The Gift

Rating:
Summary: Best Movie I saw in 2001
Review: I happened to come upon this movie one night in the video store. I was gleefully surprised by the suspenseful plot and the genuinely good acting. The actors in it are less well known overall, but it was the best movie I saw in 2001. I recommend you pick it up at the video store too.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Mystery Thriller
Review: In this suspenseful story set in a small southern town, a widowed mother of 2 played by Cate Blanchett gets caught in the midst of a murder mystery, which unfolds with the guidance of her psychic "gift." The story was co-written by Billy-Bob Thornton, and director Raimi has cast a superb ensemble of actors, including Blanchett, Hillary Swank, Greg Kinnear, Keanu Reeves, Giovanni Ribisi, & Katie Holmes. This paranormal thriller is spine-tingling in places, but ultimately has a warm compassionate foundation that speaks of universal human emotional needs that all the characters must cope with.

Rating:
Summary: Great film ruined by trite, predictable ending.
Review: This could have been, should have been, a terrific thriller. The acting by all is definitely first rate, the direction tight, the setting perfect and creepy. The problem is, it's ultimately formulaic and you can predict the murderer - and ending - from a very, very long way off. The main problem is a tiny cast, so too small a pool of potential killers to choose from. I don't know why, but I expected a more original story from writer Billy Bob Thornton. Really a shame and just too bad, because it's otherwise a great film with captivating performances, especially from the marvelous Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi, and surprisingly enough, Keanu Reeves is believably menacing as the wife beating redneck.

I recommend this as a rental only, because one viewing is enough.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic but predictable
Review: This is only vaguely similar to the Sixth Sense, but it also reminded me of Blair Witch. Although it's predictable in places, it's not too predictable so you know what's going to happen before it happens, but certain scenes you can.

I was quite shocked when I discovered Billy Bob Thornton wrote this, and that Sam Raimi directed it. Billy Bob always comes across as weird to me - he looks so rough most of the time, but then you see him in films, he's totally unrecognisable, and doesn't look like the same person. Sam Raimi is a whole other kettle of fish. He previously directed The Evil Dead movies, the second one, which I managed to fall asleep during!

All the characters played their parts well in this. Especially Katie Holmes and Keanu Reeves. Both of them play different characters to what they would normally play in films. Katie is always known as sweet and virginal Joey in Dawson's Creek, but totally shows the viewers she can act and can do different characters. As a big fan of Keanu, I can't say I've seen him play a bad BAD guy, not to this extent anyway. His character is a wife beater, who does get accused of killing Katie's character. He could have been slagged rotten in the press and by critics for playing this kind of character, but he manages to pull it off, and succeeds. You believe in his character, and totally forget this is the guy from Speed, and the dork from Bill & Ted. His hair is grown out, he's got an albeit patchy beard, and dare I say it, he's looking chubby! (But not as bad as Chain Reaction!) Keanu got praise when this film was released, and he could have been stereotyped after Speed (and probably now after the Matrix), but has pulled off a number of different roles. I was not expecting to like his character at all, and I didn't and that's what made me like the movie even better.

I've never really been a big fan of Cate Blanchett, but she was perfect for this role. Giovanni Ribisi was great, and made you forget that he was ever in Friends, and Hilary Swank . . . Well, we have to admit her hair was bad, and she was looking positively anorexic. But they all did well.

The extras on the DVD are your basic extras, with some cast & crew interviews and a very short behind the scenes featurette, and TV/radio spots. The latter I can't stand on DVDs, as they just repeat the trailer over and over.

All in all, a great movie. And I dare anyone to guess who the killer really is. I got it wrong.

Rating:
Summary: Blanchett is great, Ribisi is awesome and Reeves is evil
Review: this one is about Blanchett and shes the towns local psychic with her tera cards and stuff. Hilary Swank visits her about her abusive husband played with pure evilness by Keanu Reeves who looks like he didnt shower for awhile, Reeves starts to terroize Blanchett and all the while Katie Holmes ends up missing and dead. Blanchett suspects Reeves and Reeves goes to jail but she soon finds out the truth, it was Greg Kinnear who did it. Giovanni Ribisi is snapping in his role and he shows it. the highlight is when Reeves tries to mess with Blanchett's kid and Ribisi takes out a crowbar and bashes up Reeves' truck, awesome and this is directed by Sam Raimi people, the person who brought you A Simple Plan, Spider-man, Evil Dead I and II and Army Of Darkness. Katie Holmes has some good tatas, heh heh

Rating:
Summary: CREEPY, HAUNTING THRILLER WITH A PSYCHIC TWIST --BRILLIANT!
Review: This stunner of a murder suspense thriller from Sam Raimi and Co. would have almost solely been carried by Cate Blanchett and her commanding screen presence, were it not for the haunting performance of Giovanni Ribisi as a simpleton town boy, or Keanu Reeves, who proved for once that he can act, in a gratingly negative role.

Blanchett plays a clairvoyant woman in a small town, tarot cards and all, but thankfully she isn't shown to be omniscient and in fact makes lots of mistakes which people with better education or just greater knowledge could have avoided. An interesting turn of events lead to a murder, and almost anyone of the many characters could have been culpable. Katie Holmes plays the gorgeous victim, which only makes it twice as sweet!

The suspense is contagious, the acting very convincing, and the background score is superb. Had me glued almost until the end, I did predict about 20 mins before the denouement who the killer could be, but that isn't too bad! I guess the movie's power lies in its character studies which happen to be wrapped in a homicide.

Highly recommend this immaculate blend of high-octane drama and supernatural horror. At the very least, it'll leave you with plenty to think about.

