the frick? the girl that played his sister was good. when she was fighting with her dad it felt very real
hawke's performance is hampered by the mask though
I’ll admit she was good in that scene but was horrible the rest of the movie. Nobody was as bad as the kids who knew how to fight and the pinball bully though
I remember this film getting hyped up as the scariest thing ever before the trailers were released. At least Ethan's alright in it, he's usually watchable.
Definitely not scary beyond a couple jump scares. More of a thriller. I’m glad I missed all the hype behind it though because that’s ridiculous that people were saying it was scary
the frick? the girl that played his sister was good. when she was fighting with her dad it felt very real
hawke's performance is hampered by the mask though
I’ll admit she was good in that scene but was horrible the rest of the movie. Nobody was as bad as the kids who knew how to fight and the pinball bully though
At first I thought it was the actors, but then I realized the director didn’t give them any leeway with the scripted dialogue, so it just sounded really bad. Clearly the kids could act in the scenes where there wasn’t much dialogue. I never understand directors who think their screenwriting is better than letting the actors find their own chemistry and banter.
The kids were fine for the most part. Robin and the bully group both weren't great but they didn't get a ton of screentime. Having half the kids be voice actors helped a ton.
the acting in this movie was great overall. they actually got good performances out of most of the young actors, which is an extreme rarity. the only one that gave a bad performance was the one playing robin, which was the worst of the film. he also sounded like a troony.
i was also thinking about this; i think ostensibly yes because he was only kidnapping boys and the whole shirtless while waiting for them to come upstairs thing. but they're obviously not gonna make a murderous gay rapist villain in current year, so they kept it implicit without actually confirming it by having him assault them. they could have avoided it entirely by having him kidnap girls too, or not be shirtless while he was waiting.
I can’t really tell. Some dude from Korea on here once wrote that Koreans don’t really give a frick about being good at acting, and think it’s just a silly job and don’t take it as seriously as Americans
It’s actually not that bad. It makes some questionable decisions and could have benefited from a longer run time. Some cringe acting is the worst part about it
You’re a fricking moron to be hung up on that shit anyway but Robin was Hispanic, the lead detective was black, one of the bullies was black, and the baseball kid was Asian
the acting was fine but you could tell it was written by millenials and boomers who think it's "le heckin awesome" to have kids swear and act like adults. My 60 year old dad was soijacking at the scene where the sister beats up the bullies with a rock
I thought the same thing. Or use the top of the toilet to bash him over the head instead of a phone? Weird that Grabber didn’t notice the window missing or anything different around the room
The Grabber only went down to feed him like two times, and the last time he stopped in the stairs and just chucked the food plate onto the ground. He really didn't seem that concerned with what the kid might be doing down there.
yeah, that's actually part of the problem with the movie I think. Maybe it just needed a longer runtime but it needed more of Grabber and background with him. I'm all for mystery and letting you fill in the blanks but we literally don't know a thing about him besides he wears masks and does magic
It's just a short story, you can read it here
http://havenner.weebly.com/uploads/2/0/5/7/20575006/theblackphone.pdf
I just did and the movie is a fairly faithful adaptation. The only differences are: >Finney's mother is still alive (the dad is still abusive) >The only call he gets on the phone is Bruce who tells him to use the phone as a weapon (which Robin does in the movie).
No other kids, no dogs to distract, no elaborate traps. I think the film was a great adaptation with reasonable additions to fill runtime.
2 years ago
Anonymous
oh also in the short story the Grabber is a sweaty fat frick instead of being Ethan Hawke and no mention is made of any masks. His name is Albert.
Ethan Hawke was the only good actor. All of the kids were fricking horrible, with the lead being the least bad
the frick? the girl that played his sister was good. when she was fighting with her dad it felt very real
hawke's performance is hampered by the mask though
I’ll admit she was good in that scene but was horrible the rest of the movie. Nobody was as bad as the kids who knew how to fight and the pinball bully though
fricking kids acted like lifelong criminals lmao
The spanking scene felt real, but other than that she was terrible. Maybe they really paddled her ass for that reaction or something.
Probably hired her because she knew how to cry at will. She just can’t deliver believable dialogue unfortunately
Every girl can do that
samegay
Yeah that was me, so what? I felt like I needed to specify that Hawke was good since he is on the poster
I remember this film getting hyped up as the scariest thing ever before the trailers were released. At least Ethan's alright in it, he's usually watchable.
