Word: zeta
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...real estate is the star in this updating and betrayal of Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel, The Haunting of Hill House. Four folks (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson, Lili Taylor, Liam Neeson) are trapped, for no compelling reason, in an old mansion the size of Versailles--not the palace, the city. Doors rattle and children's voices whisper from the dead in this poltergeistian theme-park ride and spooky radio show that never add up to a movie. There's one good shock, with a skeleton in a fireplace; but finally the film collapses in its own special-effects idiocy...
This movie is quite bad. Example: the house grows eyes and almost eats the main character. The Haunting, starring Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta-Jones, had few entertaining surprises (I admit it; I screamed once), but for the most part the characters are under-developed and there simply is no atmosphere. Along with the rest of the audience, I mistakenly laughed when I was to be instead seized by terror...
...that he owns the action-thriller genre with his roles in the James Bond films, as well as more recent films like The Hunt for Red October and The Rock. His mere presence does wonders, instantly enhancing the quality and appeal of the film. His youthful co-star, Catherine Zeta-Jones, lacks the experience of her leading man but more than compensates with her radiant beauty and tantalizingly seductive demeanor. In taking a role that is undeniably more complicated than her character in The Mask of Zorro, she puts her versatility as an actress on display, firmly establishing herself...
Here's the bottom line: if you're in the mood for a (relatively) mindless actioner--light on story and loaded with gratuitous camera shots of Catherine Zeta-Jones's bare back--then this is the film you're looking for. Hey, who needs drama and philosophy on a Friday night...
Meanwhile, I'll be content with the thought that when I'm appoaching 60, I'll be able to attract women like Zeta-Jones...