Requiem for a Dream movie
581814
Movie was ok..  I found it to be a depressing movie and not really entertaining but did finish watching the movie.
2365932
I really struggled with the rating scale on this one, so I'll break it down a little this time.

Music: Outstanding.  Easily a 5/5.  Or maybe a 6/5.

Cast: Perfect.  5/5. Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers portray their characters quite nicely.  Freddie Highmore does an excellent job as "August Rush" but I have to say that Jamia Simone Nash stole the show with her larger than life voice (and the fact that she's just adorable). Robin Williams did a nice job in his role, however I didn't enjoy his character (see plot below).

Plot: 2/5. The one night stand on top of a building in the middle of the night with two people that didn't even know each other made it hard to feel a strong connection or desire to see them reunite more than eleven years later.  The creepy "pimp" character (Williams) was more than a little disturbing in my opinion, especially when he controlled a bunch of young children. Also I had a big problem with how the last scene of the movie played out. I do not wish to spoil it for anyone who has yet to see the movie, but the logistics of the entire ending scene I thought to be pretty outlandish even for a "fairy tale" movie.

Message: 4/5. Music transcending boundaries, not losing faith despite obstacles or disappointment, lamenting the fact that you weren't a child music prodigy...

Overall enjoyable. You've got to have a little appreciation for music in order to really like this one, as well as a little imagination and ability to overlook some of the outlandish portions of the plot.
3910650
I  am  glad  to  own  this  movie  again.  I  did  have  it  on  VHS  until  it  got  messed  up.
I  like  these  kind  of  movies,  this  one  is  pretty  decent.  There  really  isn't  that  much  blood  shed.  So  don't  worry.
Alex  is  a  gambler,  &  uses  his  so  called  gift.  He  has  his  friends  &  foes.
The  beginning  with  the  presidents  daughter  running  from  the  atomic  bomb,  &  the  president  just  having  a  bad  dream  will  soon  become  the  focus  on  the  movie.  &  that  someone  wants  him  out  of  the  way.
The  movie  is  scary.  &  gives  you  an  inside  look  at  what  our  world  would  like  after  a  nuclear  explosion.
There  is  at  least  5  different  dreams  Alex  experiences,  first  having  an  accident  with  a  skyscraper,
first  encounter  with  the  evil  snake  man,  &  helping  a  couple  resolve  a  love  affair  problem.
Having  learned  that  young  Alex  will  eventually  become  a  threat,  Bob Blair  (Christopher Plumber)  wants  him  dead  &  out  of  the  way.  &  he  &  his  employees  are  willing  to  do  anything  to  takeover  the  dream  research  company,  &  kill  Alex,
&  Paul  (Max Von Shadow).
&  once  becoming  a  professional  &  not  needing  the  machine  Alex  must  focus  all  his  talents,
&  stop  Tommy  Ray  who  has  gone  psycho  &  Bob Blair,  &  save  the  president  before  its  too  late.
The  movies  great.  Terrific  scares.  You  got  great  music  in  the  movie  that  kind  of  music  that  almost  makes  you  feel  as  if  your  visiting  a  haunted  house.  &  all  the  unusual  things  that  can  only  happen  in  the  dream  world.  &  don't  worry  that's  not  always  true  what  Bob Blair  said  (when  you  dream  that  you  die  you  die  in  life,  during  the  dream  before  you  get  out  of  your  dream).  I've  dreamed  that  I've  died.  &  I'm  still  alive  &  well.
&  I  recommend  it  to  anyone.
Its  what  I  call  decent  horror  movie.
377184
The movie is by Steven King, should I said anymore. The movie keeps you on thinking.that it's the_____, but it's that!
3509486
I love this film adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream!  Strong performances from Kevin Kline, Stanley Tucci, and others help to temper not-so-fine performances from others.  I like Dominic West as Lysander.  This film is visually STUNNING and combined with the gorgeous soundtrack of fine, well-known classical pieces, I consider this film to truly be a "dream."  It transports the willing viewer into the beautiful world it depicts.
