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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0799934/ apparently this movie is only out not for all theaters, but id doing quite well in the box office. The movie was quite fun and enjoyable. One of the things I came into this movie, was hoping that Jack Black wasn't playing his typecasted doofus/loudmouth character. The director as well, was something I was hoping to see work on this film in ways close to or having some reference to Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. I was disappointed on both cases. Jack Black, AGAIN, is playing his usual character, but this time, with glasses. Ofcourse he plays it well, and his interactions with others is comical. Mos Def and Danny Glover play good roles and act wonderfully. The setting is in Passaic, in a little town that isnt doing to well, but is trying to rebuild. There was one big point of the movie I just didn't like, in which Jack Black gets "magnetized" by the electric plant. Everything else was realistic, but man that scene was bad and disgusting, how they had to think of ruining the VHS tapes so the movie could get on, and that this was the way. pathetic. BUT if you can get by that part, just shrugging it off, the movie still goes on fine. One scene I really liked, and showed some of the trap door ingenuity of the director was the continuous scene where they are filming all the films, and it shows them just acting out all the movies in one run I was hoping for the movie to show more of them actually making movies, but whatever I guess. The plot was decent, wasnt really that revolutionary, but it worked. The movie flowed smoothly throughout. The ending was kinda cheezy but heartwarming as well. pretty sure you could see that ending coming =p Overall pretty good. 3.5/5
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Mar 6, 2008 01:20
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 20:10 |
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I agree, Jack Black playing his usual character was kind of annoying. However, it felt like that was the point of his character for this movie, he had to be completely annoying. Even the other characters found him annoying and awkward. I also agree with Jack Black's bit being magnetized as incredibly unrealistic, but at the same time it felt necessary. The pacing was kind of interesting. For the first big chunk of the movie, I was trying to figure out where it was going. For the rest of the movie, it started to pick up speed nicely, fleshing out the true message the film was trying to bring out to the audience. The end, although slightly abrupt, was very heartwarming. I might have been stretching the interpretation of the movie while I saw towards the end, where the camera pans over everyone who made the film, watching each other play their roles and being a part of the community , but it threw out a bit of an emotional curveball, in suggesting that there is a certain charm and magic to movies that can get lost in big budget special effects and CGI. Being a part of your own movie brings out that magic, and watching it bring out emotions in others and entertain is one of the ultimate goals of filmmaking. Yes, maybe I did read into it a bit much. Overall, it was a very charming film, and seeing the myriad of movie references was incredibly entertaining, ESPECIALLY the ghostbuster bit and the 2001 A Space Odyssey bit . Jack Black is annoying, and Mos Def as well as Danny Glover give an alright performance. 3.5/5
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Mar 14, 2008 05:31
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I thought Mos Def's performance was pretty bad through the beginning of the movie until they started to shoot their Sweeded movies, but maybe that was just how the character was to be played. The most hilarious part of the Jack Black getting magnetized part was when he shows up in the video store beforehand and his face is covered in grime, but then when he and Mos start to break into the power plant you can see their suits completely blend into the chain link fence. This was the funniest shot in the movie to me. Overall I enjoyed it, 3.5/5
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Mar 24, 2008 05:08
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Sigourney Weaver played one hell of a bitch. Was the steamroller really necessary? I thought it was pretty good. 3.5/5
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Apr 9, 2008 02:53
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I really liked it. Some scenes were absolutely hilarious, some were clever, most were at least amusing on some level. 4/5
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Apr 9, 2008 07:01
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Michel Gondry is an artist who has never quite conformed to American filmmaking, in which we demand either complete fantasy or complete reality. Amélie world doesn't exist here. With Eternal Sunshine, Gondry and Charlie Kaufman were able to incorporate dodgy but believable sci-fi that set up the premise so Gondry could work his storytelling magic. With Be Kind Rewind, however, the premise is just slightly less grounded in reality. Perhaps if Tom Wilkinson had stepped in to explain the science behind Jerry's magnetism, the first half of the film would have worked better. As it is, you have to just sit back and accept it. It's probably the trailer's fault that we're anxious to get past the backstory and on to the premise, but that's the price you pay for promotion. Once Jerry (Jack Black) and Mike (Mos Def) set to filmmaking, all is well. A story of humor and unabashed sentimentality that delivers at least one painful gut-punch, Be Kind Rewind explores the ideas of community, shared history, and the power of myth. I found it particularly poignant when a frustrated Jerry tells Mike that people only live in Passaic because they have nowhere else to go (having just moved to the dying town of Syracuse, I felt this acutely). The movie is thought-provoking and touching, and at times it's very very funny. 4/5
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Apr 21, 2008 04:13
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I liked the DIY movie-making scenes in this--unfortunately the rest of it was lame and contrived. The conceit of this movie boiled down to Big Corporations = Bad, Small Business = Good (and Quirky!). Be Kind Rewind tries to identify with the little guy, but besides being quirky in a superficial way, it does very little to subvert the usual Hollywood standards. The evil Land Developer wants to turn the unsuccessful movie store into condos for gentrifying yuppies, and the neighborhood has to band together in a race against time to save it--a plot courtesy of Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. The main charcters are all dull as dogshit and do little to show they're worth rooting for. And their "Sweding" business meets its end--appropriately enough--with a steamroller, tacked-on and unconvincing. The movie was built-out from that one good idea, and it shows.
