Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-23 18:47:16

MIND-BLOWING (LITERALLY!)

Bradley Cooper (HANGOVER) is terrific as aspiring journalist Eddie Morra caught in the grip of an extended - perhaps permanent -- writer's block. But then he meets the "former dope dealer" brother of his ex-wife who gives him a sample of NZT, what he claims is a radical new "FDA approved" drug that allows one's brain to not only recall but make sense of everything it has ever absorbed.On the drug, which Morra discovers is not FDA approved, he turns in his previously blocked but now brilliant manuscript in a few days. In record time, he parlays a few thousand dollars into millions on Wall Street. And then he catches the eye of ruthless billionaire trader Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro) and nefarious individuals who plan to force Morra to broker the biggest deal ever and will do anything to control the drug and keep it from Morra unless he does their bidding. Morra ends up in a desperate race with gangsters and the police to maintain his supply of NZT until he can figure out how to survive what seems like an impossible situation. Oh yes, the drug has dangerous, debilitating, perhaps fatal side effects.None of the plot described here begins to convey the intensity of the movie experience and the surprises along the way. Director Neil Burger has a sure hand on theme and the clever visuals of the work wonders in conveying the "limitless" sensory experience. The Blu-ray has an alternate ending, an unrated extended cut of the movie, a director's commentary and more.

Jeff Amster 2012-05-23 07:28:17

Limitless aka the "Oh, that's what they meant by being a junkie" movie

So, you're given a super drug that seemingly has no side-effects exceptfor making you awesome. Sound crazy? Of course, but it's this type ofescapism that allows people to take you on their journey and changetheir lives in Limitless! Here's my take:* Nancy Regan is rolling in her...oh she's still alive? Yo Holmes, justtake this...everyone's doing it. At this point, normally you would"Just Say No!", but of course if this happened, the movie would only be5 minutes long! So for the sake of excitement, just put aside yourgoody-goody side and watch Eddie take on his roller-coaster of a lifechange including the fun with the Russian mob - gotta love thestereotyping...jamstervision.blogspot.com

collipal-1 2012-05-23 09:32:14

Moderately entertaining despite its mediocrity

The artificial increment of the intelligence is a popular concept fromscience fiction, and we have seen it applied in different mediums withvariable levels of quality, from the classic novel Flowers for Algernonto films like Powder and Phenomenon, without forgetting episodes fromthe TV series Futurama, Fringe, Star Trek: The Next Generation and evenThe Simpsons. But what we can be sure about is that the price of theprivilege of thinking more and better than the rest of the humanitywill be too high. What takes me to the most recent movie which usesthat concept, Limitless, which despite being moderately entertaining,its screenplay is very predictable, and it has too many inconsistenciesin order to be genuinely satisfactory.The main challenge faced by a story about a prodigiously intelligentman is that it has to impress us with the main character's intelligence(like for example, the great Arthur Conan Doyle did in the SherlockHolmes books). The problem with Limitless is that there is nothing toconvince us about the main character's greatness. Sure, there arevarious mounts where we see him analyzing the movements of the stockmarket, buying elegant clothes, enjoying exotic beaches with exoticwomen, impressing the "fat cats" of Wall Street...but his behavior isfrequently so stupid that it ruins the illusion and revels the lack ofimagination from screenwriter Leslie Dixon (or from author Alan Glynn,whose book The Dark Fields inspired this movie). As a moralizingparable about the addiction, its causes and its consequences, Limitlessworks adequately; needless to say that it is not even remotely asintense as Requiem for a Dream, nor as amusing as Trainspotting, but itmoderately fulfills with the purpose of showing the high price of thechemical abuse and the facility with which it can catch us.As for the performances, I liked them. Bradley Cooper shows charismaand credibility in the leading role. Robert De Niro also bringsconviction as a powerful "player" from Wall Street who cannot decidewhether the main character is a real financial miracle as an astutecon-man. And even though the screenplay did not give her verysubstantial material to work with, Abbie Cornish managed to bring adecent performance.In conclusion, I can give Limitless a slight recommendation, mainlybecause it did not bore me. However, the many holes and inconsistenciesfrom the screenplay make it mediocre and not very satisfactory.

