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Panic Room (Superbit Collection)

Panic Room (Superbit Collection)

List Price: $14.95
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: solid thriller with great performances all around
Review: I agree it doesn't hold up with Seven and Fight Club but it's way better then The Game and Aliens 3, not that I dont like them movies but this one is good old time. Foster gives another fine tuned performance, Kristen Stewart as her daughter is also excellent. The 3 robbers, Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto and Dwight Yoakam are all sinister and evil in their own little ways though Yoakam is more violent and crazy. Leto holds up his end until he is shot in the eye by Yoakam and Whitaker does great work as well. Predictible yet fun it starts right off and then ends in a violent finale. I guess people have bad tastes. Dialouge isnt that bad, people.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Boring, Cliched, Overdone & Unnecessary
Review: Panic Room is one of those films that start off with great promise because of its title ( like 1992's The Hand that Rocks the Cradle ). Also, like The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Panic Room's promise disappears within minutes and the film turns into a mindless mess. Jodie Foster who's known for masculine, tougher, butch-like roles plays a single mother who's normal boring world goes from ordinary to thrilling in one night. I thought this would be different but once again Hollywood pees on its own leg. We get a bratty, foul-mouthed child ( whose mother allows her to curse right in front of her ), a disillusioned mother and a couple of criminals in the dullest looking house to ever be in a film. The setting is dark and gloomy making the film as boring as watching a corpse rot. Don't be fooled. The title is wonderful but nothing hooks you in. This is nothing different from a million other films where a woman was trapped in a house with criminals. It's been done for centuries and this is the worst version of anything similar.

The supporting actors Jared Leto and Forrest Whitaker out-acted Foster easily though I felt Forrest was wasted. Bottom line, this movie isn't even interesting enough to review. I just felt I should save someone the time and trouble of seeing this crap. It's one of the most boring, draggy films you'll ever experience. It's like being in a time capsule for fifty years. NOTHING seems to ever move and by the time it does...you'll be asleep or have stopped watching. Why BUY this when it's on Cinemax every day and night? Save your money and watch it on cable. Being drunk or terribly bored may enable you to sit through this, which I consider one of the most horrible films of 2001, 2002 or whatever.

The biggest question isn't if Foster and the girl will get out alive. It's why the heck this dumb film was made in the first place.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Panic Room the resugerence of the great Jodie Foster
Review: Panic Room by David Fincher, I have seen it a couple of times, it's basically another movie involving a heist that goes awry with Foster (Meg Altman) and her daughter Sarah Altman (Kristin Stewart) thwarting the effort of three would thieves into her house.

Of course Fincher doesn't make this a typical heist movie. He adds a bit of paranoid messages into the film making it pretty interesting till the end. For instance, the heist
in question involving the three thieves Burnham (Forest Whitaker), Raul (Dwight Yoakam), and Junior (Jared Leno) breaking into an unbreakable house which has a ''panic room'' (an unbreakable room for emergency). The ''panic room'' is like the 1990's version of the 1950 version of a panic room which paranoid people in that time used because of the so called threat of nuclear war. lol

The dilemna here is that Meg and her daughter are at the house at the same time the thieves are coming in. So Meg and Sarah hide in the ''panic room'' which yes hides the fortune the thieves are after. So while the thieves are trying to break into the panic room, the Altman's are trying to break out of the room (because the room is cutting of oxygen) and to contact the police for help.

Fincher does managed to established a great clautrosphobic ( I think I spelled it right) atmosphere enabling to gasp for our breathes while Meg and Sarah try to conserve their last ones. The lighting of the movie also a certain atmosphere as well, as most of the shots in the movie look dark and gloomy giving us more chills and spills.

The acting is great Jodie Foster does another fine performance in her career, which
I have admired for a long time. Here she pulls of the single mother fighting for
the life of her daughter routine very well. She likes all her other roles, does
gives that tough edge that makes her characters so real.

Kristen Stewart is good too although she doesn't get too many lines.
Forest Whitaker as Burnham and Jared Leno as Junior are the lead thieves who gives some laughs in between especially when these collide with another as to their next plan of attack on Meg.

Burnham is a good character. Whats starts out as a typical thief, turns into a sympathetic character of a thief who perhaps is sick of the life of crime he has led, while Junior represents the most typical violent thief even, someone who continually robs and kills people with no conscience. He is another words like these guys on ''America's Most Wanted'' who gets profiled like a million times, almost taking pride in the fact that he loves being a menace to society

''Panic Room'' by David Fincher is then obviously more than just a heist movie, Fincher puts in some critical factors that prevent from being just a standard crime movie. The characters are different than you would get in a typical movie of this genre. The acting is good, the suspense is good and overall the movie is good.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: All In A Panic
Review: Panic Room is a decent, if at times predictible thriller from director David (Seven, Fight Club) Fincher. Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her daughter Sarah, (Kristen Stewart) are looking for the perfect New York City Brownstone to call home. Eventually, they decide take a place recently owned by a prominent New Yorker, it comes complete with what's known as a "panic room". As Meg, and Sarah settle in, three invaders break into their home. In order to protect themselves, the mother and daughter retreat to the highly fortified panic room. However, the very room that acts as a safe place, is the same room that the intruders want to break into. Burnham (Forest Whitaker), Raoul (Dwight Yoakam), and Junior (Jared Leto) are sure the room holds what it is their looking for.

