It's not a horribly bad movie, per se: Nicholas Cage is fine (I'm not particularly a fan of him, but he's never either made or broken a movie for me), Joaquin Phoenix is great but doesn't have a big enough role to carry the movie. It's just that, in Scout's words, "Somehow they managed to make a movie about a snuff film be BORING." I think too much of the movie's suspense tries to derive itself from simply the concept of "the snuff film," and shock value isn't something that can sustain itself.
I also had trouble seeing things sometimes: the lighting was not good at all, something that happened a lot when the X-Files was at the peak of its popularity.
It might be worth the rental -- like I said, it's not terrible -- but if I were to watch it again, it would only be for Phoenix's performance.
It's pretty much Nik Cage's worst film performance ever; toward the end of the movie he seems to be doing an impersonation of Brad Pitt in "7even," another movie that I hated with all my heart (and another one directed by Joel Schumacher). He seems so utterly insane that you can't believe anyone would hire him as a private detective in the first place. Secondly, there is lots of egregious gore, killing and nastiness. Third, it's about a "snuff film," which just encourages that urban legend. Fourth, as the plot unwinds it gets more and more unlikely. Fifth, the view of S&M/B&D is totally idiotic; where did Joel Schumacher (hint: Batman & Robin director; know his record) get his idea of bondage from, a Christian tract? In short, it's animal dung. Don't torture yourself with this excuse for a movie.
David Fincher (Fight Club, The Game) directed Seven. Andrew Kevin Walker wrote both it and 8mm, though (but neither director is especially faithful to screenplays).
Just /boring!/ Slow, squicky for shock value, Shumaker (after the fiasco with Batman and Robin I protest sir, I protest!), and the very bland Nick Cage. Utterly inarticulate, forgettable use of celluoid, and I couldn't feel better about saying that. Hrmph. I can't say I hated it, it's just that with so man y /better/ choices to chose from, I'd just never /bother/.
Call it fitting in with the vast majority of mas-produced, overdirected, one-trick hollywood trash. bah.
I've only seen it once, but I wouldn't object to seeing it again. I agree, the lighting was horrible and made it near impossible to see what was happening in some places. The ending sure didn't live up to what the start had promised. I enjoyed it primarily for the few bits of humor scattered throughout.
Conducted this poll as a precursor to this rant on the time my ex-fiance, who should have known better, selected that movie as a little light entertainment that would be fun for the whole family.
Conducted this poll as a precursor to this rant on the time my ex-fiance, who should have known better, selected that movie as a little light entertainment that would be fun for the whole family.
Conducted this poll as a precursor to this rant on the time my ex-fiance, who should have known better, selected that movie as a little light entertainment that would be fun for the whole family.
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azurelunatic) wrote2003-02-17 01:10 pm
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I also had trouble seeing things sometimes: the lighting was not good at all, something that happened a lot when the X-Files was at the peak of its popularity.
It might be worth the rental -- like I said, it's not terrible -- but if I were to watch it again, it would only be for Phoenix's performance.
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Results != good.
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A Synopsis in One Sentence
Just /boring!/ Slow, squicky for shock value, Shumaker (after the fiasco with Batman and Robin I protest sir, I protest!), and the very bland Nick Cage. Utterly inarticulate, forgettable use of celluoid, and I couldn't feel better about saying that. Hrmph. I can't say I hated it, it's just that with so man y /better/ choices to chose from, I'd just never /bother/.
Call it fitting in with the vast majority of mas-produced, overdirected, one-trick hollywood trash. bah.
Ishmael
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Moot point anyway, since I've already seen it. Mostly ammogathering for rant.
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Re: A Synopsis in One Sentence
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