Shutter Island

Started by MacGuffin, October 23, 2007, 12:14:30 AM

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Gamblour.

SPOILS

Hated this. Never really liked saying that about a Scorsese picture, but who does? A friend of mine says the book, which I still plan on reading, comes off more as Vertigo rather than, what I think of this as, a Fight Club. There's a difference between ambiguity and getting the rug pulled out from under you, and I think they played this completely wrong. I completely check out when they started explaining, well, everything. I no longer cared for any of the characters at all, because I just had two hours of my life wasted. It's just so cheap, saying that it wasn't real. Such an awful device. Obviously there are ways to do it well, but this wasn't it.

And I had been enjoying it so much until it became apparent there wasn't shit in that lighthouse. And yeah, I agree with Mac, I knew something was wrong when they got locked in that mausoleum and started talking about the story for like twenty minutes. Very, very disappointing. Let's move on.
WWPTAD?

RegularKarate

SPOILS

Yeah, there were some enjoyable pieces, but overall it came off as a really boring Dark City with the twist being that everything was bullshit the whole time.

When reality is being twisted, it's way more difficult to ground things and make you actually care for any characters.  I also have a feeling if I watched this again, I would find it impossible to believe.

ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ

I still can't decide how I feel about this movie... Maybe that was the intent.  Going in THINKING it would be good by proxy because of the director, but then the rug gets pulled up from under you.

When I first saw the, or one of the, trailer(s), and Leo was like "There are 66 inmates, who's the 67th!?", maybe it was from seeing enough movies to know, but my mind is already assuming it's him and I envy those who would otherwise be oblivious to this.  In that, I figured there would be more inventive twists to the story or a really solid reveal... But the dreams felt blandly surreal.  Instead of how dreams can feel like actual dreams, these just appeared like "Wouldn't it be weird if we covered his delusions this way?"

Though, one thing I will say that I like about the movie is it's ambiguity in the sense that he has an incredibly intricate conspiracy thought out in regards to Nazi brainwashing experiments.  Like, the reveal is still not the truth because, as he was informed, even if by his own constructions, he has no friends.  He has vivid recollections of both seeing the holocaust, took part in slaughtering nazis and killing his wife for remorselessly drowning their children.  If any of that is true, then we can assume that it can all be true.

In the end, it isn't totally true that the island is only used for positive rehabilitation.  Is he so crazy that he has this crystal clear of an  alternate reality or are both true?  Are we left with the impression that the island is used for good since they control the island and ultimately have the final say?

Damn, maybe I do like the movie. 

Cool.
"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

Kal

Fuck you people are crazy. I loved it.

RegularKarate

Quote from: Captain of Industry on February 19, 2010, 06:54:14 PM
Quote from: samsong on February 19, 2010, 06:21:52 PM
i had no idea who ted levine was before this but his turn as the warden in a scene that takes place on a jeep makes him a notable talent.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) .... Jame 'Buffalo Bill' Gumb

Wait a minute, was he a great big fat person?

©brad

I think this would have been way scarier and ultimately more compelling had they gone really low-budge, especially with the dream sequences which suffered from being so overt and cgi-ish.

Quote from: RegularKarate on February 23, 2010, 01:36:54 PM
Quote from: Captain of Industry on February 19, 2010, 06:54:14 PM
Quote from: samsong on February 19, 2010, 06:21:52 PM
i had no idea who ted levine was before this but his turn as the warden in a scene that takes place on a jeep makes him a notable talent.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) .... Jame 'Buffalo Bill' Gumb

Wait a minute, was he a great big fat person?

Hah!


ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ

Quote from: kal on February 23, 2010, 01:17:09 PM
Fuck you people are crazy. I loved it.

I think I can speak for everyone when I say I retract any and everything I've said thus far in lieu of this enlightening passage.
"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

SiliasRuby

Quote from: kal on February 23, 2010, 01:17:09 PM
Fuck you people are crazy. I loved it.
Shouldn't there be a comma in this post.
The Beatles know Jesus Christ has returned to Earth and is in Los Angeles.

When you are getting fucked by the big corporations remember to use a condom.

There was a FISH in the perkalater!!!

My Collection

Kal

No need to overanalyze everything...

pete

Quote from: SiliasRuby on February 25, 2010, 02:16:47 AM

Shouldn't there be a comma in this post.

shouldn't there be a question mark in this post or you may be sarcastic
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

squints

I, liked this, (movie) a lot?
"The myth by no means finds its adequate objectification in the spoken word. The structure of the scenes and the visible imagery reveal a deeper wisdom than the poet himself is able to put into words and concepts" – Friedrich Nietzsche

matt35mm


Derek

Loved the crisp, jarring editing in the first 20 minutes. I liked how the composition of  the main character in the frame would shift suddenly from one cut to the next. The score was quite effective too, especially the 'Jaws' type riff - I'm not sure what it was...Packed theater, heard mostly 'it was a renter' in the lobby afterwards.
It's like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black.

ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ

"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

Derek

Quote from: // w ø l r å s on February 26, 2010, 12:59:02 PM
Quote from: kal on February 25, 2010, 02:23:39 AM
No, need to overanalyze everything.

Well, I'm not sure if this comment is directed at me.

The editing at the beginning gives the film an energy that seems to dissipate further into the film with long exposition scenes.

Done thinking now, I'll go back to breathing through my mouth.
It's like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black.