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The films here
described do not have, most of times,
Spirtist content. They are generally
of high spiritualist content, and some
are based in true events. |
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Descriptions, comments
or critics of each film were obtained
in different sites on the Internet and,
because of that, do not express our
opinion about them. |
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This magazine has no
relation to them and makes the readers
aware that they need to watch with a
critical opinion. |
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All of Me |
Steve Martin,
Lily Tomlin
A dying
spinster tries to get a second
chance at life by having her
soul transported into the body
of another woman. Her plan goes
awry when her soul takes over
the right side
of a wacky male lawyer.
With the help of her guru, an
ailing millionairess plans a 'spiritually
uplifting' experience that's
designed to give her a new life
-- inside a beautiful woman's
younger body. But the transfer
goes awry and her spirit
accidentally enters her
frustrated male lawyer instead!
Now the attorney, who'd much
rather be a full-time guitarist,
has the wealthy woman's soul and
all of her thoughts trapped
inside his head... and she turns
out to be a very difficult
person to ignore. |
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Always |
Holly Hunter,
Richard
Dreyfuss
Steven Spielberg
directed this romantic remake of the
World War II film A GUY NAMED JOE. A
daredevil firefighter pilot, Pete
Sandich (Richard Dreyfuss), dies
after
saving fellow flyer Al (John Goodman),
leaving behind his soulmate, Dorinda
(Holly Hunter). Pete, in ghost form,
"wakes up" six months later when an
angel, Hap (Audrey Hepburn),
instructs him to somehow resolve his
relationship with Dorinda. Pete must
selflessly and silently encourage
Dorinda to overcome her grief with
the help of a new love.
This remake
of the 1943 film A GUY NAMED JOE
stars Richard Dreyfuss as Pete
Sandich, a daredevil pilot who
specializes in putting out forest
fires. Pete promises his girlfriend,
Dorinda (Holly Hunter), that he will
stop flying, but when his best
friend, Al (John Goodman), gets into
engine trouble while fighting a
blaze, Pete attempts a daring rescue--saving
his friend but killing himself.
Waking up in the afterlife, Pete
meets an angel, Hap (Audrey Hepburn),
who sends him back to earth as a
ghost no one can see or hear. When
Dorinda flies into a fire to save
trapped smoke jumpers, Pete
telepathically talks her through the
dangerous mission. Hap tells Pete he
must help Dorinda overcome her grief
and lead her to a new love with a
novice pilot (Brad Johnson). While
Pete watches the two start their
romance, he battles feelings of
jealousy and sadness at giving her
up. Steven Spielberg and Richard
Dreyfuss, while working together on
JAWS in 1975, found that they shared
an affinity for the 1943 film A GUY
NAMED JOE. They managed to come
together years later to make their
own version of it in ALWAYS. |
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Birth |
Nicole Kidman,
Cameron Bright
In this
mesmerizing and suspenseful film,
a woman (Nicole Kidman) becomes
convinced that a ten-year-old
boy is the reincarnation of her
dead husband. Director: Jonathan
Glazer. Costars: Anne Heche,
Lauren Bacall.
Nicole Kidman teams
up with
director Jonathan Glazer (SEXY
BEAST) to deliver some sensitive
subject matter in BIRTH. Kidman
stars as Anna, a wealthy widower
preparing to remarry 10 years
after the sad, premature death
of her husband. She inhabits a
vast apartment in New York City,
which is owned by her protective
mother, Eleanor (Lauren Bacall),
who quickly gathers Anna under
her protective wing whenever
trouble comes calling. Anna's
fiancé Joseph (Danny Huston)
also resides in the austere
apartment, where a party is
thrown to celebrate the
impending wedlock of the happy
couple. An unwelcome visitor in
the shape of 10-year-old Sean
(Cameron Bright) crashes the
festivities, cornering Anna and
claiming to be her departed
husband. After a derisory
reaction from Anna, events take
a strange twist when Sean
continues to hound the widower,
revealing facts that only her
late husband could possibly know.