2632849
This movie is mainly about a guy who gets trapped into drug and alcohol abuse but manages to escape it. Somehow, as in real life, the your history will never be erased and he is trapped again in tragic circumstances with his new wife, pregnancy, memory loss from his 'wild days'. This film will not give much to viewer which has not experienced heavy drinking or drug use. For those which has bad experiences or any experience at all, will have a wake-up call and hopefully watch this film in awe. The film can be watched in the same session as 'Requiem for a dream', an uncredible film about drug abuse and the society that not only sells drugs 'illegally' but also a society in which one can get heavy drugs prescribed and legally.
3681162
I enjoyed the movie on a whole. It has a thriller quality to it and it doesn't seem to rely on CGI or special effects. less is more applies to this film and will be one of my top favorites. The music score fits the movie wonderfully.
3243152
This movie is magnificent. I often tell people to rent it with the warning that it is all stills, not an actual film in a motion picture sense. It is to me like watching a nightmare. Not so much in the content, although it is  scary. Its the execution. The way its filmed in black and white stills, is  just kind of how nightmares are to me haunting ghosts of images. Thats what  this movie is. Haunting!
1250253
Really enjoyed the movie. There was an excellent message
3008752
Now why aren't films like this shown in school? Imagine students' reactions to the graphic display of the torture that drugs and addiction/obsession induce. Films such as Requiem For A Dream, American History X, Kids, Bully, and American Beauty are often frowned upon by society because they are merely holding up a mirror. Society never likes to see what it truly is. When the ignorant and soft-centered hypocrites are finally woken up to a real look at our society towering films, such as this will get their just rewards.
  Just for starters, Ellen Burstyn. I would love to meet the people who voted Julia Roberts Best Actress in 2000 and have them watch this film again. A powerful and deeply gripping performance is given here. Easily her best since "The Exorcist" or "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" (the film that captured her first Oscar). Portraying a woman whose obsession with a diet program, a red dress, and her social image can only bring the worst for her.
  Jared Leto gives an equally powerful performance as her son, Harry. A young drug-dealer who struggles at his mother's question "how is your work going?" I mean, who could look their elderly mother in the eye and say, "It's great, I deal drugs." A sickening addiction to heroine and its grisly consequences leave the viewer inspired and hopefully enlightened.
  Jennifer Connelly was certainly overlooked at the Oscars as well. An Oscar-worthy performance certainly is given in this film. Marianne, whom will do just about anything for what her mind desires. The rage in her eyes and the burning in her tone bring the viewer as close to the mind of a sickened, sexual drug addict as is possible.
  Finally, Marlon Wayans. Who knew he could act? He gives an absolute amazing performance in this film as Harry's friend Tyrone. He gives a small yet adequate dose of humor that prevents the film from being 2 hours of depressing cinema.
  Darren Aronofsky brilliantly directs this, certainly an Oscar-worthy directing job throughout. Various new techniques are employed, split screen scenes, sudden fast motion, slow motion, and just about simultaneously showing 3 different scenes at the same time make this a trip that the view will not easily forget.
  Finally, Clint Mansel's menacing score is a must-have. A simple theme is repeated but altered enough that you don't get sick of it. Haunting synthesizers and a special performance from the Kronos quartet dominates this film.
  So, I find that when films like this are released, society shuts them away because we don't wanna hear what's wrong with us today. Well, we can't fix what is wrong until filmmaker's like Darren Aronofsky, Tony Kaye, and Sam Mendes truly and brutally show us. But when will we listen?
3770314
The first thing to say is that "Requiem for a dream" is not a movie for everyone. In fact, it is a movie that would only please a minority. People might find it gross, brutal, and too disturbing; that's ok, although I consider it a work of art. Because this is art, to make something new, original, using new ideas, new methods. And that's what Darren Aronofski has done, reaching the status of one of the most controversial and intesresting directors in the cinema industry. And his biggest achievement is that he's made a movie of emotions, something we miss in most of the cinema made today. We feel this movie, we feel its characters and their addictions, and that's exactly what I'm looking for in films. I don't want movies that makes me feel the same way before and after watching it. I don't want  superficial stuff that serves as a superficial entertainment for the millions of people who goes to the movies to see the same formula every time. How can that be fun? How can it be an entertainment? This movie is for the "other audience", for the ones who like to be involved with what their watching, with the ones who like watching something new and original, for the ones who are looking for breathtaking emotions.
