Užmirsti (2004) Online

There were moments early on in this when a score of 8 or more seemed possible -- unbelievably high, considering the box-office dross churned out nowadays.

But then, 'unbelievable' becomes the defining characteristic of the enterprise, and all the good work that's put into writing, acting, and direction vanishes into another of those swirling cloud-holes that seem to litter American skies.

Nonsensical narrative can, of course, always be forgiven when it's in the service of something greater, and 'The Forgotten' certainly has Grade A nonsense as its underlying premise -- the notion that aliens should wish to spend time and resource figuring out what is it that bonds parents to children and vice versa, a preoccupation about as arcane as it's possible to get considering that aliens very likely have other priorities to think about, like survival, world domination, world extinction, the rising price of gas etc.

Unfortunately for 'The Forgotten', however, there isn't anything else. Aliens as anthropologists is the theme, and once that's apparent then everything that follows is absurd (not least the fact that if, as an alien, you already 'control' the US Government and its security service to so great an extent, how come you don't 'control', or even harness, the talents of Earthbound scientists and anthropologists to do the field-work for you???) But no. Aliens kidnap kids in hugely and unnecessarily complex scenarios then spend an inordinate amount of time trying to cover up their actions. Yeah. Sure.

Yet 'The Forgotten' can't be forgotten so quickly: the lead performances are exceptionally good, the writing crisp and the direction sharp, fresh, and capable of well-nigh Hitchcockian surprises. What a pity then that inventiveness so quickly evaporates, and what could and should have been a superior sci-fi offering ultimately shows itself to be too intellectually lazy to face up to the challenges of its own narrative.

EVERYTHING ON THIS REVIEW IS A SPOILER:

Oh yes, you BELIEVE the bad comments! This movie has a horrid script, hands down. You know the premise: A mother loses her son and one day everyone begins to forget about the kid; pics, videos and everything disappears. Her psychiatrist tells her that she's nuts and must go to a mental institution. She escapes and is later arrested, but the NSA -no less- wants to take care of her, so you know there's SOMETHING ELSE. And what is that "else"? Aliens are abducting children to conduct experiments, and the government is collaborating with them, for the space guys are too powerful to oppose. Wanna know how powerful they are? Powerful enough to see and hear everything that happens at any time, anywhere on earth. They can also change newspapers and records, make all trace of any person disappear and create memories in people's minds. THAT is how powerful they are.

Yet with all their power, all the physical evidence we see of them is people getting vacuumed into the air. Wherever you are in the planet, they can suck you just like that. But, if aliens cand do all that, WHY the hell do they need to use the NSA, or any other earthly power for that matter? Isn't it plainly stupid to chase Julianne Moore the entire movie when they know all the time exactly where she is and they can vacuum her when they feel like it? Not that she and her fellow parent are very adept at hiding: Though they are constantly chased they never worry about changing their appearances a single time. She goes to her husband's workplace (which should be heavily guarded) in a completely careless way, and also goes to the other parent apartment after they become fugitives, though no cop shows (are they incompetent or what?). Speaking of the apartment, aliens can modificate newspapers, minds and whatever necessary, but can't erase a child's paintings from the walls. I guess that just takes too much power, so they just prefer to cover them, though they're easy to discover.

And what's the reason behind all? The EXPERIMENT. What's the experiment, you ask? The alien guy explains it: "We can measure a mother's love for his child (Oh yeah? HOW?), but we can't quite understand it. So we try and see if we can break the bond between them". And for what in the world? Remember, these aliens can see and hear it all, can abduct anyone in a second, we couldn't ever dream of challenge their power. So why would they ever care about breaking the mother-child bond? They do it out of boredom? And why is Julianne the only one who doesn't forget? Well, it's because... er... because she's very stubborn! No kidding, that's all the explanation we get! Every other parent in the world can be a lousy forgetful bastard, but not Julianne, she could never do that!

So that's the end of the experiment, the bond can't be broken, right? Wrong! The alien is getting nervous because if she doesn't forget, "the experiment will be a failure" Pardon me?! The point of an experiment is to OBSERVE results, not to provoke them! If you want to achieve concrete results, then it's a project, not an experiment! Can't the writer even tell this simple difference? Anyway, he erases Julianne's first memory from her baby, so that's it! But no, it's useless, she remembers again! So the alien guy is vacuumed as a punishment. Serves him right!

