Paranoid Park | 
 enlarge | Director: Gus Van Sant
Actors: Taylor Momsen, Gabe Nevins, Jake Miller, Lauren Mckinney, Daniel Lui
Studio: Ifc
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $12.88
You Save: $7.07 (35%)
New (37) Used (10) Collectible (1) from $10.22
Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 4809
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 84
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: GEPD81384D
UPC: 796019813846
EAN: 0796019813846
ASIN: B001CDFY7S
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: October 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 10/07/2008 Run time: 80 minutes
Amazon.com
It's hard to believe that a middle-aged filmmaker can fully evoke the chaotic, anxious world of a troubled teenager, but that's what Gus Van Sant has done with Paranoid Park. Alex (newcomer Gabe Nevins), a teenaged boy whose parents are going through a difficult divorce, is drawn to the rough community that's built up around the titular skateboarding park in Portland, Ore. One night, when an older boy is showing him how to hop a freight train, Alex accidentally kills a security guard. The movie captures the before and after by looping back and forth in time, focusing far more closely on Alex's state of mind than the investigation that threatens to close around him. Filmgoers leery of the drawn-out, atmospheric sequences of Van Sant's recent films (like Gerry and Last Days) need not fear; though Paranoid Park favors mood over plot, it successfully balances character, mood, and story, resulting in considerable dramatic tension, similar to Van Sant's meditation on the Columbine shootings, Elephant. This is not a thriller; Paranoid Park pays as much attention to Alex's relationship with his girlfriend Jennifer (Taylor Momsen, Gossip Girl) as to the killing. The result is a vivid, compelling portrait of adolescence, in all its messiness and confusion. This may be Van Sant's best film since his early masterpieces, Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho. --Bret Fetzer
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Don't Trust Me- Read Some Real Reviews December 16, 2008
There are 2 well known aggregate movie review sites, MetaCritic and Rotten Tomatoes that would give this film an average of 4 stars out of 5. (The NY Times review in particular is dead on, imho.) The 1 star "total bomb" reviews here are completely out of sync with accepted opinion of Paranoid Park.
Obviously, it's not for everyone. It is more for those that could appreciate Elephant or 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days than someone looking for an action skater flick. But it will go down as one of Gus Van Sant's best films in what is already a distinguished career. It's one of the most beautiful movies of recent years and the score and sound mixing is stupendous. But it takes some time and attitude adjustment to get into the flow with the film. It's well worth the time and almost demands multiple viewings.
As with Elephant, many of the young actors are novices at best. This is not a drawback at all. It only enhances the movie because the characters are so real.
Did I say it's one of the most beautiful films of recent years? Slow motion skaters, the train scene scored to a key passage from Beethoven's 9th, the shower scene, the beach, beautiful boys, beautiful girls, not so beautiful girls, losing ones virginity- all in beautiful slow motion scenes told out of sequence, often with no dialog and sometimes repeated to underscore certain points. Two signature Elliott Smith songs, played almost in their entirety, accompany two long and unedited shots of the title character to create two more memorable moments.
One of the best of 2007 and deservedly so...
 Death could not be THIS terrible December 14, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm not really a fan of people who use cliched terms like "This was an hour and a half of my life that I wasted watching this film that I'll never get back again." But after watching this film, I truly understand why people would utter this sentiment. This film is beyond terrible beyond unwatchable. To be honest, I'm not a fan of the avant-garde "what does life really mean" type of movies - i.e. "Elephant," "Donnie Darko," "Mulholland Drive"-that are like watching a Robert Cormier novel come to life. I had to watch Van Sant's blatant Columbine exploitation "Elephant" for a class once, so I should've known what I was getting into with this one. However, the above movies are still made watchable by decent actors.
I'm sure Gussy Boy wants to get actors whom no one has ever heard of nor will ever hear of again to make the movie seem "real." Problem is, they can't act. I'm going to guess that's the point - let's have D-list actors have "real" dialogue with each other so that it seems "real." However, it just gets annoying. Van Sant spends so much time with the camera focusing on one character at a time that I began to wonder if a bout of narcolepsy had overtake him while at the helm.
Maybe I'm not hip enough to understand the idea this movie was trying to present. Maybe I'm too old (at the ripe age of 26) to understand the artistry and commentary on the life of a 17-year old skater, but man...really, this was painful to watch. And I've sat through Gone Fishin'.
Guilt at Work December 4, 2008
Basically, this is a movie about a boy who, while hopping a ride on a train, is caught by the railroad watchman. When the watchman starts to attack his friend, Alex hits the watchman with his skateboard, causing him to fall back under the wheels of a coming train. I am sure the movie realistically depicts the uncertainty Alex felt about the situation, but it does not have him in any way deal responsibly with what he'd done. Traditional values parents may want to show this movie to their teens, and discuss what would be the right thing to do if an impulsive act causes irreparable harm. As with most such movies lately, there is plenty of bad language, some sex, and, of course, violence.
 Painfully slow Park November 18, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
The two sentence sublot summary intrigued me enough to want to watch this movie. It basically took an hour and a half to tell a five minute story. If that's your thing...lots of slow mow and lingering shots of close ups of people's faces or objects, then you may like this movie. I know some of the shots and "effects" were trying to be artistic but by the end I was yelling at the screen, "get on with it". So, not for everyone but not terrible either. Rent before you buy defintiley.
Horrible Movie October 27, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
Well, this sounded really good, and I bet it made a great book, however the filmmaking and acting was unbearable. You'd get a snippet of story and then like 3-5 minutes of someone walking in slow motion or skateboarding in slow motion...i think we were supposed to be relflecting on the SHOCKING events that were happening in the movie except there weren't any. It was predictable and boring. Maybe if the approach were different and the actors didn't try so hard this would have been better.
|
|
|
Why is it that women, who are so competent in all other areas of their lives, cannot find the same competence when it comes to matters of money?
With his bestselling spiritual guide The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle inspired millions of readers to discover the freedom and joy of a life lived "in the now."
Attorney Michael Clayton is a a€oefixer,a€� the go-to guy when his powerful New York law firm wants a mess swept under the rug. But...
