Haunting in Connecticut, Chilling, Artistic
Contrary to what others believe, Haunting in Connecticut is not a remake nor a sequel to An American Haunting. Rather, the movie is based on the true story of an actual haunting in Connecticut. It is one of the most haunting stories of this generation and has been made into documentaries and the like. If you’ve seen Discovery Channel or Travel Channel, you might have seen a special on that particular house or family. The details of the real life facts are portrayed in a very real, scary fashion. Not only do viewers get a good idea of the happenings at the house, it captures a glimpse of human depravity, realizing that no matter our species or positions in life, we’re all fallable. The movie is chilling, adding tense moments to the scene. Though the movie focuses on the family at large and their struggles with this paranormal event, the underlying story, the story of the diseased boy, played by Kyle Gallner, delivers a delightful performance and one that is artistic, haunting and memorable. There are few plot holes that were left unanswered, however, those are acceptable because of the lack of involvement with the story line; perhaps an indescretion by the writer and director. Viewer beware: there are slow parts of the movie that make it tiresome in spots, but it does make up for itself toward the end. A Haunting in Connecticut is a cleverly crafted, well-written story. On a scale of 1-10, I give this piece an 7.5.
You won’t “Know” what to expect
Nicolas’ Cage new movie, Knowing, is surprisingly good. The movie focuses on Cage’s character finding the truths to disasters through numbers. While the premise of the movie isn’t unique by any stretch of the means, it does weave a fairly good, unpretentious storyline. If you have seen Alex Proyas’ other directed movies, such as Dark City, you will know the tone of the movie. The movie is not inundated with non-hysterical one-liners, nor does it try to stand on star power alone. The story slowly unravels little by little in the movie which leads to a very surprising ending. The ending, I will warn, if not watched carefully, can be confusing. There is much dialog that needs the proper attention paid to it. To go with a well crafted storyline, prepare your mind to analyze many aspects of the movie, particularly the ending. This isn’t just an ordinary Scifi/Thriller/Action-Adventure. It’s philisophical, haunting, thought-provoking. I never thought I’d say that for a Nicolas Cage movie. On a scale of 1-10, I give it an 8.
Review of Last House on the Left
The Last House on the Left came into theaters on March 13th, 37 years after the original. Wes Craven’s sadistic slasher flick was remade by director Dennis Iliadis. While Iliadis is no Craven, there are some similiarities to the remake as there was in the original. So as my usual mantra, I will not spoil anything from the movie. The movie similarities are few and far between, but some scenes remain virtually the same like the torture scenes from the original. As disturbing as the original movie was in that regard, the remake tones it down, probably much to the liking of the audience if they have seen the original. Craven’s version had much more suspense involved and could make you love and hate the antagonists all at the same time. Iliad’s failure in the remake was to make the antagonists hatable and leaves nothing to the imagination. Pure evil was their intention. The unsurety of an antagonist (again, not to spoil anything) was nothing too extraordinary as far as the emotional standpoint is concerned. The remake should be seen on face value. You know exactly what you’re getting. There is no suspense involved because it was written with cliche upon cliche. However, Tony Goldwyn’s character was the only redeeming quality of the movie. Dare I say, he played a better Dr. Collingwood? On a scale of 1-10, the remake gets a five. On a gore level, you won’t be disappointed. That’s about all the movie has going for it.
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans Review
Some questions from the first movie were answered in this movie, but as far as rounding out a trilogy, the movie didn’t do much. Underworld follows Sonja, the daughter to Viktor in the first movie. Sonja is found to have an affair with the Lucian and thus started the war between the Lycans and the vampires. As far as story arc is concerned the movie wasn’t done that badly. Inconsistencies (despite the scientific aspect) were kept to a minimum and the development of the Lycans revolt was done quite well and better than expected. With this prequel, it is likely the Underworld franchise has come to its end. Tying in the missing questions that were unanswered from the first movie has essentially rounded out the movie franchise. From a literary standpoint, there isn’t much. A movie of this caliber is complete with action and depends highly on intense action sequences to make its mark. With that, it does well. There’s no use in attempting to analyze the film on a deeper level. On a scale from 1-10, I give it an 8 based heavily on its development of the war between the two races.