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By: Dreamer
Date: 9/24/99 4:27:55 PM
# Replies: 22
Greetings...
This is my first posting, and you'll have to excuse any obvious Nunnery rules-breaking. Darn newbies...
In any case, my wife and I saw Stigmata on the weekend, and we enjoyed it. It was not an "Exorcist" clone; it wasn't a gore fest; it wasn't anything we really expected.
The colors were lush; the soundtrack was fantastic; and the venue of choice (AMC Theaters: huge screen; THX sound) really contributed to the overall effect.
If you like mysteries, with religious overtones and conspiracies thrown in for good measure, you'll like this movie.
Dreamer
Response #1
By: sooz
Date: 9/24/99 11:24:28 PM
Hiya, Dreamer! Thanks for the review, and welcome to the Nun-Er-Eee!
Response #2
By: Ralf
Date: 9/25/99 10:07:41 AM
Woo woo! Welcome, Dreamer. I love newbies! They're so... cute! Then they grow up and borrow your car and break your heart.
Stigmata's one'o'them movies whose TV ad makes me turn my head and wince. Not sure I could handle the thing in THX. Mayyyybe on video.
Without divulging spoilers, is it anything like the movie Seven? (Manhunt for serial killer who gets all his neato-keen ideas from the bible.)
Response #3
By: Da Sissop
Date: 9/25/99 10:34:08 AM
Nono Ralf, you're thinking of The Lion King, where they sing that song "Hakuna Stigmata," and Simba is trying to capture a killer who gets all his ideas from The Jungle Book.
Response #4
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 9/25/99 12:26:14 PM
Ok, the Sixth Sense was good. Stir of Echoes looks like it might be OK. Stigmata seems to be a reheated bowl of The Exorcist (split-pea soup, anyone?).
In this day and age, movies won't let us be scared unless there's some kind of transcendence at the end. I think that's better than just having Jason chase us around in a hockey mask, but I also think there's a little too much transcendence going on in the movies right about now.
Response #5
By: Tess Trueheart
Date: 9/26/99 9:33:21 AM
Rulzs..we don't need no stinkin rulzs. Welcome Dreamer..there's not much you can break around here.
Response #6
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 9/27/99 2:15:29 AM
Just, whatever you do, DON'T CLICK ON THE -5!!
Response #7
By: Shadow Sprite
Date: 9/27/99 7:23:26 AM
Of the trinity of psuedo-horror movies out (Sixth Sense, Stigmata, Stir of Echoes) Stigmata is the worst. Come to think of it, it was just a bad movie even without comparing it to the others. The lighting and camera work reminded me of an early 90's music video, the casting and acting was fair at at best, and the script and plot really needed a couple months more work.
Sixth Sense was really, really good, though. It's only problem was the previews gave too much away. Made it really easy to guess the 'twist ending'. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it.
Stir of Echoes was the real winner of the three. Good plot, good acting, and not overhyped! I highly reccomend it. Kind of reminicent of Poltergeist in some places, but not enough to seem a rip off in any way.
Hmmm... All three movies start with the letter 'S'. Coincidence?
Response #8
By: Dreamer
Date: 9/27/99 2:01:50 PM
Aw, c'mon Shadow Sprite... whatever happened to Willing Suspension of Disbelief?
Did you expect the director to just hand you everything... or don't you want to talk about the things that the movie dredges up?
This movie wasn't a rehash of the Exorcist, and it wasn't Seven... and it certainly could have used a little less of the jump-cut technique, but it was relatively restrained, and the darkness certainly suited the tone of the movie.
I'm looking forward to End of Days.
Response #9
By: Ralf
Date: 9/27/99 3:43:42 PM
Ah yes, December 31st, 1999.
Response #10
By: Shadow Sprite
Date: 9/27/99 4:11:33 PM
Dreamer: I think the main kill-joy in Stigmata was the fact that the church had this whole Warehouse 23 thing going and they didn't even touch on that. Actually, I was like that the whole movie, I saw a lot more interesting things in the background and the camera didn't go where I wanted it to go. That and the fact that I thought the whole thing the one church member (this way the movie wouldn't be boycotted by saying the church was covering things up) was trying to keep quiet was old news.
