Rating: 
Summary: Great movie
Review: Was at Best Buy the other day looking for DVDs and it was on sale for 7.50.Brought it home with absolutely no expectation of it being a good movie and turned out I really enjoyed it. If you have not seen it you should definitely pick up a copy and watch it. It is still on my mind a few days after seeing it.
Rating: 
Summary: A very pleasant, creepy surprise!!!
Review: I actually watched this movie on the recommendation of my 15 year old son. Usually, his tastes are not always the most reliable (!!!), but he was right on the money this time. This mysterious, funny, moving film has a terrific cast and a very challenging premise. I won't get into the plot too much (that would be kinda hard to do), but let's just say it messes around a great deal with ideas of time travel. But it feels like a social satire (a la Heathers) mixed with a moody horror movie (there's a very creep giant rabbit!!). Jake Gylenhaal, as Donnie, is terrific. He's been called a "poor man's" Tobey Maquire, but he's every bit Maguire's equal, he just hasn't played Spiderman yet. He's one of these moody, sensitive, soft-spoken young actors, and those kinds of mannerisms can get a bit tiring, but Jake pulls it off with freshness. His sister Maggie (who was SO terrific in SECRETARY) plays his sister here, and they have a very believable brother/sister, love/hate relationship. Patrick Swayze has some fun with his clean image, and the scenes of him as a "motivational speaker" are truly hilarious. Drew Barrymore plays an understanding school teacher, but, I must confess, she isn't very good. Noah Wylie has a small part as another teacher, and he's passable. Frankly, it is the teen cast that makes this thing sparkle. It's a difficult movie, and you MUST watch it with your full attention. But you'll be sure to discuss this for a long time afterwards. Not for little kids, mostly because they'll never get what the heck is going on!!!
Rating:
Summary: It's A Very, Very Mad World
Review: one of the best/craziest endings i have come across
this movie is great- you just have to appreciate it
Rating:
Summary: why Donnie Darko is the best movie you've ever seen.
Review: Ok look. Im gonna cut straight to the chase ok, Im not gonna go into all of this crap on why it is or isnt good because of 1 boched second of the film ok. Look! Donnie Darko is a great movie and deserves a ton of credit. Richard Kelly is 26 and this is his first film. it's also the first film iv'e seen that accually made me think when it was over. All of the depth he put into this masterpiece took so much time and effort it's mind boggling. Im not gonna say, "Hey it's his first movie, go see it to cut him some slack." Im saying go see it because it will blow your mind.
Rating:
Summary: A dark, nostalgic trip into the past¿
Review: I try to find movies that are unusual and sometimes complicated. This is a good reason I tend to rent movies away from the Hollywood formula, going for foreign films. With writer / director Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko, I found a treat close to home. With cameos from Drew Barrymore, Noel Wyle and Patrick Swayze this movie carries you into the past, pre school shootings and unexplainable violence from today's youth. Set in 1988 (a year after I graduated high school), Donnie Darko uses the music of the times and the down-home settings to drive the point home. Quoted by Drew Barrymore (unfortunately deleted from the film), "Kids today are lost because the parents don't know how to reach them," Or close to that. Our hero, Donnie, descends into madness when he comes full circle in the month of October to learn of the future events through his imaginary friend, a dark twisted rendition of Harvey with Jimmy Stuart, called Frank "the rabbit". Frank explains, through visuals with excellent special FX that the path we lead in this life is predetermined by a source that is expelled from your body. Confusing? Good! To appreciate the subtle use of language and visuals Donnie Darko isn't a "horror" movie, you could border it with Sci-Fi, you have to see the film! I recommend this to anyone that wants a taste of nostalgia from the late 80's without the trite clichés always seen in movies. This was a more real look into the times, as close as "The Virgin Suicides." If you like dark, subtle plotted tales, this is your movie! I will be on the look out for more of Richard Kelly's work.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and Original
Review: Written and Directed by Richard Kelly (ASIN: B00005V3Z4)
Any reviewer would be hard-pressed to discuss this film without giving away significant details. Donnie Darko is a snake eating its own tail, a story where the circularity of the plot is an integral part of its enjoyment, and so many seemingly insignificant moments through the film prove crucial to the end result, a kind of dark surprise different from any of the tired twists found in recent big-budget films. It is 1988. A borderline schizophrenic teenaged boy, Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is haunted by visions of a man-sized rabbit named Frank. In addition to the prophetic announcement that the world will end in "28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds," Frank forces Donnie to commit a series of increasingly serious misdeeds.