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Jun 15, 2008 19:12
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I agree with the above sentiment that the message this move try's to send is that Big business is bad and small business is good. I think that this is a worth while message, but I don't think that Be Kind Rewind is a worth while movie. Judging from the previews, I thought that this was going to be a comedy, but the laughs are pretty few and far between. The film actually didn't show many remade movies as I had hoped. Pretty much Ghostbusters, Rush Hour 2, and a very short montage of about 5 other movies. Other than that, this comedy didn't really have any jokes in it. Jack Black is playing is usually irritating self in this film (I only ever liked him in 'The Jackal') and Mos Def (who is usually someone I do like alot) came off as half-hearted in his performance. All and all I can't really recommend this film to much of anyone. 1/5 (would do 1.5 if we had half points)
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Jun 30, 2008 04:01
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My review is pretty much the same as the two directly above this post. I found the movie very slow-paced with not much wit and very few jokes. All of the characters were played as if they had IQs of about 85. The twists and turns taken out of necessity to advance the plot were fairly annoying and ruined the immersion. Only the middle third of the movie was any good. I hated the beginning. I really, really hated the beginning. However, it didn't compare to the end. I actually stopped watching as soon as they started interviewing the neighborhood people for the final film; I just found it so dull that I couldn't sit through the last 20 minutes. 2/5
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Aug 10, 2008 05:25
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Pacing was slow and the dialog and plot devices were contrived. The movie suffers from the very thing that made the "sweeded" movies bearable. Length. Although the plot, the general concept and the execution are all great the filler gapped in between all these things really draw down on the film's presentation. Unfortunately they could have sweeded their own film instead of gunning for a feature length presentation. There's nothing wrong with a short film that gets the message across and still remains charming. Whether it was a producer's decision or a creative one the fact that the movie churns on after 45 minutes was a poor, poor decision. 3.5/5
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Aug 14, 2008 01:51
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I watched this on a Korean Air flight and was appalled by how loving boring it was. Michel Gondry is a visionary director, but this movie somehow manages to lack the creative vision he shows in his other films.
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Aug 22, 2008 09:32
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Like the poster above me, I watched this on a plane. From the ads I'd expected a fairly straight-forward 'homage' comedy, which was just spoofs with bits of plot in between. Sadly though, there was way too much plot, Jack Black and Mos Def were both irritating and unlikeable, and the ultimate goal of the film confused me. It aimed for a combination of comedy and melodrama, and failed at both. But, I suppose, it kept me relatively amused for an hour and a half on the flight. 2/5
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Aug 23, 2008 19:14
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There was something a bit.. off about this movie. And not in the way one might expect. What I think was "off" was the director - Michael Gondry. Usually known for making quirky films that exist in a sort of alternative reality, this film seemed desperate to try to harness the creative energy that Gondry obviously carries and make it into a traditional, run of the mill Hollywood film. The parts of the movie that are very much Gondry are loving incredible. I personally was floored by the trompe l'oiel camo at the beginning of the movies, and the scenes in which they were re-making movies was great in that it kept you guessing what movie it was that they were doing. Unfortunately the rest of the movie was pretty much crap. And this isn't so much a "HURR THE SWED-ED MOVIE SEGMENTS WERE FUN. SHOULDA DUN MOREATHAT" type comment, as it is my saying that I don't think the stuff around those scenes really fit with the movie. Jack Black was.. well Jack Black and didn't really belong in the movie (even if his scenes did setup the (ridiculous) premise). I usually LOVE Mos Def, but quite frankly he acted stupid in this movie. Not in a "I hate the way he did that!" way but a  way. Danny Glover wasn't much better. I would have loved to have seen more interactions with him and his Old-Harlem friends, but no, that had to make way for the much less interesting plot about him preaching about how to adapt his failing business to be more "Blockbuster-like." An irony, considering Blockbuster is quickly going down the tubes. 3/5 as I didn't HATE the movie, I just didn't really like it all that much. It's worth watching, as anything Michael Gondry makes is. But just don't expect Enternal Sunshine.
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Jun 2, 2009 12:12
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The Perfect Element posted:
This is a completely accurate summary for me. Misleading trailers and an eye-rolling plot made me hate this movie. 1/5
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Jun 7, 2009 16:31
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I'm a big Gondry fan. His previous two films, Science of Sleep and Eternal Sunshine, both did an amazing job blending a supernatural element with real life in a believable manner. They also smoothly blended comedy and emotion throughout the length. Between the previews and Gondry's tendencies in his other movies, Be Kind Rewind was a massive letdown. Making an attempt at mainstream with Jack Black performing his usual role wasn't a good idea. The supernatural element was executed horribly and, while amusing, kept me from being "brought into" the movie. The biggest problem I had with it was the sudden change halfway through. Rather than the blending of comedy and emotion, the movie was practically split in half. The first part was all laughs and good times, the second was the struggle to keep afloat and bringing in all the kids to make a tear-jerker "town comes together" ending. Not Gondry's good standards at all, and certainly not something I would have seen/bought without seeing if it didn't have his name on it. 2/5
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Jun 21, 2009 22:02
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