Neko Case concert and Some Films
Friday night I spent the night in Boston for another concert. This time I was finally seeing Neko Case, at the Orpheum Theatre. I was extremely excited to be taken off for Boston right after school on Friday, with my beautiful girlfriend, Lauren, whom I've now been seeing for just about a month, which might answer a few questions as to why I have fallen behind on some of my movie blogging. Yes, I've been able to watch movies, pretty consistently once a day (I've made sure to still keep at my goal-pace of 365 films in one year), but Lauren and I have been spending a lot of time together, so it's a little harder to sit down and write after each movie. But, like I said, I was not going to let my movie blog interfere with my personal life.
I met Lauren, yes, online in the beginning of October and we hit it off through emails right away. It took a few correspondences to feel comfortable with each other enough to think we would probably have a good time together, in person. So, I put the question out there and she accepted. Then, before we actually went out, we discovered that we actually had a mutual friend that we've both known for quite a few years. We asked her about each other respectively, which perhaps made it easier to accept the invitation for dinner. Anyway, our first date was October 10th and I knew instantly that I wanted to be with Lauren. I felt so comfortable and at ease with her, on a first date (which, let's all admit, can certainly be awkward). Our first date was not awkward at all. There were really no recognizable lulls in conversations, no awkward silences. And her smile knocked me off my feet. I knew after about 10 minutes that I wanted to be with her, which is a feeling I've never had before. And so it goes, we've been dating ever since. We've bonded over our love for everything Red Sox-related and we watched all the World Series games. It was so great watching the Red Sox win the championship with someone who cared as much as I do.
And Friday night, she picked me up at school and we drove down to Boston in her new car. We were going to stay overnight at the Westin, on the Boston Waterfront. We went to dinner at Teatro (a delicious and fancy Italian restaurant) and then we went to the show. Lauren made all our reservation plans and I was the one who'd bought the tickets (months ago, without really knowing who I was goign to take with me, but now I cannot imagine having a better time with anyone else).
I guess the only reason why I've shared this piece of information about my personal life is simply because I've never met someone who makes me feel so happy all of the time, or someone who says they miss me as much as I miss them. It's such a wonderful feeling, and as we continue to get to know each other, I can feel myself finding it hard to not smile every minute of the day.
Anyway, about the concert: I've been into Neko Case since my sister was the Program Director at the Bates College radio station and helped me discover her. I was even pleasantly surprised by her opening act: Lucy Wainwright Roche, who was every bit as talented as she was adorable in her audience participation and witty banter. Neko Case, though, put on an unbelievable show that certainly made me wish I'd seen her multiple times before this show. I think she played a decent amount from her impressive catalogue. This show was actually the last of her long tour, so she was understandably tired, but she was impressive, nonetheless. I loved how she ended her first encore with two Heart songs.
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Film 308
"Twelve Thirty"
starring: Reed Birney, Jonathan Groff, Mamie Gummer, Portia Reiners, Karen Young, Halley Feiffer
written and directed by: Jeff Lipsky
The film "Twelve Thirty" is like an extra long episode of "Dawson's Creek" with a lot more sex mixed into it. I say it's like an episode of "Dawson's Creek" because the main characters talk and talk and talk some more. The film is set up as a series of conversations that are arranged to be aggressive to start and then turn kind of awkward because you can tell that each conversation will lead to sex. These conversations come off as cut off from the outside world (surrounding these characters) and they are not real. It never sounds like "real" people are talking. It's not how "real" people talk, exactly how "Dawson's Creek" sounded. So, just the dialogue alone puts all these characters within a self-contained bubble that would burst the minute they come in contact with outsiders. There's no real or true meaning behind the words, and you can tell that these characters are simply clinging to their words in order to explain themselves or simply hold each other's attention.
At the center of the story and drama is a twentysomething college boy named Jeff (Jonathan Groff, whom I recognized from his role in the TV show "Glee") who is a manipulative, albeit bright-eyed dude simply looking to perhaps get his rocks off. His first conquest, sexual encounter is with the youngest daughter in the Iowan family he interlocks himself with, briefly. Her name is Mel (Portia Reiners) and she doesn't necessarily seem to care that she's probably getting used. In fact, they both use each other, really. She readily undresses and stands around naked in front of Jeff. She treats the casual encounter as just that: casual. She got what she wanted. And she had fun. Nothing else to it.
