002. Donnie Darko

You can watch the trailer here.

  Basically everyone and their mother told me to watch this movie. Apparently for a good reason because its probably one of the most unique and interesting movies I've seen in a long time.

  Acting wise, this movie is pretty solid which is actually a bit of a surprise considering that most of the cast is young people-- a particular subset of actors that tends to always come across as wooden and phony. Jake Gyllenhaal does a good job playing the psychologically trouble titular character Donnie Darko. Gyllenhaal's real life sister plays Darko's older sister Elizabeth, while Patrick Swayze, Drew Barrymore, Noah Wyle and Mary McDonnell play the adults in Donnie's life. Mary McDonnell, in particular, shines as Donnie's worried mother.

  In this day and age almost every plot seems tired and cliche, or even worse is a parody of a tired and cliche plot, so its always nice to find a movie with a very original plot. Its hard to describe Donnie Darko beyond sci fi suspense drama, but it would be a disservice to not mention the fact that it tackles very heavy themes like time travel, parallel universes, predestination vs free will, individuality vs collective thought, creationism. Richard Kelly did a great job with the writing and directing of this movie and whoever designed Frank should get some sort of prize because it sets the perfect tone for this movie. Cute from a distance, deeply disturbed once you're more familiar with it.

  Darko is a fascinating movie that was destined to never become anything more than a cult classic since it refuses to underestimate its audience. At the end of the day though, Donnie Darko will have a long long life on DVD and Blu-Ray and thats really all anyone can hope in the entertainment field: longevity.

  Recommended (unless you watch movies while listening to music and talking on msn, in which case you'll probably just find the movie random as fuck and pretty nonsensical.)