Scary Movie 2 (2001)

Anna Faris returns as the inept and goofy Cindy Campbell and is recruited along with her friends to “Hell house” for the weekend where a professor claims they’re there for dream studies but instead are there to have the crap scared out of them by ghosts. This is nothing compared to the original “Scary Movie” at all. First off, the comedy timing and jokes are off, poorly timed and lame as hell. There is nonstop sexual innuendos and bathroom jokes that are laughable but not because they’re funny.

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Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)

In the supposedly last installment of the Jay and Silent Bob series, we meet Jay and Silent bob, two invalids who hang outside a convenience store doing basically nothing. When a hit comic “Bluntman and Chronic” based on their exploits is being made into a Hollywood movie, they’re not going to see a cent of royalties, so they decide to go to Hollywood to stop the film from being made. This is directed by famed cult comic book writer Kevin Smith who has based practically his entire Hollywood career on these two characters alone.

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Star Wars Episode Two: Attack of the Clones (2002)

Jedi’s, and Sith’s, and Clones, oh my! In this chapter, we meet Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) and his young apprentice Anakin (Hayden Christensen) once again on a mission. There is a conspiracy in the republic; Someone is trying to kill the now Senator Amidala. They suspect a traitor within the force and they do not know who it is. Now, the republic assigns Obi-Wan and his defiant padawan Anakin to investigate. Unfortunately, Anakin and Amidala are falling in love, something that is strictly forbidden in the Jedi order. Ewan McGregor once again gives great merit to the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi by showing great humility in his role and giving Obi-Wan a warrior-esque look. Natalie Portman returns to the role of Amidala or Padme with more life to her role. Where as “Episode one” lacked life and structure, this one improves on it supremely.

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Jason X (2002)

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In the movie we fast- forward to 2008 where we see Jason whose finally been caught by The Crystal Lake Research Facility. Scientists have decided to freeze him forever until they find out a way to kill him. Scientists decide that instead of freezing Jason and storing him, they want to research his regenerating power for the good of mankind. Rowan played by Lexia Doig disagrees and urges them to freeze him. Mistakenly, Jason breaks free from his shackles and slaughters all the scientists and now begins chasing Rowan. She is cornered in the cryogenic freezing room and lures Jason into the chamber and freezes him. But when she think she’s safe, Jason stabs her through the chamber and accidentally makes the chamber leak, freezing them both. Fast- forward 455 years into the future where space researchers go on a field trip into the now abandoned facility where they discover the frozen Jason and Rowan.

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Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)

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The good thing about “Blair Witch 2” is that it’s a head trip and major mind fuck that explores the ideas about fandom and how sometimes the ideas of fiction and reality can be blurred. The plus sides to this are the disturbing turns at violence that help accentuate the lengths some of the entities go through to instill a sense of reality, and while it doesn’t rear its ugly head until the shocking end, it leaves a very fine mark. True, this is not as innovative or awe inspiring as the original, but it at least aims for different and something that pays tribute to the first film more than anything.

It’s not an official sequel per se, presenting a meta-narrative where “The Blair Witch Project” was just a movie and popular. The people we see are in our reality. The whole reason why the kids go into the woods is because of the first one because they loved the movie so much. It provides a lot of memorable twists and turns at once. This movie illustrates the often blurry and always terrifying line between truth and fiction. That said, it isn’t a perfect movie folks. The acting is rocky and the characters are pretty uninteresting and one note. The dialogue is atrocious at times; there were terrible lines spouted out one after another and it was distracting.

“Blair Witch 2” is very beautifully directed, and conveys a unique Gothic tone in keeping with Eduardo Sanchez’s original horror film, and adding to the mythos of the Blair Witch. Joe Berlinger gives his film a very nightmarish feel and makes every element and plot twist feel like a fever dream where we and the characters are going mad. While the suspense is nil in the first half, the build up works very well and pay off is still quite great. I was initially left my jaw hanging down and just wanted to see much more about what unfolded, and if anything in the movie had a sense of rationality, since it blurs reality and eventually even universes as a whole.

Though I felt this would’ve benefitted with a better cast of performers, and a much better screenwriter, I got a real kick out of “Book of Shadows,” and think of it as a neat sequel that works in the way “Season of the Witch” did for “Halloween” as a tale from this mythology and not a direct follow up.

 

Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)

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This is the action-packed sequel to the dull “Mission: Impossible” based on the show from the 60’s. Now. this is a change from the confusing original and a very good sequel. It’s about an agent from IMF who steals a very deadly virus. Ethan Hunt is enlisted by Anthony Hopkins who tells him to enlist three members for his team to retrieve virus. One of which is the beautiful Nyah who Ethan falls in love with.

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Star Wars, Episode One: The Phantom Menace (1999)

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It’s really hard to explain this plot because it’s very confusing. Just read the plot summary above. I’ll just tell you the subplot I know. This goes back about 30 years from the original Star Wars, Obi-wan Kenobi known as a Jedi master is just a Jedi apprentice, His teacher is Qui-Gonn Jinn who is a new character, Yoda is younger, The evil Lord Darth Vader is just a small rambunctious scamp who is a slave on his home planet. So Qui-gonn and Kenobi get stranded on the planet where the Evil Darth Maul is hunting them. They discover the boy, Qui-Gonn can sense the force in Anakin, But Kenobi is against it.

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