The Panic Room

bugler

Boo-urns I say. Why has this been getting good reviews? I can't understand it. There was nothing else I wanted to see so I went along to it last night. To be honest I always had the suspicion that the film would have a somewhat limited scope. I mean there's only so many ideas you can get out of the 'burglars trying to get at you inside the room' scenario. Unfortunately, despite me trying ever so hard to keep an open mind, it turned out exactly like that. It made boring, by the numbers viewing. I've felt more suspense when checking if there's any bog roll left. Formulaic if you ask me.

What do the rest of you think?

Kali

its getting good reviews simply because of two words: David and Fincher.
then again ill make up my own mind when i see it myself.

Dont be at yourself

Wasn't impressed at all. The stupidity of the burglers bordered on Home Alone territory, set pieces dragged on a lot longer than they needed to and there was a lot of pointless (though lovely none the less) camera work.

GreenHell

I liked it, the camera was really well worked. In general I found it a enjoyable movie.

TwoShedsJackson

It was excellent, great camera work, well worked set pieces, decent tension. It's not a 'David Fincher' movie in the way Seven or Fight Club is, but the guy definitely has style. Also, any film that has Dwight Yoakam getting hit in the face with a sledgehammer has to be worth something

Well worth seeing.

BLITZ_Molloy

Its a very silly thriller. Much in the same way The Game was. Personally I enjoyed both films alot.

Elmo

I want to see this one.

I wasnt a fan of Fight Club, liked the acting, the directing, the camera work and the script was well written, but it was boring and a bit of a chick flick with violence, violence that was mindless yet had a point which doesnt make much sence. (Because i am depressed and down I will let my "friend" (dont give endings away no matter how crap) set up a fight club, boo who)

Liked Seven very good film and David Fincher is a good Director.

A film i cant wait to see.

Also Jodie Foster is in it.

PiE

Ssh! Fight Club is classic and the twist at the end is even better! Theres not very many movies I can watch more than once but I've watched it about 15 times by now.

What was this thread about? Oh yea Panic Room, haven't seen it yet.. :]

yellum

I thought it was okay, but for the material available to Fincher I was disappointed. Why the hell did he pass up the Black Dahlia for this ?

The opening titles were really cool I thought. Camera work was damned fine as well. I would have liked more tension though. Not as good as all his other films, except maybe Alien 3.

I liked the fact that he has Andrew Kevin Walker in the film, the actors overall were quite good.

And don't diss fightclub, ever. :mad:

Sangre

I thought it was an enjoyable movie.... but 1st half an hour was kind of slow but deadly camera angles.

LOL i like the explanation on how hte ppl were in the house

" they said they'd move in in 14 days"
"hows that 3 weeks?"
"Duh.. 14 working days......right?"

Thought that guy was v. funny
Was any1 else disappointed on how "raul" looked, kind of a geek for a psycho?

tHE vAGGABOND

good movie, really enjoyed it

EvilGeorge

It was ok, kept me amused for a while, but unfortunately very predictable.

Mr E

Did anyone get the impression that it was building up to a big twist at the end (and were disappointed when it didn't happen?)

It just seemed like the music was building up to a crescendo, closeups of peoples faces, something big was about to happen, then NOTHING. Blah.... still a pretty good movie, though....

I remember reading last week about M. Knight Shyamalan's new movie, Signs. He said in an interview that there is no twist at the end, because he didn't want to become a 'one-trick pony' by having them at the end of all his movies (like Sixth Sense, Unbreakable). Maybe Fincher is doing the same.

Then again, Fincher didn't write any of his movies......

Blah....

yellum

Originally posted by TmB

It just seemed like the music was building up to a crescendo, closeups of peoples faces, something big was about to happen, then NOTHING.

Yup, I thought the same. Strange that. I think the guy that did the score for it just got it wrong.

Pigman

It was a passible movies , nothing spectacular. I honestly expected more. Still Fincher did The Game between Seven and Fight Club , so perhaps this is his duffer before the next classic comes along?

KiKaZZ

Hey Bugler,

What film were you watching man? This corker kept me on the edge of my seat for two hours... You can't tell me you weren't gripped when she went for the phone. This film is original, intelligent and captures attention. I must admit I was skeptical of a 2 hour film in the one house but I confess my bad judgement. Foster is excellent as the unsure mum along with Forrest Whitaker and Jared Leto worked perfectly together as the bungling burgulars. This film adds to Fincher's already impressive resume (FIGHT CLUB, SE7EN) and I'm proud to say I've seen it.

rabid

..Dwight Bleedin Yoakim??

..can't say I dig his music but he put in a good performance.

Thought it was well directed, Fincher sure picks some choice angles etc....but the story sorta fizzled out at the end.

still, enjoyed it very much.

also, was looking forward to Res Evil but the preview I saw look like a pile of undigested giblets. just watch the gamecube res-evil intro movie instead....mucho grotesquo!!

dysfunct

Saw it just last night,
I thought it was pretty good, if not a bit predictable.
And it was a pity that the burgulars were exceptionally retarded.
A little too much comic relief on the part of that guy with the braids.

I do agree with many of you when ye said the camera work was great tho, and it was nice to see Jodie Foster back after what, 22 years?
Then again, Mr. Fincher would have had to do do something much more spectacular to be up there with Fight Club.

