ThomasRiordan2002 Reviews

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)

One of the best animated features not to have the Disney name on it

[18 July 2004]

Looking for a movie with cutesy talking horses that the kiddies will love? Then Spirit is probably not the movie for you, it is instead one of the nicest animated features to come along in a long time to not have Disney written all over it. No, the horses do not talk and they shouldn't as the whole story is told from a horse's point of voice in a wonderful narrative. In fact there's not a lot of pointless dialog to weigh down the movie at all.

Instead it's filled by a wonderful score by Hans Zimmer and songs by Bryan Adams who admittedly I wasn't a big fan off except for (Everything I Do (I Do It For You) and Star) but the songs he did for this movie especially Here I Am, Get Off Of My Back, Can't Take Me, Brothers Under The Sun and Sound The Bugle made me download the soundtrack from Walmart.com the next day.

The main reasons I liked this move would have to be the beautiful drawn animation, mixed with an endearing story with some comedy elements and a wonderful soundtrack. Spirit is simply fun and enjoyable for the whole family no matter what their age.

Bless the Child (2000)

A Horror Movie For Intelligent Horror Fans

[10/10 · 9 April 2002]

I've often heard Bless The Child compared to The Omen but the simualarity really doesn't decide weather or not Bless The Child is a good movie or not. Bless The Child has the ability to captivate the audience in a way the Omen did not. This is mainly because of a strong performance by 7 year old Holliston Coleman who plays young Cody one of the central characters and the main driving force behind the story. Holliston, is very believable as the young girl who a satanic cult believes will one day become a saint. Her charm and beauty easily captures the audiences heart from the moment she first appears on the screen. Throughout the movie Holli displays a wide range of emotions from sadness to overwelming kindness and a wonderful ability to bring the audience to tears without saying a word. Holli's performance alone is reason enough to see this movie, but she's also backed by a wonderful supporting cast including Jimmmy Smits as an FBI agent skilled in the investigation of occult related crime, Kim Basinger as Cody's aunt who raised her from the time she was a baby, Rufus Sewell who plays the evil cult leader Eric Stark wonderfully I might add, Dimitra Arliss who plays the evil nanny (or the Mary Poppins from hell as many people call her) beautifully. If you're looking for a typical teen slasher film avoid this movie since even though it's scary it only has two really violet moments. You're not going to see your teenage bimbette running into the woods when she should be calling the police in this one nor are you going to see young Cody start using her powers to burst people into flames ala Carrie (which if they had choose to go that route the movie would have never been good since I don't believe Holli could portray evil she's too sweet and lovable)in this one. This film is intelligent, well written and has one of the best casts you could possibly hope to find.