G and I met up with willariah and Denyse yesterday afternoon at a very busy Bayview Village (which continues to be my least favourite mall in the City … so wasp-ish) to see Miss Potter. Afterwards, frustrated by the endless crowds and line-ups at any eating establishment there, we headed over to Don Mills and Lawrence for sushi dinner at Made in Japan.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
This 2005 film, directed by Scott Derrickson and starring Tom Wilkinson, Laura Linney and Jennifer Carpenter, wasn’t what I thought it would be. I was expecting a horror movie-alla-Carrie but what I got was a courtroom drama with some horror thrown in for good measure. The courtroom has parish priest Father Moore on trial for negligent homicide in the death of Emily Rose following an exorcism. Linney’s character is defending him against, of course, a rightwing holier-than-thou public prosecutor. Told in flashbacks, it shows Emily’s initial possession by the demon, her subsequent slide into freakiness, and the exorcism. There’s the (yawn) redemptive moment when Emily see the Virgin Mary and decides to accept her lot as possessed for the betterment of mankind … or some such rubbish like that. I’m sorry, if I’m possessed and the Virgin Mary asks me, ‘hey, you wanna come to heaven with me now, or continue to suffer possessed?’, I know what I’m saying! We’ve seen this stuff before and while the courtroom angle approach is promising at the outset, it doesn’t make the movie any better in the end. My rating: 6 out of 10.
Miss Potter
I am tempted to rate this film low simply for that horrible faux moustache they’ve pasted on poor Ewan McGregor! That said, this is a harmless little film constructed in a feel-good fashion about one of the world’s most famous children storytellers, Beatrix Potter and her Tales of Peter Rabbit. Directed by Chris Noonan (“Babe”) and starring Renee Zellweger (doing her usual forced English accent and pinched face), the film recounts Potter’s childhood, unique (for the time) women’s perspective and drive, and her relationship with publisher Norman Warne. The one dramatic moment in this film (and sorry, there is just one) comes when the engaged Potter hears her betrothed, Norman (played by Ewan) is dying. She rushes to London from the Lake District a day too late. Sigh. This film is quiet, occasionally humorous, often pretty (the shots in the Lake Counry are brilliant), but ultimately forgettable. It did, however, give me some insight into someone I knew nothing of and for that my rating: 7 out of 10.
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