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Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Hide and Seek (2005) in Movies
Aug 14, 2019
The mind is a deep a complex organ that science still struggles to fully comprehend, despite the countless hours of research and study that have been expended in unlocking the mysteries contained within.
In the new thriller Hide and Seek, audiences are introduced to Dr. David Callaway (Robert De Niro), a Psychologist who is struggling to help his daughter Emile (Dakota Fanning) after the suicide of her mother. David believes that the best option is to move from New York City to a quite area upstate where he can focus on being a father to his daughter, who has become withdrawn despite intense counseling.
Despite opposition from Emily’s therapist and family friend Katherine (Famke Janssen), David and Emily relocate to a scenic and quite location and hour from the city.
At first everything seems to be going well with the move and David meets an attractive young lady named Elizabeth (Elisabeth Shue), who watches over a little girl for another member of her family. Thinking that a friend will snap Emily from her state, David encourages Elizabeth to come to the house.
David is convinced the addition of a friend will encourage Emily to stop talking about an imaginary friend named Charlie who seems to have preoccupied the little girls time. David is convinced that Charlie is a creation of Emily’s psyche that will fade over time especially as she makes friends and copes with the loss of her mother.
Emily instead withdraws even further from people and a series of bizarre and violent events ensue with Emily insisting that Charlie is the reason behind all of them. As David struggles to deal with the ever increasing tension caused by Charlie, he soon becomes caught up in a situation beyond his control.
The setup for the film is good as your mind races with a myriad of possibilities and outcome. Sadly many of my scenarios, and I suspect most of the audience were better and more satisfying then the conclusion of the film. The film quickly degrades into an abundance of absurdities and situations that seem lifted from the Drama 101 textbook as well as a dozen other and better films in the genre.
While the cast does good work with what they have, it is unsatisfying to see talent like Shue and Janssen reduced to minor supporting characters when they could have brought so much more to the film. Worse yet is De Niro seems to be going through the motions as this brilliant and gifted actor is not given any material that will challenge him and let his brilliant method acting shine.
For the first half of the film it is a mostly enjoyable and intriguing film that does hold your attention. However once the so called surprises of the film are revealed and the film moves towards it’s conclusion, you cant help but think that you have been cheated and deserved a much better payoff for sitting through the first hour of the film. Days after seeing it, I am still stunned at how badly the film ended and how such a good premise and talented cast were horribly wasted on a film that had surprisingly no scares or tension as the audience at my press screening sat largely in silence throughout the film.
My advice, save this for a rental as it is at best, a movie of the week quality film.
In the new thriller Hide and Seek, audiences are introduced to Dr. David Callaway (Robert De Niro), a Psychologist who is struggling to help his daughter Emile (Dakota Fanning) after the suicide of her mother. David believes that the best option is to move from New York City to a quite area upstate where he can focus on being a father to his daughter, who has become withdrawn despite intense counseling.
Despite opposition from Emily’s therapist and family friend Katherine (Famke Janssen), David and Emily relocate to a scenic and quite location and hour from the city.
At first everything seems to be going well with the move and David meets an attractive young lady named Elizabeth (Elisabeth Shue), who watches over a little girl for another member of her family. Thinking that a friend will snap Emily from her state, David encourages Elizabeth to come to the house.
David is convinced the addition of a friend will encourage Emily to stop talking about an imaginary friend named Charlie who seems to have preoccupied the little girls time. David is convinced that Charlie is a creation of Emily’s psyche that will fade over time especially as she makes friends and copes with the loss of her mother.
Emily instead withdraws even further from people and a series of bizarre and violent events ensue with Emily insisting that Charlie is the reason behind all of them. As David struggles to deal with the ever increasing tension caused by Charlie, he soon becomes caught up in a situation beyond his control.
The setup for the film is good as your mind races with a myriad of possibilities and outcome. Sadly many of my scenarios, and I suspect most of the audience were better and more satisfying then the conclusion of the film. The film quickly degrades into an abundance of absurdities and situations that seem lifted from the Drama 101 textbook as well as a dozen other and better films in the genre.
While the cast does good work with what they have, it is unsatisfying to see talent like Shue and Janssen reduced to minor supporting characters when they could have brought so much more to the film. Worse yet is De Niro seems to be going through the motions as this brilliant and gifted actor is not given any material that will challenge him and let his brilliant method acting shine.
For the first half of the film it is a mostly enjoyable and intriguing film that does hold your attention. However once the so called surprises of the film are revealed and the film moves towards it’s conclusion, you cant help but think that you have been cheated and deserved a much better payoff for sitting through the first hour of the film. Days after seeing it, I am still stunned at how badly the film ended and how such a good premise and talented cast were horribly wasted on a film that had surprisingly no scares or tension as the audience at my press screening sat largely in silence throughout the film.
My advice, save this for a rental as it is at best, a movie of the week quality film.
The Last Night
6.0
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Humans first knew the era of survival. Then they knew the era of work. Now they live in the era of...
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JT (287 KP) rated The Intruder (2019) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
When are couples moving into a new home going to realise that there is a lot more to worry about than just making sure all of your stuff arrives in one piece. If it’s not things going bump in the night or uninvited demons, it’s seemingly sweet as pie neighbours with an ulterior motive.
Annie (Meagan Good) and Scott ( Michael Ealy) think that they have found their dream home, away from the concrete jungle of the city with an idyllic setting in which to start a family. Step in Charlie (Dennis Quaid), a kind hearted widower who is selling in order to start a new life with his daughter in Florida – or so it would seem, as we know, looks can be deceiving.
