Cold Creek Manor

Cold Creek Manor is a tense, character-driven thriller directed by Mike Figgis, the mastermind behind 1995's Leaving Las Vegas. The story's protagonist is Cooper Tilsman (Quaid), who decides to move to the country after a near-death accident involving his son. They leave everything behind in the city and move into the unknown. Stigmatized as intruders, city slickers, they have a rough time settling in to their new home. Things become even more tense as the previous home owner, Dale Massey (Dorff) shows up unexpectantly, and terrifying events start to occur.

Dennis Quaid plays the stern, overprotective family man, a character he is quite familiar with. But there's a reason why he's typecast in that role - he plays it perfectly. As soon as Dale Massey slithers his way into their lives, Quaid's Cooper Tilsman is wary of him. He never takes his eyes off the shady man, while remaining polite and cordial to keep his family calm and at ease. Sharon Stone is comfortable as the strong, business woman turned homebody. Kristen Bell - can't act now, and couldn't act back then. Juliette Lewis is at home as the female sidekick to a crazed lunatic - she did it well in Natural Born Killers and Kalifornia, so I guess it makes sense to play the same character she did ten years ago.

Finally, there's Stephen Dorff. This man gets a pretty bad rap, and honestly, I don't know why. While he often plays the part of the good guy, the producers knew what they were doing when they cast him the role of Dave Massey, the local maniac haunted by his past. Like he did in Blade, Dorff hits the nail on the head. His acting is very subtle in the beginning - the intensity in his eyes tells you he's been places, places you don't want to ever know. He carries this intensity throughout the film, and he slowly starts to descend into madness as things unravel, no longer becoming the creepy local but the angry, bitter man who is determined to make life horrible for the people inhabiting his former home. He provides the film its strong, emotional element, such as the scene where he confronts his abusive, browbeating father. It's a shame Stephen Dorff doesn't get as much work as he deserves.

The film's pacing was handled to near perfection. It starts off slow, with the father's suspicions toward Dave Massey, and of course he is on his own, as no one believes the things that Cooper accuses Massey of. The suspicions turn into reality as Massey openly confronts Cooper, showing his true, vindictive side. The only problem I had was when the children's horse was found dead in the pool, they accused Cooper of hitting it with his car; if he hit it with his car, the wound would not have been on the horse's head. And how would the horse get in the pool? The fact that the sheriff doesn't pry into the matter a little more shows how ignorant the town is of Massey's psychotic nature. Personally, I think this scene could've been left out.

Overall, I give it a 7/10. Fine acting mixed with well-paced suspense makes this a compelling psychological thriller. The film is driven mostly by characters and how they develop and react to the strange events that occur, as well as the mystery that surrounds Cold Creek Manor. We are constantly guessing what happened at that house, and right when we think we know what exactly it was, we are thrown in another direction.

An Education

Seeing as it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture last year, I figured "An Education" would be a worthwhile film to watch. I was right. With a small cast of talented individuals, the film never loses steam. Carey Mulligan plays Jenny, the young, innocent girl who is bored with her routine life. She earns her Oscar nod, capable of expressing any type of emotion, be it teen angst, sadness, or wide-eyed optimism. Peter Sarsgaard delivers a spot-on performance as the older, refined man who takes Jenny away and shows her a new and exciting world. He makes it so we know he is up to no good, but sincere to some small degree. Danny, David's friend, is played by Dominic Cooper, a sort of young Michael Shannon. He plays the part well - a man who seems to have an avid interest in the arts, yet there is something very shady about the way he carries himself. Alfred Molina plays Jenny's strict yet gullible father, who doesn't seem to care that his young daughter has taking up with a man almost his own age.

When Jenny meets David, they strike up a relationship rather quickly. He takes her to fancy musical concerts and expensive restaurants and introduces her to his friends, who don't even seem bothered by the fact that she is sixteen. This, to me, sets off an alarm in my head and brings certain questions to mind. Has he done this before? Are there others?

Despite these questions, we watch them get close to one another and form a bond. This is where I find a problem with the film. It's the question of whether or not it tries to portray Jenny and David's relationship as romantic or honest. At the start of the film, we immediately know that what David is doing is wrong. He is a man of his late 30s creeping on a sixteen year old. One could argue that he is honest in his ways, that he just enjoys her company and wants to introduce her to all the beautiful things of the world - but come on. He could've given her a ride home and left it at that. And the next day he sends her flowers! I tried hard to see the good and purity in their relationship, but can't help get over the fact that he's more than twice her age. Are we supposed to overlook this discrepancy (as well as the fact that he's a liar, a thief, and experienced con artist) and see their little fling as a fleeting moment in Jenny's life, a time she'll look back upon and smile?

And how did those parents let David get away with this? Even if they thought he would be able to provide for her and take care of her - he took her to Paris. They had to have known what was going on. That they would let her lose a great education in order for a man to take care of her is very Anti-feminist. The father does, eventually, confess that what he did was wrong.

The film was a nice piece of reality - a sincere coming-of-age story about a teenage girl who has not quite figured out how the world works. People aren't who they say they are, but when this is discovered, everyone carries on with the rest of their lives as if nothing has happened. The film shows how we all take missteps in life, and while the memory of what happened is always at the back of our minds, we must learn to forget them and move on. The film is similar in this sense to another Oscar-nominated film, Up in the Air. I recommend both films, for their superb acting and honest, true story.