AniInterview
Sorry, this movie sucks
AshUnow
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Logan
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
morrison-dylan-fan
Taking a look on BBC iPlayer,I spotted an intriguing title from Roman Polanski. Greatly enjoying his 2010 movie The Ghost Writer,I got set to witness Polanski's screen carnage.The plot:After their kids Zachary Cowan & Ethan Longstreet get in a fight,parents Michael and Penelope Longstreet invite Nancy and Alan Cowan round to clear the matter in their flat. Agreeing to write a letter about what the boys have done, the couples soon begin to reveal their true feelings on the other couple,and of each other.View on the film:Filmed in real time,co-writer/(along with Yasmina Reza and Michael Katims) director Roman Polanski and cinematographer Pawel Edelman display a fine eye for physical Comedy,with Polanski showing a surprising gleefulness in covering the apartment with broken phones and vomit. Based on co-writer Yasmina Reza's one-set play,the writers lock the flat in an absurdist atmosphere,where every attempt the Cowan's make to leave the flat causes the arguments to become more ridiculous.Whilst the peculiar behaviour of the couples is peeled open,the writers never go beyond the bleeding heart Liberal and sharp dressed businessman suffice,that causes the film to run out of steam,due to the characters not being built up well enough to make the jet-black Comedy games fully hit their targets.Cast as a shining Liberal elite, Jodie Foster disappointingly gives an overcooked performance as Penelope,due to Foster's stage-bound manner ruining Penelope's Liberal chic with shrieks that aim for the absurd, but just run cold. Playing the notes that Foster misses, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly give great performances as Michael Longstreet and Alan Cowan,thanks to the guys keeping Cowan's work obsession and Longstreet's off-the-cuff manners intact, even as their conversations get more off-beat,whilst Kate Winslet throws up a wonderfully catty performance as Nancy,as the full carnage starts to kick in.
paul2001sw-1
'Carnage' is a play filmed by none less than Roman Polanski, although one assumes he personally didn't oversee the location-setting shots in Brooklyn, New York. But it is in some senses a very American story, a pair of affluent liberal couples meet up to discuss amicably a conflict that has taken place between their children, and end up descending into a pit of mutual fury and bile. But the overall structure is forced: the natural thing to do when you can't reason with someone is to walk away, especially if you take particular pride in thinking of yourself as civilised. Without a locked room, the story makes less sense. And while it aspires to be a scathing satire on the pretensions of the privileged classes, most people are pretty partisan when it comes to their children. The film thus ends up as the tale of four not very nice people having an extended argument, full stop. Listening to them is one way you can pass eighty minutes of your own life, but you might find you have superior alternatives.
oragex
How bad a movie can be marketed ? Just as bad as in lightening a candle then putting it under a bushel.I mean, you call this movie Carnage and people will expect it to be about true social interactions and not of some amazing Arnold Schwarzenegger full of only bodies left flick ? How about the pink movie poster? Is that off the Helloo Kitty's private top of the castle room? That's how you have the main stream walking away instead of acclaiming your achievement. And I think it's acclamable, because it talks to every single individual of the age of the characters.Flawed it is, the script is both magic and weak. But the magic is such that the weakness is forgiven with indulgence.On the other side, either Jodie Foster was tired/not interested, either this movie did show the limits of her talent. Even the directing is flawed, quite a bit. But who could keep the inertia on a steady go in a script engraved with a perpetual dialog like a theater act.Go see this movie if you haven't yet. It talks about you, your thoughts, your frustrations and those lines that most of the time have never quit the tip of the tongue.
thommy741
When someone told me what this movie is about I didn't believe him. Of course it used to be a play and therefor the variety of sets can be counted with less than a hand but "Carnage" takes it to the extreme showing just one living room for most of the time. But while you sit there, watching like the first half and feeling "uncomfortable" you suddenly begin to realize how this will eventually turn out. Watch this movie like this: What would happen if adults would start to say their mind about more or less anything that comes to their minds be it false assumptions, people they want to protect or ideals they try to hold up high. Oh and while you see the first line of their false courtesy crumble, get your popcorn out, this truly is one of Jodie Fosters better emotional roles ;)
