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8MM

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8MM (1998)

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Reviews Counted:78

Fresh:17

Rotten:61

Average Rating:4.1/10

Consensus: Its sadistic violence is unappealing and is lacking in suspense and mystery.

Runtime: 2 hrs 8 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Nicholas Cage plays Tom Welles, a straight-laced surveillance specialist. His innocent, naive world begins to unravel when he is hired by the widow of an industrialist to investigate what she has... Nicholas Cage plays Tom Welles, a straight-laced surveillance specialist. His innocent, naive world begins to unravel when he is hired by the widow of an industrialist to investigate what she has shockingly discovered in her late husband's safe. It appears to be a snuff film of a young girl being murdered. In order to discover the truth, he must enter the city's seedy underworld, guided by porn-store clerk Max California (Joaquim Phoenix, LADDER 49). [More]

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener, Peter Stormare, Anthony Heald, Chris Bauer

Director: Joel Schumacher

Director: Joel Schumacher
Screenwriter: Andrew Kevin Walker
Producer: Joel Schumacher, Judy Hofflund, Gavin Polone
Composer: Mychael Danna

[See More Credits]

Reviews for 8MM

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Poorly developed, 8mm is anything but a pretty picture.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
09/17/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There's no faulting Cage's committed, intense performance, but his slide from professional, internalised concern into personal, self-righteous rage still leaves a nasty aftertaste.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film never really gets under the skin of its central character.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Ian Freer
Ian Freer
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The issues and atmosphere are forgotten in favour of a brash action climax.

Full Review Source: UK Critic | comment Comment
01/01/00
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
UK Critic

I can't say I warmed to the results, but I was solidly held for the film's two hours.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
09/17/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

A movie that keeps jumping the gate and finally unravels all over the floor.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
07/22/08
Derek Elley
Derek Elley
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Sets a new record for gross stupidity.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/23/07
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

Director Joel Schumacher aims for a psychological depth that the script can't sustain.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
11/24/06
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone

Walker at least has a solid premise here. Too bad the script didn't find its way to another David Fincher who could understand it.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Ron Wells
Ron Wells
Film Threat

Want to know what happens when an A-list director and A-list movie star attach themselves to a direct-to-cable screenplay? This.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
07/21/05
Jeff Millar
Jeff Millar
Houston Chronicle

It's pretty sad that a big star/big budget film about a gritty piece of life that should powerfully effect the viewer at the gut level fails so miserably.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
04/09/05
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
03/14/05
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons

An exploitation movie about an exploitation movie.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
08/07/04
Peter Rainer
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine

Unpleasant.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
06/14/04
Dragan Antulov
Dragan Antulov
rec.arts.movies.reviews

The repartee between Cage and Phoenix is the high point in the film, which otherwise made me want to go take a long hot shower.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
05/20/03
Jim Shelby
Jim Shelby
Palo Alto Weekly

It is good work by Schumacher, but hard to watch nonetheless.

Full Review Source: Film Quips Online | comment Comment
02/08/03
John R. McEwen
John R. McEwen
Film Quips Online

8mm is neither the sick exploitation film nor the risible misfire the critics had prepared us for -- it is a movie of serious intent.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
12/08/02
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

I could not get past the pathology lurking just below the skin of this story -- its false morality, its prurient absorption in sexual violence, its sadistic glee over the hero’s degradation.

Full Review Source: Cincinnati Enquirer | comment Comment
10/15/02
Margaret A. McGurk
Margaret A. McGurk
Cincinnati Enquirer

It has some worthy moments, but it could have been so much more.

Full Review Source: Montreal Film Journal | comment Comment
09/10/02
Kevin N. Laforest
Kevin N. Laforest
Montreal Film Journal

I'd like to think the project would have fared better in more eclectic hands, say Gus Van Sant, or perhaps Roman Polanski, but what's done is done and what's done is maybe not what it could have been.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
09/09/02
Marc Savlov
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
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Latest News for 8MM

February 04, 2007: Joel Schumacher Lost in "Lost Boys" Sequel
Fans of '80s movies, cool vampire horror or The Coreys Haim and Feldman have all awaited the possibility of a "Lost Boys 2." But the idea that Warner Brothers might... More...

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