Mall (2014) Reviews

• Stylish and talented, though not fulfilled

  OJT2014-11-15

  The first part of this film hooks you on. Stylish and well photographed, and able to keep you interested. But that doesn't go all the way. The film loses it's way due to some very disillusioned and sick people inhabiting the mall. A disillusioned young man living at home in his mothers trailer goes on a hateful rampage on a mall. At the mall we find several persons doing their everyday thing, as the observant college student Jeff which really is smart, but still wasting his life on the mall, not caring enough not if he should take an Ecstasy pill or not. More shouldn't be told before you watch it. Because I think it's worth seeing. There are some very talented stuff here, though there are scenes pulling down the great stuff built up in the start. It seems like the story is not sure of what it's supposed to tell. There's also too much use of slow motion, and the young boys narrative voice, when thinking. This is the first feature film directed by Linkin Park-DJ Joseph Hahn, and his music video past is quite obvious. Some clear talent, but the film should have had more work put into the script. The film isn't at all what you think it is, and that is a main problem.

  More

• Good Ensemble Drama

  MovieHoliks2015-03-26

  Based on the novel of the same name by Eric Bogosian, "Mall" centers around a group of strangers, whose only connection is a gun-yielding methhead psychopath (James Frecheville) terrorizing the mall they frequent on this one particular day in question. I liked this film, mostly for it's good character studies, especially based on the observances of one of it's lead characters- our young philosophical hero, played very well by Cameron Monaghan. And look for a good cast- including (SPOILER a very short time on screen)Mimi Rogers, Peter Stormare, Vincent D'Onofrio (also producer), and a very HAWT Gina Gershon.

  More

• Fullness or emptiness of the soul

  LiamBlackburn2014-08-07

  This is a well-directed movie. It has a good overall sense of emptiness. I think its main premise is to focus on the soul of the person. How the soul becomes vacant, empty, but then full again. Full of purpose, whether it's purpose is going on a shooting spree in a mall. Or bangin a bored housewife. After a while you don't expect any plot twists, it's not about the plot... It's one of those movies where you kind of feel like you're just in this one long moment in time with the characters. I don't like the glamorization of the shooter, or his cigarette smoking. The perspective shots are really cool. The faces start morphing.....into wolves, and other beasts. I like how the one kid (who gets denied by that redhead) is all messed up on e the same time as the shooting takes place. And the kid, he gets told he is so boring...and he really is so boring! lol. It's so excruciating to listen to his dialog. This all makes sense since his soul was empty at that point, a void, lifeless, bound by his infatuation with this girl he doesn't know at all. Overall. a flashy movie, with great impact. You keep forgetting he's on e and then you remember as he's talking to people, and then you remember and it's funny.

  More

• Salvageable if you're willing to dig through the crap

  xrabid_yaoi_fangirlx2017-06-22

  Oh dear lord, this kid and his "observations." At first I thought it was supposed to be funny, but after a while, it just got annoying. He was seriously the most obnoxious character in the movie, so it sucks that he was the lead. The writers really nailed the pretentious, "above it all" high school tool who never goes anywhere without his copy of The Catcher in the Rye and an inflated sense of self-worth. He's so full of wisdom! So deep and enlightened! He's there to put the sheep in their places, since he's the only one who knows what's going on! This is like stoner 2.0, the kind of stuff that these guys think sounds so life-changing, like it's never occurred to anyone else, and their sole duty in life is to redirect the miscreants. I'm still not sure this was supposed to be part of the odd, dark humor that seemed to exist throughout the film. If it wasn't, though, I have to imagine the writers *were* that kid. I didn't know B.K. Cannon was in this movie! I was excited to see her for her brief cameo, despite the creepiness of the scene. Vincent D'Onofrio was fantastic, of course, and his scenes, as painful and uncomfortable as they were to watch, saved a lot of the movie. I feel like the entire bit with the bored housewife should have been cut. It added nothing to the movie and played out more like a clunky attempt to metaphorically represent a boy growing up and coming into his sexuality. The pacing died, and I found myself doing other things with the movie playing in the background. Honestly, if all of that had been removed, it would have been a much better film. Those scenes really dragged, and they were so jarring whenever they occurred, total change in tone and atmosphere. It's like you're in the middle of a car chase scene, then it cuts really quickly to Antiques Roadshow. As much as I hated the beginning with the pseudo-intellectual babble, I actually really liked the ending. That saved it a bit. Overall, the film was trying too hard to be artsy and complex, but it did have some interesting moments and some legitimate humor. I give it a resounding "could have been worse."

  More

• The Ultimate Movie Review! - http://tss5078.blogspot.com - @tss5078

  Tss50782015-06-15

  Joseph Hahn is best known as a musician with the band Linkin Park, and after directing a ton of music videos, he decided to give movies a shot. His first film, Mall, is kind of like a car wreck on the side of the road, in that it's horrible, but for some reason you can't look away. It's a seemingly normal day at a normal mall, and five friends are just hanging out, looking for something to do. Everything is pretty normal until a strung out shooter opens fire, but instead of fleeing, the teens decide to hang out and interact with people caught in the aftermath. This is one really strange movie, and as I said earlier, it's pretty bad, but for some reason I couldn't tear myself away from it. Shameless's Cameron Monaghan stars and was really fun to watch. I've always been a fan of his work and find his character, Ian, to be the most interesting one on Shameless. Mall is a different role and different character, but Monaghan is still able to bring that same charisma to the role and made this film somewhat more enjoyable for me. He really has a gift, at the turn of a switch this kid can go from sweet, to sexy, to evil, thanks to a very unique talent and you heard it hear first, this kid is going places. That being said, I tend to think he would be wise to leave this film off his demo reel, as it is just super strange and anti-climatic. Once you start watching Mall, you won't be able to stop. You'll see a great performance by Cameron Monaghan, while you sit and wait for any number of things to happen, that never do, making the film Mall just another confusing, artistic, independent film, that is really only fully understood by the person who wrote it.

  More