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The Others

The Others

List Price: $19.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Strange But Who Cares
Review: This movie is definetely a bone chiller. The beginning (credits) start with Kidman saying "Now children, are you sitting comfortably? Then I will begin" And after the ccredits end you see the face of Kidman lying in bed screaming. This movie causes you to jump out of your seat in suspense and to contemplate the events in order to make sense of the current part. That is the only downside. SOme of the early events in the movie don't fit into the puzzles that create the later events. It is confusing and strange, but if you love Nicole Kidman, you'll love this movie because she is phenomenal.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Old Fasioned Terror...
Review: This film definitely builds up some scares! I'm so glad to see that from all the slasher so called "horror" movies that are being made now, that this one had the courage to be different. All movies are now are special effects, which is good in movies but not in horror! This movie contains no blood and would be suitable for a child...but I'm not saying a child should see this. The acting is superb and the set makes you feel like you're really isolated. Somebody mentioned that it's "low budget" but they just don't get that the feeling of isolation here is critical.

Turning doorknobs, cold spots, footsteps upstairs where no one is. Nicole Kidman delivers beautifully in what may be her best performance yet! Also, the soundtrack adds a lot to the creepy dark feel of the film.

Someone also commented on how little actors there are. I think the biggest mistake in horror movies nowadays is that there are too many characters that you get to know very well. This film has only a few charcters, but there's always some suspicion about each of them. Yes, the movie's pace is quite slow, but it adds to the eeriness of everything.

See this movie expecting to see a psychological horror movie, and not some teen slasher.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Psychological and suspenseful
Review: No matter how many times I watch movies that drop subtle clues (See The Sixth Sense and, in a slightly different genre, Minority Report), I still don't seem to catch on to the big plot twist that's being hinted at. So, being the naive film viewer that I am, I found this to be a spectacular movie that suprised me with it's ending. After the movie, you find yourself continually remembering moments in the film that now fit together. Just like The Sixth Sense, the movie's plot was seamless enough that you don't catch the plot twist-that is, it works and fits together without it. But when you know that small but vital piece of information, it is not just seamless-it's close to perfect. The Others uses virtually no detectable special effects, the way every other ghost story has. There are no moving walls, no monster makeup, no indications at all. The only thing that is more than just psychologically abnormal is the extreme presence of a fog, which can be created by a simple fog machine or graphic effect. That's another great thing about this movie. All the tricks and twists that we see, such as curtains being opened, doors being left ajar, and doors being unlocked when they were obviously shut before, are things that a normal person does. The psychological thrill is really how it all fits together to create a ghastly, macabre picture that leaves you amazed. I must add that there are three groups of people in the story-the family, the servants, and the others. This movie will keep bouncing you back and forth between which group is the "bad guy" in the film. Enjoy...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Never guess......
Review: This was a great movies, the use of the house and the features of the house added to the suspense of the film. While the film is not horrifying it is erie and creepy, and then end is one the you will not guess. I thought Nicole Kidman's performance was great in this movie, and the two children did a very good job portraying their characters as well.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Nicole Kidman's best performance
Review: 2001 was a breakthrough year for Nicole Kidman. Not only did she get many cover page stories about her heartbreaking divorce, but she finally proved that she was more than Tom Cruise's wife, and that she was a serious dramatic actress. First came the huge success of Moulin Rouge, which established Nicole as a tender beauty, a talented singer, and a symbol of glamour. Then came her finest dramatic role to date, in The Others. This film is not a horror film. It is a melodrama with supernatural overtones. It is about life after death, but it goes much deeper than that. There is a central message to the story.. At the end, when Nicole says she loves her children, even though we have learned the shocking and gruesome truth about her, we feel sympathy for her. This is Nicole Kidman's art, and her art alone, making us feel sympathy for her. she is a tremendous actress, and deserves even greater roles. She deserves to follow in the footsteps of the greats...Crawford, Garbo, Dietrich.. And I believe she will. She has the talent, beauty, and class to become a genuine superstar. The Others proves what we suspected all along.

There are two scenes in The Others that stand out in my memory. One is when Kidman is lost in the fog and finds her long lost husband. The expression on her face is moving and defiantly sentimental..in a world of actresses that would rather not show such vivid and beautiful emotion. The very best scene, to me, is when Kidman is standing at the gate, after her husband has left her, looking very wistful and sad. It is masterful.

The Others is the showcase that Kidman has deserved for a long time. With her performance in this film and Moulin Rouge, Nicole Kidman has covered all the dramatic bases. She is on her way now.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A THINKING PERSON'S GHOST STORY...
Review: This is a superb, atmospheric ghost story that will have the viewer thinking right from the get go. There are things afoot here that go bump in the night, but it may not be what the viewer thinks.

