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Panic Room (Superbit Collection)

Panic Room (Superbit Collection)

List Price: $14.95
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Don't Panic.....
Review: Jodie Foster stars is this edge-of-your seat thiller.Divorced mother of one,Foster has just moved into this state of the art house, with servalance cameras and ofcource a Panic Room(basically like a bomb shelter) Their first nite in the houce and sure enough, thugs break in and want what ever is in that room.They[Fosters daughter and herself] hold out as long as they can with out her daughters meds, but finally they have no choice but to go and get it.And the thugs down satirs hear Foster running!!!

This movie was good and as soon as Blockbuster sells their Pre-viewed copies for sale, I'm gonna get it. I gave this 4 out of 5 stars. Only because of one the scenes in there is too much. Other than that, like Jodie, This movie is well made.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Absolutely Excellent Suspense Film
Review: I had fairly low expectations of this film when I walked into the theater, but when I walked out, I realized I couldn't have had an impression that was more wrong. The claustrophobic setting of this movie recalls films like 'Dog Day Afternoon' and 'Mad City'. The plot of this movie is highly original, and thoroughly engrossing. I bought the DVD as soon as it came out, the picture and sound quality are excellent.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good but let down at end
Review: I really did enjoy this film. The game played and what the game was being played for. I really enjoy Jodie Foster's acting and theres a nice play of teh Panic Room being on White people's inexhaustive fear of the world they live in.
Hence. the set-up of the film is good. And the fact that FOster's character is smart and so is her daughter. Survivors are generally smart people. There's the first step of Foster and her daughte rin the safe room, then the robbers and her daughter in the safe room and then I was waiting for the last twist on the room. That didn't come. Instea dit beomes a brutal brawl that Foster loses. I didn't like that. There seemed to be the next shoe dropping missing from the end of this film. For it to turn into a simple fight was too easy.
A good film but if you get into the smarts of it, it will seem deflated at the end.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: keeps you on the edge and is very unpredictable
Review: Forest Whitaker plays a burgular who teams up with another (Jared Leto) to invade an upscale home and steal a large sum of money hidden in a safe. This safe happens to be hidden in a special secure area of the house called a panic room. Jodie Foster's character and her daughter lock themselves in this panic room as soon as they discover that someone has invaded their new home. As the burgulars figure out a way to get into the panic room and secure the cash, different things happen which forces them to modify their plans. Not everything that happens is connected to the panic room. The unfolding of events (some unusual) are largely the result of Forest Whitaker's conscience bothering him. The film is filled with interesting twists and is far from predictable. I hosnestly was guessing the whole film about what was going to happen.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Panic Room - Good Movie
Review: I saw this movie 3 times. It's verry good. I love how Jodie Foster stars in this movie... This movie had me on the edge of my seat almost from the beginning. The 3 burglers were scary and funny at the same time! It's a good thriller!! Buy it on DVD, because, ulike 'The Time Machine', you can see this movie again, and again, and again, 'nd still enjoy it!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An Intense Suprise...
Review: Intense from start to finish. Jared Leto, Forrest Whitaker, and Dwight Yoakam are excellent. This movie didn't get big reveiews, but will impress even the most harcore movie fans like me. I am not a fan of many mainstream movies and this one is not. A total suspense thriller. Jodi Foster is magnificent as a single divorced mom who moves into a new home with some big secrets inside. Can't say anymore, but any suspense fan will love this flick. Don't pass this one up...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very suspenseful, very good
Review: This movie had me on the edge of my seat almost from the beginning. The 3 burglers were scary and funny at the same time and Foster turned in another great performance. The best was the character played by Whittaker who was smart and compassionate at the same time.
This is a great movie and one that should be enjoyed by the whole family, although it may be too intense for some younger viewers.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Highly efficient thriller
Review: It's finally here, the age where movies are hyped not just for the next pretty star that's in them but for the next serious actor that's in them and for the director's reputation. In a similar vein to Insomnia, Punch Drunk Love and About Schmidt, the hype surrounding Panic Room surrounded not only its premise but also the question as to whether it would live up to the expectations produced by Fight Club? The answer is a kind of, which certainly isn't to say that Panic Room isn't a highly efficient, taut genre piece. It is. The premise is pretty basic, having Meg (Foster) and Sarah move into a new house after Meg's painful divorce with her husband. The house contains a so-called 'panic room' where occupants can hide should burglars break into the house, a room that's inpenetrable and completely safe. Of course, burglars do break in looking for $6 million that is hidden in...you guessed it, the panic room.

