Behind the Reel: What Not to Watch

I’m sure I’m not the only one who spent time watching some crappy movies over spring break. Instead of feeling like I’ve wasted hours of my life, here is a mini review list of what I watched
so you can avoid them, too.

Project X

Oh, “Project X”, how little you interested me even with your flamethrower and provocative dancing. The movie centers around three high school guys who decide to film themselves while
throwing the biggest birthday party of the year. Not my favorite movie, but it is interesting to see how the filmmakers maintained the handheld camera technique throughout the film and provide
alternate points of view.

Chronicle

Going on with the theme of home-made-but-not-really-home-made movies, I watched “Chronicle”. It centers around three high school guys (sound familiar) who go obtain powers. In the beginning it’s all fun and vandalism; however, as would happen with any hormonal,
mistreated, and neglected teen one of the guys starts abusing his new abilities. My sentiments are the same as “Project X”, though the cinematography is far more advanced.

Grease

Who can resist John Travolta in a leather jacket and slicked back hair? I can. Watching “Grease” again for the first time in years, I was very disappointed. All the singing in the world cannot
make up for the simple archetypes, the unresolved endings, and the lack of real plot. “Grease”, you are no longer the one that I want.

Love Actually

So, I know this is not a spring movie, seeing as it is set during winter, but it’s another one of those that I loved when I was younger but regret not leaving it in the past. This romantic comedy centers on the lives of a variety of characters as they find love during the Christmas season. “Love Actually” is ridiculously cheesy, so much so you can almost smell the cheddar through the television screen. It’s highly predictable with too many characters for any of them to develop and too perfect in its cookie-cutter story structure.