MOVIE REVIEWS

_**Top-of-the-line drama/thriller tackles the afterlife**_ A man suddenly discovers that he's a ghost (Patrick Swayze) and means to find his killer while protecting his former fiancé (Demi Moore). Tony Goldwyn plays his business partner while Whoopi Goldberg is on hand as a psychic spiritual advisor. Like all great movies, “Ghost” (1990) takes about 15-20 minutes to establish the characters and then takes off, gripping the viewer until the end. It combines drama, thrills and comedy in its fascinating exploration of the hereafter and is cut from the same cloth as future movies “City of Angels” (1998), “Meet Joe Black” (1998) and “The Sixth Sense” (1999). While the film’s theology is no deeper than a Jack T. Chick tract and I don’t agree with every jot & tittle, it effectively conveys its profound ideas in a way that is palatable to the masses. The movie runs 2 hours, 6 minutes and was shot in New York City (Manhattan and Brooklyn), Paramount Studios and downtown Los Angeles. GRADE: A/A-

Tony Goldwyn should have been a more popular actor. He was actually pretty exceptional in almost everything he has done but never actually made it to superstar status. Instead he kind of lingered in supporting actor limbo through the 90s and then kind of disappeared. It's a shame. And he's not the only unsung hero in Ghost, Vincent Schiavelli is in it too. It has a great cast that brings their all to the film. The script isn't that imaginative, you've seen a few movies like this before, but that never really matters when it's done well.