donnie darko Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It all started out so well. Timothy Olyphant is the man of the law, the local townsfolk are enjoying the start of the baseball season, and everything is sunny. When one of their own hits the field with a gun, however, he has no choice but to shoot the guy and save the rest. And then more folks start acting strange, things get eerie, people die, the government flies in, and the fight for life begins. It's the classic horror setup.

Then there's a quick cut and the music starts with f minor. Softly but surely, the '80s song that was slowed down and made infamous through a montage of tears plays as people run through burning streets, as the military moves in, as people are strapped to gurneys, as they all fight to stay alive. Yes, it might be a "Mad World," but Gary Jules is not suited for it. In Donnie Darko, the song was beautiful, gut-wrenching, and perfect for the tone at hand.

Taking a cue from the song: I find it kinda funny that they decided to go with the recent hit rather than going back to the original. Why? It actually fits. The low, electronic notes that carry the Tears for Fears version are eerie, and if you watch this trailer for The Crazies over at Apple, and start the original song at roughly 1:40, it lines up. Suddenly the increasing chills of the beginning are made creepier. Even some of the action is perfectly synched.

The town fighting The Crazies might be a "Mad World," but there's no room for somber melancholia in a horror trailer -- especially when it's a song already made famous with a perfect cinematic fit.

I'm not sure that much can really compare to Erik's inaugural choice (Footloose and "Let's Hear it for the Boy"), but the Tears for Fears montage near the beginning of Donnie Darko is, by far, my most favorite in years. I can't say why exactly, but the simple act of tipping the camera as the bus' back door opens -- with Donnie's feet hitting the ground in time with the music -- instantly charmed me, and my instantaneous love for the scene grew with each passing moment.

I was never a Tears for Fears fan, but my opinion started to change as "Head Over Heels" pulled us through the pre-bell morning. Usually there is a longer passage of time for montages, but this time around, things are just slightly sped so that we may spy on the power dynamics at Donnie's school -- the self-help obsessed teacher, the bullies, the loner, and Drew Barrymore's thinly veiled disgust of Sparkle Motion.

Of course, this scene is one of a few montages and music-led sequences in the film, and I'd be remiss not to mention the second-best, the other bookend to the film. Once again, it's led by Tears for Fears, but this time under a heart-wrenching delivery by Gary Jules. You can watch both after the jump.

All around me are familiar faces...

I'm on the record regarding my skepticism about the May 12th direct-to-DVD release of S. Darko, so I'll just incorporate this post here instead of rehashing the arguments. But I certainly don't wish the film ill (despite my tongue-in-cheek prior comments to that effect), and I kind of liked this viral video that their marketing folks have put together. If the movie is as creepy and mean-spirited as this little surveillance clip, it might be worth a look.

Donnie Darko was an old-school cult hit: it spread by word-of-mouth, in the face of goggle-eyed incompetence on the part of its distributor (Newmarket Films). The sequel has the benefit of a traditional marketing effort: internet ads are everywhere, and stuff like this video is supposed to build buzz. Given the modest expectations for virtually any direct-to-DVD release, I think there'll be enough interest in S. Darko for it to have some measure of success.

As for this clip, I hear this isn't the end of the story...

I'm starting to believe that our Eugene Novikov can see into the future.

He knew that I was going to say that Donnie Darko, while somewhat overexposed, holds up to this day as a uniquely poignant coming-of-age drama and not so much the "psychological thriller" as claimed on the back of the box. He knew that I'd be a bit more obvious and say that the sister-starring spin-off, S. Darko, sounds like no better of an idea now that it has a direct-to-DVD release date in April as it did when it was announced back last May.

And he probably knew that this newly released trailer, featuring plenty of time tubes and recurring quotes (though only one returning character), really wouldn't do much to change my mind that this is a tangential-at-best follow-up looking to cash in on something truly, terrifically unique. The thing is: he called it two days ago.

I'd like to be wrong, I really would, but when Richard Kelly can't be convinced to bother lending any sort of hand, skepticism seems as strong a course of action as any. (Care to tip us one way or another, Gene?)

It came to my attention today that: a) S. Darko is going direct to DVD on April 28th, with the hideous subtitle "A Donnie Darko Tale" and b) Cinematical has not made mention of this. The news is a couple weeks old, but I found (b) unacceptable.

Some films get so much acclaim in so short a time that it becomes sort of unhip to love them. Take American Beauty, for example: I don't think people who adored it when it came out (like me) changed their minds, I think they just sort of burned out on it. Similarly, Donnie Darko's "cult classic" status has been drilled into our heads to such an extent that to place it among one's favorite films seems like a faux pas. Call it overexposure.

But, uh: I love Donnie Darko. I recently got a chance to see the Director's Cut on the big screen: my fourth or fifth viewing of the movie, though the first of the Director's Cut and the first time on film. I do think the longer version gets a bit hung up on the arcane details of "The Philosophy of Time Travel," to its detriment. But even the slightly more self-indulgent cut is extraordinary, a wonderfully sad allegory about the teenage desire to escape -- no, transcend -- the phoniness, banality and evil of the everyday world. (In this sense, it's like a more earnest Catcher in the Rye.) Donnie Darko is also Exhibit A for why the Gyllenhaals are a big deal.

