Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Michael Ledo It starts out innocent enough. A reinterpretation of King Arthur and the Roman empire. Some more histories based on one iota of fact. Then we get a retelling of Robin Hood and stories of the Middle Ages, Shakespeare, and the next thing you know Abe Lincoln is killing vampires and zombies. Now Poe. It seems the liberties with history has become progressively worse.This is a fictional story using the real character of Poe, his works, that fact he lived in Baltimore and not much more. The writers of the script wanting to ward off such criticisms have Poe ask, "Is imagination a felony?" Poe teams up with Detective Fields (Luke Evans) and Captain Hamilton (Brendan Gleeson) to find Emily (Alice Eve) who is being held by a man who is killing people in the manner of Poe's tales.There were a number of things that I didn't like in this blockbuster, first being Cusack's portrayal of Poe himself. It wasn't convincing for me. The opening scene of a full moon, a raven, and a woman screaming was a little too cliche. I felt insulted that the writer thought he could get away with such a shallow script. This is not a good horror story, not a good slasher film, not a good pseudo history, not a good mystery, and not a good love story. It does have a certain amount of appeal to it, but nor worth to go run out and see.Poe fans do not need to feel they have to rush out and watch this film. The film doesn't really catch his genius and madness.Parental guide: one F-bomb, no sex, no nudity, some Alice Eve cleavage. No music by the Alan Parson's Project.

Prismark10 With so many actors from the British Isles, you can guess that some European city is passing itself off for 19th century Baltimore.Horror writer Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) has returned to Baltimore, down on his heel, needing a drink and a newspaper editor willing to publish his work. His best writing days are behind and no one wants to know him, in fact most do not know who he is.Pretty soon a killer inspired by Poe's writings is slaughtering people. in all sorts of nasty ways. Smart Baltimore police Inspector Fields (Luke Evans) first suspects Poe but then enlists him for his help as he needs Poe's knowledge of his own works to find the killer. Time is running out as Poe's girlfriend has been kidnapped.The film is a police procedural mixed with campy horror. Cusack's take on Poe feels all wrong. However you go to applaud a film that takes the writer Poe and puts him in his own ridiculous horror tale.

Coventry Of course I can't be entirely sure, since unfortunately I have never written a screenplay myself, but I really think that one of the most difficult screenplays to write is that of a deliberately fictional story about real (historical) protagonists. You can't make it too stern or sober, otherwise it's becoming more of a biography, but on the other hand you certainly also can't make it too extravagant or far- fetched, or else you'll risk that the fans of the pivot characters will be offended. I can't think of too many other titles at the moment, apart from "Agatha" (Agatha Christie), "Bubba Ho-Tep" (Elvis Presley) and this "The Raven". Director James McTeigue undertook an admirable, but only semi-successful, effort to fictionalize the final days of the legendary horror author/poet Edgar Allan Poe. The circumstances of Poe's death, at the relatively young age of forty years old, have always been considered vague and mysterious as he was found on a bench in the park whilst heavily confused and delusional. By now, modern medicine has become accurate enough to assume that Poe most likely died from a brain tumor, but I can imagine that in the year 1849 the doctors' diagnosis was either poisoning or opium overdose. The mystery and legend surrounding Poe's death forms the starting point of "The Raven". We are introduced to our protagonist – adequate but boringly depicted by John Cusack – when he's in a miserable state… It's been a long time since Poe released a successful piece of writing and works on a sort of freelance basis for a crummy newspaper, he struggles with alcohol and drug addictions and the father of his beloved muse Emily literally hates his guts. Just when things can't seem to get any worse, Poe is apprehended for murder by the ambitious Baltimore detective Fields. A mother and her young daughter were gruesomely murdered exactly as described in one of Poe's horror stories, which naturally makes him the prime suspect. Luckily, for our writer at least, another vicious Poe-inspired murder takes place whilst he's being interrogated. Detective Fields and Poe agree to work together in order to stop the killer, and via correspondence in the newspaper they challenge him/her to a cat-and-mouse game. Intriguing and compelling plot, for sure, but horror fanatics immediately recognize it as a total rip-off of Dario Argento's "Tenebre". Genre addicts, myself included, will always prefer Argento's version, but admittedly it's a nice touch to replace the fictional author from "Tenebre" with the historical horror pioneer Edgar Allan Poe. The first couple of murders are also promising, most notably the massacre with the giant pendulum, but then "The Raven" quickly turns into a largely dull, talkative and uninspired secondhand thriller. The whole subplot with Poe's girlfriend being kept buried alive somewhere by the killer is implausible, the references towards Poe's phenomenal work decrease as the plot unfolds itself further. As the search for the killer carries on and becomes less and less interesting, director McTeigue sadly also reverts to dreadful clichés. You know, like the death of the loyal deputy or sinister figures emerging from the fog-enshrouded streets like in cheap Jack the Ripper movies, etc. John Cusack is a terrific actor, but he lacks the natural darkness to properly portray a flamboyant individual like Edgar Allen Poe. I actually don't think that any A-listed nowadays actor is capable of depicting Poe, including Ewan McGregor or Robert Downey Jr. who apparently also stood on the short list. In fact, bleakness and despair is what's missing most in this movie overall. If you're going to make a movie about the oeuvre of the pioneer of macabre tales, please make sure it's as dark and depressing as the oeuvre itself.

emmas-12033 I have to admit I enjoy a good thriller like the next person. This I knew who the murderer was after five minutes but I kept watching till the end. It was that good, no great even. Creepy atmosphere, with fog laden forest and streets. Awesome casting by far for a great film. The special effects team definitely went to work on the prostetics makeup. Amazing devices that make the books in true life. It was a thrilling movie and I was thoroughly entertained for over an hour. John cussack was a wonderful Edgar Allan Poe, he played what Poe was probably like in person. Luke Evan's was a wonderful inspector too. He helped to make the film better even though it was great already. Keep an eye out for that man as he's really a hot ticket in movies. Overall brilliant film, brilliant cast.