I must say this movie does not quite keep the hair on the back of my neck up. It was more of a tickle than a goosbump.
Christina Ricci did an ok job considering she's playing a character that's supposedly dead. Sure! Give me a muscle relaxant, I can play dead too!
Liam Neeson, I admit, was a little disappointing in his role. I believe his casting was over-looked. Unless he did his Jedi mind-trick once again, "you will cast me in this movie." tsk tsk!
Justin Long, on the other hand did a good job creating life in this movie. With his alcholism, temper tantrums, chronic whining and inability to grow balls and be a man! For god's sake! Make up your mind!
The kid, well, he did a great job creeping the hell out of me!
However, in the end, this particular movie left me - ironically - cold.

I must say this movie does not quite keep the hair on the back of my neck up. It was more of a tickle than a goosbump.
Christina Ricci did an ok job considering she's playing a character that's supposedly dead. Sure! Give me a muscle relaxant, I can play dead too!
Liam Neeson, I admit, was a little disappointing in his role. I believe his casting was over-looked. Unless he did his Jedi mind-trick once again, "you will cast me in this movie." tsk tsk!
Justin Long, on the other hand did a good job creating life in this movie. With his alcholism, temper tantrums, chronic whining and inability to grow balls and be a man! For god's sake! Make up your mind!
The kid, well, he did a great job creeping the hell out of me!
However, in the end, this particular movie left me - ironically - cold.

I must say this movie does not quite keep the hair on the back of my neck up. It was more of a tickle than a goosbump.
Christina Ricci did an ok job considering she's playing a character that's supposedly dead. Sure! Give me a muscle relaxant, I can play dead too!
Liam Neeson, I admit, was a little disappointing in his role. I believe his casting was over-looked. Unless he did his Jedi mind-trick once again, "you will cast me in this movie." tsk tsk!
Justin Long, on the other hand did a good job creating life in this movie. With his alcholism, temper tantrums, chronic whining and inability to grow balls and be a man! For god's sake! Make up your mind!
The kid, well, he did a great job creeping the hell out of me!
However, in the end, this particular movie left me - ironically - cold.

What does it mean to be alive? Not a question you're going to find broached in 10,000 B.C. or 2012. But it is a question first time director Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo tackles in After.Life with surprising depth and skill. Christina Ricci plays Anna, a woman disconnected from her almost fiancé (Justin Long) and alienated by her mother, who moves about her days in a mostly apathetic haze. For the most part Anna's life seems, well, rather lifeless - until she wakes up on mortician Liam Neeson's slab only to learn that she is in fact dead. What exactly that means is the mystery.

My favorite way to see a movie is when I know next to nothing about it (so I won't spoil anything here!), and that's how I went into the AFI screening of After.Life last night. I knew the basic premise and a little about the story, but other than that - nada. Which I have to say is a great way to approach a thriller. The highlight for me was Liam Neeson (no real surprise there) who brings surprising warmth and complexity to what could have otherwise easily been a very two-dimensional character. The other standout was Chandler Canterbury as Jack, Anna's young student who has a little figuring out of his own to do. Their performances alone are worth the price of admission. The director's attention to detail, dream imagery, and color (most notably a scene where Neeson washes the dye from Ricci's hair as she lies stretched across an embalming table) reminded me of the stark, Gothic beauty of Six Feet Under and Dexter. That said, this film isn't cut and dry, doesn't tie everything up neatly at the end, and asks more questions than it answers. It's definitely not your typical American movie - something I consider a positive aspect. If you don't, then I'd suggest skipping this one an netflixing Twister.

After a horrific car accident, Anna (Christina Ricci) wakes up to find the local funeral director Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) preparing her body for her funeral. Confused, terrified and feeling still very much alive, Anna doesn't believe she's dead, despite the funeral director's reassurances that she is merely in transition to the afterlife. Eliot convinces her he has the ability to communicate with the dead and is the only one who can help her. Trapped inside the funeral home, with nobody to turn to except Eliot, Anna is forced to face her deepest fears and accept her own death. But Anna's grief-stricken boyfriend Paul (Justin Long) still can't shake the nagging suspicion that Eliot isn't what he appears to be. Paul desperately tries to convince the local Police Chief (Josh Charles) that Anna's alive. But the more he investigates her death, the more they question his sanity. As the funeral nears, Paul gets closer to unlocking the disturbing truth, but it could be too late; Anna may have already begun to cross over the other side.

After Life is a clever psychological thriller with a very creepy and mysterious atmosphere. The concept behind the story is very cool but the execution is definitely what made the film. Is Anna alive or is she dead? That is the big question of After Life and the film goes back and forth delivering several clues, some subtle, some not so much. And even though the film tries to be ambiguous, by the end, it's pretty clear what happened. Still, it will drive you crazy, in a good way of course. The film also poses some interesting questions regarding the nature of life forcing the viewer to reflect on his own existence.

Liam Neeson did a good job and Christina Ricci was exceptional in her role. Justin Long however, was largely disappointing. Overall, it's nothing outstanding but definitely a very entertaining flick and the director was able to put a different spin on a often used concept.

This I found to be a very interesting movie with a unique premise. The acting was good but in my opinon not the best I've seen from either Christina or Liam but good enough to keep the viewer immersed in the story. This was not an action packed movie nor an edge of your seat thriller, more of a subtle psychological thriller that focases on a deep human fear; mortality. The impact of this film relied heavily on the performances of the cast and the development of the plot, which at times could drag a bit. Overall a decent watch but hasn't made my favorites list