Dr. DVD

This movie reminds me a lot of The Prestige. A second viewing will have you watching an entirely different film.

TheySentYou

saw this last night and loved the production and detail of setting, and i relatively liked the story's build-up more than the actual story itself, as it re-lived the extra personal, paranoia-driven fears of 'Jacob's Ladder' and 'The Shining' (though far from as perfect).

i became irritated when:



and the CGI nightmare sequences were aggravating in the same way as 'The Lovely Bones' - too much style over emotional substance. ugh.

overall, 6 or 7/10

jfoobar

The At the Movies guys, after both giving the film a resounding "Skip It", spent the next several minutes talking about Scorsese's history of cinematic brilliance, blah-blah-blah.

I'm as much of a fan of a lot of the guy's prior work as the next guy but if a film sucks just say "it sucks!" and move on.

CloverClover

I thought it was amazing, the best of the Leo/Scorsese collaborations. Love how it wrapped around itself

Mr. Cinema

I enjoyed it. A few creepy/unsettling sequences. DiCaprio was solid as always. I loved the score as well. A few shots looked exactly like something out of a 60s Hitchcock thriller. I'll be buying the BD when it's available.

kristina

wow...I agree with those two critics? Just saw this movie on Wednesday and thought it was completely rediculous. I didn't even find myself caring about what was really going on.

Geofferson

Saw it last night and felt it was a mixed bag. Scorsese created a moody atmosphere and the score was eerie and effective. However the story itself worked better in print, IMO. Overall a decent film, but not Scorsese/DiCaprio's strongest effort.

hapgilmore

I just saw this and am VERY DISAPPOINTED. Basically, this is a variation of a story that has been done COUNTLESS times in other films. Simply because it has Scorsese's name attached doesn't give it a pass in my book. I didn't think it was a bad movie, just not very good. All these critics praising it seem to be doing so because they can't imagine Scorsese making any movie short of brilliant. Like someone else pointed out, how many reviews said something like "even a disappointing Scorsese movie is still better than most director's at their best". What kind of crap is this? If he makes a movie that isn't very good, have some balls and ADMIT IT! I love Tarantino, but I was the first to admit that Death Proof was a piece of crap.

Honestly, I thought the underrated Lovely Bones was a much better movie than this. If Scorsese had been the director of that, do you think the Rotten Tomatoes would be at 33 percent? No way, it would be at least 60. On the flip-side, if Peter Jackson would have directed Shutter Island, Rotten Tomatoes would definitely be below 50 percent. It is just unfair to me that some directors get a pass no matter what.

jmu878

Can someone point out some movies that have done what this did plot wise? I just keep reading posts that say "this has been done a thousand/countless times...blah blah" , but yet never cite any examples. I'm not disputing their existence, but am just curious as to what people keep comparing this to...

PopcornTreeCt

I really enjoyed the movie. It was a pure genre film, very Hitchcockian. What did you guys think about how fake the background looked when Ruffalo and Leo were on the ferry? I imagine that must have been done on purpose to look like an old film.

hardercore

The critics aren't really praising it, at all. Though I still really enjoyed it, despite it's very middle-of-the-road critical reception.

Hell, Inglourious Basterds' metacritic score is 69. That was my favourite film from last year and up there in the Top 20 of the 100 films of the decade I'm currently compiling.

jmu878

I never really put much weight on critics' opinions. Most of my favorite films were/are despised by critics, but eventually became cult classics (The Big Lebowski, American Psycho, etc). That being said, I liked the film and enjoyed it for what it was, a throw-back thriller. I don't attribute any of its weaknesses to Scorsese at all, but more to the source material. God knows what a pile of shit it could have been in anyone else's hands. I just find it kind of funny how critics are all over Scorsese's nuts nowadays, especially since many of them ripped on some of his older films, now considered to be essential American films, when they were first released.

Are you planning on posting that list? I'm kind of in the process of doing the same thing. IB cracks my top 15 of the decade though, as does Kill Bill.

jmu878

Meh...that's all a bit of a stretch. It is after all based on a book, although I can't really comment on the differences between the novel and movie, having not read it. I thought it was superbly crafted and accomplished exactly what it was supposed to (A pure old school genre picture, as you said). His best film? Not by a mile, but still a lot better than the majority of the hackneyed shit Hollywood churns out.

Agreed, I got a very Hitchcock type vibe as well, even more Kubrick to be honest.

Dr. DVD

Critics aren't praising it to high heaven. They definitely say it has its faults, but at the end, they still seem to give a thumbs up or whatever equals it kind of rating. It's also sitting at 69 or so on rottentomatoes, which means "good, but not great."

hardercore

Eventually. I'm just trying to get through a little bit of commentary on each of the films.

JMLEWIS1

dino88

The Bus

Or because

Saw this today and I was very satisfied. It had a great creepy beginning (I swore I saw at least one prop disappear on purpose). Loved those slow, ominous shots early on.

Problem was, from about the 90th to the 120th minute, the movie starts falling apart a bit. It's a bit too slow. But the movie redeems itself in the end.

dino88

I remember 2 occasions this happened. The first was in the dream where his wife was holding the flask (and then no flask). The second was the patient's glass of water during the interrogation scene. I'm sure there were more.

The Bus

I caught the glass of water one.

hardercore

Have we passed the point of not having to post in spoilers? I think after opening weekend in wide release it should be safe.

Solid Snake

I dunno about that. I think at least a year in some cases.

Of course...I read all the spoilers anyway cuz well whatever you write can never diminish what I saw afterwards.

hapgilmore

My point is that the reason it is getting any praise is because of Scorsese. If a less prominent director made it, it would be below 50 percent.

JMLEWIS1

i loved the score of this movie...sort of reminded me of cape fear or there will be blood....really added to the drama and sense of dread

hardercore

There wasn't a credited composer if I recall correctly, rather a "music supervisor" Robbie Robertson. Is this the same dude from The Band?