Rating: 
Summary: you guys are far too cynical
Review: Without the limitations of this particualr rating system, i would have given this film a rating of four and a half stars, because i feel it is that close to excellence. The only aspect in this movie that i felt was weak was the screenplay; in particualr, the courtroom scene: the writing tended to lack originality, dynamics, and most of all, believeability. But even with a lousy script, Raimi applied his stellar skills as a director behind the camera, and in doing so, created what i believe is one of the most suspenseful films i have ever seen. If you like pure, unyielding suspense, you will love this film. By the end of the movie, you will be pulling back in your chair with anticipation every time Cate Blanchett opens a door, turns a corner, and especially goes outside. The highlights of the film, or at least for me, were the dream sequences Blanchett entered from time to time. With the backdrop of an eerie, moonlit Georgia swamp, and the music of Southern, gothic-style fiddles and banjos building up suspense in the background, these scenes contain some of the most visually frightening and shocking imagery imaginable while still maintaining relevance to the basic plot and not going overboard with the blood and gore. As a previous reviewer stated, "the fiddler" scene is pretty creepy. I wont say any more in case you havent seen the movie, but beware. And then, of course, theres the acting. I'm in accordance with all the reviewers who noted Blanchett's performance. She acted extremely well. I did notice, however, that some people did not like Ribisi and Reeves' performances. I honestly cannot tell where they are coming from. I think that Reeves gives the best performance of his career, after so many terrible ones, and truly proves this time that he can act. Ribisi, as he has done before, plays the role of the insane guy very, very believeably. Plus, Katie Homes is hot. And so, despite poor writing, The Gift has top-notch acting, horror, disturbing imagery, suspense, and Katie Holmes. It will keep you on the edge of your seat. Trust me.
Rating: 
Summary: An Unlikely Hero
Review: Poured from the Steve Buscemi, Benicio del Toro creep mold, Giovanni Rubisi plays the consummate psychologically damaged backwater Southern town misfit. His pinkish orange hair and dark roots, close set eyes with dark circles and slack jawed face with five oclock shadow would make him totally repugnant except that his pitiable character has a good heart. We first meet him as he seeks a reading from local widowed pyschic, Cate Blanchett. Before he has a chance to sit down, she informs him he doesn't "have a venereal disease". Rubisi's relieved expression is surprising since his character hardly seems bright enough to know what she means. Other folks seek psychic Blanchett's advice. She tells battered wife of Keanu Reeves, Hilary Swank that her husband may be a mean redneck, but unequivocally, "he is no killer". Later in the movie, she forgets that proclamation. Reeves mercilessly harasses and threatens Blanchett for advising his wife to leave him. One time Reeves accosts one of Blanchett's sons. Upon seeing Reeves grab the boy, heroic Rubisi pulls a tire iron and smashes the truck Reeves is in. Reeves then pulls a gun on Rubisi who screams go ahead, "kill me". Rubisi doesn't care, you see, for he had been violently, horribly sexually abused by his father. Rubisi also fixes widow Blanchett's car for free because she is "my only friend". Interspersed with all this, the local rich girl/town tramp, Katie Holmes, though engaged to Greg Kinnear continues illicit affairs with everyone in town including Reeves and the local DA, everyone, that is, except her fiance, oh, and Rubisi. Blanchett knows Holmes is having affairs - not because of her pyschic abilities, but because she walks in on a tryst. Predictably, Holmes disappears, Blanchett "sees" Holmes' chained body at the bottom of a pond on Reeves' land and convinces the sheriff and his men she can be found there. Reeves is then tried and convicted of Holmes' murder. That would be the end except Blanchett is visited by Holmes' irate ghost and therefore reconsiders. She tells the three prime suspects Reeves is not the killer. She doesn't know who the killer is and naturally ends up alone - at night - being bludgeoned by him. Just as the killer is about to deliver the coup de gras, Rubisi appears and saves her in a truly sophomoric urban legend twist. Cate Blanchett is alternately pretty and pretty unattractive in this movie. Katie Holmes is simply gorgeous. Keanu Reeves - usually a film's two-dimensional hero gives a credible performance as a vicious wife-beater. But my kudos go to Giovanni Rubisi for his outstandingly creepy performance as hero in this stupid movie.
