Z/Web

Author: Billy Bob Thornton

Director: Sam Raimi

This was a surprisingly cool film. It’s set in the south where a woman, Cate Blanchett, is a psychic. Her husband is dead and she’s rasing three boys on her own. Much of town thinks she’s a witch and ostracizes her. But in truth the “fortunes” she tells are closer to a form of counseling and therapy than ESP. She helps one young man haunted by nightmares of his father which he can’t explain. She tells a young woman whose redneck husband beats her to leave, but then the woman’s husband, Donnie, threatens her and her family. Then a girl goes missing and it’s the psychic who helps locate the body, which just happens to be on Donnie’s property, and she’s required to testify against him in the trial. But did Donnie really kill the girl? This is a terrific film about people: the “gift” is just a gimmick, a mystery that pervades the story, but the central thing is always the characters. Extremely well-written and directed. Totally worth your time.

Director: Barry Levinson

Okay buddy film about two prison escapees who become bank robbers. Along the way they “kidnap” a troubled woman, and the threesome go up and down the west coast robbing banks and become famous as the “Sleepover Bandits” (they invade and sleep over at the bank manager’s home the night before the robbery so they can rob the bank early in the morning before it opens). Somewhat predictable (especially the ending), but still pleasant and interesting, with good performances. Interestingly for me, this happens to be another Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchett film: coincidence that I rented this at the same time as The Gift?