I had been itching to see Paranormal Activity since the very first time I heard about it.  Then it was announced that the drive-in would be showing it and I about needed a moment alone.  I never did make it to the drive-in for it though (stupid scaredy-cat people I call my friends).  Instead, I got to listen to everyone ELSE I know talking about it.

And talk about it they did.  It seemed that everyone had some kind of an opinion about it.  Some people told me that seeing it in the theater was a must.  Others said it would’ve been better to watch at home in the dark.  And then there were those people that were just too cool for it and pretended they laughed through the whole thing.  Liars.

Months later, I finally got the Blu Ray from the Netflix and I was oh so totally stoked to check it out.

So Katie and Micah are being haunted by some kind of presence in their condo.  Micah decides to conduct his own little “investigation” and picks up a way over-the-top video camera to try to capture some of the strange things they’ve been experiencing.  And the freaky-deaky begins.

Time and time again Paranormal Activity has been compared to The Blair Witch Project.  The big thing everyone clings to like Conservatives cling to Jesus is that the whole thing is filmed from the perspective of a camcorder.  GASP!  Not that!  But as far as I’m concerned, that’s where the similarities end.

The Blair Witch Project had very little coherent substance.  The plot was very thin and all over the place.  And the characters were deplorable.  The only thing that movie had going for it was that, at the time, it was revolutionary.  Nothing like it had ever been done before.  But that doesn’t make it great, or even good.  That makes it fresh and that’s different.

Paranormal Activity isn’t the first movie of its kind, but it’s far better than its predecessor(s).  The plot isn’t the most thrilling idea out there and sure as H-E-double-hockey-sticks isn’t original.  But it’s put together well.  It’s believable – mostly.  There were a few scenes that genuinely gave me the heebee jeebees.  The special effects are subtle, yet impactful.  And the characters don’t make me wanna claw my eyes out.  Well, I did want Micah to die a dramatic and painful death because he was a serious a-hole and as annoying as “a thick piece of shizz in a shallow bucket”, but I found myself rooting for Katie pretty much throughout so I’ll call that a wash.

(NOTE:  I don’t have any firsthand knowledge of how annoying a thick piece of shizz in a shallow bucket  is exactly, but Urban Dictionary says it’s pretty bad and that’s on the interwebs so it’s gotta be true!)

Quarantine is your standard issue zombie (ish) movie. Amateur filmmaker and happy-go-lucky tag-a-long Angela (Jennifer Carpenter, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) and a slew of police and firefighters are called to investigate a rabies-like disease that takes over the residents of an apartment building that ends up on lockdown to prevent the spread of said disease. Horrifying hijinks and running up the stairs when you should be running down them ensues.

First, this is NOT a horror movie. It’s a thriller. We’ve been over this time and time again. But I still love these kinds of movies. I can’t help it. They’re usually all about the same. They usually have a very thin plot (at best). They usually get poo poo’d by the high and mighty snooty snoots. But not this guy. This guy can’t get enough.

Quarantine doesn’t have a long, drawn out “story” behind it. The acting leaves a lot to be desired. It plays the now cliché first-person-handheld-camcorder card a la The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield. Everything you’d expect to happen, happens. Yeah, it’s pretty bad. And I love it! But again, I’m biased. J

Alright, so, without giving too much away, an airborne virus of some sort goes around infecting people and causes them to go crazy and kill themselves. The race to avoid infection begins.

Let me start by saying that I like Mark Wahlberg and I can’t think of anything he’s ever been in, that I didn’t like. Having said that though, I’ll admit that he’s really not a very good actor. He just never really seems all that believable. But, like I said, I still like him, and I’m willing to overlook his sub par acting chops. And Zooey Deschanel (who’s looks WAY mo’ betta blonde) — same thing. I don’t think she’s actually as good as I always think she is. But there’s something about her that I like. She just has this, kind of, indescribable appeal to her.

That seemed to be a running theme with The Happening. It looked good. It had all the right parts to be good. But in the end, it was just okay. And I think the problem was in the execution. M. Night Shama-lama-ding-dong just seemed to phone this one in. It’s a given that Marky Mark and Zooey Mmm-schanel aren’t Academy Award-winning actors, but it’s the director’s job to get everything out of them that he can. Grab ‘em by the collar and shake it out of ‘em if he needs to. But, he didn’t. He just let them be mediocre. And so, that’s how it was.

This makes me think one thing. “M.” has some great ideas. All of his movies have that same potential. He’s also great at visually creating certain moods on screen. But maybe he just isn’t good at directing PEOPLE. I mean, at first, he didn’t HAVE to. Bruce Willis (twice), Mel Gibson, even Joaquin Phoenix — all their movies were fine. But, when the best he had to work with was Paul Giamatti (Lady in the Water) and Wahlberg, there was something missing. Alot was left on the table. And I believe it was because the director, the leader, didn’t challenge his people.

It’s too bad. Because of that, The Happening was “okay”. Maybe, “alright”. But not “great”. And it COULD’VE been.

It’s like this: Legend has it that the founding fathers of America – you know the ones, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, etc… – assembled an enormous treasure and hid it from the British Government leaving behind only a series of complex clues.

Some 200 years later, treasure hunter Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage) is hot on the trail but is double-crossed by his partner. What follows is a cat and mouse game between the former colleagues to be the first to finally dig up the bling.

I wasn’t exactly in a hurry to see National Treasure. I mean, I wanted to, but, there always seemed to be something else available that I wanted to see more. When I finally did get around to seeing it, I really really liked it. It was fun. It was smart. It was different. Jerry Bruckheimer produced it so that automatically gets it off on the right foot. Nicholas Cage was good again. Oh, and Diane Kruger is hot!

I just hope National Treasure 2 doesn’t prove to be too much of a good thing.

After her husband’s apparent suicide, Kyle (Jodie Foster) hops on a plane with her daughter to head back to America. During the flight, Kyle wakes from a nap and discovers that her daughter’s missing. On top of that, nobody on the plane remembers the little girl and any record of her seems to be lost. The question becomes, at least to everyone but Kyle, whether the girl was ever on the plane at all.I’ve never really been a fan of Jodie Foster but I’ll admit that I’ve never really disliked any of her movies either. Well, maybe Nell. I didn’t like Nell. On the bright side, Flightplan is definitely not Nell so we should be okay. I think. I hope. Please don’t be Nell… Please don’t be Nell…

Okay, enough about Nell. This is a very good suspense movie – Flightplan, not Nell. I’ve heard some rumblings about the implausibility of certain details of the movie but my usual argument of “Dude, it’s a MOVIE!” applies here too. The entire time, I was wondering and trying to figure out how it was going to end. It’s hard to NOT believe Kyle about her daughter when she going ape like she does. Then again, if her daughter was on the plane, where did she go? Then you start wondering if she really IS crazy. Before you know your head is spinning just trying to wrap itself around the whole thing and you start wondering if YOU’RE goin’ crazy too! No need to be alarmed though. All your questions are answered eventually. Whether or not you LIKE the answers is not my problem. And I’m not gonna ruin it for ya here. Just keep in mind that things aren’t always as they seem and enjoy the ride because it’s a good one.