Movie Review: Misery

A tightly scripted, suspenseful thriller from Rob Reiner of all people!

Kathy Bates is absolutely terrifying in the role she'll always be remembered for, for better or worse. She becomes the crazed Annie Wilkes, chewing up the scenery left and right. Not to be outdone is the always reliable James Caan as her captive author who brings true dread and helplessness to his role. Richard Farnsworth makes a great turn as a sheriff with a lot of heart and quick wit which is a nice change of pace from all the crazy happening in the cabin.

Reiner proves he can make a masterful suspense film with Misery. His choice to film a lot of the dialogue head on, where the characters seem to address the audience is brilliant.

The cast and direction help this film rise above the usual mediocrity of Stephen King adaptations and along with The Shining, Misery might be one of the best.

Movie Review: Carrie

Matthew Curione’s review:

A thoroughly enjoyable remake of the DePalma classic.

Carrie, updated for the modern era, is quite entertaining for what it is, though we've seen it all before.

Major credit to Moretz and Judy Greer who shine in this film. Moretz's Carrie has a much less "Deer in Headlights" look than Sissy Spacek which definitely helps elevate her performance. Greer on the other hand is great as always, bringing a nice touch to the gym teacher.

Juliane Moore, while great as the troubled and fanatical Mrs. White doesn't soar as high as Piper Laurie did in the original film. Still she was impressive as the religious mother that the character calls for.

Some nice added touches from the novel also help lift this above most of the dreck of modern horror films. Sure it basically follows the book/original film, but there's enough here to keep it interesting. The introduction of cyber-bullying was an especially nice touch, helping sell the story to a modern audience.

I was never bored with this remake of Carrie, something I honestly can't say for most other modern remakes.