premonition Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Back in July, Eugene brought up the initial teaser for Nicolas Cage's new thriller, Knowing, and as Cage struggled to crack a numerical pattern that has a nasty habit of correlating with major disasters past and future, it struck me as some sort of cross between The Mothman Prophecies (not bad) and his own Next (not good).

Now, this latest trailer comes across as more of a mix between Mothman and Dark City, which was also directed by Knowing helmer Alex Proyas, which gives me mild cause for concern. It's nothing against Dark City -- which is a fine film and all -- but I find the introduction of pale figures known only as "the whisper men" significantly less intriguing than the central doomsday concept. Whatever answer I had hoped might be behind the mystery at hand simply didn't involve creeps who often stand on the horizon and, well, whisper.

The train and plane crashes seem creep enough as it stands, and for all I know, those fellas on the outskirts could figure into the plot quite nicely. I, and we, won't know until March 20th if my skepticism is unfounded. At the moment, though, are any of you guys and girls sold on this?

Once upon a time, back when I started out this line of work, it was my aim to see every movie ever made. Then came the VHS player. Once the direct-to-video market began, numerous filmmakers stopped thinking of the pleasures and rigors of making films for the big screen. Instead, they started thinking of a quick payoff. VHS financed the rise of the indie movie for good (or often, ill). It all added up to a huge increase in the number of films released. Eventually, I realized if I wanted to do some ordinary things--hoisting an ale, listening to music, reading a book--I was going to have to let a few films slide. Coming attractions have been a huge help in picking which ones to avoid, particularly the ones that reveal every single plot point and the most likely resolution of the problem. So how can I really do a worst of 2007 list? I ducked a lot of contenders. Underdog, for instance.

I missed P.U., I Hate You, as those slashing wits at Cracked magazine will be calling it, but I really felt James Rocchi's personal agony at witnessing the last of Hilary Swank's trio of evil movies this year. Though some would call it a duo; some people fell for Freedom Writers. Maybe this kind of story can be told without Room 222-levels of obviousness and manipulation...perhaps from the POV of one of the students, instead of the earnest white teacher? I'm not going to get any prizes for prescience by saying Swank's agent needs to be renditioned to some country with deep dark dungeons. Swank's Lost Year has already been celebrated elsewhere.

But The Reaping (#1) was the worst of the three; no one wants to see this actress's career reaped anymore. The low-water mark of this swamps-of-blood Christian thriller was the scene where Swank is told by a yokel, "Some people just don't want to go to heaven." Meaning her, and the atheists, agnostics, and Odin-worshippers in the audience.

Over on his blog at the Chicago Tribune, critic Michael Phillips (a very nice and knowledgable guy who James Rocchi and I chatted with at Sundance earlier this year) has a fun piece up on movies that he's walked out on. Then he asked a bunch of Tribune staffers to share what films they've walked out on.

Some of the picks are predictable -- Evita, Reservoir Dogs (one of my own least favorite movies of all time, though I actually sat through the entire violent mess), and Forrest Gump (blech) are on there, along with a few I wouldn't have thought of, like Prince's Under the Cherry Moon and Cat People, which I remember watching with a certain fondness as a midnight movie on TV in my youth (it wasn't that bad, was it?)

I'm one of those sadistic movie fans who will generally force myself to sit through anything, even at a film fest, when a lot of folks will slip out with the excuse that they need to catch something else that's overlapping a film they really just want to walk out on anyhow. I generally try to avoid up front seeing a film I know I'm really going to hate, but sometimes I'm assigned to review something, and it can't be helped -- I just have to suffer through it so I can write the damn review. Here are a few movies, though, that I suffered through but wish I hadn't. If only I'd known then that even print folks at a place like the Tribune walk out on films, I might have saved myself some misery ...

The blood-soaked Greek war epic 300 once again left the competition bruised and battered this weekend, taking in a cool $31.2 million to hold its No. 1 position at the box office.

Here's what Patricia predicted for the weekend box office on Friday:

1. 300
2. Premonition
3. Wild Hogs
4. Dead Silence
5. I Think I Love My Wife

And here's the actual top five:

1. 300 - $31.2 million
2. Wild Hogs - $18.8 million
3. Premonition - $18.0 million
4. Dead Silence - $6.8 million
5. I Think I Love My Wife - $6.8 million

Get the full box-office report here.

Well, Scott pegged it way back in December, I slammed it earlier today, and now it's official: Yes, Virginia, Sandra Bullock's latest film, Premonition, really is that bad. One day into its opening, and the film has officially made the Rotten Tomatoes 100 Worst-Reviewed Films of All Time.

The film achieved this monumental place in history by earning an abyssmal 9% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes (surprisingly, the "Cream of the Crop actually have it sitting at 15% -- they're usually smarter than that). Yay! Hey, I always say, if you're gonna be a really bad film, then by golly, be the worst bad film you can be.

And Premonition is a really bad film. Here's what other critics are saying about just how rotten they think it is:

"At least all this uncertainty is leading up to a spectacular twist ending - oh, wait. No, it's not. We never get a sensible explanation for Linda's bizarre double life, or uncover any reason - any reason at all - why Bullock would pick this lazy, patchwork script out of all the ones she surely receives every year." -- Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

More after the jump ...

Well kids, first let me congratulate you ... you did it. Redemption is yours as 300 is a huge hit. But, I see a relapse comin on as I fear many of you will make the same mistake I did ... thinking Chris Rock is still funny.

