What I'm Watching: Paranormal Activity - The Marked Ones

Hello, Triskelions!

As usual, killing some time before the new main review goes up in a few days, and thought I'd sprinkle in at LEAST one new quickie review, and hopefully a few more before then!

I have long been a champion of the Paranormal Activity series, loving each of the movies to SOME degree, and they grow on me more and more over time, even if I walk out with more of a "Hmm" reaction to the last few.  So, it's no surprise that I went to see The Marked Ones, although it took me awhile to get there.

The movie follows a family in the LA area, several years after the original events of the first movie, and focuses around some Latinos just after graduating high school, and discovering the woman that one of them lives above may in fact be a witch.

Marked Ones breaks from the more 'security' oriented type of found footage that a lot of the other PA movies use.  Yes, they use a lot of handheld as well, but a lot of the PA visual language comes from a lot of establishing shots setting up each area in a repetitious manner, and this movie did away with all that.

This is both a good thing, and a bad thing.  On the one hand, you lose a lot of that building of tension you get with that style.  You lose the, "See, everything is normal, just like the night before, and the night before, and the night before, and...NOW THERE IS AN EXPLOSION OF CABINETS."  That's a good way to lull the audience and pull the rug out from them, and this movie replaces those with a few lingering shots of the same room, until eventually something happens during the lone scene.  And that's fine, and works well with a more handheld style.

But it also gives this movie it's own visual style, its own identity, and that's good, because it allows this movie to stand on its own merits, and not be "Paranormal Activity, but with Mexicans."  It really is its own thing, and it mostly works.

The movie is smart enough to use some of the same tropes from the main franchise though, so you don't feel alienated.  They sprinkle in JUST enough references to remind you this is the same universe, while at the same time expanding the mythology.  We get a lot of potential backstory here, and since it's not connected to Katie's story, or the new random family of the week, it gets to establish things on its own and fill in some blanks that might have otherwise been difficult to work in.

We get a good number of scares, and since they involve possessed people, we actually get to SEE things happening, and not just exploding cabinets, falling knives, or floating sheets.  We get more physicality of the evil in this movie than we have in previous films, save for Katie's occasionally villainous appearances.

They do a number of new things that really caught me off guard, because they're not typical to a PA movie, and again, these things were welcome.  Warping space in camera was such a "WHOA" moment for me, because such visual effects just aren't done here, y'know?

My fave bit must have been this movie's use of one of the best tropes of the series; the possessed creepy 80s toy.  We've seen it with the Lite Brite, Teddy Ruxpin, and this movie gives us a communicative Simon game.  That was brilliant, awesome, and SO creepy in its simplicity.  But man, they missed a trick with it though, and I wish the scene had gone on for *literally* two seconds more.

If you're a fan of the PA movies, this is a MUST see.  It matters to the series.  It does different things, has a different voice, but is, in my opinion, important to the mythology.  I enjoyed it as much as the rest, and probably more than the third installment.  Do not skip this movie just because it's not in the main branch!

What I'm Watching: Last Exorcism Part 2

One of my favourite movies from a few years back was the found footage gem, Last Exorcism.  It was a great, twisty tale that really used the found footage format effectively, and literally kept you guessing until the last few minutes, and then made you rethink EVERYTHING you just watched.  That rare movie that truly rewards multiple viewings.

So of course, they had to make a sequel.  How did that go?

Uh...

Not well, sadly.  Everything the first movie was, the sequel isn't.  I mean that QUITE literally.  The movie is not very thrilling, it's actually kinda boring for the first half of the movie, and they ditch the found footage style to do a traditional movie.

I know I complain about found footage overdose, but ditching that for the sequel just seems wrong.  I don't think they could have told THIS specific story in that style, but they still could have done some other story that would fit.  It just does not feel like a movie in the same universe.

The first half of the movie covers Nell's resurfacing and recovering after the events of the first movie.  They do some decent character work, but you always sit there waiting for that moment when things go horribly wrong, and those moments were long in coming, and very small, very mundane even, and very typical of the genre.  Nothing at all noteworthy.

Once the demonic goodness kicks in, we pick up a little bit, but again, it's just very standard fare.  Nell seeks the helpful local mystic juju voodoo woman, who calls in an exorcist, and she gets strappedown once again.

