Rating: 
Summary: RAW-HYDE
Review: DO NOT adjust your set when you pop this eye-opener about addiction in your DVD player, it's all intentional and quite one of the most startling presentations rivalled perhaps by the current 'Moulin Rouge'.WARNING! No favourite beverage when you travel through these sad minds - you might just not return intact ....... The brilliant ELLEN BURSTYN spearheads this odyssey as the mother, son is Jared Leto, with Marlon Wayans as the pal, and JENNIFER CONNELLY as 'son's girlfriend'. It's a close companion to "Last Exit to Brooklyn" - uncovering those little secrets we hide with that sniffle or two from our loved ones - with the usual shattering result. The mother is addicted to 'self-help' TV, suddenly weight obsessed due to one of those random invitations to appear on TV. The son? The hard stuff with girlfriend and pal in tow. Brilliant editing, you enter the stop-go mind of the addicted - straight through the looking glass - without a crash helmet. BUT be warned - cautionary viewing, should be mandatory for the young, [but quite impossible]. Director Darren Aronofsky sees all of this with a sympathetic but savage eye - details are not spared - makes 'The Days of Wine and Roses' look like 'The Sound of Music'. A 'must-see' and 'must-have' for the serious film scholar.
Rating:
Summary: Wow. That's all I can say. Wow
Review: The reviews that I have read for "Requiem for a Dream" were ultimately the reason why I finally decided to take the plunge and rent the movie. Like my title says, Wow. I won't go into detail as others before me have so eloquently done. But, I was moved to say something. This movie is wonderful. I can't say enough about that. BUT, fair warning: you won't shake this movie. It somehow gets under your skin and grabs you and it won't let go.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastically filmed, but waaaay depressing
Review: If you like sobering material like "Leaving Las Vegas" you might enjoy this film. Then again, Leaving Las Vegas at least had some vestige of hope for it's characters. This one most definitely does not. I give it three stars, not because it's not a five star movie (the film is beautifully shot, it's sound design is suburb -- for any person who enjoys film simply for it's exploration of the medium, this is a must-see) but because it leaves you with that sick feeling in your stomach, a sense of deep sorrow (think "Kids", another movie I'm still recovering from). Worth seeing? yes. Ever want to see it again? About as much as I want a punch in the gut.
Rating:
Summary: Dangerous stuff
Review: After "Last exit to Brooklyn", as far as I know this is the second Hubert Selby's book brought into the screen. Both are just "dangerous stuff" meaning that they are not for sensitive people. If you want to dive into the very dark and deep waters of what is going on (maybe) in the flat or the house next to yours, or even your own home, go ahead: buy it but be very careful because it may ring something that you never realize before.
This is just an extraordinary movie but not at all for depressive or too sensitive persons. Watch out!!! Not reccomended for a rainy afternoon.
Rating: 
Summary: A Haunting experience
Review: The brilliance of this movie lies in the fact that it takes a simple message that we've all heard a million times in our lives (Drugs kill? tell me something I don't know...) and presents it to the viewer in a way that shatters any illusions He or She might have left... Yes watching this film is a disturbing experience but don't let that stop you. This is one of the best movies of the decade and the fact that some people dare to compare it with Traffic just because it deals with the same issue is a disgrace. Traffic is a like Disney movie (both in its simplicity and its naivety) compared to this gem. Try trainspotting instead and you are getting closer. The fact that it deals so effectively with both youth addiction problems (Heroin) AND at the same time with 'adults' addiction problems (legally prescribed amphetamines is just one example) is an astonishing feat and it shows the great potentials that this young director has. The acting is also very good from every member of the cast but its Ellen Burstyn's performance that really steals the show. As for the visual tricks, while the camera work is great at times, after a certain point it becomes a distraction from the main story. And while the need for experimentation is an integral part of being 'young' this movie should help you clear out any illusions you might have about drugs. If not, you are on your own...
