Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut

Pros: Great performances, surreal and unusual atmosphere, makes you think, wonderful soundtrack.

Cons: Profanity, hard to define, requires repeated viewing to fully appreciate, DVD commentary.

The Bottom Line: Donnie Darko is a twisted journey through the Wonderland of life, and as such, the answers are not always clear.

Review: I am usually not one to get on the bandwagon of a movie that proves to be immensely popular. I have favorites that I enjoy unapologetically, and even engage in debates over. But when a I am bombarded with media advertisements saying something like, ...

Pros: fantastic imagery and themes concerning man’s purpose in the world

Cons: really hopeless

The Bottom Line: wonderful personal vision with real weight

Review: When I first saw the James Stewart vehicle Harvey, and later was part of a theatre production of the stage play that the film was adapted from, I was struck by the single character quirk requiring that a person must have some other person to open up to, ...

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Review: You wouldn’t think of giant bunny rabbits as the kind to give advice. However, Donnie Darko is seeing a giant rabbit named Frankie in a vision. The giant rabbit tells him that the world will end in about four weeks, but doesn’t say how. Meanwhile, the ...

Pros: Everything. The additions did not detract from the movie, instead made the movie more surreal.

Cons: Surreal? But, if you don't like that sort of thing, you shouldn't see this movie.

The Bottom Line: I recommend this movie if you are an Indie film fan and you are a fan of the genre. An excellent example that it is.

Review: Yesterday I got to see a pre-screening of the re-release of "Donnie Darko, The Director's Cut". The jist of the movie: Wealthy high school student, Donnie Darko, has hallucinations, visions, and is plagued by a seemingly immaginary giant evil rabbit ...

Pros: Almost completely, the changes improve an already excellent film

Cons: One specific change alters a major aspect of the film

The Bottom Line: DONNIE DARKO: DC is a polished version of an already great film, with a few additions that make it even greater.

Review: Richard Kelly's DONNIE DARKO has become an obsession among many kids my age. Word-of-mouth spread after its initial art house release, and once it made its way to DVD it worked its way to cult status. Three years after its initial release, Kelly puts his ...

Pros: Everything. The additions did not detract from the movie, instead made the movie more surreal.

Cons: Surreal? But, if you don't like that sort of thing, you shouldn't see this movie.

The Bottom Line: I recommend this movie if you are an Indie film fan and you are a fan of the genre. An excellent example that it is.

Review: Yesterday I got to see a pre-screening of the re-release of "Donnie Darko, The Director's Cut". The jist of the movie: Wealthy high school student, Donnie Darko, has hallucinations, visions, and is plagued by a seemingly immaginary giant evil rabbit ...

Pros: Excellent performances, intense atmosphere, compelling mystery

Cons: Unfortunately, the ending fails to resolve anything, and it's cheese to boot

The Bottom Line: The tense atmosphere revolving around Donnie's increasingly disturbing "visions" of Frank and the mystery make this a great movie to interpret with friends over coffee the next day.

Review: Donnie Darko is so many different things that it's difficult to know where to even start to describe what watching it is like. Here we have a story about Donnie, a smart young man very ably play Jake Gyllenhaal, and his increasingly disturbing run-ins ...

Pros: Strong cast, director and script.

Cons: The high school sequence, Drew Barrymore.

The Bottom Line: "Overrated" doesn't neccessarily mean "crap". And if there is one current film that deserves to be overrated, this is it.

Review: You either hate or love Richard Kelly's 2001 cult classic "Donnie Darko," there is no in between. I find it hard reviewing the film seeing as how so much has been said about it already, good and bad. The story goes like this. Donnie Darko (Jake ...

Pros: Visually fun; interesting ideas

Cons: Even a generation-old cliche would have been preferable to this ending

The Bottom Line: Uncle! Uncle!

Review: In the beginning there is light. Specifically, the light of a crisp October dawn in Virginia (how do we know it's Virginia? I only found this out from b ilavideo's review), where Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhall) has ...

Pros: interesting visuals, interesting concepts

Cons: takes the original film into an entirely different direction - right off a cliff

The Bottom Line: This film tries to take the original film and recast it as a comic book. The result is a trainwreck. In the meantime, Kevin Smith ruins the commentary track.

Review: Director's cuts are a clever marketing tool. They make a re-release look new-and-improved. Far too often, however, they're a scam - or worse. Lucas's re-released Star Wars trilogy thankfully returned with only a few minutes of extra footage - at the ...