Garbage


After seeing a top notch thriller set in one location throughout, which btw was Phone booth, I was tempted to see how they would do it with an elevator instead of a phone booth. The characters are so flat and unsympathetic, the flashbacks only hinder the pace of the movie when in fact they should drive the movie forward with backstory. The villain is too obvious in the beginning. The sadistic violence/sex was outdone and overused. The mere fact it was set in an apartment building and that no one happened to use the elevator, yet alone the girlfriend who just so happens to take stairs!!?? Bottom line: It felt like a movie, not an experience.

I don't see the "Genius" in Ed Doughtery's writing. In fact its based on a book, a book that probably never did well.

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idiot

the, building was empty and the girl did tried to use the elevator but it was obviously messed up.

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[deleted]

absolutley not. you was expecting an horror masterpiece, but it is little, smart and different thriller. a worth watching

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I haven't seen it yet, this comment hasn't put me off. Maybe it will actually get a DVD UK/US release one day. Sigh.

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[deleted]

[deleted]

I agree is complete garbage. The Italian producer were always a pain in the ass and very fussy about stupid things that had nothing to do with the real film. The story line was much better at first, when Karl actually had an alive wife and daughter and played in the beach. However they deleted those scenes, which were really good, just because the Italian imbeciles thought that even the American couch did not sound American. The result is a film that is not worth at all.

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Minor Spoiler

Phone Booth pussies out of the obvious bleak and downbeat ending it's heading towards whereas Blackout does not and in fact despite some of the weaknesses you mention the ending actually serves to make it a very clever and satisying film.

I suspect that's why you didn't like it, happy, unlikely, dumbass, hollywood ending versus nasty, upsetting, thought provoking ending.

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**Spoiler Alert**





Wow, that was incorrect on so many levels:

Firstly, the ending for this film is hardly unhappy. In fact, it pretty much conforms to the "happy ending" construct, with the slight exception of the Tommy character: the protagonist lives, the villain dies.

More importantly, an unhappy ending where the protagonist dies tragically does not usually make a good or thought-provoking film. In fact, it takes a very special kind of story and a very special kind of direction to ultimately justify a tragic ending, vis a vis Gladiator.

Phone Booth gave absolutely no indication of an "obvious bleak and downbeat ending". Its ending was hardly typically happy either, for one thing the antagonist never pays for his actions.

Personally, I feel the biggest reason we watch films, and perhaps violent films specifically, is for the cathartic pleasure of it. This is why violent films where, in the end, justice is finally served and the good guy wins over the bad guy work so well for MOST people. As for the realism aspect, is it realistic that Colin Farrell's character survives his ordeal in Phone Booth? Let me answer this by asking how realistic is it that a psychopathic killer traps Farrell's character in the film's given set of circumstances? I appreciate realism within a film's basic premise but if you're willing to accept the initial premise, why is it such a stretch to believe that the main protagonist could be a slightly braver or more resourceful version of the average person?

Happy endings do NOT equate to unlikely or dumbass, nor do nasty/upsetting endings equate to thought-provoking. My real curiousity, however, is whether you were this upset when the shark in Jaws gets blown to pieces while the sheriff in the film gets to live?

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hahah that was a good argument, let's go to law school together

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im on the fence about this movie
but i liked how it ended despite it feeling a bit out of place
but how was it thought provoking?

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Huge correction kgbellinger24, the greatest thriller to take place in one location is Hitchcock's classic Lifeboat!!! End of story

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this movie was truly awful...the dude playing the doctor seems to have been a regular guy abducted and forced to act in a movie! no skills at all!! acting is bad through out and the story is just so pointless..people stuck in a lift,which gives them ample time to think of all the crap they have done in their own lives.abysmal!!

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I agree, this movie was terrible. It wasn't scary, and it wasn't thrilling. This movie tried to be way too artistic with all the different camera angles, and the cheesy special effects only made the movie worse. The actor who played Karl was good in The Wire, I have no clue why he would ever agree to this kind of role. Someone above me said this movie was satisfying at the end- I disagree. I walked away wanting my two hours back, as well as the $1 I spent to rent the movie.

Take my advice- this movie SOUNDS interesting, but the writers totally *beep* up. Don't waste your time with this movie.

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[deleted]

I just got done watching it! I do not know what everyone's problem is, It was a good movie, very good acting and the whole plot of the elevator was that it stopped these people in their tracks.
Claudia had to get the picture for her grandmother.
Karl had to get home and cover up the murder.
Tommy had to get home and find the money to leave with his girlfriend.
The Broken elevator stopped them all!

I actually really liked this movie, it was shot beautifully, however some of the special effects weren't so special but they didn't hold this film back. Reminded me of Panic Room. i did however think the film was trying too hard.

