Rating: 
Summary: ACHOO!
Review: Sorry about that ... the devil made me do it .....standard little fare with rather odd special effects regarding Old Nic, or if you prefer Lucifer [the pretty one] staging a comeback through Rufus Seawell' s cult[a dead ringer for a more dapper Marty Feldman -"Ma His Making EYES At me"!] Kidding aside ....'DOGMA" is really more more more fun than this tired little epic. Lushly photographed and rather well acted by basinger, Smits and the rest - reminds STRONGLY of an earlier SMITS- the Santaria one - far scarier ...Here we have a small army of worthless, punked out goths, shooting it up and doing what comes naturally. Not sure about all of the'messages' .......after all considering this rock we inhabit - it's not really prime time galactic territory for the gods - now is it? I'd rather be in control of the entire pulse .....
but that's just an opinion. For thrills - it does the job .... great sound design! [Now, 'Unman, Wittering and Zygo' .... there was something....]
Rating: 
Summary: Shades of Scientology...
Review: A little girl named "Cody" supposedly representing the "light side" is born, whom which is heralded by a bright star shining in the heavens like the nazarene fable. A cult-leader takes on the role of Herod in attempting to capture this special child, labelled herein as "The Slaughter of Innocence", in the process, murdering children born in the same week, much like that presented in Omen 3, which displayed the same dynamic. At first, she is misdiagnosed with autism, for being so introverted, but steadily begins demonstrating supernatural abilities, particularly in the telekinetic vein, which catches the attention of one of the cult leader's lackeys; the cult-leader charms his way into the life of the single, drug-addicted, thieving & emaciated mother named 'Jenna', who dumped the child with her older sister Maggie O'Connor {played by Kim Basinger}, who takes the child as her own, until the lowlife 'mother' returns with the Cult-leader to kidnap the child, in order to brainwash her towards the 'Dark Side', or to sacrifice her if she does not turn to darkness. The cult is more reminiscent of Scientology in its aesthetics & iconography, rather than some satanistic cult, although the adolescent thugs match the gothic/devil-worshipper criteria. Which in one notable scene, beat the hell out of Christina Ricci's character {a little goth-(...)}, eventually decapitating her in a subway, through the behest of demonic enitites circumnavigating the area as she is beaten into a bloody pulp. . A nice effect.
The demonic manifestations witnessed by Basinger's character at various spots are remarkable, given marvellous life. The whole story, after she is chased down by the cult to retrieve the girl whose attempted re-kidnapping in a poignant scene lands her in her car travelling in the opposite direction on a bridge highway, at which she crashes into the edge, the car teetering on the verge of plunging into the rushing river, but she is rescued by a burley angel who dematerializes - that is one thing that is noticed now & again, these "angels" appearing here & there to help her & the girl along in various places, rescuing them out of some tough spots, where they would have otherwise surely perished. As the angels appear, so do the demons manifest themselves in the various "humans" surrounding the cult-leader, whose henchmen speed around in a black limousine {reminiscient of Mike Warnke's fictional "The Satan Seller"}.
Jimi Smits plays an occult investigator {a-la Randy Emon}, who is pictured briefly leafing through The Devil's Notebook among his collection of occult books, although the camera does not once close-up on it, but instead shows the back from a distance - but does display a "photo" {looks photoshopped} on one fabricated collage of Dr. LaVey in horned cowl.
The materialization of Satan in a converted church {surrounded with flying, graceful serpantine black demons} is splendid {recollections of The Devil's Rain comes to mind}, transmogrifying from a legion of rats {likened in the Francis Ford Coppola version of Dracula} onto an infernal throne behind the altar, upon which the little girl awaits to be sacrificed, or to rule the world, depending upon her decision. She is prepared in a bridal gown, brought forth by two black robed cultists. Well, she decides for the blindlight, & is "delivered", as it were, by etherial angels who distract the cult-leader, who is then shot by Smits.
The movie does play in the typical binary scenario of good vs. evil, so of course there is the demoralization, but The Devil is not confronted directly, but only makes a brief cameo appearance as described above.
The villain {played by Rufus Sewell} & his organization described in this movie are in the newage description, complete with an insignia which resembles the pyramidical O.T.O.'s, with the caption "You Are Your Own God" {so at least there is a minimal portrayal of Satanic philosophy}; although the ideology presented herein is more akin to a bug-eyed satanified Jim Jones.