As if this is not enough, a crash course in Einstein-Rosen bridges aka wormholes by physics teacher Dr. Kenneth Monnitoff (Noah Wyle,) along with a copy of The Philosophy of Time Travel, convinces Donnie that a "fourth dimensional construct" has touched down right in his home town, allowing him to see such apparently hallucinatory events as streams of computer-generated liquid that hint at people's intentions. Set to an eclectic 1980s soundtrack, and also starring Drew Barrymore (producer for this project,) Mary McDonnell and yes, Patrick Swayze, Donnie Darko is deliberately vague as to its genre--the film moves effortlessly from horror to science fiction to psychological drama, and does so successfully. The setting is vintage to the time period, but not prone to the heavy-handed display of era-specific props as other near-period pieces. The DVD (from CBS/Fox Home Video) contains the 113 minute feature film in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1,) deleted scenes, theatrical trailer, director's commentary with Jake Gyllenhaal, the The Philosophy of Time Travel, music video for covered 80s song "Mad World" and an art gallery with production skills. This review is for the Region 1 encoded DVD with English and Spanish subtitles and English and French Dolby surround.
Rating: 
Summary: What's the point?
Review: What was the point of this movie? I think they just tried to make a very confusing movie so it'll look very intelligent. I don't think even the director fully understood the movie. But I still give it 3 stars for it being original and moody, something rare in the movies these days.
Rating:
Summary: Original and Modern Cult Classic
Review: _Donnie Darko_ is an amazing film that is so original that it shakes up your average, movie watching experience. In the film, Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Donnie, an incredibly sharp teen who becomes fascinated with the ideas of time travel due to the visions he suffers from. His schizophrenic visions add an intensity to the film that keeps you on the edge of your seat trying to piece together all that is happening. The acting in this film is quite good, but it is the film's originality that will grab you and shake your spinal column. The soundtrack is superb and the plotline is very engaging. One can characterize this film has having some elements of tragedy under its belt as we watch Donnie, a character that we become sympathetic towards despite his mental instability, following the groove of fate to its inevitable conclusion. The real question the film explores is the degree to which we should consider Donnie mentally unstable-perhaps he has tapped into truth that is beyond our grasp. I highly recommend this film for those who enjoy a bit of a hallucinatory ride and exploring darker themes. The film has developed a cult following and promises to continue-this film is still being reviewed on a frequent basis three years after its release.
Rating:
Summary: Best movie in years...
Review: This movie is awesome. The music is phenomenal and the acting is great. The story is original and set in the Eighties. At heart, it is about a boy and the girl that he loves. If you buy one DVD today, you should buy this. It is entertaining as well as funny and nerve-wracking.
Rating:
Summary: "Sounds like a Superhero or something."
Review: I would go with "something", but Superhero is a close second. Just when you think you've seen every plotline under the sun, along comes the most brilliantly tweaked teen angst film in over a decade. Donnie Darko is a highschooler living in upper middle class suburbia circa 1988. He has all the usual problems with parents, siblings, teachers and friends that are standard elements of any story about teenagers, but just to top it off he's a bit of a paranoid schizophrenic as well. One night he sleepwalks out the front door and down to the golf course at the command of a new imaginary friend "Frank". A few minutes later a stray piece of a jetliner falls from out of nowhere and crashes right through the roof of his bedroom. Donnie realizes that since Frank has saved his life, he is now bound to serve Frank's will. Oh, and Frank also predicts the end of the world in 28 days. I think that what makes this weirdness work is the lead actor, Jake Gyllenhall. He was a relative unknown at the time this was made, and I think this allowed him to pull off a very believable performance as a basically decent guy who just happens to have this weird personal rabbit-alien thing telling him to do disturbing things. Donnie is a kind of secret superhero. You see this tall, solidly built teenager who is good looking enough to have been popular with the jock-and-cheerleader crowd, but who is too much of a free thinker to care about that sort of thing. He stands up to bullies in an almost detached manner, hangs around with all kinds of kids and cares for his family. He is charming in an off sort of way. You would almost forget that he has a dark side at all if you didn't see this slow, twisted smile creeping across his face at key moments. I would love to delve further into the meaning behind the plot, but that would make for a real spoiler. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed such a quirky, cult-classic-to-be movie. I loved the social caricatures, the creepy mood and the punctuations of raw emotion in Donnie Darko. See this movie if you have an appreciation for unusual psychological thrillers, science fiction, a nostalgia for 80s culture and maybe a little bit of weirdness in your own mind. You will come away thinking about Donnie's universe for many days afterward.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle
| 