Other thing to say about "Requiem for a dream" is that it's not just an entertainment: it's almost an experiment. An analysis of the conflict between humans and reality, and how our desperation for getting out of the real life and reach our dreams can become the worst nightmare.
Aronofski does an excellent, absolutely brilliant job, converting his film in a drug itself. Although it can be highly disturbing, we are  somehow addicted to what we are seeing; the director has created the perfect atmosphere for what he's telling; his use of the camera and technology increases the intensity of the images to unexpected levels, putting us right in the middle of the paranoia, a fictitious atmosphere in which there's no space, no time, and no way out.
To end, the acting. All of them are just amazing; Marlon Wayans is faithful to his character, giving a convincing performance as Jared Leto's best friend. Jennifer Connelly just blew my mind. She puts all the talent she has (which is a lot) to create a difficult character.  Leto is excellent in a complicated performance that goes far beyond any other role he's ever played. And Ellen Burstyn does something in this movie I've probably never seen in any other actor or actress before. She puts body, heart and soul to make a performance that achieves the highest levels of perfection. Her bravery to hold this risky role as she did has to be recognized at every moment. There's no need to say she deserved the Oscar, although it doesn't bother me that much, the Academy Awards will always be a fake.
To conclude, this movie is an astonishing, marvelous masterpiece that should be seen by the people who looks for "something else" in movies.  Welcome the the pure essence of cinema!
4259536
Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn) is going to be on television -- so, needing to lose a little weight in order to fit into her nice red dress, she starts a regimen of diet pills. Meanwhile, her son Harry (Jared Leto) keeps hocking her TV to buy drugs for himself, his girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly), and his friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans). And from there, everything pretty much spirals downward to hell.
_Requiem for a Dream_ is based on the book of the same name (which I haven't read) by Hubert Selby, Jr. (who also cowrote the screenplay and makes a brief cameo appearance as the 'Laughing Guard'). Essentially, it's a harrowing study of addiction and its effect on hope. Although the film's primary focus is on drugs, other objects of addiction (television, sex, even food) take turns in the spotlight. And it's all pretty grueling. (Parts are darkly comic at the same time, as when Sara has to sneak into the room so as not to arouse her hungry refrigerator.)
With a lesser cast, or with any more self-conscious moralism in the screenplay, it would have toppled off of its highwire and turned into just another Special Episode of 'Blossom'. And with even a _little_ more of its already-overused nerve-jangling speedy-uppy-slowy-downy Technique-with-a-capital-T, it would have toppled over in the other direction and become just another pretentiously arty soap opera.
And that would have been a disaster. The topic itself isn't exactly new; what else could there possibly be to show us about it that we didn't see years ago in e.g. _Lost Weekend_ and _The Man With the Golden Arm_ and _Valley of the Dolls_ (never mind _Reefer Madness_ and _The Cocaine Fiends_)? Had this devolved into just another film in an already overloaded genre, it wouldn't merely have failed; it would have crashed and burned.
But it manages, somehow, to work. As I suggested above, a lot of the credit has to go to the cast; Ellen Burstyn is by God magnificent, and the three younger leads bring life to a trio that could easily have cliched itself into a sort of bizarro prequel to 'The Mod Squad'. Credit also goes to the appropriately jagged score by Clint Mansell (much of it performed by the Kronos Quartet).
The lion's share, though, goes to director Darren Aronofsky (who was also the other cowriter of the screenplay). With nearly anybody else, I'd suspect a desire to impress the world by making his second movie an Idiosyncratic, Shocking, Yet Deeply Significant Work of Art. But that suspicion doesn't really make sense applied to a guy whose _first_ movie was _Pi_. (This one is actually somewhat _less_ gonzo than that one.) Appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, Aronofsky has his craft under careful control.
