Jennifer's Body

OK, here goes my first attempt at a proper movie review. So, of course I've chosen something that's two years old. Jennifer's Body begins with best friends forever ,possibly more, "Needy" and Jennifer (Amanda Seyfried and Megan Fox, respectively). The two go to the local pub to see a Low Shoulder concert. During the concert, the pub burns down and Low Shoulder act as heroes, even offering to drive Needy and Jennifer to safety. Needy declines but Jennifer goes along. This is just what they were hoping for. They want to sacrifice a virgin soul to the devil, as it's the only for an indie rock band to "make it". Things don't quite to plan and Jennifer is possessed by a demon instead, eating boys as sustenance, particularly those Needy likes.
At first, I thought it was ridiculous, and didn't even give it the time of day. Mostly because of the line "She's evil... and not just high school evil". If a movie uses that as a tag line I want to see either "A Disney Channel Original Movie" or "Produced by Lloyd Kaufman". Better yet, "A Disney Channel Original Movie produced by Lloyd Kaufman". I decided I'd give it a look because, well, Amanda Seyfried. That and I liked both Juno and what I saw of United States of Tara, so I thought I'd see how Diablo Cody goes with horror. She manages to do a pretty good job of it.  I was particularly fond of the way it turns the tables on on a few tropes, in particular the reversal of gender roles. All in all, it ain't a bad little horror flick, which is nice considering how many are bad.The news that Cody will also be doing some writing for the Evil Dead remake/sequel/jam sandwich is pretty sweet, because after Drag Me To Hell, I don't think Raimi can do it on his own.. 

Send a message out across the sky.

Previously on the Order of ZXQYV...

I mentioned something about Star Wars cash-ins. There were actually some good ones, on the telly. These included Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, V, and Star Fleet. It's that last one I've logged in for. No, it isn't a Star Trek rip off, it's an "anime". I put that in quotation marks because it's done with puppets, so I'm not sure if it counts. Anyway, Star Fleet. At the end of the third millennium, peace rests over most of space after the Space Wars. Until Commander Makara attacks Earth's Pluto and demands Earth hand over the mysterious F-01. Earth says "Bugger that for a joke" and sends out the X-Bomber, their most powerful ship to chase Makara through the depths of space. As an added bonus, and because it's a Japanese show, X-Bomber also house three smaller scouting ships that can combine into a giant robot, known as Dai X. So basically, imagine if the Millennium Falcon was also a transformer that could punch a hole into the Death Star instead. If you can find this in your travels, I do recommend you get it. Like most shows with a single major arc, it does drag on a little bit, but otherwise, all 24 episodes are well worth your time.

I first came across it through Brian May and Friends's cover of the theme, which you can hear, with some footage of the series here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7GFU5ncKhU

I'll do anything to get out of life, to survive, not ever to be next.

Unless you're living in a bunker beneath the Earth's surface, in which case I congratulate you on your internet service, you're probably aware that the Last Ever Harry Potter Movie has recently been released. Considering the series has made a ridiculously large pile of money that would freak out Smaug, producers are mining children's bookshelves to find the Next Big Thing. Since the release of the first film, way back in 2001, they have tried multiple times. The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Chronicles Of Narnia, The Golden Compass, Inkheart and Percy Jackson. Their may be others, they are just the ones I can remember. Only one has done well enough to continue the series. You'd think they would have learnt by now.
To get a better idea, Roger Corman hasn't attempted a cash-in of his own. He is considered the king of the cash-in, having done Star Crash for Star Wars, Piranha (the original) for Jaws and Carnosaur for Jurassic Park, which he even brought out a week before Jurassic Park. In fact, most attempts to be The Next anything, don't tend to do terribly well. Go to the horror section of a bookstore, and see how many authors are hailed as the Next Stephen King. So far, I have only come across one worthy of such a title.
The main reason I'm going at this, is the top contender seems to be Artemis Fowl. In fact, I first came across this when I heard a film was in development, back in 2003. Personally, I prefer it over Harry Potter, and would love to see an adaptation, provided it's given proper attention, and not just rushed ahead to give everyone their fix of "boy discovering magical world".

Defending my laziness

You've probably noticed that the movie reviews on here are pretty half arsed, that essentially boil down to "Dude, this movie is freaking sweet. You have to see it". There is reason for that. I'm reviewing movies I saw at the cinema (don't forget to emphasize the "ma"). Growing up, I didn't get to go to the cinema that much, so it got to be something special. I still view seeing a film at the cinema as something special. I'm known to occasionally jump on the bandwagon and hate The Phantom Menace, but I got to see that with my Dad and brother. To this day, I still remember that my brother needed the toilet during the big battle bits in the end, so he and Dad missed bits of that. To put things into perspective, I saw that 12 years ago, I can't remember what I had for lunch 2 days ago. I don't just go down there on a whim. I'll think long and hard whether or not I want to see a movie up on the really big screen. No matter how many bad reviews I see, I'm still looking forward to seeing Green Lantern when it comes to Australia in another 4 weeks. Maybe I can lose this special feeling, given time. But, do I really want to?