Movie Reviews

This was an insanely stressful week, so I was glad to watch a few movies in between wedding planning activities (see my blog on Ghost Eats Cake).



An American Haunting:
"Based on the true events of the only case in US History where a spirit caused the death of a man."

My take:
After the Exorcism of Emily Rose exceeded my expectations, I was hoping a movie of the only documented case of a spirit killing someone would be good.
It was just OK. It started with a lot of promise, being set in early 1800's
added to some of the spook factor. Lots of cliche ghost encounters,
ghost pulls sheets off of attractive teenage daughters bed, girl jump
out of bed for door, door closes and locks. Ever heard this before?
Me too.
Ok, your plan to stay up all night downstairs playing checkers,
fails to protect your daughter from being attacked by the ghost in her
room alone. So why then do you try the EXACT same thing the next night?
I won't ruin it for those who wish to see it but the big "twist" at the end is really just confusing.

Overall: B/C (I use the UMass grading scale)



Lady in the Water:
"Apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep (Giamatti) rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her home, he works with his tenants to protect his new friend from the creatures that are determined to keep her in our world."

My take:
I'm not sure I'm a big M. Night Sham-a-lama fan, but his movies seem to be pretty good. You may notice the same trend I do, the more he puts himself in his movies the worse they get. This is by far his worst movie. If I had pitched this as my breakout movie idea I'd be laughed at. I liked Bryce Dallas Howard in The Village, but the whole first half of this move feels a lot like Splash (the first movie I remember seeing on a VCR).

The second half is unspeakable, or as M Night would say in the Village "of those which we do not speak." I'll just say I wasn't too concerned if the Monkeys would beat up the Grass Wolf in time for the Eagle to come.

Overall: D