Elephant

Rating:
Summary: Wasn't enough
Review: At only 80 minutes of movie, the one thing we didn't need were those drawn out walking and cloud scenes which just seemed pointless. I got so annoyed with it, I just started skipping those parts. Towards the beginning of the movie there is like a ten minute scene of just a kid walking. It's just pointless.

But between all those long,drawn out, and pointless scenes is a good film...just not alot of it. Kind of like ordering a soda at the movies where what you really want is soda with some ice but instead it's alot of ice with some soda.

Rating:
Summary: ¿So foul and fair a day I have not seen.¿
Review: The story begins with a boy and his father driving to school. By 9am the father is drunk and the boy is contemplative about life and the disarray that surrounds him. What made this film so brilliant was that the chilling truth that surrounds high school life was so realistically depicted. There are these long shots, lasting for 5-10 minutes dealing with perhaps some of the most mundane aspects of life. A boy playing the piano, a girl running while contemplating life, a boy and his father in awkward silence, the jock walking across the school, and a killer with no motives but simply to kill. I call these mundane because sometimes life is that way, and through movies, it seems to be neglected. Eric, one of the shooters says, "So foul and fair a day I have not seen," as he walks down the halls with his M16 as Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata plays. Perhaps he is trying to say that sometimes we don't know what causes us to do the things we do, although he realizes his actions, his insecurity with life caves in, and his instant gratification is appeased, but the foul outcome will never satisfy his un-known motives. When the movie ended I was waiting for more, something to explain what would motivate someone to these actions. But I think that is the point of the movie. It is saying that with shootings, and with life in itself, we don't understand the motives of high school adolescence nor do we understand how to react to the situations that baffle our minds. The movie showed a general reaction to a crisis. Rather than panicked hysteria, the rampage caused numbed emotion, because sometimes, in situations so foreign, no one knows how to react, or how to scream.

Rating:
Summary: Like you were there
Review: We all know what this movie is about, let me just say that in my opinion this movie strenght lies in the fact that it is so impersonal that you feel like you were one of the guys in that school, you were there. And in a project like this I guess it is essential to be able to create that feeling. Great, great just great.

Rating:
Summary: Sigh
Review: I'm just here to critique, so sorry, no premise or plot review.

I'm very sick of these "movie snobs" who want to say that the average movie goers are looking to have emotions "force fed" and just blankly stare at the screen expecting everything to be played out for them. While most movies do this, and good ones do not, this movie did neither.
No emotion was every really developed. Every single murder is bluntly unemotional, and the movie becomes as unemotional as the murders. But, this may be Van Sant's point: that acts of violence are pointless under the conditions in which they take place. But because Van Sant never discusses these conditions, the movie is pointless. It isn't perceptive or insightful, it just bears an unbiased witness. Which is confusing when Van Sant has the two killers share a naked, homosexual kiss in attempt to add emotion where there is none. This movie lacks emotion and ultimately becomes forgettable. 2 1/2 Stars.

Rating:
Summary: wow
Review: Elephant was one of the scariest, most horrifying, and best movies I have ever seen. (and I dont like scary movies) However, I think that it is also the most interesting. What made the movie so realisitic and creepy is how the movie was shot. There are no special effects, big booms and screams. There are quiet, simple long shots, shot in a real school with real kids as the actors and actresses. In my opinion, this makes the movie so much more realisitic, and as a high school student it is much easier for me to imagine this, which is a bit scary. I loved how most of the movie really deals with a period of about 45 minutes, but shown in the eyes of all different people. The movie leaves you feeling somewhat unresolved (who killed the blond haired killer? Did Elias really end up gettin shot: after all, he was nodded to by the killers when he snapped a picture. Who got shot first, the dark-haired killer by the anonomys killer, or the boyfriend and girlfreind?), but I think that it has changed me for the better. On one hand, I think that every high school student should see this movie, and become more observant. However, I obviously see the cons- - it is a scarily real movie, that hopefully is mimicking events that have happened in the past and will not happen in the future. Elephant makes you want to learn more about each and all of the characters, and this intruiging movie is a strange, but very good one. However, I wouldn't reccomend watching it alone unless you are not an emotional person at all.

Rating:
Summary: Elephant - its about what you see...
Review: Elephant is a troubling, yet extraordinary story that depicts several parallel storylines in an Oregon High School that represents the calm before the storm. These parallel plots symbolize different social groups, beliefs, values, and notions that leading to a domino effect towards the disturbing ending of the film. These plots are carefully directed and meticulously placed together in order for the audience to shape their own perspective on the horrifying deeds of a few high school students. In the end, Elephant offers an excellent cinematic experience that coerces the audience to cognitively participate in order to receive the full cinematic experience.