I do not think this is garbage. Have you seen some of the other work that has came out of Hollywood and got a theatrical release. Have you seen 88 minutes? that is garbage. This is a good solid movie.
You's have very high standards those who find this movie garbage. lol



I <3 Scout Taylor Compton

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It was a pretty good movie in general. Sure, some of the acting (Karl) was inconsistent (Claudia and Tommy were ok, though), there were some weird things here and there (the lift dropping endlessly as if the building had 200 storeys, or the people's dialogues contradicting the clock as far as the amount of time they had been inside the lift), the plot was lacking. On the other hand, I was really caught off guard by the fact that Karl was a killer. Also, the action in the lift was pretty entertaining, although a bit short. The movie had potential. Maybe this would've worked out fine for an episode of a TV show in the vein of night Visions.

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I assumed the acting of the "Karl" character in the beginning was intentional. He's supposed to be a sociopath, and early on he's "acting" as if he's a real human being.

But yeah, I noticed the dialogue contradicting the timer that shows up "It's been 5 hours and we're already Lord of the Flies", yet it says "10 hours".

Meh, ok movie. Seen better and worse.

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But yeah, I noticed the dialogue contradicting the timer that shows up "It's been 5 hours and we're already Lord of the Flies", yet it says "10 hours".


That's not necessarily contradicting the movie... There's no reason to assume that characters in a story will always be correct. It could have been written as a deliberate mistake to show that the ordeal has interfered with their grasp of time... We don't see them looking at their phones or a watch after this comment, to check if what he says is infact right.







"I've been turned down more times than the beds at the Holiday Inn; I still try"

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Unfortunately there were many sloppy mistakes in this movie. Not only is the time frame screwed up but they can't even get the names on the wife's tombstone (Madox) to match with her husband's ID card (Maddox). Unless of course the wife kept her original name Madox and he coincidentally has the same last name but with an extra 'd'. This is just not a very good movie at all.

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Amber Tamblyn better than Aidan Gillen? Hahaha sure.

🐺 Boycott movies that involve real animal violence (& their directors) 🐾

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yeah im pretty much with u on this
there was a lot of solid direction of photography, but then it would get out of hand, I guess that would fall in the trying to hard category

but yeah
it wasn't horrible, and it wasn't awesome, it was just good
it has it's flaws but it has its successes as well

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I pretty much agree.

🐺 Boycott movies that involve real animal violence (& their directors) 🐾

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[deleted]

I knew I was in for a bore the moment the movie began. The music and images during the credits were just cheap and ridiculous - I actually laughed out loud during the credits.

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hmm i didnt love it or hate it really, i have seen movies far worse than this, the story had potential i think but i think it was slightly to predictable in parts!
the only reason i watched it was because it was on SkyAnytime and it sounded slightly intresting, but after watching it was quite a forgetable film!

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This movie was rather boring, in my opinion. Nothing kept me interested through the 90 minutes or so.

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While it may not have been the greatest movie ever made, it certainly was better than what you are giving it here. Yes, the villan was obvious, but I have to disagree with you on the characters being unsympathetic. The only character I DIDN'T feel sympathy for was the killer. His daughter, Tommy's girlfriend, the girl, all provoked sympathy. And you think some guy cutting up a girl, covering himself with salt, and then raping her is overused? What kind of snuff films are you into?

As to the building, it was clearly being renovated, and the girlfriend DID try the elevator, it didn't work. That's why she took the stairs. They even TOLD you that next to no one lived in the building, they said that right up front.

No, this film was no "genius" or groundbreaking, but it was thrilling at points, sympathetic at others, and had me wanting to watch till the end.

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TonyC4444 wrote "As to the building, it was clearly being renovated, and the girlfriend DID try the elevator, it didn't work. That's why she took the stairs. They even TOLD you that next to no one lived in the building, they said that right up front."
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Agreed; the filmmakers weren't guilty of leaving an implausibility in the story with the long interval between the elevator breaking and the lone survivor being found. They covered themselves, there.

And for me, all performances were good. I had no problem with the actors, or with the premise. I much prefer the non-supernatural premise of Blackout to the "you MUST believe in the supernatural" message of the M. Night Shyamalan-produced Devil.

My reason for down-rating Blackout is that the material isn't shaped. It's simply a Slice of Life (assuming your life includes getting on an elevator with a sadistic sociopath and then going through hours of waiting for rescue after the elevator breaks).

'Slice of Life' and 'Thriller' are genres that don't mix well--a maxim for which Blackout is Exhibit 1.





(Also, the '200-floor drop' at the end didn't help--it was laugh-inducing.)

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