Rating:
Summary: A Gothic, Psychic Murder Mystery
Review: The Gift is a murder mystery. Annie Wilson, a small town Georgia psychic, begins to have visions that, while not cluing her into the identity of the murderer - at least to start - do let her know a murder has been committed. The angry spirit of the murder victim prods Annie, none too gently, toward solving the crime which eventually, of course, brings her into conflict with the murderer.

Cate Blanchett plays Annie Wilson wonderfully well, as woman of great decency and empathy. Her body language when she feels threatened - hunched shoulders, avoidance of eye contact - show she's had her share of hard knocks in life. But beyond that, there's a hard core of stubbornness inside her, that allows her to continue on, to love and be a great mother to her kids, to hold onto some sense of dignity and self-respect, all the while dealing with a "gift" that's truly more a curse. It's impossible not to respect Annie, and like her, and root for her, to care what happens to her. While not conventionally movie star beautiful, Cate's Annie manages to be extremely appealing. The thing that makes he so attractive is that Annie's obviously, totally unaware she's sexy. Watching The Gift was the first time I've ever seen Cate Blanchett in a movie. After this, I want to see more. I'm going to have to check out Catherine in short order.

Keanu Reeves does a superb job as redneck wifebeater, Donnie Barksdale. This is an Ed Harris-level example of chameleon-like immersal in a character. I can give no higher compliment. Those who deride Reeves' acting abilities have never watched The Gift. When Reeves plays Donnie, he IS the character. Everything about him changes from what we're used to thinking of as "Keanu Reeves" - body language, vocal tone, speech patterns, everything is different. Really, the only thing recognizably Keanu Reeves is bone structure. My girlfriend, watching the movie with me, didn't even recognize him at first.

I was very impressed with Katie Holmes as Jessica King, the murder victim. Comparing Kate's Jessica King to Hannah Green, the character she played in Wonder Boys, shows she's a talented actress with an impressive range, she can play very different characters and be completely convincing in the roles. In Wonder Boys she was totally believable as a young woman of intelligence, sensitivity and kindness. In The Gift she's totally believable as a stupid, self-centered, spoiled [girl]. One can but hope the first role is closer to her real personality than the second (he said, jokingly).

Giovanni Ribisi's portrayal of Buddy Cole, specifically his scene talking to Annie in a parked car toward the end of the movie, is one of the most touching things I've ever seen in a movie.

Okay, so the murder "mystery" isn't much of a mystery. I figured out who the murderer was before the murder even took place. But that's a small gripe compared to all the good things contained within The Gift.

Rating:
Summary: Starts strong, spirals out of control
Review: This movie was a disappointment. It started strong, with psychic Cate Blanchett as a sort of spiritual counselor in the small town south. She sees the sort of people and problems you'd expect, and runs into trouble from the husband of a battered woman who resents her influence. She has problems of her own to provide the start of a subplot or two (never fully developed), and is the only hope of a mentally troubled man in the town.

If the movie had had sense enough to stick with these and develop them realistically, something worth watching would have emerged. Instead, the story descends first to melodrama, then into lurid pulp. Plot twists are unbelievable and obvious. A sexualized murder is thrown in to, apparently, improve the story.

Worse, and deeply disturbing to me as a female viewer, the victim is portrayed as a "slut who deserved it," a woman who runs around on her nice fiance not just with one man but several.

The director doesn't miss an opportunity to eroticize the violence, either, providing exploitive shots of the woman's semi-nude corpse. This, along with a scene during the murder, struck me as obscene.

The movie had redeeming features, the first one being Blanchett's compelling, highly believable performance as Annie. I wish I could see what she would have done with a truly great story.

Also redeeming was Giovanni Ribisi as the mentally tortured Buddy Cole. Though his storyline became painfully lurid, his character's final appearance provided some of the most redeeming and poignant scenes of the movie. His performance as a small town rural man was so believable, it was a shock to see in interviews that he was an LA actor.

Rating:
Summary: Better than I thought it would be, way better!
Review: Let me start by saying I usually watch horror, sci-fi, action, and comedy movies, (mainly horror though) so maybe this will give you an idea if you would agree with this review:
Anyway, I caught this movie on pay per view the other day and all I got to say is I thought it was one of the best movies I had see in a very long time. Only complaints I could see that some might see is: at times, one might say it would be slow (its far from boring though, and there is plenty of action, so don't get me wrong here, just saying certain spots in the movie.) Only other MINOR complaint is the effects are not up to some of the other Hollywood movies like Ghost Ship.
Other than this, this movie kicks major but. It will hold your attention all the way through it, whether it was from the suspense, or just waiting to see what will come next. The movie is also very original, a lot of plots and stories in movies these days overlap ridiculously! I kept saying "I think this movie is obvious" because I thought it would end a certain way, and it did not. You can only try and guess the ending. I love the atmosphere of this movie too. If you like dark woods, swamps, ghosts, nightmares, murder, mystery with a twist, then your going to love this!!

Rating:
Summary: It Wins All My Awards
Review: I was sitting on the edge of my seat throughout this entire movie. It was suspensful and thrilling, and the horror angle to it was kept classy while it still managed to have me screaming.
I saw this movie long before I knew who Giovanni Ribisi was, but as soon as I realized he was in it, I rewatched it and was amazed. Buddy Cole (played by Giovanni) is so well done that I couldn't think of him in any other role. It was amazing - as was Cate Blanchett's Annie, and, though I don't really like her, Hillary Swank's character.
I can't believe this movie didn't gain millions of awards. It is so classy and well done, and the characters are so well developed! Shame on the Academy Awards for not devoting their lives to this movie! ;-)