Overall, then, this is a much, much better movie than it has any right to be. There's nothing really new in it; it's right on the edge of unbearably preachy (and on a relatively uncontroversial subject; does anybody think addiction is _good_?); it's got a strong flavor of deliberate 'art-housiness', if you know what I mean. But much to my surprise, it succeeds anyway, and somehow its characters manage to become sufficiently real for us to care about them even while they're totally screwing themselves up.
It's not cheerful, it's not pretty, it's not even easy to watch. But I'm impressed enough to watch it again. I may even read the book.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go have some coffee.
4260184
THIS MOVIE IS A REAL SLEEPER.IT IS SOMEWHAT DEPRESSING. I WOULD CALL THIS A CHIC FLICK BUT I LIKED IT TOO HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.RENT OR BUY,YOU WONT BE SORRY.
3543456
I used to think this movie was terrible - overproduced, overlong, and cursed with some of the worst performances in cinematic memory.  Then one night I rented it for a lark and found myself unexpectedly swept up by it.  After the film was over, I went to bed and had one of the worst nightmares of my life, dreaming that I was trapped within the hedge maze and running frantically from a screaming Jack Torrance like Danny in the movie, only I was unable to find my way out of the maze.  I woke up drenched in sweat and didn't sleep for the rest of the night.  Any movie that could do something like this to me must be great!  I have since watched it again, and am astounded by the film's tension, general atmosphere of unease, and I have come to greatly admire the fine acting of all the principals. Kubrick's Overlook Hotel is one of the great sets in the history of filmmaking.  The photography, camera work, and compositions are all spectacular, and the film gains greatly from a truly exquisite use of music (a soundtrack was released very briefly, but it is long out of print).  This film has the simple yet compelling structure of a fairy tale, and some of its images have become mythic in themselves - the unnerving bird's-eye views of Jack's car driving through the forest, Danny cycling through the endless corridors of the hotel and suddenly being confronted with vision of the dead girls, the scene between Jack and the non-existent bartender, the horrific scene where Jack threatens Wendy on the staircase, and of course the final bathroom and maze sequences.  This DVD offers the film in stereo for the first time, and having a stereo soundtrack greatly improves the viewing experience.  And by the way, there is no widescreen version available because this film was not shot in widescreen to begin with - it was filmed in the traditional 1:33 aspect ratio and "masked" by Kubrick into a horizontal format when it was released.  What we are seeing now is actually MORE of the total image than was originally seen in theatres, as can be noted if you take a close look at the great opening sequence, where the shadow of the helicopter supporting the camera is quite clearly visible in the lower right corner of the screen for a few seconds.  So stop griping about the widescreen issue, folks, because it isn't going to happen!  This is a very great film that richly rewards repeated viewing - it is my personal favorite of Kubrick's after 2001.  Heeeeree's Johnny!
1058983
This is a realistic movie about believable people with real-life problems and dreams. What this story shows is that dreams are as important as making a living and can lead to unexpected riches. A very lovely film with an emotional payload. I love to watch all kinds of movies: fantastic, violent, romantic and movies like this one about ordinary humans. I recommend it highly.
2457701
Good movie.  It shows how a whole town came to grips with their grief after a tragedy in which a lot of their kids and family members were killed in a plane crash.  I didn't like MM in his part that much.  I thought his performance was a bit weak but over all the movie was very inspirational.
23747
I've been a fan of James Newton Howard for several years now and am always interested in a film that has his name attached to it.  Most of Hollywood has forgotten that a good film score is important so it's always a rare pleasure to see a quality film composer still working.  I didn't care too much for the film, but the music I really enjoyed.  It's a very sad, dreamy score.  I've been listening to it recently and it really takes your mind off things.  One of the better film scores this summer, if not the only good one.  Other Howard favorites include "The Man in the Moon," "Peter Pan," "Alive," and "Dinosaur."[...]

David