The Forgotten, The Exorcist (The Beginning), and Wicker Park

The Forgotten tells the story of a woman's grief after the death of her son, or does it? What at first appears to be a character driven study on loss and anguish, turns into a sinister sci-fi thriller. Juliane Moore portrays the mother who cannot accept the loss of her son, and Anthony Edwards plays her husband who seems content to forget about their son. Gary Sinise is her psychologist, and Dominic West plays a man who's daughter was killed in the same plane crash that killed Julianne Moore's son. The plot has interesting twists and some of the special effects are quite striking. The Forgotten is a suspenseful, well acted mystery.

The Exorcist (The Beginning) was a huge surprise. I was expecting complete crap, but this film was much better than I anticipated. I didn't realize until the credits rolled that it was directed by Renny Harlin, or that Caleb Carr was one of the writers. Given that it is the prequel to the famous/infamous novel and movie, The Exorcist, this film had great potential for disaster. It stars Stellan Skarsgard as a younger Father Merrin who has lost his faith, and it explains how he finds his way back to the church and becomes an exorcist. The female lead is Izabella Scorupco who works tirelessly as a doctor treating the poor in Africa. The plot is suspenseful, but this movie does not have the shocking possession scenes of the Exorcist. If you are expecting to have the daylights scared out of you, you will be disappointed, but for some good suspense and an interesting story, this is a good film.

Wicker Park was accidently returned to Netflix before we watched it - oops! Not sure how it happened, it looked like an interesting movie, back in the queue it goes.