Robert Zemeckis is no Steven Soderbergh (whatever that actually means...even if in my head it makes sense) so, when ten years ago he took on the rare enterprise of releasing two films within a calendar year, people actually chose one of them and pretty much forgot about the other.
But if anyone had told me ten years ago that I'd have such a soft spot for What Lies Beneath and all but forgotten about Cast Away, I would've said they were insane. I clearly remember how the Tom Hanks movie almost got a Best Picture Oscar nomination while this little horror gem (released on a day like today ten years ago) was a relatively successful summer flick which received no end of the year accolades.If you ask me, its smart combination of Hitchcock psycho-sexual intrigue, old fashioned thrilling fun and Michelle Pfeiffer doing Amber Valletta in a red dress (totally not what you're imagining if you haven't seen it). And it's one of the most clever ghost stories told in the last decade.
It's funny that Zemeckis shot it while Tom Hanks fasted to get skeletal for Cast Away, because speaking in strictly cinematic terms this is a much more accomplished work. It's weird to think that now Zemeckis seems to have taken on the mission of turning every actor into CGI, Michelle Pfeiffer hasn't been this much fun since (no not even in Hairspray) and Harrison Ford is a married man.
What movie related twists did you never see coming ten years ago?
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