Universal Pictures Kevin Costner,
starring as Dr. Joe Darrow in "Dragonfly, " tries to talk to his
deceased wife.
“Dragonfly”Directed by Tom
ShadyacStarring: Kevin Costner, Kathy Bates, Kathryn Erbe, Joe
Morton
The thrill of thrillers is waning, and the idea of talking to
the dead is getting old. The commercials resemble the style of
“The Mothman Prophecies: Part Deux,” or “What
Lies Beneath,” but the truth is, “Dragonfly,”
opening today, is not very close to either of these. The main
problem with the film is that the commercials make it out to be
some eerie sort of movie, yet anything remotely creepy is
completely destroyed by the music. Typical with most scary films,
the string instruments build up, and predict that the main
character will soon peek on screen. Then all of a sudden, silence
and boom, something pops out and there’s a tremendous clamor
as the music screams back in ““ completely predictable. Kevin
Costner stars as Dr. Joe Darrow in a new ghost-story
“thriller” where his deceased wife, who liked
dragonflies, attempts to communicate with him. The only thing
thrilling about it is that children were used as mediums for the
communication, and for some reason, kids are just darn scary at
times. Early in the movie, however, it’s clear that there
will not be much more plot than a man trying to find out what
happened to his wife. There are no other twists or turns, and the
occasional narration by Costner is too remniscient of his
“Dances With Wolves” monologues. Nevertheless, Kevin
Costner does a decent job as a befuddled doctor. Kathy Bates
(“Misery,” “Titanic”) plays a convincing
role as a concerned neighbor and law professor. All other actors in
the film aren’t significant. And, although the children are
scary, they were too much like Haley Joel Osment ““ their
whispering and overzealous acting is unbelievable at times. The
film is uncategorizable ““ it’s not really a date movie,
nor an entertaining movie. It borders on cheesiness at times, and
like cheese, its already moldy and will begin rotting soon.
 Warner Bros. Pictures Stuart Townsend (Lestat) and
Aaliyah (Akasha) in the "Queen of the Damned."
“Queen of the Damned” Directed by Michael
Rymer
Starring: Aaliyah, Stuart Townsend, Marguerite Moreau
Based on the vampire chronicles by Anne Rice, “Queen of
the Damned,” starring Stuart Townsend, Marguerite Moreau and
Aaliyah, should never have made its way onto the big screen. A film
that ought to have been about the Queen of the Damned Akasha
(Aaliyah) and the vampire Lestat (Townsend) is reduced to a budding
love story between Lestat and Jesse (Moreau). Akasha, mother of all
vampires, awakes after centuries of sleep and makes her grand
entrance by undulating her way in the second half of the film. Her
powers include tearing the hearts out of vampires, drinking their
blood, and causing them to spontaneously combust. All of these
exciting moments are condensed into Akasha’s five minutes of
gothic fame, which really should have been extended to half the
film instead of leaving room to develop Lestat and Jesse’s
love relationship. After the royal and bloody introduction of the
queen in the second half, the film goes downhill. As much as
everyone adored Aaliyah for her musical talent and role in action
flick “Romeo Must Die,” this powerful role as the queen
of vampires was ruined by her limited acting skills and absurd body
language (i.e. wriggling) throughout the movie. Marguerite Moreau
should also be awarded with a grammy for her annoying and
unconvincing performance as Jesse, an obsessed Lestat admirer and
fellow Talamascan (historian of vampire activities). The much
talked about rock music by Korn in the film may also cause the
audience to immediately turn to aspirin for comfort. Although, at
times these intrusive, pounding notes and nonsensical garbling are
what keeps the audience from falling asleep. Director Michael Rymer
(“Perfume,” “In Too Deep”) commits the
heinous crime of not giving his audience ample amounts of carnage
and gore, noted especially in the swift introduction and ending of
Akasha. A horror film that lacks blood, violence and carnage simply
cannot be forgiven. Stuart Townsend as Lestat is probably the only
redeeming factor of this film. The sensuous, charismatic and
audacious portrayal of Lestat and his mentor-lover relationship
with Marius (Vincent Perez ) are probably the only intriguing
aspects of the film. Besides that, Anne Rice fans be
forewarned.
Rosanna Mah