2012-05-22 16:08:22

Definitely worth watching

This review is from: Limitless (Amazon Instant Video) I found the story to be Intriguing. Better it was the cinematography that really one me over. Dont' expect a great plot, just go along for a wild ride.

2012-05-21 19:32:09

Pretty dull movie

This is an interesting concept with too many problems within. Here is a pill that makes you smart yet somehow Cooper always has problems! He didn't know he was out of pills until he grabed the last one. Never occured to him? He forgot to pay his loan shark back with his millions of dollars of profit? The worst of course, is that he successfully predicted a texting driver would crash into another car. Out of all ways and means to prove this guy is brilliant, the movie has to resort to complete random chance.Not to say it was terrible - it was entertaining but too many scenes threw me off. It's a problem to have a genius run into problems he could have easily avoided. The final scene is Cooper chewing down on De Niro when in fact that speech should be geared toward the audience, not some small character we don't care about and can't connect to. There were not enough connections to everyday events (people) to engage us.It's enjoyable but I wouldn't say go out of your way to see it.

2012-05-21 08:16:09

So much potential wasted here, but so much fun it excuses it

Limitless is based by a book of the same name and any problems I havewith the film are due to the translation of book to film. Primarily,it's clear that the book is written in the first person as their is anongoing narration throughout the film of the main character commentingon events and giving exposition - which does the job in telling thestory effectively, combined with the visuals (which are amazing), itdoes become irritating and at times unnecessary. My main problem with the film, however, is directly linked to why Iliked it so much. Due to being based on a long book that would takehours and hours of reading, the story gets condensed and sped up, soplot points fly by one after the other and no time is wasted onanything useless which keeps it fast paced and engaging. However, thisalso means that problems and events that should have had more time getroughly 10 minutes to begin and conclude, downplaying theirsignificance somewhat. Problems that seem dire get dealt with veryquickly, seemingly with no side effects. The plot also lacks anoverriding goal - a destination, it seems as if Eddie (Bradley Cooper)just takes things as they come rather than have an overall game plan,and it leaves you a bit dissatisfied in places as it feels it lacksdirection, where in the book it would be more spread out and natural.OK, bad's out the way - now the good! The film is very well written;the script is very tight and has clearly been cut down for efficiencyyet still natural and the acting is brilliant also. All characters arevery convincing and Bradley Cooper's intelligent Eddie is soentertaining, convincing and endearing that you eventually love thecharacter and rejoice every time he has to explain anything to thenormal humans. Some of the action scenes are a bit naff, but otherwise very well done,but besides Bradley Cooper's performance, I'd say the main prize goesto the director - Neil Burger. My hat goes off to him for his visualimagination - his transitions between different locations are the bestI've ever seen in a film and it really encapsulates Eddie'sdisorientation when he blacks out on and off. The effects used toillustrate the effects of the drug are also brilliant; sometimes youforget the voice over and just get lost in the special effects - suchas the one in the trailer when the letters fall from the ceiling. Theonly thing I would complain about is the fact that he often usesextreme close ups excessively and it gets a bit distracting, butnothing compared to how compelling this film was. It was clever, butnot genius, it was thrilling, but not mind blowing - it was just a lotof fun. Definitely worth seeing if you're an aspiring director or justa person with eyes in their face.

rokmusic 2012-05-20 10:26:23

Original and believable

This film was so believable I kept having to remind myself it was asci-fi; it seemed more like a biography. Bradley Cooper gave a goodperformance, but what really made the movie was the lighting and camerawork. Without giving anything away, it left me feeling dizzy at times.However the plot was also very original and clever - something that'shard to come across nowadays. There were a few twists and the storykept me on edge. There is a scene near the end that is very intense,and not recommended for the faint-hearted. The ending left mesatisfied, though.Overall a very clever and entertaining film. Not what I expected fromthe trailer, but I wasn't disappointed either. I would recommend thisfor almost anyone.