In the end the cold heartless aliens become suddenly benign and decide to give everyone's children back, just like that (in return for ruining their experiment?). The little ones don't remember a thing and go on happily with their lives (just ignore the fact that more than a year has passed in the rest of the world!). Even more, no one remembers anything at all, just Julianne (she's stubborn!) But who cares about the terrible truth she's discovered, she's got her son back after all (would they also return the photo albums?), smile and enjoy!

And that's about it. Now you judge if you want to pay to see THIS.

My comment to my wife after watching the film was "if aliens came to earth and wanted to know what was meant by the term 'Hollywood Ending'", then they would just have to watch this film to find out.

As previously mentioned, the first half of the movie is interesting. The often used premise of "what is reality" and the thought that that which you hold as real runs counter to what everything and everyone else around you feels. In many ways it's much like "Jacobs Ladder" in that respect.

The second half really however degrades into what feels like a made for TV SciFi channel one hour series. The ending is truly awful and makes absolutely no sense. I think my wife summed it up best when she said "the ending didn't fit the movie whatsoever, but I liked it anyway because it made me feel good". Yup, I likened the ending to something you'd see in a Star Trek episode, going along interestingly enough, and then the perfect pat ending sprouts up in the last 5 minutes and makes everyone feel good to be human. I didn't mind the "open endedness" of the ending so much as the total sense of non congruency once the pieces are laid out in front of you. It's like getting to the end of the puzzle, and instead of having missing pieces (which you can at least fill in in your head), you have pieces left over from two other seemingly related but different puzzles.

The acting was serviceable, with Julianne Moore turning in a "Riplyesque" performance (whether this is good or bad depends on your perspective) but Gary Sinise basically walks through the movie (while bearing an eerie resemblance to Steve Jobs in the beginning). The other actors move the plot along, but nothing worth saying anything more about.

Oh, this movie has one of the best "jump in your seat" auto scenes ever!

Instead of going into a detailed review of this movie, I would just like to point out that the DVD of The Forgotten offers the possibility to view the Theatrical Release or the Extended Version which contains an alternate ending.

The Extended Version runs 8 minutes longer than the Theatrical version. Basically, the changes consist of 2 scenes that were cut off the Theatrical Release + the alternate ending. If you have not seen this movie yet, GIVE YOURSELF A FAVOR and watch the EXTENDED VERSION. The alternate ending is TOTALLY DIFFERENT and in my humble opinion a lot more in tune with the rest of the movie. I have not seen this movie in theaters and I decided to watch the Extended Version first. I'm glad I did! After the viewing, I decided to check the Theatrical Ending and I can totally understand why many people have talked negatively about the "Hollywood Ending" of The Forgotten. The Extended Version fixes that very well. I cannot understand why this was not the version showed in theaters.

All in all: good acting, good story - 8/10.

Let's say we play a game where I describe a movie plot and you guess what movie I am talking about. Here goes: This movie is a rather bizarre Sci-Fi flick in which aliens are performing experiments on humans, apparently to see what makes them tick. The humans, most of them anyway, don't know they are the guinea pigs. In the process of performing these experiments, the aliens must erase the human's memories.

However, there are a few rare humans who have memories that just can't be erased. In particular, our hero, the Main Character, will have nothing to do with it, much to the astonishment and consternation of the aliens. Oh, and there is this human Psychiatrist who has sold out to the aliens and is trying to get our hero to forget. In the end, the shrink turns out not to be such a bad guy, just a wimp.

Another major character is a local police person (notice how I am trying to avoid gender in these comments) who, though very skeptical at first, begins to smell a rat and tries to help out our hero. But, before the police person can help out much, he/she is sucked out into space (bummer).

Finally, our hero is victorious and the aliens stop tinkering with memories. In the last scene, our hero, who still remembers everything, strikes up a conversation with another main character (who remembers nothing) and they hit it off once again. Proving that deep down inside us there is a soul that remains constant, even if our memories are fleeting.

Those of you who are hardcore Sci-Fi buffs are jumping up and down yelling "Dark City, Dark City". The rest of you are saying: "No, No silly, you are talking about that movie that just came out on DVD called 'The Forgotten'". Of course, you are all correct.

Only difference is that Dark City got there first and is a much, much better film. If Alex Proyas will crank out a few more like Dark City I might even forgive him for I, Robot.

