Thought it was pretty good





Spoiler





How did the little girl's response clue Keller into who dun did it? I might've just misheard her

9/21/2013 9:04:17 PM

Good movie, very intense, one of the best crime movies I have seen in a long time.





























**********Spoilers***********


She said "you were there", which meant she heard his voice in the house when he went to talk with the Old Lady. The other people in the room assume it meant that he was guilty, but he realized that the girls were in the old lady's house.

9/21/2013 9:22:49 PM

Yes I enjoyed the movie. Though saw it a theater in ATL.














Spoliers

And the African Americans were disappointed by the ending. I guess they need everything tied into a neat little bow.

Another Spolier
The guy that stole the socks which kid was he, Paul Dano was the woman who's kid disappeared while she was asleep but who was that kid. Was he the one that wrote the book?

9/23/2013 11:39:22 AM

Why can't the GTA 5 thread people do this?

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

[Edited on September 23, 2013 at 11:40 AM. Reason : this isn't even one of the last good movies ever]

9/23/2013 11:40:05 AM

Outstanding movie. Emotionally fatiguing in many ways. Incredible performances by pretty much everyone, especially Gyllenhaal (I think Jackman's son was the only acting I thought was questionable, but his part is negligible).


There seems to be some confusion online about the ending being "ambiguous", though I thought it was pretty clear. There were definitely people in the theatre with me that seemed confused / frustrated like there was some loose end to be wrapped up.

I'll echo ^^, and say the only thing I didn't understand was

the suicide-suspect. He was a victim of the "Aunt". But was the Aunt's husband the one that wrote the book? Or was he kidnapped and inspired by that book? And was suicide-man recreating the crimes in an attempt to solve them (get in the mind of a criminal) or was he trying to just fulfill some fantasy without going all the way? I understand how he fit into the plot, but I don't really understand his motives / intent.

"Everything matters."

9/23/2013 5:28:50 PM

^i fuxed around with that type of shit but it would be nice if there was a way to do on hover, but I'm not smart enough to figure that out in 5 seconds.

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

[Edited on September 23, 2013 at 5:58 PM. Reason : would be cool if it wasn't paragraph based as well]

9/23/2013 5:58:14 PM

Incredible movie. Thing is with a well-written movies is that movie critics, general movie going public looking to disengage and watch a mindless thriller, and sometimes even the actors themselves don't fully appreciate the writing and how rich it is. I say this after watching it last night, having read nothing about the movie prior, then discussing it with friends, and then coming home and reading reviews and interviews with the actors. Of course, they get certain big ideas, and the actors have to in order to internalize their characters, but they missed how thematically complicated it was. Or at least in the interviews I've seen anyway, they don't fully develop or express these ideas.

***SPOILERS***






For example, clearly Jake's and Hugh's characters were just as much imprisoned as the girls and just as much as Dano and the suicide-suspect, and just as much as the audience who were brutalized for the whole ride- there was never any release or catharsis, and as soon as we saw any light, or the chance of light, the hope was dashed as we found it was just a red herring or something. But it's worth considering why they were imprisoned- it's clearly not just "How far will a man go to protect his family?!?" or the moral dilemma he's placed in (What would you do in that situation?) and how survivalism makes us demons (it's more about protecting those we are expected to protect, actually- Hugh and his family, Jake and the town- than about personal survival). The more interesting questions this movie explores are "Why are those somewhat unreasonable expectations there?" (cops and fathers can't protect us from all the crap that happens in this world), "What do the expectations themselves do to the person who bears them?" (they carry too much pressure and it begets a savior complex to the point where they are actually counterproductive, although they have the best intentions), "How do people not really vet/internalize/apply their faith?", "Why that faith so easily crumbles when crap happens?", etc.

There's a lot more to it, but one of the biggest takeaways was the power of really listening, hearing what others have to say, instead of assuming and projecting our well-intentioned but savior-complex-induced misconceptions onto people we don't understand. If either Jake or Hugh or any of the other characters had done this earlier, the crime would have been solved earlier. They didn't listen to Paul Dano, to the priest, or to the suicide-suspect, but they immediately accused them of doing wrong and demanded the answers they wanted. And then those people shut down. And they were dismissed as crazy and/or guilty. (Says a lot about how little we empathize, hear the other, and marginalize those that are different than us)

We want to jump to the truth and get quick results, and be everyone's savior (something about finding personal worth through performance for others, even if those expectations are impractical), that it drives us crazy and turns us into demons. Instead of the arduous process of finding and wrestling with truth (Hugh didn't wrestle with his own faith, so he began to lose it....Aunt yelling "We wage a war on God! Make people lose their faith!- I think she was the only fully monstrous character, epitomizing the horrors of life )

But the movie ended on a possibility of hope, that there is a chance of rescue, a chance of freedom for the characters and the audience to have a happy ending. It ended on the biggest chance of hope so far in the movie, and it came through Jake....stopping...and listening...and not assuming and dismissing the possibility as "No, that's crazy. I can't be hearing a whistle!"....but pausing and really trying to hear. Of course, the movie still held us somewhat captive, because we don't know what his choice will be. But if they do free themselves from being prisoners, it would be through hearing for the first time.

/end literary criticism

[Edited on October 5, 2013 at 3:03 PM. Reason : oh and not to mention how well-acted and beautifully shot it all was. loved it!]

10/5/2013 3:02:33 PM

saw this over the weekend and really liked it. very intense.

12/16/2013 11:14:12 AM