Reviews
Freedomland (2006)
Most movies are saved in the editing. This one is *not!*
I have seen my share of bad movies. This one rates way, way, way down there. First off, it is misrepresented by the ads. The trailer makes it look like a supernatural thriller, recalling Moore's then recent (and also poor) release, The Forgotten. There are NO supernatural elements in this movie. If you expect any, **you will be disappointed.** Second, the performances left something to be desired. Especially Julianne Moore. I am not her biggest fan, but this was an especially poor performance on her part. She seemed to just be acting stoned or something. She would meander around the set, rock back and forth, and stare off into space when she was not babbling in a phony beyond belief accent. The rest of the cast does not come off much better. Motivations seem to shift wildly between scene transitions. Actions are taken from out of nowhere, without any logical progression.
I think the first problem is the script. This is based on a novel and apparently the story was a bit too complicated to bring to the screen. That is, the story is pretty straightforward and bone-simple. What made the book worth reading was how the author did it. That does not translate easily to the screen.
Probably the biggest flaw for me was the titular Freedomland. In the novel, Freedomland referred to an abandoned amusement park which was the scene of an extensive search as well as a reference to the people being locked into their own homes part of the plot (which was short changed IMO. The whole racial thing was there, but never explored or addressed, really. The whole movie, you were given reminders of the tension that was supposed to be building, but it never, ever pays off). In the movie, the name was transfered to some abandoned orphanage. Once again, the trailer leads us to believe falsely. The trailer made it sound like this Freedomland would somehow play a major role in the plot, like some dark secret was held here or something. That is not what happen. **SPOILERS** What happens is the detective and rescue volunteer seem to be thinking the mother had killed her child and took her there in a ploy to get her to confess. And it worked. **END SPOILERS** This, of course, makes no sense, but the seemingly random character actions are to blame.
Most of this can be blamed on the editing. Most screen actors would stink up the room if you use everything they do. It's the editor's job to make sure they use the best performances and cut the film so that character actions make sense, etc. This just didn't happen here. Freedomland may still have not been an especially good movie, but it could have been a lot less bad if the editing had been up to snuff.
On the plus side, I think Samuel L Jackson is wearing the same hat Gene Hackman wore in The French Connection.
An American Haunting (2005)
Do not waste your time watching this film.
A few months ago, I had learned that Dungeons & Dragons director Coutney Solomon was going to be at it again with An American Haunting. I was hoping that he had learned some craft, but boy oh boy, he did not.
To be fair, he didn't have anything nearly as boneheaded as blue lipstick or the equality McGuffin that drove Dungeons & Dragons. There are plenty of boneheaded things in here, just not quite that bad. But there isn't an ounce of film-making craft in this movie. The whole thing is composed of shocks. Something jumping out at you and you go "augh!" There are no scares and no creepy or suspenseful feeling. Although he has suspenseful music playing almost constantly, especially during the establishing shots of the house. You know, when nothing scary is going on.
The basic action revolves around the young daughter being terrorized by an unseen spirit. At one point, it had her suspended in mid-air and slapping her face over and over like the Three Stooges. I was laughing out loud at this part and flabbergasted that the spirit dragged her around a little and then did it again. Nothing says quality like repeating yourself. And nothing says quality like repeating yourself. Apparently Solomon had seen the Evil Dead movies, because he rips off elements from them like the POV shot and the noises from no place while the camera roams around the mostly static actors.
The third act has a lengthy sequence that turns out to be a dream. Holy second season of Dallas, Batman! This is a shame since this scene was almost interesting. I could actually feel my sails deflating. This is followed by another, shorter scene that also turns out to be a dream. This is followed by what I thought was a dream, but turns out to be a vision that was supposed to reveal something. Problem is, it was shot in a way that I couldn't really tell what was going on. If I was paying more careful attention I might have caught it, but after getting hit with two dreams in a row I kinda stopped paying close attention.
The movie as a whole is pretty boring. Not a lot is going on in it, although the director tries to hide this by moving the camera a lot or playing scary music or sound effects. It doesn't work, but he's trying. I found the ending baffling, although when I pieced it together it turned out to be stupid. It's a pity to see Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek embarrass themselves in this movie. They've done good work and deserve better.