MovieChat Forums > The Penitent Man (2010) Discussion > Reviews MUST be written by shills

Reviews MUST be written by shills

posted 11 years ago by kay_rock
20 replies | jump to latest

Wow. I can't believe some of the lines coming out of the so-called "reviews" of this film. It's one thing to hire one person to laud your attempts, but getting your mother and all of your friends to chime in as well is just... embarrassing.

The concept is great. Truly. But the dialog is SO horrible that not even the few decent actors in the film could make it sound natural. There are some fundamental rules of dialogue that were ignored, destroying any hope of flow. It often sounds like an essay being read in turn by multiple people, with a few awkward lines thrown in here and there to try to give the illusion that it isn't actually a monologue. Again, the concept is solid and the "essay" itself is fascinating, but there is not a single scene that truly plays like a natural conversation.

Some of the film editing also came across as very amateurish, but it could have been overlooked if it wasn't for that awkward, painful, cringe-worthy, unnatural dialogue. The combination gives the entire film the feel of a high school project put together by a socially stunted but very bright child.

The ironic thing is that the subject is JUST erudite enough that I'm sure the writer chalks up any criticism to stupidity on the part of the viewer. It's a shame. It's always better when smart people are willing to learn.

I'd love to see this film again were it remade by a talented writer and an experienced editor.

[–] MirrorImagesLTD 11 years ago

No one's mother associated with this film wrote any sort of review. Though, I am certain some of the people who did watch this film, and possibly review it on this site and others, are themselves mothers.

You are welcome to like or not like any film you please. But to personally attack the people responsible for making it simply because you did not enjoy it? That takes it to a whole other level. At that point, the person who really starts to look foolish is you. Any attempt to shed light on even the possibility that a given film has significant issues is vastly overshadowed by your down right anger.

Use your education to make yourself heard, to criticize, and even to educate. But didn't they teach you in Kindergarten that hate leads nowhere?

Hopefully you will enjoy my next film, "Matt's Chance" a little more. It'll be hitting the festival circuit and released shortly after. Maybe you can come to one of the screenings and share your hate with me in person. I would love to hear your thoughts! :)

Nicholas

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] MirrorImagesLTD 11 years ago

IMDB is a public database not just for "fans". IMDB is for anyone who appreciates, likes, dislikes, or even casually watches. I've been to many of the biggest festivals where people were so amazed, touched, and motivated by a small film they'd seen, that it compelled them to sign up for IMDB or another site, and post something about the film.

This same train of thought applies for people who hate a film. I've seen and heard of several people who will go out of their way to sign up for a website to post something about a film because something compelled them to.

Because people have written reviews for my film and haven't on others does not mean "conspiracy." To even use the word conspiracy is laughable. It simply means that these people saw a small film that no one had said anything about, and decided to do something about it.

And if I'm not mistaken, out of the 9 reviews I see on IMDB, 2 or 3 are negative.

Now, if you take Netflix as an example, your claims become immediately invalidated. Over 25,000 people have watched this little film on Netflix since it debuted two months ago, and an overwhelming number of reviews have poured in. Some negative, and some extremely positive. I believe this film currently sits with a 3.2 or 3.3 rating on Netflix.

I stand by my point. The previous poster's hateful comments, as well as your use of the word "conspiracy" are ridiculous.

Regards,
Nicholas

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] cary_howe 11 years ago

Why do some people feel like they have to trash everything? It's a clever film that held my attention, that puts it over 99% of the trash made these days. It's a gold watch loop but not the origin of the loop the loop as already closed. The worst thing is the little explanation at the end. I would have largely cut out the hospital scene. Most can't resist over explaining which takes out some punch. It's a low budget film and most of your criticisms were that it wasn't slick enough. Stick with Michael Bay films. They're slick and you don't have to think very much. You'll be happier.

[–] MirrorImagesLTD 11 years ago

Thanks very much for the support :) I agree that in retrospect the hospital scene was quite long, and I would have gone back and restructured the ending to allow for the hospital scene to be dispersed and intercut between other scenes.

And I also must admit that I love Michael Bay movies :)....except Transformers 2. Nothing excuses that ;).

[–] camoor 11 years ago

I think it's cool that the director came in this forum to reply!

The movie was good but IMHO the reviews are over-the-top.

The only part of the movie I skipped over were most of the scenes with the wife and most of the hospital stuff, I thought those scenes were unnecessary and the woman playing the wife was not a good actress (or was not given a good role, whatever). Next time I'd skip the emotional baloney and focus more on the three guys (have you ever seen Primer, they focus on the interesting time travel stuff and keep the slice of life filler to a minimum)

The conversations were intriguing but a bit ethnocentric (for a guy talking about the end of the world it was all Jesus this and western culture that), but even so the dialogue was definitely better then 90% of the movies out there.

Who cares if the dialogue didn't sound natural, it's scifi. Hit scifi shows like ST:TNG don't have natural dialogue, but it doesn't really matter because the stories are so interesting.

Lastly that guy playing the old man was awesome.

[–] MirrorImagesLTD 11 years ago

Fortunately there is no ego behind the positive reviews or how grateful I am for the amount of support this film has received. There is also no ego towards the understanding that this film is far from perfect, and I doubt any of its supporters are under any delusions that it is. They simply found things that resonated within the film.