Dennis Quaid nails the disturbed seller turned psycho
The film has been battered with reviews saying that it forgoes plot in favour of setting up a good jump scare, but do you know what? I don’t mind that.
I’ve always been a sucker for this type of genre and this one is no different. There are the obvious plot holes, some laughable, like how come it takes Annie so long to realise that Charlie has psychotic tendencies, despite Scott practically spelling it out for her? Or the fact that everyone seems to be drawn to a particular linen closet. It moves along enough to keep you entertained with Quaid giving a good account of himself and clearly having fun.
Director (Deon Taylor) seems inspired by classic home invasion thrillers but offers nothing new that we won’t have already seen before – you can just throw this one onto the pile with all the rest.
Annie (Meagan Good) and Scott ( Michael Ealy) think that they have found their dream home, away from the concrete jungle of the city with an idyllic setting in which to start a family. Step in Charlie (Dennis Quaid), a kind hearted widower who is selling in order to start a new life with his daughter in Florida – or so it would seem, as we know, looks can be deceiving.
Dennis Quaid nails the disturbed seller turned psycho
The film has been battered with reviews saying that it forgoes plot in favour of setting up a good jump scare, but do you know what? I don’t mind that.
I’ve always been a sucker for this type of genre and this one is no different. There are the obvious plot holes, some laughable, like how come it takes Annie so long to realise that Charlie has psychotic tendencies, despite Scott practically spelling it out for her? Or the fact that everyone seems to be drawn to a particular linen closet. It moves along enough to keep you entertained with Quaid giving a good account of himself and clearly having fun.
Director (Deon Taylor) seems inspired by classic home invasion thrillers but offers nothing new that we won’t have already seen before – you can just throw this one onto the pile with all the rest.
Children of the Broken Treaty: Canada's Lost Promise and One Girl's Dream
Book
In this new edition of Charlie Angus's award-winning and bestselling book, he brings us up-to-date...
Merissa (13585 KP) rated Fractured Hearts in Books
May 23, 2023
Charlie has her heart broken at a young age and decided that it would never happen again. She threw herself into her studies and becomes a new resident vet. Whilst out one night with her friend, she sees a sexy cowboy who she would like to know more about. He seems to feel the same way and they dance together, feeling the sparks fly. However, when it appears that his friend is the one who broke her heart years previously, Charlie makes a run for it, unwilling to see the disgust in his eyes when he realises who she is.
Now, to be honest, that's the one part that confused me. I could understand her not wanting to see him, to be wary of his reaction, but I just don't know why he would have had disgust in his eyes. Anyway, that's a distraction from the story, which I thoroughly enjoyed!
The scenes between these three as they learn to have a relationship with each other, and how it changes, are very well-written. There is a lot to read and it is written in a way that draws you in, letting you see events from every perspective. The bedroom scenes are smokin' and will leave you wanting more.
With an intricate love story, action and suspense, this is a brilliant story that I would definitely recommend. Brilliant.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Feb 25, 2016
Now, to be honest, that's the one part that confused me. I could understand her not wanting to see him, to be wary of his reaction, but I just don't know why he would have had disgust in his eyes. Anyway, that's a distraction from the story, which I thoroughly enjoyed!
The scenes between these three as they learn to have a relationship with each other, and how it changes, are very well-written. There is a lot to read and it is written in a way that draws you in, letting you see events from every perspective. The bedroom scenes are smokin' and will leave you wanting more.
With an intricate love story, action and suspense, this is a brilliant story that I would definitely recommend. Brilliant.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Feb 25, 2016
Mark Halpern (153 KP) rated Pacific Rim (2013) in Movies
Jan 30, 2018
From the deep
Monsters called Kiaju came out of the seas once upon a time ago, We built huge robots that were controlled by two people by using each of there brain power by syncing them together. Then they went away but guess what they have come back even stronger and in the first sequence we see Nate Lambert and his partner get recked by a big ass Kiaju by disobeying orders. Then they think that building huge walls will keep them out (hmm wonder what trump was watching when he thought of his wall) Then we see mor machines brought together by some of the best drivers of all time and go up against these whuge things.
Effects and action sequences and CHarlie Day make the movie worth watching once
Effects and action sequences and CHarlie Day make the movie worth watching once
Craig Davies (6 KP) rated The Gentlemen (2020) in Movies
Apr 12, 2020
Guy Ritchie back to his best
I'll start by saying that I am huge Guy Ritchie fan so am probably a bit biased but I am definitely not blinkered though. I realise that he's made a couple of stinkers, a few average films and a couple of excellent films. I think we can now add the gentleman to the list of excellent films! This is by far the best film Ritchie has made post Matthew vaughan. It's a fast paced film with even faster dialogue, Ritchie hasn't had a cast of characters this interesting since snatch with the highlights being fletcher (Hugh grant), coach (Colin Farrell) and Ray (Charlie hunnam). I personally would love to see a spin off movie about Ray and coach. Overall I would give this a 9/10 excellent film.
The Birth of Dirt: Origins of Mountain Biking
Book
Now available in an updated third revised edition, this is the story of the birth of the mountain...
The Movies in the Age of Innocence
Book
Upon its original publication in 1962, Edward Wagenknecht's The Movies in the Age of Innocence...