Hide from those who seek out this horror film in theaters

The first weekend after the announcement of the Oscar nominees is

usually a dumping ground for bad films. This past weekend, 20th

Century Fox dumped the thriller “Hide and Seek” on the moviegoing

public.

Since “Hide and Seek” is a thriller, I won’t give away too much.

The bottom line: David Callaway’s (Robert De Niro) wife commits

suicide, and he moves his daughter, Emily (Dakota Fanning), to

upstate New York to help her recover.

Emily has trouble adjusting and turns to her imaginary friend,

Charlie, for help, but the killing never stops.

I saw this movie at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood with five of my

brightest friends. My little posse comprised about 20% of the

audience. I was amazed at how many open seats there were. Two of my

friends, Jennifer and Chad, fell asleep before the 45-minute mark.

That should give you an idea of how slow this movie is at the

beginning.

But wait, “Hide and Seek” is not as horrible as other reviewers

make it out to be. Both De Niro and Fanning put together credible

performances, and Elisabeth Shue has a memorable cameo. The film

looks and sounds wonderful, and guess what? It was shot in the United

States. Take that Canada! We can make our own cheesy thrillers.

The acting is solid. The problem is that the movie feels dated and

stale. If “Hide and Seek” would have come out before “The Shining,”

De Niro’s catch phrase, “Come out, come out wherever you are,” would

be more popular than Jack Nicholson’s “Here’s Johnny.”

It’s not all doom and gloom for “Hide and Seek.” I actually had

fun watching the film, but I would have had more fun watching at home

with friends.

My advice: “Hide” from this movie in the theater and “Seek” it out

on DVD in a few months. I can’t believe I just wrote that joke. I

apologize.

* MATT BELLNER of Burbank is an actor and writer.

‘Rwanda’ rightfully earns Oscar nomination

“Hotel Rwanda” is the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, who, as

hotel manager of Kigali’s four-star Hotel Des Milles, housed more

than 1,200 people during the 1994 Rwanda massacre in which the Hutu

tribe murdered a million members of the Tutsi tribe. Many were hacked

to death with machetes in their homes. This genocide was the result

of long, simmering tensions between the two tribes, aggravated when a

French colonialist took power and forced the enemy tribes to

intermingle. The situation was made worse by an identification card

system that encouraged division and separation rather than unity.

This movie is a powerful cinematic achievement, driven by a

tour-de-force performance by Don Cheadle, who has rightfully been

recognized with an Academy Award nomination. He inhabits this role,

expressing the inner conflict of a man forced to choose between what

is right and what is easy. The decisions he makes during the course

of the film are complicated and dangerous. Paul is not a saint; he’s

a man who was true to his own decency under unimaginable conditions.

Director and co-writer (with Keir Pearson) Terry George wisely

chose to shoot “Hotel Rwanda” with a strong, documentary visual style

that feels appropriate considering the subject matter. The music

score is subtle and unobtrusive. George knows his story is inherently

dramatic. He doesn’t have to resort to melodrama.

My only criticism is a minor one. George decided to tone down the

violence, letting a lot of the gore occur off-screen. That’s fine. It

shows restraint. In the scenes where he does show the dead bodies,

however, they’re so sanitized and presentable that I feel it

underscores the emotional thrust of the film. The horror of the

violence is part of the point. It isn’t exploitive; it’s real.

* ALLEN MACDONALD, 32, works in the television industry and

resides in Toluca Lake.