I know you are supposed to suspend disbelief for a Sci-Fi film, but The Forgotten asks way too much. Just as an example, these aliens are powerful and resourceful enough to alter memories and reach out from deep space and snatch people, even whole houses back into space in an instant with almost nobody ever noticing. But, when they need to disguise a child's room (cover up the drawings on the wall) the best they can do is loosely paste some crummy wallpaper over the drawings. (I wish I could get wallpaper down that easily.) A couple of coats of good interior latex would have worked much better.

All-in-all, I was very disappointed to say the least. In a few days, I won't remember it at all. My memory is fading, fading... "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do......."

Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) is a mother who can not forget her nine years son Sam, who died in a plane crash. When the memory of Sam is erased from the persons close to her, Telly investigates and finds Ash Correll (Dominic West), a father who misses his daughter, who died in the same accident. A further investigation of them shows a kind of conspiracy with a surprising conclusion.

"The Forgotten" is a good thriller, which recalls X-Files, but the theatrical conclusion is horrible. I was very disappointed with the last fifteen minutes, but the alternate ending in the DVD is better and better and saves the story. I am suspicious to write about the wonderful Julianne Moore, since I am a great fan of her, but she has another excellent performance. It is amazing how beautiful and talented this actress is. The cinematography is excellent, the effects are sometimes very scary and I enjoyed this movie. I could be better with some improvements in the screenplay, but anyway I recommend it to fans of X-Files. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Os Esquecidos" ("The Forgotten")

Generally I prefer to see the director's cut of anything. I mean it's their show, not the studio's. We watched it thru then went back to see if the theatrical had a more connected ending. No such luck.

What I don't understand was how this got past a test audience of any one other than mothers. The premise of the crazy mom who has lost a non-existent son was slow to build, and thrown out way before you could really attach yourself to her. OK, so now it's not crazy mom, but elaborate gov't cover up complete with convert sidekick and omnipotent NSA agents. Then when we are starting to chase that line, it's got aliens and all the quick SFX that we can squeeze out of this turnip.

This is where the last wheel falls off. Theatrical ending (think Sigorney Aliens) "I HAD A SON AND HIS NAME IS SAM!!!", confrontation with Alien, who reveals he's on the hook for his test, which he gets pink slipped for...

or

Alternate ending (think i dunno, some thing like warm milk and stale cookies) "I ...had...a...son... " etc etc. explanation by Alien, who reveals that this test is over and...

out of the goodness of their alien hearts give back the kids, the parents, the memories, and probably any thing else they have used in 14 months so that she can get back to her life and be the only one any the wiser.

What bugs me, that any one of the three stories could have played out but never was given a chance. Even the two versions of the ending could easily have been joined and made a stronger finish as it was.

Julianne Moore was at her best when we all thought she was delusional, but as this driver-less carriage wandered from concept to concept, she just got weaker. Gary Sinise was great, we knew he was in on it but wished they built him up more so when his smoke and mirrors were gone it would have impacted Julianne's character better.

Sorry, but it felt like a film directed by a civil servant committee guided by tax lawyers.

Many credits for the first half hour; very good. Then another half hour you're thinking, please, please don't let it be aliens. And then...

in the beginning, the story that you know from the trailer is laid out very rapidly; the kid is no longer on the pictures and she's the only that seems to think he ever lived. That start is very good, therefore the trailer got to me and i saw the movie. however, what they do not hint at (recognise it in hindsight though) is that it is very alien-related. Only two or three scary shots though. the idea starts with the cloud in the sky and then builds. Never spoken about in the movie, you can't get around it; aliens. it would have been a lot better if they had used the initial idea (you kid is no longer there and you are the only one who knows he ever lived) and made into an FBI or NSA experiment instead of an alien one. Awful, awful ending completes the picture.

what starts out as an interesting psycho-mystery quickly descends into the abyss of alien abduction going from the plausible to the absurd. completely ridiculous. it is entirely possible that one might have a potentially serious readjustment to the loss of a child (most parents would agree) and if the story continued along these lines staying in the realm of the real it might have been an interesting story. what if telly really had a son and his death traumatized her so much that she couldn't recover. how would that affect her life and the lives of those in her circle? that would be an interesting story. what if she never had a son and for some reason (bump on the head, party hypnosis trick, former government security agent etc) was supposed to believe she had one and forgot that she was role playing a mother? that would have been interesting.

even if the story drifted into a government conspiracy theory story or a realistic "need to know" movie such as deep impact ((1998) it might have been interesting. as it is, the movie take the viewer on a ride through the interestingly possible and takes a hairpin turn with no road signs while going too fast sending the viewer over the cliff to the rocky shores of a cheap, no-imagination story line with laughable special effects.

though not a julianne moore fan to begin with, she did a believable job in spite of a lagging script. even gary sinise couldn't help this plot go from pot to plausible.