While I still think there's nothing cooler than the talking Tick I got a friend, this other (in)action figure is pretty cool. At some online outlets like Panik's Toy Box, you can pick up a foot-tall talking figure of Frank the Bunny. You know, James Duval's character from Donnie Darko.

As you can see to the right, Frank is chilling next to a mailbox, and you can choose to keep him at his bunny best, or switch the head and look at human Frank. The phrases that play include: "Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?" -- of course -- and "Do you believe in time travel?" As for the price, it's not too bad -- $34.99 -- and it's much more worthy than that damned director's cut. (Although the #1 fan bit rocks.)

Now we just need a Heathers figurine that belts out classics like "How very" and I'll be a happy camper.

A week ago, I finally tore through Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' acclaimed graphic novel, Watchmen, which I'd only recently prompted myself to make the time for after years of recommendations (the recurring threat of ending spoilers for a movie that I'd inevitably see was a catalyst unto itself).

It really is a tremendous work, and I'm as curious as anyone else to see how Zack Snyder's film turns out, but the one comparison that I kept coming back to was how much Watchmen reminded me of Richard Kelly's much-maligned Southland Tales, with each being a sprawling tale of an alternate reality in which several narrative threads are building towards the threat of a looming apocalypse.

Between that and the news of Kelly's latest being pushed back, I find myself tempted to give it another look-see -- especially since my first viewing wasn't exactly held in the most proper of environments. I'm sure that there's a method to Kelly's madness, but it's an indulgent, unpredictable film whose very story density I enjoyed more in and of itself. I doubt that I'd share those sentiments if instead first subjected to the three-hour Cannes cut, but if that version were ever released, I wouldn't be against giving it a spin. (My overall sentiments fall closer to Jette's.)

So, what say you, the readers? Did you see it? Did you finish it? Love it? Hate it? Or maybe, just maybe, did some of you land somewhere in between? (And for bonus points, what don't pimps do?)

.erutaef elbuod thgin yadirF s'lacitameniC ot emocleW*

Whether it's grown men in bunny suits or the addictive giggle of Melissa McCarthy, this week's double feature is all about alternate realities. While I'm not the biggest fan of many science fiction elements, I'm a sucker for a good story about worlds that are just a little bit off. When an eerie twist is mixed into scenes showcasing the life and environment we're all familiar with, a film changes from something we can guess into an intriguing puzzle to figure out, or endlessly argue about. (And it does so without traveling to unrecognizable, fantastical new turf.)

Tonight, we've got a film that really should get more play, plus one beloved cult classic. I give you: The Nines and Donnie Darko.

*Included at the request of a nerd friend of mine.

Each week, The Exhibitionist comments on the latest news, trends and innovations related to the theater industry, or it discusses long-continuing problems with and complaints against cinemas in general, or it simply relates a specific moviegoing experience of yours truly. But rarely does this column get into the subject of actual movies. Well, seeing as there's not much new in the industry this week, and seeing as I'm fortunately not being dragged to see Sex and the City and therefore have no experience to relate about being a sole male in an auditorium packed with women, I figure this is a perfect time to bring up actual movies. Not just any movies, though: I'm presently only interested in discussing movies about, set in or prominently featuring movie theaters.

The earliest movie that I'm familiar with that significantly involves a theater is Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. The silent comedian plays a projectionist who falls asleep on the job then has a dream in which he literally climbs through the movie screen and into a detective film. A similar idea of breaking the boundary between auditorium and screen is used in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo and in John McTiernan's The Last Action Hero, both of which involve a movie character who manages to leave his respective film within the film. But nothing tops Keaton's screen-entering stunt, which utilizes special effects that still astonish more than 80 years later.

So it looks like I have to disabuse myself of the notion that this story was some sort of fever dream or hallucination on my part. A Donnie Darko sequel, titled S. Darko, is happening, and Elizabeth Berkeley, that fearless queen of the C-list, has joined the cast. She will play "a speed freak-turned-Jesus freak whose sentiments about ridding the world of its exponential sin are rivaled only by her infatuation with her dreamy pastor." No word on who plays the dreamy pastor, but Berkeley joins Justin Chatwin, Ed Westwick and the original film's Daveigh Chase. Chase reprises her role as Donnie's sister Samantha, who leaves Sparkle Motion to go on a road trip with her best friend (Brianna Evigan) only to be plagued by nightmarish visions.

What's most curious about S. Darko is that while it has begun production, with television veteran Chris Fisher at the helm, I can't find word anywhere about who the screenwriter is. What gives? The stories about the film have given the impression that Fisher was hired by the producers to direct; if so, where did the project originate? It seemed to come out of nowhere earlier in the month.

I'm not sure any admirer of Donnie Darko can reasonably be optimistic about this sequel. The first film is so wonderfully self-contained that the very notion of a sequel is kind of heartbreaking. And it seemed so personal to maestro Richard Kelly that doing it without him (he's not involved in any way) seems offensive.