Emotions pour out of Anna, with
Kidman delivering an exemplary
performance as she manages to
simultaneously convey grief,
confusion, and the overwhelming
feeling of loss that Anna had
all but buried. Becoming ever
more convinced of Sean's
authenticity, Anna risks losing
everything as Joseph and Eleanor
attempt to debunk the veracity
of the 10-year-old's claims, but
fight a losing battle as Anna's
old feelings reawaken and
blossom into a palpable flourish
of love and desire. Director
Glazer packs a haunting visual
punch throughout BIRTH, drawing
on the stunning work of
cinematographer Harris Savides
to present a bleak, almost
monochromatic vision of New
York. The script from longtime
Buñuel collaborator Jean-Claude
Carrière and cowriter Milo
Addica handles what could have
been a controversial topic with
taste and dignity, but the movie
really belongs to Kidman, who
once again proves her acting
chops with a stimulating
performance. |
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City
of Angels |
Nicolas Cage,
Meg Ryan
Based in
part on Wim Wenders's 1988 film,
WINGS OF DESIRE, this is the
story of Seth (Nicolas Cage), an
angel who wanders the Los
Angeles area invisible to humans.
As someone's death approaches,
he spends
time near that person and
becomes visible while acting as
traveling companion during the
trip to the great hereafter. His
discovery of a distraught heart
surgeon, Maggie (Meg Ryan),
inspires him to forego his
immortality and exist on earth
with her as a feeling and mortal
entity. |
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Darkness |
Anna Paquin,
Lena Olin
Talented
Spanish filmmaker Jaume
Balaguero's film DARKNESS is a
terrifying tale in which an
ordinary American family
...
Full Descriptionmoves
to a large, creaky Victorian
home in the Spanish countryside
that, unbeknownst to them, was
the scene of some awful
experiments on the night of a
total eclipse 40 years before.
Teenage daughter Regina (Anna
Paquin) decides to investigate
after unexplained bruises show
up on her younger brother (Stephen
Enquist), and her father (Iain
Glen) displays oddly enraged and
erratic behavior. Although her
mother (Lena Olin) and her
grandfather (Giancarlo Giannini)
refuse to believe her, Regina is
convinced that something within
their new home is the cause of
the trouble. As another eclipse
looms, Regina enlists the help
of her new boyfriend (Fele
Martinez) and uncovers truths
that could literally destroy her
family. Balaguero mixes tried
and true cinematic scare devices
with his own brand of macabre
originality to bring a
well-paced, ominous atmosphere
to the supernatural ghost story
genre. He drains the film of
colorful hues and bright light,
and effectively uses sound to
paralyze and terrorize his
viewers. Having thoroughly
scared the daylights out of
European audiences, DARKNESS is
sure to do the same stateside. |
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Dead
Again |
Emma
Thompson,
Robin
Williams
In DEAD
AGAIN, an L.A. detective's
humdrum life is shaken up by the
appearance of a beautiful woman
suffering from amnesia. Her
memory returns in a series of
increasingly
violent flashbacks, some of
which date back to a former life
in which the detective was her
possibly homicidal husband.
In Kenneth Branagh's stylish
suspense film, Branagh stars as
Mike Church, a Los Angeles
detective who is drawn into the
life of Grace (Emma Thompson), a
woman with amnesia who is
plagued by disturbing nightmares.
Attempts to help her regain her
memory bring them to Franklyn
Madson (Derek Jacobi), a
mysterious hypnotist who runs an
antique shop. Under hypnosis,
Grace claims that in a previous
life she was Margaret Strauss, a
concert pianist who was murdered
by her jealous husband, Roman.
Further sessions lead her to
believe that Mike is actually
Roman reincarnated and that the
two are destined to re-create
the murder. Mike must then
attempt to solve two mysteries--the
real identity of Grace and the
true story behind a 40-year-old
crime. Branagh's taut thriller
also features Robin Williams,
Andy Garcia, and Campbell Scott. |
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Dragonfly |
Kevin
Costner,
Kathy Bates
Lush green
aerial photography of the
Venezuelan jungle stands in
stark contrast to the dark and
depressing urbanity of American
city life where Joe Darrow
(Kevin Costner) works as a
doctor in the emergency room of
Chicago Memorial Hospital. His
wife, Emily Darrow (Susanna
Thompson), was last seen in a
rainstorm in Venezuela, where
she was on a retreat with the
Red Cross offering humanitarian
aid. She vanished in a bus
accident. There were no
survivors and her body was never
found. That rich, green, exotic
land is left behind as Joe is
challenged to persevere through
sad, rainy days back home. Joe
promised Emily that if anything
ever happened to her, he would
visit her patients in the
oncology ward. Strangely, the
children seem to know him, and
they say they've seen Emily in
their near-death experiences.