Disregarding Ralf's comment for a moment (no offence intended, Ralf!) November is going to be one heck of a month for movies... And Thankgsgiving is going to be the crown jewel, I think. End of Days, Sleepy Hollow, and yes I'm even looking forward to Toy Story 2.
And as far as the real end of days, that's coming January 14, 2000 - just when everyone's winding down and recovering from the Y2Katastrophy.
Response #11
By: Ralf
Date: 10/5/99 9:16:53 AM
We saw The Sixth Sense this weekend, and it blew me away.
Masterful story telling. Incredible camera work. And Bruce Willis didn't fire his gun ONCE.
Has everyone else here seen it? Can we discuss... spoilers?
Response #12
By: Shadow Sprite
Date: 10/5/99 11:10:03 AM
You mean outside of the fact that the previews really spoiled part of the whole mystery/'surprize ending'? Or the 'surprize ending' spoiler? ...Um, sure, I'm game. :)
Response #13
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 10/5/99 8:37:49 PM
I must not have been watching the trailers close enough because I had absolutely NO CLUE what was going to happen.
That's saying something since I'm Pope of All Media.
Response #14
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 10/6/99 2:55:42 AM
Why can't we see the boy's breath when Bruce Willis is around? Huh? HUH?
Response #15
By: Ralf
Date: 10/6/99 7:53:38 AM
Bastard. You ruined it for me.
I thought the twist was that Bruce was his FATHER.
[Cue: Musical sting; crash-zoom and fadeout.]
Response #16
By: Shadow Sprite
Date: 10/6/99 7:58:42 AM
"Noooo! That's not true! That's impossible!"
"Search your feelings, ask your dead friends, you know it to be true!"
Response #17
By: Ralf
Date: 10/7/99 6:28:54 AM
Okay, at the beginning of the rest of the movie after Bruce is shot. When he's sitting on a bench waiting for Cole to emerge from his apartment.
The boy scurries into a church. Bruce sits down in a pew behind him.
Did Cole seek the church BECAUSE Bruce was following him? ("Ah shit, another freekin ghost! I'll just duck in here.")
Also, what was the reference to, "I know I missed our first meeting" when they first talk? Was Bruce supposed to see the kid before?
Response #18
By: sooz
Date: 10/10/99 4:06:24 PM
Ok, I saw Sixth Sense last night. Can we talk about it, including spoilers? Of course, with the surprise ending, I need to go back and re-see the whole thing with this new knowledge.
The kid ducks into church as a habit (sorry for the pun)... remember, later, Bruce finds him there.
Bruce missed his first appointment with the kid, thus making the kid initially wary of him as a doctor.
Response #19
By: Ralf
Date: 10/11/99 7:57:31 AM
Didn't the Moment when you recognized the twist just BLOW YOU AWAY?
I missed about five minutes of dialog because I sat there mentally replaying the whole movie looking at it with new eyes.
A finely crafted little gem. Can't wait for it to come out on video.
BTW, on Art Bell a few weeks back they had some ghost hunters who described some real-life cases they've investigated. They made the off-hand comment that The Sixth Sense was the most realistic depiction of hauntings they'd ever seen.
Response #20
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 10/12/99 3:09:49 PM
My reaction to the surprise twist was feeling as though I had been cheated. I was thinking, "oh, geez, it's just a two hour long episode of the Twilight Zone." It was interesting to see how I had been deluding myself that he was alive throughout the whole movie, though. In retrospect, it's obvious.
Response #21
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 10/12/99 10:36:11 PM
ALRIGHT DAMN IT!!
I'll go see it even though it has Bruce Willis!
Response #22
By: Ralf
Date: 10/13/99 9:00:06 AM
I didn't feel cheated so much as deceived. GOOD deception. As in, slieght-of-hand. That same feeling as when I watch a REALLY good magician.
The "isn't that obvious?" hormone released by your ishouldaseenitcomin gland is a natural reaction, and only enhances the effect more.
I find the phrase "they see only what they want to see" terribly profound.