Rating: Summary: The Scariest Movie I Have Ever Seen Review: This movie is awesome! I went into the theater not knowing what this movie was about (never saw a preview or anything). I think maybe that's why i think I liked it so much!It is extremely well-written. If you are sensitive to things JUMPING out and SUDDENLY appearing, this movie may not be for you because there never seems to be a break from the scary moments. Halle Berry and all the other actors are awesome! The only thing I have against this movie is that the ending is way too predictable. You can figure out how it is going to end about 30 min-1 hour before the ending actually comes. Watch this movie in the dark and turn off all electronic devices because, trust me, you will not want to be interrupted!
Rating: Summary: So-So script saved by good production Review: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW*** Halle was very good in this film. When she was first informed of her husband's death, her reaction was stunningly good acting. She did well considering this plot was full of unexplained holes. For example, if the ghost wanted her help, why did it keep attacking her? Even if she was possessed when she killed her husband, she STILL killed him, even if her husband was a killer himself, how did she get out of that one? Mediocre script was saved by good photography and a wonderfully gothic institutional jail. The building looked old and gothic yet futuristic at the same time. The stop-go fast forward /motion movements of the ghost is really a lame effect and getting tiresome.. the film is saved by Halle's acting and cool settings...
Rating: Summary: Great Whodunit That Falls Apart Towards The End Review: I won't go into the plot of this film, so I'll just talk about the good points and the bad. Great suspense thriller, which has a good buildup. The atmosphere is great as well, I guess done in a gothic style, hence the name of the film. Sadly, the film falls apart at the end. There's no clarification on why Halle Barry's character did what she did. And how could all that stuff be going on at the end without anyone hearing? And of course, someone (I won't say who), shows up right after, which goes nowhere. And the ultimate ending - 'I see dead people'. What was this? An attempt to plant the seed for a sequel? It was really dumb. So, while the film delivers on chills and suspense, it ultimately falls flat at the end, suffering from the problem of cliches and a lame wrap up.
Rating: Summary: Berry does as well as anybody else could in this muddle Review: GOTHIKA follows standard horror-thriller conventions (especially the red herrings and cheap scares) and it's technically well-made. But . . . the anticlimactic third act finishes with a ridiculous finale with muddled disclosures and plot holes galore. GOTHIKA wants to be a supernatural ghost story, a woman-in-prison movie, a wrongfully accused movie, a murder mystery, and unintentionally, a comedy! Not awful, but not that good either.
Rating: Summary: Great Movie!!! Review: Jeff Shannon above gave a bad editorial review, but I think this movie was great. But, then, not everyone can like a movie. The settings, and actor performances are amazing. Jeff was right about one thing. It is obvious who the killer is from the start, but the movie is not about the obvious. Who is to say that there is only one killer, and who is to say that those people we consider to be crazy are actually crazy. Maybe they see a little further than "normal" people can. Give it a try.
Rating: Summary: ENOUGH ALREADY Review: Okay, no more movies with stupid dead kids that communicate to the living. No more stupid thrillers that have these bad endings (i.e. Identity). No more remaking classic rock songs (the who's "Behind Blue Eyes") for the soundtrack by no talent hacks by pseudo bands like 'limp bizkit'. The movie looked alright, had the normally unwatchable bad actress Penelope Cruz, prepostorous story and Halle Berry. SKIP IT.
