I had a great movie experience last night!
I’d intended to watch Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), but before I knew it I found myself engrossed in a film on TV that I soon realised I’d seen before but remembered very little about.
Red Lights (2012)
It’s very rare that I don’t remember much about a film. I’ve got a weird knack of remembering trivial things like who directed a movie, who starred in it, what year it was released or who composed the music - but ask me to remember to check the dinner before it burns and you can guarantee the smoke alarm’s gonna get tested.
If you haven’t seen this one, it’s a kind of supernatural/mystery/thriller starring Sigourney Weaver (Alien), Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins), Robert De Niro (Goodfellas) and Elizabeth Olsen (Avengers: Infinity War) among others.
This is what it’s about:
Psychologist Margaret Matheson (Weaver) and her assistant Tom Buckley (Murphy) specialise in debunking those claiming to possess psychic powers. Their research leads them to investigate a world-renowned psychic, Simon Silver (De Niro) who has resurfaced years after his toughest critic died under mysterious circumstances.
I really enjoyed this movie!
I don’t know how the hell I forgot I’d seen it because it’s excellent! I’m really glad I stumbled on it too because not only did I get a kind of “first watch” experience all over again but I now get to shine a bit of a spot light on it for anyone who may have missed it.
It has a really interesting story, a great cast and it keeps you guessing right up till the end as to whether De Niro’s character really does have psychic powers or not. It also gets a bit creepy in places, again making you wonder if there really is some higher power at work.
Cillian Murphy puts in another great performance despite critics feeling the movie wasted “the talents of an impressive cast on a predictable mystery”.
Personally I didn’t find anything at all “predictable” about it and once again I find myself wondering what it takes to please these people! I swear it’s an impossible task.
Critics just seem hell bent on hating good movies while gushing over long and drawn out, dull and unentertaining tripe, presumably in a vain attempt to gain some kind of credibility.
Well I like what I like regardless of what it is, and I like this film.
As well known as the actors in this movie are, they’ve all made some good films that for some reason haven’t made a huge impact on audiences.
I’d file this with a film Sigourney Weaver did in the 90s called Copycat (1995), a couple of movies Robert De Niro made called Hide and Seek (2005) and Godsend (2004) and a decent thriller Cillian Murphy starred in called Red Eye (2005).
These are all good films that failed to do as well as some of the actor’s others efforts, but are still worth checking out none the less.
If you fancy a good supernatural/mystery/thriller that seemingly managed to sneak under a lot of people’s radars I highly recommend watching this one.
Seen it? Let me know.