As I've stated above, if you take issue with the reviews on imdb, please read the 200+ reviews on Netflix and over 52,000 views that have given the film a balanced 3.3 star rating. This rating indicates that while the film is not perfect, there are many out there that enjoyed what it had to offer.

Again, apologies that you could not find the film entertaining like many others have, and hopefully I can produce something more to your liking in the future.

Best wishes,

Nicholas

[–] eightbitsofhorror 11 years ago

While there are quite a few fake reviews for every movie mine was truly based of watching it on Netflix. Please respect the fact that the director actually visits the board and comments if you dont like it rate and say your piece tastefully

[–] elchileverde 11 years ago

apparently someone never watches independent films or debut films by a first-time directors/filmmakers...and really lack of tact and silly to think that positive reviews listed here need to be by the filmmaker's family members.

I finally viewed The Penitent Man after wanting to see it for a long while. Lance Henriksen fans have talked about this movie and recommended it. I applaud you Nicholas for a fine sophomore contribution to the screen. Certainly it wasn't a masterpiece but pretty rare to get that for an independent film production on a small budget with a crew that might not have the experience nor time to dedicate to refining the work to everyone's satisfaction. I've worked around films with slightly larger budgets and have friends that still have yet to release their first film to the general public...The Penitent Man was a better film the other two that I have a somewhat intimate familiarity with. A lot of praise to Lance though for really shining as Mr. Darnell. Lathrop Walker was decent as Dr. Pyatt, as well as the rest of the cast IMO did a satisfactory jobs for their roles. The concept was great, script was okay though as mentioned, it was dialog heavy and could have used some cutting down/revisions in places to come across more natural and appealing to the audience. As I understand this was a very quick production, from writing to filming to editing...so it's impressive that we have a film worthy of festival selections, that proper care was taken with the breakspeed process.

I'll keep my eye out on future films...congrats again Nicholas

[–] MirrorImagesLTD 11 years ago

Thank you for the kind words and due criticisms. I'll always be striving to make bigger and better movies with each effort, and each person's support helps fuel that drive to progress. Thank you again.

Nicholas

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] mver 11 years ago

I think it's spelled "Flaccid"....otherwise, stunning review.

[–] sanmentolabs 11 years ago

I think the shills are the naysayers on this film. "High school project" lol you people have no idea what a low budget film is, and this is far from a high school production.
What do you expect for a 500k film? The acting is fine, the concept/dialog is interesting and the camera work is competent.

What do you want, explosions every 5 minutes accompanied by cute one liners? Pfft, everyone's a critic, and unfortunately those "critics" suffer from ADD and fidget if there's more than 5 minutes of dialog with no action in a film.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] sanmentolabs 10 years ago

Herbert, are you a GOP strategist by any chance;)

[–] MirrorImagesLTD 10 years ago

I'll say this several times in my life I'm sure... I am well aware that this film is not perfect. In fact, there are many small things I would change. And I'm sure that will be the case throughout my career.

However, I will continue to be grateful to the thousands that have reached out to me after having seen this film via Netflix or iTunes or another platform, to tell me how this film touched their lives in some small way.

Messages like those reassure me that many people do walk away from this little movie feeling something, which as a filmmaker, we can only dream to achieve.

I find the arguments this film rouses to be fascinating. There are those who really love this movie, and those that really hate it. I don't sit here and side with either one, or disqualify anyone's opinion, but I do try to remind myself, when I'm in the passenger seat like you are, that your opinions are yours, sculpted over years of development down a particular path, and the opinions of others are theirs.

I'm sorry to hear that you did not enjoy the film. Hopefully I can make one more to your liking in the future :)

Nicholas Gyeney

[–] jarrod-christman 10 years ago

I hope you're still monitoring this topic and that you're indeed the director of the film. It is not often I care to share a positive experience, usually it is only the negative that warrants any type of response in my opinion. However, I first watched your film a couple of years ago, and just now got around to purchasing it (as I could no longer find it on netflix).
For certain, the film has flaws, that is to be expected in any work. In particular I found the dialog between the main character and his friend a bit cringe worthy with the overuse of "man" (E.g. "What's up man?", "I don't know man, not much man")... Otherwise, for me the other flaws weren't noticeable as I became enthralled in the exchange of dialog and development of the story.
Let me say one thing that may shed some light on why I, in particular, enjoyed this film. I am an engineering student who also heavily enjoys physics and trying to think of new ways to push the boundaries. While this film portrays the main discovery in negative light, just like the main character (older and younger versions alike), my eyes twinkle with a bit of excitement over such a discovery... if man can't handle it, that's their fault, not the discovery or discovers. The modern world may be built by scientists and engineers, but it is the films like these that bring the inspiration to them. The inspiration to develop technologies and discoveries that hopefully will shed light on past mysteries, fix man's ailments, and in general improve the lives of many.
So yes, even a flawed film can have a profound affect on others. I appreciate your efforts and hope you produce similarly thought provoking works in the future.

[–] MirrorImagesLTD 10 years ago

I'm so glad you could find things to enjoy in the film, and will certainly work to make better films in the future (with less usage of "man" ;).

Thanks for watching and for the kind words!

Nicholas Gyeney

[–] Enrique-8 10 years ago

Nicholas, thank you SO MUCH for this film. It was a wonderful experience and I know that everything we heard, saw and felt was completely original and completely "you" and I want to encourage you to continue in this way. This is the only way a true artist works and creates. Great job and Congratulations! :)

Enrique Sanchez