Maura is the older woman in the family, a virgin, and comes off as rather morose and dejected. What's interesting in the way the director filmed their sexual encounter is that the screen remains black. You know what's going on, through the dialogue as it's happening, and perhaps the director doesn't want us to see what's happening because it's essentially a rape scene. Maura tells him to stop several times because he's "tearing her up" but Jeff just continues. Maura can even tell that he's fucking her "angrily" which he doesn't deny, because he actually asks her how she knows this. I think anyone would be able to tell if someone was having angry sex with them. Just like you should be able to recognize if someone's bored during it, as well. Jeff, though, maybe doesn't care. Sex isn't necessarily anything that carries a big weight with Jeff. And then, there's the two girls' mother, Vivien (played by Karen Young). Viven and Jeff's sexual encounter is just awkward and uncomfortable.
These sexual encounters with Jeff actually bring the family closer together. The entire film is a springboard for the family's bonding experience, once they all sit together at the dining room table (with Jeff) and allow the patriarch (a bisexually curious father) to confront him.
The ceaseless conversation just drones on and on and makes you really lose interest in any of the characters and what could be traumatic experiences. Unfortunately, the film's story is treating with the same casual intent as the sexual encounters each one experiences with Jeff. There's no feeling involved. And I wish I could tell you or even understand why the title of the film is "Twelve Thirty," because I don't think it's ever really understood just from watching the film. Unless, each sexual encounter takes place at 12:30 on different days.
An interesting fact though, Maura is played by Mamie Gummer- who is Meryl Streep's daughter, and she does an excellent job as the uptight, virginal older sister. She's appeared in only a handful of films (some that I've seen, but did not recognize her and some that are on my list to see). I think she has potential to be a great actress and follow as closely as she can in her mother's footsteps.
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Film 309
"Devil"
starring: Chris Messina, Logan Marshall-Green, Jenny O'Hara, Bojana NovakovicBokeem Woodbine, Geoffrey Arend, Jacob Vargas
story by: M. Night Shyamalan
directed by: John Erick Dowdle
I don't really know why people seemed to hate this movie, other than the obvious fact that it's a story from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan (who has been severely underwhelming and quite a disappointment after his great debut, "The Sixth Sense." Sure, this film has the predictable third-act twist. I say predictable because of the characters involved and their histories.
The film is supposed to take place for the majority of the film in the elevator, because that's where the five characters involved find themselves trapped together. But the scriptwriter, Brian Nelson, spends far too much time outside the elevator, with the security guards watching from their safe room, where they can communicate with the people trapped, but they can't hear them. The script spends a lot of time juggling the different plots and tries hard to thread them together, finding a common bond between all the characters involved (the only commonality is that all five have a decent "rap" sheet and could very well be the reason why they are trapped in an elevator. The script calls for the drama to occur outside the elevator and not inside, which is the flaw of the film. All the tension is inside the elevator, and so Nelson's strategy actually deflates the argument of good versus evil (re: Devil, picking people off one by one). We are not really told much about each of the five trapped people in the elevator and they are not given enough of a background. The script doesn't give them enough credit as protagonists to carry the story, so Nelson spends a lot of time going from one location to another. It takes away from the tension that builds up in the elevator, which doesn't really let the viewer feel the tension and anxiety that one would feel if they, too, were trapped in an elevator. Because let's face it, being trapped in a confined space with strangers, is probably up there on everyone's list of fears. Add to that, the element of "the Devil" singlehandedly and inexplicably killing these people and that's quite a thriller of a film.
"The Devil's Meeting" (which is Ramirez, a security guard watching this all happen, story of folklore) is a poor substitute for perhaps an allegorical or metaphorical story that would allow the viewer to interpret or think deeper about what's happening.
Detective Bowden (Chris Messina, whom I've seen a lot in some other films for this movie blog) is the character that the script focuses on redeeming. He is the first cop on the scene and really wants to save these people in the elevator, but he's also been devastated by the loss of his wife and young son from a hit and run accident a few months back. The way Nelson writes and uses a person in the elevator as the way to resolve Detective Bowden's problems comes off as too convenient and not necessarily a good plot-point. It's the third act twist that Shyamalan's well known for, in a Hitchcock sort of way, but then also it makes it all too familiar and predictable because he does it with every new film, even though this isn't necessarily "his" film. And these third act twists so to be getting more and more trite. You feel ripped off. For a decent story, that's what you get at the end, the feeling of being ripped off.