sjabbo 2012-05-19 17:12:59

Incredibly shallow

Where to begin with this movie? The concept is interesting enough(super drug that enables all our human powers), but the execution ofthat idea in this movie was a total disaster.It's an incredibly shallow story, where our main guy works his way upin the system by writing a great book whilst on these magic pills, getsinvolved with a silly loan shark at some point, who for some reasonseem to haunt him throughout the movie. His girlfriend is involvedalso, and is hunted down by a man who is constantly following ourprotagonist, and in what is one of the movie's absolutely dumbestscenes, said girlfriend manages to escape from this guy by making a runfor it (having hidden from her follower behind some trees for sometime, nobody knows exactly why the follower knew she was hiding behindthose 4-5 trees, he's waiting there for her for a long time, instead ofsimply looking behind the trees, something you would do if yoususpected someone you were looking for hiding there), using a kid onskates to slash this guy down in an ice-skating rink.Later on our man manages to achieve success and the American Dream iscomplete (of course). The conversations in the movie are shallow veryHollywood-esque, easy to swallow, but it doesn't really seem real.In exploring an idea that could be very interesting, the movie doesn'treally deal with or manages to show the different facets of how a brainon this drug could in fact function. We basically just see a person whois "good" at performing whatever it is he does (and the visuals of themovie sharpens or "lights up" every time he takes one of the pills), inthis case, investing money and writing, and ultimately, archieves hisgoal - by staying on these pills. But there's no in-depth explorationof the idea, just a shallow American Dream-story, that we've seen somany times before, but a lot better told than this.

2012-05-18 09:03:16

Movie review

This review is from: Limitless (Unrated Extended Cut) (DVD) The movie kept you on your toes. If only this was real. The movie was interesting and entertaining. Bradley Cooper and Robert DeNiro performed well together. If you like fictional movies I would recommend this movie. The movie was never slow, it moved at a good pace so it was easy to follow when going back and forth with what was happening.

2012-05-17 16:03:31

Exciting What If Film

This review is from: Limitless (Unrated Extended Cut) (DVD) What if you could advance the quality of your life by being super-smart/creative/talented with the aid of a pill? What if the pill had deadly side effects and evil people wanted your stash? This is an exciting and intriguing film with the talented Bradley Cooper in the lead. He has an everyman quality that is relatable (although at times he seems a bit of a loser which makes the plot turns all the more interesting). Abby Cornish plays the girl lead and she was great in this action thriller. One of my favorite parts was her in the park at the rink - great action chops on her. Would love to see her in more action films in the future. I liked this film and found it exciting though at times there were some really scary parts. Two thumbs up.

chrismsawin 2012-05-17 01:15:07

Better than expected

Have you ever been really intrigued by the concept of a film, butpretty much knew deep down that the movie would probably suck? That wasmy initial thought process going into Limitless. The concept of a drug(NZT) actually being able to unlock the maximum capacity of a person'sbrain with unlimited potential is extremely fascinating to me. Maybeit's because Bradley Cooper has mostly been in subpar films or the factthat Robert De Niro has been giving us "okay" to "what the hellhappened to De Niro?" performances for over a decade, but trailers forLimitless just left you feeling empty like you knew ahead of time thatthey were going to blow it somehow. Surprisingly enough, Limitlessisn't half as bad as expected and may be slightly better than youthink.The camera work is probably the first thing you'll notice as theopening credits use a unique zoom-in technique that mostly has ustraveling through the back windshield of a countless number of cars inthe type of traffic you'd expect in New York. This zoom-in technique isused several times throughout the film and, to be honest, makes you alittle nauseous. As intriguing as it was, it actually wound up makingme feel like I was just trapped on a carousel stuck on full speed. Theuse of color was a nice touch, as well. Whenever somebody first usedNZT, the world became brighter. It was like they were seeing the worldthrough a new set of eyes. The choreography went on to stand out a fewmore times throughout the film, as well. When Eddie (Cooper) finallysits down to write his novel, letters begin to rain down from hisceiling. When he first starts the stock market game, he glances up athis ceiling at one point and the tiles begin flipping around as Eddiesees the stock market play out on his ceiling. Things like that were anice touch to make what would otherwise be an ordinary scene morememorable.The cast seemed rather lukewarm though. Bradley Cooper seemed to givethe strongest performance of the bunch, but that's probably because wespend the most time with his Eddie Morra character. Hearing Eddie'snarrative throughout the film managed to add a bit more depth though.Hearing his thought process and him voicing how he felt helped add alittle to the film and his character. Abbie Cornish and Robert De Nirowere really disappointing though. Cornish was able to display fear inone scene and basically came off as indecisive the rest of the timewhile seemingly just going through the motions. Robert De Niro has onescene that's fairly memorable; the scene where his character, Carl VanLoon, gives his "don't make me your competition" speech. It honestlyjust seemed like De Niro was grossly misused the entire film while VanLoon felt like a watered down version of De Niro's Senator McLaughlincharacter in Machete without any sort of ridiculous fun injected intohim.The film did seem a little slow to get the ball rolling, but is prettydecent once it picks up around the halfway point. Any film that getsthe wheels turning in your head because of its concept or makes youthink about what you'd do in their shoes while using this fictitiousproduct isn't all bad, in my book. Films that make you think can be agood thing even if it's something entirely different from what's takingplace on-screen. There is one scene involving blood that'll probablymake you want to puke. If you were in Eddie's situation, you'd probablydo the same thing. But in the meantime, it's really...REALLYdisgusting.The biggest downfall for Limitless is that its concept is almost biggerthan the rest of the film. The film is centered around this fantasticidea that doesn't seem to be fleshed out to its maximum potential. Thefinal product though isn't all bad. With an intriguing storyline, astrong performance from Bradley Cooper, and some fairly captivatingcinematography, Limitless comes off as an above average thriller thatyou won't feel entirely cheated on seeing that rainy day you decide tosee it since nothing else looks good.

