eXistenZ

Rating:
Summary: Bizarre
Review: eXistenZ is definitely a movie for all of you science fiction fans out there. It deals with the ever-looming threat of technology taking over human society. In this movie, Allegra Gellar, the gaming genius has just created a new virtual reality game that is being tested on a group of people. The world is already in a virtual reality craze, with the realists not wanting these games to take over real life. This leads to a violent war between the people. They want to catch and kill Allegra Gellar. Allegra and her security guard Pikul are trapped in a game of Cat and Mouse, not knowing who they can trust and who is waiting for a chance to turn on them. The ending has a surprising twist, which leads the reader to seriously question if technology isn't slowly eating us away.

The movie is very creative, like a bizarre dream that you just can't explain. Infact, the whole world of the game is surreal. It reminds me of when random things from the day are incorporated into your dream at night. It's also dreamlike in that when you wake up reality seems so comforting.


Rating:
Summary: Most bizzare film of all time winner.
Review: I have to say that I am astonished to see that the general reviews of this film are positive!
This is without a doubt high up in the "nosebleed section" of my "I can't believe that someone paid to make this flic let alone pay to see it" list !
It was confusing, disjointed,confusing in the extreme and just plain bad filmmaking.
The action is all over the map, the characters are not the least sympathetic enough to be interesting to the viewer and the storyline was likely fleshed out at a evening serving too many halucinatory party favors!
Don't even rent this one ... borrow it from someone who believed the other reviews and bought it !



Rating:
Summary: Who wrote this?
Review: Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law have more talent than many actors, who conviced them to do this junk? From the first moment to the last one I couldn't understand the story, full of creatures, strange people, jumps in time and in places and creepy dialogues. What is an actor like Willem Dafoe doing in this movie? It seems the screenplayer wrote the story in one weekend or they didn't paid him. Save your oney for better movies.

Rating:
Summary: God, It's Good!
Review: This film almost makes The Matrix look pretty dull.The action level is at the top, and the actors are tasteful. This movie is a four-star for its complete and totally great cast.

Rating:
Summary: are we still in the game?
Review: Existenz is a romp through sci-fi with an Americanized Jude Law, a crinkly-haired Jennifer Jason Leigh, and a very honed David Cronenberg.

Allegra Geller [Leigh] is a virtual reality game designer with a new game; 'eXistenZ'. A focus group of willing participants plug into the game pod and all are launched into a very realistic game when Geller is attacked, forcing her and assistant Pikul [Law] to flee the scene. As Pikul is assigned a bioport and the two go back into the game, they encounter a hyper-reality with more satisfying sensory elements then the real world itself. The game soon mutates into an anti-game, and higher feats must be accomplished to save the game from a diseased demise.

eXistenZ is a film that gambles with our perception of reality, and the ramifications of our need to gamble with that perception. It is a philosophically sound film, challenging the audience to ponder the possible negatives of technology dependence. The biological mutation in this film is one of our own choosing, one that that wields us willingly into a world of perceived pleasure and superiority to our actual lives. Humans in this film become voluntarily enslaved into their own creations, with very few voices of dissent, leaving the viewer with somewhat unsettling thoughts questioning the validity of personal reality.

This film is Cronenberg at his most direct, with a film palatable enough for a common audience and challenging enough for an intellectual one. With imagery both cold and inviting, eXistenZ challenges reality and poses advanced philosophical questions in an understandable and entertaining manner. A well-done film on most fronts, eXistenZ is a pleasurably modern, classicly Cronenberg, and highly unique examination of our own human perception.

Rating:
Summary: The Pods were a total turn off. . .
Review: I bought this movie because it starred Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Willem Dafoe. Willem Dafoe delivers a GREAT performance--unfortunately it only lasts 10 minutes. I knew the plot twists were coming before they got twisted and both me and my family could not get over the visual of the game pods-with their nipple-like protuberances and umbilical cord connectors. The fact that the bioports look a bit like anusses really killed the film for my family. I kept thinking that no real game desiger would use pods that looked like that and the minute that thought was finished I had the clue to the entire movie. Too bad I had that thought about 0.2 seconds after seeing the pods for the first time. The production values are good and if you are a fan of the moviemaker's then watch this film. If you are a sci-fi fan, Jude Law or other star of this film fan don't bother. You will be left wondering what bill needed to be paid that your fave star bothered to make this turkey of a flick.

Rating:
Summary: Cronenberg is a genius
Review: If you like Naked Lunch or any of Cronenbergs recent films you will probably like this. Lots of organic sexuality in the shape of a game pod controller, and a sort of anus looking bio port in which the characters plug in to play the game.The surreal salamander slaughter house segment is superb, there is a skeletal pistol that shoots human teeth, which Jude Law eats the flesh off before finding out it is the gun. I like the whole game idea, It's a great concept. If you just have to have everthing spelled out for you in a film, with a happy rational ending, then this movie is NOT for you, but if you like the work of Cronenberg, Juenet, Lynch, etc. you will enjoy this film.

Rating:
Summary: GROANIN BERG
Review: As we are all aware, video games have progressed so far to the point that it doesn't take much imagination to conjure a world where the distinction between reality and game playing could occur. David Cronenberg, whose best film I think, is DEAD ZONE, reverts to his graphic sense of sensationalism to bring us this story about a video game unlike others before. His imagination is to be heralded, what with live pods and stranger things going on with guns that shoot teeth, etc., etc. The problem is the whole thing is so chaotic, tedious and self-serving that EXISTENZ becomes little more than a muddled bore. I wasn't impressed with Jennifer Jason Leigh or Jude Law; they appeared to be acting and not inhabiting their roles at all. Ian Holm and Willem Dafoe are wasted in their roles and what little special effects there are have been done before and better.
I appreciate innovation and creative differences in movies, but they should be a little more cohesive and entertaining than this mess.

Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: It's hard to rate this movie, especially without giving away any plot spoilers (which has to do with periods of bad acting). However it's a fun ride, yet it feels as though the whole "game world" wasn't as fully explored as it could have been. A few scenes, namely the "Chinese Waiter" one, are fantastic, while some are boring...like the car ride in the beginning. The plot itself is pretty easy to understand once you watch the movie twice, or just pay attention the first time. This is no Matrix, and it should hardly be compared to it (I'm not saying The Matrix is good or bad: the only thing these movies have in common is the ability to link up into a fictional world). I bought this as a blind buy and was slightly dissapointed...especially after watching Crash. Check out Equilibrium as well.