Donnie Darko

Jaded Deceit · Post by **Jaded Deceit** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:48 pm

I accidentally called him Johnny earlier in another post because I was thinking of Johnny the homicidal maniac at the time.

Anyways, this post is to discuss Donnie Darko from a deeper stand point. I just came across a discussion about the similarities in the movie to a T.V. hit called LOST. It parellels a character in the series named Locke to Donnie himself.
First off has anyone seen LOST?
Second, Has anyone seen Donnie Darko?
Third are there similarities?
and finally, Did you like the movie?

I loved it myself and would go into more detail but I need to bounce off to go back to work!
Thanks,
Franky D

Special K · Post by **Special K** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:07 pm

Donnie Darko: no, but I've always meant to.

Lost: OMG I OWN ALL THE BOXSETS!

EbyKat · Post by **EbyKat** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 4:34 pm

never seen Lost

And I Did NOT like Donny Darko

Just... BLAH. The entire movie is pointless, you might as well fast forward through the whole thing to the very end because none of it matters.

Blah..... such anger... Kat angry... Kat SMASH!!!

Mwa hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!

Umm.... I'm done now.

ColonelMCmuf · Post by **ColonelMCmuf** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 8:53 pm

I loved that movie. in my opinion if they would have added 10 min onto the film with the deleted scenes it would have gone down in history as the best movie ever.

Never seen lost i was going to but then i heard that there wasn't really an island and for some reason their was a polarbear runing around. that just didn't make enought sense for me to start that show up.

Who likes that song Mad World? I love it better than the beatles

Jaded Deceit · Post by **Jaded Deceit** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 7:55 am

Mad world is amazing! I have it on my profile now for myspace.
The reason I used it though is because my friend Brandon says it makes him suicidal. He says he loves it but it is so depressing that he can barely take it! I figure it is a good deterrant to keep him from viewing it all the time! lol

Dennis Kininger · Post by **Dennis Kininger** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:13 am

I love LOST and, for the life of me, I don't get the popularity of DONNIE DARKO.

I thought it was a stupid movie and didn't make a lick of sense. No, I don't see any similarities.

Dennis

Jaded Deceit · Post by **Jaded Deceit** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:04 am

I'll try to find the forum link where they compare the two. I can understand how it is not for some people. But I really want to see lost now!

Dennis Kininger · Post by **Dennis Kininger** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:27 am

Jaded Deceit wrote:I'll try to find the forum link where they compare the two. I can understand how it is not for some people. But I really want to see lost now!

Yeah, some movies aren't for everyone and the appeal of this one is lost on me.

I also don't get the appeal of NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, which I thought was retarded, or the Pacino movie, SCARFACE, which I didn't like 20+ years ago and still don't like now. I also thought THE GOONIES was stupid the first time it was out.

I missed some of the first season of LOST but rapidly got addicted to it and I'm eager to see its return from hiatus.

Great acting, intelligent writing...it's a marvelous show!

Dennis

ColonelMCmuf · Post by **ColonelMCmuf** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 8:30 pm

scarface would have been an ok movie if he didn't have that crazy accent.

Dennis Kininger · Post by **Dennis Kininger** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 11:54 am

Yeah, but not much beyond okay. I just didn't think it was that great to begin with.

Dennis

Special K · Post by **Special K** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 1:44 pm

Dennis Kininger wrote:I also don't get the appeal of NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, which I thought was retarded, or the Pacino movie, SCARFACE, which I didn't like 20+ years ago and still don't like now. I also thought THE GOONIES was stupid the first time it was out.

I missed some of the first season of LOST but rapidly got addicted to it and I'm eager to see its return from hiatus.

Great acting, intelligent writing...it's a marvelous show!

The first season makes me want to have babies with the writers. After that, it goes a little downhill.. not enough to make me not love it, but just enough that I can say season one was the best.

Also, I find Napoleon Dynamite to be a complete train wreck.

Dennis Kininger · Post by **Dennis Kininger** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 2:46 pm

Special K wrote:
Dennis Kininger wrote:I also don't get the appeal of NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, which I thought was retarded, or the Pacino movie, SCARFACE, which I didn't like 20+ years ago and still don't like now. I also thought THE GOONIES was stupid the first time it was out.

I missed some of the first season of LOST but rapidly got addicted to it and I'm eager to see its return from hiatus.

Great acting, intelligent writing...it's a marvelous show!
The first season makes me want to have babies with the writers. After that, it goes a little downhill.. not enough to make me not love it, but just enough that I can say season one was the best.

Also, I find Napoleon Dynamite to be a complete train wreck.

~Nods in agreement~

Thanks, Kristy!

I didn't have quite the same reaction as you about season one but GOOD TV always makes me smile.

I'm not sure what the heck's going on with Season 3...showing 4 new episodes and then going on hiatus for 3 months was stupid. I'm just glad all the crap with Jack, Sawyer and Kate in the cages is mostly over. I'm also not crazy about all the pointless characters being introduced who don't add a whole lot to the overall "mystery" of the island in the first place.

Season 2 was good but not great and Season 3 seems to be spinning its wheels. Season 1 was amazing, though.

If the show is losing direction, then they oughta reveal the big secrets...like what the f**K is that black smoke monster! and have the show end with a rescue.

As to Napoleon Dynamite, I recall renting it out of curiosity just to see what all the fuss was about. My youngest brother happened to be home that weekend and watched with me.

When it was done, we sorta looked at each other in disgust and said, "Well, that sure sucked!"

I've talked to people who enjoy it and they're amazed to find out that someone doesn't like it.

I always enjoy a good laugh or funny movie and that one didn't provide either.