Twodude Review 2012-05-16 20:11:52

Bradley Cooper has entered Superstardom

Neil Burger, mostly known for directing the underrated The Illusionist,has crafted an excellent suspense thriller in Limitless. Burger'sperfect pacing sets the stage as the movie starts off strong and onlyimproves as the story unfolds. Burger's casting and direction arewithout a doubt a strong point in the film, and he should be commendedfor putting together a fantastic production. The movie's screenplay wasadapted by Leslie Dixon from a novel of the same name written by AlanGlynn. I've never read the book, but if history proves anything, than Iexpect it to be really good. Typically, books are superior to theirmovie counterparts, and in this case the book has a lot to live up to.Bradley Cooper, the film's lead, has come a long way since J.J. Abrams'spy centric T.V. show Alias, my first experience seeing him on anyscreen. In Limitless, Cooper shines as Eddie Morra, providing the bestperformance of his blossoming career. The transformation Cooper's Eddiemakes from being a good for nothing aspiring writer into a prominentWall Street tycoon is captivating to watch. It was like watchingCooper's career on the screen; starting out as a working actor and nowsoaring into super stardom. The legendary Robert De Niro, much like hischaracter, assists Cooper in helping him take the leap. De Niro,although in a supporting capacity, provides a calming presence andprovides the balance needed. Additional strong performances areprovided by a relative unknown, but very talented supporting cast:Andrew Howard, Abbie Cornish, Johnny Whitworth and Anna Friel.I honestly didn't know what to expect when I started watchingLimitless. I remember the trailers from when the film played intheaters, but never had much interest is viewing it. Once the moviestarted, my interest was maintained from the beginning through itscompletion. Every so often a movie comes along out of the blue thatjust works on every level. It's not over acted, it's not drowned out byloud explosions, and it's not over done with special effects or ladenwith CGI; the movie is just plain good. Limitless was that movie!Although a minor hit while in the theaters, Limitless should have along shelf life on DVD and Blu-Ray.Grade – AVisit our site at www.twodudereview.com

2012-05-14 15:57:20

Very entertaining

This review is from: Limitless (+ Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) Excellent acting and dialog. I wouldn't put this movie in my top ten, but I can safely say I will watch it again in the near future.

Devon School Students 2012-05-14 07:40:05

Limitless review by Ruben Scherrer

The plot is based on a not very well-known novel by Alan Glynn called'The Dark Fields'. It's about a writer who meets his ex-wife's brotherwho then gives him a pill. He doesn't know what the effect of the pillwill be. Because of the drug his brain power improves to 100% and so hebecomes probably the most intelligent man in the world. As you canimagine, it gets really exciting and thrilling for him but he also getsinto trouble with his new ability.This film is really absorbing and progresses at an extremely fasttempo. The actor Bradley Cooper in the main role does it well but Idon't think he could really identify with the role of a superintelligent banker and writer. There is a new special effect that isreally special and one I've never seen before: it's a kind of twistingzoom that goes on for a long time without any hesitation. I reallyliked this effect and how it was used in the movie.In conclusion, I enjoyed and would like to watch more movies by NeilBurger. Finally, I would recommend this movie to anyone who likesmodern action or sci-fi movies because it has a nice story and somereally fascinating new video effects. Good work!