Rating:
Summary: Southern Gothic Terror
Review: What a nice movie experience I had watching 'The Gift'. I sat snuggled up on the couch, a thunderstorm raging outside, while inside, the murky backwaters of the film's setting was eerily creeping me out. What is *most* impressive, is the fact that the movie really *should* be easy to figure out, and even the twist they throw in at the end should have been suspected beforehand, but I was totally drawn-in by the suspenseful direction, better-than-average acting, and the forebeddding setting. Cate Blanchett gives a tour-de-force performance as Annie Wilson, a recently widowed mother of three living in a small town in the woody, swampy area of Georgia. To help make ends meet, she uses a natural 'gift', that of reading cards and seeing images, and has built up quite a healthy practice using her powers. The central plot of the movie centers around her ability to "see" the events surrounding the murder of a local vixen. 'The Gift', when stripped to bare bones, is a rather run-of-the-mill murder mystery, with some psychic themes thrown in. Billy Bob Thornton co-wrote a sturdy script, but it is somewhat similar to movies which have gone before. What is so *good* about *this* particular movie, however, is the way in which the actors and the director (Sam Raimi) built this piece into such a suspenseful, well-done movie. The cast includes Hilary Swank, Greg Kinnear, Giovanni Ribisi, and Keanu Reeves, *all* used to great effectiveness (yes, even Keanu Reeves). They take stock characters and breath believable life into them. Sam Raimi uses his directorial skill and takes certain scenes which, if handled a particular way, wouldn't be suspenseful, and makes them positively chilling. You almost have a sense of dread during parts of the film, all because of tone, setting, and cinematography. With locations used such as foreboding backyard swamps, dark trees with ghostly images floating in them, and a long pier with fog swirling around it, one can definitely feel the hairs on the back of their neck prickle. Watch 'The Gift' if you're in the mood for an eerie little mystery with a supernatural spin. But be sure to first draw the curtains, curl up on the couch, and have a suitable blanket to hide behind at times. It makes it that much more fun.
Rating:
Summary: The Gift
Review: Thorton and Epperson serve up another helping of Southern Gothic, forming the third installment of a trilogy of sorts along with ONE FALSE MOVE and SLINGBLADE. Where these two movies benefitted from production as smallish, independent features, THE GIFT suffers as a result of going too Hollywood, trying to heap star power onto the movie. The result is that the authentic small-town feel of the earlier films is absent from THE GIFT. The story itself is suspenseful enough to make it an interesting watch, even if it is a fairly standard-issue thriller plot, and may remind you of several movies you've seen recently (I can't tell you which without tipping you off to THE GIFT's ending). Blanchett gives the most compelling performance in the film.
Rating:
Summary: magnificent
Review: is powerful, wonderful, the screenplay is amazing, the actors and director are simply the best
Rating:
Summary: A touch of film noir and plenty of style
Review: When it comes to atmosphere, hints of film noir and style to burn, this one has it in spades. Unfortunately, the mystery at the heart of this film wasn't quite so strong and my husband and I knew who the killer was early on. Even so, we enjoyed watching this one (which just tells you how much it had going for it anyway). The songs and music were perfectly designed to up the creepy atmosphere to the max and Cate Blanchett made a very charismatic psychic, compassionate, insightful and wise enough to know what to reveal and what to hold back. She plays a woman who is struggling to make ends meet after the death of her husband, trying to raise 3 young boys on Social Security and what extra bit of money she makes as a psychic reader. When a young woman turns up dead, she is called on to help solve the murder. She reluctantly takes on the task. Here's where the movie breaks down, as Blanchett allows herself to be put in all sorts of dangerous situations with potential killers. But like I say, you may find yourself enjoying the movie anyway, as it has a strong cast (inlcluding Keeanu Reeves as an abusive husband to poor Hillary Swank, Greg Kinnear as a jilted lover and more), great atmosphere and plenty more going for it.
Rating: 
Summary: THERE ARE GIFTS WITHIN 'THE GIFT'...
Review: With a story and setting that could lead a director and cast down the well-travelled road of Southern Gothic cliches, THE GIFT instead rewards the viewer with intelligence, suspenseful and effective direction, and some superb acting by a very talented ensemble. Bily Bob Thornton had a hand in writing the screenplay, so the quality there should come as no surprise. The plot twists are expected as well, but they are done with such care and expertise that the audience is never really sure where they are leading. Cate Blanchett stars as Annie Wilson, a young widow with three sons to raise -- her husband was killed a year before the story in a work-related accident. She and the boys survive on a social security check each month -- to further make ends meet, she gives 'readings' to various members of the small Georgia community of Brixton, calling her talent a 'gift'. She accepts donations, but doesn't set prices -- she doesn't come across as a sideshow fortune teller here. She doesn't have the power to read minds -- or, in a courtroom scene, to tell an attorney how many fingers he's holding up behind his back -- and she never makes any claims in that area. Her gift comes to her in the form of visions or dreams -- sometimes they occur when she's giving a reading, sometimes they come unexpectedly. One of her clients is a battered wife (Hilary Swank) of a angry, ignorant redneck (played with frightening reality by Keanu Reeves) -- she advises the woman to leave her husband before he puts her in the hospital, advice that sends him to her home to threaten her and her children when he learns of it. Another of her clients, an extremely troubled man named Buddy, is given an outstanding portrayal by Giovanni Ribisi -- the character is seething with (believable) inner torment, which, as the story progresses, we see to be long-buried anger toward his father. Ribisi infuses his character with an incredible level of emotion and