Oct 25th Reviews

Whew... "better late than never" seems to be a life-defining phrase for me right now. Sorry for the delay! First up, it's Paranormal Activity 2, a sequel to a pretty awesome horror flick and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog... something rather difficult to define. Read my attempt to explain the cult classic (if it isn't, it should be) after the jump.
Paranormal Activity 2 Brief: Paranormal Activity 2 is an expansion on the freaky happenings that began in the original film, with a new family being tormented by something unseen... for reasons not immediately apparent. My Take: This isn't a sequel, prequel or stand-alone film. The closest analogy I can think of is an expansion pack to a game. You can't play the expansion without owning the original and it makes no sense by itself. If you have seen the original (seriously, see the first one if you're going to watch this, you'll be lost otherwise), PA2 fills in gaps you didn't know the original had... and explains absolutely everything that was left up in the air. It is not a bad film, but it doesn't deliver quite the same level of terror the first did. This is partially due to the novelty having worn off and partially due to some slightly disjointed pacing. Where the first was an ever-increasing ramp of suspense, the sequel had random plateaus that would dispel whatever suspense there was, then stab you in the spine with a random jump scene (some of which are admittedly well done). Some aspects have been improved from the original, and the performance from the dog and baby are (ironically) the best from the film. Should You See It: If you liked the first one, probably. As I said, it holds up pretty well against the original, but definitely doesn't deliver quite the same scares the first did.I enjoyed seeing this in theaters for the simple fact that I wasn't able to see the first on the big screen. It's also a nice experience to hear an entire audience hold their breath or simultaneously utter a nervous chuckle. Should Kids See This: No. This is a statement the two families on either side of me in the theater apparently disagreed with, but I for one wouldn't bring my eight year-old anything to this movie. It's R, it's a horror and while there's no sex or gore, it's still a wee bit scary for the little ones.
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Brief: The story follows a down-on-his-luck super villain, Dr. Horrible, trying to make it in the "business," while simultaneously trying to defeat his nemesis Captain Hammer and win over the heart of his laundry-mate, Penny... most of which is set to song. My Take: Joss Whedon is amazing. The actors are some of my (somewhat campy) favorites. The story is simple, the music... entertaining and the overall punch of the (short) film is really pretty good. An interesting note: the film came about during the writer's strike, when there wasn't any work to be had on the small screen. Joss Whedon definitely has his own style (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse, Firefly/Serenity, etc) and while he's not for everyone, this was an awesome example of his work at a time where there wasn't any work to be had in the mainstream industry. Should You See It: If you are a fan of Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day, Neil Patrick Harris, Joss Whedon, laughter, or any combination of the above, heck yes. It's less than an hour long, requiring very little investment to watch the entire thing. While I can't guarantee you'll love this, it's definitely worth giving it a try, available on Netflix streaming! In fact, if you don't even want to bother with Netflix or (gasp) don't have it, you can also watch it on youtube, broken up into six parts. The first part is embedded below. Also, if you don't like this short, you're officially off-the-wall bonkers. Imho. Should Kids See This: Maybe. There's no kids-in-mind review for this, and it's not rated. Captain Hammer can be a little crude, but overall it's a PG-ish short film.