Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Disturbia (2007)

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Posted by Alex Grueneberg (Member # 2652) on 04-12-2007, 04:24 PM:

Had to dry run this last night for a sneak tonight.

Screened in theater one, Evanston Century / DTS / 430 seats
First I was disappointed to see the trailers for scope has been reformatted and the movie was in fact flat. Although focus and the look of the print are decent.

Shia LaBeouf gives a good performance mostly, and you can really tell what he improvised or ad-libed. He's a good actor, but this just is not that great of a movie. Main problem is the dialog and the movie really feels off from the start. There is also a stoned out performance by David Morse, not to mention some new rising hot young actress so at least there is something to look at. The plot really starts wondering off a bit during reel 4 but gets back on track. Most of the "house arrest" facts are incorrect but that may very on state.

Sound mix is nothing that special, a few good surround moments. Minor complaint: I really hate when the attached trailer has the same actor in the movie your about to watch. The good news is the movie flows pretty well, keeps your attention has a few good ups and downs and doesn't feel like a 6 reel pg-13 horror movie.

2 out of 5 for being in color.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 04-13-2007, 03:58 PM:

It was way too predictable for me. Apparently, this is a reworking of "Rear Window." To me, it's more of a paint-by-numbers version. And some of the dialog was utter crap; the main character explaining to the girl what he noticed when watching her was just stupid.

What the hell was with the kid's mom? She NEVER came home except for a handful of moments whenever they felt like they needed to have a "family relationship." It seemed like they were simultaneously going for her living there and at the same time having a house exclusively for the son.

And a minor gripe, but if that alarm goes off when he is 100 feet away from the transmitter, how did the line for it suddenly become square? It would be a circle. So if the edge side of the house is 100 ft away from it he wouldn't have even made it to those stupid hedges to get his mail. Hell, from the size of that house I think he would've gotten arrested for getting to certain parts of the house itself.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 04-19-2007, 12:46 AM:

Gee, I didn't think it was bad at all. Especially not compared to the rest of the thriller type crap that Hollywood has been putting out lately.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 04-19-2007, 09:07 AM:

This was actually very good for a teeny-bopper thriller. If they had gotten rid of some of the dorky troubled boy gets the beautiful hot girl romance scenes it could have been excellent. Of course the scenes of they dorky troubled boy LOOKING at the beautiful hot girl were essential!

2 1/2 out of 5 stars. Very watchable. Not a go out of your way to make sure you see it kind of movie but definitely entertaining if you are in the mood to see a movie.

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 4255) on 04-22-2007, 09:37 AM:

Predictable remake of Hitchcock's "Rear Window" although with massive product placement. Time hasn't been kind to David Morse. Maybe he just hid the receeding hairline in the Green Mile.

This would have received 3.5 stars, but the coke syrup wasn't properly calibrated so it gets a 3

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 04-23-2007, 09:01 AM:

This is a pretty decent teen-oriented thriller, actually better than I was expecting. Can't compare it to Rear Window which I've never seen (d'oh) but Disturbia stands on its own as a watchable movie. David Morse is great at playing creeps.

3 out of 5 stars.

Viewed at the new Regal 15 in Shelbyville. Image was bouncing up and down way too much.

Posted by Christopher Seo (Member # 7) on 04-23-2007, 04:06 PM:

I'll bet Rear Window never had the line "Smells like rotting hotties!"

Posted by Chad M Calpito (Member # 3736) on 04-24-2007, 10:22 AM:

This movie was ok, possibly bear-able. I give this movie 2 out of 5 stars.

Posted by Jason Winn (Member # 3568) on 04-27-2007, 09:52 PM:

I liked it. It was a pretty good suspense thriller. They could've cut out some of the sappy love story, and it would've been better. It's still fun to watch though.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-26-2007, 02:27 AM:

This wasn't all that bad. In fact I actually enjoyed it. (When is the last time I said THAT about a movie???)

Sure it's dumb in places (like the alarm issue that Chris already pointed out), but it's also dorky fun. I went in on the final run of this at a theater I was at (something I traditionally do to try and find a defect in the print on it's last pass through the projector to see if I need to be on the lookout for something misaligned) and there were 7 girls in the back row screaming their heads off at everything. It was hilarious. Had I screened the movie with them, I would've given it a 5 out of 5 just for the comedic enjoyment...but alas I give it a 3 out of 5.

So out of every movie released in 2007 so far (that I have seen), this is easily the best movie of the year to date. No wonder it didn't do that much business! I guess for the sake of business, I need to go back to hating everything I watch. [Razz]

Posted by Jonathan M. Crist (Member # 413) on 05-26-2007, 06:25 PM:

Actually Disturbia owes its genesis to "The Window" the 1949 RKO film noir which resulted in a 'Special Oscar' for its young star Bobbie Driscoll as the boy no one would believe saw the murder. Often imitated, stolen from, and remade ["Boy Who Cried Murder" "Cloak and Dagger' and even .... (wait for it)..... "Rear Window"] the RKO version is where it all began.

Aint nothing new in Hollywood.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 05-27-2007, 01:37 AM:

I do not see too many films in theatres anymore because I would either rent with my Blockbuster membership or purchase, Because REAR WINDOW is one of my favorite Hitchcock films, I made a special effort to see DISTURBIA at The Dole Cannery 18 last week and enjoyed it very much. It was not Hitchcock but in my humble opinion, DISTURBIA had all of the same elements REAR WINDOW had and that is why I enjoyed it very much. I do not agree with all of the negative comments others had posted about this film at all. I am glad you enjoyed it too, Brad.

-Claude

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 05-27-2007, 11:00 AM:

If I have a do-over I might change my "3 out of 5" rating to, oh, say, 3.5 out of 5. [Wink]

I really did like the movie. Along with "Hot Fuzz", "Disturbia" is one of my favorites of 2007 so far, partly because I went in with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised and entertained.

According to boxofficemojo.com, "Disturbia" has done $81.6M total ($73M in the US), not bad at all considering they show the production budget as $20M. It's probably solidly in the black before it ever hits the video stores.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-19-2007, 10:27 PM:

We're playing this right now to fill in a week. (Too late for some movies, too early for others.)

I enjoyed it. I've never seen Rear Window either, so can't compare, but I've seen a few Hitchcock movies so I'm sure it's superior. But this wasn't bad. Nice scary sound mix.

I thought the car crash scene was very well done. For once the hero didn't crawl out of the wrecked car without a scratch...but, it probably would have been more horrific, not to mention more believeable, if the kid had crawled out after the first wreck, and then had to stand by while the other car hit the car with the dad in it.

The other nitpick I have is, the fact that Officer Spanish Teacher's Cousin seems to be on duty 24/7. Couldn't some other cop have shown up at least once?

But overall...three out of five stars for me.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 06-20-2007, 01:49 AM:

And after the cop was dead no one said a thing about him. He gives the kid shit all the time and then dies trying to save him. Would've had a little bit more resolution if they threw in even a small reference to it.

But that's a minor issue.

And maybe I was harsh before. The movie was enjoyable but obviously not perfect by any means.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 06-20-2007, 02:42 AM:

David and Mike

You really should make the effort to watch Rear Window...it's excellent...AND it's got Grace Kelly. [thumbsup]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-21-2007, 12:04 AM:

There are probably a few hundred movies I've never seen that I'd really like to see. Rear Window, Psycho, Citizen Kane, 2001, Casablanca and Woodstock all come to mind at the moment. Unfortunately, spare time is hard to come by.