Vashirdfel
Simply A Masterpiece
Blucher
One of the worst movies I've ever seen
Chirphymium
It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
walter radunsky
Why are there so many American narratives about brilliant evil children? I'm guessing it's because a) these narratives fits perfectly into our incredibly narrow-minded ideology that everyone who behaves in an exceptionally immoral way is simply born that way, with all circumstances of upbringing and other experiences being completely irrelevant to how we turn out, and b) our enculturated stupidity and ignorance is justified by constantly associating intelligence with evil. The movie "Joshua" presents a perfect example of this kind of trite and idiotic story about a highly intelligent boy who in spite of being well cared for and affectionately nurtured wants to hurt his parents and others as much as possible for apparently no reason whatsoever. And, of course, Joshua's family is upper class, because God forbid Hollywood portray the existence of any other kind of social class in America. Nevertheless, most of the other elements of the movie--the directing, acting, cinematography, etc.--are well executed. However, providing beautiful packaging for the usual piece of trash only makes the trash all the more disappointing.
Chrysanthepop
Ratliff's messy psychological thriller seems to have garnered quite some attention. Now there have been many movies centering around a sociopathic child. Most of them pretty much follow the same horror movie type formula where the child is terrorizing an entire family without them even noticing it. Unfortunately, 'Joshua' is no different. Firstly, the movie is filled with plot holes and unexplored questions. For example, why would Brad and Abby keep the video of Abby constantly crying when holding Joshua? Of course, not surprisingly, the psychologists and teachers are portrayed as caricature idiots (who think there's absolutely nothing wrong with this kid). I was also surprised as how distant the parents were from Joshua in the beginning. Perhaps they knew something was off but stayed in denial. The parents too are portrayed as being stupid. They didn't even question Joshua giving all his toys away to charity and disemboweling his teddy bear. Some responses towards this movie are quite disturbing. One reviewer even wrote that he found himself vouching for the kid. I wish there would be a movie that would at least do justice to the themes of a child sociopath rather than rely on clichés. Even the unexplored ending is very easily predictable and dissatisfying. The only non-clichéd angel is that director Ratliff refrained from using blood and gore but that doesn't make this a better movie. He tries to make it creepy by using typical shock tactics but they feel out of place. The so-called 'twists' are quite convenient. The behaviour of most of the characters is irrational. The only plus point of 'Joshua' are the performances. Both Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga are very good in spite of having to play poorly written characters. I really wonder why they chose to act in this. Jacob Kogan plays it by the formula. Celia Weston is adequate even though her character is conveniently annoying as hell.Overall, this is just trying to be a 'smarter' version of 'The Omen'. Other than Rockwell and Farmiga's performance, there's nothing going for it. Not even the slow pace.
paul david
sorry folks, second film in 24 hours which fails for me and ihave watched this a couple of times now. I even watched it again after reading some of these reviews in case I missed something. Don't think so. Yes good acting by Sam Rockwell and a touching concept about a disturbed child (certainly no genius)who is jealous and affected by the birth of his baby sister. Sure, it touches on middle class issues and indeed on issues on how parent and child 'might' feel in such a situation, but hey, please don't compare it with 'Don't Look Now', this film doesn't even come close in comparison for intrigue acting drama thrills or suspense. overall it is a disappointing film,not carrying enough punch for me. didn't know what to expect beforehand, so I was open minded, but this is no horror movie and it falls short on psychological thriller. At best, its an overplayed drama which has a very slow start and if you make it to the hour mark without falling asleep, you are doing well. Only watched it a third time and in breaks from the DVD because curious so many people liked this movie. Don't agree that its a movie to make you think (ponder maybe) but not for long, an easily forgotten movie, even if you have a child of your own who has been even slightly rebellious to you in your parenting of him to relate to questions raised by this movie
tomcantwell
Admittedly, I didn't watch the whole movie. I wanted to like it but it was so poor I had to turn it off. The direction is very weak and the music is entirely inappropriate. The characters appear to have been purchased as a job-lot from StereotypesRUs and the script comes across as contrived and unnatural. The opening title sequence has really annoying music and you can't wait for it to be over. When it finally ends it feels like you stopped having your thumb hit by a hammer, but then you get Scene One. This is the most artificial first scene ever put on a screen. A domestic portrait of a family with the mother and baby, the grandparents, the uncle and the sibling at the piano, the father with the video camera. Everyone conspicuously 'acting' out the family portrait. The piano playing in the background re-inflames the nerve that the opening music had antagonized, and continues to do so. After what seems like an aeon the mother tells the kid to stop playing the piano. After this it starts again and if you don't switch it off at this point in utter fury then you're thicker skinned than I am. What an annoying load of amateur garbage. The rest of the movie may have had some redeeming features but I'll never find out because the first fifteen minutes is like having your eyes, eardrums and brain sandpapered.
