orangestar

I only saw about half of The Reaping because for the other half, my eyes were either peeking out from between my fingers, or buried in my boyfriend's collar. I used to consider myself a horror movie enthusiast, but The Reaping has proved that deep down, I am an easily terrified little girl. I cant possibly overstate this: This is one of the flat-out freakiest movies I have ever seen, and I've seen more than my fair share of freaky movies.

Two time Oscar winner, Hilary Swank plays Katherine, an ordained minister turned miracle myth-buster. She gets called to a small town called Haven, which seems to be going through the ten biblical plagues (if it's been a while since your last bible reading, they talk through a little refresher course about the history and order of them). The townspeople are blaming a young girl from an outcast family that lives near the river which has suddenly turned blood-red. Katherine and her assistant Ben go on a mission to debunk the towns fears and find scientific explanations for all of the events. It doesn't quite work out. The little girl, Lauren, is so similar to the daughter that Katherine lost (in the most bizarre way ever), that she takes pity on her when the rest of the town is calling for her to be killed. I'd bet money that you can't figure out where the plot twist is going to lead you.

Usually I am all for seeing any kind of gross, gory dead body on a movie screen, but this movie took it to a place even I couldn't watch for more than a second. In hindsight, it was a lot of "Boo!" scares and creepy little kid staring, but while I was in the theater, it was so scary. Hilary Swank, brilliant as usual, had to hold the whole movie by herself, with a no-name cast to back her up. The one major (and I mean HUGE) flaw is that it straight up stole a plot point from Rosemary's Baby. But If you haven't seen Rosemary's Baby, then who cares? With all kinds of crazy flashbacks, buckets of blood, frogs, locusts, flies, and some pretty crappy cgi fire raining down from the sky, this movie surpassed all of my religious horror movie expectations. Go see it, and be prepared to be truly freaked out.

Let my start by saying this: I have no respect for Adam Sandler. I hated Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, The Water Boy, and even Punch Drunk Love. I'm not a fan. However, my boyfriend is of a different opinion and insisted on watching Click the day it was released on DVD.

I was very happily surprised.

Adam Sandler plays Michael, a workaholic father of two who always lets his job as an architect come before his family. One day he walks into the waaaaay back of a Bed Bath & Beyond looking for a universal remote control. He is helped by an eccentric sales clerk played by the wonderful Christopher Walken. He gives him an "experimental" blue remote control with the warning "This item is non-returnable." But this is no normal remote control. Michael soon discovers that he can pause, fast forward, mute, and (kind of) rewind his entire life. Soon, the remote begins fast-forwarding all by itself. Michael misses out on huge important portions of his life, but he can't rewind and do them over. He can only go back and watch how he ignored his family, and neglected everything except his job.

This movie teaches us a very obvious lesson. Family is the most important thing, and it should always come first. I love the scenes when Michael realizes this, and falls in love with his family all over again. I'm not sure Adam Sandler would have been my first though for the role, but after watching it, I can't imagine anyone else.

Overall, Click gave me a tiny bit of respect for Adam Sandler, and I'm gonna go try to watch Happy Gilmore again...wish me luck.

RED EYE - 2005 Wes Craven is a master at his craft. His movies are usually scary box-office gold mines and this is no exception. Red Eye is the story of a man and a woman who meet at an airport. After he buys her a drink and they have a little conversation, they find themselves seated next to each other on the plane to Miami. But Jackson Rippner is not who he seems to be. The situation takes a frightening turn and Lisa needs to take quick action to save her hotel, her father's life, and her own life. It is classic Wes Craven directing, and you can see his touch on every shot. I was watching it with another movie buff, and we yelled out every time we saw a shot or an angle that reminded us of Scream. There were more than a few. I really can't say enough good things about the directing. It changed the whole movie.

I've had an interest in Cillian Murphy ever since I saw his awesome performance in 28 Days Later. Well, 3 years later his performance is just as sharp. He steals every scene he's in, but Rachel McAdams showed her talent as well. It's nice to see her diversifying her credits. Brian Cox almost literally "called it in" on this one. But I love that guy, so props to him.

Overall, this was a very well done addition to Wes Craven's long list of films. If you're looking for a thriller to take your mind off everything, this one will have you on the edge of your seat. 8/10