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Showing posts with label Hilary Swank. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hilary Swank. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Dying To Belong

Okay the sticker on this cover makes me giggle. She did this movie about two years before winning her first Oscar. How many poor actors/actresses get big only to find their less than stellar films being re-released in order to make a quick buck.

Hilary Swank plays Lisa, a journalist urged by her mother to join a sorority. The sorority she joins is cruel and abusive to the pledges and Lisa begins to grow disgusted with the whole thing. Her roommate, Shelby (Jenna Von Oy) is desperate to get in and unfortunately that leads to her accidental death.

Lisa begins to investigate the sorority and learns that they have had other problems with hazing in the previous years. The sorority is determined to shut her up and the school and her mother refuse to believe in her.

Sadly, Dying to Belong is a typically mediocre teen film saved only by a roster of fairly talented actors. It has long boring moments that I presume are supposed to drum up suspense. The ending is just lame, there is not an ounce of tension or even a coherent explanation.

One of the things in the film that drove me nuts was the continued use of the song "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover." Don't get me wrong, it's one of my favorite Sophie B Hawkins song. But whoever covered for this films was just awful. To make things worse, everytime the main character has a love scene, this song shows up like an unwelcome guest.

The film also stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Sarah Chalke, and Tracy Middendorf.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

The Reaping



As far as religious end of the world films go this one is pretty good. It stars the always fetching Hilary Swank as Katherine Winter. Katherine is a former minister who lost her faith after the slaughter of her family.

Now a debunker of miracles she and her assistant Ben are called to the small town of Haven, Louisiana after the river begins to run red with blood. The blame falls on a strange girl named Loren (AnnaSophia Robb) whose brother mysteriously died at the exact moment the rivers turned. Now Katherine has to deal with her faith or there lack of in order to find out the truth.

This is a fun, suspenseful film that has great character development and great use of atmosphere. Hilary Swank is wonderful and AnnaSophia Robb (best known for her role as Violet Beauregarde in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory) is haunting in her role as Loren.

While hampered with a slightly predictable ending it's a great film to watch if you are in a suspenseful mood.