Telly Paretta is seeing a shrink as therapy for losing her son in a plane crash, only she never had a son but is convinced she had. All the people in her life don't remember Sam including her husband. When she confronts the alcoholic fathers of another child from the flight they set out to discover the truth and the truth is "out there".

Part X-Files and part Lifetime movie of the week, "The Forgotten" seems to really channel Chris Carter's hit TV show, look it even has a redhead. The story is interesting and Julianne Moore's performance is sincere but you can't help but think that something is missing. The clever twist is good but they could have easily expanded the storyline and made it more "something".

Good but not great, "The Forgotten" seems to lack its own identity due to the derivative nature of the storyline which needed a bit of assistance from Fox Mulder.

Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) is mourning the loss of her son to a plane crash 14 months ago. One day a couple small memory-related oddities occur. First she forgets where she parked her car. Later, she swears she was just drinking a cup of coffee but her psychiatrist says she wasn't. Soon, this snowballs and her memory of her son is even challenged. First her husband, then her psychiatrist, then friends say she never had a son. As if that's not bad enough, she ends up in trouble with the police. Is Telly going crazy, or is something more sinister afoot?

I'm a sucker for stories that throw the main character into some extremely alienating situation where they have to spend most of there time trying to figure out what's going on. Films such as Vertigo (1958), The Matrix (1999), Cube (1997), Saw (2004)--heck, even that television show "John Doe" (2002)—are all gems for me. So I was a prime candidate for loving The Forgotten.

Gerald Di Pego's script is stimulating for switching the usual device of amnesia around--instead of a protagonist who can't figure out who they are or how they got somewhere, we have a protagonist who swears they know exactly who they and who their family and friends are, it's just that the relevant other characters can not seem to remember.

The crux of the film is an ever-tightening tension as Telly first works to gain allies, then works with them to solve the mystery. Director Joseph Rubin is excellent with straightforward thriller/mystery material, and shows off extra chops with some of the most memorable "shock" scenes I've come across in a long time. There is an amazingly paced car crash that is sure to jolt most viewers. There is another incident with a car and a person that wonderfully puts the viewer off balance while giving them a clue to the mystery. Some characters are absconded in a bizarre and disturbing way. Rubin also takes clichéd thriller climax material and gives it a fun new spin as he plays with character's powers and reality.

It might throw some viewers off that The Forgotten is just as much a sci-fi film as a thriller. It firmly veers into X-Files territory--much more strongly than you'd ever expect from the first half of the film. This is yet another great example of why it's better to approach films with zero preconceptions/expectations if possible. There is also a romance subplot that always remains visible, but relatively far below the surface. On these more conspicuous levels, The Forgotten is an excellent, enthralling yarn, as long as viewers have a taste for fantasy.

Equally interesting, though, are the more subtextual readings of the film. Di Pego and Rubin have poignant things to say about the nature of memory and its effects on beliefs and behavior. The past doesn't exist substantially; it isn't "alive". Only attentiveness and present intentionality can keep the past alive. It can disappear in a wisp, perhaps never to be regained, the moment that attentiveness and intentionality are gone. Ultimately, the film suggests a balance between obsessively keeping the past alive, which can void the present and even precipitate other dangers (this is even stronger in the alternate ending available on the DVD), and fatalistically taking the fact that the past doesn't exist substantially as a cue to completely neglect it. In the dénouement of The Forgotten, such a balance is rewarded, and leads to hope for the present and future while maintaining a reasoned embrace of the past.

This film badly needed to make up its mind what it was - an urban paranoia thriller, with Mrs Joe Public up against the combined might of the establishment machine, or an alien abduction sci-fi thriller. By greedily going for the have-your-cake-and-eat-it plan of trying it be both at once, it spectacularly failed to be either, and fell comprehensively between two stools.

The urban paranoia aspect, which was smouldering away quite nicely, had a bucket of water thrown over it as soon as the alien connection put in an appearance.

The sci-fi aspect - neat sequence where the lady detective was snatched into the sky - was never fully developed.

So many plot holes. So little explanation - and by gum, some explanation was needed (but not forthcoming) by the time it was over.

Disappointing drivel.

