Rating: 
Summary: EYE OF GOD - A must see film.
Review: A deeply disturbing film about love, redemption, murder, and the cumulative effects of world that is slightly off balance. Outstanding performances, directing, editing, and story will leave you haunted for days, possibly weeks, after viewing. Excellent.
Rating:
Summary: You simply must see Eye of God!
Review: A stunning, deeply harrowing film. Martha Plimpton is remarkable, as always. The editing techniques are highly effective; the story is unique and hauntingly engaging. Highly recommended for (sorry for the implied pretense) lovers of serious, quality films.
Rating:
Summary: Intense... but no shouting
Review: An unsung, minor masterpiece of independent cinema from director Tim Blake Nelson. One of those rare films that mananges to say EXACTLY what it means to say-no more, no less (i.e., no pretension, no padding, no hammy grandstanding). Nelson tells his tale in less than 90 minutes, but the film will haunt you for weeks. The creators of the overblown, overlong and overacted "21 Grams" and "Mystic River" could have gleaned a few lessons from studying Blake's lean yet boundlessly deep screenplay about the dichotomy of good vs evil in us all. Nelson is obviously an "actor's director", and inspires lead actress Martha Plimpton (of the Carridine dynasty) to deliver her most accomplished performance to date as a somewhat dense but sweet small town waitress. Ample support is provided by Kevin Anderson as Plimpton's ex-con husband who has rushed her into marriage after a sight-unseen "pen pal" courtship. Anderson's character has "seen the light" and appears to be on the road to making a solid citizen of himself (then again, appearances can be deceiving). The under-appreciated Richard Jenkins (the father's "ghost" on HBO's "Six Feet Under") is a standout as Anderson's parole officer, as is a very young Nick Stahl (another HBO star-currently the lead character in "Carnivale"). Veteran thespian Hal Holbrook deserves a mention, with one of his better latter-day performances as the world weary sheriff. Lucinda Williams' aching cover version of Nick Drake's "Which Will" opens and closes the film; an interesting choice of music as it works perfectly in both setting the tone for the story and providing a fitting coda to the emotionally devastating final shot. I can't recommend this one enough. I also second the motion with the reviewer who pointed out that the director's commentary on the DVD is atypically insightful and Zen-like (like the screenplay!).
Rating: 
Summary: Chilling AMERICAN GOTHIC thriller...
Review: Combining the "existential" character-study format of John Sayles with the jolting themes raised by Michael Tolkien's "The Rapture", Director Tim Blake Nelson has created a visceral film that disturbs and ultimately stuns. Hal Holbrook is excellent as Sheriff Rogers, a good man disillusioned in his belief in Justice and faith in God by the incidents that he relates without irony but with a calm so deceptive that the violence it foreshadows is staggering. Martha Plimton plays the woman-child Ainsley,the pure-of-heart wearer of "The Eye of God" who is unable to recognize (or condemn)incarnate evil when it is presented in its most banal, yet appealingly "human" dimensions. Kevin Anderson is equally excellent as a young man, totally unaware...blind...to what he is. And lastly, there is young Nick Stahl who does an incredible job of being an innocent witness to unspeakable brutality. The film's focus on "salt-of-the-earth" homespun characters with simple dreams of family and dignified participation in community is repeatedly shattered by Nelson's insertions of graphic suicides, abortion and finally...perhaps...ritual murder. This is a frightening movie because of its deliberately paced "complacency" in ignorance before evil. The shocking ending does not entirely "shock" because Director Nelson has induced the viewer into a kind of "good-old-boy" complicity. Except that the good, old Boy this time is the Devil himself. This is a chilling, American Gothic thriller that may, in my estimate, achieve cult status. I rate it four, rather than five-stars because my own complicity goes only so far. I recommend the film, but I don't like it...or any other that seems to allow "The Good Old Boy" such a vile victory under the EYE OF GOD......
Rating:
Summary: Chilling AMERICAN GOTHIC thriller...
