#Jessabelle #HollywoodEnglishFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas #Rating: * *

#Jessabelle #HollywoodEnglishFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas #Rating: * *
#Picks&Piques/SnippetFilmReview12thDec2014/#JohnsonThomas

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#Picks&Piques/SnippetFilmReview12thDec2014/#JohnsonThomas

#BadlapurBoys(Hindi) Rating: * ½ An old-fashioned appropriation. Attempted sports-movie but without minus the requisite adrenaline pull. More social than sporting. #KarrmMovies #ShaileshVerma #KishoreShahane #NishanNaniah #SaranyaMohan #AnnuKapoor

 #Main aur Mr Right(Hindi)Rating: * ½  A silly search for a mirage that never is, was or can be,  a bunch of ‘friends’ with dysfunctional attitudes and a director that doesn’t know when or what to cut out –highlights this pitiable rom-con that is only bearable because of Barun Sobti’s nifty en-treatment. #MadMidaasFilms #AdeebRais #AseemRais #PoojaGujral #RaindropMedia #BarunSobti #ShenazTreasurywala

 

#Jessabelle(English/Horror) Rating: * * KevinGreutert’s supernatural thriller trades on voodoo, secrets, dark forebodings and ominous messages from the grave for it’s horror thrills. But it’s the strong sense of Louisiana bayou atmosphere that attracts much more than the caramelized horrors of a southern gothic melodrama. It’s mystery and suspense are fashioned around an exploitative telling that relies on outdated Cajun-country stereotypes.#RobertBenGarant #PVRPictures #KevinGreutert #PriyankaVaswani #SarahSnook #MarkWebber #DavidAndrews #JoelleCarter #AnaDeLaReguera 

            

#Babadook(English/Horror) Rating: * * * It plays on your senses and plagues your mind. Involving , inveigling and insinuating in equal measure JenniferKent’s film has all the hallmarks of a solid horror engagement. And it employs the horror staples with such efficiency and smarts that you are left reeling in it’s horrifying aftermath. It’s  a meticulously designed and directed debut feature from the writer-director who expanded on her award-winning short, “Monster” for the purpose.  #SGNMediaworks #PVRDirectorsRare #EssieDavis #NoahWiseman #AlexHolmes #RadekLadczuk #IFCMidnight #ScreenAustralia #CausewayFilmsPresentation #SouthAustralianFilmCorp #SmokingGunProds #OneFilmsInternational 

                                                                                  

#TheHobbitBattleOfTheFiveArmies(English/3D)Rating:* * * *  Peter Jackson’s final salvo is pumped-up, spectacular, exciting, and entirely rousing- everything that a stand-out epic cinematic adventure should be. No words can describe the sheer scale and magnitude of this inveiglement.  #WarnerBros #PeterJackson #AnkitAgarwal #OrlandoBloom #LukeEvans #RichardArmitage #EvangelineLily #CateBlanchett #BenedictCummerbatch #IanMcKellen

 

#Linga(Tamil/Telugu) Rating: * * Rajnikanth gets right back into the thick of action-masala-extravaganzas, following that family fronted disaster ‘Kochadaiyyan.’ He yet again performs his tried & tested tricks with age-old savoir-faire - but it’s not as enticing as yore. Age and time have worn out the magic. Boredom stalks big-time, here. #KSRavikumar #SonakshiSinha #Rajnikanth #PonKumaran #AnushkaShetty #ARRahman #RRathnavelu  #ErosInternational #RocklineEntertainmentPvtLtd  #Munirathna #KSRavikumar #Rajnikanth

                                                          

#Madhyamwarg(Marathi) Rating:* * A typically convoluted social drama about middle-class angst with hyperventilating hysterics and conspicuous melodrama. Too copious to curry favor. Bhojpuri superstar RaviKishen attempts to spread his burnt-out wings in regions yet unexplored.  #RaviKishen #VasanArtsMediaPvtLtd #CPIMovies #SiddharthJadhav #AnantJog #HarryFernandes #GunavantSen

English film review

Johnson Thomas

Shaky horror but great on Atmosphere

Film: Jessabelle

Cast: Sarah Snook, Mark Webber, David Andrews, Joelle Carter, Ana de La reguera, Larisa oleynik, Amber Stevens

Director:Kevin Greuert

Rating: * * ½

Runtime:90 mins

Synopsis:A woman returns to her father's Louisiana home following a debilitating car accident, and explores the mysteries of her origins while confronting a malevolent ghost in this supernatural thriller from director Kevin Greutert (Saw 3D) and screenwriter Robert Ben Garant (Night at the Museum, Hell Baby)

Review:

‘Jessabelle’ takes the ‘Ringu’ route with a fair measure of voodoo to make it’s scares look credible. Family secrets come tumbling out of the cup board while southern Gothic melodrama takes centre stage. Lots of small details are magnified quite competently but the nig picture is not one of any great substance. Atmosphere is perfect –especially that of the Louisiana Bayou country but in terms of horror very little will stick. There’s trauma in the family but why does ity have to lead to horror and scares? There’s really not much justification in that. The plot is preposterous. Tired tropes from successful horror films are incorporated but they just don’t make the cut. Kevin Greutert directed the ‘Saw’ franchise but with this one, he does a tame and indistinctive job. 

The script by ben Grant doesn’t have much of what it takes to make a solid scary movie. The film opens with a tragedy. Jessabelle(Sarah Snook) and her boyfriend (Brian Hallisay)are about to move in together as she is pregnant. As they are en route, they get into an accident. he dies, she loses use of her legs and becomes wheelchair bound. Jessabelle moves back in with her estranged widower father leon(David Andrews). She is lead to the  ground floor bedroom which was her dear departed mother’s favorite haunt. The house is sparsely furnished and has huge haunting spaces. It is also eerie looking and is the scariest prop in the entire film. Jessabelle and her father don’t converse at all. She moves around alone and disoriented and starst hearing voices and sounds. Then she finds an old VHS tape from her mother’s belongings and on playing it finds a warning implicit in it. Thereafter it’s time for skeletons to come tumbling out.

Preston (Mark Webber), an old high-school mate gallantly tries to help her figure out what’s going on. Preston,has a shrew of a wife (Larisa Oleynik) who doesn’t take too kindly to the reappearance of this attractive old flame.

 “Jessabelle” attempts to build in some ‘life’ trappings while steering into the horror set-up. The dead-end backwater, where opportunities are scarce, marriages are unhappy and only a lucky few manage to escape, is quite an apt place for that. Jessabelle and Preston begin digging around in the bayou and find themselves confronted with members of the local Creole population, whose mystical traditions appear to have something to do with the menacing supernatural forces at work. That’s as far as it goes in developing a exposition and development. Thereafter it’s just not credible enough.

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