In director M. Night Shyamalan’s third directorial outing in the supernatural genre, he tells the story of Father Graham Hess (Mel Gibson), an ex-preacher whose lost his faith in god and quit the church, living in seclusion with his two kids and brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) raising crops and living a generally quiet life. One fate-filled morning, Graham’s son Cole (Rory Culkin) discovers their crops in which they raise have been lowered into the forms of mysterious signs known as crop circles. What ensues is the psychological and emotional horror that will test Graham’s faith and devotion to god and his family. Are the crop circles signs from god, signals from aliens, or do they signal the coming of the apocalypse?
Category Archives: Movie Reviews
Reign of Fire (2002)
Director Rob Bowman gives us a very sleek and highly visual world of dragons and war. We get to see the cool looking dragons as they take over the world. Possibly, the best part of the movie, if any, is when the remaining survivors take on the King Dragon. A tried effort. I was looking forward to this when I first saw the trailer in the theatres; unfortunately, I was very disappointed. The movie gives us a promise we’ll enjoy this with a unique apocalyptic world, but it’s a big let down.
Vampires – Los Muertos (2002)
This is Executive produced by Carpenter and instead is Tommy Lee Wallace as director. Jon Bon Jovi wasn’t much of a turn off from this movie for me, because I love his music and he’s a great actor, so he was able to hold the fort as the lead man. He’s a surfer boy in this movie so he often gripes about how he’d rather be surfing than hunting vampires. In the original we saw hunters hunting because it was for the church, in here it’s assumed more as a workaday job. He has a lot of cool weapons including a surfboard that doubles as a case for his weapons. He has a great grimace every hero should have in these types of movies, and he wears it well, often facing off against vampires.
Sorority Boys (2002)
Three womanizing guys from K. O. K. are kicked out of the the fraternity after being accused of embezzling money from the house. They have proof that it wasn’t them by a surveillance tape, so they devise a plan. No, they don’t send a couple of girls in to get the tape for them, that would require brains, yet they dress up as women themselves to retrieve it, but soon learn it isn’t as easy as it looks. Homeless, they decide to pledge the sorority of D. O. G in desperate need of a place to stay, but learn a lesson in morals and discover what it feels like to be a woman.
Enough (2002)
“Enough” takes a serious and tragic topic like domestic abuse and exploits it, making idea of the crime something commercial with a very Hollywood narrative. I dare you to count the bruises and wounds inflicted on Lopez’s character and then add it to the years she suffered from the abuse, and it never quite adds up. Jennifer Lopez hams it up big time as protagonist and “heroine” Slim, attempting to depict the character as vulnerable, and even cuts her hair in a straight mop top to look like an average woman, when really it looks like a wig.
Queen of the Damned (2002)
Oh, boy, is this ever a doozy! This movie is unlike it’s predecessor. As where it’s predecessor gained an advantage with depth, drama, horror, and intrigue, this lacked greatly. First off, the cast is wretched with incredibly bad unknowns strewn about throughout the movie; we get cheesy special effects often throughout the movie as the vampires seem more like comic book characters than actual vampires. Lestat who was once made intimidating by Tom Cruise is now an arrogant sex fiend who growls and hisses at everything making him seem more comical than scary.
John Q (2002)
This movie has a lot of heart, sure, but it doesn’t have a good story to go with it. The movies story and pacing is so weak and slow, that at times it makes it hard to watch. It has excellent plot devices yet never pulls through with them. For example, the entire hostage scene with Denzel in the hospital felt so rushed, and badly paced that you feel more confusion than empathy. I felt it could’ve gone for a good hour, yet only lasts for about a half-hour. Too bad. I didn’t appreciate the producers adding Eddie Griffin as comic relief, since we’re supposed to feel for Washington’s character and his plight.