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Film 310
"He Was a Quiet Man"
starring: Christian Slater, Elisha Cuthbert
written and directed by: Frank. A Capello
Here is a surrealistic indie, film festival circuit story that has some dark humor and interesting ideas about justice and karma. The film kind of goes everywhere and nowhere by the end of it which really leaves you wondering what the whole point of it actually was. The conclusion is weak and ambiguous especially for such a "strong" story that has an interesting interpretation of corporate/office/cubicle life.
Christian Slater plays Bob Maconel, the quiet man from the title who also happens to be a bit psychotic (since right at the beginning of the film he is planning on a massacre in his office, because he just can't take it anymore- he's the office butt of everyone's jokes, and no one takes him seriously). Christian Slater plays Bob rather well, especially since this character is the antithesis of every other character he's probably ever played, starting way back in his early career in the early 1990s.
Ultimately it's a film about corporate office vigilante justice, the thin line between sanity and madness (and what can drive someone over the edge), as well as redemption, because with Slater's portrayal of Bob, you get the sense of some humanity in him, since he really can't bring himself to "finish the job" as Cuthbert's character pleads him to do. I really don't think you can pity him all that much though, which, for me is where the film fails. But, it was a nice effort.
I prefer my corporate justice coming in the form of comedy via "Office Space" instead.
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Film 311
"Paranormal Activity 4"
starring: Kathryn Newton, Katie Featherston, Matt Shively, Aiden Lovekamp, Brady Allen
I think it's safe to say the "found-footage" genre in films has worn its welcome out (about as much as the gross-out horror genre with the "Saw" franchise) and it has become far more cliche and same-old-same-old. With that being said, I might have to lump this "Paranormal Activity" series together as one big helping of a guilty pleasure. Sure, the scary moments are by definition very predictable, but they writers still provide decent moments of intensity. I think I especially like the series for its quietness and the blink-once and you might miss something.
"PA4" is the first true sequel in the series as it picks up the story after "PA2" and the main character, Katie's disappearance and the supposed kidnapping of Hunter (her sister's little boy). In this installment they show up together as the new neighbor's to a rather dysfunctional family (well, really it's the parents who are fighting and on the brink of a divorce). Alex (Kathryn Newton) is the main character in this story and she is probably the most likable and appealing character in the film. Alex appears to be a rather happy teenager, which is a nice thing to see (even if it's just in film). She really doesn't have too much to complain about, anyway. She has parents that trust her, a little brother that seems to love her, and she has a pretty cool boyfriend (together they are pretty cool, spotting wearing Beastie Boys and Metallica t-shirts, well, at least Alex is pretty cool because she's the one wearing the B-Boys t-shirt). Her boyfriend, Ben, is pretty much with her on and off screen throughout the whole film since they chat via webcam every night. It's so interesting to see technology advancements even through this series. In the first film, a lot of it came from hand-held cameras that were strategically attached to things and here, Alex and Ben are recording things through webcams on their laptops or, get this, the Xbox Kinect, which has a cool nightvision feature that lights up the screen in green at night and provides us the opportunity to see the ghostly figures, if you are paying close attention.
The film and story really belongs to Kathryn Newton, and that's a heavy load for such a young, new actress. With her character, Alex, though, she shows a maturity that even her parents lack.
And I did like the slow build-up of the ominous sounds in the night and the creepiness of the mysterious kid who just shows up next door and ends up staying with this family because his "mother" has been taken to the hospital for some inexplicable reason. When Robbie (the little boy) sleeps over, you can tell there will be trouble, and that's what I mean by predictable. But, the ending of the film is just decent enough to make you forget how cliche everything leading up to it was. The scares seem easy and a bit lackadaisical. Paranormal activity can be very frightening, when it isn't running on fumes. Unfortunately, I think this series, much like the "Saw" franchise should have realized much sooner, is nearing is welcomes end.
I met Lauren, yes, online in the beginning of October and we hit it off through emails right away. It took a few correspondences to feel comfortable with each other enough to think we would probably have a good time together, in person. So, I put the question out there and she accepted. Then, before we actually went out, we discovered that we actually had a mutual friend that we've both known for quite a few years. We asked her about each other respectively, which perhaps made it easier to accept the invitation for dinner. Anyway, our first date was October 10th and I knew instantly that I wanted to be with Lauren. I felt so comfortable and at ease with her, on a first date (which, let's all admit, can certainly be awkward). Our first date was not awkward at all. There were really no recognizable lulls in conversations, no awkward silences. And her smile knocked me off my feet. I knew after about 10 minutes that I wanted to be with her, which is a feeling I've never had before. And so it goes, we've been dating ever since. We've bonded over our love for everything Red Sox-related and we watched all the World Series games. It was so great watching the Red Sox win the championship with someone who cared as much as I do.
