History of Violence... Yup...

Yup. Good one. Mortensen's acting chops showing here. Plays it with nuances and subtleties that are very fine, balancing out his sudden bursts of action. Maria Bello and the kid playing Mortensen's son are standouts. Ed Harris and William Hurt are just on this side of overplaying, but both manage to maintain control -- Harris (very creepy) a bit better than Hurt.

I loved this film too, (not as much as Serenity of course) but I definitely see some kudos coming for Viggo, Maria and the kid. A creepy film that makes one just a bit uncomfortable. Very well done.

Yes indeed. Cronenberg really hit one out of the park on this one. I just read the graphic novel (and reviewed it over at Azog's, https://www.azogscollection.com/columns.php) and there are significant changes to the second half of the story, but they really fit nicely.

The interesting thing is they changed some names from the book, which seems kind of arbitrary. Not a prob but I have to picture David C. or Olsen, the screenwriter reading the book and going "Nope, don't like THAT name at all!"

Beat me to it Scott. Yes I loved the movie also...

History of Violence

I have only two things to say.

1. Where the hell is my cheerleader costume?
2. Stairway to heaven.

Bought the DVD over the weekend...............I thought it was pretty damn good...............

Re: History of Violence

Nessasita said:

I have only two things to say.

1. Where the hell is my cheerleader costume?
2. Stairway to heaven.

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my kind of girl!!! i loved the acting by viggo, ive been a fan since his LOTR showings. he was also pretty decent in GI jane, but wasnt so noticable with demi in it. im probably gonna read the book this summer in between semesters to catch up with you guys. maria bello was so nice!!! ive always enjoyed her ASSets she brings to her movies.

Re: History of Violence

hairlesswookiee said:

my kind of girl!!! i loved the acting by viggo, ive been a fan since his LOTR showings. he was also pretty decent in GI jane, but wasnt so noticable with demi in it. im probably gonna read the book this summer in between semesters to catch up with you guys. maria bello was so nice!!! ive always enjoyed her ASSets she brings to her movies.

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I agree..............Nessa in that cheerleader uni would be great................

I give this movie my highest ratig : 69

I rented this and its been sitting by the TV for about a week now.. Guess I better watch it.

I guess I'm in the minority that didn't really dig this one. Performances were fine, but the film itself was just drab and drawn out, with or without all the 'deep social commentary' that everyone seems to find so powerful (which was also overrated imo). Didn't care about any of the characters or their unbelievable relationships. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to like this movie.

Bodie The Cursed said:

I rented this and its been sitting by the TV for about a week now.. Guess I better watch it.

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One can easily guess Bodie's post after viewing the "cheerleader" scene.

Anybody?

JS

Sideshow Andy said:

I guess I'm in the minority that didn't really dig this one. Performances were fine, but the film itself was just drab and drawn out, with or without all the 'deep social commentary' that everyone seems to find so powerful (which was also overrated imo). Didn't care about any of the characters or their unbelievable relationships. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to like this movie.

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You summed up my feelings perfectly. I found it very bland and linear, there's no question exactly where the movie is going.

Sideshow Andy said:

I guess I'm in the minority that didn't really dig this one. Performances were fine, but the film itself was just drab and drawn out, with or without all the 'deep social commentary' that everyone seems to find so powerful (which was also overrated imo). Didn't care about any of the characters or their unbelievable relationships. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to like this movie.

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Deep social commentary? Hell I just liked the sex and violence!!!

Right I1188.................the movie was a bit slow.............but the action scenes and the adult scenes were great.............................

It was good, but I didn't think it was great. There are things that just don't play well nor make any sense. Definately not my favorite Viggo movie, by far...

I'll probably get slammed for saying this, but this looked to me as the perfect woman's bad-boy movie.
Every woman wants that "bad" guy who's the sweetest person in the world to her. This movie had every bit of it. Complete with the romance-novel/bad-boy sex scene.
As a book, it would have looked at home with Fabio on the cover.

With that outta the way, I did like the movie, but it didnt live up to the hype IMO.

Viggo?
Harris?
Hurt?
The best performance, albeit too short, was Stephen McHattie's and it was nice to see him on screen again. Too under rated of a character actor IMHO.

I really liked this in the theatre and I'm curious to see if it stands up to repeated viewing on DVD. I thought that everything was just so subtle until it's over the top that it worked for me.

A recent film that I really liked (and didn't expect to) that reminds me of it is Running Scared with Paul Walker. I hated Paul Walker until I saw this film.

Every woman wants that "bad" guy who's the sweetest person in the world to her.

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Really? Do ALL want that?
This, my friend, is right up there with all other truisms that so many men seem to want to apply to "all" women, among them:
- a woman's "no" doesn't mean "no"
- women can't do math and the physical sciences
- she was asking for it

And etcetera. Sorry....couldn't let your bon mot go without some comment. Hopefully, you were just kidding -- right? Otherwise, with that philosophy, you will deserve the brainless bimbo you'll probably end up with. And if you already have a significant other (girlfriend, wife) with a modicom of intelligence and good sense, I wouldn't let her read your post if you value your life.