What I Think of this Weekend's Other Box Office Contenders -- "The Box" and "The Fourth Kind"
Everyone's predicting that "Disney's A Christmas Carol" will take the box-office crown this weekend. And it just might, that's why Warner Bros. and Universal are counter-programming with "The Box" and "The Fourth Kind," respectively.
For my review of "Disney's A Christmas Carol, click here. Now, here's what I think of:
"THE BOX"
Based on a Richard Matheson short story which later became a "Twilight Zone" episode called "Button, Button," "The Box" tells the tale of Norma (Cameron Diaz) and Arthur (James Marsden), a suburban couple who receive a gift of a lifetime -- a simple wooden box that bestows upon its owner $1 million with just a press of a button.
One million dollars is a big deal specially since the film is set in 1976. So Norma and Arthur have the box, they'll get $1 million if they press the button, blah blah blah...but there's always a catch! Pressing the button will cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world, someone they don't know...or do they?
Written and directed by "Donnie Darko's" Richard Kelly, "The Box" is a trippy and edgy morality tale that knows its 70s tone and setting.
But here's my problem -- after a great set-up, Kelly did not quite know how to match its build up that the film suffers a lackluster final reel because of its pretentious albeit allegorical conclusion.
Still, "The Box" is a better than average run-of-the-mill horror movie (which we seem to get every week now). It will make you think twice about the true nature of humanity.
RATING: "The Box" gets
"THE FOURTH KIND"
According to the film, there are four kinds of alien encounters.
The first kind is a U.F.O. sighting.
When evidence is collected, it's known as an encounter of the second kind.
When contact is made with extra-terrestrials, it is the close encounters of the third kind.
But when you're abducted, sorry dudes and dudettes, you just entered the fourth kind.
Intriguing right? Well, too bad the execution was clumsy!
Milla Jovovich, the reigning scream queen (she starred in the "Resident Evil" films, and the recent "A Perfect Getaway," which by the way, I kind of enjoyed!), stars as a shrink whose patients tell her the same stories -- are aliens to blame?
Honestly, "The Fourth Kind" is like an overlong, overwrought "X-Files" episode set against the questionable climate of Alaska. The film comes complete with government conspiracies and extra-terrestrial visitors,
Yes, "The Fourth Kind" has all the necessary elements to make it a satisfying thriller but I don't think writer-director Olatunde Osunsanmi has the creative wherewithal to make it all work -- to bring all the grand ideas together.
So the gimmicky presentations, such as the split screen technique where one side shows patients describing their gripping experiences while the other shows a "pseudo-documentary" footage of the events, come off laughable at times.
Add to that the uneven performances and you get a pedantic ho-hum flick! Another one of those run-of-the-mill horror movies we've discussed above.
There are some, very few scares, but "The Fourth Kind" tries soooooo hard to be this weekend's "Paranormal Activity" that it lands with a big, thud! Ouch!
Here's my suggestion: Don't abduct this film, wait for it on DVD or gosh, regular cable, not the pay-per-view kind!
RATING: "The Fourth Kind" gets
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