Shutter Island

Horrornews is a discussion forum for true horror fans to discuss the more obscure areas of the horror/cult/exploitation film genre as well as current theatrical horror.

Moderator: Chris Slack

Post Reply
User avatar
Remo D
Posts: 1285
Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2000 10:00 pm
Location: Marina, CA U.S.A.
Contact:

Shutter Island

Post by Remo D »

You know what? Some stories really AREN'T worth telling. And some movies aren't even worth REVIEWING. If only Disney hadn't beaten them to the punch, they could have called this one THE SHAGGY DOG.

Perhaps I'll get around to the details later--but rarely have I felt so uninspired.

Skip this one completely.
My dog's breath smells like peanut butter...

...and I don't even have a dog!
User avatar
Darth Tanner
Posts: 505
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 1999 10:00 pm
Location: Midlothian, VA U.S.A

Post by Darth Tanner »

I had thought about going to see this today but never got around to it. But reading your post Remo makes me think I'm not missing anything. I'd still like to read your review (if you're up to it) before making a final decision. Just curious....was your disappointment on the level of AVATAR or was this movie just bad like ASTRONAUT'S WIFE?
"I have existed from the morning of the world and I shall exist until the last star falls from the heavens. Although I have taken the form of Gaius Caligula, I am all men as I am no man and so... I am a God." - Malcolm McDowell, CALIGULA
------------------

[url=http://www.dvdprofiler.com/mycollection.asp?alias=ctanner5]My DVD collection[/url]
User avatar
Remo D
Posts: 1285
Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2000 10:00 pm
Location: Marina, CA U.S.A.
Contact:

Post by Remo D »

Darth Tanner wrote:I had thought about going to see this today but never got around to it. But reading your post Remo makes me think I'm not missing anything. I'd still like to read your review (if you're up to it) before making a final decision. Just curious....was your disappointment on the level of AVATAR or was this movie just bad like ASTRONAUT'S WIFE?
AVATAR was great for at least ninety minutes, and ASTRONAUT'S WIFE was significantly SHORTER. This is just a big "I can't believe you went to all this time, trouble, expense and overwrought gimmickry for THIS story?!" deal. More tomorrow, probably--but I can't get into it without serving up obvious spoilers just by HINTING at them... that's how blatant this thing is.
My dog's breath smells like peanut butter...

...and I don't even have a dog!
User avatar
Remo D
Posts: 1285
Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2000 10:00 pm
Location: Marina, CA U.S.A.
Contact:

Post by Remo D »

Okay, here's the thing about SHUTTER ISLAND. Please don't expect an in-depth review, and please note that I warned you that there's no way to approach it without getting into potential spoiler territory. That's the problem. One can't help BUT spoil the movie, which spoils ITSELF within five minutes! And just by SAYING that, well... now you see why I didn't even want to review the film. But if you really want to know more, press on.

Yes, I was annoyed when a Facebook wag posted his predictions about the film (which he hadn't seen) well before it opened, but even as I wished he'd kept it to himself, I had to tip my hat to his instinct.

How do I approach this? Let's take a timeworn premise from another series of films. When JACOB'S LADDER started off, I was afraid I knew where that was going, and no matter how else the rest of the (frequently engrossing) film played out, I still rolled my eyes at the fadeout.

Years later came THE JACKET. And when Adrien Brody got shot in the first few minutes, I said "Do NOT make this yet another film in which the guy was really dead all along!!!" And it wasn't. And I was very impressed.

I guessed the ending of THE SIXTH SENSE ten minutes in. But it didn't matter, because the film was so beautifully done and had told a terrific story (as opposed to an extended setup for a punchline).

I knew all about PSYCHO and THE EXORCIST years before I ever got to watch them. It didn't matter, because those films represented intense cinematic artistry and excellence.

So a movie DOESN'T have to be "ruined" by a spoiler. I concede that. That's not what killed SHUTTER ISLAND. SHUTTER ISLAND killed itself by wreaking the maximum amount of pompous cinematic portentousness over this weary old "madhouse mystery" business. This isn't cinematic profundity--this is the very definition of a tempest in a teapot.

Within five minutes or so, you already know that Leonardo DiCaprio has serious flashbacks and mental disturbances of his own, so do you think we're just going to get a "disappearance" mystery and leave it at that?

We sit through endless hallucinations and nightmares regarding Nazi atrocities and Michelle Williams as Leo's dead wife. And aside from rubbing unpleasantness in your face, they don't do a thing to enhance the character or--more importantly--move the story along. This is two hours plus of "we get it, already." Not once was I actually interested in what was being revealed on screen... I just waited and waited and waited for the ugly truth to finally appear, which, eventually, it did. Again, in your face.

I could salute the cast (mainly out of respect for their better films), I'll always acknowledge the greatness of Martin Scorsese even if he never makes a good film again, but I leave you with one last metaphor. Humpty Dumpty sat on a madhouse wall. And with THIS story, not all of Scorsese's horses or all of DiCaprio's men could put THIS hodgepodge together again. This story was simply NOT WORTH TELLING.

Your move.
My dog's breath smells like peanut butter...

...and I don't even have a dog!
User avatar
Rainbow Brite
Posts: 1081
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2001 10:00 pm
Location: Kirkland

Post by Rainbow Brite »

That's to bad, it was a fantastic book.
User avatar
Remo D
Posts: 1285
Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2000 10:00 pm
Location: Marina, CA U.S.A.
Contact:

Post by Remo D »

Rainbow Brite wrote:That's to bad, it was a fantastic book.
You know what? I'll bet it was!

MORE SPOILERS

There are things you can do in a book that you can't do in a movie. The movie gave us an important character name without actually spelling it, and it was an exotic name, so you couldn't exactly spell it in your head with certainty... now, in the book, the nature of the name could work beautifully, but when they reveal it in the movie, it was just a case of "How the hell were we supposed to pick up on THAT?" No worries, though--the movie had plenty of OTHER ways to blow the whole thing from the beginning...
My dog's breath smells like peanut butter...

...and I don't even have a dog!
User avatar
Notsogoodgirl
Posts: 1076
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2002 10:00 pm
Location: Tarentum, PA

Re: Shutter Island

Post by Notsogoodgirl »

That movie was gay, probably because leonardo decraprio has gay tendencies :dsmoke:
User avatar
Chris Slack
Posts: 5637
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 1999 12:00 pm
Location: Richland, WA USA
Contact:

Re: Shutter Island

Post by Chris Slack »

Notsogoodgirl wrote:That movie was gay, probably because leonardo decraprio has gay tendencies :dsmoke:
You should change your name to notsosmartgirl as your statement was really dumb.
Post Reply