Rating:
Summary: A Nightmare is Also a Dream
Review: Requiem for a Dream was one of the most critically acclaimed movies of 2000 and deservedly so. Naturally, reviewers' favorites and those of audiences are often not the same ones. Many viewers will find this look at the effects of drug abuse on four New Yorkers too strong and horrifying. Not too many people got the chance to see the film in its theatrical run, as it was released without a rating, rather than be tagged with the MPAA's dreaded 'NC-17'. New Line is offering an 'R' rated version on video. You can't fight Blockbuster. Sara Goldfarb [Ellen Burstyn] is a widow living in a low-rent high-rise apartment near Coney Island in New York City. She keeps her beloved television, which is about all the company she has, chained to a radiator. Harry [Jared Leto] is a sweet, rather passive guy who is also a junkie. He steals her TV on a regular basis and hocks it for drug money. It's a pathetic game they play, for he always takes it to the same place and she always goes and gets it. As is sadly typical in most families, they never discuss Harry's drug problem, which he shares with his girlfriend, Marianne [Jennifer Connelly], and his best friend, Tyrone [Marlon Wynans]. Sara has addictions of her own. Chocolate is one. A strange game show is another. One day she gets a phone call. The caller claims she is to be a contestant on the show. She is unable to get into her favorite dress, which she hasn't worn in twenty years. At the suggestion of a friend, she goes to a diet doctor who puts her on pills. Soon she is as addicted as her son. The rest of the movie shows the harrowing decline of the characters. Director Darren Aronofsky jazzes up this all too gritty story with some of the most original visuals you can imagine. This is all done with dazzling camera work and very few special effects. He also enhances the picture with a clever, detailed soundtrack. He wisely observes his characters objectively and never sinks into banal moralizing. He makes few anti-drug statements. His theme is the nature of obsessive-compulsive behavior. The cast is marvelous. Burstyn was nominated for an Oscar, and, if there were justice in Hollywood, she would have won. Leto and Connelly are two of our best character actors, and Requiem for a Dream is another entry in their impressive and ever growing resumes. The story is contemporary but hardly new. It is based on a novel by Hubert Selby, Jr. that was published in 1978, before America's costly and ineffective war on drugs even began.
Rating:
Summary: This Movie is Junkygood
Review: Take alot of heroin and watch this movie. Afterwards I called my mom to tell her that I love her.One of my all-time favorite scenes is when the female dope fiend needs the "brown" so bad that she performs sexual acts in front of buisness men...
The wierd thing about this movie is, as I watched it I felt strung out. Insted of diet pills I now stick to a strict, focused intake of horney goat weed, fudge thins and Boston Market. I felt that each character possessed somethings in them that reminded me of myself: the obsession of the next big score, the dellusions of being noticed by your peers, wanting to see two girls perform... with a double dil...etc. If you saw this film and thought there were many oppurtunities for these people to get out of their addiction, then you were never a drug addict and please-don't vote.
Rating:
Summary: I'm speechless
Review: Really I am, like the title says, speechless. Everything in this movie fits. Just everything. The music, direction, acting, dialogue, photography,... Saying something or repeating the story would ruin the experience. You all should rent it (or better, buy it so that later on, you could watch it again which is recommended) so you can see a real disturbing yet beautifull movie. From the beginning, you know this movie isn't going to have a happy end. Which is a good thing, because the movie's purpose is to shock and let you behind with a sense of "what the hell have i seen?". Although the rating seems to say this isn't for all ages (there are some scenes which could be rated 16 or older, but only for these scenes in theory contain nudity or foul language or else), i think that it would be a great idea to show this movie in schools where teachers would like to organise an afternoon about "being against drugs". Because when you have seen this movie, you are definitely going to think twice when someone asks you if you want to have a joint or something else. The most effective anti-drugs movie for years to come, with enough in it to satisfy the most movielovers. Now, I hope that I have made you curious. Make sure that you see this one. It doesn't happen much that I rate a movie 5 stars, but this one deserves it all the way. P.S. : the fact that i don't mention anything about the story itself or other things, i really don't want to spoil anything by saying "in this scene this" or "in that scene that", i fully understand this movie but I believe you should watch this unprepared. My balls on a barbecue if YOU don't like it!!!
Rating:
Summary: Rollercoaster through the actors' minds
Review: This movie took me on a rollercoaster ride through the minds of each of the characters of this movie. As for Harry and Marion, it made me think that they had the world by the hands and that there really wasn't anything wrong with doing drugs of the nature they were doing... However, as those of us who watched this movie know, it doesn't quite turn out the way these boys dreamed, and they saw their lives go down the drain.
As for Sara, Harry's mother who had an empty life similar to many old people, she made me feel like I knew what going nuts really feels like. As I was trying to go to bed at night, I couldn't stop thinking of the things that were going on with her character, and how her pitty dreams of being on TV and having a successful son drove her to insanity.
Aronofsky's camera work is amazing. We see many of the same techniques used in Pi, which I also loved.
In conclusion, every person that took part in this film (especially Aronofsky and the actors) helped make what in my mind is a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: WOW
Review: This is one of the best movies to come out in awhile. Simple wonderful!!
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