Definitely not scary beyond a couple jump scares. More of a thriller. I’m glad I missed all the hype behind it though because that’s ridiculous that people were saying it was scary
I'm pretty convinced horror movies don't really exist.
At first I thought it was the actors, but then I realized the director didn’t give them any leeway with the scripted dialogue, so it just sounded really bad. Clearly the kids could act in the scenes where there wasn’t much dialogue. I never understand directors who think their screenwriting is better than letting the actors find their own chemistry and banter.
The kids were fine for the most part. Robin and the bully group both weren't great but they didn't get a ton of screentime. Having half the kids be voice actors helped a ton.
these child actors don't have any formal training their parents just dropped them off at mr. pedobergsteins office in hollywood.
Was he supposed to be a gay I didn't get it
I think Hawke was supposed to be into young boys but it was only implied
the acting in this movie was great overall. they actually got good performances out of most of the young actors, which is an extreme rarity. the only one that gave a bad performance was the one playing robin, which was the worst of the film. he also sounded like a troony.
i was also thinking about this; i think ostensibly yes because he was only kidnapping boys and the whole shirtless while waiting for them to come upstairs thing. but they're obviously not gonna make a murderous gay rapist villain in current year, so they kept it implicit without actually confirming it by having him assault them. they could have avoided it entirely by having him kidnap girls too, or not be shirtless while he was waiting.
The kid in the flashback that played pinball was even worse than Robin
Lots of Asian movies
I can’t really tell. Some dude from Korea on here once wrote that Koreans don’t really give a frick about being good at acting, and think it’s just a silly job and don’t take it as seriously as Americans
>don’t take it as seriously as Americans
It's not Americans who're known for taking it seriously though.
sounds like bullshit
It's like how in Japanese movies that show a white English-speaking actor and they're god awful. Probably because they can't tell either
Squid Game was an example of this but that’s Korean obviously. People that hired them probably didn’t speak English very well
almost every brazilian movie with a good script
This movie looks like the most juvenile fricking cringe I've ever seen.
It’s actually not that bad. It makes some questionable decisions and could have benefited from a longer run time. Some cringe acting is the worst part about it
Lead actor looked like the Indian in the Cupboard motherfricker
Black phone was kino. Anyone that disagrees is either a troony or a gross mutt butthurt there's no diversity in the movie.
You’re a fricking moron to be hung up on that shit anyway but Robin was Hispanic, the lead detective was black, one of the bullies was black, and the baseball kid was Asian
And the movie was just ok
It was perfectly suspenseful. I needed to badly take a leak in the kinoplex for over an hour and didn't want to miss a single second
the acting was fine but you could tell it was written by millenials and boomers who think it's "le heckin awesome" to have kids swear and act like adults. My 60 year old dad was soijacking at the scene where the sister beats up the bullies with a rock
The two kids who do the swearing and acting like adults are the children of an abusive alcoholic widower. Kids like that tend to have to grow up fast.
if a film is starring Ethan Hawke then I know it'll be trash. Hardstuck B-tier actor.
My fren Ethan is a fine actor
don't talk about kino hawke like that
why didn't finney just grab a kitchen knife and stab the grabber when he was asleep in the chair?
I thought the same thing. Or use the top of the toilet to bash him over the head instead of a phone? Weird that Grabber didn’t notice the window missing or anything different around the room
The Grabber only went down to feed him like two times, and the last time he stopped in the stairs and just chucked the food plate onto the ground. He really didn't seem that concerned with what the kid might be doing down there.
yeah, that's actually part of the problem with the movie I think. Maybe it just needed a longer runtime but it needed more of Grabber and background with him. I'm all for mystery and letting you fill in the blanks but we literally don't know a thing about him besides he wears masks and does magic
did anyone ITT read the book its based on? wondering if there's more grabber content in there. as is he's just some gay schizo.
nah, I guess it's a short story but I should probably check it out
It's just a short story, you can read it here
http://havenner.weebly.com/uploads/2/0/5/7/20575006/theblackphone.pdf
I just did and the movie is a fairly faithful adaptation. The only differences are:
>Finney's mother is still alive (the dad is still abusive)
>The only call he gets on the phone is Bruce who tells him to use the phone as a weapon (which Robin does in the movie).
No other kids, no dogs to distract, no elaborate traps. I think the film was a great adaptation with reasonable additions to fill runtime.
oh also in the short story the Grabber is a sweaty fat frick instead of being Ethan Hawke and no mention is made of any masks. His name is Albert.
Max didn't deserve to die, Ransone is always great