Genres

Visitors Review

noizyme 2012-05-19 00:44:41

Friendly reminder about what you truly need in life

Nothing is story about two friends who've been close friends for 21years. One day, one friend, Dave (a self-centered type) decides thathe's going to abandon his one friend, Andrew (a shut-in who's afraid ofpeople and anything outside of his home) to go live with his girlfriendof two weeks. After finding out that his girlfriend embezzled moneyfrom his new job (by hacking into his accounting software at his work),Dave comes back to try and patch things up, try to sell the house thathe has lived in with Andrew, and move to Costa Rica with the money fromthe house. Things take an abrupt turn of events when a demolition teamshow up to tear down the house, and police gather outside to arrestDave on suspicion of embezzling the money.After awhile passes (about a day or so), they wake to find themselvesin their house with absolutely nothing around it. Just illuminatinglight and a bouncy ground. They find out that they have the powers towish away (or hate away) anything that they dislike in life. Aftergetting in fights with one another to the point where they have wishedaway everything (including their bodies), they find that all theyneeded was each other, and that they could never wish them away becausethey do not truly hate each other after all that.This was a original film full of CG effects from the director of theCube. That director loves situations when real-life gets altered anddistorted to the point of figuring out new ways of living, and thismovie really goes with his repertoire of films. It was a comedy moviemostly (or a light-hearted drama between friends), and its message waseasy enough to decipher.I didn't dislike too much about the film. I was going to complain abouthow basic everything was or how cheap the environment was that theywere put into, but the story bring the environment to play in awonderfully inviting way, even when nothing is around to interact with.It was comical but a little cartoony.I gave the film a 6. It deserved it. I didn't think it had anearth-shattering message or anything, but it did have a lot of insightinto what people might do given the desperation to find something thatwas right in front of them the whole time. Go check it out, it's prettygood.

2012-05-18 13:02:11

Good Idea, Could Have Been Better

This movie started out interesting. For the first hour or so I was pretty tuned in, even laughing occasionally. However, the last twenty or thirty minutes were kind of boring with little to no laughs. The concept for this movie really had potential but the ending was a big let down. As a whole this movie is entertaining to watch once, but I don't know about any more than that.

2012-05-14 03:04:22

Nothing: Enjoyable but Empty

Nothing, from director Vincenzo Natali, is a somewhat mischievous movie. Despite existential quandaries and the omnipresence of downright apocalyptic themes, Nothing is never without its tongue in its cheek. While this ensures that the film is entertaining from start to finish, such unchecked playfulness also seems to be the one thing restraining the story from becoming more than an elaborately conceived comedy sketch. David Hewlett and Andrew Miller's initial forays into the void are downright juvenile, and it takes far too much time for any true explorations of the film's driving premise to manifest. These eccentric explorations are never as intriguing as they could be, however. Perhaps unexpectedly, Nothing's psychological examinations of mood, ego, and dependency are pursued almost entirely through humor. The resulting comedy is dark but often not dark enough, quirky but not quite sharp. Nonetheless, Nothing is never dull. Natali seems to be experimenting with unique and creative ways of presenting the energetic visuals. As a result, Nothing looks like a live action cartoon, and it's just as fun to watch. At the very least, the modestly titled film certainly can't be blamed for promising more than it delivers.--Brian A. DixonRevelation Magazine

mark fraunhofer 2012-05-13 10:21:07

must see

Not just funny, very intelligent and thoughtful. Under guises of comedyleft to our imagination is everything else. While you are laughing youcan't help but reflect, what is it that really matters and can't justdisappear in our lives. Flawless writing and performances. It's perfectthe way it is, including all the timing of all the elements ando3erifrmanes. It's easy to see if you get it that all the negativereviews stem from the simple fact that the reviewer was unable to graspall of the elements of the film. This was very refreshing to watch andway above the current on the nose crop of crap out there. Great to seesomething intelligent after a long while.

shrubby99 2012-05-09 15:33:03

A wonderful, funny, original film.

