Not only did I manage to make the Friday 13th UK preview screenings of Paranormal Activity, but also faced the end of the world in 2012 – all before revisiting Bella and Edward’s angst ridden lives at the exclusive fan event and multimedia screening of New Moon with my work.

So I’ll start with Paranormal Activity shall I?

So for a while I’ve been following @tweetYourScream on Twitter, which asks audiences to tell them what they thought of it – but up to now I’ve only seen US responses. Nice touch holding UK previews on Friday 13th, so me and the gf went to check it out (both love horror films – even if she does hate it when I feel the need to re-enact the faces after…)

In the same vein as Blair Witch, it’s entirely filmed on a hand-held ‘amateur’ camera and tells the story of Katie (looks very much like a chunkier Amy Adams – no?) and Micah who are haunted in their new home. He’s sceptical, she’s apparently cursed and so it goes on. Each night they set the camera up and you’re staring at a dimly lit scene – eyes darting at any slight movement, wondering what’ll happen next. The creepiness includes footsteps (which looked like a frog….), swinging lightbulbs and scratched photos amongst other things.

I won’t give away the ending, but to be honest you nearly see it in the trailer…didn’t scare me so much as creep me out, and there was a funny atmosphere in the cinema. If you’re like our audience and us, you’ll find yourself talking through slow bits then being deadly silent when the night scenes come around again.

There’s a really interesting back story to how this film nearly didn’t happen, how things went bump in the night for Steven Spielberg after he watched it, and then how a ‘demand to see it’ interactive campaign helped to push it out across America and beyond. It’s now broken records to become the most profitable independent film ever made having earned over $100 million with a production budget of $15,000

Good luck to it in its UK campaign… 7/10 for me.

Next a bit of impending doom from the same director as The Day After Tomorrow…yes, it’s 2012 – the end of the world ‘as we know it’

Now apparently ‘we were warned’ by the Mayans about the date of the end of the world – and as hinted at in the film, this will have catastrophic effects for the 2012 London Olympics.

Disaster King Roland Emmerich’s 2012 is indeed the ultimate popcorn film. Bits of the earth falling off here and there, struggling families, the outspoken scientist telling the Gov the shock news, a US President forced to choose between a duty to his people and relationship with his daughter (lovely Thandie Newton), a comedy Russian, a Paris Hilton-a-like as well as enough action filled car & plane chases to sink all of the Noah’s Ark style ships it provides as the solution – hurrah! I’ll give it a 8/10 for pure trash enjoyment.

Go if… you liked Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow – because this could be all those rolled into one
Don’t Go if…you’re after a highly strung, thoughtful film that provokes inner thought and reflection.

A warning of my own…at 158 mins long it’s not the shortest film. Could have cut that down, but make sure you pace yourself on the snacks!

Another nugget – the epic trailer music in the trailer is from my favourite trailer music company… Two Steps From Hell…they sure know their stuff…love it!

Which brings me finally to New Moon – the sequel to last year’s smash Twilight, the film adaptations of Mormon author Stephenie Meyer’s The Twilight Saga

In the absence of a UK premiere (due to US led global release date), London was treated to a different kind of red carpet event – a fan event held at Battersea Evolution featuring Rob, Kristen and Taylor (pictured) along with director Chris Weitz (About A Boy, Golden Compass)

CRAZY is not the word. Fans lined the barriers screaming as loud as they could as the stars approached, before taking to the stage for a brief Q&A. It went well – Kristen was even cheerful (SHOCK) but i think she handled New Moon so much better than Twilight.

Once they were off stage they literally flew off for the next leg of the fan event tour – but the rest of us were treated to food and drink and music from bands on the soundtrack who performed for the crowds. I had a good evening, chatting to Heat’s Film Ed Charles Gant, News Of The World’s Robbie Collins and even RottenTomatoes‘s own UK editor Joe Utichi.

But – onto the film of course. I went to the first screenings held by E1 at Odeon Leicester Square on Tuesday 17th with work and took our seats in the packed out (and mainly female) audience.

Screams even met the studio logos as the audience clearly knew we were about to begin, and as started with Twilight, New Moon began with Bella’s monologue to set the scene. From here on in though, you knew the franchise had moved up a notch since Catherine Hardwicke’s humble beginning.

More budget, much more slow-mo, and more Thom Yorke soundtrack made for a much different kind of film. No longer an angsty almost indie film – New Moon embraces the world of the Blockbuster with force. I did however like the rare comedy moments which helped break it up – whether intentional or not a couple of bits made me snigger, such as Alice’s visions of a Vampy Bella running ‘GAP styled’ through a forest with Edward – or the VERY Hammy Michael Sheen (who was severly underused).

