Toronto Days. Toronto Nights: Hereafter

Last night, the trailer for Clint Eastwood's Hereafter finally hit the internet, and while may people had split opinions of what they saw, I felt that this could be a return to form for Clint. It seems I was wrong. I'm just another less-than-humble moviegoer, and who am I to question one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. However, I must wonder if Clint Eastwood may be suffering from Murtaugh syndrome. Maybe, he's just too old for this business. As usual, the reviews are split, which doesn't bode very well for Eastwood's latest.

Kirk Honeycutt (Hollywood Reporter): "Clint Eastwood continues his search for challenging stories that delve into extreme reaches of the human condition in Hereafter, a globetrotting inquiry into the nature of the afterlife. The film also marks an unexpected turn in the screenwriting of Peter Morgan, away from his survey of political personalities in such films as The Queen and Frost/Nixon and into metaphysical speculation. The film never is less than intriguing, right from its tour de force opening sequence, and often full of insights into why people long for answers, sometimes with great urgency. By now Eastwood has established a reputation for the unexpected, so his admirers -- 'fans' no longer seems the right word -- plus anyone curious about the subject matter certainly will line up when Warner Bros. releases the film domestically Oct. 22. The film should do very well in Europe next year as well."

Brad Brevet (Rope of Silicon): "It's fairly obvious how these plot strands will all come together, but the journey along the way could have been much more revealing. As it turns out it is all very uninteresting and quite trivial. Marie can't shake her visions, Marcus hunts down psychics looking for answers and George strikes up a relationship with a young woman from Pittsburgh (Bryce Dallas Howard) while keeping his brother (Jay Mohr) at bay as he continually pressures George to go back to making money as a psychic. Truthfully, it's all a bit of a snooze."

Mark Adams (Screen Daily): "Clint Eastwood does not resort to any clever editing to tell the three parallel stories, instead opts for a linear style switching between each storyline in 10 minute bursts, and allowing each of the characters to develop gradually. He does a great job in reflecting the socio-economic circumstances of each character (Marie is wealthy and glamorous, Marcus has a tough housing estate life and George lives modestly and along and works in a local factory) and with no fuss of grandstanding elegantly weaves the parallel storyline together."

Right now, it's unclear which way this film will go, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it won't be snagging a Best Picture nomination.