Rating: 
Summary: look at all the lonely people
Review: People in the business of movies have a firm grasp of the fact that we, the consumers of such huge quantities of mass entertainment, are getting very hard to shock. It's hard to make us feel much by showing us any sort of shocking underbelly, exposive any kind of meloncholy truth. This movie made me, a jaded college kid, cry so hard i almost vomited. It seems that in order to be moved by something fake it must strongly, creepily resemble something real. This little shard of reality which the movie slices you with is not "the horrors,the perils of drug addiction." I don't think this is purely a drug movie by any means. In my mind anyway it is one of those movies that will enter the canon I will pretentiously call "movies that expose the deep patheticness inherent in modern american life" Was anyone else yelling "God Harry, go visit your lonely lonely mother for christssake." How can human lives be so devoid of meaning that people lust after cupcakes, adoring tv audiences, empty girls gyrating on tables. No wonder they use chemicals to get at least a burst of feeling. Drugs don't kill people who are already dead. That having been said, the scenes with the frighteningly good Ellen Burstyn seem like they were from a completely different movie that was cut with the pretty mediocre movie the young people starred in. She was the only thing popping out of an otherwise two-dimensional pop-up book.
Rating: 
Summary: Celluloid Trauma
Review: What Aronofsky has managed to put together in this visual assault on the psyche is nothing short of phenomenal--and disturbingly surreal. Tracking the progressively degenerative lives of four drug abusing individuals, Requiem for a Dream precedes the so-called requiem with an outright rape of the viewer's senses. In the path to destruction, we learn that the seemingly benign can often be the most damaging--Ellen Burstyn's triumphant performace as Harry Goldfarb's mother, Sarah--as in her vitriolic descent to hell via the innocent use of inocuous diet pills. Joining her along the path to center Earth is her son Harry, his best friend (played stoutly by a well-casted Marlon Wayans), and Harry's ex-Bourgeousie girlfriend.
Aronofsky adeptly visualizes the repetition of habitual drug use through stylistic sequences that promptly package the actual act itself. What is left is the trivialization of harcore drug abuse wrapped tightly in skilled editing room techniques; Aronofsky drives the effect home by nifty camera work and slick visuals. Most symbolic is Harry and his girlfriend sharing a moment in bed as Aronofsky uses a simple split-window montage to demonstrate the isolation and distance that figuratively divides the two characters. The stylized scene is quickly subdued by the ensuing tension created by the crafty camera shot, and what is left is pure pathos.
The final 15 minutes of RFAD make the first 30 minutes of Saving Private Ryan seem so distant and irrelevant, as if the emotional and physical damage imposed by drugs far outstrips the destruction whatever bomb or mortar shell can inflict.
Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing and completely vacant
Review: I'm not going to rehash the plot of the movie since there are already hundreds of reviews, but I'll tell you this much: I left the theater in a horrible mood and didn't learn a single thing, so what's the point? In Requiem for a Dream, Aronofsky has created a movie so completely negative and grim that I actually found myself thinking, "Heroin addiction couldn't possibly be this bad." I mean, after watching countless other (and better) films about addiction, I realize it will empty your bank account, ruin your health and destroy your personal relationships. But did the main character really need to develop a huge, pus-filled, necrotic looking hole in his arm, then have that arm amputated with a buzz saw while he was awake, to get that point home? While at the same time his girlfriend pulls a lesbian trick in a room full of sleazy yuppies while they stuff dollar bills in her mouth, just for some dope? This isn't realism; it's complete and total nihilism without much purpose other than to be as disturbing as possible and to show off a bunch of MTV-ish sound blurts and flash cuts. If you're looking for a movie that will make you feel like you need a shower and tell you nothing new about drugs, this is it.
Rating:
Summary: Puts the likes of Traffic to shame
Review: This movie is evidence that "Marketing Is King" Traffic is the worst movie I have seen, especially considering all the hype and oscars. This movie is the one of the best from Hollywood. Not only did Ellen Burystn merit an Oscar ... but they should use her scenes as a teaching tool for future students of acting. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED But don't watch it with your younger than 18 kids.
Rating: 
Summary: A modern-day Reefer Madness
Review: This film is really (and intentionally) nauseating, but if you believe that drugs turn average people into wretches as sure as the sun rises, you'll love the way it gets its "Just Say No" message across. I've seen my share of people hooked on this and that, and most have been normal people. None has ever even sniffed the foulness these characters' lives become. Those who say, "Thank you, Darren, for showing me what drug use is really like," are simply validating their own uninformed expectations. Honestly, the knuckleheads in "Half Baked" are probably more representative of drug users on the whole. The one-dimensional characters practically had me shouting at the TV, because their actions made no sense whatsoever. Why did Marlon Wayans cave in to every one of Jared Leto's asinine ideas? He didn't put his foot down once. I'd never let my best friend walk all over me like that, for any reason. (If that's the point, it's a total cop-out.) The same gripe goes for Jared re his supplicating harpy girl-fiend: sure she's a hottie, but how could he not kick her harpy a** to the curb? And where did all of Ellen Burstyn's lifelong friends disappear to when she needed them most? I completely disagree with people who claim this movie is more than a stylized anti-drug PSA, that it's really about empty people chasing empty dreams. It may be, but that's because the creative resources were tied up in editing, not character development. Stories about empty people are boring, as this one would be if it didn't have all the gross-outs. This movie employs some really tired sterotypes, too: "the Blacks vs. the Italians"; the good-girl-turned-junkie-whore; the gnarly, racist Southern Bubbas (sans reflective sunglasses); the black kingpin with the deep voice. And where reality would just make too much sense, the film simply invents a cockamamie situation: do you really think that drug dealers queue up by the dozens for their dope, making as huge a scene as possible? A more likely scenario would probably have have obviated the contrived ending. I'm not defending drug use, but there are far better and more rational arguments against using drugs than that your life will automatically go straight to hell if you do. If you want a better story, better acting (notwithstanding Burstyn who really is terrific), some laughs, and a far more complex view of what drugs do to people's lives, see "Trainspotting" if you haven't already. Put this one in a glass case to be broken open when your thirteen-year-old is about to land himself/herself in juvy and you're at your wit's end.
