Sorority Row: What’s with the slow motion?

The choice to watch Sorority Row is an obvious one; D and I are huge fans of the horror/thriller/slasher genre. There is something thrilling about allowing filmamkers to give their best shot at making you jump or doubt the safety of your surroundings for a moment. Yes there is a thrill in following a killer’s journey and watch it all make sense in the end, even when it doesn’t, a movie that provides a good scare leaves you with a sense of something.

Sorority Row provided neither. The story began with promise though naked girls and sexually charged college students really are overdone. A girl dies accidentally and surprise surprise everyone involved decides to cover it up. Fast forward eight months later and graduation day, the not so recent past decides to haunt everyone involved through text message. Like most horrors the order of deaths is fairly accurate, the perverted therapist dies first because he is collateral damage, followed by the sexually adventurous sorority sister and then some random girl in a shower (seriously?). The tagline for this movie should be ‘cover up a crime and there is bound to be collateral damage’.

It is a promising story with a prank gone wrong and somewhat believable characters, like the guilt ridden heroine who just wants to escape the memories of the horrible thing that happened. The brainiac who is unable to make her own decisions because her scholarship and supposed “sisters” are worth more than the truth. The leader of the pack who thinks she is so badass and is willing to let anyone go down as long as she gets her way. Character-wise the highlight for the movie is Carrie Fisher as the house mother with a shot gun, she elicits a chuckle.

The twist in the story is not very satisfying and the killer lacked any real motivation, in fact being psychotic maniac wasn’t a good excuse for him in this movie. Sorority Row is a remake, though I have not seen the original, I found this version to be lacking in any true horror/thriller/slasher ingenuity. The half naked girl at every corner is a little tiresome; the characters promiscuities screams kill me now. The deaths lacked in any real creativity, granted a pimped out tire iron as the killer’s weapon of choice is kinda cool but the deaths themselves lacked fright inducing suspense. I was not frightened at all just disgusted and mostly repulsed. The story had so much potential and the red herring could have been so much more interesting and believable. Wait for the DVD.

New Moon: Sorta Beautiful

My anticipation for the release of New Moon was never as hyper as most would have expected. Yes I was interested and somewhat eager but I wasn’t to be found camped out at the cinema the night before neither was I to be seen at the cinema on opening weekend. I watched the first Twilight movie and in short I wasn’t quite sure if I should laugh or be disappointed, there was a fair amount of ridiculousness and quite honestly I still think Stephenie Meyer should sue.

New moon began just as the book; Bella draws us into her world with her unhealthy yet enigmatic obsession with the brooding vegan vampire Edward Cullen. Readers of the book know exactly what happens next but for cinematic experience Edward’s decision leave his lady fair comes as a shock and somewhat disappointment as to where the story is headed now. Enter Jacob Black the kid that became the delectable hunk all the girls want to take home with them.  Eye candy isn’t merely enough for this movie to ride on though most will disagree after they watch Jacob walk around shirtless. As far as the story goes I still find the themes and characters somewhat questionable. Bella’s deep sense of loss when Edward leaves is somewhat frightening and could encourage bad relationship choices for teenagers who love the series. There is also an inherent sense of dependency where Bella is concerned something she is unable to see herself, she is unable exist without Edward and it takes Jacob to save her and she nearly falls apart when he seems to disappear too.

The introduction of the wolf pack is visually pleasing and a clever way for director Chris Weitz to get the audience to like characters that the story isn’t fair to as they are biased to the vampire community shaped by Bella’s point of view.  Chris Weitz has managed to make a dark tale of loss and hopelessness visually seductive and its characters loveable and enchanting. The time spent with Jacob and his wolf brothers is so delightful that Edward is barely missed, though Weitz has cleverly kept him in the story as visual delusions rather than just a voice in Bella’s head.

Filmicly the story is beautifully translated to screen and so close to the book that fans have very little to nothing to complain about. There are clever dialogues that elicits a chuckle from the audience, moments that make hearts melt. Highlights from the movie are definitely the fights, Jacob and Paul’s wolf fight ( though the wolves look like giant cuddly toys hardly menacing); and Edward and Felix’s tumble in Volterra a sequence so well choreographed it was perfectly executed dance of blurring colours.

The movie is well-paced, however by the time we arrive back in Forks from Italy you wonder if the end is near. It is not the best it can be, some of the actors could use acting classes and Robert Pattinson’s tortured expression does get a touch tiring but it is sorta beautiful, though I wish Edward would refrain from taking his shirt off, leave that to Jacob Black.  

Girls go watch it because the minute Taylor Launter takes of his shirt it's worth it, guys erm... there is a bitchin' car racey type sequence. 