All in all i give it a thumbs up and a 6/10

bugler

Originally posted by KiKaZZ
Hey Bugler,
What film were you watching man?

A boring, predictable and lame attempt at cinema. Talk about going through the motions. Fancy camera work can only carry a film so far.

This corker kept me on the edge of my seat for two hours... You can't tell me you weren't gripped when she went for the phone.

Why? It was blatantly obvious what was going to happen throughout the film. Maybe you're easily excited.I'm not.

*****SPOILER***************************** SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER*********SPOILER FROM HERE ON**************************************
**********************************
********************************

The three people I went with and I all let out a collective pre-emptive sigh/moan when she got the phone and then found she couldn't get a signal, talk about telegraphing it. My god like, she went for the phone!! What a strange and wonderful scene in a thriller. I bet noone has ever done something similar!

This film is original, intelligent and captures attention

What was original about it? It followed the same type of set pieces seen in thrillers for the last 50 years of cinema. Plus a lame moralistic ending that merely confirms poor Whitakers good soul. Intelligent? No, I disagree. The only part that showed a little imagination was the use of the gas.

Admittedly I'm getting turned off mainstream cinema more and more recently, but I think it's films like 'The Panic Room' that are doing it to me, rather than me criticising films just for being mainstream/commercial. And no, I'm not into art house stuff or anything too obscure. It's an all too common theme in all the medias, vivé McCulture!

sceptre

Originally posted by KiKaZZ
You can't tell me you weren't gripped when she went for the phone.

Oddly enough, at that point I was thinking "why's she going for the phone - does she think it's going to work in a lead box?"

Originally posted by KiKaZZ
This film adds to Fincher's already impressive resume (FIGHT CLUB, SE7EN) and I'm proud to say I've seen it.

And Alien3, but we don't talk about that.

(but then I actually liked The Game)

Swifty

I really enjoyed it, predictable but fun.

Kali

this post contains spoilers.. but who cares

aye.. slow moving but enjoyable nonetheless.. i spent most of the movie waiting for the role reversal (i.e. they're the ones locked in), didnt know it was in it, but quite obvious that it was bound to happen.

was it just me or was jared letos acting/character scripting very very poor?

also on a few points raised already:
she goes for the mobile.. its obviously not going to work.
they signal the guy in the bedroom.. hes obviously going to close the curtains..
they (the thieves) will obviously be locked in at some point.

the first two, are standard "lets take away every last shred of hope they have"..
the third i seen coming a mile off.

one point not raised (i didnt see it mentioned anyway) was that of burnhams (whittakers character) uncanny super-hearing.. how the hell does he know that rattle means shes sparking a lighter? how does he know the second rattle means shes going for the phone? come on.. the guy couldnt possibly assume that.

and just on fincher.. this habit of following everything (ooh a cable.. ooh a ventilation duct.. ooh a torch light.. ooh this persons breathing better go down their lungs and out their ass..) got VERY annoying by the end of the film (and has been done to death at this stage in other films with the advent of computer graphics)... please for the love of god cut out the really lame CG bits as well (going over the table at the start.. oh my god that chair suddenly changed colour and became square!)

also was it just me or were parts of the film way too dark to the point that the camera didnt seem to be in focus at all? (mostly at the start of the "siege")

a way too generous 7/10.. mostly for slight suspense/some good camera work and jodie fosters performance.

jonno

Just saw it and I thought it was brilliant. Cinematography, score, direction were all brilliant. The only flaw I had with it was the ending. Too happy for a Fincher movie.

Picture this - what if they ended it when the camera was at a close-up of Foster's face and the music just came to a sudden halt.
Just an idea, I think it might work.

Kalina

I enjoyed it but had higher expectations before I saw it. I expected it ot be scary but it wasn't at all.
The burglers were completely harmless and Jared Leto's character was the most ridiculous of them all. What did he think he was doing putting his face to the wall of a room filled with gas???!!

IRISHLILY24

first of all, the movie was not slow moving...the whole thing starts right from the beginning, where usually a movie takes 30 minutes to get to the excitment. second, it had good twists.
I enjoyed the movie, but the ending sucked. It did lead you to believe something was going to happen, then nothing.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie. left a bit to the imagination in the ending I suppose.

Trojan

Can the people[1] posting spoilers on this please use the spoiler tag? It's there for a reason damnit.

Al.

1.

muppets

[edit]Calmer now [/edit]

Trojan

Originally posted by Kali

this post contains spoilers.. but who cares

Eh, lemme make a mad guess at answering ... it's a long shot mind you... perhaps the people who haven't seen it?

Al.

IRISHLILY24

err, sorry but what is a spoiler?

Trojan

Originally posted by IRISHLILY24
err, sorry but what is a spoiler?

It's a piece of information about a film/programme/book/etc that may spoil the viewing for someone who hasn't seen it, if they stumble accidentally accross it.

That's why we have a i]spoiler[/i tag to hide text so people can avoid it if they haven't seen the film.

So for example, if we were discussing The Sixth Sense, I could put

the twist

[1] inside of a spoiler tag.

This info really should be in a sticky topic in this forum...

Hope this helps IL24.

Al.

1. This one doesn't contain info about The Sixth Sense twist!

Kali

personally im of the opinion that if you dont want to read spoilers about a film then dont read a thread about the film. its that easy. im not about to hide my whole post.