Requested Review: Donnie Darko (TRAILER)

http://confusedmatthew.com/Donnie-Darko.php

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• confusedmatthew
• confused
• matthew
• donnie
• darko

[QUANTUMJOKER]

Okay, Matthew, answer me this: why didn't '2001' make you think?

'2001' is a cryptic, meandering film at times, but it should still spark inquisitive thought in the viewer, if only to get to the bottom of what the f**k these images mean.

[confusedmatthew]

@QUANTUMJOKER 2001 didn't make me think because there are no direct questions raised in the film based on the imagry alone, which was all the film was. For example: perhaps the ape scene in the beginning was a playing out of the Cane and Able story. About how knowledge leads us to destroy our selves. On the other hand, maybe they were just recreating a scene from west side story in ape form. Both conclusions are supported based on the imagery alone.

[KommisarKowl]

Liked the review except for the Mortimer Adler quote of Moral Philosophy. It doesn't try to simplify life like the "Love/Fear" dichotomy in Darko, it simply tries to evaluate actions and help guide them better. In fact, Adler seems to like Aristotelian virtue ethics, which is centered around things like "love and fear," albeit in a much more intellectual manner.

[confusedmatthew]

@KommisarKowl Well, not exactly. Aristotelian ethics do have a few things in common with the love - fear spectrum in that it attempts to find the mean with regard to virtually everything, but what Adler was talking about in the quote was the responsibility of any moral philosophy to try and solve only those problems it is competent to solve and no more.

[gunsmithbasic]

I used to love Donnie Darko but now I dislike it quite a bit. There is one overall message to take from this movie: THERE IS NO POINT! That's the brilliance of it. It's like those shows like Lost, where they make you think that there is something profound in there but the writers are just really, really skilled at creating the illusion of something profound, and disguising the truth with obscured meaning. In the obscurity people imagine what they want it to be, like Nirvana lyrics.

[deathcrist2000]

you planing on reviewing southland tales or the box

[KneeTV]

I just got done watching this

(you can watch it on youtube)

and I must say, this is my new favorite film.

I'm SO glad you liked it, too. I've been a longtime fan of yours ever since your first few reviews, and always without exception my opinion walking out of the theater seems to be the same thing you say later (iron man 2 being a prime example, I argued with my family the whole way home about that one xD)

With that said, I'd like to request that you review Death Note. It's great :)

~knee

[kranktank]

@confusedmatthew I've occasionally wondered if parts of 2001 were meant to focus and examine elements of effects shots, particularly the outer space scenes and miniatures. They were cutting-edge at the time, right? And mostly, hey still look great. Many shots have nothing at all going on, for extended periods, so I guess if I'm determined to sit through the film I'm going to get a good look...except the flashy light sequence at the end. no thanks.

[insidetrip101]

I just got to thinking. You hate "obscurantism" in films, but how about in theatre? Would you consider Samuel Becket an "obscurantist"? What would you think about Endgame or even the theater of the Absurd?

Maybe you aren't too much into the theater side, but I was just wondering if you have ever been exposed to this sort of awesomeness. =P

[KajiCarson]

@AndrewTheEternal It seems to me that Pulp Fiction is the movie he has praised the most.

[jamesedwardclard]

@Kaulen777 It's pretty terrible, it's the only musical I know that was to lazy to write its own music so it just covers a million pop songs by David Bowie, the cars est. Butchering them in the process. The film has no regrade for the historical Roulin Rouge and the actual personalities that people remember it for. All the sets look like floats from a gay pride parade (not a knock against gays if you saw it you'd agree) I was rolling my eyes the whole time. That movie really pissed me off.

[abridgedfanboy]

@Kaulen777 Depends on who you talk to. XD

I think sarcasm, like any form of art, entertainment, or word bandying, can be good or bad depending on how it's used, kind of like how slapstick can be funny if it's used right.

[Kaulen777]

@jamesedwardclard

I apologize if I caused offense. I might have read to much into the, "man who thinks Moulin Rouge "rocks"" remark. I haven't seen it, so I guess I can't argue either way your judgment of the film.

[Kaulen777]

@abridgedfanboy

I was always under the impression that sarcasm was the lowest form of wit...