I gotta agree with you on the ending of I am Legend. The sad thing is that I really do love the first 2/3 of the movie. Will Smith indeed is brilliant and he works this film brilliantly–he’s so evocative, and I liked the (unfortunately too few) moments when his sanity seemed to be in question. Don’t even get me started on poor Sam!

But yes, The Last Man on Earth is a classic, and has much more staying power than I Am Legend. Have you had a chance to read Matheson’s original novella? It’s truly wonderful too Thanks for the comment, and I hope you enjoy the site!

Personally I guess I would have liked the ‘I am Legend’ movie a little better if they had gone with the no less Howllywood cliché alternate ending and I couldn’t shake the notion that it actually got dropped because it is so vastly similar to the original ending of King’s ‘The Mist’.
So, after watching ‘I am Legend’ and ‘Last man on earth’ I have to say that the latter is far superior IMO, although Will Smith was brilliant, because the newer version feels and looks to often like a ’28 Days later’ rehash.

Honestly, I think Secret Window is a decent rental flick. Not one that I would buy, but if it was on cable, or if I was looking for a good psychological horror, this would be the perfect fit. Johnny Depp is, as always, wonderful. His version of Mort is nicely done, and I also love Maria Bello as wife Amy. Of course, the make or break is John Tutturo (sp?) as Shooter–and he is solid gold.

The plot of the movie follows the novella pretty well (of course taking embellishments along the way)–that is, until the ending. The endings are night and day, and the implications of the different endings is a huge deviation from the novella. I don’t want to spoil you, but I’ll just say that I actually liked the way the movie ended (and said implications of the ending)! I should warn you though, that I also loved the adaptation of SK’s The Mist (which also is a very loyal adaptation for most of the film until the wildly different ending). Both Secret Window and The Mist are pretty close in terms of shocker endings.

I’d say give the film a try, and let me know what you think! I hope you like it (though feel free to bitch me out if you end up hating the movie! LOL!).

Cheers,
Thea

-danielle

The best interactions I felt in the movie were between Will Smith and Sam. And I liked this new kind of infection twist where it’s safe to walk around during the day (whereas with zombies you’re screwed 24/7. Unless they are the zombies from Stephen King’s Cell. But I’m going off point again :p )…I can completely understand how this movie just wasn’t up to par for you though.

And, at the very least, you got to see some Will Smith doing pullups. Shirtless. Raowr!

Anyway, even though I haven’t read the book I still didn’t like I Am Legend all that well. Maybe it’s because I’m already a Resident Evil fan and I think that trilogy did the zombie/infection thing waaaaaaaaay better. I do love me some Will Smith. And Sam awwww I love movies with dogs. But still it just didn’t do it for me.