8MM | | Cast : | Nicolas Cage | | Director : | Joel Schumacher | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | February 26, 1999 | | DVD Released Date : | December 03, 2002 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 20, 2005 | | Summary | BETTER THAN GIVEN CREDIT FOR | Content
 | Nicolas Cage is Tom Welles, a small-time Private investigator living with his wife and baby in relative bliss. He's contact by a wealthy widow to investigate whether a film she found in her late husband's personal belongings is authentic or not. The 8MM film shows a girl being brutally raped and murdered...one of those snuff films of urban legend. Welles takes on the case which leads him into a world of decadence and sleaze that he never knew existed.
This underground world isn't one of video store porn but rather the black market of bondage and fetish films, all of which repulse Welles more and more. He eventually finds out who the girl in the film is but now needs to find those responsible. He enlists the aid of a porn store clerk Max California, a wannabe musician played wonderfully by Joaquin Phoenix. He eventually leads him to a sleazy (and how many times am I going to use that word in this review) photographer played by James Gandolfini and then onto a bizzare director named Dino Velvet who makes films on-demand for customers....whatever they want. Posing as a customer who wants a film made he meets with Velvet played way over the top by Peter Stormare. When it comes time to make the film, Welles finally comes face to face with the masked, S&M looking murderer named "machine".
I enjoyed 8MM much more than most of the critics who couldn't seem to get past the seediness of the subject matter. Welles wasn't content to just confirm for his client that the tape was authentic. He could have done that and been back at home in fairly short order. No, after discovering the tape was real and how the girl died, Welles made it personal. He wanted to know who did it, why they did it, and he wanted to make them pay. Nick cage played the role just right by at first being sickened by the crimes and then wanting revenge. And in getting revenge he also seems to find redemption. Good movie! |
| Rating | | | Date | July 17, 2005 | | Summary | threw this one away | Content
| -Public Service Announcement! Learn from my misfortune-
I'm going to make this short and sweet, being that this movie is long and lame.
Plot: kinda interesting. Well, no, I lied. I'm just trying to be nice. It's all about violent porn... um.... how bout go watch a porno instead?
Acting: why in god's name did all of these actors shame there career with this piece of crap.
Who would like it: .... people who like disturbing violent porn? and crappy movies? in the same package? and even then probably not.
Who wouldn't like this movie: (your name here)
That about sums it up. Suckage and disturbed hollywood at its finest!
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| Rating | | | Date | June 20, 2005 | | Summary | one of the best movies ever | Content
| Everyone who gave this movie less that 4 stars should make an appointment and get their head examined today. People, if this isn't one of the most gripping, horrifying, compelling movies ever, then I don't know what is...Please, all those 1-2-3 star reviewers, let me know WHAT movies you recommend to see...can't wait...ha...ha |
| Rating | | | Date | May 31, 2005 | | Summary | Another great Downward Spiral from Shumacher | Content
| This is one of my favorite movies. When I think about it, the first words I associate are dark and down. Dark is the color of the actual film. Dark is the descent to unexposed recesses of men. Dark is the degradation of a man through exposure to the residents of these caverns; secret societies that live out our nightmares. Secret societies that live out the dirtiest fantasies, we have and never would dare tell a soul. This is the ride of the protagonist. The downward spiral he forces himself into, and at the end regrets.
Shumacher, seems to have a knack for psychological downward spirals. He gave us before, "Falling down" with Michael Douglas.
"When you dance with the devil, the devil doesn't change...the devil changes you"
This phrase given by Max (Joaquin Phoenix) is metaphoric to the whole story.
First off, I'll address the easy equation with "Thesis" the Spanish film. Not because both films use one subject, Snuff films, one is a rip off of the other or even inspired from.
8MM is a psychological thriller. It is an exploration of the most sinister side of the human. And what happens to an average guy when exposed to the chaotic and insane, and discovers he has an inclination to them, gets desensitized, or reacts out of character. Shumacher intends to drive you down alongside the character, so you see what he sees and feel what he feels, and find out how "normal" you are.
Tom Wells is a normal guy. He has a beautiful family, striving to solidify their economical position in the upper middle class. Tom has one vice, smoking and hides it from his wife. He is a surveillance expert, and his last job is the story of the movie.
A recently death industrial czar had a vice and hided it from his wife of 50 years.
The wife wants to explore all the truth into the man's vice, and commissions Wells to dig into it, especially investigate if someone was hurt by it.
Some evil and injustice, are so overwhelming to one's sensitivity that rage overrides and leads to unwanted actions that scar. Acts so far out ominous that you are forced to react and create some balance to give some overall sense. But instead of gaining some peace from this, you sprout a hate hungry monster that cannot be turned off. Carrying its bitter taste to everyday life. Well's investigation leads him to this kind of path. And he is forced to react instinctively and then cover up the mess.
Again Max's words of caution: "there are things you'll see that cannot be unseen",
are encompassing of this journey.
Finally, It's all about self-discovery. And through Shumacher's world and Cage's performance you get to live the abrasive, seedy journey, including its controversial choices.
They truly seem far more difficult to make than out of context.
Is violence and revenge in some unique occasions justifiable?. At least within the window of your emotional stability? Are there actions you cannot be a bystander to, although the consequences might be devastating?
Is there guilt in the pleasure of punishing those whom, on your mind unquestionably deserve it? How high is the price to pay for that pleasure?
Those are the questions you might notice become more puzzling at the end.
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| Rating | | | Date | November 10, 2004 | | Summary | Wants to be Se7en, but falls short. | Content
| With 8mm, it feels like Joel Schumacher(The Lost Boys,Batman and Robin) is trying to emulate Se7en. Both were written by Andrew Kevin Walker. But Joel falls short in this unpleasant, clichéd film. With Se7en, you were swept along with the characters. In 8mm, you can feel the hand of the director pushing you were he wants you to go. 8mm is blatant in it's attempts to manipulate the viewer, but is so clumsy you end up resenting it and the director for doing so. A film like this needs to be more subtle in it's attempts to coax the desired response from the audience. |
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