Included in this DVD are interviews with director Chuck Russell, as well as with the actors, & allows to jump to various scenes throughout the film. And the cover portrays a striking inverted cross comprised of flames. The film is not Satanic per se, but can be entertaining with the suspension of disbelief.
Rating: 
Summary: Stands apart from the rest
Review: What makes this film special is that:
1.) Instead of barely escaping evil (and having the snot beat out of you in the process), Good clearly kicks evil but and triumphs (a frightening/feel good movie).
and
2.) The makers of this movie have clearly interviewed people who have "seen things" and tried with more than some success to show evil that way on the screen. (With that said, some sceens do lose a little on the small screen vs. the theatre.)
Casting was very well done for this movie - choices for evil cult leader, loving mother (aunt actually), and street trash cult member were excellent.
Unlike some horror movies, this is one you can watch over again and still enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Unsurprisingly Good
Review: This film is a great watch from start to finish. The only area it fails in is the mythos; the director deliberately avoided any real occult elements... it was all made up for the film. listen to the DVD commentary for the info on that side of the film.
That being said, it is a great film. It is pretty obvious which cult the film "cult" is supposed to be a parody of, and the film makers avoid enough similarities to avoid a law suit. Anyway, aside from that, its a great mix of made up supernatural elements, and action, and some superb acting. And Basinger is great, both visually and in the acting.
Smits does some great horror genre work this side of his sojourn in the 1988 film THE BELIEVERS.
Rating:
Summary: why do they do this?
Review: I am currently reading Bless the Child. I enjoy the book more than I enjoyed the movie, even though the movie was good. If the producer had only followed the book more faithfully, I might have liked the movie more. The book is really good. Instead of Cody being six and somewhat resembling Christ in powers(the movie), she is three and is the Isis Messenger in the book. I would read the book,instead.
Rating:
Summary: The title intrigues
Review: me. I haven't seen the movie but i think its about Kim Baysinger is the mom of Christina Riccii and they dont get along but then Christina gets sick and as she is dying in the hospital the mom cries and says she was bad, but loves her and Christina forgives her and the mom says "Oh lord, please bless this child" and it is a very sad ending. that is my review of the film Bless This Child.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Movie.
Review: Along with those here, who have given favorable reviews to "Bless The Child", I totally agree.
It's easy to be critical of the content of this movie by the crirically minded, but take a second look if you will.
Here are actors portraying a story, of good versus evil. It's done with an honest moral story, of two brave people, working with the odds against them.
It's my understanding, that when Kim Bassinger was offered this movie, she turned it down with a comment she did not want to do a movie showing children being exploited. But when she was asked just to read the script only, she changed her mind with a great conviction that it was an outstanding story theme.
You don't have to be religious to see the basic struggle of this movie, and the rescue of a child, with all the people portrayed helping out as best they can to save the little girl, the nun's, a cop, a nurse aunt, and the use of prayer to cover the two people involved saving this child. And prayer was a key to the victory in this story.
It would be great to have more individuals like this we see portrayed in the movie in our country today, from all walks of life, not afraid to to take on evil and injustice around us, in all forms. Apathy only lets evil win, and the people in this movie were determined to fight it, at any risk to themselves.
Rating:
Summary: THE GOOD SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH
Review: Hey...look a movie where Catholics aren't the villains! No bad priests, no psychotic nuns. For once, the devil is the devil!!!An FBI agent who actually carries a bible and was a former seminarian, but is not fanatical. BLESS THE CHILD worked for me because it was about good vs. evil, and good wins out. Critics blasted the movie, so what? It's an entertaining and ultimately frightening movie with some classic scenes. When Kim Basinger confronts the evil Rufus Sewell who says she wouldn't shoot him in front of her niece, she says "Close your eyes." And when Sewell has the little girl on the roof and mocks the temptation of Jesus by Satan, and tells her to jump from the roof and see if God or his angels rescue her, she sits and says "After you." Jimmy Smits, Ian Holm and Angela Bettis lend expert support and in a brief role, Christina Ricci proves what a dynamic young performer she can be.
Cliches? Not really. The use of the special effects I feel was justifiable and creepy, and uplifting with the angels.
Want a feel good movie? This is it, folks.
There be angels....
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