It’s not really a film for guys – as you would expect, nor is it a critic’s film (as the reviews out this week would allude), but you’ve got to keep it in perspective – it’s for the fans, the ones reading the books religiously, the ones besotted with RPatz and crazy for the likes of Taylor Lautner’s chest (he’s 17(!) ladies – how??) 5/10

Those who like all of the above will enjoy this…

Have so much to update you on, but in the meantime – check this out – how good? Any other similar clips anywhere?

So, with two weeks off work – I found myself enjoying a solo trip through Piccadilly Circus, past the thousands of flashing cameras and tourists as I walked to the only place in London (an ominous sign) now playing it – Cineworld Haymarket.

Coincidentally it’s another Fox Searchlight film – the same as 500 Days, so I actually saw that as a good sign when it came up on screen.

The film starts with Adam (played by Hugh Dancy) attending his military father’s funeral – we never see the father, but a telling sign of their relationship is when Adam comes home from the funeral, he crosses out ‘Dad’s chores’ on the kitchen door. He’s suddenly alone, for the first time in his life and not quite sure how it all works – you see his laundry bag filling up each day, the meticulously organised and dull cupboards and freezer draws empty – until all he’s left with is one Macaroni and Cheese to eat and a blazer and trousers to wear.

A chance meeting with a new female neighbour in the ‘laundry room’ (don’t American’s own washing machines?) leads to a new romance for both of them – potentially his first, for her – a new start after an unfaithful ex. Rose Byrne stars as Beth Buchwald, the leading lady – and I thought she played the handling of this new experience of Aspergers very realistically – you start to wonder how you’d handle it, given its unpredictable nature, especially for relationships. One of the things Adam explains is that he can’t tell how people are feeling – especially when someone uses sarcasm, or says a phrase that might not make logical sense (‘I’m sure of it’– ‘how can you be sure??’ he answers) and throughout the film there are a couple of examples of how awkward social interactions can be for aspergers sufferers.

A side story of the film is Rose’s close relationship with her dad (OC’s dad Peter Gallagher). You instantly dislike him – one of the first things he tells Rose is that no-one is perfect after finding out her last boyfriend was a cheat. Later in the film the dad is on trial for fiddling company finances, and we find out he’s cheated on his wife too. Her family falls apart from here, and Adam asks her to move to California with him for his new job (at a space observatory). When he can’t put into words why she should come, she leaves him to go it alone.

So he does, and the film ends with a package delivered to him – a children’s book written by Rose based on racoons in Central Park (which Adam had shown her one night) – just as she’d promised she would do. The book is called Adam, and the credits come up after a note from her tells him how far they’ve come.

By the way, the film won the Alfred P. Sloan prize at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival for “an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a major character” – bit of a random award I thought, but there is a huge space emphasis merely in Adam’s main interest.

I read reviews that have knocked both the film’s portrayal of Aspergers and Dancy’s performance as too stereotypical and trivial, but I thought he did a really good job. Throughout he brought real humanity to the role, and an awkward charm. I’ve read the book ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night’ before so had some prior knowledge of the condition, but if you hadn’t I felt that Dancy gave you just enough to know the type of typical afflictions – it’s a film based on a romance story, not an indepth look at the condition itself, so for what it was, it was an admirable job.

I don’t think people will remember this film as they do ‘Rain Man’ for example, if only due to the low number of cinemas the film opened to, but it deserves its place for tackling the condition on screen. 8/10 for me.

Check out the two tracks from a guy I’d never heard of before – Joshua Radin.

‘Boy meets Girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn’t’ pretty much sums it up. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel star as Tom and Summer and the film focuses on Tom looking back at his failed relationship to find out where it all went wrong with Summer. I’ve always found Zooey a bit spacey/trippy – not really mainstream but with something appealing about her (last film I saw her in was the Yes Man, which she played yet another kooky one), but I haven’t seen Joseph for a while. Good to see him back.

Through a jumbled up order of days and advice from friends and a wise (beyond her very young years) sister we find out mainly the decline of their relationship over the said 500 days – where a once funny joke in the early days is met with tumbleweed and despair in the latter days. Also there’s an interesting split-screen scene which compares Tom’s expectations versus reality – leaving it up to the viewer to decide which path to take (although reality sadly wins out to quite a gutting surprise). Leslie Nielsen was most certainly right.

Anyhow, it was quite a funny film, you laugh – many will cry, but there’s a good/bittersweet ending, it’s well acted and I really liked the look of the film, which injects animation/’Tom’s sketching’ into it all set to a great soundtrack including The Smiths, Regina Spektor and Simon & Garfunkel. Look out for the IKEA scene (got to try that) plus also a feel-good Enchanted park scene rip-off set to Hall & Oates ‘You make my dreams come true’ 7/10

However by far the best film I’ve seen this summer is Star Trek. I’m no trekkie so don’t put me in that box, but the film was fantastic – great cast, the charm of J.J. Abrams, awesome effects and just that ‘feeling’ after. For me this was a 10/10 – the perfect film for the year and I’ll look forward to the sequel.

