where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Monday, January 18th, 2010
show: 4:05 p.m.
costs: $0.00 Ticket ( Free Movie Pass ) + $3.75 small Diet/Zero ( w/ Barq's & Cherry flavors ) Coke = $3.75
auditorium: 13
seat: 4th row, 6th column
synopsis: Every parent's worst nightmare!
On December 6th of 1973, a 14-year old girl, Susie Salmon ( Saoirse Ronan ), is raped and killed by a serial child molester/killer, George Harvey ( Stanley Tucci ). Her soul then restlessly wanders around in the "in-between" world as she tries to communicate with her family to avenge her death as they suffer through their grave loss and seek for some kind of closure.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) Snow globe; 2.) Wildlife photographer; 3.) Hole in the ground; 4.) Emergency; 5.) School crush; 6.) Dollhouses and ships in bottles; 7.) Cornfield; 8.) 24 110-film cartridges; 9.) Suzie and Ray ( Reece Ritchie ); 10.) Artwork; 11.) Mr. Harvey; 12.) Missing; 13.) Bath tub; 14.) Search; 15.) Destroying evidence; 16.) Interview; 17.) Reality; 18.) Amber wave of grain; 19.) An hour of love; 20.) The note; 21.) Holly ( Nikki Soohoo ); 22.) Candle light; 23.) Perfect world; 24.) 24-month deal; 25.) Desperately-obsessed father ( Mark Wahlberg ); 26.) Grandma Lynn ( Susan Sarandon ) in charge; 27.) Dog; 28.) In-Between; 29.) Corn stalker; 30.) Run-away mom ( Rachel Weisz ); 31.) Lindsay ( Rose McIver ) in love; 32.) Ray and Ruth Conners ( Carolyn Dando ); 33.) Scrapbook; 34.) Last photo; 35.) The blind; 36.) The rose; 37.) Need evidence; 38.) Assault and battery; 39.) Victims; 40.) Break-in; 41.) Chase; 42.) Mom returns; 43.) The get-away; 44.) Flor Hernandez ( ? ); 45.) Safe dumping; 46.) "Lovely bones"; and 47.) The icicle.
audience reaction: The teenage girls ( seated behind me, to my right and in front of me ) gave the most reaction to the movie, so much so that one of them in the row behind mine started to give it a suppressed "Hands Clapper" ending. But, when she sensed that she was the only one doing so, she stopped.
recommendation: I was very disturbed by the subject matter of this movie! Don't see this movie if it will affect you in a personal way. Read my synopsis first then decide whether you want to see this movie or not.
spoiler alert! It should have taken Mr. Harvey quite some time to dig that big hole in someone else's cornfield. Where was the cornfield owner all that time? How did he dispose of all that dug-up dirt? The movie has no explanation for the absence of Mrs. Harvey. How come there is no bed in the In-Between world? If she knew all along that the In-Between world is not real and it's best to just move on, how come Holly was hanging around in that world all that time? How come the chain-smoking alcoholic Grandma Lynn doesn't know how to cook? How did she feed her own kids? When Lindsay ran back home with evidence in her hand, she sure wasn't all excited about it--to the point of not even telling her own parents who were standing right in front of her--boy! talk about bad acting. How did Mr. Harvey get the safe quickly loaded in the back of his SUV all by himself? How come he parked too far away from the dumping hole? This led me to believe that he would be caught red-handed! This movie ended with no closure at all because the body was never found. There was justice at the end but closure, no.
fyi: When I was a Grade 3 or Grade 4 pupil at Philippine Women's College, Elementary School Department, Matina, Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines, one of my classmates told me that he ( there were a handful of us boys enrolled in the elementary dept. ) saw a girl schoolmate running down the corridor to the principal's office, crying and wearing nothing but her panties. The girl was playing on the campus lawn at lunch break when one of the groundskeepers grabbed her and took her into the bushes then proceeded to rape her. Our word for rapist is, Manyak ( i.e. Sex Maniac ). But, to us kids, a manyak ( maniac ) was a predatory monster of the type that lurked in the dark and in the shadows and one to be feared as though he was a ( daytime ) vampire, himself! Panic gripped the campus and I was scared to venture far from the safety of a crowd.
word of advice: Ask the local authorities to educate you and your child about child safety.
tidbits: I watched this movie first on Thursday, January 14th, on the Internet at MoviesPlanet.com, at approximately 1:30 a.m. I shall fill-in the Theatre and Audience Reaction sections in a few days after I will have seen this movie on the Big Screen because my movie reviews are dependent on audience reaction.
As much as I didn't want to see this movie again, I had to because it was the only way that I could fill-in the Theatre and Audience Reaction sections for this blog. And since today, Jan. 18th, is a holiday, there was a big turn-out at the theatre which gave me a better cross-section of movie-goers to observe.
When the girl in the snow-covered parking lot turned to face Mr. Harvey, some girls in the audience said, "Eeyew!" followed by laughter from some other people there with us for this show. ( Yep, girls can be cruel to each other in the "Looks" department. )