When Joe begins to believe that
Emily is trying to contact him
from the other side, his
coworkers and his neighbor (a
staunch Kathy Bates with a
sterling buzz cut) warn him that
grief can be a heavy burden to
bear. Featuring a handful of
frightful moments, an unexpected
action sequence, and many
emotional dialogues, DRAGONFLY
is a pensive movie about coping
with death and questioning the
possibility of the afterlife.
Some of the best scenes of the
film involve the hilarious and
bizarre Linda Hunt, who plays
Sister Madeline, an intense
little nun with a bad rep who is
plagued by tabloid journalists. |
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Ghost |
Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore
After renovating their expensive
loft in the TriBeCa section of
Manhattan, Molly (Demi Moore) and
Sam (Patrick Swayze), a young
successful yuppie couple, are
walking home one evening when Sam is
tragically gunned down by a street
mugger. Molly goes into a deep
depression, but, unknown to her, Sam
has come back as a ghost in order to
protect her from danger--although he
isn't yet aware who or what means
her harm, and he has a lot of
learning to do in order to make
himself known to her. He teams up
with an unwilling psychic, Oda Mae
Brown (Whoopi Goldberg), and
together they try to convince a very
skeptical Molly that Sam was
actually murdered and has returned
spectrally to complete some
unfinished business. Moore and
Swayze and are excellent as the
couple, and Goldberg won an Oscar
for her portrayal of the wild and
wacky psychic. GHOST is considered
by many to be one of the most
romantic films of the 1990s. |
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Ghost
Story |
Fred
Astaire, Melvyn Douglas
In New
England, four old men entertain
each other by telling ghost
stories. But these men are
tormented by their own
horrendous real-life tale,
involving a crime they committed
against a young lady
during their
youth -- an act they've hidden
for the past 50 years. But this
secret comes back to haunt them,
as the evil spirit of the woman
avenges the crime committed
against her.
Four elderly men who gather once
a week to thrill each other with
tales of terror find one of
their scariest stories coming to
life, as a woman they mistakenly
left for dead fifty years
earlier returns to life to gain
revenge. Featuring stellar
talent, including Fred Astaire,
Melvyn Douglas, Douglas
Fairbanks, Jr., and John
Houseman as the main characters,
this superior, chilling horror
film takes its story from a
novel by Peter Straub.
Fred Astaire's final film. He
died in 1987. Also Melvyn
Douglas' final film. |
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Godsend |
Greg
Kinnear, Rebecca
Romijn-Stamos
The trials
of parenthood are at the
forefront of this murky horror
effort that recalls 1970s
child-possession hits like
AUDREY ROSE ('77) and The
EXORCIST ('73).
Inner-city school teacher Paul (Greg
Kinnear) and his wife Jessica (Rebecca
Romijn-Stamos) are distraught
after losing their
eight-year-old son David
(Cameron Bright) in an accident.
At the funeral, Jessica's old
science professor Dr. Wells
(Robert Deniro) offers them a
chance to rebuild their lives: a
mansion in the country near his
DNA clinic, a private school
teaching job for Paul, and an
exact clone of their dead son.
Sworn to secrecy and facing all
sorts of moral issues, the
grief-stricken couple accepts
Wells' offer. All goes well
until the new David passes the
age he previously died, then
comes ghostly visions of burning
children, and premonitions of
murder. A creepily unobtrusive
score and the film's drab look
help maintain a welcome low-key,
character-driven mood here, with
the result that GODSEND works
both as a standard horror film
and a darkly psychological
meditation on the uncertainty,
misgivings, and sheer terror
involved with child rearing.
Deniro is great, as usual, and
the gorgeous Romijn-Stamos
proves herself adept in an
unglamorous, tensely dramatic
change-of-pace role as the
split-apart mother. |
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Groundhog Day |
Bill
Murray, Andie MacDowell
Bill Murray
stars as a weatherman forced to
relive the same day over and
over in this 1993 movie. Bonuses:
interview, featurette, deleted
scenes, documentary, commentary.
Frank Capra meets Rod Serling in
this high-concept comedy that
thoroughly
follows through on its premise.
As a cynical weatherman, Phil
Connors (Bill Murray) finds
himself trapped by a blizzard he
failed to predict and doomed to
repeat the worst day of his life
over and over again. At first he
is horrified at the prospect of
living forever in the small town
of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania,
home of the groundhog, but
eventually he must discover the
key to moving his life forward.
