The basic concept and structure of “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” is sound — a murder trial for an exorcist, intercut with flashbacks letting the audience see the events first-hand — but they’re buried under a mess of a movie.
Strangely, this slapdash movie feels like the sort of original movie aired on Lifetime. If, you know, Lifetime aired stories about demonic possession.
In this case, the terrible dialogue, written by someone I can only assume has never actually spoken to an actual person before, almost totally distracts from the wooden acting. What sort of drugs were given to a cast that includes some fairly dependable actors to turn them into listless zombies, I can’t guess.
Absolutely skippable, especially if, like me, you think the premise and structure sound really intriguing. The reality of the final film just proves all the more frustrating, in that case.
Like a lot of Americans, The Doctor always meant Tom Baker to me, but Christopher Eccleston, had he had a longer time in the role, could easily have displaced Baker for me. Not only was Eccleston’s ninth doctor a wonderful mix of whimsy and tragedy, he also benefited from what has to be the best-written Doctor Who series to date.
While “Doctor Who” has always had its moments of screenplay greatness, never has a single season had so many grace notes, including the tear-jerker “Father’s Day,” the horror and pathos of “The Empty Child” and “World War III” and the epic science fiction of “Bad Wolf.”
The only clunker — and it’s enough of a clunker to cost it a star with me — is the terrible decision to include far-future versions of contemporary British game shows and their version of Extreme Makeover in the penultimate episode. Forget this not holding up well in 10 years, this already feels dated and stupid.
But the special effects really are (almost) comparable to contemporary American science fiction shows like “Battlestar Galactica” (which has the same problem with alien/futuristic people wandering around in contemporary clothes that “Dr. Who” does). Coupled with solid acting (even from pop star Billie Piper) and top-drawer writing, this season of “Dr. Who” is a winner for fans old and new.
Strongly recommended for fans of science fiction television shows.
Wednesday, August 9, 2006, 14:27
Section: Miscellany
This admission will likely get me talked to by the Secret Service, but the first thing I did when I saw Goggles, a flight sim Flash game that lets you fly a little cartoon biplane over a city of your choice, is buzz around over Washington, D.C., since it’s the city I’d have the best chance to recognize from the air.
While trying to find Georgetown so I could buzz the yuppies, I flew over the White House and then went looking for the nearby statue of Einstein. It turns out that, if your plane gets too low, it can crash. Oops. Sorry, Einstein fans.
So, there’s this bunny. And other than being a vaguely anime-looking critter, it’s an unremarkable piece of plastic, except that you and your snoogums can each have one, and they can communicate with each other via wi-fi and the Internet.
Your honey’s bunny (wow, I just felt my testosterone levels drop typing that) can read her poetry (in French) that you type in. You can move your bunny’s ears and her bunny’s ears will move to show you’re thinking about her, which is a good thing, since everyone in the office will be avoiding you by this point.
Fortunately, the little bastards aren’t available in the US yet.
(Now, if this was an e-mail narrating shark, it would be cool. Sharks are always cool.)
Well, Gilby Clarke last night said he was open to a woman fronting the band, and once again, Dilana and Storm were the clear standouts. We’ll see, we’ll see …
