Over Generics - Hollywood Films

  And while we're on the subject, what is up with all these movies coming off the conveyor belt with the same tiresome storyline every time! (Just went to the movies last night with my husband and my brother).  Like we've seen that already, and yet they still make them and Americans keep paying to watch them.  Shameless I tell you, shameless.  That's my word of the day, in case you haven't noticed. ;)

Teen Romance - Let's put two of the season's hottest actors together - the guy is troubled, but sensitive, and searching for meaning.  The girl is grounded and artsy - but she has a secret - she is dying! And of course she doesn't tell the poor bloke until he is head over heels in love with her and she is the only thing in his life that ever meant anything! (Remember Me, Restless, Here on Earth) A refreshing new take on the old spin: maybe this time the guy dies instead and the girl goes on study paleontology or she gets better, they get married, and they have 10 kids and a farm.


Psycho Thriller -  Weird things are happening to this one fella.  He keeps having strange dreams, and there is this pesky guy that keeps turning up in the most inconvenient places.  Oh no!  Now he has murdered someone and blamed it on you!  Except, wait a minute...its all your head and you are actually a psycopathic killer!!!!  (Secret Window, The Machinest)  A refreshing take: that pesky guy actually is just some kind of weirdo and you have to catch him in the act of a crime, so people will stop blaming you and looking at you funny.

The Romantic European Va-cay -  The couple goes on a trip to Europe and discovers that one or the other is involved with covert CIA activities and knows French, German, and Pig Latin and a black belt in Karate.  Or in the case of Angelina Jolie: you are the most elegant and impenetrable woman on the face of the earth and using a poor math teacher for a cover.(The Tourist)  I like Angelina, but come on, I just don't sympathize with statues.  And I think Mr. and Mrs. Smith could go under this category too, except without the va-cay.  Refreshing take:  How about real people just go back packing around Europe or something, and they learn about themselves?



Horror Flick - Director uses every possible quiet moment to build tension and get you freaked out of your mind and just when you think that at least the most likeable character is going to get away ... A man jumps out of the shadows with a chain saw and hacks him/her to pieces.  (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, 28 Weeks Later, and every other horror movie!)  Actually I have seen a couple that didn't do that, and they are intelligent and worth watching: 28 Days Later, Monsters.  I'd put more down if I knew them, but that's the only two so far that make the cut.  The Exorcism of Emily Rose was well done, but I wouldn't recommend it just because it freaked the pants off me.