“The Devil Wears Prada” is yet another film around Oscar time that was just insanely over blown for having some talent on its side, because I can’t see any other reason. As a dramedy it’s just the formula story of a girl who finds her self reaching stardom and abandons her roots. All the while writer Mckenna doesn’t make much of a case to convince us that this relationship Hathaway’s character Andy experiences is worth saving or pivotal enough to cause us to tear up at the prospect of this base tearing down. Adrien Grenier has literally nothing to do here but mope around and bitch about his girlfriend’s career, while Andy is really just a dumb tart really not worth fretting over. She’s a character who never quite reveals any bolder shades of complex emotions beyond superficial issues, which is probably the intent, and when she reaches down into her true roots once again, she’s still just a one note sap.
Thanks to the advent of “The Twilight Zone,” R.L. Stine’s “Goosebumps,” and many other horrific entities, ventriloquist dummies have managed to become a pretty valid specter of fright all of my life. And thankfully, here comes James Wan to further perpetuate the fear of the ventriloquism in all its delights. “Dead Silence” is a film that wasn’t really an easy sell from the first minute. Surely, it starts off eerily enough, but it doesn’t really pick up until the second half. But what it accomplishes are genuine plot twists that only the boys from “Saw” can truly utilize, and man, are there ever plot twists abound, including one that’s a bit over the top, but truly creepy.