"The Forgotten" is a film that has provoked quite a number of comments to this forum. Never saw it in its commercial run, but we caught it on cable a few nights ago. The film, as directed by Joseph Ruben, and based on Gerard Di Pego's screen treatment has the feeling of a long Sci-Fi channel offering, or maybe an extended "X Files" episode.

The exposition and prologue to the story are excellent. We watch as a disconsolate mother, Telly Paretta, deals with the possible death of her son Sam, who she last saw boarding a flight, in the company of other children on his way to camp. There are indications that an accident occurred, judging by newspapers clippings Telly has in her hands. She has kept Sam's room as it was when he was alive.

Terry, on the other hand is being told by her psychiatrist that she is delusional. Sam never existed; Sam is a product of her imagination. Yet, Telly never lets go. She continues her search for the young son, but suddenly she is being persecuted by secret service men who want to put a stop to whatever she claims. Telly pays a visit to Ash, who is a father whose daughter was also in the ill fated flight, but she finds a drunk man, slowly killing himself with alcohol. Telly discovers a wall in his apartment that has been wall papered over, but it's clear the daughter painted the walls underneath the paper at one time.

Thus begins the quest in which Telly and Ash embark in their search for the truth. Little do they know what they have gotten into. The director takes us on a ride, that at times, makes a lot of sense, but then, we start questioning what we are seeing. The film is by no means a bad one, it's just the resolution that seems not to make much sense at all, unless we buy the twists and turns that Mr. Di Pego has concocted for us.

Joanne Moore makes an interesting choice for Telly. Ms. Moore, one of our best actress working in films today, is a beautiful presence that makes a credible woman that will not stop until she finds out what happened to her young son. Dominic West, as Ash, is also up to task. Both actors do great work together. The solid supporting cast is also interesting, Gary Sinise, Alfre Woodard, Anthony Edwards and the excellent Linus Roache, who alas, doesn't have anything to do in the film, with the exception of appearing out of nowhere, every now and then.

This is a film for Sci-Fi fans. They certainly will find more in it than the average viewer. The direction by Mr. Ruben is inspired and the different Brooklyn and New York area locations make a good background to the story. James Horner's music score is eerie and compliments the film, as well as the cinematography by Anastas Michos.

This movie deserves a little defending. It's not a classic, but I can't believe how many people are not looking at what we are presented with. I'm afraid I make no attempt to avoid spoilers, so be warned.

In the first 20 minutes of the movie we are set up with an interesting story of a woman who is paramnesic, who creates her own memories from fantasies. But as she gets better, she is losing those false memories, and to her it feels as if she is forgetting, or as if someone is stealing away her memories.

It is not spelled out completely, but we know she's wrong a lot. She thinks she remembers parking her car where it isn't, she thinks she remembers putting a pen in her bag that isn't there. Reality is clearly a problem. And then she's confronted with what her condition is, and faced with institutionalisation because she can't come to terms with it.

Thereafter she has a complete break with reality, and she enters into a complete fantasy world involving 'Ash' who correlates her story, 'Ash Correl', a chimera called 'Sheemer', her quest after thin air and a company called 'Quest Air', all created in the style of the X-files, parroting TV. Our heroine's name is Telly Parrota.

We are warned against how the condition works - when Telly remembers, she adds to the memories, they get longer, more detailed. And this is what drives forward the plot as she enters deeper into her fantasy.

Every time she dreams, she re-remembers the last time she saw her son, and the sequence gets longer. She adds new clues that propel her on her journey. She wakes up in a panic and running. It all comes from her dreams.

Like the Matrix series, this movie doesn't explain itself. Like those movies, the character names, costume colours and visual symbols are clues to what's going on. In The Forgotten, we see circles over-obviously placed on screen to indicate (perhaps) the circular trap of her mind, certainly the circles the plot is going in. If you see a big circle on the screen, expect another turn in her psychosis.

Not convinced? The 'aliens' have no spaceships or technology, rather it seems they operate out of the moon, which sucks people out of your life like a scary hand of god - the very feeling of her recovery snatching away 'memories', snatching away her family and friends. You are aware of the aliens because of chattering whispering voices.

The movie underlines how this modern mythology of paranoid conspiracy theories and alien abductions has strong psychological side.

Her psychiatrist enters back into things and plays along, 'cooperating' with the aliens. At last she meets the alien, actually a hypnotherapy's, who offers her her last chance to come back and lead a normal life in the real world. In a very suggestible state, he helps her erase that first false memory, upon which everything was built, the memory of the birth of her son, actually miscarried. But the emotional connection to her fantasy world is too strong. Even if her son was never born, never existed as that little boy, the life was in her, she affirms. Her emotional attachment is too strong for logic to make any inroads - the doctors give up, and she is left in the happiness of her psychosis, a tragedy of a kind. But would she be happier in the real world?

