Only God Forgives (aka drive 2) is going to be available OnDemand Friday...

[in the NICK of time]

...same day as its theatrical release.

i know a few films have been toying with the on demand circle while a movie is out in theaters but never wit a heavy star as Gosling as its lead. should this mean links should be out fairly immediately (ill more than likely order this friday if true bc i have been highly awaiting this movie despite its divided reactions by the film community)

Few films had as many people talking at this year's Cannes Film Festival as Only God Forgives, the latest crime drama from Ryan Gosling and director Nicolas Winding Refn, who teamed up for the violent 2011 hit Drive.

This time, though, the talk was even more divided. At its Cannes premiere in May, some moviegoers booed, some walked out and some stood clapping at film's end. The graphically violent story about a drug dealer (Gosling) avenging his brother's death opens Friday in select cities and on video on demand amid some of the most mixed and vitriolic reviews of the year.

Analysts wonder whether, in a social media landscape where word-of-mouth spreads immediately, any publicity remains good publicity.


Scores of bloggers and reviewers have done their best to dissuade moviegoers from seeing the R-rated movie, which includes scenes of arms, legs, hearts and eyes being sliced.

"Refn, (screw) you and the whole Asian action-porn attitude you rode in on," rails film critic Jeffrey Wells on the website hollywood-elsewhere.com. "I was repelled by this film in ways I didn't know I could be repelled."

Sasha Stone of trade site thewrap.com writes that what Forgives "amounts to, in the end, is the careful work of a serial killer. Refn isn't literally killing women, but he's indulging in one bloody killing after another, and practically licking the knife afterwards."

Yet Forgives won best-film honors at the Sydney Film Festival in June and has won over exactly half of the USA's critics, according to rottentomatoes.com. "Winding Refn's brash defiance in the face of expectation and conservatism is to be applauded," writes Ed Gibbs of the Sydney Morning Herald.

Tom Quinn and Jason Janego, co-presidents of distributing studio Radius-TWC, welcome the nastier sides of the debate. "So many films are milquetoast," Janego says. "We're fortunate to work on films people want to talk about."

But who will listen? Analysts say the film's performance at the box office could depend on whose word is credible on the Internet.

"The Internet has become the equivalent of a Boston bar at 2 a.m.," says Michael Levine, author of Guerrilla P.R. "You don't know who to trust, and you're not going to remember most of what was said."

Levine says that some films are review-proof — "Just look at Grown Ups 2," he says of the critically-eviscerated Adam Sandler comedy that justopened to $42 million. But Forgives is "one of those films that rely on word-of-mouth and water-cooler talk." Increasingly, he says, that water cooler has been a computer screen, and the talk a lot harsher.

"One of the things that social media has proved is there are a lot of sad, lonely people in the world, with a lot of mean things to say," he says. He suggests that small, art-house films such as Forgives may need to be selective in who attends screenings to keep discourse restrained. "Sometimes you're just bringing negative awareness to your brand."

Scott Mantz, film critic for Access Hollywood, says that reaction to Forgives has been so extreme that even the negative reviews could help viewership.

"When people react that strongly, and it has an actor people are interested in, it creates more interest," he says. "People will say, 'If it's that bad, or that controversial, I have to go check it out.' "

But the danger of the digital water cooler, he says, is that word spreads in milliseconds.

"Social media has changed the scope of criticism, what people are talking about and who people are listening to," he says. "But the bottom line is this: If audiences don't like it, it's going to die quicker than ever, regardless of what critics are saying."

 

[re'up]

im seeing it 100%....looks ill, I want to see it in the Cineoplis here, but it seems like they mainly have big budget blockbusters and really mainstream movies, I'm good with my hot tamlaes, sour patch, and coke, I can do without sushi and steak dinners in a damn movie theater.

 

[RJY33]

Gonna be on my harddrive friday night then cant wait to see this

 

[kingdarius]

imma download it, even tho i've pretty much been hearing its terrible ....still gotta c for myself tho

 

[Big Boss]

Looks dope

 

[NKVD21stdivision]

In drive hes a drifter/traveler.

In this hes more of a mommas boy.

Great non the less.

 

[ryderldb]

It got shyt on at Cannes, but will watch

 

[Domingo Halliburton]

It got shyt on at Cannes, but will watch

thanks, thats like the first line of the article.

 

[ryderldb]

thanks, thats like the first line of the article.

my bad. didn't even read it.

 

[TheGodling]

Lemme repost my review of it:

Saw this movie yesterday and it was

For the record, if you thought Drive was boring,or too slow or whatever, stay the fukk away from this. This movie is not for you, it was never intended for you, just go do something else. With that said, this shouldn't be compared with Drive. Thematically and stylistically, as I expected, it is more in league with Fear X and Valhalla Rising. The story is abysmal and relies more on vague symbolism and the continuous atmosphere of dread. It plays out like a fever dream, it crawls under your skin and tries to devour you. In terms of 'entertainment value' it offers nothing, and it never attempts to, yet in terms of film art it you'll be hard pressed to find a more visually striking picture all year.

Every image is shot so perfectly it almost feels clinical. It's hard to imagine that it's possible to make a movie with such a flawless visual style. Every angle, every camera movement, every person's position within the frame, it's impeccable. Cliff Martinez returns for the soundtrack which is part traditional Thai, part synthesizer music, but it's not the dreamy 80s synthesizer music of Drive fame, these synths don't lift you up, they drag you down to hell.

And in the middle of it are the Godling, Kristin Scott Thomas and Vithaya Pansringarm. It's important I name them all three because while the Godling might be the big movie star/box office draw, the movie is about the circle of violence created by the three interacting with each other. In essence the conflict is about the love (or lack thereof) of parents for their children, which is the biggest hint I can give to anyone hoping to understand the film when they go see it.

Anyway, regarding the violence, it's on the same level of the face stomping in Drive, or that scene of Albert Brooks stabbing the guy with the fork and the knife, but it's more prevalent with such acts taking place every five to ten minutes, although with more ruthlessness to them. It looks pretty great too, one guy gets cut across the chest with a sword and you actually see the cut ribs in his open, blood spewing wound.

So in the end I loved every second of it, although it's not a movie I'd openly suggest. I'd go as far as to say Drive's success will become a burden for this film. People will hold it against the film that it's not another Drive, and they will hold it against Refn, even though Refn made films like this long before Drive and will only make the films he wants to make, not the ones that people want him to make.

I salute the man for that, because otherwise we would never get such uncompromising, nightmarish piff to the big screen.

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

Will watch at the cihema.

 

[Jplaya2023]

i was dissapointed when i seen the original in 2011 thinking it was going to be like the transporter type of action flick. Instead it was just some weird ass movie.

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

i was dissapointed when i seen the original in 2011 thinking it was going to be like the transporter type of action flick. Instead it was just some weird ass movie.

Original? Do you mean Drive?
Far from an original let alone a sequel..just a connection.

 

[in the NICK of time]

my bad. didn't even read it.

perfect opportunity for

Lemme repost my review of it:

yea i am hearing more n more reviews saying what u said in your review. its not a plot driven film and very very dark violent narcissistic crime drama. i feel ima enjoy it due to how i like these type of demented films, especially with Refn behind the camera. but i expect it to be not for the casual movie fan

 

[lamont614]

finna see this at midnight on campus