Carrie: Just Like the Old Carrie. Except Now.

Lots of Hollywood classics are getting reboots these days. But when you see a movie like Carrie, you're going to start asking yourself, "Why?" I went and saw Carrie the other night with my mom and found myself asking that very question.

Carrie, as most of you well know, is a story about a young girl bullied in high school. But this ain't your average nerd. Carrie (played in this version by Chloe Grace Moretz) has psychic powers and can make things move with her mind. She is raised by a single mother (played by Julianne Moore) who is insanely (pun intended) religious and mentally abusive. After a bullying incident turns into a revenge-fest for one evil-minded girl, Carrie absolutely snaps. But this isn't a girl who is about to cry over spilled pig's blood. Carrie then seeks revenge on the entire school's prom.

And it's scary.

Scary Carrie.

With this remake, I'm not quite sure what they were trying to accomplish. Maybe they thought that the 2002 remake was totally awful (which it was) and that the 1999 sequel The Rage: Carrie 2 was really stupid (again accurate), so they took it upon themselves to make a better remake. But though the movie wasn't bad, it wasn't as good as the original. I will never understand why some studios think "Hey! Let's revamp this one! Cuz I'm out of ideas!" 

"Heck I dunno!"

While this remake of the original Carrie is interesting in that it's modernized, it doesn't really bring much new to the table. They amp up the effects and hone in a little more on Carrie's relationship with her mother (as well as making some strange commentary on pregnancy and babies), but the movie stays a little stagnant. It seems to get so caught up in paying homage to the original that it forgets to build on it. Chris is turned from a regular bully into an entitled rich bitch, Carrie from a weakling into a girl testing her powers, and the mother from a bit of a joke to a woman with serious mental problems. But though these characters are magnified, the general reaction just boils down to, "Huh. That's interesting."

So uh...guess you're gonna go kill everyone at

prom now, huh?

Another thing I wasn't thrilled about was their choice of Chloe Grace Moretz for the role of Carrie. As someone in my office put it earlier, "She's not Carrie, she's Hit Girl!" Moretz is hard to see as the wallflower Carrie, though I honestly tried to give her the benefit of the doubt in the beginning. Although she plays the role with less passivity than the original Carrie (using and practicing her powers in her own home and against her mother), she lacks the believability of someone that's really been kicked around. And really, if I may be completely honest, her looks harken more to the popular girl that we see in Kick-Ass 2 than Sissy Spacek's original Carrie.

Doesn't exactly scream loser.

The one thing that I did find interesting about Moretz's Carrie is that she's totally conscious of everything that she's doing throughout the entire movie. While Spacek's Carrie massacres her prom unconsciously, almost like she's in a trance, Moretz's Carrie takes visible joy in manipulating those that have before hurt her. Could be a comment on the way current bullies handle being pushed over the edge...

Long story short, it's too same to be different and it's too different to be same. Carrie doesn't bring much to the table that you can't get from the first one, but the effects are neat and it'll probably appeal to a younger audience.

5 outa 10. Eh. Not bad. Not awesome.

The Supermarket Says It's Halloween, So Here's Some Scary Movies

Around this time is when I start getting my seasons muddled. The calendar says it's August, the weather is telling me it's time for back to school, and my supermarket says that it's Halloween.

Flag or treat! Happy Labor-ween!

However, since I'm feeling particularly autumny today, I thought I'd share some trailers that I'm looking forward to scheduled to come out between now and Scary Movie Season.

Passion starring Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace
Release date: August 30th

I mean, first of all, it has Rachel McAdams in it. Second of all, it has Noomi Rapace in it. Also it looks like a corporate murder drama that reminds me of both All About Eve and American Psycho.  Got okay reviews, but I'm mostly just curious to see how it ends. Who doesn't like a good murder mystery?

Insidious 2 starring Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne
Release date: September 13th

If you haven't seen this trailer yet, you clearly haven't been in a movie theater and/or in front of a TV in quite a while, have you? Well, either that or you can't handle the trailer and so shut your eyes/change the channel. This latest installment of the highly creative horror movie follows Mr. Lambert as he struggles to eliminate the dark spirits that have followed him after the first movie's conclusion. I'm dying to see what the deal is with that freakin' horrifying old woman.

Gravity starring Sanda Bullock and George Clooney
Release date: October 4th

Different flavor of horror film a la Open Water. Sandra Bullock is an astronaut that gets hit while repairing something on the outside of a space station and is left to drift in open space waiting for someone to rescue her. Not a bad idea, but I'm curious to see how they'll take a nightmare like this and stretch it out over an hour and a half without losing the audience. Also a little hard to tell from a teaser preview like this though. Disclaimer: not for the motion sick.

Carrie starring Chloe Moretz and Julianne Moore
Release date: October 18th

Mixed feelings about this one. If you've ever seen the original movie, it's going to be hard to warm up to this remake. I'm especially confused about why they picked Chloe Moretz for the title role. That girl's pouty mouth and pretty face hardly harken to the image of the original scrawny ginger, Sissy Spacek. Still, I'm intrigued by Julianne Moore's role as Mrs. White. And the special effects in this one should be a step up from the original for sure, which should make for some pretty scary stuff.

Oldboy starring Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen
Release date: November 27th (okay, maybe not Halloween season, but still the fall, right?)

This movie. So torn. I feel like similar to Let the Right One In and its American remake, Let Me In, this one is going to get rave reviews at the expense of a movie that's already been made. The original Oldboy, a South Korean masterpiece of creep-cinema, is the finest case of cinematic mind-fuckery (pardon my language, but really, that's the only way to put it) to date. It will be interesting to see if Spike Lee can deal with the fact that the fans will be watching his every move. I'm also really interested to see if he'll keep the original ending. If you're ever looking for a movie that will leave you uncomfortable for an entire week, watch the original.

Welp! That's all I got. Why is it that scary movie season is getting so sparse these days? What a serious bummer! More scary movie reviews in the archives and foreign horror also found on this post: http://largepopcorn--nobutter.blogspot.com/2011/10/top-ten-foreign-horror-movies.html.

 Also, dear readers, I am always willing to take suggestions from you guys. If you think there's a horror movie coming up that I've missed that you'd like to see reviewed, let me know. Last year I ran out of horror movies so if y'all could help a sister out this time around I'd be much obliged. Thanks!