Rating: 
Summary: Spiritual Masterpiece about contemporary American culture
Review: Addiction has become an overused metaphor. However, here the title aptly names the work. The point is not to assume that this is just a story about four sympathetic characters succumbing to drugs. Rather, it is also about the American Dream and the arrogant practice of management with its shallow focus on getting the task done effectively without regard to those affected whether we are speaking about a doctor prescribing pills to achieve weight loss, a couple selling drugs to start a dress shop, or a television host promising an end to loneliness by an invitation to a game show.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest
Review: Well to start off this is one of my favorite movies. I think it has a amazing soundtrack. The camera angles are one of my favorite parts of the movie. I love the split screen and when the camerea is attached to the person(i use that in some of my flicks). It has great actors, Marlon Waynes, Jered Leto, Ellen Burstyn. I guess some people dont think its original, but who cares its a great movie that i can safely rate the highest ive ever seen. I even have the shirt and soundtrack.
Rating: 
Summary: Requiem for a fantasy is more accurate
Review: Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream plays the least intelligent character (Sara Goldfarb) in any movie I have ever seen where the character's lack of intelligence is not made explicitly clear to the audience or the other characters. She inhabits a fantasy world, where it takes no more than a half a day's diet to get her refrigerator to talk to her. She lives to watch an over the top television game show/self-improvement infomercial. (There is no small amount of irony that there is a self-improvement message in the infomercial that is completely lost on Sara. She is caught up in the flicker of the image on the screen and little else.)Sara complains of being old and lonely and it is touching when she does so. That said, the primary reason for Sara's isolation is a complete lack of inner resources. Why isn't she taking classes, or helping out a working mom with after school care or working part time in a flower shop or helping out at a homeless shelter? Why doesn't she own a dog, or a canary or a fish? These are questions that the filmmakers don't go anywhere near. It is unclear whether Sara is deluded into thinking that she is going to be on her favorite infomercial or not, but either way there is a conjunction of her fantasy life with her real life which is enough to send her into a delusional spiral. Since Sara is incapable of coming up with something to aspire to on her own, when given the possibility of a dream she grasps at the weakest of straws with both hands. Jared Leto plays Sara's son Harry. Other than being stunningly beautiful and "loving his mother", the Harry character has few redeeming characteristics. Yes, he is not out and out evil, but if he is the standard for goodness, lord help us all. He regularly steals Sara's one possession that means anything to her, her television, forcing Sara to schlep blocks and blocks in order to buy it back out of hock. This is not presented as a joke but more of "that's-the-way-Harry-is" statement. This is the first scene of the movie, confirming that Sara is in a full delusional state, denying the reality that is occurring right in front of her eyes. Jennifer Connelly (Marion) is the love interest for Jared Leto. (She is a good match. She is as pretty as he is.) She appears to be a dropout bankrolled by well-to-do parents from whom she is estranged. She lies to them about being in therapy preferring to sleeping with her skuzzy analyst for money rather than trying for some kind of reconciliation with her parents. Rather than facing her addiction problems, she is willing to be sexually used in the most degrading manner. While such things unfortunately do happen, we don't get much of a sense that this sinking in squalor is much of a struggle for her. She goes down the tubes with barely a bubble of protest. And finally there is Tyrone, Harry's friend. But Tyrone is black, so we don't get much of a sense of his story and his struggles (if any). We do know he once had a sweet relationship with a loving mother and has a sexy girl friend who he'd rather ignore to do drugs than mess around with. Requiem for a Dream is designed to provoke strong reactions either positive or negative. The drug scenes are graphic and strong as are the scenes of Ellen Burstyn's breakdown and Jennifer Connelly's degradation. The problem with the film is that the aspirations of the characters are shallow. It is hard to imagine these characters without drugs. It is a sad and pathetic thing when one winds up agreeing with characters that drugs give their lives meaning.
Rating: 
Summary: I expected better from Aronofsky
Review: This movie is a 2-hour cliche. Detailing the downward spiral of heroine users is NOT an original, or even noteworthy, endeavour. These characters were losers when the movie started and they were even bigger losers at the end. Many reviewers will give accolades for the effects used here. Fast-motion, slow-motion, tight frames, split screens, etc. These were mildly interesting the first time they're used but quickly become annoying by mid-movie. And will someone take that harness camera away from Darren!! The only interesting element of this movie was Ellen Burstyn's character. Ellen deserves all the praise she has received for ther portrayal. Everyone else involved should apologize.