Review: Combining the "existential" character-study format of John Sayles with the jolting themes raised by Michael Tolkien's "The Rapture", Director Tim Blake Nelson has created a visceral film that disturbs and ultimately stuns. Hal Holbrook is excellent as Sheriff Rogers, a good man disillusioned in his belief in Justice and faith in God by the incidents that he relates without irony but with a calm so deceptive that the violence it foreshadows is staggering. Martha Plimton plays the woman-child Ainsley,the pure-of-heart wearer of "The Eye of God" who is unable to recognize (or condemn)incarnate evil when it is presented in its most banal, yet appealingly "human" dimensions. Kevin Anderson is equally excellent as a young man, totally unaware...blind...to what he is. And lastly, there is young Nick Stahl who does an incredible job of being an innocent witness to unspeakable brutality. The film's focus on "salt-of-the-earth" homespun characters with simple dreams of family and dignified participation in community is repeatedly shattered by Nelson's insertions of graphic suicides, abortion and finally...perhaps...ritual murder. This is a frightening movie because of its deliberately paced "complacency" in ignorance before evil. The shocking ending does not entirely "shock" because Director Nelson has induced the viewer into a kind of "good-old-boy" complicity. Except that the good, old Boy this time is the Devil himself. This is a chilling, American Gothic thriller that may, in my estimate, achieve cult status. I rate it four, rather than five-stars because my own complicity goes only so far. I recommend the film, but I don't like it...or any other that seems to allow "The Good Old Boy" such a vile victory under the EYE OF GOD......
Rating:
Summary: Director's commentary is extraordinary
Review: EYE OF GOD is a wonderfully directed and acted film. But, the real revelation for me is Tim Blake Nelson's commentary track on the DVD. Its a crash course for any film maker who wants to understand both the technique and philosophy of making a movie.
Nelson has a Zen-like clarity in describing how his film was made. Absolutely brilliant.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most powerful, haunting films I've seen
Review: Eye Of God is the type of movie that will leave you thinking about all of it's many facets and twists and turns for days and maybe weeks after viewing it! It will capture you from the first few minutes and not let you go until the very end. It makes you ponder about how such different people's lives can become so inexplicably intertwined with such disasterous results. And it hits the nail on the head with it's portrayal of a dangerous zeolot's self-rightgeous actions in the name of God; something that is all too common in todays news. Along with a gripping story, the acting and the editing make this movie a must see. I think it is one of the best movies I have ever viewed. Please bring it back into production; I want to buy this one for my video library.
Rating:
Summary: This Movie Will Leave You Stunned!
Review: Eye Of God is the type of movie that will leave you thinking about all of it's many facets and twists and turns for days and maybe weeks after viewing it! It will capture you from the first few minutes and not let you go until the very end. It makes you ponder about how such different people's lives can become so inexplicably intertwined with such disasterous results. And it hits the nail on the head with it's portrayal of a dangerous zeolot's self-rightgeous actions in the name of God; something that is all too common in todays news. Along with a gripping story, the acting and the editing make this movie a must see. I think it is one of the best movies I have ever viewed. Please bring it back into production; I want to buy this one for my video library.
Rating:
Summary: A fine nonlinear study of evil and the human heart.
Review: Jack (played by Kevin Anderson) is released from prison and meets up with Ainsley, a young woman he has been writing letters to for quite some time. Ainsley (Martha Plimpton) is a sweet romantic simpleton who doesn't even want to know about the crime that put him in prison. Jack believes that he has been reformed by the justice system and by religion, but he's also a control freak. For strange reasons lost in the mysteries of the human heart, these poor souls decide to start a relationship.
One can't give away too much of the plot without collapsing the nonlineary framework of the film and ruining its breathtaking effect. So suffice it to say that this recipe for disaster is tossed up in the air along with the biblical story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac and with all the theological and ethical problems both of these stories present. Everything builds to whirling climax of nonlinear convergence and small-scale horror. In the end the audience is brought face to face with that grand philosophical theme "the problem of evil," and we find no easy solutions.
Rating:
Summary: A fine nonlinear study of evil and the human heart.
Review: Jack (played by Kevin Anderson) is released from prison and meets up with Ainsley, a young woman he has been writing letters to for quite some time. Ainsley (Martha Plimpton) is a sweet romantic simpleton who doesn't even want to know about the crime that put him in prison. Jack believes that he has been reformed by the justice system and by religion, but he's also a control freak. For strange reasons lost in the mysteries of the human heart, these poor souls decide to start a relationship.
One can't give away too much of the plot without collapsing the nonlineary framework of the film and ruining its breathtaking effect. So suffice it to say that this recipe for disaster is tossed up in the air along with the biblical story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac and with all the theological and ethical problems both of these stories present. Everything builds to whirling climax of nonlinear convergence and small-scale horror. In the end the audience is brought face to face with that grand philosophical theme "the problem of evil," and we find no easy solutions.
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