Rating:
Summary: An "Elephant" Never Forgets. And You May Never Forget This
Review: "Elephant" the Gold Palm winner at last year's Cannes Film Festival is a hard movie to react to. Even though I've seen it straight through I feel as if I missed something and need to see it again. I think after a second viewing I'll be able to fully comprehend the movie.

I'm familiar with both sides of the public's reaction to this movie. And I guess both make good cases. "Elephant" is a bit slow moving. Not exactly involving. There is no personal audience involvement. And I didn't relate to anyone in the film. I saw this with my sister and afterwards I said it was an interesting movie that I "think" I enjoyed. She said it was awful because the movie didn't resolve anything. It didn't tell us why the event happened. It didn't take me very long to respond back "what's the difference WHY it happened it simply DID happen." Do we really need to know why violence happens? I think this is what Gus van Sant was going for. Violence happens and while yes it's a terrible thing we may never be able to get it down to a science and explain why it happens.

"Elephant" despite some of its "flaws" has some interesting aspects. I liked the long unbroken camera shots. I liked the mood the film created, even though it seems many didn't. I enjoyed some of the performances and liked the music, which consist of "Moonlight Sonata". And above all "Elephant" does seem to be about something. It is exploring an issue. Granted many didn't like the way it explored that issue, but you can't deny it tried.

A movie like this is clearly going to divide people and only be enjoyed by a selective few. This is not everyone's "cup of tea". Those who going into the movie with a clear mind and are willing to go at the movie's pace will enjoy it. But the casual movie fan will find problems.

Bottom-line: Interesting film from Gus van Sant I needs to be seen more than once to fully comprehend. It's a difficult movie to watch and may challenge your patience but I think does have its rewarding moments.

Rating:
Summary: from a major star of the movie??
Review: Well, all I have to say of the movie is that it was the most taxing of all work I have done. I have seen it around five or six times. The first two times I saw it it was fresh and exciting, but by the last couple of times I wanted to fall asleep. Opinion wise, I personallly did not enjoy the movie. That may seem odd to some, even my own cast and crew. I talk about it often because people ask me questions and I respond in a courteous manner. The only good thing was a fat paycheck and the chance to met new and beloved people(especially a certain young gentlemen on the cast).
Just yesterday I bought my own two copies of it in DVD. One for me and one for my grandparents. I found it highly amusing to read the other reviews. I do not appreciate being called a dorky outcaster. I may be that in the movie, but in real life I am very spunky and talkative. There were a select few who actually said something nice about me, thank you!! One reviewer even said that it made them jump when I was shot. The sound made me jump also, but instead I fell to the mat below.
If you would like to contact me, please email at [e-mail]. I do welcome all comments that you might have to say pertaining to my review or of me personally. But remember... "if you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all!"
Good day and I hope you found this review amusing and insightful!!

Rating:
Summary: Corny, generic, and campy
Review: Corny. "Corny" best describes Gus Van Sant's attempt to "filmography" the school shooting phenomenon of the last decade. Van Sant struggles to bring to film the experiences he had reading newspaper reviews on Columbine. Van Sant tries to make artistic the sensationalism of the news stories that gripped the nation. Van Sant relies on nothing REAL. He thinks that all disturbed kids play violent video games and have an inner torture that makes them the victim of high school cruelty and virtuousos on the piano. The antagonists dream of plots of revenge against all members of the student body while pondering the beauty of Beethoven's fur elise.

Meanwhile, Van Sant tries to give the impression of rawness to his movie by "daring" camera angles that follow a student for ten minutes as he walks aimlessly through the halls. Frankly, Van Sant fails in these attempts to reveal the alienation of the student or to give his movies a quality of realism.

Ultimately, with Elephant, Van Sant does for high school shootings and the high school experience what after school specials did for teen pregnancy and drug use.

Rating:
Summary: A film with integrity but a surprising lack of emotion
Review: The basic premise: two students go on a shooting spree at their local high school, leaving a trail of death behind them. Comparisons to Columbine are inevitable, of course.
But what I found most disturbing about this movie were the unexplored questions. There is no evidence these boys are disturbed and few hints as to what might have caused them to become so unhinged. The movie seems almost mechanical and detached, filming everything in a documentary style but with no explication.
Other flaws - a very slow build-up to the inevitable conclusion, no depth to the characters, a certain choppiness.
Even so, I confess I was unable to turn away from the screen, knowing what was to happen..but I also wanted to have some hint as to WHY it happened.