Once again, for the fifth year
in a row, TV weatherman Phil
Connors (Bill Murray) is forced
to cover the Groundhog Day
ceremonies in Punxsutawney,
Pennsylvania, an assignment he
truly despises. But this year
something truly bizarre happens
after he finishes the report:
When he wakes up the next
morning, ready to leave, he
discovers it's February 2 all
over again. He tries to tell his
producer, Rita (Andie MacDowell),
what's happening, but neither
she nor anyone else understands;
only he remembers that they've
already lived through Groundhog
Day. When the same thing happens
the next morning, he thinks he's
going insane and wreaks havoc
all through the town. More and
more mornings pass, all of them
February 2, and all of them with
an ever angrier Phil. Desperate
to escape, he even tries
suicide, but still another
February 2 dawns. As he starts
realizing that his exploits are
not making time march on any
quicker, Phil begins to change
his behavior, performing a
series of lifesaving tasks until
he becomes a model citizen,
hoping it will be enough to get
him out of Punxsutawney forever.
Along the way he learns more
about the people around him--and
himself--than he ever thought
possible. The film is extremely
well put together by director
Harold Ramis, and the script by
Danny Rubin and Ramis is sharp
and clever. The actors--many of
whom have to perform essentially
the same scene over and over
again, with only subtle
differences is a riot. |
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Haunted |
Aidam Quinn, John Gielgud
When David
Ash (Aidan Quinn) investigates a
haunting at an isolated country
manor, strange and horrifying
consequences lead him to first
doubt his convictions and then
his sanity. As the sordid
history of the estate's family
is revealed, and
David falls
in love with Christina (Kate
Beckinsale), he begins to see
the ghostly image of a young
girl calling out to him from an
unearthly terror he could never
have imagined.
When a professor investigates an
alleged haunting at a secluded
mansion in the country, he is
horrified by strange occurrences,
shocked by the mansion's
dreadful history, and entranced
by the young woman who resides
in the menacing house.
When a boarder at the Mariell
manor reportedly sees ghosts,
Professor David Ash (Aidan Quinn)
makes a house call to
investigate. As he attempts to
rationalize the possibility of
ghosts, he falls for the
alluring Christina Mariell (Kate
Beckinsale) and soon finds
himself spotting specters as
well. Based on the novel by
James Herbert, HAUNTED is
director Lewis Gilbert's first
endeavor into horror, and he
succeeds spectacularly. The film
features his quick-paced style
of action, evinced in his James
Bond films, THE SPY WHO LOVED
ME, MOONRAKER, and YOU ONLY LIVE
TWICE, but is also reminiscent
of his noir-like films, CAST A
DARK SHADOW and TOUGH GUY. A
drastic departure from his
previous film, 1991's light,
feel-good STEPPING OUT, HAUNTED
is a modern take on an
old-fashioned macabre tale and
an essential film for any horror
fan.
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Heart and Souls |
Robert Downey,
Charles Grodin
Yuppie Thomas
Reilly, a lawyer who specializes in
bankruptcies, gets a lesson in
decency in this film about the
supernatural. Reilly's teachers are
the four victims of a bus accident
that
...occurred
moments before his birth in 1959.
Made responsible for his spiritual
well-being, the quartet take an
active role in Reilly's childhood;
they then disappear until he becomes
an adult who's desperately in need
of their wisdom once again. In
return for their guidance, Reilly
must help each of his guardian
angels accomplish the "one thing"
they wish they'd done during their
lives.
When four nice people die the night
a boy is born, they become guardian
angel-like ghosts visible only to
the boy. When it seems they are
interfering with his life they
withdraw, but when he needs their
help as an adult they come back to
help him -- and maybe he can help
them fulfill their own unfulfilled
lives. |
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Heaven Can Wait |
Julie
Christie,
James Mason
When
L.A. Rams
quarterback Joe Pendleton (Beatty)
is plucked from Earth too soon by an
overzealous angel, he is sent back
to Earth in another, older body. He
struggles to regain his old spot in
the line-up while straightening out
his host's tangled affairs. Based
not on the 1943 movie of the same
name, but on 1941's Here Comes Mr.
