Greetings again from the darkness. One of the advantages to not being dependent upon movie reviews for food and shelter is that there is no concern for a superstar holding a grudge against me and my opinions. Make no mistake, director Clint Eastwood is a Hollywood powerhouse and also one of the most consistently fine filmmakers working today. Still, no one bats a thousand ... this is a miss, with barely a swing.

The film follows three basic stories. The first revolves around George Lonegan (Matt Damon), who seemingly has true psychic abilities. The problem is that George does not wish to have anything to do with his "powers". The second involves twin brother, Marcus and Jason, who live with their druggie mom. Things change quickly when Jason is hit and killed by a truck and Marcus is taken away while his mom rehabs. The third story has Marie LeLay (Cecile De France) as an investigative reporter who gets caught in a tsunami while vacationing and has a "near death experience".

I will not go into detail for any of the three stories other than to say Jay Mohr plays Damon's money-grubbing brother who wants to take his talent to the big time; the sadness of the surviving twin is tough to take at times as he searches for a connection to his dead brother; and lastly, Marie's near-death brings her closer to life than she ever was before.

What is most surprising, given the pedigree of Eastwood and writer Peter Morgan (The Queen, Last King of Scotland) is that this movie and each of these stories are, for lack of a better word, quite boring. We really get little insight into any of the characters - other than the overall sadness each shows regularly. The sub-story with the most interest involves a brief encounter with a secret research clinic sporting a Nobel Prize winner. The clinic evidently has much research and data on this topic.

As you have already guessed, these three stories intersect near the film's end. This is a ploy that is all too common in Hollywood these days. I won't give away how it all comes together, but it bordered on eye-rolling. The film does not depend upon the viewer's beliefs or understanding, though I personally believe some people do have a heightened sense of awareness and connection. That's not really what it's about. It's more about sadness, loneliness and the need for personal connection while alive.

As usual, Mr. Eastwood has put together a terrific score. And I will gladly admit that the first 7-10 minutes of the film, including the tsunami were captivating ... and I loved the connection with Charles Dickens. That's the best I can offer for the film, and here's hoping Eastwood's biopic on J Edgar Hoover brings significantly more interest and entertainment value.

The pacing of this film did not bother me. Of course, I am over 50, so I can actually sit still through a slower paced storyline that includes a number of different characters, without something blowing up, or someone getting undressed to keep my attention.

What did bother me, perhaps comes from a unique view from others reviewing the film. As one who has experienced an NDE, I was disappointed with both the flimsy, and undeveloped view of the female lead's experience, and the ambiguous way in which her story unfolded.

On one hand, we have a character whose NDE was so life-altering, as to divert her from her primary job as a political reporter, into someone who writes a book extolling the difficulty in revealing the truth in the modern media world about the validity of the NDE experience. The dust jacket on her book, as well as casual references to her research, talk about all of the expert testimony that support the overwhelming facts about NDE experiences, and the correlation between science and the afterlife. And then…the movie tells us nothing.

The script (or perhaps what was left after Eastwood edited the script) simply glosses over anything substantial in the way of research, except to talk about a Nobel laureate who was ridiculed after revealing his research. One line...out of over two and a half hours of script.

The question to me, is why start the conversation, if you aren't going to offer even a small slice of the answers? The research is voluminous. Those of us who have experienced an NDE know that it is far more than a chemical reaction to the body starting to shut down. Much more.

But, all we are left with in this movie, is a lead character who doesn't want to acknowledge his gift, even in the face of those around him who believe in a "hereafter," more than he does.

Anyone who has experienced an NDE will find this movie sadly unfulfilling. But perhaps, it will bring many more of us to admit to what happened, and start a much more meaningful dialogue about the facts.

As a few of the younger reviewers mentioned, a vast majority of the audience was over 50. No doubt many of those there were looking for answers about the "aferlife," for one reason or another.

It would have been a great chance to tell the world something substantial. But in the end the movie was a nice idea, with slow execution...and painfully unfulfilling.

HEREAFTER is an intriguing supernatural drama from acclaimed director Clint Eastwood. This film ties together three varying plot strands into a satisfying whole. As a film it's a slow-moving and largely subtle character drama, exploring the effects of death upon three diverse characters. The first is a French woman who survives the Boxing Day tsunami in the film's hair-raising opening sequence, which in five minutes outdoes the whole of THE IMPOSSIBLE. The second is Matt Damon as a psychic struggling with his abilities. The third is a London schoolboy whose brother is killed in a car accident.

I always feel uneasy about Hollywood productions like these as all too often they veer into mawkishness and sentimentality but for the most part Eastwood avoids those pitfalls. Instead, HEREAFTER feels realistic throughout and the exemplary direction helps that. The acting is the film's strongest element and if not much really happens by the end, you're so caught up in the lives of the characters, as hard as they are, that you don't really mind. It's hard to believe that Spielberg, the man behind CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, could executive produce a film like this.