The actual exorcism is such a minor part of the movie, and oh look, they bring up the almost overused namedrop of Croatoa/Croatoan.  There is just so little style to this movie to call its own, so little innovation, and barely a story there in the first place.

Once again, the highlight is Ashley Bell as Nell.  She still does a great job, even though it is lessened this time, as with everything else.  And she still does some creepy movements, which she excelled at in the first movie.  It's hard to buy the innocence routine after the first movie, and I think not being found footage harms that even more.  The verite style brings you right into the movie, into their lives, and you feel closer to them psychologically, and a more standard movie puts up that wall of the theatre screen.

Most frustrating is how often the movie likes to do non scare scares.  Typified by a moment when Abalam returns and possesses someone close to Nell, grabbing someone, and closing themselves up in a room.  You hear a ruckus, someone comes along and opens the door to reveal...NOTHING!

In the words of Bart Simpson, you know what would've been better than nothing?  ANYTHING!!

It's a shame, really, because the basic idea of Nell recovering and finding she has not escaped the clutches of Abalam has some legs for a story.  But it never really clicks, since it's almost the background, and not the story.  Also, they don't really deal at all with the actual birth of the demon at the end of the first movie, or anything in that movie at all.  Did they even watch it?

The best part of the movie is the final few moments, with what barely qualifies as their twist.  It doesn't cause a major paradigm shift in the way this movie works, like the first, which is a shame.  But it is a good "Oooh" moment, and leads to some good stuff.

Some good stuff that would be dealt with more in a third movie if they made one, which I'm not too terribly keen to see, quite frankly.  Of course, since they ditched the ending of the alst movie, while also starting from the exact moment the first movie ended!, I don't expect anything here would be followed up on either, if it continues.

Stick with the original, and gives this sequel a wide berth, unless you just want to watch Ashley Bell do her thing.  Actually, STILL stick to the original, because she does it better there.

What I'm Watching: Zombieland Pilot

Awhile back, I shared my thoughts on the awesomeness that was Zombieland.  It was widely known that they originally wanted to make a series, hence the Zombie Kill of the Week would've been a real thing, and other little touches.  But that didn't work, and they eventually got it to launch as a theatrical movie.

So, the wheel turns, and we come back around to...Zombieland being made into a possible series!  Go figure.  At Amazon, of all places.  But hey, if they get the tone correct, it's all good, right?

Right?

Well...  How can this feel so wrong and so right at the same time?  I really think the main problem here is the cast.  Now, there was NOOO way they were going to get the movie's cast back, clearly.  And other properties have transitioned well enough from movies to tv with a changed cast, like Stargate.  But Zombieland has SUCH an iconic cast, that it is tough, at least with this first episode, to get over that.  I hope that lessens as time goes by, because I would really hate to be constantly bothered by that.

Because really?  This was good.  This was GOOD.  This was, quite frankly, more Zombieland.  If you were to read the scripts, or if these were two separate chapters of a book, you would go, "Ah, yes.  These are two parts of a whole.  These are both of a piece."  I would be hard pressed to find someone who loved the movie that didn't at least like this, and at least be willing to give it a chance.

The cast is not bad, not really.  But yeah, hard to get by not having Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and the rest.  And it's been awhile since I saw the original, and I know Tallahassee was never the sharpest blade in the scabbard, but did they dumb him down, or is it just me?

I get they're going for comedic effect, and it's like Randall getting a slight IQ downgrade between the Clerks movies and animated series and whatnot.  It's funny to have a guy that's clueless.  And the guy playing Tallahassee was pretty good, and the way they wrote him suited the actor's protrayal, so it all works in the end.

They also did a funny bit opening the episode, which was maybe a little on the slow side but it's easing you in I guess...  But they open up with a joke that ONLY works because they recast the role.  The whole joke is, you don't know the guy, but if you knew this was Tallahassee, FL, then you would know that was who that was!  That is so meta, and pretty brilliant, and a great way to say, "Yes, we know they're not the same actors, live with it."

Little Rock came off as a poor man's Chloe Moretz to me.  And that's not a bad thing.  She was probably the closest to the original actress, in my head.  But being compared to Moretz is a plus, in my book.