Meet Me Half Way

I woke up this morning feeling uttlerly wretched. I felt like something was missing something was wrong, I have had this feeling before but usually a good cup of tea and I snap out of it. I haven't snapped yet. I spent 40 seconds on the phone last night attempting to pull a "Jonas", I found that I couldn't. I had to just face the music this morning instead. I find myself listening to the New Moon soundtrack, it brings me some sort of comfort right now, I know it's odd I bought the CD before the movie came out. I heard one song Possiblity by Lykke Li and it won me over. There is far too much drama in the world and for some reason it seems to always find me no matter how far I try to stay away from it. I feel like I am pushed into a corner and there is no escape I begging for some good news and it has decided to to be a whisper in the wind and the harder I try to get at it the softer and inaudible it becomes. Maybe I am just paranoid maybe it's all in my head all I know is that I just want to cry but I can't seem to. Maybe this whole thing could try a compromise.

The Bad Thing That Happened

I began today by deciding that I was going to have a good day no matter what. The minute I made that decision things seemed to get better. However the bad thing that happened five months ago has haunted my every thought today.

When something bad happens society’s kneejerk reaction is to tell you that it’s going to be okay and that you will be fine. What a load of crock I say, what gives society the right to tell me it’s going to be okay? My life has profoundly changed forever and you tell me it’s going to be okay, that I will be fine. Then I thought about it, of course they tell me it’s going to be okay because if they had to tell me the truth it might break me even more. What should they say? That I am doomed to spend my earthbound days in pain and misery? Of course not.

Ever since the bad thing happened I have been still inside, afraid to do anything. I do not want talk about the bad thing so I present a false sense of optimism and enthusiasm. Since the bad thing happened I have expected nothing from the world and my rouse seem to work well. Though on some days the bad thing trenches at me and forces me the recluse deep within, when I fight back it comes off attention seeking and superficial. I overheard a friend talking about me once and my recluseness and how it was all a guise. I should have confronted her but it took too much energy to focus on it. Since the bad thing happened I have tried to be the picture of joy when the sun is up and I am around people, but once the sun goes down it’s just me, a fearful stillness kicks in. I am now afraid of the dark I have to sleep with the lights on; I have had maybe one decent night’s sleep in five months. Every morning before I allow the sun to engulf me with its scorching gaze I close my eyes hoping the bad thing didn't happen.

I heard or read somewhere once that friends tell you they will be there for you when bad things happen but they never really are. Something about “how many of your friends send you a long email or give you a call just to let you they love you or go out of their way to give you hug?” I thought about that a lot today, and then it hit me – they’ve moved on. You see the bad thing happened to me not them. The world moves on the very next day, the world doesn’t care. I am sure my friends care. I don’t like to really talk about the bad thing that happened because I think if I unleash out there it will tear apart. For five months I searched for and faked normalcy, the words, fine, okay and alright has become the norm and I don’t even believe them.

Maybe I am not fine or okay, maybe normal will never come but they’ve moved on maybe I should try turning out the lights tonight.

More Vampires

So it seems there is a vampire at every corner these days, and it's not just your average vampire it's your typical teenage let's fall in love with the human girl vampire. When the Twilight Saga sauntered into my life couple of months ago it brought with an obsession that has me ashamed of myself. Yes you readers know about my Edward Diaries and my open love affair with 17year old apparent hottie. So when I put down Breaking Dawn and the withdrawal set in, I discovered another vampire series that was written waaay before Edward and Bella knew that it was okay to jump around in trees saying ridiculous things like "spider-monkey". I discovered the Vampire Diaries, and equally addictive tale about vampires or in this one vampire who wants to be normal and his brother who doesn't. There is a girl involved and she has friends and an ex who is actually too good to be true. It is a really nice story and more mature than Twilight no offence to them twihards. I have read five out of the total seven books, the last are yet to be released. After reading Nightfall, the latest in the Vamp Diaries series, which jumps in terms of time - I found out thanks to our friends at E! that there's a television series adapting the books. So I waited. 

While waiting I discovered the Sookie Stackhouse books (Southern Vampire Mysteries) which True Blood is based on all the vampires are coming to screen. Again another small town vampire in love with a human girl, expect with Sookie her story is a bit more adult if you've seen True Blood you know what I mean.

Today I began watching the Vampire Diaries after a long and impatient wait, Stefan did not disappoint, Paul Wesley is a hottie and half a worthy Stefan Salvatore. I wouldn't mind procreating with him, truly I would not. The series doesn’t have the same pull as the books do but seriously what adaptation does anyway? Twilight was atrocious as a movie once you got past Rob/Edward swoon and actually watched the movie. What was interesting with Vampire Dairies was that Damon the "I am a badass vampire and I am going to kill you" reads Twilight in the like the 4th episode and talks about how it's fictitious and Edward is whipped. What fun vampire intertextuality is.