Rating: Summary: Spun into the gutter of filmmaking Review: The non-existent plot has been described elsewhere, so I won't recount it here.I watched the DVD because I like most of Brittany Murphy's characters and I liked Mena from American Beauty (only role of hers I've seen.) Brittany was about as expected, and I guess did the best acting in the movie. She had little material to work with, however. No one did. Unfortunately, seeing Mena dressed in sweats and fuzzy slippers, with grungy teeth and circles under her eyes was kinda non-romantic :-) I could have done without the image of her grunting on the toilet. Someone has to cook up the drugs, which explains Mickey Roarke as "the Cook". However, I really disliked his "acting" and rough growly voice, although in real life I suppose that would be caused by the chemical fumes. Neat to see he has false front teeth, probably a souvenir of his wrestling days. Thought his "pussy speech" at the porno shop was gratuitous, as was most of the movie in general. John Leguizamo - I knew the name, but not the face before this - must be applauded for his role, the low-light of which is when he frantically masturbates into a sock. Later, when arrested, that is still all he is wearing. The other characters? Forgettable. Some people will want to see the naked woman spread-eagled on the bed, or the X-rated animation of fisting, anal sex and golden showers - (not my cup of tea). Yeah, it's all there to see, but I suggest renting a porn movie instead as it will likely be more rewarding. The DVD has an uninspired commentary, but has a few items of note: 1) The movie has over 5,000 cuts, beating the record by about twice (so says the director) 2) The director was proud that although the original edit was over 3 hours, it lost nothing when getting trimmed to an hour and 41 minutes. As the song goes, "nothin' from nothin' leaves nothin'... You might rent it as a curiosity, but that's about it. Rates generous 2 stars for some effort, though futile.
Rating: Summary: nasty funny Review: If for no other reason, this movie is fun because it takes a while to recognize the actors in it(and they are nearly all big ones you've see in a million things) because they are all ghettoed-out [...]-heads. The cinematography is creative, the plot not contrived, and the acting great. I would recommend it to anyone who gets bored with romantic comedies and action movies and who wants to see Billy Corgan do a cameo as a doctor whose only line is "That's GOT to hurt". Corgan also did a stand-out job with the soundtrack.
Rating: Summary: A spinning style Review: When i first sat down to watch this movie, i aquainted it with the other "high flicks", or movies that are popular to watch when you find your self very, well lets just say "high". But upon actually watching this movie i discovered its more than just trippy images, pshyadelic sound effects and mind boggeling scenery (but dont worry it still has plenty of that) it is also a story, or even lack there of, about the lives of meth addicts. Our story has characters thrown seemingly into a plotless world where things are spinning, movement is fast, and many times you find yourself asking, where am i? and what is going on? But the fast, almost storyless pace of this movie works for one reason: The drug is speed. This is the world of speed. It is fast, it is confusing and often times you find yourself asking these same questions. Rourke has a stellar preformance as the cook, a man whos life is utterly dominated by two things: Making the meth, and occasionaly just maybe, getting his rocks off. Amazing movie.
Rating: Summary: Don't bother Review: This movie on paper looked good based on the cast and subject matter but it's too bad it was shot like a music video, and not even a good music video. If you think this movie is the next Trainspotting guess again. The wicked fast images compiled used to bring the viewer into the speed experience doesn't do any justice, but on the other hand if you're looking for reasons not to do speed rent it today at you're local conglomerate video store.
Rating: Summary: Just say no Review: I was worried that this movie would be too similar to Requiem For A Dream, so what would be the point of watching it? I was glad I did. It kept me very interested throughout. Some of the style is similar, with the parts where they are actually taking the drugs. The camera shows you what they must be going through, eyes dialated, figures shaking, similar to how you would "view" a broken record. The acting is very good, and I was drawn to it, because of the group of good actors that are in it. Basically, the character of Ross is played by Jason Schwartzmann, and he gets hooked up with a couple of drug dealers. He is the one with a car, so he gets stuck driving Nikki (Britney Murphy) around, and running errands for Cook, (Mickey Rourke) her boyfriend. All the while, he is trying to get a hold of his girlfriend, Amy, trying to tell her that he is changed, he doesn't do drugs anymore, all the while, snorting meth. All of the characters wander around in a drug-induced haze, but it can be amusing, showing things that probably wouldn't happen if you were sober. Example: Ross ties up his sometime-girlfriend, and leaves her there while going to run errands. He puts tape over her mouth and eyes, and plays a song on repeat, but as he leaves, the CD is skipping. I would be delirious after 3-4 days of that! All in all, it was entertaining and stressful to watch. I think that Requiem was a lot more depressing, but that is an excellent movie, and better than this one. I do recommend this one though, it has it's moments. Watch it, if not only for the performances, or seeing Mena Suvari with less than perfect teeth.
