Donnie Darko (DVD)

Having heard good things about this film, when I spotted it in HMV for just £2.99 some time ago, I just had to pick this one up and check it out for myself. When I bought it I did wonder just why the film was so cheap, however once getting it home and putting it in the player it soon dawned on me that there are no extras whatsoever with this 'Vanilla Version' which I bought unless you include 'Scene Selection'. I had never come across this in a DVD before so was quite shocked to find this, however at the same time it did explain why it had such a low original mark up at just £5.99 and it didn't really bother me at all as a lot of the time the extras that DVDs have to ...  Read the complete review

I’ve wanted to see the movie "Donnie Darko" for a long time. Released in 2001, it’s one of those movies that I repeatedly missed on VHS release, TV screening etc. So when The Sunday Times gave it away as a free DVD offer last week then admittedly I rushed to buy a newspaper simply to take advantage of an offer of that kind for the first time. At its original release, "Donnie Darko" opened to mixed reviews. Suffering, perhaps, in the wake of the 9/11 Disaster, symptomatic of its early problems was that the original poster art for the movie had used an Arabic-style font. This was changed to the more standard Times New Roman boldface font for ...  Read the complete review

"28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds. That is when the world will end." At the time of writing, 'Donnie Darko' has still to be given a theatrical release in the UK (however, expect to see it in selected cinemas from October 25th). In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if you've never even heard of it. After reading nothing but praise for the film, I bought the DVD earlier this year and have since watched it three times - it is a truly remarkable debut from writer/director Richard Kelly. However, there is a big problem with 'Donnie Darko', and that's the difficulty in categorising it within a particular genre; even giving a ...  Read the complete review

The Dreams In Which I Am Dying Are The Best I've Ever Had Donnie sees things. More specifically Donnie sees a six- foot rabbit that calls himself Frank who shows him things. Is Frank really a time-traveller as he says? Is he really able to show Donnie wormholes connecting to other dimensions? If, as it is said our destinies are pre-ordained by God, would God exist if you could see where your destiny was taking you? Does that then prove the philosophy of existentialism or is that naively nihilistic? Can the existence of anything be proven? It is morning, the sun is just rising over the hills, the camera pans round and focuses on a "body" ...  Read the complete review

note: also appears in part on Flixster and The Student Room Donnie Darko is a very peculiar film that quickly became a cult classic upon its release in 2001. It's also recieved a lot of criticism for being "pretentious" and inaccessible, particularly because it requires that you actually read around the film (notably "The Philosophy of Time Travel") to fully understand the film's concepts. Fortunately, though, it does work still as a film that allows you to make your own interpretations purely on what you see in the film. It's slick, stylish, and I'll defend it to the hilt. The film follows a youngster named Donnie Darko (Jake ...  Read the complete review