Paranormal Boredom

In 1999 "The Blair Witch Project" defined the "reality/horror" genre employing the use of shaky camera movements and home video styled visuals to ingrain in the viewer a sense that what they were watching actually happened. At the time it was hailed as one of the scariest movies of all time, or at least of my generation. Since then movies such as "Cloverfield" have improved on the genre, while others such as "Quarantine" have failed with it. Paranormal Activity falls somewhere in between the two, mimicking blair witch's style more than trying to improve on it, but with very limited success.

The premise is pretty simple, a couple, Katie And Mica, have just moved in together and have been hearing weird noises in the house late at night. In an attempt to figure out what the noises are and where they are coming from Mica begins videotaping everything, following Katie through the house during the day and setting it up on a tripod at night while they sleep. They are told by a psychic that the house is not possessed, but that Katie is actually the one who is possessed, by what he suspects to be a big old, noise making demon. Unfortunately for the viewer, for the majority of the movie, that is all the demon does, make noise. Not only that but in order to hear these spooky noises the audience is forced to sit through what seems like hours of Mica being a douche behind the camera during the day which gets old and boring quick.

While most horror movies nowadays rely on gore and loud noises to provide scares, the reality horror genre relies solely on anticipation. Cloverfield provided this in excess with a constantly looming threat from which the protagonist and friends are constantly running from. Pair this with some of the best faux amateur camerawork in a movie to date and what you end up with is a very successful movie. The camerawork and visuals in Paranormal Activity are good, not great but good. Cloverfield provided us with amateur looking camerawork and visuals that still somehow managed to look amazing. Paranormal activity provides us with amateur looking camerawork and visuals that resemble a low budget porn more than a professionally made movie. The visuals do however work in portraying a sense of "reality" throughout the movie adding to the general eeriness and fright. My biggest gripe with Paranormal Activity is with the lack of anticipation. First off since the demon only haunts the couple at night we are never faced with the fear that something is going to happen during the day, for which half of the movie takes place . Add that to the fact that for the first five nights all we see and hear are some unknown creaks eminating from the house, and what you have is a movie that would have been more exciting to sleep through the majority of than watch.

Paranormal Activity is one of those movies you come across that has a vast amount of unrealized potential. It's frustrating to watch a horror movie that is done properly techincally, but falls short on scares simply because they were not written into the script. Had the anticipation existed throughout the entirety of the movie my bed may have been a little wetter the following morning.

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5 out of 10

"9"

If by some rare chance the Mayans were correct in predicting that human civilization will end in the year 2012, I at least hope that our post apocalyptic world looks as cool as the one director Shane Acker created for his new movie, "9." One of the most visually stunning and creative animated movies I have ever seen, "9" follows, believe it or not, NINE, not eight, bald headed rag dolls as they attempt to bring humanity back to a world ruled by machines.

The number, from which the movie takes it's name, nine, stands for both the name of our hero, and the number of companions in his crew of potato sack, machine killing, life infused action figures. As the story goes after the machines annihilated practically all of the humans, in a last ditch effort to save humanity, the scientist responsible for creating the machines infuses bits of his soul into homemade G.I. Joe's. He hopes that through them, mankind will be saved and the machine empire will fall. In creating these little homemade heroes, different parts of the scientist's soul is infused into each of the characters, providing them all with very distinct and different personalities. 1, fittingly, is believed to possess great leadership traits, however is often bunkered down by cowardice and stubbornness, while 8 is endowed with a brawn over brains persona. 9 in a way, is the perfected model, born with a more rounded character, compassionate, brave and intelligent.

Unfortunately my problems with this movie greatly outweigh my love for the amazing art direction, and the unique character personalities. To begin with I really have to stop and wonder why the most brilliant scientist in the world would waste his soul on one-foot tall dolls made of burlap and scraps of metal. Wouldn't he think to make a more formidable opponent to resist the tyranny of the machines? Also, a more general qualm I have with the movie is that Acker never gives it a chance to breathe. From the second our hero 9 is created he seems to be in a constant state of peril, danger and running (he does lots of it throughout the movie). Within the 79 minutes our hero somehow manages to get five of the nine characters killed, meaning either this hero sucks or the movie is just simply moving too quickly. The personalities of the characters never have a chance to really play off each other in any situation other than peril, leaving me wanting more from the character interaction. When we do get scenes where the characters are not endangered and are free to act themselves, it is quickly and loudly interrupted by a menacing machine back to destroy our favorite burlap brigadiers. As a result of this the story is thin and almost non-existent. A two-minute flash back is used to explain what happened between the machines and the humans that led the world to its current state, and the existence of the nine themselves comes off as trivial.

As I said before the animation is great. Acker has some of the most disturbing character designs I have ever seen brought to the screen. The robots are frightening and resemble something Sid from Toy Story may have created if he had been older and had limitless amounts of resources, while images such as the dead mother and child holding each other in the car help to create a darker mood than any I can remember seeing in an animated film. Unfortunately the movie is just too fast paced, and the story too thin.


LINK TO THE SHORT FILM WHICH "9" WAS BASED ON:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1jl41_9-nine-shane-acker-short-animation_creation


4 out of "9"

The Year my Dead Grandfathers Neighbor made me a Jew (THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION)

I usually find it to be the case that when a movie set in a time and place, which I know little about, sparks my interest to learn more about the events that unfolded, it means I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. In a time when a country was being torn in two halves by a political revolution, ultimately it was two men who helped mend it together, even if only for a short period of time. Brazil 1970, Communism is spreading and the government is trying to quell the rebellion. Young intellectuals filled with Marxist and socialist ideas attempt to spread their philosophies in secret to the masses. But among all the political upheaval and civil strife the country manages to join together to shout GOAL! As Pele, and Tostao send ball after ball sailing against the back of the net in an attempt to write history and win the Fifa World Cup. This serves as the backdrop for the coming of age tale of Mauro, a young boy, abandoned by his parents, left to live with a grandfather who has recently passed away.

It is simply amazing that such a coming of age story, set in the right time and place, can touch on so many different issues, from religion, to race, and politics. I often found myself intrigued by the cultural and social implications of interactions such as the football match between the Italians and Jews, or even between Mauro, Shlomo (Mauro's grandfather's Jewish next door neighbor whom he ends up living with) and his companions. However it wasn't so much the historical backdrop that captivated me throughout the movie as much as it was my identification with Mauro struggling to do things for himself for the first time. Watching Mauro make eggs took me back to a time when my grandmother watched from the kitchen table as I fumbled around the kitchen, peeling eggshells from the yolk and stubbornly trying to turn the gas on the stove in the wrong direction. Without these scenes of Mauro, as an adult trapped in a child’s body, I doubt if I would have had any investment at all in the surrounding political landscape.

While not visually stunning, the movie kept me thinking throughout. The boys’ crush on Irene remarkably resembled the way in which all the boys in my 4th grade class followed around Ms. Blue, the substitute teacher, like a dog does a treat. The shouts, cheers, and fireworks that went off every time Brazil scored a goal made me wish America had a national sport such as football to bring the country together in a time such as now when we seem so divided. And Mauro's apprehension to accept help from anyone new after his parents abandon him reminded me of my own stubbornness as a child growing up. The Italian man, who knows Mauro's father, at one point says "all our parents go on vacation at some point," we all have that year where for whatever reason we are forced to grow and mature past a point that we are ready for and it is this universal story that I think resonates so well.

"In football everyone is allowed mistakes except the goalkeeper. They're different from other players. They spend their whole lives standing there alone, expecting the worst"

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4 out of 5