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Requiem for a Dream - Director's Cut

Requiem for a Dream - Director's Cut

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderfully Depressing...
Review: This movie had me depressed for days, Very moving and emotionally draining. EXCELLENT! It's like a "serious" version of Trainspotting but in English & way more of a buzzkill. Granted, this movie ROCKS! Don't get me wrong, Anyone can make a happy feel good movie with hugs and kisses... But this movie, oh man... I'm a loss for words.

Acting: Over the top. The movie lets you get to know each of
the 5 people, How sad each of them are as
their dreams become nightmares.

Soundtrack: Very groovie.
(I liked it so much I even got the soundtrack CD)

The DVD: Packed with DVD goodies!

Jennifer Connelly: Hottest Woman Alive!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wow!
Review: The only movie I've seen that was this intense was Fight Club. Requiem made drug use unbelievably attractive, then unbearably cruel. Not for the faint of heart.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: NOT a feel good movie...
Review: After watching this film for the SECOND time, I realized how brilliant it was. This movie shares an amazing soundtrack, with vivid imagery and cinematography to create a truly artistically moving film. A blatantly honest film about addiction, this movie made my tummy hurt.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Jennifer Connelly Laid Bare
Review: For fans of Jennifer, this is the ultimate dvd to own. In one scene she reluctantly agrees to visit the pimp who gives her a few dollars for her services. In the grand finale of the movie (which unfortunately is done with rapid quit cuts) Jennifer is sold to a large group of men who are having a "party". Let's just say that Jennifer and another female are the center of attention at this party making this unrated directors cut a must-have dvd.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Four Quite Nice People Go To Hell
Review: Even though I, a Sixties teenager, never tried drugs, never possessed the least amount of curiosity, and never, never could understand the appeal, the prospect of levelling judgement at those who do, did, and will is not an option in the foreseeable future. Especially after viewing 'Requiem for a Dream'. The one thing about drugs that seems to be a universally recognizable cross-cultural phenomenon, is that when one consumes their drug of choice, one is fairly well guaranteed of a predictable set of feelings. Feelings that are far preferable to those randomly and often cruelly dished up by a drug-free life. For many, many people it is easier and far preferable to die in drug hell than to encounter the seemingly bottomless pit of pain that exists in an everday mainstream life. It is no wonder that the life and death of a drug addicted soul makes better sense when viewed from the perspective of choice as presented in this film. When the character played by Ellen Burstyn defends her choice to stick with the diet pills, she makes a stunning case for that choice. Her son is sickened by what he knows will be the outcome of her consumption of those particular drugs, but he can't present a compelling argument without revealing his own scope of personal aquaintance with pharmaceuticals, etc.

What it all boils down to is that by the time you are, in most cases, irretrievably sucked into the biggest lie of all for a life (that drugs will take away your pain and give you all sorts of nicer and often ecstatic feelings) you have a double whammy. You would have to go through withdrawal to get out of the addiction phase and go back to face all of those terrifying feelings that you wanted so desperately to avoid in the first place. The truly sad thing is that the terrifying feelings are a real piece of cake when stacked up against the retribution of the outside world against a drug addict.

That is why this film is so important. The director and his top level cast go above and beyond the performance level to bring us all the truth about the way that all people, nice ordinary people included, can barter their souls for the worst and most profitable scam ever perpetrated upon the human race.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Very Powerful Film
Review: This film is very powerful. It is both oppressing and depressing. The soundtrack is very important in its dramatic element. I can safely say the soundtrack of this film carries the largest dramatic element I have ever heard a soundtrack carry. I'm pretty sure Mozart originally wrote lux Aterna, but Clint Mansell has done a superfluous job re-mixing it in so many ways for this film. This may be the most dramatic orchestrated piece of music I have ever heard used in film or television. Most recently Howard Shore used it in a preview trailer for Lord of the Rings Two Towers. I literally had goose bumps. This film is of the most powerful films I own. I give it five stars and hope you will take the time to see it.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Man, Get Off His Jock...
Review: Yeah, sure, it's powerful. Yes, it's brilliantly directed. Yes, someone somehow made a watchable movie out of a Hubert Selby Jr. book. But take a step back and realize that "powerful" doesn't automatically equate with "great."

Not to knock anyone, but to knock them anyways, Darren Aronofsky may have all the talent in the world, but he still has yet to deliver with a complete, fully-realized film. For all the bleakness, for all the evocative hopelessness, the man still fails to grasp the most important thing a filmmaker needs to pull off: well-drawn, deeply felt characters. As game as the efforts of his actors are - and obviously Jennifer Connelly deserves a ton of credit for the chances she took - only Ellen Burstyn's performance suggests anything remotely like a real person, and Jared Leto's Harry is a cypher (in a synthetic, ineffective way). And anyone who wants to argue that you don't need great characters to make great films, even a technician like Kubrick makes his performances paramount.

So yeah, it is an amazing visual experience. The fast-cutting works in a way that those who decry our MTV-blind generation never imagined it could. But "Pi" ripped off Shinya Tsukamoto's "Tetsuo" endlessly, and this one hollows you out with its sheer manipulative force, rather than the strength of the drama on screen.

If you want bleak, hopeless cinema where the manipulator gets great performances from his cast, check out 'Nil By Mouth,' 'Naked,' 'The Dreamlife of Angels,' 'Rosetta,' or 'The Life of Jesus.'

This is the Hollywood version.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: One Of The Best Movies
Review: Wow !! This movie is awesome. The Director improves his work from Pi to this one.... I love the way he tells the story by gently pulling you into this world of chaos in such a way that you don't even realize what has overtaken you. He takes you into the world of these four characters and lets you see and feel things like they do. ...this movie is unstoppable.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hands Down the Best Drug Movie Ever!!!
Review: (Forget) DARE, watch this movie!!!
If you want a happy ending or a sugar coated view of the drug world this is not the movie for you. However, if you want a movie that beautifully displays the purest interpretation of drugs I have ever seen in a movie, this movie is where you'll find it. It shows the the highpoints as well as some of the most drastic lows that can be found in the drug world. Though controvertial to no end, I would suggest showing this film to highschool aged kids as a drug deterent tool. It certainly did more for me than any funded drug resistance program I have seen.
Beyond the reality check this movie gives, special attention should be paid to the extreme mastery of film the director displays throughout the entire movie.
By far the most serious roll I have seen Marlon Wayans play, he pulls it off extremely well showing his skill as more than just another comedic actor. And we can't go without mentioning the beautiful Jennifer Connelly... she has definately grown up since her roll in Labrynth something like 10 years prior.
Taking in great acting, directing, and a beautiful story line it should lastly be noted how incredible the score is for this movie, through listening to the music you really feel the power this movie puts out.
I can rant and rave about this movie for days and days, but I can put as simple as this... If you like a thinker movie with a real, true life base, it will be extremely hard to find anything better than Requiem for a Dream. Buy it today and after seeing it once you will be telling all your friends how badly they need to watch it as well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Outstanding performace... Very Powerful
Review: Not only is the casting astounding, but the overall message is profound. The movie portrays anti-drug sentiments AND the "glamour" of euphoria. It details the despair that 4 people enter as drugs and addictions take over their lives. I highly recommend this movie to anyone that can stomach heartbreak.

As for theatrics, I give the actors credit for one of the best performances I have ever seen. It's hard to believe they aren't really on drugs...


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