Rating:
Summary: A unforgettable and haunting film.
Review: I rented this movie not knowing what I would be in for. I read the back of the cover and it seemed interesting. When I watched it I was amazed to say the least.
It is a film about a mother obsessed with TV and she then gets a opportunity to be on TV. So she wants to wear this red dress when she is a contestant on television. However, the dress no longer fit her, like it once did. So she takes a diet and is unhappy with it. Then she goes to a doctor to get pills but before she knows it she is addicted with them. Also, it is about her son and son's friend who are drug addicts and drug dealers. Lastly, there is the son's girlfriend who is a drug addict and slowly becoming a prostitute.
The movie is really real. People actually do go through these situations which makes this film so depressing and haunting. It will stick with you for a very, very long time. Be warned that it is tough to watch however.
Content
Violence: 5/10 (gun shooting, arm gets amputated, and drug related violence.)
Sex: 10/10 (Graphic sex scene, prostitution, 1 disturbing and graphic scene of prostituting.)
Rating:
Summary: For the kids? Please!
Review: Any adult who "laughs" off this film obviously has no sense of reality. Shock therapy, amputation, prison and degrading sex are all a fact of life. Every single day in this country, somewhere, somebody is living through a real life version of this film. Having been working in the EMS field for the past decade, I have witnessed first hand the horrors of drug addiction. When I first started working on an ambulance, it was complete culture shock. I had relatives and friends of patients I would be picking up, tell me how wonderful a person so-and-so was, that they can't believe how fast that that persons life fell apart. I couldn't believe it. Normal people, who had normal jobs and normal families somehow let all that slip slowly away because they could not say no to drugs. You've all heard this happen, but until you see it first hand, you don't get the full grasp of it. Darren Aronofsky perfectly gives us a sense as to the power that drugs have. He opens the viewers eye's to how some parts of our society live on a daily basis. I'm sorry "wsidechris" if Jared Leto's accent isn't on par to your taste's. Go back to the Gumdrop Mountain section of NYC that you live in and let the rest of us enjoy this great film, which is a fantasticly acted, sobering look at drug addiction. I promise, once you are finished watching this movie, it will remain on your mind for quite a long time.
Rating: 
Summary: A depressing film that gets its point straight.
Review: Never before in a film have I ever cried. In this film, however, in the end I burst out crying. It is because the film is true to what is really out there and so depressing.
The story revolves around 4 characters. Ellen Burstyn plays a TV obsessed woman who gets her chance of fame. She got a call giving her a chance to be a contestant on her TV show. She wants to wear a special dress but can't fit in it. So she loses weight by speed. But soon she gets addicted with it. Jared Leto and Marlon Wayans play 2 drug dealing friends. And Jennifer Connoly plays Jared Leto's drug addicted girlfriend, who is getting into prostitution.
The story just gets darker and darker. In the end there is no happy ending. There is not a ending where you get the hint that everything can be okay. For once, we get a theme that when we realize our mistakes sometimes we might just be deep to get out.
Watch this movie. But be warned that you will leave feeling very depressed and will cry even after the credits are done with.
Bottom Line: Great movie but tough to watch.
Rating:
Summary: Warning-Proceed With Caution
Review: Requiem For A Dream is one of those movies that claims it's twisted, anti-wholesome movie, tactics convert to a work of art. While most movies that fall into this category, do this with ease, Requiem will leave you with such a bleek and depressing outlook, that you will soon forget the redeeming qualities it posseses. This movie follows 4 connected people as they build fantasies in their minds of a happily ever after world, and how drugs destroy these fantasies. By the time these characters realize that these fantasies are exactly that: fantasies, it is too late. Each one has drifted away from the others, and fallen into a whole new world of horror. The movies ends there, and leaves you shocked, tongue out, and grim. This movie plays like a long tunnel that in which these characters see light, but at the end, after pain, suffering, and turmoil, there is nothing but a dead end.
This movie gave me the closest thing to nightmares, that I've had in years, feeling grim and self-possesed to never let what happened to these characters happen to you. In this way, the way that this movie plays with your deepest darkest emotions, it shows signs of a masterpiece, yet I am too numb to see the beauty in it.
If anything, this movie is an excellent way to keep kids away from drugs. One viewing of this movie, is guranteed to be the equivalent of a million anti-drug campaigns. This is not to be shown to anyone under 13-14 though. Teenagers who see this movie must be mature, and learn from the themes presented.