I can only agree with taximeter that this is a fantastic film andshould be seen by a wide audience. The imagination on display, thevisual interpretation of the script, the humor is constantlysurprising. The two leads are great and really carry the film. Myadvice would be to not even watch a trailer, just rent the film andwatch without expectations. I rented from blockbuster, so it is readilyavailable in brisbane, not everyone will enjoy it but i think mostpeople will have an opinion and that's always good, unless it's just'that was stupid'. I loved this film, you just don't get to see gem'slike this every day. This should become a cult favorite. Give it a try,you may just feel the same way about it as i do.

stonewalls_footman 2012-05-09 07:23:34

Incredibly Inventive and Extremely Entertaining

I work at a movie store, and as such, I am always on the look-out foran excellent movie. I decided to check out Nothing as it sat in ourCanadian section, and I've been trying to support my country's movieindustry. I was in for a surprise. The film features David Hewlett andAndrew Miller in a highly entertaining story that seems to delve intoso much of our minds and relationships...without working that hard. Itis consistently comedic through the interaction of the two characters,as well as some funny exchanges ("We can't be dead, we have cable!").What more can I say without noting that it is worth a shot, even if youabandon it within the first half an hour.

Lennie Pedersen 2012-05-01 20:57:29

Nothing less than extraordinary

The premise of this movie has been tickling my imagination for quite sometime now. We've all heard or read about it in some kind of con-text. Whatwould you do if you were all alone in the world? What would you do if theentire world suddenly disappeared in front of your eyes? In fact, thelastpart is actually what happens to Dave and Andrew, two room-mates livingin arun-down house in the middle of a freeway system. Andrew is a nervouswreckto say the least and Dave is considered being one of the biggest losersofsociety. That alone is the main reason to why these two guys get so wellalong, because they simply only have each other to turn to whencomfortingis needed. Just until...Straight from the beginning of the film lots and lots of problems happentothem. Both of them get involved with crime, Andrew suffers from paranoiaandsimply doesn't dare going out of the house. Dave is unsuccessful at hisjoband his colleagues don't treat him very well and with the respect hedeserves. The amount of problems they face keeps increasing until thatoneday where they may have to face the inevitable and deal with it. This isjust too much for them and they wish that everything would just goaway...And of course that is exactly what happens.The rest of the story places Dave and Andrew in this world ofnothingness.At first they are surprised and have problems understanding and dealingwiththe features of this crazy environment, but later on they find out thattheycan do just about everything they want because it seems as if they aretheonly ones still left.Nothing features an incredibly small cast - in fact, besides the firstcouple of shots from the film, we only see Dave (David Hewlett) andAndrew(Andrew Miller) in the entire film. It is clear that in order to pullthisoff, the cast has to be more than up for the task, because in a worldwherenothing exists there is nothing that can distract the viewer in any way.Vincenzo has decided to use a reasonable amount of close-up head shots tomake it more interesting and it actually works quite well. Director ofPhotography, Derek Rogers, also has a nice way of teasing the audience bywithholding visual information, especially at times where a characterseessomething and reacts to it, but we don't see it right away.Obviously, this can't be an event driven film and it's not. Much of theaction happens outside their house when they move around in the void. Andthat's where some of the most hilarious scenes take place, especially inthecase of when Andrew discovers a candy bar.Now, one could be thinking: "How does nothing look like?" Well, it lookslike nothing indeed. The entire world of nothing is white... white nomatterin what direction you look. This is the weakness of this film... After anhour or less it's getting extremely boring to look at and there has to beevents to make sure it's more interesting to look at. Thank God, therearesome. For example at times when the two lads, due to the properties ofnothing, are able to jump really high as if nothing is made out of...tofu(as Andrew claims). It's fun to see how they are instantly able to usenothing to become gods of their own little society.One of the best parts of the film is the set... Production designer JasnaStefanovic has done a beautiful job in this film, the house in whichthesetwo guys live is so unnaturally fun to look at, still it seems right forthese two to be living in a place like this. All in all, the productiondesign is with no doubt one of the most powerful aspects of this film atitreally makes the film worth watching...However, the very best part of the film is the acting. Both David Hewlettand Andrew Miller really look like the professional actors they both are.The camera is on them for every second of the film and as previouslysaid,there are just about no props in the film, they are really on a barestage.With plenty of character development and some decent one-liners, cleverdialogue (at times hilariously stupid), it all works to that end - andthisreally moves the movie away from the low-budget area to well-craftedhandwork.Let's talk a little about the visual effects, because they are definitelyworth mentioning. Nothing features digital visual effects and prostheticsthat equals any modern horror film. There's a rather horrifying dreamsequence in the film, and although The Drews have milked that scenecompletely it's still fun to watch. One of the best visual effects in thefilm is at the end where Andrew and Dave suddenly discover their powersinthis environment - they have the abilities to wish everything away, sowhatif they can do it the other way around and make thingsappear?"Nothing" is a bright and well-lit movie, it really helps promoting theideaof them probably being dead (this is in fact one of their theories), but"Nothing" is a comedy and it slowly destroys its own theory. We don'tknowwhere they are or what has happened to them. We don't know if they willeverget out, because the movie ends before we see anything like that. Theending, by the way, is not as good as it could've been. It's rather easytopredict what is going to happen, still the writers have thought up a fewincidents that help make it a little more interesting and in the end,it's areasonably satisfactory one.Take "Hollow Man", "Kill Bill", "Cube", "Epoch" and lots of other filmsandyou have "Nothing". It really is an amalgam of different styles, stillthereis no other film (at least that I know of) Nothing is really like. Forthepeople remembering the original Cube Production Commentary on its DVD mayremember that Vincenzo Natali talked about how he came up with the storyofCube. He talks about him and André Bijelic having been room-mates at atimeand they both were in this extremely dull room with no hope of gettingout,"Nothing" could very well be the screened version of the origin of theCubestory, and to that end, it's almost like one of the Cubeprequels.What can I say? I enjoyed "Nothing", it is a great movie and thedifferentparts of the movie are extremely well-made with tons of intelligentideas,still I feel the movie is missing something and I have problems findingoutprecisely what it is... Maybe if we have a "Nothing 2" I can answer thatquestion. "Nothing" is a great film, but not as good as I expected it tobe.Final rating: 7.5 / 10

