and Robin", he steps up and shows that he is still an excellent filmaker.

If you're looking for deep characters with lots of emotion and thorough development, this isn't the film for you. With the exception of Welles, none of the characters are along the lines of Lester Burnham from "American Beauty". This isn't a completely character-driven film, and those who can handle that will have no problem if the movie isn't as "deep" as it might've been. If you want a very well-shot, cast, and directed thriller that will bend your head and give you a glimpse of the darkess of the world, then this is the one for you. Not to be missed, it demands multiple, carefull viewings to be understood. It'll be one of those movies you'll love, but never want to admit it because of the nature of the film and it's percieved "horridness" that it recieves from people who misunderstand it till this day.

Rating:
Summary: The Movie the Gay Lobby Doesn't Want You to See
Review: 8MM is an excellent film that received negative reviews in the press not because of poor acting or poor story-telling, but because homosexual activists pulled strings in the media to discredit it. There is a strong push among activists to silence unsavory depictions of alternative sexuality, and although the movie deals more precisely with S&M bisexuality than with homosexuality per se, it found itself the victim of the politically charged climate of the times.

8MM is a harsh, disconcerting movie, and a powerful challenge to those who would dismiss the dangers of pornography and champion deviant sexuality as "morally neutral." Nick Cage puts in a workman-like performance, but he is more than compensated by the brilliant acting of Phoenix and the rest of the supporting cast. Anyone who thinks this movie is over the top should check out (website) for a dose of sobering, frightful reality.

Rating:
Summary: VERY DARK & UNSETTLING...
Review: This film is not for the faint of heart. The themes it involves are twisted and unsavory for most people. It's shocking to think that an entire underground subculture exists which consumes and enjoys extreme & violent pornography. After viewing this film, I spent days just pondering the reason for such a twisted bloodlust. Anyhow, the basic plot of 8 mm is intriguing. Nicolas Cage's character's descent into the disturbing realm of "blood porn" is portrayed well. The film would have benefitted from scenes which expressed the psychological implications of exploring this dark aspect of the pornography industry. The film rasises many questions: why would people relish this twisted stuff? does such a secret blood porn industry exist and operate in great secrecy? what is the mind-set of the people who produce such blood-porn? If you are in a mood to ponder such dark & disturbing questions, then I would highly recommend this film. However, 8 mm does not offer much closure to these questions...it is up to the viewer to research & investigate these areas. If I were the director of 8 mm, I would have established a darker atmosphere. ... The themes in this film are very dark...and I think the atmosphere should have been similarly heavy and dark. Furthermore, I think there should have been a lot of scenes where Nicholas Cage's character introspects & retrospects about the frightening abyss he's entered. Certainly, such a journey is traumatic to the mind...and this aspect of psychotrauma was not sufficiently addressed in the film. Had the film been a tone more somber & dark and had the plot included more about the psychopathology and psychotrauma of pornographic bloodlust ("snuff") films, 8 mm would probably have achieved great critical acclaim and an amplification of its power to unsettle, disturb, & eventually repulse the viewer. The film's shortcomings weakened its impact...it's sad...this film could have been a stellar production.

Rating:
Summary: IN THE LIST OF WORST MOVIES THIS ONE IS #1
Review: This is the worst movie ever, it's not that I can't stand the gore and violence, I own Seven on DVD, The Silence of The Lambs on VHS and I'm planning on buying Hannibal on DVD, when I saw the trailers for this movie and read that it had been written by the same guy who wrote Seven and given that this movie had an 8 in it's title I thought that it was going to be another great movie (don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting a sequel to Seven or something related to that story in particular) but nope, this movie ended being the worst movie or one of the worst that I've seen in my whole life, I thought well on the good side we have Nicholas Cage and Andrew Kevin Walker, on the bad side the genius who directed the last two Batman movies, let's give it a try, it can't be that bad, well I was wrong.