And Friday night, she picked me up at school and we drove down to Boston in her new car. We were going to stay overnight at the Westin, on the Boston Waterfront. We went to dinner at Teatro (a delicious and fancy Italian restaurant) and then we went to the show. Lauren made all our reservation plans and I was the one who'd bought the tickets (months ago, without really knowing who I was goign to take with me, but now I cannot imagine having a better time with anyone else).
I guess the only reason why I've shared this piece of information about my personal life is simply because I've never met someone who makes me feel so happy all of the time, or someone who says they miss me as much as I miss them. It's such a wonderful feeling, and as we continue to get to know each other, I can feel myself finding it hard to not smile every minute of the day.
Anyway, about the concert: I've been into Neko Case since my sister was the Program Director at the Bates College radio station and helped me discover her. I was even pleasantly surprised by her opening act: Lucy Wainwright Roche, who was every bit as talented as she was adorable in her audience participation and witty banter. Neko Case, though, put on an unbelievable show that certainly made me wish I'd seen her multiple times before this show. I think she played a decent amount from her impressive catalogue. This show was actually the last of her long tour, so she was understandably tired, but she was impressive, nonetheless. I loved how she ended her first encore with two Heart songs.
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Film 308
"Twelve Thirty"
starring: Reed Birney, Jonathan Groff, Mamie Gummer, Portia Reiners, Karen Young, Halley Feiffer
written and directed by: Jeff Lipsky
The film "Twelve Thirty" is like an extra long episode of "Dawson's Creek" with a lot more sex mixed into it. I say it's like an episode of "Dawson's Creek" because the main characters talk and talk and talk some more. The film is set up as a series of conversations that are arranged to be aggressive to start and then turn kind of awkward because you can tell that each conversation will lead to sex. These conversations come off as cut off from the outside world (surrounding these characters) and they are not real. It never sounds like "real" people are talking. It's not how "real" people talk, exactly how "Dawson's Creek" sounded. So, just the dialogue alone puts all these characters within a self-contained bubble that would burst the minute they come in contact with outsiders. There's no real or true meaning behind the words, and you can tell that these characters are simply clinging to their words in order to explain themselves or simply hold each other's attention.
At the center of the story and drama is a twentysomething college boy named Jeff (Jonathan Groff, whom I recognized from his role in the TV show "Glee") who is a manipulative, albeit bright-eyed dude simply looking to perhaps get his rocks off. His first conquest, sexual encounter is with the youngest daughter in the Iowan family he interlocks himself with, briefly. Her name is Mel (Portia Reiners) and she doesn't necessarily seem to care that she's probably getting used. In fact, they both use each other, really. She readily undresses and stands around naked in front of Jeff. She treats the casual encounter as just that: casual. She got what she wanted. And she had fun. Nothing else to it.
Maura is the older woman in the family, a virgin, and comes off as rather morose and dejected. What's interesting in the way the director filmed their sexual encounter is that the screen remains black. You know what's going on, through the dialogue as it's happening, and perhaps the director doesn't want us to see what's happening because it's essentially a rape scene. Maura tells him to stop several times because he's "tearing her up" but Jeff just continues. Maura can even tell that he's fucking her "angrily" which he doesn't deny, because he actually asks her how she knows this. I think anyone would be able to tell if someone was having angry sex with them. Just like you should be able to recognize if someone's bored during it, as well. Jeff, though, maybe doesn't care. Sex isn't necessarily anything that carries a big weight with Jeff. And then, there's the two girls' mother, Vivien (played by Karen Young). Viven and Jeff's sexual encounter is just awkward and uncomfortable.
These sexual encounters with Jeff actually bring the family closer together. The entire film is a springboard for the family's bonding experience, once they all sit together at the dining room table (with Jeff) and allow the patriarch (a bisexually curious father) to confront him.
The ceaseless conversation just drones on and on and makes you really lose interest in any of the characters and what could be traumatic experiences. Unfortunately, the film's story is treating with the same casual intent as the sexual encounters each one experiences with Jeff. There's no feeling involved. And I wish I could tell you or even understand why the title of the film is "Twelve Thirty," because I don't think it's ever really understood just from watching the film. Unless, each sexual encounter takes place at 12:30 on different days.