The Forgettable by Doy Ariola

Poor Julianne Moore. Everyone thinks she's out of her mind. She thinks she has a son who died in a plane crash and nobody -- not even her husband -- believes her. Her shrink (Gary Sinise) tells Moore that it's her mind playing games. But she knows otherwise. She's in a gag/game show. And if she becomes Nancy Drew long enough, the prize is her son.

The Wire's Dominic West plays the disconnected drunk who can't seem to place a finger whether or not he has a daughter. That is until Moore pays him a visit and starts ripping out the wallpaper to show him that something's amiss! Dominic West then becomes Moore's Hardy Boy. Better yet, he becomes the Scully to her Mulder.

Sleeping With the Enemy director Joseph Ruben weaves a yarn that looks and feels like an "X-Files" episode with some "Days Of Our Lives" thrown in for good measure. This movie has nothing really original going for it, let alone a plot that makes you care about the characters. Maybe this is because everyone's either grim or amnesiac!

"The Forgotten" has the trappings of a psychological thriller. Establishing the idea that the main character as delusional and amnesiac may be curious. We've seen that before in "Gothika". But, in effect, the result sounds more like a ratings stunt for a soap opera than a movie premise.

To those who have seen the trailer, we are more curious about that scene where that guy from "Oz" gets sucked up into the ceiling. I guess you can say that characters being sucked up into the ceiling can be original. After watching it, one senses a similar effect after reading a National Enquirer article. You feel the producers of the movie is just being weird for weirdness' sake.

In all stories, characters are reduced to pawns to progress the story. However, Ruben and his writers may have taken this a little too literally! It was actually morbid fun to see a criminally underused Alfre Woodard being sucked up into the sky like a puppet being unceremoniously removed from the play. This not only makes the story ludicrously implausible and so easy for audiences to scoff off. That stunt made my suspension of disbelief -- that's been hanging on a tenuous thread for quite some time -- to snap.

Julianne Moore is as always a dependable actress who can carry a movie. The first thirty minutes is an example of this. It delves on her supposed mental state and how the people around her are reacting to it. While she's quite evocative, everything else is awfully blah. The scenes are pure melodrama. Something that's good enough but pretty forgettable.

What's more, Julianne Moore seems to start looking like herself in most of her movies. For a moment there, I thought she was Agent Starling!

Halfway through, the director thankfully enough changes gears. He segues to a series of chase sequences between the main characters against the G-men who wants to capture them. But you're not pulled into the story. It goes on and on up until Woodard and Sinise's characters usher the movie to the twist. At that time, my mind was already wandering and dinner had more allure to me than these characters' adventure.

There would have been many opportunities to make the ho-hum plot into something new. But Ruben isn't interested to redeem himself. Trying to be PG-13 safe seemed more important than rousing the audience. It's like he was making this as a primetime TV movie. Maybe that's why this movie failed to interest me: the lost opportunities.

Though I will not spoil the ending, be forewarned that this movie embodies what most movies of this year are guilty of: i.e. a clunky plot that justifies an anemic climax. Mind you, everything's explained in a neat package in the end. But if you're one who's willing to invest your attention to the entire thing, don't expect fireworks. You probably would have appreciated an ambiguous X-Files type of revelation and it dawns on you that you might feel cheated out of the ending. But let's just say that "The Forgotten" portrays aliens as really bad psychoanalysts.

I recommend that you sit this one out and wait for the movie on cable. If not for the cast, The Forgotten may as well be an episode of X-Files or supernatural TV movie of the month. Two movies of its ilk -- Richard Gere's The Mothman Prophecy's and Halle Berry's "Gothika's" -- have more spooks per minute and thereby, more entertaining. So, catch those instead.

By the way, if you want to see Moore on a similar genre, with a story that's more satisfying, check out Todd Haynes' "Safe".

This movie was awful. I thought it would be a cool psychological thriller, but it twisted into a stupid ALIEN movie. I told my husband halfway through this film that if it turned out to be aliens that I would leave. Unfortunately, I didn't leave. This is the stupidest movie I've seen all year. The ending left more questions than answers, and it reminded me of cop-out endings like when the main character just wakes up from a dream at the end. This always happens when an author can't figure out how to get his/her characters out of the mess they're in, and I'm pretty sure that's what happened with this crummy flick. If they would have just messed with the psychological part that they invented in the first half of the movie, I think it would have been much better. And the people flying through the air looked absolutely ridiculous.

