Rating: 
Summary: Don't believe the hype.
Review: hype is fine, i like a good bit of excitiment about going to see a movie, but gothika started with your typical cello/heartbeat/asmatic wheezing, and never really recovers from that terrible cliched start.
a good movie, by present horror-flick standards, but not the deeply chilling or intelligent flim i was led to believe.
also, i have a grudge against 'mad people' sterotypes, of which this flim abuses excessively.
the style borrows from nakata (director of the origdional ring and dark water), but without his subtle atmospheric flare.
rent if you have to, but don't buy.
Rating:
Summary: A bleak, evaporating movie
Review: The first half of this movie builds with an interesting story concept and some beautiful and inventive cinematography. Then it simply runs away into a film so full of plot holes and forgotten story threads that it sort of dissolves into nothing. By the end of the film, all the characters have lost any depth that was hinted at in the promising beginning. Robert Downey gets one decent scene, and then is left to wander through the rest of the picture, delivering a line here or there and generally looking either bewildered or dutifully concerned. Halle Berry, who has proven that she can act well in a supporting role, can't really seem to deliver the weight needed to carry a picture. All in all, a good start that quickly digressed into a weak mishmash of ideas and concepts. All the viewer is left with in the end is the rainy, bleak atmosphere of the picture - slick and pointless. --Mykal Banta
Rating: 
Summary: Its worth watching
Review: 1) Acting was good 2) Even a scene or two that made us jump out of our seat and I'm not one to normally react to such things 3) Decent writing, dialoge and characterization 4) One HUGE plot hole that I felt could have been covered up with a bit more explaination 5) Nice red herrings OVERALL: Entertaining. Just another movie to put in the "ghost leads protagonist to killer in order to get revenge" type movie like Sixth Sense, Stir of Echoes, etc.
Rating: 
Summary: Halle Berry: Has-been Part 1
Review: Ugh! Step one on how to kill a career fresh off an Oscar win. Stay tuned for Part 2 later this summer when Catwoman is released. Michelle Pfeiffer in black latex, she ain't!
Rating:
Summary: A Monkey Could Have Written This Script
Review: I was so excited to see this movie when it first came out. But to my surprise, I was getting hyped up over nothing. I don't completely believe that I wasted a full hour and a half of my life because I learned how a horrible script couldn't even be saved by the best actors.
I must say, Gothika had it moments, but as everyone else has said, it's like stir of echos. At times in this film, the script didn't really make sence - there were many holes. A coincidence is pretty far fetched in a film, but to have 20 coincidences happen one after the other makes a movie simply boring and unbelievable.
If they make a Gothika 2, I will most definately not bother even renting it.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Job Halle
Review: The plot was good, not an incredible knock-out, but good. It is Halle Berry's ability to draw me in to the storyline. I think this is her best work to date. While this is one of those "you're trapped in a dark world with lots of lights flickering on and off" movies, this time it works. In fact, it works quite well. Berry's character, Dr. Miranda Grey, has spunk and a likable personality. She is strong and weak at the same time...a real life person. I have sat through a lot of movies recently with a great deal of "boring time" saturating the films. Not this one. Director Mathieu Kassovitz did a great job of making a "just okay" plot spark on the screen. I say ignore the bad reviews, give it a try. If you don't like it, drop me an e-mail telling me I was wrong. :-)[...]
Rating: 
Summary: Thrilling Mystery
Review: I did not rush to view this movie, but I wish that I had because it was a good thriller. It stars Halle Berry, Charles Dutton, Robert Downy Jr. and Penelope Cruz. It kept me glued to the screen, which was a good thing because a potty or snack break will cause you to have to rewind/replay some footage. Quick flashes of little things will prove crucial toward the end of the movie...so you don't want to miss a single thing. Berry plays Dr. Grey, who is a shrink that tends to patients at a women's prison facility. Dutton plays her husband and boss (the pairing of them as a married couple was a stretch of my imagination), Downy is a co-worker (you will sense some romantic attraction between them which will prove to be key and may help to confuse you on your attempt to predict part of the outcome) and Cruz is a patient that doesn't seem as crazy as the good doctor thinks, but has a sixth sense.(...) The thrilling ghostly moments and special effects will hold your attention as you try to figure out why Dr. Grey ended up here. Other ingredients that help the story bake are a murder, a sex crime and voices from beyond the grave seeking revenge and trying to save the life of a potential victim. Berry provides a very electrified performance. Downy holds his own and so does Cruz. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Yeah, yeah...
Review: Gothika (Matthieu Kassovitz, 2003) I had such high hopes for this movie. Matthieu Kassovitz, director of the stunningly silly The Crimson Rivers, gets behind the camera for his first English-language feature, a supposedly spooky tale about Miranda Grey (Halle Berry), a psychiatrist who wakes up one morning and finds herself imprisoned in the very facility where she works, accused of murdering her husband (Charles S. Dutton, late of Alien 3 and Roc). Her friend and co-worker Pete (Robert Downey Jr.) is trying to help her remember the murder, about which she knows nothing, but Grey finds many of her own platitudes forced back down her throat, coming to understand that sometimes the saner you are, the more crazy you look to the outside world. It's all quite a nice little cautionary tale, and there are a couple of jumpworthy moments, but what really remains after watching this is the profoundly leaden moralizing throughout. Even the usually wonderful Dutton labors through the wooden script. All in all, though, it could have been worse. Robert Zemeckis (one of the film's producers) could have directed. Maybe worth a rental if you have an hour and a half to kill, but don't go looking for great, or even good, cinema. **
Rating:
Summary: Better when it was called What Lies Beneath
Review: This movie is just a rip off of past movies like Stir Of Echoes and What Lies Beneath. It's very similar to What Lies Beneath and that movie was just OK. If you want to see a good movie with a similar storyline, watch Stir of Echoes, it's awesome. The ladies will probably like What Lies Beneath more, it's like a female version of Stir of Echoes. I know Halle Berry is a good actress, but she can't even save this piece. Don't waste your money, you'll thank me. Peace out,
Dustin
Rating:
Summary: Derivative, but Very Well Done
Review: If you've seen either "The Changeling" or "Stir of Echoes", then you know the plot of this thiller. But that shouldn't deter you from seeing it. It is an extremely well done horror/thriller concerning Halle Berry as a psychologist who is accused of killing her husband (Charles Dutton, believe it or not). She doesn't remember the murder. Is she crazy, a cold blooded killer, or is someone framing her???
Berry is superb in this difficult role, as is the rest of the cast. Very dark, moody direction and some excellent effects make this Dark Castle production their best. Dark Castle specializes in William Castle remakes and horror. Their next is a remake of "House of Wax". Silver and Zemekis hold the golden age of horror near and dear, so we'll be seeing more tribute films as the years go by.
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