Ok, first up
American Haunting. I read about this on
AintItCool way way back and got excited based on the actual documented history of this event as well as the cast. I mean, Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek and Rachel Hurd-Wood (Wendy of Peter Pan fame). Now being a fan of the horror genre I was excited at the prospects of something original and well crafted. What did I find? oh.. what often happens when I get my hopes up... something less that it should have been, something that had such great great potential and then just.. well fell short..way short. First off the acting was good. Having so many scenes that have ended up on the cutting room floor, there are a few scenes where I have to believe that the editor or director picked the wrong shots. Its that feeling where you go, "Hey, did they just cut a couple of seconds of that dialog or.." Yeh.. that kind of editing job. Special effects? What I will refer to as the core shorts, the ones dealing with the most suspensful aspects of the haunting, I think they were spot on. However, some of the exterior shots looked like something on a made for TV move, bad. Now, given that special effects that are secondary to story telling were bad but forgivable and a cast and acting job that was good enough, what was it that killed it for me? I can't tell you. It's part of the plot, rather it might be. See that's the thing, I feel there's a better movie that someone for somereason left at the studio and decided to make us watch another movie. See, there's a twist, a secret at the ending and give poor editing, well it just comes off as a 100% hack job. It's a shame.. I'll buy it on DVD, only if they send me the REAL movie.
Ok.. MI:3. Want to watch Tom Cruise do what Tom Cruise does best? Watch MI:3. JJ Abrahams (of Lost, Alias and Felicity fame) does a good twist on a solid franchise. He didn't change to core formula except add a bit of what he's done on LOST, get personal, throw in a couple of gut wrenching moments, closeups on people's faces, make you wonder if he really did what you think he did, and the BLOW STUFF UP! Yep.. it's good, it's not great or ground breaking but it's a great summer popcorn flick. I'm sure it'll make lots and lots of money and I'm sure they'll do another one in a few years.
