Resolutions 2015: Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Check out my review of Requiem for a Dream (2000) over at Cara’s Silver Screen Serenade for her series called Resolutions 2015. Thanks Cara!

Happy Friday, friends!!! Gees, has this been a long week for anybody else? It’s just like one of those that wouldn’t end! I have a feeling all of January is going to be like that. But, happily, there are still things to look forward to–like so many more Resolutions! That’s right, I’ve got another guest here today to check off another one from his rapidly shrinking list. I say “rapidly shrinking” because today’s guest is movie-reviewing machine Mr. MovieRob, who has never encountered a movie he can’t conquer. I mean, the guy’s reviewed more than 1,200 movies. Honestly, he’s probably only about a week away from finishing all movies since the invention of the camera, so I’m not really sure what he’ll do after that. 😉 Anyway, here are Rob’s thoughts on his resolution of choice:

I’m the kind of movie watcher that generally knows what kinds of movies I will enjoy and which ones are not my ‘cup of tea’

As a general rule, I stay far far away from Horror movies and enjoy movies with a straightforward structure more than ones that are completely abstract.

This movie, is one that I’ve been avoiding on purpose for close to a decade and a half.

A few of my friends tried numerous times to convince me to watch it, but it just sounded too “out-there” for me, so I distanced myself from ever trying to check this movie out.

I remember when Darren Aronovsky made his debut movie Pi (1998) and eventhough I thought it might be interesting, the thought of sitting thru an abstract movie just didn’t appeal to me enough. (Still have never seen it).

This movie was his second feature and once again, I avoided it like the plague due to it seeming too abstract for me.

Next came the movie The Fountain (2006) with Hugh Jackman and once again, I completely avoided it for the same reason.

Since then, I’ve seen all 3 of his subsequent movies; The Wrestler (2008), Black Swan (2010) and Noah (2014) and of them, the only one I didn’t hate (actually I loved it) was The Wrestler which starred Mickey Rourke in a role that was totally snubbed at the Oscars since he was slightly better than Sean Penn was in Milk (2008).

So basically the odds were stacked against me liking this movie from the start since of his 6 movies, I’d only seen half, liking just one, but I also knew about and actively avoided the other 3.

But since Cara INSISTED that I participate this year (JK. I wouldn’t miss one of Cara’s series), I decided to bite the bullet and watch Requiem for A Dream.

This movie was so boring to me because of the fact that the narrative was very abstract and too many aspects of the movie just weren’t straightforward.

I’m willing to admit that Aronovsky used many cool editing techniques in this movie, but ultimately the thousands of ‘cuts’ are distracting instead of helpful to moving the story forward.

I believe that the best way to perhaps appreciate this movie is by being stone drunk when watching it because the way it is presented makes one think that Aronovsky and crew were completely high on something when they filmed it.

Suffice it to say, I have once again been extremely disappointed by one of Aronovsky’s movies, but the fact that I really enjoyed The Wrestler (2008) gives me hope that one day he’ll make another movie that I can enjoy as much.

This one just didn’t even come close IMHO, but I’m probably in the minority because this is so high on the IMDB top 250 (currently #80).

Thanks Cara for at least helping me check this one off my list despite not liking it.

Sorry to hear this one wasn’t your thing, Rob! But you’re exactly right–it IS another one to check off your list, and I suppose that’s the gist of it all, huh? 😉 Have a good weekend, everyone! More stuff here on Monday!

Silver Screen Serenade

Happy Friday, friends!!! Gees, has this been a long week for anybody else? It’s just like one of those that wouldn’t end! I have a feeling all of January is going to be like that. But, happily, there are still things to look forward to–like so many more Resolutions! That’s right, I’ve got another guest here today to check off another one from his rapidly shrinking list.

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