Review: Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son

Reviews

The Mist

Ridiculously alright

By PETER KEOUGH | November 20, 2007

2.0 Stars

VIDEO: Watch the trailer for The Mist.

Frank Darabont’s adaptation of the Stephen King novella spawns a horror beyond human comprehension. Yes, I’m talking about another performance by Marcia Gaye Harden. She plays a Bible-thumping harridan seeking refuge in a supermarket from Whatever Is Out There (tentacles, giant bugs, and one big guy who looks like an escapee from Mumenschanz). Inevitably, she and the other survivors form a microcosm. We have the pragmatic humanists who try to figure out what happened (could it have something to do with the secret Army base? Nah . . . ) and what to do about it (let’s tie a rope to someone and see how far he gets!). Then there are the fanatic rationalists headed by a haughty New York lawyer and Christopher Hitchens. Who will survive until the obvious final irony? Although ridiculous even within its own premises, Darabont’s film maintains an uncompromising nihilism that nearly penetrates the mist to reveal genuine terror. 127 minutes | Boston Common + Harvard Square + Fresh Pond + Chestnut Hill + Suburbs

Topics: Reviews , Stephen King, Christopher Hitchens, Frank Darabont, More

| More

Friends' Activity

Popular

Most Viewed

See more deals

view all

[ 02/16 ] Boston Conservatory Dance Division @ Boston Conservatory Theater

[ 02/16 ] Jim Gaffigan @ Wilbur Theatre

[ 02/16 ] "Raw Milk Debate" @ Harvard Law School

ARTICLES BY PETER KEOUGH

REVIEW: SAFE HOUSE | February 15, 2012
Daniel Espinosa's over-edited but engaging spy thriller delves into edgy territory untouched by any of the numerous movies it imitates: it has Brendan Gleeson do an American accent.

REVIEW: THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY | February 15, 2012
The most touching love story and best children's movie in a long time, Hiromasa Yonebayashi's adaptation of Mary Norton's book The Borrowers employs old-fashioned animation techniques to create a world that is familiar, uncanny, and luminous.

REVIEW: RAMPART | February 15, 2012
The rotten cop flick has become a mini-genre of sorts, a subset of noir, going back at least to Orson Welles's Touch of Evil .

REVIEW: THE OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS 2012: DOCUMENTARY | February 10, 2012
The films in this program contain some of the most powerful images to be seen on the screen this year.

REVIEW: JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND | February 07, 2012
I liked the tiny elephants and the Rock bouncing berries off his pecs, but Brad Peyton's sequel is as bad as the 2008 original.