Fincher, a unique filmmaker, manages to make this limited setpiece film interesting to watch. He allows for unique perspectives and angles on every day items This tactic is very well employed and never overused. The acting from Foster and Stewart holds the film together, and even though the script is sometimes predictible, I was still drawn into the Altnan's situation. As for the 3 intruders, I thought the "banter" and humor was a bit overdone, between the trio for this film.

I remember being very disappointed over the fact that the Superbit DVD of the film lacked any real extras. The studio must have known that the film deserved better treatment. Like the special editions of other films directed by David Fincher, Alien 3, Seven and Fight Club, Panic Room follows suit--and maybe even then some.

Disc One features three audio commentary tracks. The first has director Fincher going solo. Fortunately, he so well spoken and honest, he doesn't need to have any speaking partner this time out. Although, I half expected Brad Pitt to join him, since they make quite a team on Seven and Fiight Club. The second track has Foster, Whitaker, and Yoakam talking about the movie from the actor's perspective. It sounded like the trio was recorded separately. The track is enjoyable per se`with comments from Foster being the most interesting. The last commentary boasts writer David Koepp and special guest William Goldman (he wrote the film adaptation of Misery and other really good stuff for tinstletown over a long career). The duo have great rapport for a very solid track.

Spread over discs two and three are well produced making of featurettes and documentaries, covering all aspects of what it took to make this film. Among the highlights is the hour long documentary on the principal photography phase; a makeup effects featurette, talking sound design with Ren Klyce. There are no less than 21 featurettes on the special effects alone...whew! A multi-angle look at the scoring session of the music conducted by Howard Shore is also well done. And there's more including a few well placed hidden extras. Heck, even the set's menu system, is clever and entertaining.

For fans of the film and anyone who wants to "attend film school" without setting foot in a classroom--the 3 disc DVD set of Panic Room is a must for any collection. The extras make this a better release

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Sleeping Room
Review: I didn't find this movie scarry at all. I expected real panic here but it didn't really do anything for me at all. I got all hyped up to watch it and really be scarred but it got more boring each minute I watched it. OOOOHHH bad guys break into the house I am really frightened there. I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet but I found it very lacking on the frightening side.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Foster returns to comedy!
Review: That was the hardest I've laughed in a long time!

Far from being "riveting," this movie was so completely predictable that I couldn't stop laughing. You know it's bad when you can turn to your movie-watching buddy and say, "Doorbell!" just before it rings... So please, take advantage of the chance to watch Jodie Foster's great non-thriller, but save yourself the few rental dollars and get this from the LIBRARY.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Yes this eagle has landed
Review: This DVD is bye far the most coolest DVD I own, I have a HUGE fan of this movie and when the DVD was first brought out with no special features at all I was shocked, butt then my man Fincher kept to his game and bang out the best dvd in my collection, Fincher knows what he is doing when he puts a dvd together he brought us a dam good fight club two diska and now my fav movie of all time ,,,, yes it's a bold statement butt this 3 diska is packed with all u want to know and more .... HAPPY WATCHING

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Panic?
Review: Like all his movies, from the satirical "Fight Club" to the deep human horror of "Se7en" to the could've-been "Alien 3," Fincher's "Panic Room" is a conventional thriller loaded with a layer of subtext. Unlike "Se7en and "Fight Club," however, the plot and characters in "Panic Room" can't survive without the subtext, and what we're left with is a slick but unfulfilling little thriller.

Freud would've loved the plot - frightened woman and her frail but tough daughter are trapped in the womb of a house while three would-be robbers (who might as well be named Id, Ego, and Superego) invade the home, seeking the treasure that's secure in the center of the fortress. Wow! Anyway, Fincher has fun with camera moves, funky angles, set pieces, and wonderfully muted colors...unfortunately, every self-conscious shot only magnifies his weakness with character development and true, human fear. Examine the moment when Jodie Foster's character discovers the trio in her house - why is it so muted, when it should be filling her - and us - with terror?

Unfortunately, I suspect Fincher was drawn to "Panic Room" as much for its flimsy plot (more of a situation, actually) as its symbolism - the simpler the setup, the more chances to dazzle with nifty camerawork. "Panic Room" could've been a nail-biter, but it's only a mildly satisfying thriller, and a waste of most of the actors' talents.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A sleek little thriller with technically proficient beauty
Review: "Panic Room" is highly simplistic in plot, highly attentive to detail, and the result is a satisfyingly unique thriller. Some may be a bit bored by the events which unfold, but others (like me) will be won over by the intelligent script and beatiful camera work. Oh, and the opening credits sequence is probably one of the coolest I've ever seen.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Panic Room (2002)
Review: Excellent thriller starring Jodie Foster as a woman divorced from her husband who moves into a mysterious old house (complete with a high-tech elevator that was necessary for the previous owner) where there is a panic room that contains something desperately desired by a threesome of thieves who break into the house causing Foster and her on-screen daughter to compete and race for their lives in a classic cat-and-mouse chase. Extreme suspense, gripping performances and a well-laid out script help to make this another ultimate thriller...rare for today's film! An outstanding achievement!


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