Jordan. Academy Award Nominations:
9, including Best Picture, Best
Actor: Warren Beatty, Best Director:
Beatty/Henry, Best Adapted
Screenplay: Elaine May/Warren Beatty. |
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House of the Spirits |
Meryl Streep,
Glenn Close
THE HOUSE OF
THE SPIRITS is a cinematic
rendering of Isabelle Allende's
critically acclaimed
magical-realist novel about
three generations of a Chilean
family. The film investigates
the personal and social
upheavals that tear apart both
family
country--until, in one moment of
understanding, the patriarch,
spurred by the diaries of his
dead wife, renounces his life of
power and oppression in an act
of unprecedented heroism.
Based on Isabel Allende's novel
and set in a South American
country beset by constant
turmoil and bloody power
struggles, this film follows
three generations of the Truebas
family from the 1920s through
the 1970s. Just as the nation
around them is at odds with
itself, the family painfully and
passionately experiences its own
evolution. The talented cast
includes Meryl Streep, Glenn
Close, Jeremy Irons, and Winona
Ryder.
Author Isabelle Allende is the
daughter of former Chilean
president Salvador Allende,
whose regime was overthrown by a
violent right-wing coup. When
THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS was
rushed to completion for its
German, Swiss, Dutch, and
Scandinavian openings, the film
ran 145 minutes, but since then
director Billie August recut the
film to 138 minutes. Video
releases run 109 minutes. |
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Meet
Joe Black |
Anthony
Hopkins, Brad Pitt
This modern
fantasy stars Anthony Hopkins as
William Parrish, a wealthy New
York City media mogul who
suffers a heart attack on the
eve of his 65th birthday;
although he survives,
he senses
that his death is near. On the
same day, Parrish's younger
daughter, Susan (Claire Forlani),
meets a handsome young stranger
(Brad Pitt) at a neighboring
coffee shop and is instantly
smitten. As they part, the young
stranger is killed and his body
is occupied by Death, who is
coming to Earth to warn Parrish
that his death is, indeed,
imminent. Death enters the
Parrish household disguised as
Joe Black, the handsome stranger,
and although Parrish understands
Death's intentions he lets the
family believe that Joe Black is
a young business associate.
Susan is shocked to find the
familiar young man at her family
dinner that evening, and, as she
begins a passionate love affair
with the debonaire stranger, she
has no idea that she has fallen
not for the young stranger from
the coffee shop but for Death
himself. In an effort to prolong
his life and his daughter's
happiness, William agrees to
take Joe on a tour of human life
that includes board meetings,
family parties, and, ultimately,
romance. As long as Joe falls in
love, Parrish remains alive.
This version was inspired by the
Alberto Casella play DEATH TAKES
A HOLIDAY and the subsequent
1934 film. |
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Pay
it Forward |
Kevin Spacey,
Helen Hunt
Based on a
best-selling novel by Catherine
Ryan Hyde and boasting the star
power of two Oscar winners and a
young
nominee--Kevin Spacey, Helen
Hunt, and Haley Joel Osment--PAY
IT FORWARD spins a heartwarming
yarn about an 11-year-old boy
who comes up with an utopian
idea as a project for school.
History teacher Eugene Simenot (Spacey)
offers the same ongoing
extra-credit assignment he has
proffered every year: Come up
with an idea that will change
the world. However, he expects
nothing more from his students
than halfhearted efforts that
fall far shy of their mark.
Simenot is therefore unprepared
for precocious, irrepressible
Trevor McKinney (played with
wide-eyed wonder by Osment), who
conjures up a stunning scheme.
Trevor suggests the concept that
every person who benefits from
someone else's good deed should
"pay it forward," instead of
paying it back, and in turn
offer favors to three other
people. The first guinea pig for
Trevor's experiment is his
overworked, imperfect mom (Helen
Hunt) for whom he tries to find
a boyfriend. Director Mimi Leder,
best known for such powerful
thrillers as DEEP IMPACT, imbues
the solid script of PAY IT
FORWARD with a more grandiose
aura. However, it is the movie's
triumvirate of heralded stars--Spacey,
Hunt, and Osment--that propels
this compelling yarn. |
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Rumor of Angels |
Vanessa Redgrave, Ray Liotta
Peter O'Fallon's
heartwarming drama tells the
uplifting story of an unlikely
friendship between an
emotionally
scarred young boy and a mournful
older woman. Twelve-year-old
James Neubauer (Trevor Morgan)
has never fully healed from the
traumatic loss of his mother in
a car accident. His father (Ray
Liotta) has chosen to pretend it
never happened, throwing himself
headlong into work and a new
life with James' stepmother
(Catherine McCormack). For these
reasons, James harbors a deep
resentment for his father. The
only friend he has is his quirky
Uncle Charlie (Ron Livingston),
but even Charlie is unable to
provide the consolation James
needs. Salvation miraculously
arrives in the form of Maddy
Bennett (Vanessa Redgrave), a
local recluse who is still
healing from a great loss of her
own. When James accidentally
breaks Maddy's fence, she
demands that he fix it himself.
