Movie reviews--nonlinear films i.e. Donnie Darko - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

jay santos · 01-15-2007, 05:37 PM

A review of some nonlinear movies I've seen recently. I got on a kick and watched most of these over the last couple months.

Stay--pretty good film. I had no idea what was happening until I read the IMDB posts. Good story and acting--not great but good. Rocky Balboa would hate it but most of y'all would probably like it.

Donnie Darko--good but disappointed because I was expecting great. I had this hyped by many people to me, and one person said they guaranteed it owuld make my top 5 all time. It was good but not that great. I liked the pace, the acting, the story, the dialogue. I had to read the IMDB to make more sense out of what happened. And then I found there's a whole world of explanation behind this--explaining the technical side of the time travel. Lame. It was a good character piece but a bad time travel movie. The best concept to me was that this guy was estranged from society and down on the world like a Holden Caulfield type but then he was the one ironically chosen as the Christ type to save the world. And he was willing to do it because of his love for his girlfriend, and the rest of the world just happen to be saved along with girlfriend. That's a deep concept. Worth watching but overrated in general, IMHO.

Primer. Low budget, indy film you've never heard of. If you like time travel, this is a must see. After watching three times and studying IMDB posts thoroughly, I finally felt like I understood. Pretty cool what this guy did with no budget, casting his friends and himself, etc.

Memento--very fun movie. Some plot holes that are frustrating, but cool idea and cool story. One of the best I've seen in quite a while. Takes a while to get used to what they're doing, but it comes pretty quickly and once you get the pattern down it gets fun. The whole story of finding out about the other character with the same memory loss problem and his wife was fascinating. Highly recommend.

Mullholand Drive--wow this one is amazing. I cheated halfway and started reading IMDB posts to figure out, but still didn't understand all the way. Not sure if I would have figured it out without cheating or not. The more I read about the symbolism and the clues and the psychology of the main character and then watching again, I was blown away. Really good film. The lesbian sex is a bonus. Seriously, if that's a concern, stay away from this film. It's a hard R.

Butterfly Effect--saw this one long time ago, but it fits with this group. Can't stand Ashton Kutcher and didn't think I'd like it, but it's a very good film also. Take this film and ponder and you can venture into some deep waters on the concepts of fate, works/grace, judging others, and especially randomness.

non sequitur · 01-15-2007, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay santos

Donnie Darko--good but disappointed because I was expecting great. I had this hyped by many people to me, and one person said they guaranteed it owuld make my top 5 all time. It was good but not that great. I liked the pace, the acting, the story, the dialogue. I had to read the IMDB to make more sense out of what happened. And then I found there's a whole world of explanation behind this--explaining the technical side of the time travel. Lame. It was a good character piece but a bad time travel movie. The best concept to me was that this guy was estranged from society and down on the world like a Holden Caulfield type but then he was the one ironically chosen as the Christ type to save the world. And he was willing to do it because of his love for his girlfriend, and the rest of the world just happen to be saved along with girlfriend. That's a deep concept. Worth watching but overrated in general, IMHO.

I liked Donnie Darko, but I enjoyed it most when I watched it with the director's commentary.

BarbaraGordon · 01-16-2007, 04:07 PM

Being left-brained, I can't handle too much discontinuity in cinema. I'm not sure why, though, because I don't mind it at all in literature.

The husband loved Memento. I couldn't even watch the whole thing...creeped me out.

I remember Vanilla Sky being one nonlinear film that I had really mixed feelings about. Visually stunning. And Cameron Diaz did a nice job playing psycho ex-girlfriend. But I thought the end was rather a cop-out.

01-15-2007, 05:37 PM	#1
jay santos Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 6,177	Movie reviews--nonlinear films i.e. Donnie Darko A review of some nonlinear movies I've seen recently. I got on a kick and watched most of these over the last couple months. Stay--pretty good film. I had no idea what was happening until I read the IMDB posts. Good story and acting--not great but good. Rocky Balboa would hate it but most of y'all would probably like it. Donnie Darko--good but disappointed because I was expecting great. I had this hyped by many people to me, and one person said they guaranteed it owuld make my top 5 all time. It was good but not that great. I liked the pace, the acting, the story, the dialogue. I had to read the IMDB to make more sense out of what happened. And then I found there's a whole world of explanation behind this--explaining the technical side of the time travel. Lame. It was a good character piece but a bad time travel movie. The best concept to me was that this guy was estranged from society and down on the world like a Holden Caulfield type but then he was the one ironically chosen as the Christ type to save the world. And he was willing to do it because of his love for his girlfriend, and the rest of the world just happen to be saved along with girlfriend. That's a deep concept. Worth watching but overrated in general, IMHO. Primer. Low budget, indy film you've never heard of. If you like time travel, this is a must see. After watching three times and studying IMDB posts thoroughly, I finally felt like I understood. Pretty cool what this guy did with no budget, casting his friends and himself, etc. Memento--very fun movie. Some plot holes that are frustrating, but cool idea and cool story. One of the best I've seen in quite a while. Takes a while to get used to what they're doing, but it comes pretty quickly and once you get the pattern down it gets fun. The whole story of finding out about the other character with the same memory loss problem and his wife was fascinating. Highly recommend. Mullholand Drive--wow this one is amazing. I cheated halfway and started reading IMDB posts to figure out, but still didn't understand all the way. Not sure if I would have figured it out without cheating or not. The more I read about the symbolism and the clues and the psychology of the main character and then watching again, I was blown away. Really good film. The lesbian sex is a bonus. Seriously, if that's a concern, stay away from this film. It's a hard R. Butterfly Effect--saw this one long time ago, but it fits with this group. Can't stand Ashton Kutcher and didn't think I'd like it, but it's a very good film also. Take this film and ponder and you can venture into some deep waters on the concepts of fate, works/grace, judging others, and especially randomness.

01-16-2007, 04:07 PM	#3
BarbaraGordon Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Gotham City Posts: 7,157	Being left-brained, I can't handle too much discontinuity in cinema. I'm not sure why, though, because I don't mind it at all in literature. The husband loved Memento. I couldn't even watch the whole thing...creeped me out. I remember Vanilla Sky being one nonlinear film that I had really mixed feelings about. Visually stunning. And Cameron Diaz did a nice job playing psycho ex-girlfriend. But I thought the end was rather a cop-out.