Rating: 
Summary: One of the best movies of the year - dark and very unique
Review: I've come to realize that people either "get" Donnie Darko or they just don't get it. If you like stories with complex characters and plot lines, you'll probably like Donnie Darko. Otherwise, it may bore you. This movie is dense with detail. Sometimes to the point where it can overwhelm you. The acting by its stellar cast is phenomenal. Even the smallest roles are done with an astute understanding of the greater story. Specifically, Mary McDonnel and Jake Gyllenhaal are superb in this movie. Mary McDonnel captures her role as a frustrated and worried suburban mom without resorting to clichés and sappy lines. She simultaneously can show love, fear, and hopelessness in the same scene without even letting on that shes acting. I think what I really like about Donnie Darko is its unique and thought provoking ending. The answers are not all very clear. Repeated watchings are often necessary to pick up some of the more subtle plot points. But in my opinion that is the sign of a good movie.
Rating:
Summary: Donnie Darko
Review: This is probally one of the best films that i've seen of 2001 it directed Beautifully and just everyone in it iz amazing. specially Jenna malone (gretchen) Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko) and there are good perfomences by Patrcik swayze and Drew Barrymore . I deffinetly give it Two thumbs Way up and 10 starz
Rating:
Summary: Clever, personal filmmaking meets awesome creative plot
Review: This movie is so damn refreshing. First off, the director somehow manages to get all the actors to be on the same page, for wry, real, fun portrayals. It's hard to describe, but it's not the sort of thing anyone in hollywood is fresh enough to put out right now. And from that fulcrum extends a movie that has sci-fi, horror, and surreality, and coming of age, but never loses itself in pomposity or ridiculousness. I don't want to over hype it, but it's a gem.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best movies I've ever seen
Review: If you pay attention, and don't mind having to think afterward, this movie will satisfy you on so many different levels. It is beautiful, hilarious, and deeply heart-breaking. I'm not easily moved, but I had tears in my eyes all the way through the credits. A lot of people seem to want to compare it to "Magnolia", but "Donnie Darko" is far superior. Everything in it will make sense if you take the time to go over it in your head. Try not to find out too much about it before you watch.
Rating:
Summary: A Phenomenal Debut Film of Ambition and Heart
Review: This is not a flawless film by any means. There are various crutches that the first-time writer-director (excuse the hyphens) Richard Kelly uses to coast his story along that go against logic, and pure scientific fact. The crux of the story, and the believability of it, depends on the possibility of time-travel. Kelly happily tosses Stephen Hawkings into the mix and says that time-travel is possible provided that you find a worm-hole that connects our space-time continuum with another. (There's even a gratuitous close-up of the Hawkings' book in the film, the eager filmmaker's allusion.) But if Kelly had really done his research, he would have known actual time-travel would be very nearly impossible, according to Hawkings' own wave function theory. Also, according to the string theorists, other worlds (or dimensions) would be so significantly small (subatomic) that we cannot possibly even recognize it, let alone travel to it. But strangely enough, despite these ludicrous and glaring errors, I found myself compelled and moved by this film more than any other releases the past year. Kelly's forte is in finding the story through character, and in this case, it's Donnie Darko's story of alienation. The story has a magnetic pull because Kelly invests so much in the details of the story, the setting, the time, and every little character. (This film contains the BEST usage of a Tears for Fears song EVER! And that's saying something!) There is no glib caricature or a detail unobserved in this film. And the humor in this film! Some of the line-writing in this film is amazing. I never laughed so hard. But even these pieces of humor are not throwaway. They either add to the character, or inform the viewers of the particularities of the setting (the 80's suburbia). The intensity of detail and verisimilitude in this film is astounding. All the actors are great, but the lead actor, Jake Gyllenhaal carries the film and makes a killing. His portrayal of this sensitive, extremely smart, and schizophrenic youth is sizzlingly acute, but like all best acting, it seems unstudied and effortless. The DVD extra features are good, especially the commentary with Kelly and Gyllenhaal, and a separate commentary with the crew. All in all, this is brave filmmaking. Never did I imagine, upon getting this DVD, that I would get to see a film that imaginatively (albeit erroneously) fuses paranoid schizophrenia and theoretical physics to get us to think about the many alternate possibilities of this life, and the ultimate melancholy those different roads lead to. A truly remarkable and beautiful film.
Rating:
Summary: Nice to see something different
Review: I used to be a movie buff, but due to the great insurgence of bad movies coming out... it was nice to see something original again. Something that wasn't a sequel or taken from a cancelled TV show of the 70's. Oh, and don't forget the "poop" humor movies that seem to filth their way into the theatres attempting to be funny these days. I had been wanting to see this movie for a long time and never got around to renting/viewing it, I finnally rented it... loved it and went right out and bought it. I won't pretend to say I understood everything, but that's what is great about it. It makes you think (heaven forbid). The characters are very intriguing. Awesome placement of music. This movie isn't for everyone by anymeans, but if your the "artsy" or "intellectual book worm" type, you should love it.
Rating:
Summary: Hidden Features
Review: 1) First go to the Special Features menu, then choose "The Philosophy of Time Travel". Once you have done so, continue to press RIGHT on your DVD remote until you come to the page titled "Appendix A" or the one with the human torso with a circle in the middle. Press UP on your controller to high-light the circle, and press ENTER. You'll see a deleted scene. 2) Return to the book, and go to the page titled "Appendix B" or the one with the skeleton and arrow. Press UP, and a black arrow will appear, press ENTER to see another trailer for the film. 3) Go to the Special Features menu, and choose "Cunning Visions", once in that section, high-light "Special Features" at the bottom of the screen. Now press RIGHT on your DVD remote and the small Cunning Visons logo will be high-lighted, press ENTER. You will now be taken to the Donnie Darko Website Gallery section, specifically to the Cunning Vison website home page.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful surprise, thought-provoking and well acted
Review: Donnie Darko was a movie that I had wanted to see, but hadn't gone out of my way to do so. It was on late one night, and it certainly kept me up. This is one of those movies that, if you get it, will probably be one of your favorites, but if you don't get it, you won't like. It certainly is not frivolous and you have to watch the movie and pay attention, and probably will require multiple viewings to really see everything. That's ok because it's a wonderful movie, despite its dark overtones. The acting is top-rate from everyone and it was well cast and directed. If you like movies and aren't afraid to be challenged a bit, this comes very highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: See This Movie
Review: With so much garbage being made today, it is so amazing to see a film like this. Donnie Darko makes you think, makes you wonder, and makes you believe that just about anything is possible. The characters are complex, the story is intriguing and the acting is outstanding. More films should strive to do what this one has done. It forces you to think about life, death and what everything in between is really all about.
Rating:
Summary: THIS MOVIE RULES
Review: Donnie Darko was easily one of the best movies I have ever seen. Not only did it have a meaning (unlike most of the movies that Hollywood spits out these days), but it was hilarious to watch as well. There are rampant 80's jokes, as it does take place in the 80's, including a kid doing coke right in the middle of the school hallway as soon as the principle walks by, not noticing. The biting cynicism about religion and the way the world is provides for one of the most entertaining and thought provoking movie ever made. The DVD also includes commentary as well as deleted scenes, which, for anyone who's seen the movie, will definitely want to check out. This movie's a doozy, so get it!
|
