The Social Network

Isn't it crazy that I'm posting a review about the facebook movie, and it will automatically show up as a post on Jess' facebook page? Or the fact that when we got home from this movie, we both immediately got on our facebook pages? (Not b/c we had just seen the movie, but b/c that's what I usually do when I first get on the computer)

Seriously, this website has consumed our lives....weird.

Anyways, on to the movie. When I first saw a preview for this movie, I turned to Jess and said, "umm, a movie about facebook?....paassss"

Then, the reviews from all the movie critics came out....straight A's. I couldn't believe it. They all said things like, "the first Oscar contender" Well, that got me interested.

This movie very loosely follows Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of facebook, as he creates his now global mega website. There's a whole lot of fiction thrown in there, but let me tell you, that just makes it better. We get to watch Mark as he allegedly steals the idea of facebook from 3 other Harvard students. They end up suing him (and so does his business partner). The acting is great, the music is really cool, and the story is interesting. It was one of those movies that went by really fast to me....I could have watched more. Oh, and in case you didn't know, this guy is now my age and is the youngest Billionaire ever...yeah.....

So what are you waiting for??? Go see this movie, b/c I couldn't agree with the critics more.

A

Paranormal Activity 2

"The most anticipated horror event of the year".....??? Well of course I had to be in attendance! Ooookay, let's get into this one.

First off, I'm just going to assume you've seen the first one. If you haven't and you want to see this one, rent the first. It's not like it's extremely necessary, but this one will make more sense if you have.

The story of this movie takes place a little before the first movie, and a little after. Thanks to titles that pop up on the screen, you'll have an easy time figuring out how things fit together. I don't want to give too much away, but basically, this story involves a family who, just like the couple in the first movie, are haunted by some sort of demon. Lots of craziness happens....and like the first movie, lots of nothingness happens.

Overall, I liked the movie...I'll just say that. It's a movie that's kind of fun to get in to. So if you liked the first movie at all, you'll enjoy this one.

Now, here's my problems with it.

1. It's too similar to the first movie. Everything starts off happy, then slowly gets creepy, then gets insane by the end. Much too similar.

2. There are several times in the movie where it leaves you saying, "that is NOT what a person in this situation would do!!"

3. While I like how creepy the movie is, it still just relies on jumpy moments to scare you. This is NOT true suspense. Here is an example: Remember watching the movie "The Ring"? (My favorite scary movie by the way) Think of the scene where the main character returns to the creepy dad's barn/house and sneaks in at night. The house is dark and the lighthouse light keeps shining in. Then she finds the tape of crazy Samara in the nut house? Remember how scary that scene was? It's scary b/c the whole time you're thinking, "Get out of that house!!" It was scary b/c you can imagine yourself there.

That is true horror. This movie isn't like that. You may be scared, but you're only scared b/c you're waiting for the next [Extremely loud] jump out scene. Make sense?

Anyways, overall, I liked it. There was one scene that made us all want to pee, so I think you'll like this movie.

B-

Devil

Sounds scary right? Well, not really.

Think back to the summertime when you first saw the preview to this movie. You remember where you were. You were sitting in the theater, getting ready for Inception to start.

(Side note: if this doesn't ring a bell, there is something disturbingly wrong with you)

Anyways, you were probably a little intrigued until you saw the phase, "From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan"

Then you probably laughed, or as I said, "Next"

It's true, Shyamalan is pretty awful....but the good thing is, he only wrote this movie, he did not direct it.

Okay, okay, on to the review. Basically, this movie involves 5 people who end up on the same elevator at an office building. We soon learn that all of them have a shady past. As we hear a narrator explain, every now and then, the Devil takes the form of a human to torment those that are not living right. All kinds of craziness happens in that elevator, but for me, it wasn't that scary. It was interesting in parts and creepy in others, but overall, not the scariest movie I've seen.

In the end, there is a good message to this movie, although you wouldn't catch that from the previews. The movie moves quickly, and at only 80 minutes, you won't be in the theater for too long. Overall, I would say that you should see this movie...but maybe just rent it. It's definitely better than Shyamalan's last 3 movies, but it's not quite like his first. Oh, and watch out for the devil.

B-

Easy A

in this movie olive (emma stone) is "anonymous" in her high school. she has one good friend, who is sort of unbelievably...crazy? weird? i'm not really sure how to describe it, but she was a bit of a stretch if you're going for a high school girl. anyways, the fact that olive was anonymous was one of the things josh and i found to be another bit of a stretch. emma stone is super pretty, so honestly...how would she be anonymous? oh well...

so one day olive told her weird friend that she had a hot date with a college boy, to sort of get her off her back about what she did that weekend. olive talked up this little fake date and then her friends' imagination went wild. she accused her of sleeping with him, and olive didn't deny anything. of course her loud-mouthed friend started spreading it around that olive lost her virginity, and instantly she became the most talked about girl in school.

olive kind of liked the attention for a bit, and used it to a friends advantage (as you've seen from the previews, her friend is gay and was getting a lot of crap at school about it. so they hatched the plan to make it seem like they did the dirty). so then olive became even more talked about at school. in english class they were learning about the scarlet letter, and olive felt like she had a special connection with the book. she started wearing lingerie-influenced tops with a bright red A sewed on. in the less-popular-crowds, it got out what olive had done for her gay friend. she became a little entrepreneur, and started accepting gift cards so people could say they hooked up with the school hottie/harlot.

eventually her reputation got a little bit too much to handle, and she was put in some sketchy situations. she was blamed for things she didn't do, and lost her best friend in the process. the rest of the movie is how she deals with that, and this ultimately ties in to how the movie is presented.

i really liked how the movie was laid out, and how it all tied together in the end. olive makes some references to wanting life to be like an 80s movie (say anything, 16 candles, etc) in the movie, and this also ties in to the movie in its entirety. it's almost like they made an 80s movie, set in modern times. i loved it. [sorry that's hard to explain, but if you see it you will get what i mean]

besides the few unbelievable character traits (weird/crazy best friend; hottie being anonymous; religious freak amanda bynes not being as good as religious freak mandy moore in saved, etc), it was a good movie. enjoyable to watch, laugh out loud funny, and endearing. we definitely recommend this movie. the grade?

B