Panic Room

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I ain't gettin' in no fryer!
What more can you say after seeing this other than WOW.

The latest film from David Fincher doesn't lose that adrenalin rush you get from each of his movies. It's an edge-of-your-seat roller coaster ride.

Jodie Foster does a wonderful job as does Forrest Whittaker, Dwight Yoakam, and Jerod Leto.

Cinematography is top-notch, but you expect that from Fincher.

I'll be posting a review on Panic Room on the main site, so when it's up, i'll update this post with a link to the review.

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg



Good thriller, and more good stuff from Fincher. I wouldn't rank it nearly as highly as SE7EN or Fight Club, but I liked it more than The Game. All five principal cast members were very good (even loved Andy Kevin Walker's cameo, but I admit I'm one of the few who is going to recognize the man - probably helps that I've met him). The camera work is fun and inventive, of course. I kinda wish Hitchcock had been around long enough to take advantage of these whiz-bang visual possibilities. But as no small consolation we have David Fincher, who apparently can design elaborate shots in his sleep.

Grade: B+
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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra



Panic Room A+
Directed by David Fincher
starring Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart,Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto and Dwight Yoakam


Up there with some of the best films I've watched at the movie theatre simpley outstanding filmaking

Amazing film that had my heart racing my adrenline pumping and had my @ss on the edge of the seat also some serious finger bitting action was going on.

Fincher creats so much tension with his shots the script was tight and all the actors where impressive. I think it's as great as Seven, Fight Club and The Game and Alien trails right behind those guys. Fincher has constructed a taunting thrilla, Panic Room is so incredibly handled with Precision, loving care and gentleness, a master of his craft.



It was a precisely made wondeful thriller, which is rare enough in this Jerry Bruckheimer day and age, but I don't go handing out grades of A+ so easily. Panic Room is very good, but doesn't have the multiple layers I see in SE7EN and Fight Club. Brauva filmmaking to be sure, and I recommend it unreservedly, but it's not "perfect". Not for me anyway.

As for biting my nails on the edge of my seat, I was just smiling the whole time, enjoying how well crafted it was, how Fincher was toying with the audience. Can't say it actually made my heart race though.

Love some of the smaller touches, like...
WARNING: "Panic Room" spoilers below
...when Raoul (Dwight Yoakum, who continues to impress as an actor) quickly bends down to scoop up his fingers as they exit the panic room. Great moment!

I don't know why, but somehow I had this weird feeling that the ending was going to have a...
WARNING: "Panic Room" spoilers below
...nod to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. I just re-watched Kubrick's The Killing a few days ago for the nine-hundredth time, and with that on my brain I just had this instinctual guess that Fincher was going to do the same thing with Panic Room's ending. Damn, how come I can't get these gut feelings about numbers and win the Lotto or something?


BTW, Forest Whitaker rocks real hard. Always has, always will. This doesn't require a complex performance like Bird or The Crying Game, but as he's shown in everything from Johnny Handsome to Smoke to Fast Times at Ridgemont High to Ghost Dog: the Way of the Samurai, the guy is just effortlessly watchable and dynamic on-screen. He can even turn in indellible performances in crud like Species and Blown Away. But when he's got a good script to work with and a first-class director - both of which Panic Room has in spades, the guy is flat-out amazing.



Guy
Registered User
Originally posted by Holden Pike
I don't know why, but somehow I had this weird feeling that the ending was going to have a...
WARNING: "Panic Room" spoilers below
...nod to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. I just re-watched Kubrick's The Killing a few days ago for the nine-hundredth time, and with that on my brain I just had this instinctual guess that Fincher was going to do the same thing with Panic Room's ending. Damn, how come I can't get these gut feelings about numbers and win the Lotto or something?

How did that one end?



OK, this'll say "spoilers concerning Panic Room", but it'll also have 'spoilers' (*GAG*, I'm sick of that retarded internet expression), for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Killing...

WARNING: "Panic Room" spoilers below
What I'm talking about in Panic Room is the fortune in barer bonds flying away into the circling winds, never to be seen again. The ending of John Huston's magnificent The Treasure of the Sierra Madre has the fortune in gold dust being blown away and mixed in with the regular old dirt. Kubrick's The Killing ends with the suitcase containing the stolen loot bursting open on the tarmac and the wind of the props blowing the fortune away instantly.


And if you haven't seen The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) or The Killing (1956), what in the HELL are you waiting for?!?



I liked Panic Room. I thought the cinematography kicked ass. As for the movie itself, it was good, but I was expecting to be really startled or on the edge of my seat, and I wasn't. I dunno why. I was more scared in Se7en when Brad Pitt was chasing that guy then I was in Panic Room. It was all around entertaining..
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Registered User
WARNING: "Panic Room" spoilers below
Ok, was it just me, or did you think something was up at the end when they showed Fosters ex-husband laying all beat up on the ground, then the black guy outside with the bonds flying everywhere, and then back and forth some more, and then zoomed in on Jodie's eyes? I thought something was gonna happen, or that there was some kind of connection, but the scene just ended. I thought she was gonna run outside and save the black guy, but nothing happened. Maybe i'm just crazy, but what does everybody else think?


ADMIN EDIT: spoilers tag added. You may learn to use them here: Spoilers Tag.



thats how it should have been. Great movie! Fincher should win a director academy award every year. I just think it would have been better if....

WARNING: "Panic Room" spoilers below
At the end when whitaker is caught by the police, i thought he should have gotten away. And instead of showing Sarah and her daughter looking for a new house, have him giving his poor children the money and stuff. I thought the ending was a downer, and made half of the audience walk out saying that it sucks.


