Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
3.5/4
Creepy family movie #3186
memento_mori - wrote on 07/22/2013
Stoker is from the director Park chan-wook, a truly incredible director, who made one of my favorite foreign films of all time: Oldboy.
Even though Stoker is not as good as Oldboy, it manages to still be a very impressive movie.
It is ripe with things I like to see: Troubled characters, philosophical dialogue and the question of sanity. The overall look of the film is pleasing to the eyes, as well.
Mia Wasikowska has come a long way since Alice In Wonderland and I am surprised how many risks she takes in this film. You could definitely tell she wanted out of that typical PG-13 zone and in my opinion pulled it off here quite smoothly; she's very talented.
The dialogue is beyond creepy, the storytelling is frightening and some shots in this movie are just masterful. Seriously. …
Rating of
2.5/4
Review: Stoker
MikePA - wrote on 06/19/2013
Stoker is a competently made, occasionally creepy film that needed richer substance and a compelling final act to make it a good film. It's slow burning and very poorly written. The script doesn't provide these strangely fascinating characters with much justice, and ultimately sends the film into a state of blandness and predictability in the second half with an ending that's rather stupid. It's not all bad, as director Chan-wook Park establishes and sustains a pretty creepy atmosphere and building curiosity in the film's first half, alongside an undeniably scary performance by Matthew Goode (who plays the one character I actually enjoyed). However, once the final 50 minutes come rolling in all of that tension gets thrown out of the window and the film takes the stupid turn. It's not at …
Rating of
3/4
Stoker review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 06/15/2013
"What a tragic waste of life." From the director of the Vengeance trilogy. Compared to his trio of a masterpiece which this critic admired, the violence here is tamed and toned down. The father of India Stoker's (Mia Wasikowska) passes away on her birthday so Evelyn (Nicole Kidman) takes care of her. India is introduced to Richard's brother Charlie (Matthew Goode), who she never met before. Charlie tries to connect with India, but she resists. Aunt Gwendolyn (Jacki Weaver) visits the Stoker's.
UNfortunately Mulroney's role is limited and not much has been divulged with regard to Charlie's condition for his shocking actions. Nevertheless, the performances were believable, Camera direction was spectacular as always coming from the director and the soundtrack adds to the …
Rating of
3/4
Beautiful, but empty
Looneymanthegreat - wrote on 03/17/2013
Chan-wook Park is an amazing director. Oldboy alone is evidence that the man is profoundly talented, and he brings it on full force in Stoker. The emotion, the music and the performances in Stoker and all of his other films is shockingly good and borderline perfect.
Park’s direction is in fact so perfect in Stoker that it’s surprisingly easy to ignore how awful the script is. Yes, this script is awful, it uses tired cliché’s and still manages to make little to no sense. Park understands film as an art form to such a degree that he is able to make an incredibly entertaining film out of almost nothing.
That’s really what Stoker is, style over substance, but not in the way you might suspect. The movie is able to use music, cinematography and editing to forge emotions …
