Does Michael Keaton care about his movie career? Keaton is a good example of an actor who after reading an awful script decides to cash the check knowing (unless he's an idiot) that the movie will be a bomb. Examples of this are MULTIPLICITY, JACK FROST, and HERBIE: FULLY LOADED (ok, I didn't see Herbie...But I assume it won't be nominated for an Oscar). Since leaving the BATMAN franchise, Keaton has not been in many memorable roles. Even if Keaton is in a good film an argument can be made that he wasn't the reason for the film's success. 1994's THE PAPER and 1997's JACKIE BROWN were both critically acclaimed films but I don't remember any accolades being thrown Keaton's way.
Michael Keaton continues his history of bad film decisions by participating in WHITE NOISE. Keaton plays Jonathan Rivers an architect who is mourning the disappearance of his beautiful wife. After accepting the fate that he will probably never see his wife alive again he meets a strange man who tells him that his wife is trying to contact him via radio waves and recording devices...electronic voice phenomena (evp). This is an example of how truth is stranger than fiction because in real life there are actual wackos who live among us that believe in the junk science that evp is based on. The degenerates who believe in evp are the same morons who believe that one can get to the other side of the universe by hitching a ride on a tail of a comet. My only wish is that it was true...Hopefully it would be a one way ticket.
Keaton's character slowly becomes obsessed with trying to communicate with his wife by staying up all night listening to radio static...I guess it beats listening to rap music. Up to this point the movie is an average thriller that kept my interest. What happened to Jonathon's wife? Will Jonathan contact her? The movie goes south when the villains are introduced. I'll call the villains the 3 shadows because they appear as shadows on television screens. The 3 shadows seem to be terrorizing the dead people who are trying to contact their loved ones via radio air-waves. I never really understood why the 3 shadows were doing this. As the movie continues it is revealed that the dead people are trying to warn their loved ones that other people will be killed if they don't stop the 3 shadows. Somehow the dead people can foresee the future with their e.s.p. ability. The movie also reveals that the 3 shadows have control over a man who is killing people. Difficult to understand? I agree. The movie would have worked if it simply would have concentrated on the dead wife that is trying to contact her husband story. The movie never explains who or what the 3 shadows are and never explains what its motives are. Villains must have motives. If the motives of the villains are not explained...How can the audience root for the good guy?
I'm giving WHITE NOISE a "5". Audiences that don't see many movies will enjoy the film's attempts at scaring them (Please see the Ring 2 review). Experienced film fans will enjoy the first half of the movie and will be disappointed at the lack of intelligence in the second and third acts.
Why did I pay money to see WHITE NOISE? Although the movie was lame...It did have one thing going for it...Its trailer. The preview of the film was great. The trailer didn't actually show too much of the film. The trailer simply showed/played sound bites of supposedly actually real life examples of the the electronic voice phenomena. After the sound bite was done a voice-over explained that this recording was made on a certain date by Jane Doe...Jane Doe was killed in a car accident 3 years before this recording was made. The trailer was well made and instantly had me asking myself questions like: What the hell? Obviously this phenomena doesn't exist but the trailer raised enough interest that made the public want to see the film. Typically, film's released in January don't make money. White Noise made close to 60 million at the box office. The film was critically panned by professional critics.
All of the work on the trailer paid off. It won the "Golden Fleece" award at the 2005 Golden Trailer Awards. The "Golden Fleece" award goes to the trailer that makes an awful movie look good. Basically it's an award for dooping the American movie-going public. Thanks a lot Hollywood.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I think the three shadows we saw throughout the movie were Curly, Larry and Moe. The only surprise for me was Keaton laying dead at the end of the movie and the only thing that kept me watching it was the bowl of popcorn sitting on my lap.
Post a Comment