Thats just my opnion, still go see this movie. The best part IMO was the slow motion getting the cell phone part. it was great!!!
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"Who comes at 12:00 on a Sunday night to rent Butch Cassady and the Sundance Kid?"
-Hollywood Video rental guy to me



Good movie...but not great. Maybe my expectations were too high. I agree, the slow-motion sequence was awesome. The camerawork was excellent...but there were few times in which I was truly tense. This may have been due, in part, to the fact that there was a mentally disabled person three seats from me who yelled out every few minutes semi-randomly. It took my mind off the flick each time.

Anyhow, I thought Foster was great, and I love Whittaker. I'm not nuts about the ending...and I still don't understand some of the decisions that were made throughout...

WARNING: "Panic Room" spoilers below
Why didn't she say anything at all to the cops when she was at the front door? For one, she wouldn't have to blink or anything. They weren't able to hear her. She could've easily explained what had happened and told them to be ready, but not move in, IMO. Unless I missed something there, of course.

Other than that, I don't feel the ending gave us what we needed. Whittaker goes to jail, I assume? It felt a little loose. Good movie anyway, however.



Now With Moveable Parts
Originally posted by TWTCommish

WARNING: "Panic Room" spoilers below
Why didn't she say anything at all to the cops when she was at the front door? For one, she wouldn't have to blink or anything. They weren't able to hear her. She could've easily explained what had happened and told them to be ready, but not move in, IMO. Unless I missed something there, of course.

Other than that, I don't feel the ending gave us what we needed. Whittaker goes to jail, I assume? It felt a little loose. Good movie anyway, however.
OH! I saw this movie, and we were all saying that. Also,
WARNING: "Panic Room" spoilers below
Why did they hold up signs to communicate with her? Hello, the intercome in the bedroom? Duh.



I ain't gettin' in no fryer!
Went and saw it again, and I think I know why the intercom was never used by them while they were outside of the room..

WARNING: "Panic Room" spoilers below
While she is moving about the house after being locked out of the room, she's smashing the cameras and Yoakam's character says, "Why didn't we think of that?" So it's obvious that they could've been pre-occupied and just simply forgot about it. Who knows.



Now With Moveable Parts
WARNING: "Panic Room" spoilers below
I guess, Kent...but Forrest sure seemed to know just about everything else about that room. I mean come on. A room like that, you don't put together in a few days. He really would have remembered about the intercom. He remembered where to feed that hose for the "propane idea" didn't he? It's not a big deal, it's just those little details that help dimminish the movie's integrity.



I ain't gettin' in no fryer!
Originally posted by sadesdrk
WARNING: "Panic Room" spoilers below
He remembered where to feed that hose for the "propane idea" didn't he? It's not a big deal, it's just those little details that help dimminish the movie's integrity.
WARNING: "Panic Room" spoilers below
Yes, but it's common knowledge that if you get into an air duct, you can do pretty much whatever you want.



While Panic Room bills itself as a hollywood flick with a genuine screenplay, established actors, and a well-known director, the true natrue of Panic Room can be described in one word: commercial. While watching Jodie Foster and her target demographic teen daughter sip coke and evian, even I had the urge to just do it, or whatever. As if this wasn't bad enough, the audience is forced to watch nearly a third of the movie over the impressive SONY logo which brands the TV's that are located in the "panic room" itself. Aside from this, the cast couldn't act, the story was long, boring, and impossible to follow (even though it is only shot in 1 location-makes for a cheap budget I guess). In the end, Panic Room is nothing more than a 2 hour tv commercial on a big screen. But what the hell, they got my 15 bucks.



Now With Moveable Parts
Wow. Can't act? Harsh words for the stars that were involved.



I ain't gettin' in no fryer!
Yeah, second time watching this I couldn't help but count how many different times the SONY name appeared on the screen.

It was on the TVs as Pokono pointed out (by the way, Welcome Joe Pokono), it was also on the phone inside the panic room. Also the Coke and Evian and all that other stuff just added to what Joe called it, a two-hour commercial.



Now With Moveable Parts
Yeah...well Castaway was one big Fed-Ex ad, and that doesn't change the fact that Tom Hanks is a good actor. Same with this...Jodie Foster, Forrest Whatever, and Jarod Leto...come on, that's a good cast; and they did fine. The little girl was a joke...but, it's to be expected. Hollywood always portrays children of divorce, all messed up.



I ain't gettin' in no fryer!
Forest Whitaker. say it with me now...F-O-R-E-S-T W-H-I-T-A-K-E-R

Most movies will have a lot of ads in them, it's expected, it's harsh to say that a person can't act though. Foster has been in some really good movies and has brought some good acting to the table, so has Whitaker, Leto, and while Yoakam has only been in one other flick, he did very well in this movie.



Okay, maybe I came across as a little harsh. I agree that Whitaker did a great job in The Crying Game, and Jodie was good in Taxi Driver (for her age) and really great in Silence of the Lambs. But have you seen Smoke? Wittaker stinks in that one. I'll admit that there were moments when Foster, and Whitaker, were able to temporarily pull me in and make me feel what was happening was "real" eg when Foster lets out a scream inside the room. But I don't think that the actors had a lot to work with, and when I compare this to other similar flicks like Fargo and, particularly, Shallow Grave the acting and the suspense simply fall short. I don't think that this movie ever found its rythm, either as a true suspense film or a dark comedy. The SONY and Coke adverpearence further diminish the atmosphere that the director was trying to establish. 1 last point, I noticed the kid say she learned morse code from watching Titanic. Is titanic a Sony pic, or am I just being too synical.