Dennis

Kubey · Post by **Kubey** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:51 am

My brother told me that I absolutely HAD to watch Donnie Darko a few years ago. I went into the movie COMPLETELY expecting to like it, since I do like slow, grim, slightly crazy and nihilistic movies and books. And I totally didn't get it or the appeal. Sad, 'cuz everyone thinks it's such a great movie. I'll probably give it another try when Kristy finally watches it but that's it.

On to Lost! I woulda made babies with the first and second seasons! The third season was, Meh. They went from 'things not making sense because everything was so cool and mysterious' to 'things not making sense ala PLOT HOLE.' The writers need to get their act together 'cuz the show has fallen from my 'I love it' list to 'I'm probably going to stop watching.'

I didn't notice a connection between the two. But there are tons of connections between Lost and other literature. The character names usually reference authors or books. John Locke, for crying out loud! Henry Gale is the uncle in the Wizard of Oz. Sawyer's books usually tie into the plot somehow. "The Turn of the Screw" was mentioned. John Sheppard was an English composer. James Ford (aka Sawyer) is the name of a pirate. Even the ones that don't have a connection to a particular person have names like "Boone" "Carlisle", "Hugo" Desmond's middle and last names are "David Hume" etc. Since most of these are NOT common names, you have to assume it was intentional. Which is why the show initially seemed so smart. Ya know, all that good cultural capital and all ^^

Man, if they threw in a Jon Swift or Alex Pope, I'd probably still make babies with this show!

Dennis Kininger · Post by **Dennis Kininger** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 7:36 am

Kubey wrote:My brother told me that I absolutely HAD to watch Donnie Darko a few years ago. I went into the movie COMPLETELY expecting to like it, since I do like slow, grim, slightly crazy and nihilistic movies and books. And I totally didn't get it or the appeal. Sad, 'cuz everyone thinks it's such a great movie. I'll probably give it another try when Kristy finally watches it but that's it.

On to Lost! I woulda made babies with the first and second seasons! The third season was, Meh. They went from 'things not making sense because everything was so cool and mysterious' to 'things not making sense ala PLOT HOLE.' The writers need to get their act together 'cuz the show has fallen from my 'I love it' list to 'I'm probably going to stop watching.'

I didn't notice a connection between the two. But there are tons of connections between Lost and other literature. The character names usually reference authors or books. John Locke, for crying out loud! Henry Gale is the uncle in the Wizard of Oz. Sawyer's books usually tie into the plot somehow. "The Turn of the Screw" was mentioned. John Sheppard was an English composer. James Ford (aka Sawyer) is the name of a pirate. Even the ones that don't have a connection to a particular person have names like "Boone" "Carlisle", "Hugo" Desmond's middle and last names are "David Hume" etc. Since most of these are NOT common names, you have to assume it was intentional. Which is why the show initially seemed so smart. Ya know, all that good cultural capital and all ^^

Man, if they threw in a Jon Swift or Alex Pope, I'd probably still make babies with this show!

Heh! Yeah...As an ex-english major and a reference librarian, I dig the nifty names on LOST, too. They make me smile when I hear one. I'm waiting for someone named "Lemuel" to pop up one of these days. Personally, I prefer Swift to Pope but I'd be tickled to hear both names some day

Any connection to DONNIE DARKO is stil lost on me.

I'm not quite ready to quit watching the current season of LOST...yet! Okay, I think Kate's a cutie

and I'd miss her. I'm also curious to see how the writers dig themselves out of the various holes they're currently in.

As to the appeal of DONNIE DARKO? As a staff member, I can check out DVDs from my library for free...I took it out one night, watched it and I STILL don't get it. Yeah, I could watch it again but I don't really want to.

Dennis

Jaded Deceit · Post by **Jaded Deceit** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 10:41 am

Don't.
I mean it is just a movie. I happen to like how he spends the movie figuring out first what is going on, and then at the end realizing that he has a choice. Let himself die to save the love of his life, or let things unfold the way he knows they will and become a murderer and have his girlfriend die. Plus the part about the smufette is funny as hell...

Dennis Kininger · Post by **Dennis Kininger** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:42 am

Yup, it is just a movie, everyone sees them a bit differently and that's what makes for lively debate.

Dennis

Jaded Deceit · Post by **Jaded Deceit** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:05 am

Ack! I meant Smurfette not smufette. lol. Yea, They are fun!

Dennis Kininger · Post by **Dennis Kininger** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:16 am

Hey, I know who Smurfette is, she's so "smurfy"

...in fact, I recall when the smurfs were popular the first time, which was sometime during high school. It always amuses me how all this stuff from the 80s is popping up again over the past few years.

And yeah, I like a good movie debate beyond the "It sucks! No, it doesn't! Yes, it does!" level.

Dennis

Jaded Deceit · Post by **Jaded Deceit** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:29 am

http://www.4815162342.com/forum/viewtop ... highlight=

I couldn't find the really neat one that I read but this one is pretty detailed. I haven't read the part of the discussion relating Donnie Darko to Lost yet but I will now and tell you if it is similar to what I read before. Till then, enjoy!

http://www.thefuselage.com/Threaded/arc ... -8665.html

Mwahaha I found the link that I read. Good discussion here. Any thoughts on either link?

Kubey · Post by **Kubey** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:01 pm

Actually, I agree with the review Vertical did on that page.

Although I think the author really tried to make them connect but he fails to exclusively link them. I mean, saying that they both use deus ex machina or that they're fascinated with numbers is technically true, but a LOT of stories use that. And the idea that we live together and die alone is probably connects them both more to Voltaire and John Donne than to each other. He makes a stronger point when comparing Locke and Donnie, not a point I necessarily agree with, but it's an interesting conclusion.

I've made some pretty crackheaded comparisons in my day too, so he gets points for trying ^^ Good post though to whoever originally authored this. Debates are fun! (Especially when they involved movies and lit ^^)