Premonition (2007)

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The movie would have made more sense if the husband had been struck while attempting to get out of his car, instead of searching for his cellphone to continue his conversation with Sandra Bullock. Who sits in a car in the middle of the road talking on a cellphone immediately after almost getting hit by one vehicle? That was Just DUMB. And how was she pregnant if she was taking lithium?

Beautifully stunning housewife Sandra Bullock (as Linda) gets her cute preteen daughters off to school and busies herself with homey chores. She lives in a huge house that looks lived in; as we saw in the opening, it was a surprise wedding gift from Ms. Bullock's hard-working husband Julian McMahon (as Jim Hanson). He is usually the first one up, probably to get his eyebrows so very neatly plucked. One of Bullock's first chores is to put stickers on the glass doors leading out to her patio. With two young children, it's wise to remind the kids or a tipsy dinner guest that glass doors are hard if you walk or run into them...Bullock's ordinary day is about to be disrupted by a shocking tragedy. A sheriff arrives and informs her that husband McMahon was hit by a truck yesterday, and died on the spot. Naturally grief-stricken, Bullock begins the mourning process. She tells their daughters the terrible news, gets her mother to help and finally falls asleep, exhausted, on the couch. When she wakens, Bullock is back in her upstairs bedroom. She gets up and can't find mother Kate Nelligan (as Joanne). She does find husband McMahon, eyebrows trimmed, calming drinking his morning coffee. Most obviously, Bullock's dead husband is NOT DEAD...Bullock and the audience quickly deduce our story's heroine is experiencing her days out of order. That should keep you up at night...This is an intricately plotted story, by writer Bill Kelly. He does a fine job and director Mennan Yapo brings the story to life and keeps it engaging. At one point, they swipe the Bobby Ewing shower scene from the TV series "Dallas" (1986). Peter Stormare's pill-pushing Dr. Roth plays like "Rosemary's Baby" (1968). Avoiding the viewer's tendency to question events, while sorting them out, is natural. Alas, we are not engaged enough to avoid seeing continuity errors, real and imagined. It does seem like Bullock "remembers" her past but "forgets" her future, considering her time continuum. However, that doesn't explain why a telephone answering machine is immune. This viewer found the ending events a bit disappointing, although it was an admittedly intriguing ride.****** Premonition (3/12/2007) Mennan Yapo ~ Sandra Bullock, Julian McMahon, Kate Nelligan, Peter Stormare

Don't get me wrong, Sandra Bullock is a top notch actress in movies like this one. She doesn't disappoint.The other actors are good too. Julian McMahon did alright . . . I have to say, every time I see him in anything I am reminded of two things he was in, and I didn't like him in either one: Charmed and playing Dr. Doom the first time Fox screwed that superhero team up. So I think he did okay in this movie, nothing special though.Premonition is sort of a Groundhog Day meets thriller movie. So not that fresh, but what really took it down was the utter incompetence of everyone involved. Everyone from the shrink to the mother in law. Pure incompetence. That made me totally frustrated in the movie, I was uncomfortable watching it.By the time the movie ended, and some people didn't like the way it ended, but I was not really caring by that time. I just wanted it to end. I rated this movie a 5.

There are good Sandra Bullock movies and then there are bad Sandra Bullock movies. Unfortunately, this one falls into the latter category, but not through any real fault of the star.I have no problem with non-linear movies or with movies that require the audience to think, but this movie tries too hard to create an usual situation just to be interesting but fails to add any reason for the situation's occurrence. The premise involves the apparently happy housewife (played by Ms. Bullock) receiving some tragic news at the outset. However, when she wakes the next day it is as if the tragedy never occurred. Next day, she awakes back in the world with the tragedy. Apparently, she is jumping ahead and back in time, which could be interesting, but the movie fails to offer any reason why this is occurring to this character. Is she suffering from a mental breakdown? Or if not, are we to assume that this time-travel happens to other people? If the situation is not one caused by a mental breakdown, why is Ms. Bullock's character singled out for this phenomena? No explanation is given or even alluded to. You will leave the movie scratching your head.