o5453453876345 2012-05-01 16:39:19

Weirdo it again

Whether it's a good movie or not, films of this kind has to be made, ithink. It remembers me of "I love Huckabees", a overwhelmingly puzzlingmovie with Isabelle Huppert being sodomized by a young American in amud pond, in a merry sadistic-masochist way (??!!!!). I hope thedirector will go on stepping across the border, as though i felt thechoices Vincenzo Natali made, were not always subtle (some of thescenes were unhappily kind of "tarte-à-la-crème", like a childishslapstick), speaking about script and cinematography… The color of"Cube" was black, "Nothing" is white, more cheerful, surprisingly, thanthe former films of Natali.

hokeybutt 2012-04-30 07:37:43

Definitely Something...

NOTHING (3+ outta 5 stars) Another weird premise from the director ofthe movie "Cube". This time around there are two main characters whofind themselves and their home transported to a mysterious white void.There is literally NOTHING outside of their small two-story house.Intriguing to be sure, but I thought the comedic tone established forthis movie from the get-go was extremely ill-conceived. There needs tobe some humour, certainly... and I have no problem with the humour thatwas eventually derived from the plight of our two heroes (their final"showdown" was definitely a hoot)... but I really think the movie wouldhave been a lot better off if it had stayed more rooted in reality inthe beginning. After watching the movie I watched the "Making of"feature on the DVD and a short trailer at the end is almost totallydevoid of the "sillier" comedic aspects... making it look like acompletely different (and slightly better) movie. The last half hour ofthe movie is where things really start to come together... similar in away to the recent movie "Primer." The actors are fine when they are notoverdoing the comedy shtick. They are really quite believable in theirmore "normal" moments. I was probably ready to write this movie off asa failed experiment at the midway point... but it won me over by theend. (And keep watching past the credits for the final scene... justdon't ask me to explain it.)

