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 Zero Dark Thirty 

What grade would you give this film?
A 71%  71%  [ 15 ]
B 19%  19%  [ 4 ]
C 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
D 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
F 10%  10%  [ 2 ]
Total votes : 21

 Zero Dark Thirty 
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loyalfromlondon
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Post Zero Dark Thirty
Zero Dark Thirty

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Zero Dark Thirty is a 2012 American spy thriller directed and co-produced by Kathryn Bigelow with screenplay by Mark Boal. Billed as "the story of history's greatest manhunt for the world's most dangerous man," the film is a dramatization of American efforts to kill Osama bin Laden. It stars Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Kyle Chandler, and Édgar Ramírez. The film had its premiere in Los Angeles, California on December 18, 2012 and had its wide release on January 11, 2013.

Zero Dark Thirty was released to wide critical acclaim and was nominated for five Academy Awards at the 85th Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actress (Jessica Chastain) and Best Original Screenplay. Zero Dark Thirty also earned four Golden Globe Award nominations including Best Picture – Drama, Best Director, and Best Actress – Drama for Chastain, which she won. It has also attracted controversy and strong criticism for its allegedly pro-torture stance and for allegedly obtaining improper access to classified materials.

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Thu Dec 06, 2012 11:47 am
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Holy fuck, this was so good. Better than The Hurt Locker for sure. Despite being nearly three hours it never dragged once - I was completely enthralled. The direction from Kathryn Bigelow is amazing, the production values impeccable. and Jessica Chastain's perfomance is absolutely brilliant. In almost every scene, her character provides the movie with its heart, soul and backbone. It's a ferocious performance that should certainly be recognized this awards season. It helps that they've enlisted a sprawling supporting cast, all of whom are at the top of their game (standouts include Jennifer Ehle, Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke and James Gandolfini, to name a few - though there are quite a few recognizable faces here such as Mark Duplass and Chris Pratt that also make an impact). The script is also great and it's amazing how much detail is present - the entire thing is so fascinating. It's also easily one of the most intense films of the year - I was constantly on the edge of my seat, especially during the climax as well as a critical scene with Ehle's character. The ending could have been overly patriotic and I was actually worried it would be but it's handled perfectly. This movie isn't an easy watch - some of the torture scenes in the first act are quite brutal and there are more than a few unsettling moments - but it's undoubtedly a must-see film and a huge accomplishment for everyone involved. Easily one of the year's best, maybe the best. A+


Thu Dec 06, 2012 12:01 pm
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
I liked it. More than Lincoln.

I thought Bigelow (thx for auto-correcting to big elbow, iPad) actually conceals her politics well -- the torture stuff is overblown. The film highlights torture as a pressure point in the war on terror...whatever. But I guess there's a view that Maya is a heroine...and that Maya's knowledge of OBL's whereabouts was built exclusively on info gathered from a detainee (but not while being tortured!). Idk. I don't think that was Bigelow's intent.


Sun Dec 23, 2012 12:59 pm
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
This was pretty masterful filmmaking from top to bottom.

Procedural yet very suspenseful. Knowing the ending doesn't do any disservice to the path that got there and Boal and Bigelow's careful and convincing depiction of the decade long hunt for bin Laden, the woman that persevered in order to find him and the men that ultimately killed him.

Like The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty is very intimate even though it's dealing with a such a larger scale event. It's cinematically stylish without ever drawing attention to itself and instead draws the viewer in closer. It's a stunning film.

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Mon Dec 24, 2012 3:22 am
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Magnus wrote:
erikdean wrote:
Procedural


I feel like every review is obligated to use this word.


:tears:

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Mon Dec 24, 2012 2:49 pm
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
"Procedural" is code for boring - - critics are trying to prepare audiences to be patient.


Mon Dec 24, 2012 3:11 pm
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
I definitely don't mean to use in a derogatory way; only to emphasis that it's a film that isn't heavy on action (until the last act) but about the legwork and the buildup.

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Mon Dec 24, 2012 6:09 pm
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
I thought it was fine, nothing bad but just not my cup of tea. I think Chastain certainly adds to the film as without her I feel like I would really dislike this movie.


Fri Jan 04, 2013 7:10 pm
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
This thing needed a serious editor. Is it a good film? Eh maybe but goodness its weight down with its own self importance. the first hour is a slow mo version of the French movie Martyrs. Torture bad eh? thanks for that. Yea the movie is not pro torture in any way. it is in the same way artificial light is pro human light.

Beyond that it works I guess. its just a bland thriller and it drags out the last 3rd in a way that screams the arrogant view that because it draws on real events it gets to be a git. To talk about the boring movie stuff. Its well filmed and the framing and wide angle usage is good but that's it.

I really was looking forward to this. I am sad that its sub par :(

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Sat Jan 05, 2013 12:14 am
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Yeah, I think a good 10 minutes or so could've been cut.

Also not sure how much of the film was subtitled 'cause whoever did the projector at my screening messed up. I noticed the studio logo in the beginning was cut and some cut off letters from subtitles when Maya was watching the video footage. Bleh.


Sat Jan 05, 2013 5:45 am
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Saw this again tonight. It's so brilliant, and still my #2 of 2012. This deserves the BP Oscar more than any of the other contenders. It's also the quickest 2 1/2 hour film of the year (and there were an onslaught in the latter end).


Sun Jan 06, 2013 1:16 am
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
One of the worst BP noms I've seen, right there with Babel and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This thing has no pulse, the type of film that only works with terrific editing and writing, but the editing and script in this is shoddy garbage. Almost unwatchable and IMO the biggest critics SNAFU since Spiderman 3 went fresh. Not even a mediocre or just OK film for me, I'd call this flat out bad and like D grade

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Mon Jan 07, 2013 12:23 am
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Oh snap! It's on like Donkey Kong!

