I guess I'm the only one…
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Brysonashultz — 17 years ago(January 01, 2009 09:59 PM)
I don't understand what was so difficult to understand about it.
Sure, it wasn't great, but SERIOUSLYhow can you say it was terrible or one of the worst movies ever made? That's just and ignorant statement. It was fun, I was entertained, it made me contemplate the actual murder, but it lacked that mise een scene (sp?) that's quite undefinable but makes the film.
6/10
"Long live the New Flesh!" - Videodrome -
JacktheDullBoy — 16 years ago(June 28, 2009 11:06 PM)
You are not the only one! I agree with everything you've stated! Except for the part where you say how hot Josh Hartnett is, but that doesn't have much to do with the film itself, haha.
It was a well made film, it was well acted, well directed, the camera and cinematography was amazing.
I'm a member of this minority as well!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. -
jorgddh — 16 years ago(July 13, 2009 03:59 PM)
The reviews here in Spain were mostly positive. People hated the movie in USA because they were expecting a more deeper approach on the case, and not a story about two cops obssession with the Black Dahlia.
Anyway, I think that Fincher's three hours project in BW would have been awesome! -
tieman64 — 16 years ago(July 14, 2009 10:44 AM)
I hated "Black Dahlia" when I saw it in theatres because, like everyone else, I didn't think it stacked up well next to "LA Confidential".
Flash forward a couple years and I now think it's one of De Palma's greatest films. "LA Confidential", in comparison, now seems filled with cliches. How many movies do we need where the "fatherly boss" is actually the "secret bad guy"? "Monster's Inc", "The Fugitive", "La Confidential", "Minority Report" etc etc, it's all the same thing.
"Black Dahlia", in contrast, is so murkly, so labyrinthal, that you get completely lost in its world. It's only upon second and third viewings that the viewer, like a detective, begins to cutlass his way through the plot, clues slowly coming into focus.
Noirs like "The Maltese Falcon", "The Big Sleep", "Black Dahlia", "The Big Lebowski" and "A Scanner Darkly" are, in the long run, much more interesting than more action oriented fare like "La Confidential". With plots so dense they verge on annoying, these are the noirs which reward repeat viewings and tend to age best.
"Rape is no laughing matter. Unless you're raping a clown." -
waddayanuts — 16 years ago(August 21, 2009 08:46 AM)
Noirs like "The Maltese Falcon", "The Big Sleep", "Black Dahlia", "The Big Lebowski" and "A Scanner Darkly" are, in the long run, much more interesting than more action oriented fare like "La Confidential". With plots so dense they verge on annoying, these are the noirs which reward repeat viewings and tend to age best.
I mostly agree but I wouldn't include A Scanner Darkly. The plot is quite simple when you think it over. Thus, I was surprised that your entire review of it deals with the plot.
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Spoilers follow
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To me, it isn't the plot that makes the film interesting. It's just a pretty forgettable plot with a twist in the end.
The interesting aspects is how Linklater in his typical fashion shows the environment and the public feeling by merely showing a little group of people talking together about nothing. The film is packed with those seemingly irrelevant astrays from the plot. Like the scene with the bicycle. It's a brilliant scene which exaggerates the general paranoia that must exist in a surveillance society. And the plot is only interesting in that perspective, I think. It basically tells us that the government is feeding the citizens with a drug that makes them paranoid as an excuse of doing extreme 24/7 surveillance, which also makes people paranoid. On both levels this film is about paranoia in a government-controlled society and that's exactly what Linklater so efficiently shows with all the talkative scenes that aren't related to the plot.
The Dude abides -
PhantomPhan222 — 16 years ago(October 07, 2009 02:53 PM)
"How many movies do we need where the "fatherly boss" is actually the "secret bad guy"? "Monster's Inc", "The Fugitive", "La Confidential", "Minority Report" etc etc, it's all the same thing."
Yeah but remember that aside from 'The Fugitive', 'L.A. Confidential' came before all those other movies. And the novel which had the self-same plot twist, came before any of those movies.
"People always sing 'Part of Your World' at auditions that's why I only know one lyric." -
hdervic — 16 years ago(July 15, 2009 10:35 AM)
I liked it. My only criticism doesn't concern the movie itself, but De Palma's choice to follow the fictional Black Dahlia novel's conclusion. I would rather he left the audience suspended at the end. Maybe bringing us close to several possible endings, but leaving us guessing and consumed. Kinda like what really happened. If any film maker is capable of pulling out before a climax it is De Palma. Otherwise, I quite enjoyed the movie. Fiona Shaw steals her scenes with aplomb. I had to rewind and watch the dinner scene twice! She rocks!
Stanislacker -
Kashtaristhereaper — 16 years ago(July 28, 2009 06:12 PM)
I enjoyed the film. I watched it as the conclusion of my Noir trilogy. Sin City, Twilight (the good one with paul newman) and this rock. there ought to be a box set, if it weren't different studios.
"I did it thirty-five minutes ago."
Watchmen
I AM ONLY LIVING OUT A LIE!!! -
rob-hymer — 16 years ago(August 18, 2009 12:19 PM)
You're not the only one. I was quite impressed with how close to the original source material the film was. OK, so none of the characters were attractive - It's based on a James Ellroy book, an author for who there are no good guys, only levels of damaged. It captures the nihilism and moral ambivalence better than I'd given a Hollywood film credit for, and even though (having read the book) I knew the ending, a good cast kept the suspense throughout.
I can see this one being reappraised as a lost classic in ten years time - and not as 'pure torture porn' as some mentalist put it. -
Nephilim-6 — 16 years ago(September 15, 2009 04:53 PM)
Just saw this. I read the negative reviews and I was hoping for a serious thriller before I started watching BUT I got a really cool film noir-ish 90's style comic book type of movie.
After about half an hour I gave up on realism and the thing just worked for me.
Did you ever notice that people who believe in creationism look really un-evolved? - Bill Hicks -
forksforrests — 15 years ago(June 09, 2010 02:59 AM)
I enjoyed it. Although it was very bizarre at times, but's something I could watch again. It was complex and visually perfect. Good movie, and I would ive it more than the 5/10 it got on this site.
Josh Hartnett wasn't that great in his rolebut whatever.
"Contempt loves the silence, it thrives in the dark" -Merchant