I don't really have much to say about Columbus and Wichita, but they did decently enough.  Columbus as our returning narator works well enough, and isn't terribly jarring, which is a plus.

Aside from Tallahassee being dumbed down, Wichita's casting throws me the most.  She is SO different from Emma Stone, but she delivers the lines well, as some decent awkward chemistry with Columbus, and is pretty funny.  So it's the most distracting, but she does a good enough job of both making the role her own, and feeling at home at the same time, that it almost works.  And will surely grow on me if this goes to a series.

But the biggest question I have on the plot side of things...who the fuck is keeping OnStar going in the zombie apocalypse?!  That's almost crazy to me, and almost demands having a story told just to explain the hows and whys, before my suspension of disbelief snaps like a rubber band.

But in short, this is good, VERY good.  Especially for a pilot, and one that has such expectations breathing down its neck.  It hits all the right notes, and has the same tone as the movie.  You get that mix of humour and horror that the movie excelled at, and knows when to switch between the two.  It gets right what it needs to get right, and the stuff it gets wrong can be ironed out.  No pilot is perfect, and while the cast is different, the story remains the same.

Definitely worth checking out, and giving Amazon your feedback.

What I'm Watching: The Collector/The Collection

Hey, it's a two for one review!

I recently watched The Collector, finally.  Mainly because I saw trailers for The Collection, and realised it was a sequel.  Oops.  I should watch the first one first, eh?

So I watched them both back to back, and here we are.

The general plot concerns a man who likes to go around to places, rig up elaborate traps, and then proceeds to get off watching his victims try and escape.  And fail miserably.

We do not find out who he is.

We do not find out why he's doing this.

We do not find out why he saves people.  At least, not entirely.

We DO get hints at these things, but I like that they are slowly dealing out information over the movies, and hope we get another one with some more answers.

I really, really enjoyed both of these movies.  Screw the popular reviews, they don't seem to get it.  Most of them complain about everything I just said, but not knowing who this guy is, that's part of the point.  They're playing on the same terror The Strangers played with, in that we never see these killers' faces, and they could literally be anyone, they could be the guy you walked by on the street, they could be your neighbours, they could be your best friend.  That is true terror, right there.

And hey, a little mystery is always fun.  Now, if we don't get answers, and the creator does assure us repeatedly that there ARE answers, that is indeed frustrating.

But back to the movies.

The first movie focuses on a single family and their home, and a handyman who is also a recently released ex-con.  He gets caught in the mix when he breaks into the house to retrieve something, and ends up being the main rival of the Collector.  It's a great dichotomy to have this one criminal striving for redemption going against another criminal who really just doesn't give a shit.

Josh Stewart does a great job as the lead, and with so much of his creeping around the rigged house having to be done in silence to avoid the Collector, he has to do a lot with very little, and he does it amazingly well.  The cat and mouse between the two is SO well shot.  Both of these, if done poorly, would have killed the movie right there, but both just sing.  Great filmmaking.

The second movie deals with the fallout of the first, with Josh's character coming back into contact with the Collector in his base of operations, and with a team of cannon fodder...er, bodyguards with their own agenda that just so happens to coincide.

I prefer the first movie because the scale is more intimate and you get to really get to know everyone very well, and with everything being turned up to 11 for the sequel, you lose a bit of that.  But just a bit.  The insanity of an entire hotel turned into a series of death traps makes up for maybe a little less care being taken in characterisation.

The story arc for Josh's character in both films is well played, starting with him being the ex-con, wanting to just get in and get out of the house, but slowly finding his courage and rising to the occasion.  And the second movie when his courage leaves him, and almost being his downfall.  Fortunately there is a resounding moment of the damsel in distress saying screw that, and saving herself AND Josh.

The Collector himself is a great addition to the horror pantheon of bad guys.  He holds his own with so many, and I love the way he's played like this insect-like predator.  He's calm, quiet, detached, and the way he moves, the way he acts...just a thrill to watch, with almost no dialogue, again.  The acting in these movies almost blows me away, within the context of what they're working with.