An interesting fact though, Maura is played by Mamie Gummer- who is Meryl Streep's daughter, and she does an excellent job as the uptight, virginal older sister. She's appeared in only a handful of films (some that I've seen, but did not recognize her and some that are on my list to see). I think she has potential to be a great actress and follow as closely as she can in her mother's footsteps.
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Film 309
"Devil"
starring: Chris Messina, Logan Marshall-Green, Jenny O'Hara, Bojana NovakovicBokeem Woodbine, Geoffrey Arend, Jacob Vargas
story by: M. Night Shyamalan
directed by: John Erick Dowdle
I don't really know why people seemed to hate this movie, other than the obvious fact that it's a story from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan (who has been severely underwhelming and quite a disappointment after his great debut, "The Sixth Sense." Sure, this film has the predictable third-act twist. I say predictable because of the characters involved and their histories.
The film is supposed to take place for the majority of the film in the elevator, because that's where the five characters involved find themselves trapped together. But the scriptwriter, Brian Nelson, spends far too much time outside the elevator, with the security guards watching from their safe room, where they can communicate with the people trapped, but they can't hear them. The script spends a lot of time juggling the different plots and tries hard to thread them together, finding a common bond between all the characters involved (the only commonality is that all five have a decent "rap" sheet and could very well be the reason why they are trapped in an elevator. The script calls for the drama to occur outside the elevator and not inside, which is the flaw of the film. All the tension is inside the elevator, and so Nelson's strategy actually deflates the argument of good versus evil (re: Devil, picking people off one by one). We are not really told much about each of the five trapped people in the elevator and they are not given enough of a background. The script doesn't give them enough credit as protagonists to carry the story, so Nelson spends a lot of time going from one location to another. It takes away from the tension that builds up in the elevator, which doesn't really let the viewer feel the tension and anxiety that one would feel if they, too, were trapped in an elevator. Because let's face it, being trapped in a confined space with strangers, is probably up there on everyone's list of fears. Add to that, the element of "the Devil" singlehandedly and inexplicably killing these people and that's quite a thriller of a film.
"The Devil's Meeting" (which is Ramirez, a security guard watching this all happen, story of folklore) is a poor substitute for perhaps an allegorical or metaphorical story that would allow the viewer to interpret or think deeper about what's happening.
Detective Bowden (Chris Messina, whom I've seen a lot in some other films for this movie blog) is the character that the script focuses on redeeming. He is the first cop on the scene and really wants to save these people in the elevator, but he's also been devastated by the loss of his wife and young son from a hit and run accident a few months back. The way Nelson writes and uses a person in the elevator as the way to resolve Detective Bowden's problems comes off as too convenient and not necessarily a good plot-point. It's the third act twist that Shyamalan's well known for, in a Hitchcock sort of way, but then also it makes it all too familiar and predictable because he does it with every new film, even though this isn't necessarily "his" film. And these third act twists so to be getting more and more trite. You feel ripped off. For a decent story, that's what you get at the end, the feeling of being ripped off.
.....................................................................
Film 310
"He Was a Quiet Man"
starring: Christian Slater, Elisha Cuthbert
written and directed by: Frank. A Capello
Here is a surrealistic indie, film festival circuit story that has some dark humor and interesting ideas about justice and karma. The film kind of goes everywhere and nowhere by the end of it which really leaves you wondering what the whole point of it actually was. The conclusion is weak and ambiguous especially for such a "strong" story that has an interesting interpretation of corporate/office/cubicle life.
Christian Slater plays Bob Maconel, the quiet man from the title who also happens to be a bit psychotic (since right at the beginning of the film he is planning on a massacre in his office, because he just can't take it anymore- he's the office butt of everyone's jokes, and no one takes him seriously). Christian Slater plays Bob rather well, especially since this character is the antithesis of every other character he's probably ever played, starting way back in his early career in the early 1990s.
In the movie’s opening voice-over monologue, Bob mutters paranoid idiocy about the erosion of manhood and the decline of heroism in the age of feminism. Alone in his suburban home, he is taunted by his goldfish. That was an interesting choice, kind of like the serial killer, Sam, hearing the Devil's voice from a dog, telling him to kill people.He has a fetishistic attachment to a figurine of a hula girl in a lei and a grass skirt.
