Check out movie and TV show recommendations from Amazon's Black Employee Network, an affinity group providing support for Black employees at Amazon while championing diversity throughout the company.
It's not too late to join in the conversation on the buzzworthy shows that IMDb users can't get enough of.
Related lists from IMDb users
Title: Bless the Child (2000)
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Kim Basinger | ... | Maggie O'Connor | |
| Jimmy Smits | ... | John Travis | |
| Holliston Coleman | ... | Cody | |
| Rufus Sewell | ... | Eric Stark | |
| Angela Bettis | ... | Jenna | |
| Christina Ricci | ... | Cheri | |
| Michael Gaston | ... | Det. Frank Bugatti | |
| Lumi Cavazos | ... | Sister Rosa | |
| Dimitra Arliss | ... | Dahnya (as Dimitra Arlys) | |
| Eugene Lipinski | ... | Stuart | |
| Anne Betancourt | ... | Maria | |
| Ian Holm | ... | Reverend Grissom | |
| Helen Stenborg | ... | Sister Joseph | |
| Matthew Lemche | ... | New Dawn Kid at Van | |
| Dan Warry-Smith | ... | New Dawn Kid | |
Omens and concepts of good vs. evil have no place in Maggie O'Connor's well-ordered, practical universe. Her life revolves around her job as a nurse at a busy New York City hospital, until one rainy night, her sister Jenna abandons her newborn, autistic daughter at her home. Maggie takes the baby in, and she becomes the daughter she never had. Six years later Jenna suddenly re-appears with a mysterious new husband, Eric, and abducts Cody. Despite the fact that Maggie has no legal rights to Cody, F.B.I. Agent John Travis, an expert in ritual homicide and occult-related crime, takes up her cause when he realizes that Cody shares the same birth date as several other recently missing children. The little girl, it soon becomes clear, is more than simply "special". She manifests extraordinary powers that the forces of evil have waited centuries to control, and her abduction sparks a clash between the soldiers of good and evil that can only be resolved, in the end, by the strength of one ...
If I had only read the reviews written in this forum I would have thought this movie was another Kevin Costner or John Travolta fiasco. Never have I seen so much intense negative interest in a "really bad" movie.
Before watching "Bless The Child" tonight, my only prior knowledge of it was seeing the trailer a couple of times on TV when the movie was about to be released. And then I only really noticed because the Icon label attached to it seemed to be out of place.
But the movie really wasn't that bad, though it could have used more (much more) focus and better lines and more intensity from the lead actors.
The story is classic good vrs. evil. What seems to have peeved many of the reviewers is that "good," in the form of a little girl (Holliston Coleman), was actually presented as having some real (and quiet) strength for a change. I suppose, in these reviewers jaded view of reality, this seems unrealistic. Besides, in horror movies (you know, the "realistic" kind) the evil thingamabob is always indestructible and just when good manages to triumph -- we find it really didn't. (How dare the "Bless the Child" producers have the gall not to be cliche in this respect!)
So to sum up my feelings. I liked the story (I don't suffer from anti-Catholic bigotry so the charge of being "too Catholic" wasn't a concern). I liked the little girl's acting. I thought Kim Bassinger did a credible job -- though her part lacked some intensity as did Jimmie Smits' part. I thought the Stark character (acted by Rufus Sewell) was well acted and convincingly evil. Miss Ricci's cameo was well done and the special effects were very good. Overall, taking into account my earlier criticism of lack of focus, lack of intensity and a few lines that made me wince -- it was not a bad movie. I would suggest it for those who *do* like a clear cut distinction between good and evil.
And, oh yes. No nudity. Very little profanity and violence that was intense but not overly graphic or gory. (I know -- this crew simply *doesn't* know how to make a "real" horror film, do they?)