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Mon Jan 07, 2013 12:24 am
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Shack wrote:
Drive is marijuana. Cosmopolis is crystal meth. Zero Dark Thirty is ether. There is nothing in the world more awful and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge.

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Mon Jan 07, 2013 12:27 am
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Shack, are you anti-pot?

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Mon Jan 07, 2013 12:28 am
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Shack wrote:
One of the worst BP noms I've seen, right there with Babel and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This thing has no pulse, the type of film that only works with terrific editing and writing, but the editing and script in this is shoddy garbage. Almost unwatchable and IMO the biggest critics SNAFU since Spiderman 3 went fresh. Not even a mediocre or just OK film for me, I'd call this flat out bad and like D grade


:blink:

Then again you did love Cosmopolis, which was unwatchable and absolute torture to sit through IMO. Guess we have a difference in opinion.


Mon Jan 07, 2013 1:35 am
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Shack wrote:
One of the worst BP noms I've seen, right there with Babel and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This thing has no pulse, the type of film that only works with terrific editing and writing, but the editing and script in this is shoddy garbage. Almost unwatchable and IMO the biggest critics SNAFU since Spiderman 3 went fresh. Not even a mediocre or just OK film for me, I'd call this flat out bad and like D grade

I didn't hate it but I'm baffled by the Oscar front-runner status it has.


Mon Jan 07, 2013 3:05 am
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
One of the main problems with ZDT to me is that while going in the direction of "real" and "naturalistic" while abandoning say an Argo-like Hollywood approach, is something that can work, the script just undermines this approach. I didn't buy that these were real people talking to each other because the dialog was too stagey. Half the time it felt like a scriptwriter trying to ape real people talk, but not doing a very good job of it. The other half, such as with side characters like Kyle Chandler, Michael from Lost, the guy yelling "We're the only ones after Al Queda!!!", the guy from Safety Not Guaranteed, etc. were the type of one note 'mission deliver devices' caricatures in every political thriller or TV show. These shallow and flat TV-ish characters juxtaposed with a movie that wants to feel really natural and realistic, ends up kind of ruining the latter. It's ok to plug in Bryan Cranston in Argo playing up a character in a stagey way because it fits the rest of the film, but when you have actors playing it up like that in a film trying to be as naturalistic as ZDT, it just doesn't fit, especially considering it sacrifices so much that a film like Argo or Lincoln brings instead, in that goal of seeming natural and real

Chastain in particular doesn't feel like a real character or human being with depth, though that's more the point, that she's become this emotionless robot terrorist killer - but it's not very fun to root for someone who doesn't feel like a human being. The performance which had the most layers to me was Jason Clarke (looking like darkest timeline Seth Rogan) which is why I felt the opening with the torture scenes was the strongest. The film lost a lot when he disappeared IMO. In the first act this was his movie

Also hurting the realism was some of the decisions with the manhunt. I'm not sure what was real and what was fabricated, but stuff like the terrorist telling an ungodly amount of information because of a 'you told us last night but lost your memory!' trick, Ehle wanting a terrorist to not get checked for bombs because it might spook him off (also that scene compared to the Hurt Locker's similar ones, really emphasized to me how much weaker this film felt from a directing/editing standpoint), nobody questioning the detainee who says 'hey this guyz dead here's a picture lol trust me' as lieing or having wrong information, however they got the phone number of the courier, etc. just felt like flat out bad and contrived plotting

IMO ZDT doesn't know how to make its story feel real, nor does it know how to make it entertaining in a film's film way. After the torture scene I don't know if this film does a single thing well

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Mon Jan 07, 2013 3:26 am
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
I have never seen this movie, so I don't know if I would like it or not, but still, it just feels like the movie I want to root against for whatever reason, much like I did with, bumbadabum, the Hurt Locker back in 2009. It just seems so bland and uninteresting while to trying to be pseudo-realistic.

Thank you Shack for ripping this film a new one.

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Mon Jan 07, 2013 1:16 pm
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Shack also thinks Your Highness is a comedic masterpiece, so...

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Magic Mike wrote:
zwackerm wrote:
If John Wick 2 even makes 30 million I will eat 1,000 shoes.


Same.


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I don't think. I predict. ;)


Mon Jan 07, 2013 1:44 pm
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
trixster wrote:
Shack also thinks Your Highness is a comedic masterpiece, so...


Touche'

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Mon Jan 07, 2013 2:47 pm
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Magnus wrote:
I was thinking I may not enjoy the film but Shack's review actually has me thinking I may love it now.


This.

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Mon Jan 07, 2013 8:47 pm
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
I'm kind of excited to see what everyone else thinks of it to be honest.


Mon Jan 07, 2013 9:01 pm
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Magnus wrote:
Chip's agreement with my post now has me thinking I'll hate it again.


Not this.

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Mon Jan 07, 2013 9:06 pm
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Post Re: Zero Dark Thirty
I watched the film...

Its easily the epic describing the 9/11 world...

The film stays netural till near the end and even up till the raid the death of Bin Laden is not made as an epic dramatic event.

It is only after does the film play the music, and everyone looks happy and suprised and realized what they have done. Only thing is I wished the film buildup the raid a bit more...

Howevere the ending was epic, with her looking at Bin Laden's body...
That was the sight I wanted to see in the film and the director did not shy away.

The film plays at your emotions, was torture needed? Did the CIA act correctly in getting Bin Laden?

With all those questions you still got a very satisying ending seeing a brutal man facing ulitmate justice.
A-

I think the director was bold with the torture but she should have made Bin Laden's death a bigger deal because it was...

Perhaps I would have to like to see the film be more Hollywood with the raid perhaps...It took what should have been an amazing scene and made it bit boring.

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