The Exorcism of Emily Rose

I thought The Exorcism of Emily Rose was a decent movie.

Of course, I did watch it under ‘favorable’ conditions: late at night (in fact, inching toward 3 a.m.) after having had a few drinks. So, I admit, my opinion might be a bit skewed.

Still, I think the reviews at Rotten Tomatoes were a little harsh.

I mean, horror flicks aren’t meant to be profound works of art — they’re meant to scare. And this one works, in that sense. It’s not The Exorcist, but it wasn’t terrible.

I wouldn’t mind seeing it again. (Though I might not make any special effort to make that happen.)

If I were to rate this, I’d give it 2.5 or 3 stars (out of 5).

Should Kotter be Welcomed Back?

Earlier this week it was announced that rapped/actor/producer Ice Cube will portray the lead character in “Welcome Back Kotter” the movie. My problem with this? Nothing to do will Cube and everything to do with another remake. Hollywood refuses to accept the fact that people would like to see something original and great, but we will at least take original and good. At this point in time the only way to see a somewhat original movie is at the Sundance Festival.

Take a look around and you realize most movies today fall into certain categories. A few of those are movies adapted from books, video games, tv shoes, or the always orginal remake of an old movie that has been remade at least twice before such “The Shaggy Dog”. I went to IMDB and actually tried without success to lower my eyebrows from there highly raised position after seeing the movie seems to have been remade more than 8 times counting made for tv movies.

I cannot recall the last movie I considered original and I really cannot recall the last movie I actually enjoyed. Taking a great book and brining it to the big screen I have actually don’t have a problem with that. Taking old tv shows which wouldn’t play out now. I do. That also goes for an old movie remade today. Such as the remake of The Stepford Wives. The movie wasn’t all that bad honestly but if you are going to make a movie how about deciding whether the women are roborts or brainwashed. That movie was more confusing than I care to remember.

Movies, especially big blockbuster’s are made to get our money and make the studios richer. We all know that. The studios and everyone else in Hollywood are the only ones who seem to be clueless. You want our money then give us a reason to go the movies instead of waiting for the movie to come out on cable.

Proof (1991)

When my husband is out of town, I like to Tivo movies from the Independent Film Channel (I do it when he’s not home because he doesn’t like wasting hard drive space on anything that isn’t in high definition). When he was on a recent business trip, I checked out the 1991 movie proof, starring Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith in The Matrix, Elrond in the Lord of the Rings movies) and Russell Crowe (Master and Commander, etc.).

It’s a very Australian movie about Martin, a blind photographer (Weaving) and his manipulative housekeeper Celia (Genevive Picot) who happens to be in love with him. Crowe plays Andy, a busboy in an Italian restaurant where Martin often eats.

Andy befriends Martin, visiting him in the park, describing his pictures to him, even taking him to a drive-in movie. Celia, meanwhile, becomes quite jealous of the attention Andy is getting and gets in the way in a way only a woman can (I can say that, being a woman).

This movie is dark and a little disturbing. Martin spends his life not trusting people because there is no proof that they are telling the truth. He is convinced his mother lied to him throughout his life as she described things to him (the reason: “because you can”). Whether she did or not is still up for debate at the end of the movie.

It’s really a strange and wonderful movie, and particularly interesting for those who like Crowe and Weaving in their more famous works (it’s a very early movie for both). It proves once again that randomly picking movies off a really great channel can provide you with great entertainment.

Four of five stars.