In the end, if I haven't intrigued you enough, see this movie because it is different. I watched this movie alone, after my girlfriend had brought over Legally Bonde a couple hours earlier. As you can imagine the transition is stifling.
Proceed with caution-this is one of those "outlook on life distorting" movies similar to The Matrix and Fight Club. ENJOY!
Rating:
Summary: Where's the screenplay?!? This is strictly for the kids.
Review: I would actually give this 3.5 stars, but I can't justify bumping it to the higher value of 4 stars. I really wanted to like this, but the thing I kept asking myself during this movie was "was there a screenplay written for this thing??". But the movie was so hell-bent on frenetic editing that even if there was a screeplay, it didn't matter anymore! I could forgive the filmmakers if they hadn't *tried* so dang hard. (Watch "Taxi Driver" for an excellent example of being real, gritty, and powerful without having to beat you over the head with it. This movie is an insult to any adult's intelligence.) But the biggest flaw in this film was the fact that the characters were badly underdeveloped. This is a serious problem when your film is supposed to be a character study (wait, what WAS the purpose of this movie?). This serious flaw becomes even more obvious when you don't have a brilliant cast to pick up the slack in the writing. But, I'm being more forgiveable here because Mr. Aronofsky did score big-time in getting Ellen Burstyn to play the leading role. She saves it from becoming a complete mess. For 20 years now I have been saying that Ellen Burstyn is easily among the top 5 actresses of her generation. That cannot be argued (with me, that is). She doesn't have a huge list of film credits, but she's given some of the finest performances ever captured on film: "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", "The King Of Marvin Gardens", "Resurrection", "The Exorcist", "The Last Picture Show", "Same Time, Next Year", etc. etc. She's brilliant, and she is remarkable here, and her strength as an actress is what holds it together. But the rest of the cast cannot make heads or tails with this script, and it shows. Jared Leto, first of all, cops probably the worst New York accent I've ever heard on film. It's so bad that I either have to laugh or cringe during the many moment he "toughens" up his accent (usually whenever he raises his voice). But his dullness otherwise seems fitting for playing a drugged out slacker, but it's still a dreadful performance. Jennifer Connelly may or may not be good; heck, I don't know, because I don't know a stinking thing about her character. Ditto for Marlon Wayans (and what's up with that girlfriend? she just disappears from the movie. why bring her out in the first place?). To top things off, the movie barrels into a noisy 15 minute finale that is laughable and ludicrously WAY over the top. It takes everything to a total extreme (this side of having everyone die), but to say what, exactly? Shock therapy, amputation, prison, and degrading sex acts for money (and degrading is an understatement for what happens at the end, by the way). If I felt the movie had taken me somewhere before the finale, then maybe it wouldn't be so ridiculous. Even the one character that you kind of get to know--Ellen Burstyn's Sara Goldfarb--is pushed into a situation way WAY over the edge of credibility. It's downright laughable. I say this is strictly for the kids because I can hear them saying "whoa, this is [messed] up, man!". Some of us grown-ups, however, will just sit there rolling our eyes. It is clear evidence of the influence of technology and MTV on popular moviemaking. I do have to give the filmmakers some kudos for creativity, but they also made this film seem like too much of an experiment. One other good thing I can say about this is the music score by Kronos Quartet. It's very chilling, and was a nice surprise since I had feared this movie would have a noisy techno or hip-hop score (which it does at times). But their bass-heavy strings help keep the atmosphere of the film from going completely over the edge.
Rating:
Summary: Devastated
Review: I saw this movie about a year ago, and it still haunts me. It is clearly a work of art, but I cannot in good conscience recommend it to loved ones to see because it is so very devastating and soul-wretching. Not since Shindler's List and Born on the Fourth of July, have I experienced such a shattering film experience. I felt such empathy for the Ellen Burstyn character! So naive and such an innocent dream - to appear on her favorite tv show and be able to wear her favorite dress! The Marlyn Wayans character tugged at my heart, too. He was clearly a good guy who got caught up in bad things. The other characters were clearly not evil. Yet, they all ended up damaged beyond redemption - no happy ending. Death would have been merciful, yet they were cursed to live. After I saw this movie, I could not sleep for a week, cried at inopportune times, and my family thought I was nutty. A friend of mine saw this film, also, and every time we discussed it, we were almost in tears. Many of us know characters somewhat like those in the movie. Such a cautionary tale - if one goes too far, one might not find one's way back. SUCH a powerful movie, yet I have no desire to see it again. Once was enough!
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