Entertainment

Overblown ‘2012’ can be a campy, fun ride

When director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow) decides to make a disaster movie, he pulls out all the stops.

He does this by making sure no national monument is safe, no cliché is left unused and the constant fears of the general population are not left unstirred, whether those fears are aliens, global warming or the end of the world.

His latest work, “2012,” showcases his penchant for all these things, and in doing so creates a very gaudy thrill ride that doesn’t let up.

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Entertainment

Chicken Little strikes again with ‘2012’

Come Dec. 21, 2012, the world will witness Y2K all over again.

Or so we are told.

A Man and His MoviesFor anyone who has been living under a rock, 2012 refers to the “end of days” that is said to be caused by a planetary alignment. When the planets align some theorize it could create a black hole or lead to a geomagnetic reversal, which would reverse the North and South magnetic poles.

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Entertainment

‘Paranormal’ offers genuine fear

Jump scares and buckets of blood: These are things that I have come to except from horror movies.

It would seem that people have forgotten what horror movies should do. They should play on the audience’s fears, leaving them emotionally unsettled.

Along comes the much hyped “Paranormal Activity,” a pseudo-documentary film that will leave audiences afraid to turn off the lights at night.

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Entertainment

‘Wild Things’ speaks to inner child

It is rare when a movie based on a book summarizes everything the book was enjoyed for.

It is even rarer to find a movie that will add a new layer of complexity to the story.

Studios often make the mistake of taking a well known property (“Harry Potter” for instance) and mass-producing it to the public with little respect given to the original source material.

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Entertainment

‘District 9’ provides explosive action and people

On Aug. 14, American audiences bared witness to the premiere of “District 9,” an epic sci-fi production directed and co-written by Neil Blomkamp and co-produced by Peter Jackson.

While Peter Jackson may sound familiar to fans of the “Lord of the Rings” movies and “King Kong,” the name Blomkamp may be somewhat unfamiliar to those who are alien to independent filming – or to the “Halo” video game series, for which Blomkamp was lined up to work on a film adaptation.

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