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gparlett
Reviews
The Skeleton Key (2005)
Good but predictable
The Skeleton Key is one of those movies thats spooky rather than scary. It uses the rich backdrop of New Orleans voodoo to build this great atmosphere, and then doesn't really do anything with it. Good performances all around, especially from Kate Hudson, but the film suffers from a very predictable plot. There's a twist at the end of the movie, as there almost always is in these movies, but its telegraphed it so far in advance that you're bored by the time they actually reveal what happened. Much more 'The Village' then 'The Others' or 'The Sixth Sense'. As other reviewers noted the film does win points for having really good final five minutes.
Freak Talks About Sex (1999)
by the numbers post-college film
Nothing really new here, just another paint by the numbers 'we graduated from college and now were waiting for life to start' flick. The formula has been done better, several times by Zahn himself(Dancer Texas, SubUrbia, and the classic Reality Bites) and a lot of this film feels lifted from other projects, the bad job at the mall, the car that won't start, going to the dessert to write. But thats not to say it doesn't work. Josh Hamilton is earnest and engaging, Zahn is always worth watching, and newcomer Heather McComb holds her own. Worth watching if you like this type of movie, and I do.
Grosse Pointe (2000)
innovative, intelligent comedy series...
A great series killed by a bad time slot, Grosse Pointe skewered the WB's teeny bopper comedies(Dawson's Creek, et al) and yet was still a great teeny bopper comedy itself. Featured a great cast who has generally gone on to do other offbeat and brilliant projects (perhaps most notably Irene Malloy's starring role in Andy Richter Controls the Universe and Lindsay Sloane's brilliant one off on Greg the Bunny). Hopefully both seasons will be released on DVD someday.