Screen Media Films

An American Affair is set in the early 1960’s.  The John F. Kennedy administration is at the height of its popularity and yet there is still quite a bit of controversy swirling after the Cuban missile crisis. Adam Stafford (Cameron Bright) is a thirteen year old enduring the awkward years of his life when he catches a glimpse of his neighbor across the street.  His neighbor is Catherine Caswell (Gretchen Mol) and she eventually hires Adam as her landscaper.  Despite the enormous age-gap between Catherine and Adam, a friendship emerges.  As the film continues, Caswell’s complicated history begins to return and the two of them become involved in the growing speculation about the JFK administration.   

The film manages to deliver some emotion throughout.  In a shocking display, Gretchen Mol’s performance is very strong.  The vulnerability of her character is portrayed quite well and viewers can understand her. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Cameron Bright.  His role is the most crucial in the film and in a most disappointing way becomes the least powerful.  Most of his major scenes are forgettable and his performance is flat.  The other characters throughout the film do not overly impress.  However, everyone plays their character well enough to get by.  

Nature’s Grave looks like it could have been a made for television movie for The Animal Planet or one of those learning channels. If they were ever thinking of branching out a bit into the nature gone mad type of show, wait a minute. They already have. This one attempts to be a thriller/horror film but doesn’t ever come close to either definition. The wild animals never amount to anything more than an attacking bird or a dead manatee. I’m not sure what a fan of this movie was looking for when he or she came here, but I suspect whatever it was, it was very hard not to be disappointed.

Peter (Caviezel) and Carla (Karvan) are married couple who get on each other’s nerves most of the time. Peter imagines that a long weekend of camping might be just the ticket to get their relationship back on solid footing. He buys about 10 grand of equipment, which only gets his unhappy wife even more angry at him. They pile into the car and head for a remote stretch of beach. In the middle of the night they have trouble finding the place, and if that shouldn’t have been enough to get them to a comfy hotel at least for the night, the sudden attacks by nature should have done the trick. The animal mishaps escalate, and before long they couple aren’t worried so much about their marriage surviving. They have to try and survive with their lives intact.