What is initially a defensive,
stubborn battle of egos slowly
changes into an extremely close
relationship that crosses all
boundaries and helps both James
and Maddy to confront and
conquer their demons. Filmed
with sensitivity, A RUMOR OF
ANGELS boasts beautiful scenery,
inspiring music by Mozart, and
yet another unforgettable
performance by the legendary
Redgrave. |
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Talking to Heaven |
Jack Palance,
Mary
Steenburgen
Chartering
territory similar to the 2005
thriller WHITE NOISE, TALKING TO
HEAVEN (based on the novel by
James Van Praagh) is a look at
the life of a man haunted by
ghostly psychic
figures. The film follows James
(Ted Danson) and his friend
Midge (Queen Latifah) as they
try to figure out why James is
being stalked by these
otherworldly beings. James gets
close to uncovering the truth
about his unique gift while also
aiding detectives in a
fascinating murder case. |
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The
Entity |
Barbara
Hershey, Ron Silver
Barbara
Hershey stars as Carla Moran, a
hard-working single mother
brutally and repeatedly attacked
by someone - or something - that
she cannot see. Now with a group
of daring parapsychologists,
Carla will attempt an
unthinkable experience:
seduce, trap, and ultimately
capture the depraved spectral
fury that is The Entity. Ron
Silver costars. |
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The
Exorcist |
Ellen Burstyn,
Jack MacGowran
Arguably the
scariest motion picture ever
made, William Friedkin's THE
EXORCIST was unleashed on an
unsuspecting American public in
1973. The film quickly became a
nationwide sensation, leading to
religious boycotts, fainting,
and a huge box office return.
Oscar nominee Linda Blair beat
out hundreds of other child
actors to land the role of Regan
MacNeil, a 12-year-old who is
possessed by the devil. After
exhausting all other practical
options, Regan's mother, Chris
(Ellen Burstyn), acknowledges
the supernatural nature of her
daughter's condition and
recruits Father Damien Karras (Jason
Miller) to stage an exorcism.
Aided by the mysterious Jesuit
exorcist Father Merrin (Max von
Sydow), Father Damien must
confront not only the
supernatural phenomena in front
of him, but also his own
inadequate faith and displaced
guilt over his mother's recent
death. |
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The
Frighteners |
Michael J. Fox,
Trini Alvarado
Offbeat
horror director Peter Jackson
goes Hollywood with this
follow-up to his acclaimed 1994
feature, HEAVENLY CREATURES. THE
FRIGHTENERS,
horror-comedy, part supernatural
thriller, stars Michael J. Fox
as psychic investigator Frank
Bannister. Bannister is able to
see and communicate with spirits
as a result of the trauma of
witnessing his wife die in a car
accident. Now a series of
mysterious deaths in Frank's
hometown has left authorities at
wit's end. The deaths appear to
be caused by heart attacks, but
eventually it is revealed that
they are actually the work of a
menacing, Grim Reaper-like
phantom. Bannister becomes a
suspect after several deaths
occur in his presence, and in
order to prove his innocence, he
and a team of three friendly
ghosts attempt to unravel the
mystery surrounding the
murderous specter. But what
emerges is far more than they
bargained for, and soon a
psychotic killer's lust for
revenge from beyond the grave
threatens the lives of both
Bannister and his new love
interest (Trini Alvarado). THE
FRIGHTENERS is a fun and
fast-paced cinematic romp with
plenty of stunning
computer-generated special
effects.
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The
Sixth Sense |
Haley Joel Osment, Bruce Willis
In M. Night
Shyamalan's THE SIXTH SENSE, Bruce
Willis plays Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a
successful Philadelphia child
psychologist who is haunted by the
sudden
reappearance
and suicide of a former patient.
Months later Dr. Crowe encounters
Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a
troubled, withdrawn young boy who
bears a striking similarity to his
earlier patient. Dr. Crowe is
compelled to help Cole, not only for
the boy's sake, but for his own
redemption. As Dr. Crowe struggles
to determine what torments Cole, he
must also come to terms with his
increasingly distant relationship to
his wife (Olivia Williams).