vulnerability. Greg Kinnear plays Wayne, the handsome school principal engaged to a beautiful but fairly trampy daughter of a successful local businessman. When this woman turns up missing and local law enforcement runs out of leads, the skeptical sheriff reluctantly turns to Annie for help. Through a series of visions, she aids them in finding the body, the violent redneck is arrested and put on trial...and then the twists begin. From here, you're on your own...NO SPOILERS! Suffice to say that the twists and turns don't always lead where you think they will. Aside from the well-written story, the skillful direction, and the superb acting in this film, the thing that jumped out at me was noticing how many of these characters were in deep denial of their own primal pain. In one scene, one of Annie's sons asks her at bedtime why they don't go more often to visit their father's grave, why they don't talk about him. She replies by telling him to go to bed, that she wants to read. In doing this, her character is, in effect, telling this child (perhaps not intentionally) that his feelings don't matter -- but at the same time, she's denying her own pain, perhaps stemming from her husband's death. Hilary Swank's battered wife character is in denial that she doesn't deserve to live as a punching bag, that there might be a better way to go through her life. Keanu Reeves redneck Donnie is in denial of his own violent, woman-hating, hungry-for-control nature. The high school principal is blind to the fact that his wife-to-be is a trollop who neither loves nor respects him. And most touchingly, we see Giovanni Ribisi take his character through some very moving realizations about his own childhood and his relationship with his father. The film is very dark and suspenseful -- and at times very jarring in its imagery and violence, but these moments are brief. It's certainly not exploitive in this regard. It's extremely entertaining -- I don't think most viewers would lose interest as it moves along -- but mostly it's very revealing about the way we humans deal with the primal pain that we all hold within us. Ribisi's character describes it very accurately as a wall in his head that he can't get past -- until we face whatever it iis that iis causing us pain, and deal with it as it stands, we won't get past it, and it will continue to torment us and, in some cases, rule over us. We each have to realize that we need to feel the hurt in order to begin to heal -- not a very attractive prospect, perhaps, but a realistic one. This outstanding film shines a bright light on this aspect of the human psyche -- it's something from which we could all benefit in viewing more closely. Audiences may have been uncomfortable with this film in theatres because of this aspect -- and they may not have realized why.
Rating:
Summary: An Enjoyable Ghost Story
Review: Let's be honest, many people are going to pick up The Gift to sneak a peek at the much talked about (and extremely brief) Katie Holmes nude scene, but Katie Holmes isn't the reason to watch The Gift, Cate Blanchett is and she's not alone. The Gift features a fantastic ensemble who all put in very strong performances. Giovanni Ribisi does a great job (and finally finds a good role in a good film), Hilary Swank is perfect as poor white trash (in her first film since Boys Don't Cry), and even Keanu Reeves (who doesn't say 'woah' even once) puts in a strong performance. Sam Raimi, who stumbled a bit with his last (Kevin Costner micromanaged) film For Love of The Game, gets back closer to his roots with an engaging ghost story that is both entertaining and thrilling. The Gift is an important film for Raimi who finally finds the right blend of his dark vision and a brighter, more hopeful view of the world. The DVD's pretty sparse and would have benefitted from a Raimi commentary, but the movie's good enough to recommend at least a rental of The Gift. [Geoffrey Kleinman DVDTalk.com]
Rating: 
Summary: Weak in comparison.........
Review: I was thoroughly disappointed in this "psychic" drama. Sam Raimi did direct the groundbreaking 'horror' series "Evil Dead". I expected more from him. The highly profiled actors in this flick could not save this bomb. If you want to see a drama that takes you to another time and draws you deeper into the backwoods life though the eyes of a psychic.....run to your DVD store and rent or purchase...."Eve's Bayou". "The Gift" was pale in comparison.
Rating:
Summary: see it once
Review: I am not sure why all of the other reviewers admire this movie so much, because actually it is done pretty bad. The plot is absolutely forseeable, even the slightest twist in the story is something that does not surprise you but just prove your expectations. The soutern accents and dialogues were fun to listen to and the movie was creepy at times - although the frights provided by the film were rather cheap, because they were primarily forseeable, as I already mentioned, and second, they were not subtle as an other reviewer put it, but the exact contrary: the visions of blanchett were just quick cuts showing violence, or, if you want it more detailed, a pretty funny looking Katie Holmes zombie supposed to be her corpse, appearing with a sudden impact of short violence scenes that should scare you, but really did not - to me, this is not subtle, but the work of a film student desperately trying to gain some suspense. The movie is not that bad, I liked it, but there were several things that make it sloppy and less enjoyable like listed above. The actors did great, I won't argue on that won, but the storyline these actors are pursuing is just bad work. The story is not very original, so I can't really understand the wages of praise this movie receives. It is in fact an alright movie, see it once, never watch it again, or maybe a second time with friends, skipping most of the film because you go to the kitchen to get some coca cola or pop corn every now and then. to all of you, who don't only watch a movie because you like the main actors (e.g., The Lord Of The Rings is not that much about the actors, I guess, not for me at least), this movie's story is low. It is an average flick backed up a little by good actors. I'd suggest you rent this movie - I did - view it once and bring it back. Believe me, after you've seen the movie you will be honestly relieved that you just saved yourself about 23 bucks. Spend it on something to read instead.
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