On the Isle of Jersey, during the last days of World War II, a lovely, isolated mansion sits in the shrouding mists. The house is adequately, though sparsely, furnished. It is occupied by a mother, Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman), and her two children, Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley). The children are afflicted with a great sensitivity to light, so much so that they must, at all times, have the curtains drawn and the shutters closed. Grace's husband, the children's father, had left them to fight in the war. This is a perfect and stark setting for what is to come.

One day, three strangers arrive on her doorstep. Grace presumes that they are there in response to her post for domestic help and hires Bertha Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), Edmund Tuttle (Eric Sykes), and Lydia (Elaine Cassidy) on the spot. Grace instructs them on the ideosyncratic ways she has of handling her children's sensitivities to light. It soon becomes clear, however, that this triumvirate has their own agenda and are not strangers to this house.

Nicole Kidman give a remarkable performance in this film. Tightly wound and controlling, she appears to be a woman on the brink of a breakdown, holding herself together only by a great effort of will, as she awaits her husband's return. Her performance as a lonely wife and seemingly protective mother contributes greatly to the tense and suspenseful atmosphere in the household. While I am not generally a fan of Ms. Kidman's, finding her ice maiden demeanor to be too cool for my tastes, even I must agree that her performance in this film is superlative and contributes greatly to its overall success.

The children both give excellent performances. It is the young boy, James Bentley, however, who deserves special mention. He shines in the role of Nicholas, giving a sensitive performance that conveys his pervasive fear of what seems to be going on in the household. It is a poignant and moving performance that will capture the viewer's heart.

Christopher Eccleston is marvelous in the role of Grace's husband and the children's father, who returns all too briefly, like a deus ex machina, conveying an infinite and bitterweet sadness that only adds to the disturbing portents that seem to be gathering about the Stewart household. Eccleston is an outstanding actor who manages to contribute greatly to the film in this small, but pivotal, role.

It is, however, Fionnula Flanagan in the role of the mysterious housekeeper, Bertha Mills, who steals the show. She is like the voice crying in the wilderness to those who will not hear her message. Strong and commanding in her performance, it is she, and not Nicole Kidman, who is the backbone of this film. Her presence lends such an eerie and discordant note, that one feels her presence to be that of a harbinger of doom. Yet, things are not all that they seem in this household, as the ending has a surprising twist to it.

This wonderful and highly atmospheric ghost story is one that is sure to delight those appreciative of this genre of film. Intelligent and finely crafted, it reveals an eerie story borne of psychological despair and horror. Beautifully directed by Alejandro Amenabar, it succeeds where others have failed. Relying on well nuanced moments, rather than grotesque special effects, this is a film that is sure to withstand the test of time and emerge as a classic.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Ride
Review: It's not five stars because, well, a couple of things. Kidman tries so hard to play the part perfectly, and she does a great job -- but you shouldn't be able to notice how hard she's trying. So, despite an excellent job, I have to ding her for not quite delivering the goods. The script itself gives the audience too many possibilities, and not enough evidence for any one, which is good in that it creates an atmosphere of ominousness, but bad in that you don't feel like the movie creators are quite playing fair with you. How can you figure it out if so many equally probably explanations suggest themselves? Still, only one explanation in the end best ties everything together neatly, and that's the ending we get, which is genuinely creative and satisfying. One of the best ghost stories to come out of Hollywood in a long time, and well worth watching.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Interesting twist!
Review: I liked this movie, could have used a tad more movement but otherwise well done. The conclusion was a dandy and I didn't expect that at all.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Better than I expected....
Review: I only went to see the movie becuase i had heard some good reviews about it. Otherwise, i wouldn;t have bothered. You might have the same hesitations as i did - a movie about a woman and 2 kids - what can be good or interesting or scary about that?? Well, i was very pleasantly surprised. Mainly, the movie is very suspenseful, so it goes quickly as you sit waiting for what happens next. Thus, it does not seem at all boring but rather scary and interesting. In addition, it has a very satisfactory ending that makes the movie worth it. Trust me, this movie turns out to be much better than the plot summary promises!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: love it...
Review: i love this movie . There! i'm just too straight forward but this is a great movie. Telling from the other's side point of view, making us, the living, look like people from the other whom disturbing them. The movie is not scary but well plotted which has caused me loosing my sleep for one week. eek! Nichole is brillian in the movie--acting as a protective mother and a lonely wife waiting for her husband to come home from the war. The scariest was many shocking sudden scene from the movie. I don't want to give them out because I want you to see the movie. It's just too good to tell on it. Just to let you on into it, it has a very well suprising ending and it makes you think about if there are any "others" living with us ...

;p

ps : i do play some supernatural game, and this movie just hits right on the nail! yes, because of this movie now i know why the circle moving piece on the oochie board moves ... eek!


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