Terry Roehrig II 2012-05-13 19:35:07

What if a pill could change your life forever? Would you risk it all?

If you could take a pill that would let you accomplish what you onlydreamed about doing... would you take it? What if taking that pill alsomeant that it would change your life so drastically, that hardly anyonewould know who you are anymore and more importantly, some peoplewouldn't even care because they're trying to kill you in order to getwhat you have. I love a good "what if" movie. These are the types ofmovies that asks us to put ourselves into the main character's shoesand wants to know if we would do what they did.Eddie Morra (Cooper) is a struggling broke writer living in New YorkCity with his girlfriend, Lindy (Cornish). Oops. Maybe not. After Lindydumps him at a dash-and-dine, he runs into Vernon (Whitworth). Eddieused to be married to Vernon's sister, Melissa (Friel). Vernonconvinces Eddie to have a drink with him and as they're talking Vernongives Eddie a clear-looking pill to help him out with his problems.They're $800 a pop... but, just like all drug dealers... the first oneis one the house. When Eddie finally takes the pill, his whole Worldgets turned upside-down. He's able to do things better, faster and moreefficiently. He bags the landlord's wife, cleans his apartment andwrites about a quarter of the novel he's been working on for the past 3months. Seeing this as a plus, he returns to Vernon's apartment andwhaddya know, he's dead. Eddie scours the apartment, finds the stash ofpills and starts his own regimen for taking them and using them to hisadvantage. Unfortunately, Vernon never told him about the dangerousside effects. The blackouts, the loss of days, the amount of painyou're in when you stop taking them. Eddie gets in a little over hishead, getting all kinds of attention by amassing $2 million dollarsprofit in less than 10 days. Before he knows it... people start comingto him... people start chasing him... had he gone too far? I enjoyedLimitless. One of the main things I want to talk about is the camerawork and visuals. Absolutely stunning. I loved all the camera anglesand effects when Eddie would walk endlessly, it was like walkingthrough a high-def version of Yahoo! maps on street level. And whenEddie took one of the pills, the lighting changed so vividly, it mademy eyeballs want to grow arms and clap. From the very beginning of themovie, I was thinking to myself... what the hell did the directordo.... shoot this thing through a dirty tube sock? Without a doubt, oneof the more creative uses of the camera I've seen this year.The story was very interesting and kept me on my game at all times. AsEddie narrates the story, we're instantly sucked into his life andwonder where the drug will take him next...nightlife, perhaps? Anothercountry maybe? It zips by at such a fast pace, even we don't know whereEddie wound up or even where he's headed next. There is so much storyto Limitless, I didn't even scratch the surface in my synopsisparagraph up there. There is one pointless subplot I cold have donewithout, involving Eddie and a model. They brought up the storyline,made us fret for about 2 minutes and moved on to something else. Itappeared later in the movie, briefly for about 5 more minutes anddidn't even resolve anything and ultimately didn't add anything to thefilm.Cooper does well, even holding his own against Hollywood big-shotRobert De Niro. De Niro is not in the film that much, it's more of anextended cameo, so don't watch the film thinking he's in every frame.The female leads don't get enough screen time and are more or lesssquandered. The movie has a bit of a problem with starting story linesit can't quite finish -- Cornish's resolve is never fully told andFriel's ending makes Cooper's character come off as a bit of aheartless bastard, but I'm willing to let it slide because it was anextremely busy movie and to tell all the stories it wanted to, itneeded to be about 30 minutes longer. More reviews atwww.soveryterry.com Final Grade: B

purplechefs 2012-05-13 06:19:03

A good movie with some small flaws

Good movie overall and Bradley Cooper is a good actor in it. My mainproblem was the insertion into the story of the criminal thugs. Ifusing 100% of his brain surely he would not miss the importance ofneeding to pay back this criminal fellow, particularly after being toldwhat would happen if he did not. It's not like he didn't have loads ofmoney by then, it was just made out that he forgot, where as throughoutthe rest of the movie he is drawing upon his memory to recall thesmallest of details from his past in order to learn and improvise at agenius level.Anyway, this didn't stop me from enjoying the movie because I doactually think that the overall premise and delivery by Bradley wasvery good.

