Twenty-Twelve, 2012, whatever…

By the way, 20-12 is not an update of the old school 6-12 mosquito  spray.

I am still doing a post-viewing rehash in my head, trying to remember when or even if in recent years I’ve watched a better film than 2012.

District 9 comes to mind, at least as good but a bit hard to call it better.

Great script, a complete story well told in the traditional mode, with a beginning, a middle, and then (surprise!) an end. Quite unlike so much of the crap around these days.

Great director, Roland Emmerich extracted fine performances all around and managed to have a cohesive plot covered (see above) to keep it all on screen. I am sure that if this wasn’t a Sony release, this time the computer (updated from the beautiful black 5300 Powerbook Jeff Goldblum used to save the world in Independence Day) would have been a nice but slightly used Aluminum G4 Powerbook, not a steaming pile of VAIO. Ah, I digress…..

Great acting, John Cusack has to be considered to be a serious contender to jump past Tom Hanks to become the “everyman” of our time frame, as Henry Fonda personified so well in his.

And by the way, as you may have heard, there are at least a few interesting special effects shots on the screen in this film, and they have been done fairly well.

This could possibly be why it’s my new “How the fuck did they do that” said aloud count leader.

Paranormal Activity Jumps Out of ‘TheBox’

It seems that I’m sort of paraphrasing myself here, but as much as I ragged on Paranormal Activity a few days ago, I’m sure that they now owe a debt of thanks to the makers of “The Box” for lifting them off the top (or perhaps that should be off the bottom?) of the list of the worst films of the year?

Possible spoiler, as if it’s possible to spoil a piece of shit…..

I remember reading this story line years ago, wherein someone is given a box with a button on it, and by pushing the button they will cause someone that they’ve never met, somewhere far away,  to die.

If you manage to sit through this floater, I’m sure that by the end you’ll be hoping that there’s a box somewhere with your name on it, and someone you’ve never met has lifted that dome cover off, and now their finger is hovering over the button…….

James Marsden + Cameron Diaz = James Cameron?

Even a much younger and less tired looking Cameron Diaz couldn’t have saved this one, what with her “Serious Acting” and all that.

Oh well, how many days was that before “2012″ opens?

Pair-of-Normal Active Stupid People

As much as I raved about “District 9” a post or two ago, I have have no choice but to take a different stance with “Paranormal Activity“, a film that’s shot in such a spastic style that it could even make Lars von Trier get seasick.

The true shocker would have been to have a hidden camera when I saw this in the Star Theater when the lights unexpectedly came up, one that would have captured the horror in the faces of the audience to find out that they paid $10.00 to sit through this train wreck, the latest in a long line of recent films that were unable to come up with an ending. Larry the janitor strikes again, I guess.

The major bragging rights for this overhyped video so far have been that it was produced for only $15,000. After watching it I have to assume that most, if not all of that amount was spent on a good caterer that kept the director and two actors (who also seemed to have been working as the co-directors of photography and / or co-camera operators) very well fed.

Especially one of them, but not that there’s anything wrong with that. And that’s a big “butt”.

It seems that there could have been a makeup or wardrobe person involved, but that person should have been able to phone it in, same for the sound and grip and electric department folks, if they existed.

Again, not that there’s anything wrong with that.