Contains Spoiler We received free tickets to see this movie before the opening and I must say I've never wanted to reclaim 2.5 hours of my life more badly. Mel Gibson's line "Give me back my son!" in Ransom is echoed over and over again. That chant, combined with hand held jittery camera pans and a complete lack of plot led me to shut my eyes more often than not- all to prevent both motion sickness and physical sickness (due to the fact I was stuck in the middle of a packed theatre).

Plot Spoilers: Kid dies in plane crash. Mom sees therapist. Therapist tells mom she's crazy. Mom starts imagining things. NSA shows up. Mom meets drunk dad. Drunk 'remembers' lost kid. More nauseating street scenes. Mom is hit by SUV but walks away fine. (commercial, best scene 1). Hide in some bushes and escape. Figure it all out, watch some people escape, Mom is the last survivor and 'gets' her son back.

Skip this movie.

Weak Sixth Sense rip off that gives up most of it's cards way too early in the game and just leaves you cold right after it's all said and done. Julianne Moore is such a class act that you don't mind taking the familiar trip with her but at the end, you end up more and less at the same place at where you started. The scenes of people flying in and out of the air is really cool in terms of special effects but the reason for it once you find out is kind of a cop out and very far fetch. The whole conspiracy angle that it tries to play also does not fit the context of the story and ends up confusing more than adding to the story. I will give this movie high marks for the game performances of Julianne Moore, Gary Sinise, Anthony Edwards and Christopher Kovaleski but it's too bad that they did not have a script to support their talent.

Now THIS is what I want from a thriller. I had high hopes for this movie, and for the most part it delivers. The story grabs you from the start, and what I like is that nothing is revealed too soon. The movie pulls you along and keeps things nice and subtle until BAM it hits you with an uppercut. The pace smooths out and then WHAM, a right hook to the jaw. Pretty much the same method my mom used to employ to keep me on my toes.

The big mystery surrounds Telly's son. She clearly remembers him, and she has a difficult time dealing with his apparent death. About a year ago, he boarded a plane that was bound for camp, but the plane was never heard from again. Soon, all evidence of her son's existence begins to disappear. His image has vanished from a picture, photo albums are now empty, and a home video shows nothing but static.

Is somebody trying to mess with Telly's memory? Is her husband (Edwards) in on it? What is her shrink's involvement? Is she crazy, or is it everybody else around her who's lost it? Has Anthony Edwards started to regret leaving ER yet? Or am I confusing him with Julianna Margulies?

When Telly meets up with Ash Correll (West), she realizes that he's forgotten about his daughter, who was also on the plane with her son. It's at this point she's convinced that she isn't crazy, so she seeks to find out exactly what is going on. I love how the characters don't know who they can trust, and neither does the audience. Even characters who are attempting to help must be looked at with suspicion. You are to question everybody at all times!

The acting is very solid. You won't find my name in any Julianne Moore fan clubs (although I was once a member of the Bon Jovi Secret Society), but I have to admit she does a very good job here. And I'd never seen Dominic West before (because I typically avoid snoozers such as Mona Lisa Smile like Richard Simmons avoids women), but I thought he was great. Both characters react in situations exactly like you want them to. They're two distraught parents trying to find out what happened to their children, and they're willing to do what it takes. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll leave it at that.

I definitely recommend you see this at the theater because there are two jump scenes that quite simply have to be seen on the big screen and heard with the best sound system possible. I'm talking two of the better jump scenes I've seen in a while. Stephanie doesn't jump much (even at times when I'm hoppin' like a giddy school girl), but she was even jolted out of her seat. Well, she didn't literally go flying out of her seat like a circus freak, but you know what I mean. One of the scenes caused her to jump and clench my arm. Poor thing hurt her hand on my bicep though.

Comparisons to The X-Files and The Twilight Zone are accurate, but don't listen to the movie snobs claiming it feels like a "mediocre" episode of one of the two. Keep in mind, this isn't the kind of thriller that will have you trying to figure out the plot for days afterward. It's not gonna make you think like Memento, and it's not gonna shock you or disturb you like The Butterfly Effect. It's simply gonna keep you guessing and entertained.