At work in A.D.D., the wittily named Fortune 500 company where he does something undefined with sheets of numbers, Bob keeps a gun, which he surreptitiously loads and unloads while fantasizing about the half-dozen people he intends to kill. In his briefcase he also keeps a black box with a red detonator. On his lunch hour he visits a bluff opposite his office tower, opens the briefcase and imagines blowing up the building.
One afternoon, while contemplating mass murder in his cubicle, he accidentally drops a round. Crawling under his desk to retrieve it, he hears shots and discovers that his office neighbor has pre-empted him and is killing people. Bob, pulling his gun, shoots him, then saves the life of Vanessa Parks (Elisha Cuthbert), a seriously wounded fellow worker. Suddenly the pariah is a hero, cheered by one and all.
But Bob receives a rude shock when he visits the beautiful woman whose life he saved, who is now a quadriplegic from a bullet in her spine. Summoning him to her hospital bed, she spits in his face and curses him for not letting her die. When he returns the next day, she apologizes, then begs him to finish the job. Refusing at the last minute, he begins to discover his humanity, and the movie envisions a weird, romantic co-dependency developing between them. Their romance was completely unbelievable, for me, and putting Elisha Cuthbert in a wheelchair as a quadriplegic was a rather risky move on the director/writer's part. Perhaps he had more faith in her than I do, as an actress, because although I admit I find her very attractive, I will also admit she's definitely not the best actress around.Ultimately it's a film about corporate office vigilante justice, the thin line between sanity and madness (and what can drive someone over the edge), as well as redemption, because with Slater's portrayal of Bob, you get the sense of some humanity in him, since he really can't bring himself to "finish the job" as Cuthbert's character pleads him to do. I really don't think you can pity him all that much though, which, for me is where the film fails. But, it was a nice effort.
I prefer my corporate justice coming in the form of comedy via "Office Space" instead.
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Film 311
"Paranormal Activity 4"
starring: Kathryn Newton, Katie Featherston, Matt Shively, Aiden Lovekamp, Brady Allen
I think it's safe to say the "found-footage" genre in films has worn its welcome out (about as much as the gross-out horror genre with the "Saw" franchise) and it has become far more cliche and same-old-same-old. With that being said, I might have to lump this "Paranormal Activity" series together as one big helping of a guilty pleasure. Sure, the scary moments are by definition very predictable, but they writers still provide decent moments of intensity. I think I especially like the series for its quietness and the blink-once and you might miss something.
"PA4" is the first true sequel in the series as it picks up the story after "PA2" and the main character, Katie's disappearance and the supposed kidnapping of Hunter (her sister's little boy). In this installment they show up together as the new neighbor's to a rather dysfunctional family (well, really it's the parents who are fighting and on the brink of a divorce). Alex (Kathryn Newton) is the main character in this story and she is probably the most likable and appealing character in the film. Alex appears to be a rather happy teenager, which is a nice thing to see (even if it's just in film). She really doesn't have too much to complain about, anyway. She has parents that trust her, a little brother that seems to love her, and she has a pretty cool boyfriend (together they are pretty cool, spotting wearing Beastie Boys and Metallica t-shirts, well, at least Alex is pretty cool because she's the one wearing the B-Boys t-shirt). Her boyfriend, Ben, is pretty much with her on and off screen throughout the whole film since they chat via webcam every night. It's so interesting to see technology advancements even through this series. In the first film, a lot of it came from hand-held cameras that were strategically attached to things and here, Alex and Ben are recording things through webcams on their laptops or, get this, the Xbox Kinect, which has a cool nightvision feature that lights up the screen in green at night and provides us the opportunity to see the ghostly figures, if you are paying close attention.
The film and story really belongs to Kathryn Newton, and that's a heavy load for such a young, new actress. With her character, Alex, though, she shows a maturity that even her parents lack.
And I did like the slow build-up of the ominous sounds in the night and the creepiness of the mysterious kid who just shows up next door and ends up staying with this family because his "mother" has been taken to the hospital for some inexplicable reason. When Robbie (the little boy) sleeps over, you can tell there will be trouble, and that's what I mean by predictable. But, the ending of the film is just decent enough to make you forget how cliche everything leading up to it was. The scares seem easy and a bit lackadaisical. Paranormal activity can be very frightening, when it isn't running on fumes. Unfortunately, I think this series, much like the "Saw" franchise should have realized much sooner, is nearing is welcomes end.
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