It's not really in the premise of the film that you expect Fincher to pull all this off but in the psychological struggle between mother/daughter and robbers. Given this it's perhaps a pity that the two groups are allowed little interaction bar a few 'get out of my house'-type comments. In fact, Fincher doesn't veer from the formula much at all. The obligatory efforts to contact the outside world are all present and intact, although it's a shame that later plot devices are so clearly pinpointed to the audience beforehand that they're not anywhere near as surprising as they could have been. Take for instance the long take of Meg placing her mobile phone on the charger by her bed, or the explanation of the house's unique elevator system. The heavyhandedness of this ensures that little suspense is generated when Meg finally realises she has a cell phone about half an hour after the audience does so. That said, this is a distinctly Fincher picture, something that is nowhere as evident as in the camera work. Remember the title credits of Fight Club where the camera zoomed outwards from the inside of the brain? Here the camera zooms across surfaces, through keyholes and up stairwells so effortlessly that there's a real sense of voyeurism built up, and such a nod to classic thriller Rear Window is certainly appreciated. It's Hitchcock that Fincher truly evokes here, pumping life into a very familiar formula, making a genre film exciting without really moving out of the boundaries of it. In many ways a comparison can be made to Chrisopher Nolan's Insomnia, which disappointed many as it wasn't as unconventional or groundbreaking as his previous work Memento had been. Here Panic Room is the lesser partner, but the fact that it isn't as original as Fight Club can't really be said to be a necessarily bad thing. Of course there are many flaws here but Fincher's style is just so effortless that you should be able to sit back and enjoy the show rather than worrying that this isn't as thought-provoking as you might like it to be.

As for the acting, Jodie Foster again proves what a resourceful actress she is within tight limits, and the girl who plays Sarah is very good indeed considering she's playing a highly stereotyped role of angsty teenage girl. Jared Leto, playing a completely different role yet again (compare his character here with the ones he played in Fight Club and Requiem For A Dream), shows off his amazing talent in an unsympathetic role compared to Forrest Whittaker's wisely restrained performance as the burglar with a conscience. Also watch out for a cameo from Nicole Kidman, who was originally cast to play the lead but had to drop out due to a leg injury sustained whilst filming Moulin Rouge, as Meg's ex-husband's new girlfriend on the telephone.

All in all Panic Room is one of the best movies of last year and although it may not deserve any Oscars for originality, it's an intelligently written and nicely character-driven film that despite lack of tension in some areas does manage to develop some suspense when things are up and running. Never going for the easy option it should be similarly noted that apart from the prologue and epilogue, the camera never leaves the house, leading to an intense claustrophobia that only heightens our panic for the central characters.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Just a few words about thrillers and reality
Review: It's embarassing to me how some of "Panic room" reviewers enjoy to attack this movie's plot and script. They say: "Jodie Foster's character should have done this, should have done that, the bad guys didn't notice this and that, there's a plot-hole in this part...".

I just want to remind them that "Panic room" is a FICTION MOVIE. THIS IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE REAL. That's what enterteinment is about. "Panic room" is a thriller, right? So, in a thriller, the script is written in such a way that the viewers WILL BE THRILLED. Of course, the writers attempt to attain their script to reality as long as they can, but sometimes they have to forsake reality to provide their movie with some parts that will simply be transformed in scenes that will create on the audience the effect they expect.

I just want to know what do reviewers that gave poor rating to this movie on grounds of plot-incredibility think of movies like "Harry Potter", "Lord of the rings" and others alike. If they are coherent, they also despise these movies, and all they want to watch are czech-polish movies about the lives of two old seamstresses escaping Lithuania during the second world war (this is an example, I'm not saying that czech movies or polish movies are bad, they just usually are not action thrillers). What I want to say is, "Panic room" is good enterteinment, it's a movie that leaves you with your eyes wide open every scene, and you just want to know what's going to happen next. The acting is excellent, as well as director David Fincher, the action sequences are good... What more could you expect from a thriller? If thrillers were supposed to be real, there would be a Ferrari-Lamborghini chase through the streets of San Francisco every ten minutes, there would be a terrorist attack in O'Hare airport every hour, a subway-train wreck coming up in Fifth Avenue every week, etc.

Just relax and enjoy "Panic room". It's very cool.

Grade 8.8/10

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Writers should have done their research...
Review: There were so many inconsistencies from what would happen in the "real world " versus what occured in the movie. Case in point: Foster eventually calls 911. What normally happens (even though I am not in law enforcement, but happen to watch TV every now and then) is dialed on a land line, the cops will show up, ask for ID and search the house, regardless of why the call was made...it's protocol. When they do arrive, Foster spends several minutes dissuading the police from coming into the house (for reason's explained in the moview). Foster's character somehow 'forgot' that although the robbers could see her via the surveillance cameras, they could not hear her. It would have been decent forshadowing on the writers' part if they had used this as a mechanism on how she eventually saves her family. Why not just tell the police, "My family is in a life-or-death situation. If you enter the house, we die. So figure something else out on how to help us" or something to that effect. She had the ability to relay to them as much info as they wanted, since the robbers couldn't hear a thing. Unfortunately, the main character was a bit on the dim side.

The main characters' actions were unbelievable, unless she had severe mental disabilities that would prevent her from acting in an even remotely rational way. Granted they were in a panic situation, they still had many opportunities to call for help. If you do happen to watch this movie, you may end up asking these questions: Why hang up on 911? (note: 911 will arrive, even if it's a crank call). Why phone your ex-husband and spend precious seconds providing information with no context instead of just screaming out "We're being robbed! Call the cops!"? Also, if you have a cell phone that doesn't work in a room (e.g. the panic room) and yet you're able to exit that room on more than one occasion...why not bring that cell phone out with you and make a call? You don't even have to step too far. You can even pre-dial the number and keep your finger on send.

Do not buy this DVD. You may want to rent it so that you know how NOT to act in a situation such as this...but, please, don't fuel the fire of these writers!


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