And yes, you'll hear these are from a few people involved in the later Saw films, but these are SOO much better.  And yes, that means gore, but I don't think that got as bad as some people think it did, or maybe afraid of it getting.  Just brace your stomach and gives these films a chance if you want some crazy fun action and terror.  It's like Home Alone on crack, with the sequel being, and I realise this is a bit of an old, obscure reference, the Hotel Cabal from Gargoyles.

J

What I'm Watching: Expendables 2

Yipee kai yay!

A bit of a break from our usual fare, but this movie has a high enough body count to justify it, as far as I'm concerned.  And sharing my varied tastes is always good.

Anyone who saw my thoughts on the first Expendables saw that I liked it, but had a few problems that only gave it some minor dings.  The sequel answered almost every single one of those problems, and had more fun stuff besides that to make this an even better movie, IMO.

This is still a giant, honking testosterone fest of guns, knives, and shit blowing up.  The plot is admittedly light, and serving to get us from point A to explosion B, but it is a lot tighter than the first movie.  One of the problems I had with the first movie is a lack of character.  Now, I wasn't *expecting* such things in this sort of movie.  That is not what Expendables is about.  But still, it really felt lacking at times.  Mickey Rourke's speech to Stallone at one point was a highlight, and I longed for more of that.  This movie gave us more of those quieter, more philosophical moments, and it does not harm the sequel in the least.  In fact, it gives this movie that much needed heart, and makes it just a little bit more than Shit Blows Up: Now It's Personal.

Another complaint was that Willis and Schwarzenegger had almost nothing to do in the first movie, and that was such a shame with how much they were hyped.  They get much more to do in the sequel, are much more important to the plot, and yes, again, the movie is better for it.  The scene with them in the airport is FUCKING AMAZING.

Heck, that scene is just awesome, period, on all counts.  It's the scene you WANT to see in this sort of movie.  Crazy action, amazing shit going on in every second, and all the references you wish they would make.  That scene alone is worth the price of admission.

My last big problem was that a lot of the action seemed to go by so fast, we didn't really have a chance to savour it.  Again, they fix that.  We really get some GOOD fights, where everyone has their moments, and it is all clear, solid, and packed.  I felt Jet Li was given short shrift in the first movie, not really getting to showcase himself much, and I'm not sure if this is an accurate assessment, because I haven't rewatched the first in awhile, but in his one brieft scene, he does more, and showcases his own style WAY better than he did in the entire first movie, so at least he got sent off appropriately.

The new additions to the cast are also welcome.  Van Damne is *awesome* as the villain.  Named Vilain.  Seriously.  That is so crazy.  And I love it for it's ballsy stupidity.  But he's threatening, he's cunning, and he fits perfectly with these guys.  Of course he does, really.

And holy shit.  CHUCK NORRIS FACT.  That was such an awesome bit to put in the movie.  Norris was a fun addition, although he did become a little bit of a Chuck Ex Machina.  But then, he would, wouldn't he?

Nan Yu as Maggie really fit in well with the crew too.  She didn't get to do quite as much as I would have liked, but she held her own with what she was given.  Hopefully in a third installment, she gets some more moments to shine.  Anyone who bitched about this movie adding a female to the mercenaries needs to shut the hell up.

But then they can go over and bitch about how criminally wasted Charisma Carpenter was in this movie.  Sigh.  Although, leaving out the personal, relationshippy moments that were in the original also likely helped things out.  Still, it would likely have been better to leave her out entirely, even if the henpecking phone calls were amusing, if quickly dropped.  A running gag that didn't make it around the first curve, I guess?

This really was the movie I wished the first one had been, in almost every way.  It took everything that worked from the first movie, made it better, and got rid of the stuff that didn't, or fixed it up.  It doesn't waste time redoing scenes from the first movie that people loved, just to do them again and try and top them, either.  That is the curse of many action sequels, and they thankfully stayed far away from that trap.

If you liked the first one, you should LOVE this one.  If you loved the first one, this one will probably blow your mind.  If you didn't like the first one, well...hard to say.  This one might be worse or just as bad to you.  But it might also fix the problems you had, and maybe this is the movie you wanted to see all along.  I'd say it's at least worth checking out, if you didn't like the first, but liked the idea.

Seriously fun, and not serious at all.  I am finding it difficult to find fault, outside of the usual tropes of the genre they are deliberately playing with anyways, so those are supposed to be there.

J