The Watcher

Why did they release this film? Despite Nicholas Cage being in it,the movie is blatantly incomplete.Its a turd. I was disturbed by the creepiness of the film but there were no explanations,no closure,not even a climactic revealing scene. When I saw it say "the end" i was confused.Did someone pull a hoax and release this movie incomplete? NOTHING is explained...i get it-some things are mystery and should be but wtf...this movie is one giant plothole.Its not worth watching unless you don't mind plotholes and well.lack of a plot...the biggest mystery is why this film was released.I've NEVER seen a movie with so many plotholes,misleading scenes seemingly deliberate..only to end abruptly as if the makers ran out of time.

What would you expect from a Hotel that Nicolas Cage is overseeing? Madness, pure madness ... actually it is not even as mad as one might expect. It has some colorful and interesting characters ... and some storylines that do not accumulate to anything. It was nice seeing Robin Tunney again .. especially because I did a revisit to the original Craft movie she was part of. I was surprised that she got naked for this - not sure if that bothers or enlightens you, that is up to you to decide.

The movie generally speaking has some sexual undertones and depravities - depending on your moral viewpoint of course. Characters may not always be who they seem to be, but I don't think the twist here is very surprising. Still and even if you got fed up with Cage in movies like this one, it is not that bad (or maybe I'm being too nice again)

When I was in my mid 20s, my sister and I made a cross country trip for college and ended up in a Colorado motel where the beds were placed at odd angles in the room. We were tired from driving all day, and took the room anyway. A decade later we read the Gay Talese article about a motel where the owner had watched people have sex in their rooms, but it wasn't until the Netflix series that we realized we had probably been victims of the peeping Tom, Gerald Foos. Then we realized the beds were placed so he could see us.

Whether he actually watched us or not, I will never know, but knowing that something like that could happen added to the creep factor of watching this movie for me.

In the movie, the characters played by Cage and Tunney buy a motel in the desert after a family tragedy. The isolation doesn't do anything to heal their marriage and they sink further into an unhealthy and depressing relationship. As his wife sleeps, the Cage character seeks solace in watching the guests in the rooms.

At this point in the film, it isn't quite clear that the motel is a metaphor for hell, but it will do until one comes along. Everyone in the town seems to be engaged in S&M sex or sex with hookers. The sheriff seems to either be the devil or someone who does a good job acting like him. And, of course, the desert is hot as hell.

In many ways, the images in the movie reminded me of "The Sentinel," a 70s film about a woman who must guard the gates of hell. They made me uneasy, which is what a movie like this is supposed to do.

And the minie helped Nic Cage work off a little more tax debt, and that is a good thing. He's a fine actor, and this movie is one more step to try to get back to acting in real films,

I will always remember the film 'Vacancy' because I went into it with zero expectations and ended up having one of the best film experiences I can remember. Really the only similarity that 'Looking Glass' has to that film is that it was set in a motel in the middle of nowhere. Still though, a part of me had hopes of another hidden gem. It wasn't to be though. The film starts off with some potentially exciting plot points and mysterious goings on, but can never live up to them and provide any pay off.

There's also a serious lack of suspense in the film. At no point are you ever on the edge of your set needing to know what is going to happen next. The film just kind of drifts along and even when something that's supposed to be exciting is happening, it really isn't that captivating. The one bright point for me was Nicolas Cage. Even though his career has been in serious decline for over a decade now, he can still act the pants off most people in the industry when he tries. Sadly though, he's far from enough to save this forgettable film that I wouldn't recommend spending your hard-earned on.

It's one of those movies that, when you are clicking through 572 channels of useless brain numbing odd cooking, weird sporting, reality programming, infomercials, you suddenly land on a movie ... you watch for a few seconds and realize it's one you've seen 6 times already so you keep clicking, then land on THIS movie and you watch for a few seconds, and settle in and enjoy the whole darn thing because, even though it's a bit odd and melodramatic, i't's GOOD! And then you go on imdb and talk about how everyone dissing it is wrong because you just really enjoyed it.

The next day you realize it was 2am and you always enjoy whatever you finally find to watch after clicking through 572 channels.

But it isn't too bad. Nic is always entertaining if nothing else, and usually he adds something else.. oh ya, great acting because no matter how bad the movie is he always shines.

I give it a 5 because when combing through bad movies to get through a few hours, this is a good bad movie to watch.