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Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $11.24
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Most overrated movie of the year
Review: Like a lot of other suckers who bought this movie, I thought it would be a cool, atmospheric horror film with some sort of monster bunny rabbit. Needless to say, I was dead wrong. This is a bad movie from beginning to end, one that tries to be artsy by providing a convoluted and incoherent plot about a depressed high school kid. The bunny rabbit turns out to be some mask, not a real demon or anything, and the horror elements are very poorly handled.

Most of all, I found this movie to be BORING. But like a lot of boring, overrated films (such as IN THE BEDROOM or BREAKING THE WAVES or, dare I say it, SPIDERMAN) this movie has managed to trick a lot of people into thinking it has worth. Save your hard-earned dollars and buy one of these great films instead:

THE STEPFORD WIVES
VOLCANO HIGH
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
EQUILIBRIUM
UNDISPUTED
JACOB'S LADDER
NIGHT OF THE HUNTER w/ Robert Mitchum
KEOMA

If you haven't seen these movies, check them out. You will thank me later.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Something to Blow your mind.
Review: A brillantly directed and filmed, with a written script that could riddle the most elabrit of minds into confusion. A ultimate trip on your senses, and a wild ride for your imadgination. The story surounds a teenage boy in his time of depression and finding out about life and change. With a little twist in reality, a mistrious bunny aids him in finding out were time really go's. Were the end of the world could be.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: NO GREAT CLASSIC HERE.
Review: This movie has a ... long drawn out ending,that makes me really despise it.i won't give it away,but up until that point i found it mildly interesting,and kinda clever.and then it truly drops the ball at the end,Thumbs down big time.The director never explains this glaring plot point,awful.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Simply Brilliant
Review: Quite simply I cried at the end of this wonderful movie. It has that effect. Donnie Darko goes places most other films don't, to the heart, and in the most astonishingly simple ways. It touches places we've all been to before ... innocence, joy, love, confusion, anger, pain and finally, tragic realisation.

Jake Gyllenhaal is the next Johnny Depp, he's that good.
Charismatic, hypnotic ... a brilliant talent.

And debut writer-director Richard Kelly?
Well I'd have him over for dinner.

Donnie Darko is a movie for the times, a movie everyone has to see.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What a beautiful film.
Review: Firstly let me say, I was Donnie's age in 88. This film is so amazingly like what it was like to be a weird depressed high school aged loser in the late 80's, trust me I was one. I loved this film, it's so beautifully written and directed with a killer soundtrack. Note to the director: Please do a directors cut and put all the deleted scenes back in the film! I found they all just enhanced the film even more. I'm going to watch this again. It's a stunner.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Love & Fear
Review: Growing up is difficult, especially for Donnie Darko. Set in Middlesex, New Jersey in October 1988, this film revolves around a pubescent boy who wakes up one night to find himself hearing a voice (belonging to a giant bunny rabbit) which guides him out of his house. Having slept on a golf course he returns the next morning only to discover that a 747 jet engine has crashed directly into his room. He has, in effect cheated death. Donnie realises that he has 28 days 6hours 42 minutes and 12 seconds before something terribly important will happen and the only guide he seems to have is this imaginary friend, the rabbit.

Sound like its going to get confusing? Trust me it does, right up until you see the end credits at which point you will no doubt ask yourself what the hell just happened, and find very little in the way of answers. If you do, however manage to work this film out, you will undoubtedly understand why this is the cult film of the year.

So what is this film about? Well, that's surprisingly hard to answer; script writer & director Richard Kelly himself has said that it can be pretentious and condescending to an audience to say that his film is about a certain subject. You might say that it was about fear and love, although Donnie would argue that nothing is ever that simple. I think it is about a whole host of things, not least love, time-travel, divine intervention and of course, growing up.

For those that do not know, this film was actually due to be released in October 2001, but because of the terrorist attacks in New York and the potentially inflammatory subject matter of the first 10 minutes of this film, it became 'aviationally challenged' and when it finally did reach US cinemas, following the air crash in the Queens district, it predictably failed miserably. When it became available on US DVD though, it did very well, owing its success both to film critics & word of mouth publicity from great numbers of avid fans.

Darko was made on a budget of around $$$million, but still Kelly managed to pull together one of the hottest upcoming casts seen in a film for a long time. Heard of Jake Gyllenhaal? His acting as Donnie is first rate & you can expect to see a whole lot more of him over the years. Drew Barrymore plays a somewhat unique teacher and her talent & above all reputation & influence is clearly just what this film needed. As an executive producer she is said to have provided much of the required foreign investment, as well as smoothing out a potentially disastrous legal battle between themselves & the creators of Smirfs, regarding comments over their possible sexual preferences. The most unexpected performance though is that brought by Patrick Swayze as the very dodgy self-help guru Jim Cunningham (not entirely dissimilar to Mr Jack Russell who recently spoke to the L6), best known for his book "Cunning visions of love". This film really kills Swayze's image, whatever it might have been, which makes this film all the more refreshing to watch.

Donnie Darko is a film which I strongly recommend watching, if only because its innovation & style mean that in the future many references will be made to it. The only area of this film that is possibly up for criticism is the ending, which many will find too irritatingly open-ended & plain difficult to work out. It is a film that will stay in the back of your mind for as long as it takes you to piece the puzzle together, but its well worth the wait. To quote another review - "Total confusion, in other words. It's a bit like falling in love."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Hidden Gem
Review: This film will make you think. It's not a "who done it", nor is it a mystery. It's a slice of life film with some strange twists and turns. Time travel, highschool life, new-age psycho-babble...they're all covered in this gem of a movie. From a demonic man in a bunny costume (a rather frightening figure at that) to Patrick Swayze in a gamble of a role, this DVD leaves an impression on anyone who watches it. As a matter of fact, this is the ONLY film I've watched, scratched my head, then watched a second time with the director's commentary turned on (a nice feature on DVD's). I felt that I understood half of what I saw. For me that's a plus (I enjoy movies that make me think). It has an awesome sound track and great 5.1 sound for you home theater fanatics.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of those movies to watch over and over again!
Review: During a year i watch at least over 600 movies a year since it is part of my job. When i first rented Donnie Darko i wasn't sure what to expect. I loved it from beginning to end and went out to purchase the DVD the next day. Even though it was pricey at $.. when it was first released it was a good buy. The DVD is packed with bonus features such as a couple of commentaries, many deleted and extended scenes, trailer, still galleries, etc.

Where to begin on just how good this movie is? I'm not quite sure where to begin. The story itself is very original and enagaging. The cast is perfect and there is some marvelous acting throughout the picture. The visuals are simply marvelous, it is a treat for the eyes. The soundtrack is also quite excellent from 1980's pop tunes to droning ambience.

This is one movie in which you notice something different every time you watch. I've already watched it at least 10 times and that is incredibly rare for me to do that!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This isn't out yet?
Review: I was disappointed when I came here and discovered that this film had not been released on to home video yet. It is incredible....not to mention extremely bizarre in its content. To anyone who has a penchant for the eccentric - see this motion picture IMMEDIATELY.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If you havent seen it, your missing out
Review: My all time favorite movie. Contains all the aspects of a good movie, deep, humorous, dark, creepy, clever. Very good story, great ending. This movie will make you think. If you liked movies such as "Pi" "A beautiful mind" and "American Beauty" you wont be disappointed. I seriously, have never met anyone who did not love this movie.


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