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Pi

Pi

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $11.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brilliant
Review: I haven't seen such movie for a long time, it's wonderful; but I wouldn't suggest to buy it for entertainment -- it's much deeper than that, and it's not light movie...

DVD itself (the features, sound, etc..) is also great...

you can easily watch this DVD 3 times (regular version + 2 voice-overs) with the same interest...

the movie was shot near my place, so it was even more interesting to watch :)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An amazing psychological thriller
Review: This movie rocked. 'Twas a perfect mix between incredible action cinematography and intellectual stimulation...a great movie for anyone who likes the x-files genre.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A movie of many philosophical and religious ideas.
Review: I was very interested in reading all the reviews here and elsewhere, but few people understand what Aranofsky was trying to do, IMHO. They believe this movie is about madness, it's not. Neither is the main character crazy, he's a mystic who tries to shut out the physical and spiritual and realizes he can't do either. This movie is about the convergence of science and religion to one point, the search for an absolute truth which transcends the very words(numbers) that define it. It is a common theme in mytholgy, art, literature, philosophy. The search for God/absolute truth is an essential desire and drive of human nature, but in the acquiring you transform yourself from human into something else. And this path can be extemely painful and has consequences. There are many different ideas and symbolisms in this movie, all centering around this main theme. Please rent it if you can't buy it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Aronofsky: The Next Kubrick?
Review: I just wanted to add to the laudatory reviews that, as I watched the film, I couldn't get over the idea that I was seeing the premiere work of the next "Stanley Kubrick" (and, compared to Kubrick's early work -- "Killer's Kiss" and "The Killing" -- "Pi" is VERY mature, indeed). Aronofsky's biting humor and fearless themes of intellect-gone-haywire, the high-price of high-technology and the still Simian power-drives of paranoid humankind -- coupled with a detailed use of claustrophobic POV-camera angles (shades of "Clockwork Orange" and "Strangelove") and the magical mutation of the everyday world into a "Twilight Zone" nightmare -- reminded me of Maestro Kubrick. I am in no way saying that Aronofsky is copying Kubrick, but they are both artists with similar sensibilities who are acutely sympathetic to the social, psychological, religious and scientific tremors rippling through the second half of the 20th century. They know that the world's on fire, but their rigorous intellects drive both men to create films in which the flames are thrilling, frightening, and funny... and that warm spot we feel is our own flesh melting. Now that, sadly, there is no Stanley Kubrick to make Stanley Kubrick movies there is an even greater need for the work of Darren Aronofsky. I hope he can stay the course.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A word to the timid and closed-minded: don't bother.
Review: For anyone with a sense of high, high, HIGH concept and scientific/spiritual adventure, however, this film is one of the finest I've ever seen. The dark, edgy cinematography is unusual and atmospherically appropriate, the acting is very good, the music sets the post-modern, bleeding-edge timbre of the world, and the plot has enough depth and twist to leave some of our less inspired thinkers behind. And like any good film that aspires to the level of art, it has inspired deeply divergent and often passionate reactions from those who see it.

A sort of warped cross between Good Will Hunting, Eraserhead and Jacob's Ladder, Pi manages to capture in under two hours the sort of deep, paranoid, multi-layered huge concept plot that books like Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" accomplish only in hundreds and hundreds of dense pages. Pi, too, is very dense, and done in a way that clearly does not appeal to everyone... but it works.

While I personally find this film to be utterly brilliant, I can see why some might not appreciate it; others actually hate it. I've heard some disproportionately negative reviews... so negative that there would appear to be something deeper going on under the surface for these folks. It is a disturbing, edgy film that deals with concepts that are beyond some people, and that others simply do not want to have explored.

One criticism I've heard that seems completely off base is that the film has no plot. Even on first viewing, the plot seemed perfectly clear to me - tortuous and requiring solid attention, but discernable and beyond clever. Granted, after viewing the film with friends, we had a discussion that proved my take on the plot merely an interpretation, not a definitive treatise. But any film that can inspire the kind of reactions that Pi has and still remain open to multiple interpretations deserves a special place in Hollywood: that all-too-sparse shelf for films that also qualify as true art.

If you can appreciate movies for an intellectual and visceral challenge and enjoy watching something that isn't simply handed to you with a dumbed-down plot formula for cheap laughs or mere adrenalin, Pi will keep you coming back. I am buying it as soon as I finish writing this review.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Well-directed, intellectually interesting, emotionally vapid
Review: Unfortunately, despite the promise of its premise -- a paranoid mathematician stumbles onto a numerical secret sought both by Hasidic Jews and Wall Street stockbrokers -- Pi fails to carry through. The storyline keeps one watching even as it strains and tears before one's eyes. A chase scene involving evil finance-bankers strains the film's credibility, and an aged mentor's insistence that computers seeking the secrets of pi become conscious before they die appears out of nowhere to dazzle and bemuse the viewer. The latter flaw is especially gauche because the rest of the film is relatively plausible and supported. Still, aside from some acting gaffes and irritating, repetitive camera-jouncing hallucination scenes, this film is thought-provoking and worth seeing. Pi is a testament to the brilliance of its director, but it left this viewer unsatisfied with its easy conclusions.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This film gives a pinhole glance to the greater reality
Review: The complication that this film depicts is the paradox of the simple nature of the universe vs. the complicated system that perceives it.

One viewing is not enough. Two viewings are not enough.

A Mind Trip with out chemicals

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: picking at the bad reviews
Review: "I can see why it only cost 68 grand to make. I came to this site and read all these glowing reviews about what a great movie this was then I watched and to put it simple IT SUCKED!!!! '

not for beavis and butthead

" the films ideas are portayed excellently but the producers seemed to forget that the plot did not have a real destination."

does it have to? i hate preconceptions....

"The idea was good but the actual production was horrible."

dollar for dollar it looks better than hollywood pap. better camera work, too

"The acting was bad and all the actors played two dimensional empty parts"

wrong. one or two of them weren t too sharp.

"This movie probably should not have been shown to mainstream America... "

ram it down their fat faces

"if you want better dialogue, watch anything from Quentin"

?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Incredibly Incredible!
Review: I saw Pi in the Angelica Theatres in New York while I was on vacation. From the first scene it blew my mind away. It's Intensely made. In brief words, a masterpiece. I just can't love it more.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Excellent Movie, but Definitely not for everyone
Review: I was extremely skeptical when our Calculus teacher told us to go see a movie called Pi for extra credit, but from the second that the movie started, I knew that it was the best movie I had ever seen. The film shows you just how much can be done on a 20k budget. This movie has been in my head ever since I saw it, and it's been quite some time now. The film takes a brilliant look at genius and the madness that often accompanies it. This movie, though, is not for everyone. I've heard some people complaining about what a dumb movie it was, but that just goes to show how different it is. I would also not reccommend it to the weak of heart because of some disturbing scenes. These scenes are essential, though, to the plot development. I know it sounds corny and typical, but this movie is by far the best one I have ever seen, mainly due to its originality and artistry.


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