Rating:
Summary: A graceful look at life.
Review: Requiem For A Dream, from the aclaimed director Darren Aronofsky,has created yet another film which makes us question our own lives, your friends lives, strangers lives, and life in general. After i saw Pi, and i heard Aronofsky was making another film, i did a little looking around and found the DVD the Requiem for A dream.
The story revolves around 4 main characters who all want better lives, but they just make their lives worse in the process. This is something which holds ur attention from start to finish. Thihs movie is really a downer, and a real change up from your conventional drama story. The feelings of the characters are almost felt by the viewer because of the incredible direction and sound, it just involves you.
Never before have I seen such a movie that plays with your thoughts and feelings so well. They want better lives and it ends up worse than it started for them. So you think if it would have been better if they didn't try in the first place, but then you think that they wouldnt have mentally grown as poeple if they never tried. It's a movie that challenges your knowledge too, your knowledge on friends, and just the world overall.
Not to be mistaken for the next uplifting middle aged mothers drama, this one is different and doenst have much base for comparison. Just see it.
Rating: 
Summary: not so fast...
Review: This film begins innocuously enough but gradually becomes somewhat difficult to endure, and this is intentional. Aronofsky has masterfully woven the visual, aural and thematic threads of Requiem into a tight, captive dynamic meant to be as excruciating for the viewer as it is for the characters. (Ever wonder what Alex in "A Clockwork Orange" was being forced to watch?) Yet the consensus seems to be that this is primarily an anti-drug film, the bad taste it leaves in your mouth is explained as some kind of "scare-you-straight" tactic employed by the director. Don't believe it, drugs are a sidelight here. Which is not to downplay the devastation they wreak on the lives portrayed. But the truly frightening aspect of Requiem is the hollow relationships on display even before drug addiction becomes the uncontested villain. We begin at zero humanity-wise and it progressively gets worse, relationships that cannot stand on their own are actually reinforced (in that emotional interaction/bonding occurs) precisely because drugs introduce a sick passion, a direction for lost souls to pursue. When a certain character takes to turning tricks for her fixes, it makes her less ambiguous; she finally has something engaging to do. Each character has some kind of self-prescribed or imposed deficiency that precedes and exacerbates his/her drug problem. This alienation is the most realistic aspect of the film, not the depths they sink to. The bleakness, the oppressive absence of connectedness, almost makes their flight into oblivion understandable. The most disconcerting aspect of Requiem for a Dream is what we allow it to show us about the things we value. Recommended, but not for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Join Us In Creating Excitement (J.U.I.C.E.)
Review:
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM
Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, 2000
Synopsis
Story that links the lives if a lonely widowed mother, her son, his girlfriend and his best friend. The four have problems with substance abuse and their lives begin to slowly fall apart. ... Purple in the morning, blue in the afternoon, orange in the evening, and green at night. The red dress and red hair (well sorta), grapefruit diet, nine old ladies out front, electroconvulsive therapy. Does all this makes sense? Well the film might. Dispite a confusing plot, Ellen Burstyn gives a great performance. Stepping stone for director Darren Aronofsky.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: I could say a lot about this film, but I'm going to keep it as short as possible.
This film leapt straight into my top 3 films of all time the first time I saw it.
There are parts of it that were almost hard to watch, and I did so with a sensation that I'd feel better when it was all over, without actually wanting it to be over.
There is no doubt in my mind that Ellen Burstyn should have walked away with the Oscar (Best Actress). She gave possibly THE best acting performance I have had the pleasure to see.
Watch this movie. You will find yourself thinking about it for days afterwards.
Rating:
Summary: Possibly the most soul-wringing movie ever made.
Review: You ever hear a gambler tell you how he lost all his possessions on a poker game? The gist is something like this: "I was doing pretty good... then it got worse. Then it got WORSE. Then it got a whole lot worse." This movie is like that story. On steroids. On a drunken rampage. With an astral chainsaw and a suit of Aegis. To put it another way: No matter how desensitized you may think you are... No matter how happy or sad you think you are... No matter how much you believe in yourself or in other people... No matter how cruel or stupid or angry or bitter or self-righteous or cynical or jaded you are... This movie will shock you. It will drop you from a hundred-story window of realization, and it will laugh at you until you hit the ground. It will attack you with adamantium teeth, and it will force you to admit the world is an extremely scary place, and that your life maybe isn't so bad after all. Working with the grace and fluidity of a hypnotist, "Requiem" holds your attention and your focus until it wants to let them free, until it makes you see what it wants you to see, and makes you feel how it wants you to feel. And what a feeling it is.
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