Chris Rick isn't funny anymore, and I'm not exactly sure why. I think it's partly because he thinks that the jokes he told ten years ago and recycles today are as funny and edgy as they were then. I think it's partly because he laughs the hardest at his own jokes. I think it's partly because the comedians working today are much more edgy so it makes it harder for him to stand out. Maybe it's because he spends more time producing now and less time developing as a comedian. Well, whatever it is, all I know is that until he shows me something new, I'm out. Speaking of out, let's talk about his super lame new movie.

Yes, he directs and stars in I Think I Love My Wife.

Rock plays a high powered investment banker with a beautiful wife and wonderful children. But he's not getting any at home and he fantasizes about pretty much every other woman he sees. And when the lovely Nikki (played by Kerry Washington) pursues him, will he be able to keep it in his pants?

The reel deal, this movie is SOOOOO not funny ... or well written ... or directed ... or acted. It's like he took a bunch of stand-up jokes and tried to edit them into a movie. And guys, if you're dopey enough to take your wife or girlfriend to see this movie ... and she's laughin' ... she's SOOO not laughin'. If she is, it's that "You ain't getting any for a couple week" sort of laugh. You know what I'm sayin'? I'm Out.

Where to begin with Premonition, the newest film starring Sandra Bullock? I like Bullock, I really do. She's smart and sexy and I'm sure her bank account makes mine look like a kids' piggy bank, but I sure wish she'd make smarter choices with her films. I wanted very much to like Premonition, if for no other reason than that it looked intriguing enough in the trailer, and I was really rooting for Bullock to finally hit it out of the park both critically and financially. Unfortunately, this film isn't going to be the one to do it. Premonition is just an incredible mess from start to finish, filled with so many logical inconsistencies, it's practically impossible for the audience to sustain the necessary suspension of disbelief for long.

The premise sounds intriguing enough: one day, Linda Hanson (Bullock) answers the door to find the sheriff there to inform her that her husband Jim (Nip/Tuck's Julian McMahon) died in a car crash the day before. Linda moves through that first hard day in the wake of her husband's death, numb with grief and shock. Her mother comes over to help her with Linda and Jim's two young daughters, and Linda falls asleep on the couch, clutching a wedding picture of herself and Jim. She wakes up the next morning, in her own bed – and is shocked to find Jim downstairs drinking his morning coffee and very much alive.

It seems like every actress these days either got her start as a model or scored an Estee Lauder/Noxema/Gap modeling contract after she hit it big in film. But when you think about it, there really aren't too many actresses who were actually well-known models before breaking into film or TV. Amber Valletta, star of not one but two new films out this week (Premonition and Dead Silence), is one such actress. She was a recognizable staple of women's fashion magazine covers, the star of Versace and Calvin Klein ad campaigns, and the host of MTV's House of Style long before landing the plum role of Harrison Ford's undead mistress in the 2000 hit What Lies Beneath. Since then, she's starred in a slew of films, including the Will Smith blockbuster Hitch and the action smash Transporter 2.

Of course, a symmetrical face, ample bosoms, sexy legs and perfectly formed buttocks do not necessarily equate to acting prowess -- so we decided to rank the success of runway walkers, Sports Illustrated swimsuit models, fashion mag goddesses and Victoria's Secret Angels who were first famous for modeling and only later broke into the movie biz. Check out our gallery of the Top 20 Models Turned Actors, then tell us how accurate our model-turned-actress-ranking skills are.

How many J-horror remakes have we weathered in the past three years? Five? Seven? Boy is that a trend I'll be happy to see die ... but not just yet, apparently. Seems there's still a remake of The Eye due to hit theaters late next year, but before that we get Sandra Bullock starring in Premonition -- a flick that definitely seems to be a semi-kinda-remake of Norio Tsuruta's Yogen (aka Premonition) from 2004. That film, which clearly borrowed a few cups from the original Ringu, is about a phantom newspaper that informs people of tomorrow's bad news. Not a bad little entry into the J-horror canon, but a slight one nonetheless.

...actually, come to think of it, I'm beginning to suspect that these films have no connection. Based on this new trailer and the few plot synopses I've seen lying around, it looks like the only thing the two movies have in common is the title. My bad.

Anyway, Sandra plays a woman whose husband is killed in a car accident, only when she wakes up the next morning, he's (dun dun dun) still alive! Scary! The movie comes from German director Mennan Yapo and second-time screenwriter Bill Kelly. Co-starring alongside Ms. Bullock will be Julian McMahon, Amber Valletta, Nia Long, Peter Stormare and Kate Nelligan. Release date is March 16.

As we reported way back in August, Sandra Bullock, as part of her bid to appear in fewer stupid movies, agreed to star in Premonition, a supernatural thriller about "a housewife (Bullock) whose husband dies in a car crash and who is shocked when he appears alive the next day." Good call, Sandy - there's no way this one can be stupid. The dead/not dead hubby will be played by Julian McMahon who, given his experience as a demon husband on Charmed, should find this job a piece of cake. (Oh, wait - according to the IMDB, he's not dead, it was a premonition. Bummer)

Since the movie is currently filming in Shreveport, LA (they won't be put off by a little hurricane), it's a good thing that casting has finally been completed - joining Bullock in (not) being haunted will be Nia Long, Amber Valletta, and Kate Nelligan. Long is set to play Bullock's best friend, and Nelligan will be her mother. Valletta, needless to say, is the movie's designated Hot Chick, and will be having extramarital sex with McMahon. (That sound you hear is a nation of teenage boys suddenly becoming very interested seeing a Sandra Bullock movie.)