Meanwhile, Cole is unable to
describe the horrible things he sees
even to his worried mother (Toni
Collette). The scene where Cole
finally tells Dr. Crowe about his
supernatural secret is one of the
1990s most quoted and well-known
cinematic moments. A gripping ghost
story with a stunning finale, THE
SIXTH SENSE became a surprise
blockbuster shortly after its
release. The film features
Oscar-nominated performances by the
startlingly intense Osment and the
fiercely maternal Collette, as well
as a subtle, subdued turn by Willis.
Shyamalan directs his intriguing
script with almost clinical
precision, using carefully framed
visuals to create the film's
distinctly chilling atmosphere. On
the strength of its pitch-perfect
acting and direction, THE SIXTH
SENSE has become the most successful
thriller of all time. |
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What Dreams May Come |
Robin
Williams,
Cuba
Gooding
Jr.
Four years
after the tragic death of their
children in a car accident, Dr.
Chris Nielsen (Robin Williams)
is estranged
his wife, Annie (Annabella
Sciora), a painter who finds
solace in deep and mystical
expressionist landscapes. When
flustered Annie calls him for
support, he rushes out to help
and is killed in a road accident.
His ghost is greeted by an old
mentor, Albert (Cuba Gooding
Jr.), who leads him in
Ghost-of-Christmas-Past-style to
Annie's side. But when Chris
realizes that his adherence to
the corporeal world is torture
to himself and the living Annie,
he breaks free of his Earthly
bonds and dives into the visual
smorgasbord that is the
afterlife. There he splashes
though clouds and gobs of
technicolor paint in
breathtaking landscapes
suggested to him by Annie's
paintings. From there, to
grandiose Romanesque cities of
flying children, Chris and his
old dog are met by a gorgeous
stewardess, who reveals herself
as a nearly forgotten face from
his past. As Chris reconciles
with his children in a world
where imagination is his palette,
in the real world Annie becomes
sicker and sicker, and finally
enters the afterlife herself.
Due to the myriad rules of the
Other Side, she is unable to
join Chris or her children, and
Chris begins a fight for his
future with his soul mate. |
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What Lies Beneath |
Harrison Ford,
Michelle Pfeiffer
James Remar,
Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer,
Joe Morton, Diana Scarwid,
Miranda Otto - Dir:Robert
Zemeckis A year ago, Dr. Norman
Spencer betrayed his beautiful
wife Claire. But the affair is
over and Claire's oblivious to
the truth; Norman's
life and marriage seem perfect--so
perfect that when Claire tells
him she's hearing mysterious
voices and seeing a young woman's
wraithlike image in their home,
he dismisses her mounting terror
as delusion. However, as Claire
moves closer to the truth, it
becomes clear that this
apparition will not be dismissed,
and has come back for Dr. Norman
Spencer--and his beautiful wife. |
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White
Noise |
Michael
Keaton,
Ian McNeice
In the 1920s,
Thomas Edison speculated that a
device would be created which would
allow humans to conduct
conversations with the dead.
In the 1970s,
Sarah Estep picked up some
mysterious voices on her husband's
reel-to-reel tape recorder, and set
up the American Association of
Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) to
help track the phenomenon. In 2005,
following a welter of evidence
gathered by Estep and others, EVP
forms the backbone for director
Geoffrey Sax's shocking feature film
WHITE NOISE. Architect Jonathan
Rivers (Michael Keaton) has little
time to mourn the passing of his
wife Anna (Chandra West) when he
starts receiving signals from her. A
faint sound of her voice is caught
by Rivers in radio static on the
night of her death, followed by
incessant cell phone calls coming
from Anna's old number. Rivers is
convinced he can hear Anna's voice
saying "go, Jon" to him in the
resulting calls. With a little help
from expert EVP practitioner Raymond
Price (Ian McNeice), Rivers contacts
Anna and begins a hazy dialect with
her. From the garbled dialogue
Rivers receives, he deduces that
Anna is sending him to save the
lives of people who are about to die.
This joins Rivers, in his plight,
with a former client of Price's,
Sarah Tate (Deborah Kara Unger).
However, meddling with messages from
the dead leads the pair into a world
of trouble, producing some
startlingly anxious moments, and a
spine-chilling forewarning of the
possible consequences facing
real-life users of EVP. |
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