MOVIE CHAT: SECRET WINDOW

**rocketmaster** · March 20th, 2004, 10:21 AM

It's gonna be difficult not to drop any spoilers, but I won't. (And boy, do I want to. Two words. Two words is all it would take to spill the whole deal!)

First I want to say, it was NOT boring. Not at all. What it WAS, was predictable. I had the whole thing figured out about 20 minutes into the film. (It took my date until the reveal, sadly. And I told her the two words! Thus, not marriage material.)

Cinematography was quite nice. We start out in full Hitchcock-ian mode, which made me laugh right from the top. That unending establishing shot that Hitchcock and Orson Welles used to have fun with. I'd like to take a look at that again.

The music was BEAUTIFUL! Especially nearer the end. It was the execution that dazzled, the arrangement and performance of the orchestra was really tight and above average. I wouldn't mind hearing the orchestral tracks alone on this one, and that's something I rarely care to do.

Johnny Depp is fast becoming one of my favorite actors. Once again, he completely became an entire new person of a type I've never seen from him before. Quirks, mannerisms, body language, vocal quality. The guy is SPOOKY! Really, who can DO that?! Beautiful performance! Too bad the script was so HACK! It would have been a complete zero without Depp in it. And, bizarrely, I knew the guy he was playing. I mean, I knew a guy just like that for many years, and he caught all the slightly "off" behavior of a person like that perfectly. I knew what he was doing, what was going to happen, and when it did, I was the only one in the entire theatre who broke out into applause. A few people laughed at me, but no one was with me. I was laughing maniacally throughout the whole thing at Depp, because I got it, and empathized with it too.

As for the script. I'm not revealing anything more than what's in the commercials to say that the story revolves around someone accusing him of stealing a story. I guess the whole point was, that King was poking fun at himself, admitting that he's a hack. Most of this plot was stolen from things he didn't write, and if you are familiar enough with modern fiction, you've seen it all before. In the climax of the film he even steals from his own (best) work, in the most obvious of ways. You have to be new to the world to not have seen it coming.

Anyway, I enjoyed the contemplative pace and the opportunity to see a study of Depp at work...(they'll be using this one in acting classes...plenty of long close-ups where his emotions just ripple across his features). I'd give it like a B to B+, because I think that if you're an average movie-goer who is not a voracious reader as I am, and not as entertainment industry entrenched and jaded as I am, it might be a somewhat surprising and fun diversion. I definitely want to see the DVD extras when they come out. There was ONE really obvious element of the formula that was not included. I bet you anything, it'll be in the deleted scenes.

**Tard** · March 20th, 2004, 08:23 PM

Personally, if it's predictable, would likely also find the movie 'boring'. Basically because they would spend so much time leading up to a conclusion seen a mile away.

Not about Secret Window, but an example of predictable = boring. M. Night Shyamalan's (sp? [img]tongue.gif[/img] ) THE SIXTH SENSE. 10-minutes into the movie, realized Bruce Willis was the ghost, so no-matter how well the actors performed, felt 'bored' because it was like listening to a long drawn-out joke you've heard before. Sitting around listening to it all, even though the punchline is right on the tip of your tongue, but being considerate not ruining it for the joketeller.

**rocketmaster** · March 21st, 2004, 01:22 AM

The entertaining part of a joke is often not the punchline, but rather the delivery of it along the way. You may hear the same joke a hundred times, but never the same way twice.

Even if you did guess the "punchline" of 6th Sense...do you mean to tell me that you found nothing interesting within the entire body of the movie? You didn't appreciate any of the artistry that went into its creation? C'mon!

**Tard** · March 21st, 2004, 02:18 AM

Sure, I still enjoyed 6th Sense, but knowing where it was going to end detracted from the suprised gasp heard from half the audience who didn't have a clue.

Where knowing the punchline DIDN'T detract from the movie was in Citizen Kane. Knowing what 'Rosebud' was beforehand didn't make sense until watching the entire movie. Rosebud wasn't a sled, it was having a family-life.

So, what 2 words spill the beans on Secret Window? [img]tongue.gif[/img] (I'll probably see it on video, but knowing the spoiler might tweak my interest). PM the two words if you don't want to be added to the Siskel & Roeper Spoiler Bastard list...

**rocketmaster** · March 21st, 2004, 06:11 AM

Frankly Reved, you don't even need the two words...you get the idea already. [img]wink.gif[/img]

kingfozzy · March 21st, 2004, 07:49 AM

Het Reved??? Remember the movie The Dark Half with Timothy Hutton??? Secret Window was very similar and strangely also based on a Stephen King story.
[img]smile.gif[/img]

**rocketmaster** · March 21st, 2004, 10:40 PM

Originally posted by kingfozzy:
Remember the movie The Dark Half with Timothy Hutton??? Secret Window was very similar and strangely also based on a Stephen King story.
[img]smile.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">AND ALSO HAS TIMOTHY HUTTON IN IT!!!

**rocketmaster** · March 21st, 2004, 10:44 PM

Originally posted by reved:
I used to like Stephen King books & movies based on his books, but then I turned 13. [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That's so funny! I think that's exactly how old I was the last time I read a Stephen King book! Now, of course, I've graduated to more mature reading...like Harry Potter and LOTR.