Review: The Sixth Sense (1999) - Guest Post

I've really been enjoying these Blogathon's that we've taken part in recently. There have been quite a few, I'm still working on my half for another, and I hope that one day we can run our own!

One of our favourite film blogs, Cinema Parrot Disco is hosting a Guest Blogger series for the IMDB Top 250 List. By now, you should know that here at Flick Chick's we've made it our goal to watch all 250 and review them, so this was the perfect opportunity for us! Thankfully The Sixth Sense was still available.

We don't watch/review horror movies very often so the fact that we get to review a horror movie on Friday 13th is pretty awesome!

 

 

Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) is a young boy who can communicate with spirits that don't know they're dead. He spends a lot of time with a child psychiatrist, Dr Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) to try and help his problem.

 

The Sixth Sense is a really hard film for me to review. I first watched it at a sleepover with my friends when I was about 12, and just as we pressed play, my friend blurted out 'Oh, this is the film where *insert major spoiler here*'. I have to admit, that really killed it for me. If I could somehow come across a time machine, I think one of the first things I would do is go back to that year and watch the film alone, spoiler free. 

 

I got to watch this completely spoiler free, I think I went to the cinema with my friend Hayley to see it - I was terrified the whole way through.  The down side was I missed a lot of the story because I constantly had my cardigan over my face waiting for something to jump out!  It was only after I watched the whole film that I realised it wasn't that kind of horror but by then I knew the 'major spoiler' so the second (non-scared) time just didn't have the same impact.  Also, my friend started belting me in the arm (Allie will confirm that this is something I also have a nasty habit of doing when something exciting/scary/interesting happens in a film! - It's true, I still have the bruises) when the wedding ring dropped, she knew what was going on and I didn't have a clue!  I'm pretty sure she had to explain the spoiler to me afterwards as well! ha!

 

However, back to the film.  I did love this film, apart from being scared the story is great and Haley Joel Osment was brilliant as the terrified Cole and Bruce Willis actually does well in a non-action hero role.  The ending definitely makes this film as it can become a little slow in the middle, but that is all forgotten when the film ends.  I generally love M Night Shyamalan films anyway, I think I am the only one of my friends/family who enjoyed The Village, I thought it was really clever and Signs was hilarious

 

The scenes of teenagers who have blown their brains out and women hanged from the ceiling still terrify me but it's worth it to see the story play out.

 

Do you fancy feeling like a total old person? This is what the little boy, Cole looks like now:

 

Wow, I feel old now!!

 

 

 

This is a film that everyone should watch at least once. There are a few films in the Top 250 that I question, but this firmly deserves it's place. I wish I could give it a 10/10 but it's just not the same knowing how it ends. 

 

This is a must watch for everyone, just don't be scared and ruin it for yourselves, its not that kind of horror movie.



Review: Office Space (1999)

For whatever reason, IMDB has been telling me for months that I need to watch Office Space. It's been one of those films that I really wanted to watch and kept on putting off for no real reason. I work in an office myself so really appreciate office comedy, and it's got Jennifer Aniston in, one of my favourite actresses! As you've probably gathered, I got round to watching it in the end...

 

 

Office Space tells the story of Peter Gibbons and his colleagues, who don't enjoy their jobs at all. Management have hired some consultants to downsize the company. Peter is also having problems at home; his girlfriend is cheating on him but convinces him to go to therapy to talk through his issues. In a strange turn of events, Peter actually gets a promotion, and learns that his two closest friends are going to be fired. Together, they hatch a scheme to infect the company's computers with a virus that will pilfer funds from the business to their own bank account.

 



To be honest, straight after watching this, I wasn't that impressed. It was funny, sure, but it didn't make me laugh out loud, and as Jenna will tell you, I'm easily amused. There was one particular scene that just tickled me and I couldn't stop laughing, this one:

 

That's just a short clip unfortunately, but it's enough to give you the gist of what's going on. As someone who works in a city but lives on the outskirts, I really connected with that scene!

 

The more I think about Office Space, the more I actually like it. There's a lot of office comedy out right now, and with TV Shows like The Office and films like Horrible Bosses, Office Space is sort of sadly forgotten. I can understand why it had such amazing reviews when it came out though, I won't argue with those.  I actually don't think this has been forgotten, in fact after watching it I found I finally understood a shed load of memes that I didn't understand before, here are a few of my favourites:

I really enjoyed this film, it was well written and funny and still rings true to offices today.  I think compared to some 90's comedy films, it has aged well.  The smashing of the printer scene had me in stitches, I have spent so many hours daydreaming about destroying the printer (particularly the one in my current office that sounds like it is trying to make contact with an alien species every time you print something!).  One liners keep the pace up and Milton's (Stephen Root) sillier character keep it from being too serious. 

 

I wouldn't say that this film is timeless, but there are certain jokes and themes that still ring true to this day. The rage you feel about the printer absolutely, and how protective you get over stationary for sure! Thankfully my boss isn't quite as bad as Lumbergh. I fully agree, my stationery is my life, I have lost 6 staplers since travelling abroad for work and it's starting to make me very twitchy, if people ask to borrow it now I follow them around until I get it back :-) I come across like Milton 'I believe you have my stapler' haha!

 

 

This is only a must watch for office workers I would say, anyone else just wouldn't connect with it enough to find it funny.

I would happily watch this again, if only for Stephen Root, who is by far the highlight of this film.  Would have been a 7 if not for him.