Ahh, Real Monsters!

Went on kind of a scary movie binge this weekend. Yesterday I went to see Paranormal Activity 3, and before that I watched John Carpenter's The Thing on my computer. (NOT the one in theaters.) Both really good. I wouldn't say that The Thing was scary, but entertaining for sure. Paranormal Activity, however: terrifying. I have to say that I don't know if I have seen a more suspenseful movie in my whole life. In fact, the entire franchise is built on suspense, and I think they've cornered the market. I don't know if my muscles relaxed the entire last hour of the movie. Or if my hands came down from my face. They had this camera that was set up on an oscillating fan, so it went back in forth between two rooms. It was set at the exact speed to drive you CRAZY but not make it excessive. That was genius in my opinion. In fact, waiting for that camera to rotate to the other room was practically painful. It was so much fun to watch, I couldn't believe it was over when it was. I wanted to keep watching. I'd say the scariest part was the Bloody Mary scene. Ho. Ly. Crap. One of the best things about this one compared to the others is that it actually had some comic relief. I know the first one attempted it with the banter between the couple, but this really was funny. It made it so much better, in my opinion. I will say, that while the ending was mind-blowingly surprising, I was disappointed. I think it ended in a really weird spot (obviously setting up another one come next October, but hey, I ain't mad). And it ended so suddenly, I felt like this was the climax of the movie and it got cut short. I don't know, maybe I'm just complaining because I wanted the movie to be longer. Who knows. The funny thing about this entire franchise is that after the movie, after I thought about it... not much happened, but I was terrified the whole time. Crazy how a movie can do that.
The other movie I watched, The Thing, was pretty good, too. I first became interested in it when we watched a clip of it in my screenwriting class. Then a guy in another film class was talking about how awesome it was. He was right. It's pretty freaking awesome. When it came out, it got slammed by critics. Which I can understand, it's a stupid horror movie. Cheesy and funny in some ways, but I like those kind. I usually like either really scary horror movies, or ones that don't take themselves too seriously. That was The Thing. I feel like it was meant to have that cheese factor. I loved it. The best/ most impressive thing about the movie is that it was made before all of the CGI bullshit, and it has some pretty great effects. I'm not saying they're completely realistic like it would be in a computer, but it's damn impressive knowing that they didn't have really any computers to make the thing transform. I'm going to put a video up, but be forewarned, IT IS GRAPHIC. So, if you don't like that stuff, don't watch.

Next Semester

YAAAY! The class schedule for next semester posted today (TWO whole days earlier than it was supposed to). I don't know about anyone else, but I love making my schedule. I'm glad I went to my advisor on Monday. She helped me out a lot. I'm basically done with my core requirements for my major. yipee. So I had four classes that I could basically pick whatever I wanted. Two had to be in my major, but same thing. Anyways, these are the classes I picked:

• FMS 300- Television and Cultural Studies
• FMS 440- Los Angeles: Movies and Culture
• FMS 394- Hollywood Musicals
• WST 313- Women and Sexuality
• THP 482- Theater for Social Change

Suuuuper excited for all of them pretty much. The LA teacher really sucks, I have him right now for my Race and Gender class. It's not so much that he sucks, he is just a prick. And I've heard great things about Theater for Social Change. Very exciting. School is actually going okay. I'm not doing so hot in my Geology class, but I emailed the TA and he said that not all hope is lost. So that's good. If I pass, I will be DONE with science and all Gen Eds. And that is just the best news ever. I guess I don't feel as far behind as I probably am. So that's nice. I also started filling out my study abroad application the other day (Rome, here I come!!!). Just thought I'd share all of this with everyone while I'm waiting around for my next class to start. 

George Clooney for President?

I saw The Ides of March over the weekend. It's really good. I'm so excited. I think it's safe to say that this movie marks the beginning of Oscar Season....YAAAAAAAAY!! I love when the good movies come out, and when there is a movie you want to see coming out every weekend. I personally am very behind in the movies I want to see, as well as an ever-expanding Netflix Queue. Anyways, this movie was really fantastic. I'm not normally a fan of political thrillers (i.e Manchurian Candidate). A lot of them go over my head to begin with, and then they're just not really thrilling. Ides of March was truly suspenseful. It was interesting how suspenseful it was considering the fact that the stakes aren't really tangible. I was totally invested in the story the whole time. So much so that I was ready to bunch my ballot to make Mike Morris our next president. Seriously though, he had some great ideas...and George Clooney was a great face for the campaign. (Clooney/Gosling 2016?? Just a thought).
Okay, I don't know if I've ever given full credit to Ryan Gosling in the past, but this is me jumping on the bandwagon. He is AMAZING. And what's better: he's YOUNG. We are going to be experiencing his awesomeness for a long time coming. It's so weird that he was in The Notebook (A mediocre movie at best, in my opinion. Feel free to boo and hiss), and then he was in Lars and the Real Girl, and now he is in this mainstream, hollywood powerhouse of a movie. Not only that, he was awesome in it. Right in stride with all the veterans around him, outshining a few. He was nominated for an Oscar a few years ago, but had no chance. I seriously think he has a good chance. I know it's a little early to call it, but whatever. Rest of the cast was great. Let's face it, has George Clooney ever performed badly in a movie? I will say that the movie used just the right amount of Paul Giamatti. He's really talented and I like him, but I really can't stand to listen to him speak for very long.

50/50

Last week I saw 50/50, and I loved it!! It was way funnier than I was expecting and also not nearly as sad as I was expecting, both very good things. I loved how it wasn't some super depressing movie about cancer, as many movies featuring cancer are. One thing that bothered me throughout the movie was that he was SO unemotional about it. I am an emotion junkie of sorts, and I was kind of let down by his reaction. That being said, all of his lack of emotion made when he actually did break down even that much more heartbreaking. I thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt was perfect. His emotional range was great. Going from absolutely nothing to completely losing it-- which is what is expected of him. I also thought the movie was funny in all the right parts. It wasn't inappropriate and when the situation called for serious conversation, that's what there was. At the same time, it was extremely funny. 

The cast was absolutely amazing. Like I've already said, Joseph Gordon-Levitt was fantastic, and a great choice by the casting director. I'm excited to see him be in more movies; he's really underrated and super talented. I hope that this movie helps him get even more parts. Everyone was really good. It was good to see Angelica Houston. I can't believe how good she looks! She's got to be at least, AT LEAST, 60. Bryce Dallas Howard was good, too. Who knew she was good at playing the bitch? I will say that I'm getting a little sick of Seth Rogen playing the same person over and over again. I mean, he is hilariously funny, but I would just like to see him do something different.