Your IP has been blocked. Please perform the action below to regain access.
75.126.130.58-
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
-
A WILD, FASCINATING, QUIRKY RIDE INTO "THE BIG EMPTY"
Five Spooky Stars! Where has this one been hiding? Mystery is the key here in this independent film and there's plenty of it right up to the very wild end. This film is somewhat in the area code of NIck Cage's "Red Rock West" at the beginning, but it goes in another direction after it gets going. Then what started out as a quirky film kicks it up a notch and becomes a really weird, enjoyable, and special DVD.
Premise: an out of work actor has huge bills, needs a job, and gets way more than he bargains for when he's offered work by a neighbor: because it leads him out into "the big empty". Can't give any more clues without the possibility of ruining it for you. My advice is to see it twice because you'll never see all of the clues the first time through. The second time through, the clues are like glowing neon lights.
The cast list may be misleading: you may not recognize some of the names, but you'll instantly know the faces of this wild ensemble. Jon Favreau is great as the lead. Sean Bean is wonderfully creepy, and Jon Gries, Adam Beach, Melora Walters, Gary Farmer and the rest of the crew are excellent. Kelsey Grammer is a surprise who adds alot of big name credibility to the movie. And, trust me, Rachael Leigh Cook gets my vote as flat out one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood. And there is one surprise actor that you won't recognize until the credits are rolling, which may prompt you to hit the reverse button fast. Incidentially, the first scene between Jon and Rachael is a real "hoot" that may slip past on the first viewing. Pay attention!
This movie, which went direct to DVD, is a wild ride and it's a keeper. It is exactly the type of discovery that many of us movie viewers look forward to, and when we find it, it's really a magical couple of hours that stick in the mind for years. Buckle up, this'll spin your head around. Check your Blue Bowling Balls at the door, please !! My Highest Recommendation. Five Mysterious Stars!!
(Note: "The Big Empty" (I love that title) is a great example of what independent film-making is all about. And this is why well-known actors give their time and talent for 'scale' wages: the results can be spectacularly satisfying for everyone of the film makers and stars involved that is on a level that most of the public will never truly understand.)
Rating: 
-
Misterious!
Comedy at first, x-files after and twilight zone in the end. Overall: VERY GOOD!
Rating: -
Coen Brothers Meet David Lynch
Ever wonder what you would have if the Coen brothers collaborated with David Lynch on a small independent film? Destined for cult classic status, "The Big Empty" is a strange blend of "Mulholland Drive" and "The Big Lebowski". So if you liked either or both of these classics you should track down the DVD, it has important special features that shed a little light on just what writer/director Steve Anderson was trying to communicate with this interesting film.
I have beefed up this comment a little since my original viewing because I have found "The Big Empty" gets even better with repeated viewings. The wry humor can best be enjoyed when you are not wrestling with the progress of the story itself.
I have heard that there are deleted scenes that show him taking this thing in the direction of the old "Twilight Zone" episode where the aliens entice humans to a planetary paradise with a book titled "Serving Humans", which actually turns out to be a cook book. There are also elements reminiscent of that suicide cult in San Diego in the mid-1990's.
"The Big Empty" has some relatively big names in its cast including Kelsey Grammar (a FBI agent), Joe Gries (from "The Pretender"), Rachel Leigh Cook (the town Lolita), and Darryl Hannah (Lolita's Mother). For the first time a Cook character is very sexy, it must be the hair style. The performances and deadpan humor save the day as the story itself is a little too expressionistic and open-ended for most viewers.
Although the film gets off to a quick start and is never boring, Anderson (in the Lynch tradition) has to cheat and leave some things unresolved at the end, because it is simply impossible to tie all the disparate elements together conventionally. But this makes for interesting discussion with other members of "The Big Empty" cult.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
Rating: 
-
What do people see in this film?
This wasnt a bad film but it wasnt a brilliant film ether. I had read a lot of great reveiws on this movie before buying a copy and I have to say that I am very disapointed in this film. I would suggest that you first rent this movie as it is quite a bizare film.
Rating: -
Watchable
Perhaps better on a rainy day with nothing else to occupy your time. Admittedly, at first, I thought it not even worth that. Little did I know that the movie would end up being a sci-fi flick (my fav genre).
As mentioned by other reviewers, things do start slow. But the pace seems to pick up perhaps half-way through the movie. I asked my wife (who didn't care for the movie) if she wanted to quit watching it but, like me, she too had to learn what the deal was with the blue suitcase.
A real let down for me was the terrible acting turned in by Kelsey Grammer - who I love to watch in his television comedy series. Equally terrible was the amount of "f" words used by his character (and by most others as well).
Unlike some of the others writing here, I thought Rachael Leigh Cook turned in a pretty good performance (besides being a doll to watch). And I almost didn't recognize Daryl Hannah. She also had a nice, but too small, role in the film (and, what a beautiful woman she is in this film).
Quirky does not a comedy make. I am not sure why it is classed so by people. This is more a sci-fi than a comedy. A wacky, off-beat sci-fi. Other than the language and some violence, it is easy to recommend at least a rental, if not purchase of this movie.
