Film: S. Darko (The sequel to Donnie Darko)

[noone1]

I may as well derail this thread for a post or two by mentioning something I consider noteworthy. Yesterday I bought the director's cut of Donnie Darko (it comes in a cool looking white sleeve and has an extra special features disk) - and it was a totally different movie, basically. And Frankly (pun intended), I had a hard time believing that it was a director's cut because it sucked compared to the one released in theaters initially. If anyone's seen this version you'll know what I mean. It basically explains everything and leaves nothing up for speculation. They show what is inside the philosophy of time travel book in between key scenes, which basically does nothing except replace speculation as to the meaning of the film with bewilderment and confusion if it's the first time someone had seen the movie. And it just looks like a monkey with a pair of scissors edited it. Plenty of scenes that simply weren't in the initial release, and even a voice over at the end that reads the note Donnie put in old lady death's mailbox before "saving the world." Also, there are scenes where he actually blatantly says things like "I am the savior."

I guess I was under the impression that the director's cut would be an improvement, but it took away the mystique of the original release and replaced it with crap. I recommend everyone pick up a copy right away just to see how they fucked it up.

When the film was released, they had the philosophy of time travel book available on the website. It was never the directors intention of making the movie so confusing. That said I think the original theatrical release is a lot better, the director tries to cram too much in and all the cuts and crypticism really do make it a better movie.

 

[tambourine-man]

The book and other easter eggs were also on the DVD release, along with supporting booklets etc.

 

[manic_panic]

*definitely does not give a shit about this one*

 

[vegan]

True, but sadly, most of them did other things afterward.

yeap, zack did a porno

i never got what was special about donnie darko
i'd have to watch it again i guess
but that's going to be hard as i usually don't watch movies twice

ps : sequel definitely doesn't necessarily mean bad. it only means "probably trying to use the reputation of the first one"
but of course it's a case by case
the T2 example was an obvious one

 

[His Name Is Frank]

Here is the new trailer

It looks slightly more interesting than I imagined. Still, it looks like it took all of the stuff from DD (world coming to an end countdown, bubble streams coming from chest and other body parts) and threw it in this one.

The guy's even wearing Frank's bunny mask at the end.

 

[panic_the_digital]

Won't be watching this. I thought Richard Kelly sold the rights to pay off Southland Tales (apparently not the case as quoted above). By the way, you all need to see Southland Tales.

On the topic of sequels: Evil Dead 2.