2012-04-29 21:07:54

VINCENZO NATALI, OPUS 3

***1/2 2003. Co-written and directed by Vincenzo Natali. Two antisocial long-time friends live in a house between highways in Toronto. They wake up one day in a strange world where nothing exists except their house. They understand soon that they're able to make disappear anything if they want it too. After Cube and Cypher, another good movie of this talented director but does only one really good idea, even if it's handled to its most extreme implications, enough to make a great movie ? Nonetheless, I recommend NOTHING for its originality.

Homer Simpson 2012-04-28 17:43:32

Terrible garbage

I'd give this piece of crap a 0 but I am forced to give it a 1 as it'sthe lowest permitted. This is a piece of garbage. Worse. A piece ofgarbage. Worse! All the jerky camera movements made me feel likebarfing, not to mention the horrible and ULTRA annoying "acting". Thebest actor was the damned turtle. The plot? SUCKED! You don't care forthe characters. They are retarded. You want them to die. You want thisstupid college artsy-fartsy thing to end. You press the "stop" buttonabout 30 minutes in; you at least give it a chance. After returning therental back to the store you give the clerk an earful and spit on herface. Then you never EVER mention it again; you don't even recommend itto your enemies.

masonll 2012-04-28 06:10:14

I want to die

This movie is just really boring. I've never seen Cube and don't knowwhat it is about, but I really hope it's better than this. I'm notfinished with the movie yet, but I'm really really bored. And I don'tget bored easily. Please make it stop soon. Okay, some concretereasons. Well, the first ten minutes were actually pretty cool. I wasthinking to myself how neat of a movie it was, but when everythingactually disappeared, it turned into two guys walking around in whitespace. You would think that there would at least be some interestingconversations to make up for it, but no, not really. And the characterof Andrew is too nervous and breaks into sweats so frequently, I feltqueasy just looking at him. I'm sorry, but Nothing is Boring. So far atleast. ButI'm not sure I can watch it any longer. I felt like my lifewas "on pause" throughout the movie. Sorry.

independantisme 2012-04-27 01:24:03

This movie should have sticked with the first minutes cartoons... (the *spoilers* do not really spoil anything)

Usually, I know after the first minute of a movie if I will hate it oradore it... but now, I was wrong.The start was great; the "this is based on a true story" and blah blahblah thing was funny. After, the cartoons and the description of theguys' life with pictures made me think I had made the right choice.Then, seeing the hilarious fake look of Toronto was cool. Also, thesituation and appearance of the house seemed to confirm my first idea.That was maybe the first 10 minutes of the movie... which afterwardslooked like an eternity.Maybe that's just me not understanding English Canadian humour (that'spossible, English Canadians also do not always understand Quebecoishumour), but hey... there was enough stuff in that for a short movie,*nothing* more. Maybe that could be a meaning for the title? Anyway,almost everything was filling, and very few things were even close tofunny in my opinion.As a matter of fact, the "making of" was better than the movie. Atleast you understand the motivation behind that which made everythingbad. The potential of the idea was great; that's why I rented themovie, being interested in the "annoying people disappearance" thing.But yet, I did not know the whole universe would vanish, and with iteven a point to the movie.If you are English Canadian, it seems you could appreciate the localhumour, considering the surprising number of people who gave this moviean 8. Otherwise, just think twice before losing your precious time...

megafan-1 2012-04-26 08:44:54

Hilarious comedy from the director of CUBE

Just saw this at the 2003 Vancouver International Film Festival and itwasfunny as hell and a bit surreal. Takes place in Toronto, where these twolosers live in this run-down house in the middle of a freeway system.DavidHewlett (PIN, CUBE, CYPHER) and Andrew Miller (CUBE) are just great asthetwo losers who wish the world would just go away.The acting, dialogue and writing are very good, and the whole film looksgreat for such a low-budget flick. Director/Writer Vincenzo Natali was inattendance at this screening, and he seemed so intelligent anddown-to-earth. This guy is so inventive with these great stories thatworkso well within small budgets, it puts big budget Hollywood crap toshame!

