Paranormal Activity

Welcome to the Blair Witch Project of the 2000's. This movie, though a great viral marketing campaign, and first movie to have a concrete idea since the Blair Witch Project, managed to scare/enterain many. This movie could have been made by anyone at any cost. However, Oren Peli manages to make the idea sound throughout. He doesn't doze off on his idea.

In my opinion, no movies are scary. They are fake. As long as I know that, they don't bother me. This movie was decent enough because it didn't use the jump film crap that other horror movies use. You know, when they move the camera fast and jumpy and shift it to make things seem more scary as they catch you off guard.

This movie "documents" the life of a couple being haunted by a demonic presence at night. Kate, the woman in the movie has been haunted by this demon for years. Her boyfriend, Micah, determined to figure this out, decides to film every day/night of their lives. They slowly catch the demonic presence more and more each day. Finally it gets serious, and that's as far as I'll go.

This movie is good if you go with someone who scares easy as it will entertain you more. However, as with all low budget movies, the acting is sub-par as is the effects. But hey, for $15,000 total, this movie was done well.

Don't expect too much, and 90% of you will be scared.

I rate this movie 7.0 out of 10. [Buy Paranormal Activity Today]

Where The Wild Things Are

To start, and I still feel this way. James Gandolfini's character, as with all his characters post-Sopranos make me imagine they are all Tony Soprano in a different form. And in this movie, he was the monster version of Tony Soprano. Just weird. I can't get that whole idea out of my head.

Getting past that, Spike Jonze did an excellent job in translating this movie from a book to the big screen. I think it is incredibly hard to do, given the length of the book. However, little boy Max runs away from home as he is frustrated and ends up arriving at an island inhabited by giant monsters. He lives with them as their king, and eventually realizes he must return home.

There were a ton of voices in this movie, James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Forest Whitaker, and Chris Cooper to name a few. The movie had very nice effects. The plot was actually managable.

There was a problem, for some in this part. It was and wasn't for kids. The movie goes from kid friendly to scary and back. It is much deeper than the book was ever meant to be. It was gravely realistic in thought and kind of dark. So this inconsistency, I think, weighed down the movie.

If you enjoyed the book, and want to see an interesting movie, but don't expect too much. Give it a watch as a matinée movie.

I rate this movie 7.3 out of 10.

Law Abiding Citizen

After seeing countless previews for this movie, I thought a few things. I have to see this because its stuck in my head. This movie seems like Saw but in a non horror setting. (not necessarily the best thing) This movie looks good.

Well marketing worked, I saw the movie, and here I am.

The movie starts out with basically the majority of the trailer. Loved that. Its good to see a trailer that only sets up the movie and doesn't spoil it. The movie shoots immediately to 10 years after Gerard Butler's (Clyde's) family was murdered. From there, Clyde begins to take down everyone involved in the process. At the same time, he is making a mockery of the justice system because he feels they don't worry about right and wrong. They only worry about looking good. He wants the system changed. He turns his primary focus on trying to teach his old lawyer (Jamie Foxx) a lesson. Teach him that he has to worry about what's right, not what will help him have a high conviction rate.

The movie moves from there at a thrilling and rapid rate. It is neat to see how Clyde manages to do what he's doing. How the movie winds to its ending is surprising, with the ending being obvious.

The dialog is what really makes the movie. Gerard Butler makes you laugh with how he acts and treats everything. This makes the movie even more enjoyable on top of the plot.

Great acting all around.

So if you want to see a good movie, without a twist (twists suck most of the time and don't make much sense in hindsight), go see this movie. Trust me.

I rate this movie 8.7 out of 10.

Zombieland

Woody Harrelson and the star of Adventureland (seems to do well with __land movies), Jesse Eisenberg (Michael Cera 2) star in a comedy zombie movie. Now its not necessarily a spoof movie. It is a zombie movie.

Eisenberg plays a character who is a nerd and relies on strict rules to stay alive. Harrelson is the crazy bad ass type who runs on instincts. They meet up and are headed to their various destinations, when they meet two more humans, 2 girls, played by Emma Stone (Superbad) and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine). After some deception, they team up to head to LA, where they think there is a safe spot.

Harrelson is back. His acting was perfect. His humor was great. Dry at some times, slapstick at others. His never-ending quest for Twinkies and his "enjoying of the little things" was priceless. Eisenberg plays his nerdy role spot on, not hard for him. His quarks and narration keep the movie going and people laughing.

The timing on all the events were great as was the creativity. However, the zombie aspect made that easy to do. The writers and director really set up a mold and kept with it. It worked perfect. The movie was absolutely hilarious. I'm not going to spoil it, by saying anything about it, but I will mention it since its been already mentioned by others... Bill Murray's cameo was amazing.

The movie doesn't make you think. It makes you laugh, and laugh, and enjoy. Don't go there looking to see something develop and progress. Go there looking to laugh at one of the more creative movies this year.

Definitely, one of the top 2 comedies of the year, with The Hangover only topping it by a little.

This movie is one you can see over and over and not get sick of it.

I rate this movie 9.1 out of 10.