Daytripper

Picked it up last night (blind purchase). Although the picture and sound were top notch, the movie itself? EH! I wasn't impressed with the story, writing, directing or acting. Too bad, pretty good cast and a decent director. What are your thoughts?

pdjennings

I thought it was great fun. Stylish and well done.

audrey

I thought the ending needed to be tightened up a bit---otherwise I enjoyed it. Like pdjennings said, it was fun.

gutwrencher

I had this in my hands, but something told me to pass. doubt I'll be getting it later.

Flave

Saw it last night and I have to say this movie is a mess.

The plot has holes the size of JLo's derriere. It looks like they made the story up as they went along with absolutely no regard for story integrity. The only thing important to these guys was introducing yet another plot twist and screw it if it didn't make any sense. Us dumb consumers will never notice and we'll dutifully ooooohhh and aaaahhh with every new 'shocking' plot revelation. Lord I hate movies that insult my intelligence. I mean, how could anyone with an IQ higher than 80 NOT figure out what was coming half way in?

In case I was too subtle: I really did not like this movie.

digitalfreaknyc

YOu know what's funny? I knew from the trailer what was going to happen and still enjoyed it. It was the not knowing if it will actually come to fruition.

In any case, the big thing holding me back is the damn aspect ratio. I LOVE 2.35:1. I love the way it looks. And this is sure to just be a mess.

I switched to laserdisc for a reason. I'm not going backwards.

SCHMEGGA

backwards?

DonnachaOne

Very bland, but Farrell showed he was more than capable opposite Pacino.

And, what a terrible trailer. In the one I saw, "nothing is what it seems" was uttered three times, twice by Al Pacino. Umm... just how dumb are we viewed to be?

sinister

it was great until they left the farm. they should've had the whole movie about their training at the farm because that was cool. after that the story fell apart. what was pachino thinking.

pro-bassoonist

"what was pachino thinking."- Bill Walton!

nemein

Movie was ok nothing too special I'll probably pick it up once it hits the cheap shelf What I did think was interesting (and a little disappointing considering if it was what it was supposed to be it could have been interesting) though was the "Inside the CIA training..." bonus feature that turned into a 15 min recruitment ad I guess proving yet again the tag line of the movie

Goat3001

It was decent. It wasn't surprising as it tried to be. Not worth a buy IMO but if the unlikly oppritunity came up where I could watch it for free I probably would.

myrdh

DVD Review Thread?


A Rental

D G D

thought it was ok. i am just getting tired or al pacino's rants in every movie that follow the same speach patterns. think of the last 15 minutes of any movie he is in and you'll get my point.

Brain Stew

Godfather 3? I don't think he had a tirade at the end of that one .

I understand what you mean though. His big speeches were fresh even during "Scent of a Woman", but after "Any Given Sunday"? No thanks, Al.

digitalfreaknyc

Sorry...

I switched to laserdisc because I couldn't STAND watching movies that were not in their original aspect ratio. I was 12.

This is a large step backwards in my opinion.

greydt

the only thing I liked about "The Recruit"/only reason I'll pick up the DVD = Bridget Moynahan

Otherwise, I was relatively neutral to the whole movie - it started and then it ended.

Although I gotta agree with DGD/Brain Stew: I was thinking during the movie "Hey, Al Pacino is giving another long rant!" and that's coming from someone who's had a somewhat limited exposure to Al Pacino's filmography.

FreshOne

It was nothing special, but it was a fun ride. For me, Pacino rules in just about anything. I don't care how many times he acts burned out, tired, and belligerent, its too much fun to watch

It’s a fun movie if you don't expect to be enlightened or dazzled by brilliant writing. Saw it theatrically, don't see too much of a need to see it again. Three stars.

Geofferson

I thought it was only so-so. Started off promising, but went off the track in the final act.

SCHMEGGA

That makes more sense. I gotcha now.

tacomantt

Why isnt this in the movies forum?

waskydiver

OK... I'm torqued about this DVD, and I haven't even watched it yet.

Opened it up, and instead of an insert, there was a freaking watch ad.

I can stand having DVD related ad's IN ADDITION to an insert, but it bugs me to have a completely unrelated ad.

Am considering returning it. Yes, I know I'm over reacting.

BigPete

IIRC, I believe this is a case where the director really, really wanted 1.78:1 and filmed for such but the studio forced him to release theatrically in 2.35:1 to give it that action/blockbuster appeal.

It's a Kubrick scenario.

RocShemp

I'm watching this DVD right now and am wondering about this. The back of the case claims the film is presented in the "Director's Original 1.77:1 Apect Ratio" and that it "Shows More Of The Film Than What Presented In Theatres" which leads me to believe this film was matted to 2.40:1 in it's theatrical release. But as I'm watching this, the shots must've looked like crap this way. I asked my mom (she saw it in theatres) and she told me that the framing was too "narrow" when she saw it in theatres and it really made it an eyesore. (She prefers this aspect ratio in this particular case BTW.) If this was directors prefered ratio, why wasn't it matted to 1.85:1 in theatres? I've not been willing to listen to the whole audio commentary (just the first fiveminutes as I am still watching the movie) but was disappointed the director didn't tackle this issue right off the bat.

(For those who are wondering, since it's late I turned off the home theatre and put the DVD in my comp. I just got curious while I was doing the switch and wanted to see if anyone knew the reason behind the differing aspect ratios.)

digitalfreaknyc

Sorry to say that I refuse to believe this until I hear it from the directors own mouth. Any box that says "more than you've seen in theaters" where the aspect ratio has been tampered with has me a little nervous. I dont' remember having a problem with the framing at all in theaters.