Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to do a high five! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about Amy Adams in “Nightbitch,” the ghost story “Presence” and the sky high “Flight Risk.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join the CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to talk about Amy Adams in “Nightbitch,” the ghost story “Presence” and the sky high “Flight Risk.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres including Amy Adams in “Nightbitch,” the ghost story “Presence,” the sky high “Flight Risk” and the crusty drama of “Hard Truths.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: “Presence,” a new ghost movie directed by Steven Soderbergh and now playing in theatres, sees a dysfunctional family, Rebekah (Lucy Liu) and Chris (Chris Sullivan) and their teenagers, Tyler (Eddy Maday) and Chloe (Calliana Liana), move into a newly renovated hundred-year-old house. As the hard driving Rebekah dives head long into work, Chris flounders, Tyler reveals a mean streak, and Chloe mourns the loss of her best friend. When things mysteriously move on their own, and shelves crash in Chloe’s bedroom, a question arises, Are the odd events manifestations of Chloe’s grief or is there a strange presence in the house? “There is mystery in this world,” says Chris.
CAST: Lucy Liu, Julia Fox, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland, Chris Sullivan. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by David Koepp.
REVIEW: Told from the point of view of the ghost, the scares in “Presence” are muted and not particularly supernatural. The horror here is the carefully observed, callous behavior between several of the characters.
Using a flamboyantly handheld camera, Soderbergh personifies the ghostly presence through camera movement. We see what the ghost sees, and that otherworldly surveillance reveals a family at odds with one another. Rebekah favors her athletic son and thinks that Chloe is being self-indulgent. “She cannot take us down with her,” she says. Chris grapples with family issues, fearing for the health of his marriage while Chloe acts out, drinking and hanging out with her brother’s strange friend from school (West Mulholland).
The result is a quietly unnerving movie—an emotional roller ghoster?—that values tension over outright frights.
It’s a stylish, visually interesting twist on a ghost story, so it’s a shame the characters aren’t well developed enough to engage the audience on anything other than a superficial level. As Chloe, Liang does much of the heavy lifting, but she’s surrounded by underwritten characters.
Add to that a third act twist that is much more conventional than you’d hope for a movie with this pedigree, and you’re left with a ghost story that entertains the eye but won’t move the spirit.
