Wuchak
RELEASED IN 1999 and directed by Joel Schumacher, "8MM" chronicles events when a private investigator (Nicolas Cage) is hired by an aged wealthy woman whose husband recently passed away. A snuff film was found in his safe and she wants to see if the girl in the movie (Jenny Powell) really died or not. Amy Morton appears as the girl's mother while Joaquin Phoenix plays a wannabe rock musician in Los Angeles who works in the porn trade. Catherine Keener is on hand as the P.I.'s wife.The movie combines the basic plot of "Hardcore" (1979) with the style of late 90's crime thrillers, like "Kiss the Girls" (1997). The first half involves the P.I.'s tracking down the makers of the snuff film. While it's tedious work (which I wouldn't want to do) this part of the movie is gritty and compelling. The second half of the movie goes into material that's difficult to pull off with a straight face, like the smut-obsessed underbelly of Los Angeles & New York. The main villains come off cartoonish somehow rather than gritty realistic, but it's a fine line. Still, I like the message of the movie. My wife & I knew a wealthy man who passed away a few years ago. He often didn't pay the people he did business with, not to mention his employees who were living paycheck to paycheck. Someone asked him how he could own two Cadillacs and regularly go on globetrotting vacations while treating people like this and he arrogantly responded: "Because I caaAAAN." The low-lifes in "8MM" have a similar attitude. THE MOVIE RUNS 2 hours 3 minutes and was shot in Miami, Pennsylvania (Wormleysburg/Harrisburg), New York (Hastings-on-Hudson, Elmsford, Yonkers, Queens & Long Island) and S. Cal. (Los Angeles & Long Beach). WRITER: Andrew Kevin Walker. ADDITIONAL CAST: Anthony Heald plays the rich woman's lawyer while James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare and Chris Bauer appear as smut pervs. GRADE: B
savixa
Classic N. Cage's acting that makes you root for the villains.If you are looking for nothing else than the obvious clichè or a not challenging movie to watch while you're doing something else you've come to the right place. Once you've watched the first hour you easily can guess the rest of it.
I also recommend this movie to people who suffer heart problems... you don't have much to worry about as no suspense or unexpected twists occur.
slimebitch
I give this movie 10/10 because I think this movie has a real story to it, it feels all too real and it makes you sick while watching it. I can't say I would recommend this movie to anyone to see, but it is a movie people should see not because it's such a great movie, well it is, but because it's about real people and a story that could happen. I do how ever hope that people never do anything like this because I want to believe in peoples goodness. The acting is great if not even awesome, the story is "too real" and I can see the Joel Schumacher in this film as well as others, he is one of my favorite filmmakers through the time because of movies like this one. Even if I do not want to recommend this movie it is one of the best movies I ever saw.
851222
Greetings from Lithuania."8MM" (1999) is a great thriller. Nicolas Cage stars as a private investigator, hired by an old wealthy woman, who has to find out if the "snuff film" found in her late husbands safe is real.This is a real movie, which feels real, with consequences. It takes you to the dark and dirty side of human nature, and is very gripping. This is a not an action flick or a one man army kinda thriller - this one will leave you haunted. This is one of the very best films from Joel Schumacher, and has a great cast then almost unknowns Joaquin Phoenix as well as James Gandolfini - great job all all involved.Overall, "8MM" is a disturbing thriller. This is a dark tale, which takes it's hero as well as viewer on the edge.