{"id":4981,"date":"2015-05-23T15:46:56","date_gmt":"2015-05-23T19:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aspire-canada.com\/?p=4981"},"modified":"2017-02-19T12:12:52","modified_gmt":"2017-02-19T17:12:52","slug":"movie-review-poltergeist-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aspire-canada.com\/?p=4981","title":{"rendered":"Movie Review: Poltergeist (2015)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MOVIE REVIEW: POLTERGEIST (2015)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/aspire-canada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/hero_poltergeist-_grd01-086401L_rgb.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4982\" src=\"https:\/\/aspire-canada.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/hero_poltergeist-_grd01-086401L_rgb.jpg\" alt=\"_grd01.086401L - A child\u2019s\u2019 toy takes on terrifying dimensions when apparitions invade a family\u2019s home.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Director: Sam Raimi<br \/>\nStarring: Sam Rockwell, Rosemary DeWitt, Jared Harris, Kyle Catlett, Kennedi Clements, Jane Adams, Saxon Sharbino,<\/p>\n<p>Warning: spoilers ahead<\/p>\n<p>I confess: I didn\u2019t know Poltergeist was being remade. Once I knew, I was skeptical, because Hollywood has recently been in the business of remakes \u2013 with some awful results.<\/p>\n<p>The premise of this version of Poltergeist isn\u2019t far from the original, aside from updating the story to make the family relatable to today\u2019s North American middle class. The family lives in a seemingly nice house, the family gets the creeps (thanks to some angry souls), and the family needs help when one of their own disappears because of said creepy events.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Writing<\/strong><br \/>\nDavid Lindsay-Abaire\u2019s effort is okay. Pacing wise, I was disappointed how quickly we wandered into the family\u2019s plight. Not sure if these writers were working on time restrictions for scenes, but that\u2019s what it felt like with a bare bones lead up to all hell breaking loose. If the humour wasn\u2019t ad-libbed, it was written well.<br \/>\nThe problem with this movie: well, it\u2019s marketed to be a scary movie. The scares were too typical; every clich\u00e9d bump-in-the-night moment was there. The presence of clowns were the closest thing to scary in that movie.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Acting<\/strong><br \/>\nThe Bowen parents \u2013 mom Amy (Rosemary DeWitt) and dad Eric (Sam Rockwell) \u2013 make you empathize with today\u2019s struggling family. Sam Rockwell had some funny moments. I was underwhelmed by Saxon Sharbino\u2019s Kendra (the eldest daughter), who was too stereotypical angsty teen for me.<br \/>\nI loved Jared Harris and Jane Adams. I\u2019m more familiar with Harris in comedic roles (I saw him in Mr. Deeds with Adam Sandler, and he was the only character who made me laugh), and I could take him seriously as Carrington Burke, legendary spirit hunter. Jane Adams\u2019 character, Dr. Brooke Powell, was a good voice of reason.<br \/>\nI\u2019m not sure if it was the writing, or the acting, but the Griffin Bowen character (Kyle Catlett) felt too much like a kid from a Pull Ups commercial. He had his moments, but felt a little too innocent \u2013 and too scared. That\u2019s problematic, especially when you already have Madison Bowen (Kennedi Clements) who is supposed to be the innocent and most frightened. The two seemed equally scared and I felt it took away from Madison.<br \/>\nAside from that, Kennedi Clements\u2019 Madison was on point: cute and charming.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Effects<\/strong><br \/>\nI\u2019m on the fence. I liked the dreamy look of the trapped souls. Interesting ways of tracking the family and the poltergeists, like incorporating drones and GPS technology. There were some unnecessary effects. The squirrel darting out from dozens of clown toys was freakier than the same squirrel in a (humane cage) trap with fake red eyes. Also, why did I watch this in 3D? I didn\u2019t get anything out of it.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Summing it up<\/strong><br \/>\nWatch it if you\u2019re a fan of scary movies, but I wouldn\u2019t have cried if I didn\u2019t see this in theatres. Don\u2019t see it in 3D. It\u2019s probably worth watching it on a half off night, or renting when it comes out on demand. While there was an effort to make it fresh with a few neat ways to track the ghosts, that\u2019s sadly as far as it went for contributing anything new to the genre.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Verdict<\/strong><br \/>\nThree stars out of five.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MOVIE REVIEW: POLTERGEIST (2015) Director: Sam Raimi Starring: Sam Rockwell, Rosemary DeWitt, Jared Harris, Kyle Catlett, Kennedi Clements, Jane Adams, Saxon Sharbino, Warning: spoilers ahead I confess: I didn\u2019t know Poltergeist was being remade. Once I knew, I was skeptical, because Hollywood has recently been in the business of remakes \u2013 with some awful results&#8230;.<\/p>\n<div class=\"btnReadMore\"><a href=\"https:\/\/aspire-canada.com\/?p=4981\">READ MORE<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":740,"featured_media":4982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","pmpro_default_level":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Movie Review: Poltergeist (2015)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Movie Review: Poltergeist 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