Rating: Summary: What's New in Gothika ? Review: I was very curious to see Gothika as all My friends did recommend me , BUT their recommendation was out of Watching the Trailer ONLY...and that's totally different than watching the movie it self... first,The movie isn't that bad , but it's not that good , The plot isn't new, actually it's built on the success of Other movies like ( WHAT LIES BENEATH )..actually all i was thinking of while watching Gothika was ( What Lies BENEATH )..some scenes were almost matching in the two movies..AND THAT WAS TOTALLY NEGATIVE FOR GOTHIKA to repeat a plot that was just used 4 or 5 years ago..Still i won't tell you the story of gothika as most of reviewers already did, plus i'd like you to see it your self and find out the matching between the two movies. Then, the positive thing About Gothika , Halle Berry did her part Good , but i still wonder why she did accept such rule and the same question for Robert Downey JR. .. The direction of photography is great ..the camera moves very smoothly .. At the End , watching this Movie would make me recommend to you watching ( WHAT LIES BENEATH ) if you still haven't seen it...and Gothika , well, you won't die if you just ignored watching it..and if watched it you won't be scared to death :)
Rating: Summary: Disquieting descent into Hell Review: An interesting film indeed. You may be a brilliant woman psychiatrist, if you find yourself in the place of the patient after a crime you have apparently committed you will not be believed, you will be considered as crazy particularly if you tell the truth, what you have really seen and experienced. To get through, very important and rare opportunities will have to enable you to discover the truth and, even so, many will still be doubting. The woman is possessed by a ghost who leads her to the truth. The victim, her husband, was a killing psychopath. But he had an accomplice and this one will try to clean up the plate and hide their crimes by getting rid of the possessed woman who saw and witnessed their crimes in her possession. The shortcoming of the film is that too many details are not rationally built. Possession is psychological and triggered by some knowledge you come to in a way or another. Then you see ghosts. But the main interest of the film is a criticism of psychiatry and psychiatrists. They do not listen to the possessed people they are supposed to help because these do not speak a rational language. So they close them up in their possession and doom them to perdition. It is also a strong advocacy that such possessed language is the reflection of reality and that reality and truth can be read in their stories, if we believe them and translate them into rational and clear language, not pseudo-scientific gibberish. Psychiatry is, by refusing to do that, a transcribed version of what the possessed say that justifies their exclusion and rejection but rejects at the same time the truth in their discourse. In other words psychiatry is a dead and fatal language that brings the possessed in line with the need for society not to listen to such « ranting and raving » from « criminals ». It is much easier to reject than to accept : to accept makes you question the sanity of society that is used by some as a screen to hide their own perversions. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Rating: Summary: "Strait-Jacket" 2? Thrilling, but Goth Things Go Too Far Review: Joel Silver/Robert Zemeckis company "Dark Castle Entertainment" gives us the fourth picture that is probably inspired by Joan Crawford's cult horror "Strait-Jacket, directed by, yes, William Castle, the king of the gimmicks. As you see, instead of powerhouse performance of Crawford, "Gothika" features another Oscar winner Halle Berry as the tormented heroine of the film, who must uncover what ever really happened to herself. I warn you. The story is impossible though intriguing. Halle Berry's psychiatrist Dr. Miranda Grey encounters a strange little girl on the way home in the hard rain. Then, she finds herself in the mental institute, where she is told that her husband is brutally killed at her house, and she is arrested for the murder about which she remembers nothing. Then, during the time waiting for the trail, Miranda experiences weird things -- writings on the wall, for starters -- and she begins to believe somebody is trying to contact her from another world. But who is that, and why? The story so far is not particularly original, but thanks to the great photography of Matthew Libatique ("Pai") and production designs (by Graham 'grace' Walker, "Ghost Ship"), the first half of "Gothika" goes fairly well, with occasional chills and scares. The spooky atomosphere, however, begins to disperse in the second half, in which the director seems to have decided to do something different than the Gothic thriller. Some scenes looks as if coming from the outtakes of action films (bringing back the memory of Ms. Berry as a Bond Girl), and the final chapter is simply a letdown, too predictable and familiar. The director is Mathieu Kassovitz. of "Crimson Rivers" fame (but best known as an actor, the love interest in "Amelie"), and like "Crimson" he puts style over substance. This is an atmospheric film, in which the logics mean nothing but the excuse for the film to hold on more than 90 minutes. Actors are not bad, not great, just good. Robert Downey Jr. is, as he always is, a reliable support who could be either comic or suspicious, and Penelope Cruz is cast against the type as one of the inmates of the institute. "Gothika" is beautiful, I mean "beautiful" in terms of Gothic fashion. Pity that it cannot remain so until the over-the-top conclusion.
Rating: Summary: Excellent Movie - A Must Buy Review: I Don't Think I Would Title This Movie "The Best Scary-Movie Ever" However, It Was A Fabulous Movie & I Will Be Buying It On March 23rd When It Get's Released. Halle Berry, Penelope Cruz, and Robert Downey Jr. Were EXCELLENT In The Movie. When You Expected Something To Happen, It Didn't - Kept You On Your Toes The Whole Time! A DEFINATE MUST BUY!
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