I Love You, Man was such a funny film – and great to see Paul Rudd finally step up his game as the lead, Peter Klaven battled to find his ‘Best Man’. I haven’t laughed at a film so much in a while – just a really awkward comedy – you really feel his pain. Definately a 9/10. Great for catchphrases too…’See you later, Joben!’….’Totally… totes my goats’…and my favourite:

‘Slappin da bass’…

State of Play was a decent thriller – I went to the premiere with work and the film was introduced by director Kevin MacDonald and Helen Mirren. I usually can’t stand Russell Crowe, but even I couldn’t complain in this one. A decent remake of the 2003 BBC series with great tension, fast paced plot and enough red herrings to shake a stick at. Still weird to see the ‘Orange Wednesday’ ads acting for real though (can’t believe that for years I thought it was Kevin Spacey!)… 7/10

Angels & Demons… oh dear. I’m the biggest Tom Hanks fan ever – I adore everything he does, and I loved the book (even more than the Da Vinci Code) and so so SO wanted to like this. But I couldn’t – it was terrible, bad script, BAD Ewan McGregor and just a poor screen adaptation – what happened to the real ending?? Knowing me, I’ll still need the DVD for the Hanks collection, but it won’t be something i’m in a rush to see again. Cracking score though…thank you Hans Zimmer! 3/10

Drag Me To Hell – so funny/creepy/unexpected. This went down very well with critics – currently 7.8/10 on imdb and 92% on rottentomatoes, and I think it deserved it. The genius Sam Raimi (of Evil Dead and of course Spidey fame) showed a welcome return to his roots here – and cut it just right on the comedy/horror balance. It certainly wasn’t everyone’s bag, but for those looking for pure entertainment, it was great! I was laughing out loud – as were most of the audience throughout the film, in particular at the gross out car park fight scene – easily one of the best bits of the film. Nice to see Alison Lohman back too – last time I saw her it was in a film I’ve always recommended: Matchstick Men

How many times have you seen a trailer and thought the songs they use were brilliant, but then been let down to find that they a) don’t appear in the film, and b) aren’t on the soundtrack either? – A recent case in point would be Pineapple Express’s ‘Paper Planes’ by MIA (which pretty much made her name in the UK) but that wasn’t anywhere near the film.

Anyway, at the moment ones that spring to mind that I’ve liked and then subsequently landed on my iTunes include The Time Traveller’s Wife (song Broken by Lifehouse), Slumdog Millionaire (The Sun Always Shine on TV by A-ha)…

And this one (atmospheric music) – from a company called Two Steps From Hell

These guys are great – Two Steps From Hell make music especially for trailer cuts. These are some of the best ones in the business in my opinion – on their website is the list of some of their most recent work, Australia, Wall-E, Twilight, Star Trek, Spiderman 3 – pretty impressive range of stuff

See what you think

(Titter ye not – Denise has launched a range of children’s party bags and they’re very popular) – have a look for yourself:

Zach strutting…

I guess you either love them or hate them. I’m firmly in the former camp. What an awesome job – turning up at a studio (if not from your own home) to record a trailer that will make millions head to the cinema hoping to see that ‘One Man‘, that ‘Academy Award Winner‘ do their stuff ‘In a World‘ (you get the drill)…

Sad to hear that Don LaFontaine – the most prolific voiceover artist, died last year (Sept 2008). What a legend – he’s made some of the best trailers and goes down in history as the trailer king.

I’ve found some great YouTube vids that you’ll like – first one is a trailer from Seinfield’s
‘Comedian’ featuring Hal Douglas

The second one gathers them all together in a limo (of course). Including the late Don LaFontaine, my favourite one here is the Jurassic Park guy Nick Tate, plus Disney’s Mark Elliot brings back millions of memories…great stuff

Whilst I already tweet, update my facebook and bore my friends silly after my many trips to my local Cineworld (Wandsworth/West India Quay in London) – i suddenly thought this would be a great place to tell anyone who’s interested what I’ve been watching, clicking, and loving recently.

In my job as a PR account manager I work for companies like LOVEFiLM and E1 Entertainment for DVD releases such as Twilight so please forgive me if i tell you a little bit of what I’ve been up to – it’s an exciting job so i don’t think you’ll mind.

Of course it goes without saying that comments from other film fans are welcome – I’m trying to promote conversation and somehow i have a feeling you’re not going to be shy

So…here goes