So as many of you know, Paranormal Activity has been advertised as one of the scariest movies out there right now. Well they're right. Paranormal Activity takes horror mockumentaries to the next level.

As I was going up to the ticket booth to buy my ticket, I couldn't help but notice a large sign that read, "Warning: Paranormal Activity has been shown to cause nausea and dizziness amongst viewers". I thought, "How bad could it be??" I should have heeded the warning. The movie's Blair Witch Project Home movie quality, with a person holding a hand held camcorder makes for a shaky image and definitely adds to the suspense......and the nausea.

The first half of the movie is not horrifying in terms of scary scenes, but I think that this makes the movie even scarier. You know that its coming you just don't know when. The first half even, dare I say it, takes a lighter more funny tone. Paranormal Activity chronicles the tale of Katie and Micah, a couple who just moved into a new home when strange things and weird noises begin to manifest themselves in their new house. Katie who believes in the paranormal believes that it is ghosts while Micah is harder to convince until much later after a series of events, Micah begins to believe it is ghosts as well. This is when Micah decides to put up a camera in the house to make sure the ghosts are captured if they decide to show up. Thus, the latter half of the movie however is much different than the former half. This is where you begin to actually see the Paranormal Activity.

Although it did give me a good scare, and it was one of those movies that is sort of a guilty pleasure, Paranormal Activity is not for all. Many found that it was too intense, while others think it was not scary at all. So view at your own risk, I suppose. You be careful not to get too nauseous in the movie theater!

Movies to look out for

Releasing this December 18, a good movie to look out for is this holiday's season's Avatar. I'm sure many of you have seen the preview for this movie, but I think many of us overlooked it as being a winner.

Upon further review, I think that this movie is going to be a must-see. It deals with so many issues that people are becoming increasingly interested in. The movie is about an ex-marine who finds himself in the middle of a battle between the humans of Earth and a strange planet and its indigenous people. Humans are trying to take over the planet and wipe out the indigenous people, who are not going down without a fight, and who the humans have found are very hard to kill. He is asked to become an "Avatar", a process where his consciousness is transferred over to the body of an alien of the planet. He is asked to assimilate into the indigenous people's culture and find out a way to kill them and report back to the humans. He then finds himself in a struggle between two worlds, his own and that of this new planet. He know it is wrong to kill of all of the indigenous aliens, but is torn as to what decision to make.

The movie takes on several issues including that of the U.S. in the 1800's and the ideals of Manifest Destiny and whether or not we have the write to claim other territories as our own if we can prove that we are "superior". I think that Avatar is going to be a surprisingly good film given its content and they have really done an extraordinary job creating an alternate planet and species of people. Hope you will all go see!

I've got to be honest as I write this, I am a total Pixar junkie. Anything that Pixar has made, I've seen and I love it all. From Toy Story to A Bug's Life to Monster's Inc., I love it all. So its no surprise to me that when they're newest creation, Up, came out it was an instant hit with me. Its DVD release date is set for November 10 and you better believe I've already pre-ordered my copy.

Somehow Pixar always manages to create the most upbeat, funny, and sentimental movies for children. The great thing I love about Pixar is that they're movies are not solely geared towards kids. They manage to weave together the interests of adults and children together to make it simple enough for a child to follow and complex enough for an adult to stay intrigued. And Up is no different. It tells a heartwarming tale of a young boy, Carl, who at the young age of about 10 finds his true love in a spritely young girl, Ellie, whose greatest dream is to travel the world and make it to South America to Paradise Falls. Through a series of events the couple reaches old age and unfortunately Ellie passes away. Then just as Carl is about to be put into a nursing home, he comes up with an ingenious plan to turn his house into a giant hot air balloon, in an effort to make his way to Paradise Falls but accidentally finds himself with a companion, Russell, a little boy who came knocking to Carl's door at the right moment.

This movie was great to watch not only because it had great lessons to be learned but it also addresses some of the leading issues in the U.S. today having to do with the societal gap building between the young and the elderly and how technology is playing a key role in perpetuating that gap. Pixar does a great job of showing the issue and of course finding a "happily ever after" and telling us that in the end, we can all get along and live together.

So, even if you hate pixar movies (I don't know anyone who does, but its a hypothetical) I guarantee you will love to watch this.

In Honor of Halloween

So if you're anything like me, you have a love-hate relationship with horror movies. I love the thrill and excitement, but of course hate the ensuing nightmares. So in honor of this past Halloween weekend, I decided to try my luck at the movie theater with the sixth installment of the Saw movies.

Of course, there is not a whole lot someone can expect from a movie designed to make you lose your appetite, but this movie really topped my expectations in terms of just how bad it got. The first scene was by far the scariest/grossest scene in the entire movie and from there it all just went downhill. The acting was atrocious, Costas Mandylor as Detective Mark Hoffman was almost painful to watch. Along with many of the other actors, it made the movie seem like just that, a movie, something fake and staged, taking away from the horror factor. The only actor who managed to pull the plot and the movie together was Tobin Bell as John Kramer/Jigsaw. He is more believable than any other character and carries the film.

Although maybe not the greatest piece of artistic work in terms of film, Saw does (as usual) keep a very interesting plot. They always manage to twist the plot at the last second right when the viewer thinks they have it all figured out. The plot twists always tie the entire movie together right in the last few minutes of the movie, right when people like me are starting to yawn and text and have stopped paying attention.

All in all, Saw VI was probably not worth my $8 Matinee ticket. I think that Saw has started to stray from its original roots of the first movie where they had a great parallel and balance between the gore and the plot. The gore seemed to be more important in depicting than the actual plot where the acting and reality of the story seemed to be secondary. But as I said, Saw movies are still a great way to lose your appetite :-)

Matt Damon does more than Ocean's Eleven movies

In case you thought Matt Damon had fallen off the map after his Borne and Ocean's Eleven movies, he's back. Damon just appeared in what I would call an under-ratably good movie. The film is based on a true story of a whistle-blower for a large company in the 1990's, who through a series of events becomes an FBI informant. Although the topic is serious and familiar to many people, it takes a surprisingly satirical mood throughout the whole film. Matt Damon plays Mark Whitacre, an unwitting corporate mogul moving up in the ranks. He turns informant and to the FBI's surprise is not quite so forthcoming as they had expected and constantly changes his story and in the end, in a huge plot twist, ends up being more of a culprit than a victim.

I think that this story takes a very heavy and sometimes boring topic and adds a really funny element. Matt Damon does a great job of embodying his character and making it believable. The movie is also filled with "streams of consciousness" from the mind of Mark Whitacre which are both entertaining and different.

Although the movie had great acting and comedic timing, there was a bit of lag in my opinion in the plot. It could've been a bit shorter and maybe then it would have been a better movie, but all in all it was definitely worth my $10