knowing

there are some movies you know going in are going to be pretty lame. this is one of those movies. the set up is this: 50 years ago a girl wrote a list of numbers and it was put into a time capsule. when it is dug up, nicolas cage realizes that it has been foretelling when horrific disasters will happen. he pieces it together and realizes that the last one written will be the apocalypse! cage tries his best to warn everyone, but no one will listen. so, he takes his boy and tries to find somewhere to hide so they can survive. pretty basic so far, but then it all goes really weird at the end. this is one of those movies where no one is actually acting like a real human being, they all use cheesy cliches like 'i think i've got a plan!' and then proceed to leave everyone in the dark but just run around with a determined look on his face. as far as the story line goes, logic has no place in this movie. the action builds and builds, we are never told where it is going, but something is definitely going to happen. something does happen, and boy is it stupid! the ending looses all semblance of reality and the movie looses all semblance of being worth while.

sliding doors

the movie starts with a very interesting idea: a woman is going about her day when she misses the subway train by a fraction of a second. now, what would have happened if she had made that train? this concept is played out in the movie, and it leads to two very distinct lives for her. if she made it home she would have found her boyfriend in bed with another woman, leading to their break-up and her finding someone new. if she missed the train she would not have caught her boyfriend, and instead, she would have stayed in the bad relationship and continued on with her unhappy life. great idea, not a great execution. the two alternating stories are told intermixed, which leads to quite a some confusion as we watch. at least until she decides to cut and color her hair in one of the stories. the problem with the movie, though, is that both stories fall pretty flat. sure, he is happier in one than the other, but neither story is very well told. and the ending is a pretty cheap concession in order to allow for an ending to the two tales. too bad, it held so much promise.

paranormal activity

over the weekend diana and i went to go see this movie. i had been hearing about it for the past several months, ever since it was featured at a few different film festivals. it finally came to our town, so we went to go see what the fuss was all about.
turns out, there was good reason for all the fuss, this movie is really scary! now, i want to start off by warning you that when we saw the movie i didn't let the hype get to me. i wasnt expecting it to be 'the scariest movie ever!!!' or anything, i was just expecting it to be pretty good. and it was. the premise is very basic: a couple have been hearing some strange noises in the night and having some unusual things happen in their house, so they buy a camera to see if they can record anything going on. well, they do. the footage they made is what this movie is supposed to be. yes, its very 'blair witch' like. if you didnt like blair witch, then certainly dont bother with this movie. i, on the other hand, really loved blair witch and found it to be very scary. this film has that same feel, except its in a house, not in the woods. there are some really great scares in this one, not the cheesy sort of boo! scares, but earned moments of dread that you see coming, but get you anyway. i'm sure there will be a backlash on this film soon, anything that gets this much buzz going always seems to. the truth of the matter is this: if you are willing to be scared and allow yourself to be drawn in by the mystery, you will have the time of your life. if you would rather act like you are too cool to be scared by it, then you wont. simple as that.
did my wife and i allow ourselves to be scared by it? well, we have slept with the light on for the past two nights...