thither 2012-04-25 06:43:04

Self-indulgent dreck

This movie was awful. It is possible to make a good movie with veryminimalistic setting and characters; see, for instance, Tape, My DinnerWith Andre, or any number of theatrical adaptations. The trick to doingit is that the audience needs to be interested in the characters. InNothing, the characters were just not very interesting. What littleconflict there was between them seemed totally forced, and the whole"old pals are splitting up, then reconcile" plot is a hoary oldchestnut which director Natali does nothing at all to enliven.I had trouble staying awake during the long, boring stretches of badlydone slapstick comedy. Nothing is a film that aspires to be anunremarkable episode of the Outer Limits but winds up being more like abad kid's cartoon.The only reason I rated this a two is that no movie which ends with ashot of disembodied heads bouncing off to the horizon can possibly earnless than two.

time to run 2012-04-25 03:32:01

the stupidist move i've ever seen

I sped through this stupid movie hoping for something good to happen. This movie was undoubtedly the most underwheling adventure of all time. Please do not waste your time with this lame lame movie.

2012-04-23 17:04:59

A movie that makes you think of the impossible...

Definitly a great movie for those who prefer something with an intelligent backing. Yes, it is "wierd", and yes the cast is really only the two guys, and...yes they are fairly dimwitted...but look at the big picture. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to "hate" away things you don't like?...or would it TRUELY be a curse? I give this movie 5 stars...mostly due to its concept, and creativity.

2012-04-23 01:02:25

Oh, you crazy Canadians

This review is from: Nothing (DVD) Yeah for Nothing! Two friends with more than the common amount of neurosis hate the outside world away. They're left with half a house, Stan the turtle, each other, and, of course, Nothing. The strange visual texture of the city of Toronto provides a great contrast for the expansive Nothing that dominates the screen for most of the movie. The animation sequences during the opening/closing credits are fun; the acting is fantastic and the script is funny as all get out. It makes you wonder how the director of a D Horror movie like Cube could produce an engaging romp like Nothing. Chalk it up to personal growth, I guess.I highly, highly, highly recommend this move. Sadly, not everyone is cool enough to enjoy it. And to those people I say, Sucks to be you.

Myke 2012-04-19 21:12:24

Terrible, absolutly terrible

The story is great. I thought the film would at least be just as good. It wasn't. This film is grossly UNFUNNY. In fact, it is flat out stupid and painful to watch. I didn't even come close to a chuckle. I skipped several scenes ahead and it doesn't change at all. Unless you like silliness and stupid, you WILL regret that you spend an hour and a half on this nightmare.

M. O. 2012-04-19 05:29:12

Blinding Brilliant

Well, "Cube" (1997), Vincenzo's first movie, was one of the mostinteresting and tricky ideas that I've ever seen when talking aboutmovies. They had just one scenery, a bunch of actors and a plot. So,what made it so special were all the effective direction, great dialogsand a bizarre condition that characters had to deal like rats in alabyrinth. His second movie, "Cypher" (2002), was all about its story,but it wasn't so good as "Cube" but here are the characters beingtested like rats again."Nothing" is something very interesting and gets Vincenzo coming backto his 'Cube days', locking the characters once again in a verydifferent space with no time once more playing with the characters likeplaying with rats in an experience room. But instead of a thrillersci-fi (even some of the promotional teasers and trailers erroneousseemed like that), "Nothing" is a loose and light comedy that for surecan be called a modern satire about our society and also about theintolerant world we're living. Once again Vicenzo amaze us with a greatidea into a so small kind of thing. 2 actors and a blinding whitescenario, that's all you got most part of time and you don't need morethan that. While "Cube" is a claustrophobic experience and "Cypher"confusing, "Nothing" is completely the opposite but at the same timealso desperate.This movie proves once again that a smart idea means much more thanjust a millionaire budget. Of course that the movie fails sometimes,but its prime idea means a lot and offsets any flaws. There's nothingmore to be said about this movie because everything is a brilliantsurprise and a totally different experience that I had in movies since"Cube".