Magnolia, Donnie Darko and Requiem for a Dream

Heh. I'm only going on comparison from people my age. No one knows Mulholland, but everyone knows, loves, and understands Donnie Darko.

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Idunno about that, I think you and I are around the same age (19 here) and I know plenty of people who have either seen or heard of Mullholland Dr. They may hate it, but they do know about it. Actually, probably more so than Donnie Darko.

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Well, okay.
My point is this: The fans hail the movie as this huge success but the movie makers themselves probably thought it was going to be a flop based on ticket sales. It only got big after it came out on DVD. It's one of those movies people sit around and try to figure out what happened. I hate to say, "cult-classic" but it's got all the symptoms.

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How many people posting on this thread have seen, The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys ? I think if you liked Donnie Darko, you'd like this other film.

In mid-1970s Savannah, two bright but rebellious boys, Francis Doyle and Tim Sullivan, fight boredom, hormones and harsh teachers as they struggle to find something meaningful beyond the walls of their parish school. Francis, an exceptional artist whose imaginative forays into a fictional universe of good and evil fill his notebooks with comic-book imagery, creates a netherworld of superhero alter egos for the two boys. When the ultra-strict Sister Assumpta seizes their artwork one day, the boys embark upon an obsessed trail of revenge that ultimately changes their lives. Sister Assumpta is played by Jodie Foster, good movie.

I have to agree on the issues that Donnie Darko has, but I still like it quite a bit, maybe it's just the feeling the film gives me while I watch it. I consider Mulholland Drive to be Lynch's masterwork, and it's one of my favorite films of all time. Of course, one film was a freshman attempt, the other falls quite late in the directors career, and it shows...

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*Shrug*

Here at BU, it is not a well known film. Most people I've shown it to have liked it, however.

We must have posted at the same time because I didn't see this post. I agree. Most people I know that are movie buffs, didn't hear about Donnie Darko whilst it was in theaters. After it was available to rent, people started buzzing.

Loved Magnolia, not a huge Tom Cruise fan so thought that might be a problem but he was great in it. Donnie Darko was good but not how I'd imagined. I was so excited to see it because of all the hype about it being so dark and like David Lynch. I hate the way anything that's slightly odd is compare to Lynch, it was nothing like his films, arghh!!
Loved Requiem for a Dream, really harsh, just as it ought to be for a drugs film, none of that Trainspotting crap.

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Requiem for a dream isn't a bad movie, but if you happen to have any experience in the drug/crime world, it seems a bit exploitative and silly. Very stylized and nifty but not a favorite. It always strikes me as something that teenagers will - and do - love, and emulate without really getting the point of. Or maybe I didn't, who knows? But I read the book while I was in prison for selling drugs and it felt the same way. By far, it would be the most accessible, least challenging of the three.
Donnie Darko is incredibly creative. It's what I would recommend if I had to pick out of the three for somebody. It's not as accessible as Requiem, but not nearly as challenging as Magnolia. I liked it when it first came out but all of the people I knew who LOVED it kinda irritated the **** out of me and it was hard for me to distance the movie from it's fans. However, years later, I was stuck way out in the country with no ride and only a few movies to kill time with and the directors cut of Donnie Darko was one of them. (I recommend the directors cut, the music is different and there is a bit more to it. Also, the commentary has Kevin Smith with the director). There is a great sense of distance, a feeling like everyone is lost in the world, but there seems to be a governing force guiding things in the right direction. It seems very dark but in the end it really isn't. Also, there's Katherine Ross, who played Elizabeth in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. She's Donnies therapist and while it's a small role, one of the most powerful scenes hinges on her dialogue.
Magnolia I just watched again for the first time since right after it came out at my girlfriends house on VHS. It was one of those movies that took two tapes. I didn't pick up on a lot of the great things in it when I was younger but watching it now, I really enjoyed it once i got used to the intensity. Watching 9 different characters go entirely to pieces for a little over 3 hours is a bit trying but enjoyable if you're in the right mood. It's done well. Heavily stylized, but not the way that Requiem For A Dream is. There's very little about Magnolia that attempts to be cool, just creative. He really goes out on a limb with some things but I can't fault any of it as unnecessary or pointless. Part of the appeal is how well played things feel.

What an old thread.

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Hah! No ****. When I wrote the post I'd thought I was posting on something I'd looked at from last year. Hope my info was helpful. LOL