Open Windows

I hate writing bad reviews. I really do. Bad reviews aren't helpful and only serve to make well-meaning artists feel bad about their work. They worked hard on their piece. Submitted for your approval. "Open Windows" Overly complicated. Overacted. Overly stupid and in some choice "nuggets" of scenes, I found myself cringing from embarassement- you know the feeling, like when your chin gets pulled down to your neck and your face turns red? And yet I *still* gave it 7 stars. Why? It was weird fun and I stuck with it to see what happened next. There certainly are worse films for sure, but not too many "Golden Turkeys" like this one.

Review: I wasn't a big fan of this movie. I didn't have a clue what was going on half of the time because the plot kept on changing without much explanation. When it all came together at the end I was quite surprised with the outcome but I don't think that it was well put together. The director over complicated the movie and he made it go in different directions which just became annoying after a while. Anyway, the movie is about a man whose obsessed with an actress and when he finds out that he has won a contest to have dinner with her, he really can't believe that his dream has come true. When he finds out from a mysterious caller that she has cancelled the meal because she can't be bothered to go, the mysterious man offers him exclusive access to the actress life, via cameras and hacking into her laptop and phone. After snooping into her private life, he realises that the mysterious man isn't all that he seems and he's ends up trying to save  the actresses life whilst putting his own life in danger. Its an original concept but it's executed badly. Elijah Wood put in a good performance because he brought intensity throughout the whole film and he made the situation seem real. On the plus side, this movie does show how easy it is to get into people's private lives with ease but for entertainment, it could have been much better. Watchable but not that great!

Round-Up: Elijah Wood has taken on some weird projects since playing Frodo in the Lord of the Rings franchise, like Grand Piano, Maniac and Revenge For Jolly, and most of his films seem to go straight to DVD. At 34, I doubt that he would be happy with the way that his career has turned out after the major blockbuster but he has got a film with Vin Diesel coming out soon, called The Last Witch Hunter, so that might bring him back in the spotlight. The moody and dark settings in this movie, worked well with the subject matter but it seemed like the director lost the plot. Some of the clever camera work was impressive and I liked the use of the different computer windows throughout the movie but it's a shame that the script was so sketchy.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their thrillers about an man who obsessed with a famous actress and wins a competition to have dinner with her but he finds out that the dinner is off so he seeks revenge with the help from a mystery caller. 4/10

Nacho Vigalondo's Open Windows opens on an extremely promising note plenty of twists , turns and surprises . This is a Techno-thriller that addresses questions of life , computers , fans and belief against a strange antagonist . A jilted fan called Nick Chambers (Elijah Wood) soon finds himself pulled into a twisted chase after he accepts the opportunity to spy on his favorite player called Jill Goddard (Sasha Grey) via his laptop . As it takes place on a variety of screens and locations using different types of footage .

This Spanish/US co-production succeeds because of the thriller , tension , Kafkaesque suspense , as well as an interestingly written script concerning a complex intrigue in which our protagonists are in such extreme situation and their subsequent instinctive urges for survival . This laptop-set thriller deals with a deadly game of cat-and-mouse in which video cameras capture everything , and the internet has turned into a cesspool of surveillance that's hundred times more horrifying than Leatherface's dugout . We immediately see that the story is going to be told from some unorthodox perspectives as each scene is broadcast through a window on a computer monitor . Despite its average budget the picture manages to be intelligent , intriguing and thrilling but also a little bit boring and hard to follow . The good thing about this film is that the director made it on a limited budget only having to do a few sets , yet the movie works on many levels but is constantly reconfigured . Looking for a monologue from Elijah Wood you'll get it in the form of a confessional style Webcam appearance . There is here in separate windows featuring a Webcam feed , even the action sequences are showcased in this format . In spite of being technically a "Techno thriller", the film nods at everything from a technological world to Hitchcock to Giallo . The final result is an offbeat thriller that's captivating , in spite of not being all that fun or especially thoughtful , neither thought-provoking .

The motion picture was original and innovately directed by Nacho Vigalondo . Here Nacho adapts to the times and find thriller/action/mystery in the ways people are living today . Filmmaker Vigalondo manages to not seem completely daft and he is attacking our vulnerability online by setting his Techno film entirely unsettling . This picture relatively cheap was tautly written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo in his third movie , his first was the international hit titled ¨Time crimes¨ with Karra Errejalde , Barbara Goenaga and going on ¨Extraterrestrial¨ with Michelle Jenner and Julián Villagrán , both of them showing up in ¨Open Windows¨ as guest stars . Nacho , who usually turns up in his movies at brief appearing , is a good young filmmaker , a little prolific director because being usually writer for television and shorts filmmaker , he has only realized three films . ¨Open windows¨ is without a doubt a weird , mysterious film to be liked for thriller and suspense fans , turning out to be one of the most original Spanish movies of the last years . Rating : 6 . Acceptable and passable .

OPEN WINDOWS is a high-concept thriller that works better as an exercise in form and style than as a movie. Directed by Nacho Vigalondo, and starring Elijah Wood and Sasha Grey, the story is about a guy named Nick Chambers (Wood) who wins a date with actress Jill Goddard (Grey) through an online contest. After finding out the date has been canceled, a mysterious stranger named Chord (who claims to be affiliated with Jill) allows Nick to watch her secretly from his laptop, and things start to get crazy from there.

When I first started watching this, I was reminded of a couple of films that Elijah Wood did before this one: MANIAC and GRAND PIANO. I thought of MANIAC because every shot in this movie is from the first person point of view, and of GRAND PIANO because his character is constantly being given instructions by a mostly unseen third party. What I thought this film did effectively was integrate technology in an interesting way, and the way the story was presented was at least creative. It takes a while to get used to, but once you accept the concept then it's easier to get into the film. It's actually not too bad of a film either, for the first two-thirds of it. You have this rather timid individual who is given the opportunity to spy on someone he admires through the miracle of modern technology, and when things start to go wrong the film is able to maintain a good level of tension. Nothing in this film is predictable, and that is probably the highest praise I can give it. Still, despite the modern trappings it is rather silly and convoluted. I won't give away any twists, but it takes a turn about two-thirds of the way through that kind of ruined the experience for me.

As far as the acting is concerned, nobody really gave a bad performance, but nobody was spectacular either, including Elijah Wood who seemed to be doing another variation on the type of character he's played in his last couple of films. Sasha Grey wasn't too bad, but I wasn't expecting too much from somebody who came out of porn. Overall, I thought that the story, as implausible as it was, started out pretty good but then derails in the final act. There were some good observations on obsession with celebrities and the terrifying possibilities of modern technology, but it is mostly lost in a standard thriller. It's being billed as a 21st century REAR WINDOW, but most people would probably be better off watching that instead.

I read the reviews, took a chance, lots of action for sure just not a very realistic story line. Nothing wrong with acting, it is quiet good. It just was a bit nutty for me. And unrealistic..but it is a movie. 5/10 at best.