captainblarg I would say this movie sits somewhere between 6 and 7 - it's a good job of entertainment, but a finicky viewer will find much to object to. I had to brace myself for the down-on-their-luck scenes, but those were balanced with the "meat" part of the tale well enough, for me. What was lackluster was their treatment of the ethical side of this matter, so look elsewhere if that's what interests you most.I couldn't decide whether or not the movie was an attack on Buddhism. I felt an ironic tone to that entire side of the film, and that the credulous viewer is being taken on a not-so-genuine carnival ride, although if deliberate it's done in a subtle enough fashion to be innocuous. It's the filmmaker's business if he wanted to portray that kind of view. Although maybe they were just going with the whole mystique of eastern religion as a contrast to a decidedly western perspective, which could add to the effect of making the plot feel more wholly fleshed out.

siderite The movie is written and directed by the same guy. That usually means that if it's going to be bad, it's going to be really bad. Good news: it's not bad. But it's not that great either.The story follows two students researching brain communication. Of course the bad guys are interested in this and they are already in trouble as they have been using stolen lab equipment from their university. More than that, there are marital problems as well. This could have been a good idea if not for the paint-by-numbers story, which is obviously written by somebody who went to writing class, but didn't have the time to develop their own style.The good part about the film is that the actors play well, the direction is reasonable - although I don't know why every damn frame has to have lens flares (another reason to hate J.J., probably) and the story is captivating. The only major problem is the lackluster script. Everything gets revealed way too soon and in the moments where tension was needed, story gets resolved by impossible means.Bottom line: nothing in this film is great, but it had something, a potential that somehow failed to get realized. Good start, interesting second act, confusing third and a really really bad ending.

subxerogravity The movie reminds me a lot of Primer, but Listening tries to take it up one more level. While the concept in Primer seems mostly talk, this movie movies around with you a lot more.A group of broke college students sacrifice everything for their experiment to harness the power of the mind. In a lot of ways the story works like the social network. Two kids who come up with a great idea, and everything is cool until they figure out they changed the world, and in that moment they change (Although the movie attempts to put morals behind the change) The philosophy of the movie is pretty cool, but at times feels like it's going all over the place which makes the movie seem longer than it really is. I actually love very low budget Hard Sci-Fi films like this one that fully draw the fiction from actual fact, but there are moments where the movie bites off more than it can chew, Ironically, not with the Science part, but with the social commentary about young genius who create something they loose control of.I did love the story and the characters in the story, no matter what, everyone was likable and you want to root for them throughout, but I would wait to stream this online one a day when you have nothing better to do.

stsinger "Listening" is a character study that is driven by a sci-fi plot line and is dragged down by unpleasant characters and some confusion. The story involves David and Ryan, two graduate students who are working on creating a device that allows mental telepathy. Instead of explaining this to their professor and working on this potentially historical invention as their thesis with the full backing of the university, they decide - for reasons never explained - to steal a bunch of equipment and hole up in the garage of David's house that he rents with his wife and daughter. One day, Ryan brings over Jordan, a smoking hot girl he picked up who just also happens to be a brilliant scientific grad student as well. With her assistance, they make a huge breakthrough. However, the amount of time they spend working on the device causes problems with their personal lives and the invention itself has caught the eye of the CIA...Make no mistake -- "Listening" is not a horror film, it's not really a sci-fi film, it's not really a "warning" film about "Would you want telepathy?" It is about David and Ryan, and everything else is just the conflict these two have to face. But this one fails because of that. The two characters are eminently unlikable, and they make incomprehensible choices and decisions at every single step. Huge questions are put forth and never answered. For example, Jordan has an ability that seems to violate every rule, and when she is asked about this incredibly valuable skill, she dismisses the question and it's never brought up again. It's never explained why the CIA would be so interested, since the covert government program seems to be something very different from what David and Ryan are doing. The acting is solid, the directing and photography is clean and professional, but I just can't say I enjoyed it enough to recommend. Perhaps that's because I was drawn in by the marketing campaign promising a sci-fi extravaganza.