vlevensonnd-1 2012-05-10 22:34:14

Another 'I Can Get Away With Murder If I Want To' movie

This movie had me glued the entire time. I was enjoying it. I wasthinking it was an anti-drug movie for the newer generation - a modernday 'Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde' movie (which was a campaign againstdrugs/alcohol) - or like the Ralph Fiennes movie 'Strange Days', orChristopher Walken's 'Brainstorm' - ya know, the old time movies thathad actual (and truthful) morals to the story. Then the last minutes ofthe movie arrived and turned it all around, and it just became another'the ends justifies the means' story - an 'I can have my cake and eatit too and as long as I don't get caught, it's all good' movie. People,the guy never learned his lesson - which seems to be an all too commontheme in stories these days - it's more about learning how to not getcaught so you can continue living immorally - then you're the cool one- the winner - the self-centered 'everybody likes me - I like myself'person. I've had enough of being shoveled garbage and sludge like this.Do you want to watch a better movie? Watch 'Brainstorm', 'StrangeDays', and 'Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde' (The silent one is good, MaryReilly is good, etc). It's high time to start boycotting this garbage.

2012-05-10 03:41:28

Limitless

Imagine what if there was a drug that had the ability to unlock the full capacity of your brain. Overnight you could be about anything you wanted because your ability to absorb would grow a hundred fold. That's the premise of the movie and it does a great job of showing us a story of a writer that can't seem to get his life on track and get his book going. In steps his brother-in-law from a marriage that failed in a chance street meeting. He gives him a gift of a drug as described not FDA approved or properly studied. Therefore the only problem is the lack of background on the long term affects. The pressure of the writers block makes his decision whether to try it easier. Thirty seconds later he realizes he can recall anything he has read or seen and he can describe or do it with a Houdini like ability. He even has the ability to quickly learn languages. Not only does this attract the attention of those that can help him become successful in business, it attracts those that want a piece of whatever he has. In order to get ahead fast he has to borrow money and not from anyone he wants to owe anything. The movie is constantly going forward at a fast pace never looking back. He tries to stay one step ahead of his pursuers, but they are close behind and he must figure out who they work for and what they know. Even when he links up with a business tycoon he finds he is in competition for the spoils. Can he beat them at their own game? Will he survive long term usage of a drug that has killed several? Check it out and find out. I don't think you will be disappointed. If you enjoyed this catch Source Code [Blu-ray].CA Luster

arnaultmorisson 2012-05-09 18:08:15

A reflection of the shallow American dream,

Limitless could be named deepless as it emphasizes on the mediocre riseof a middle-class loser into the sphere of money (bliss) America.However, this movie as a deep sociological impact, in a country whereinequalities are on the rise and unemployment is here to stay, thanksto globalization/technology that exacerbate the two. The movie tellsyou one thing; you can't succeed in America without cheating. Thestoryline is absolutely pathetic: self-centered and egomaniac "BradleyCooper" is here to realize the deepest frustration of the averagefellow Top Tier university student lacking of intellectual curiosity.More important than the praise of individualism that finish inapotheosis with the most corrupt and probably most egomaniac job inAmerica (senator), there is one major flawed: Why the smartest man onearth cannot make its own NZT drugs? The filming is crucial playing therole of lowering human critical thinking by inducing pseudo artsyeffects to please the wannabee hipsters. Beside, the recent trend ofmainstream psychological thrillers e.g. Black Swan, Inception, isworking so well for the simple reason that it makes the audience feelssmart, when in fact the very opposite happens.

Emmastarkey 2012-05-09 00:59:22

Must See!!

I just randomly brought this film,to watch one boring night I wasreally impressed, it was actually really good =) Bradley Cooper did anamazing job in his film. I have to admit at some point i was like (Iwouldn't have done that) and sometimes the film confused me but i guessthat's just me =)The way they show time passing by is a great..even though if you watchit without blinking its really weird. But its a great way to show it,and also how the character was feeling in 'tripping out' etc..Definitely worth a 7/10 a must watch movie x