Rating: Summary: Requiem for Speed? Review: "Spun" is an insane and quick paced film diving into the world of a handful of people hooked on Meth. And that's pretty much the plot. There's a lot to like about this movie...and there's a lot not to as well. The film is very reminiscent of "Requiem for a Dream" and the director certainly borrowed quite a few of the camera angles and tricks from that film. And while this movie doesn't exactly surpass that of "Requiem," in my opinion, it comes pretty close. The only real problem I find in this movie is that the story doesn't exist. There's no character development, and no history of why these people are in this situation. Also - no real direction or suspense of where they are going. It is just kind of, a week in the life of...sort of thing. However, there are a lot of positive things in the film as well. The acting is quite good, especially that of Mickey Rourke and John Leguizamo (who I don't normally like that much - but liked in this movie a lot) - the girls did a good enough job with Brittany Murphy leading the pack. The directing in the movie was very, shall we say, experimental or "artsy" and while I like that to an extent, I felt it was a little abused here making it, not so shocking or provocative after 30 minutes or so. Also - I wasn't too fond of the ending of the movie. I thought it was lacking proper closure. Regardless, this is an entertaining little movie that I picked up on a whim at my local blockbuster. The acting is good and the visuals are entertaining. However, if you're looking for an academy award winning storyline - look elsewhere. A good way to kill a couple hours. I would recommend renting it first to make sure it's your bag. I liked "Requiem for a Dream" a little better, mainly because of the storyline and character development was more in depth. So I give "Spun" 3/5 stars - while "Requiem" gets 4/5.
Rating: Summary: WHY! WHY! WHY! Review: How could they do this!?They made Mena Suvari UGLY!How could they turn someone so georgeous into a trashy redneck!This is a weird movie that turns the most georgeous actresses into drugged up psychos! Yeah, I really wanna see Mena take a huge dump and get drugged up! The plot is stupid and it has no conclusion or turning point. It's just a sick movie about people staying up for days drugged up on Meth! Brittney Murphey and Mena Suvari should not have done this to themselves! Mena or Brittany, if you ever read this please stick top playing the sex symbol in a film!This movie flunked big time!
Rating: Summary: very good drug movie Review: For some reason, I haven't seen a bad drug movie yet. I guess people must be somewhat interested in the very different lives of hopeless drug-abusers. Spun makes no innovations in the drug movie genre, however it does tell a good story. The plot primarily follows the twisted day(s) of druggy Ross who mets other fellow druggies, and through this, the crystal meth system of maker->buyer->distributer is displayed. This movie is effective in making viewers never want to touch crystal meth because of the disgusting lifestyle it may lead to. There is no grand finale of an ending; the characters never realize they need to kick their meth habits and maybe this disgusts the viewers even more. Overall, a good movie to see once.
Rating: Summary: not really how the addiction is Review: So yes, like everyone else complains, this movie does kind of have a Requiem rip off to it. It does have some really good actors that do good acting and the filming is very decent. Kind of one of those movies worth seeing once. Basically it's about the lives of people addicted to Crystal Meth. HOWEVER, the movie fails to mention that the way these meth addicts act are the way that someone would act after using for long long time consistently AND they would have been sniffing a MUCH larger amount, not little bumps here and there. Spun does capture some of the aspects of what it's like to be addicted, but, in my opinion, it's obvious the writer/producer/whoever has never been on meth or addicted to the drug. SO IN A NUT SHELL, if you like movies, check this out, for the sake of it, but if you want to see a better movie about meth addiction and the way it effects people, check out Salton Sea.
Rating: Summary: Not an easy movie to watch but it is worth watching Review: I can see why Spun is getting comparisons to Requiem for a Dream. Both are drug movie with unapologetic drug abuse rampant throughout. Both deal with both the perspective of the users while influenced as well as the gritty viscereal physical problems that the lifestyle brings. Where they depart is in both respect for their characters (there's ALOT more going on with the characters in Spun than there was in Requiem)and the depth of the story. In Spun, we meet Spider Mike (Leguizamo), his uglied-up girlfriend (Mena Suvari), his customers (Schwarzman), the Cook who makes the dope (Rourke in an amazing part, guy was scary as hell) and his sweetheart tweaking girlfriend (Murphy.) All of them have seperate and distinct stories. This was a good movie. My wife actually made the decision to go to sleep because she said she was mad at the characters for their lifestyle. That's how much you get into their world. I only gave this 4 stars because it is a difficult movie to watch, but it is worthwhile. I won't watch it again anytime soon (possibly ever) but I'm glad I got to see it.
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