THE GIST

The Forgotten is a solid thriller that delivers a good mystery and some of the best jump scenes I've seen in a while. If you wanna cause yourself heartache and nitpick over some minor plot holes, then go ahead and be a little curmudgeon. But what's the point? Allow yourself to be entertained for an hour and a half. It won't hurt. This is a very good date movie, but guys, do a few reps beforehand because your gal might be grabbing your arm quite a bit, and it's best if that's not an embarrassing situation for you.

This is a brief comment about The forgotten. It was so dreadful that the friend I came with went in the lobby to play with the amusement machines. I am sure he had more enjoyment than me. A silly and very poor film. Julianne Moore is the only good thing in this bad film. Even the aliens were so poor they only had one alien representing their entire planet. I wonder if it was something to do with the alien actors union. If these aliens ever see this film they will probably return to their planet wondering why humans spend so much money on utter drivel. I have no idea how this film won the backing to be made or why Julianne Moore wanted to make it. She has probably FORGOTTEN the reason.

Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) is tormented by the memory of her 8 year old son after he died in a plane crash. Her therapist (Gary Sinise) is convinced that she is delusional and inventing these memories, but she is on a mission to find evidence that he did.

Julianne Moore is typically convincing in the role, and she sells the frustration of her situation really well. The story is very intriguing and incorporates some seamless visuals that are used sparingly and too dramatic effect.

Unfortunately the ending is little bit too Hollywood for me, but there is salvation in the alternate DVD ending, it's not perfect but certainly better.

6/10 - 7/10 with the alternate ending

The thing that made this movie unsatisfying was the huge gaps in the plot that were left unaddressed by either of the main characters or by the screenwriter. The principle players were a very handsome man and a very attractive woman, who meet each other under the circumstances of having lost a child, a fact that somehow seems to be erased from the memories of almost everybody. With superhuman dedication, they resolve to find their own children, but it never occurs to them to seek out the parents of the other four children were also killed in a plane crash. Not even with the objective of sorting out clues as their own mystery, and even less out of concern for the parents, whether grieving or forgetful. And then at the end the lovely couple meets again, everything seemingly back in its rightful place. But wait a minute: Doesn't she have a husband? Who has now presumably been relieved of the forgetfulness which seemed to be the focus of their estrangement? The movie just ended, with most of the cast simply written out of the script and the protagonists grinning in a vacuum. Which is unfortunate, because this picture had a good and believable cast, and the parts were played quite respectably.

A grieving mother, Telly Paretta, is struggling to cope with the loss of her 9-year-old son. She is stunned when her psychiatrist and her husband tell her that she has created eight years of memories of a son she never had. But when she meets the father of one of her son's friend who is having the same experience, Telly embarks on a mission to prove her son's existence and her sanity. And the the goofiness starts! Chasing around in the dark..... 100's of scenes from high above....dark/gloomy... "Where's Mulder?" would be a better name! This one, with a decent plot and a good start, just goes on and on... could have wrapped this baby up in a half-hour TV show.... But it just goes on and on! And WHO could possibly sleep in a shady hotel room, with chips and booze, AND JULIANA MOORE!? AND NOTHING HAPPENS? Not with me, my friend!

Although it started out with potential and had a few good quickie shock visuals, the plot was endless, boring and then ended as completely silly! Endless running through the streets, drab script as far as dialogue between the characters. I never did figure out how the cool female detective found out what truly was happening. I think there were some cut scenes due to budget or something. Next thing you know, she's zapped into the air. The first couple of "zaps" were heartstopping. The rest of them were business as usual. I think the writers knew the script was not full of exciting stuff and tried to overcompensate with zapping additional people into the air from time to time. And the reason for all of this? Once you find out at the end of the movie, it is truly incredulous and laughable (in fact, a lot of us did laugh in the theater)...The title is appropriate. In my mind, this is "The Forgotten" movie of the season/year.

When hearing on GMA that it was one of the scariest movies in years, I couldn't wait to see The Forgotten. I was very disappointed - more so because I expected maybe too much. Doesn't even touch The Sixth Sense. I was disappointed - as usual these days - the LOUDNESS of the sound is what makes you jump at certain "scare" scenes. I'm still searching for a good scary movie. Once in a while a movie comes out that makes me happy - but usually the movie sets its sights, such as The Forgotten, on the good ole' "men from outerspace" theme. I'm sick of that. There's enough stories to base a good thriller on that happens right here on earth. Now I must continue to type to take up the 10 lines you need to publish your comments. Blah blah blah.