I'd boldly assume that you, David and thegun haven't dealt with all that many mentally challenged people before (outside of WOKJ, obviously )

I was in Best Buddies in high school!

A decent amount through charities and volunteer work, and stories I've done. It's very hard to characterize someone whose illness isn't exactly defined like Dano's.

Leo made it seem that he was attacked by the snakes when he was younger, which only made him "think carefully" about what he says, I think they purposely kept it vague. Anyone that did that to a dog when walking it, isn't all there though!

I guess it is an American reference...

http://www.bestbuddies.org/best-buddies

People disturbed by the dog scene in this should see Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights.

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x

I "enjoyed" Prisoners - - at least as much as one can enjoy a film as grim as this.

It is the rare film that I felt a long running time actually added to the appropriateness of it's tone. It is also rare for a film to explore the evil nature of organized religion.

Plus, it didn't hurt that it was chock full of truly great actors.


8 out of 5.

I agree with Lecter - - it is a key point the film is making.

____________________________________

Also, I don't remember a Hollywood movie brave enough to be this quiet since A Simple Plan.

Something disturbing to ponder, Paul Dano was much worse off as Hugh Jackman's prisoner than as Melissa Leo's prisoner, it is arguable that he went through greater depths of evil than Leo (if we think of Dano as a child rather than grow man). Parallels to Guantanamo?

The way you ended this post is so, so hilarious.

I loved this for the first 2 hours. It was really intense and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I had my worries about the running time but it moved very well, nothing dragged. I wasn't a big fan of the ending, though. Felt too much like an average thriller ending after the greatness that came before. Melissa Leo giving away everything and the Vanishing stuff just didn't do it for me.

Oh and Jake Gyllenhaal is growing on me. My favorite performance of the movie.

bleak

I loved this movie.

My only complaint might be that I wish Jackman's character hadn't been found. Which is why, despite its lack of ambiguity (if only the screen had faded to black after the first faint whistle), I still believe that maybe he wasn't found. It would just serve the overall bleakness of it more.

But still great.

Prisoners

I think it's a masterpiece. All the performances are sensational. It's just so well made. Everything is perfectly how I wanted it to unfold. I suspected Dano's mother, but didn't put much confidence into the theory. The red herrings and history supporting the kidnapping were fantastic. Gyllenhaal's character is awesome. Jackman's character was OTT, but precisely what it needed. It's a real guys film, this is. It's also beautifully filmed and moves at a perfect pace for it's 2.5hr run time. The score complements the film well too. I adored how the film ended after a few faint whistles. I really wasn't prepared for another rescue by Gyllenhaal, and it never happened. Such a grim film overall, and I absolutely adored it.

I regret not watching it earlier as I have had it available to me for a few weeks now. I would have definitely voted for it in the WOKJ Awards had I seen it before.

A

What's great is that Jackman will probably never see a prison cell because Dano would have to press charges. If he doesn't (and he probably wouldn't because he's a dumbass), then Jackman will have gotten away with his torture, which then did actually 100% help to find his daughter, so everything he did, while not usually productive, was very helpful.

Might I just add that I am loving Gyllenhaal's career of recent years. I need to watch Rendition. I meant to watch it when it came out but never got around to it.

Great film but I have to really wonder what people are thinking how they see the ending.

- The ending is left up in the air but it is 100% sure he finds Jackman, he will likely get in trouble but considering the situation he will get a light setence.

What he did to Alex is wrong but I think if Alex did not have the mind of a 10 year old, I think people would say Jackman did was not that bad.

This is great. I don't usually like this kind of film, and I did not watch it for months after it was released due to this. But I really liked the cast, so I gave it a try. What a surprise! It was absolutely mesmerizing to watch. Every scene is thrilling; not once did I expect the aunt to have done it. I didn't think the religion trashing was the point of the movie. More of a cherry (or, if you look at it the other way, a sour grape) on top of an already complex film. I really need to watch this again. Sicario looks dull to me, but I will definitely check it out if its from the director of this.

A+

zwack's taste is getting better.