- A woman with her hair done up in enormous rollers appears at a crucial juncture.
- The performances by Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning and Riley Griffiths (the “fat kid”/auteur) are really fine.
* SPOILER ALERT! * SPOILER ALERT! * SPOILER ALERT!
- As in all the best horror movies, something sensational happens to the sheriff.
- The driver of the getaway car is stoned. (In the future, all drivers of getaway cars should exhibit similar form of mental impairment. This is what is called “raising the stakes”)
- The opening, a lingering shot of a sign announcing “7XX days since Last Accident,” changed to “1” day was a masterpiece of economical story-telling! Yup, it sure was (Did it come up to the level of Spock and Uhura exchanging stolen kisses in a spaceship elevator? ‘Fraid not. But, dear blog reader, let’s not dither over apples and oranges. The point is, Abrams really knows how to get a story moving.)
- Number of times self actually gasped: 3
- Number of times self closed her eyes in expectation of violence (And, it really takes a lot to make self close her eyes. She never did in “The Hurt Locker.” In fact, self thinks the last time she was induced to close her eyes during a movie was when she watched “Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2”) : 1
- Number of people in the movie audience who clapped at the end: About 10. Self couldn’t count very well in the dark.
Questions:
- Why does a sleepy town with population of 12,000 need six full-time policemen?
- Why was Elle Fanning’s dad such a jerk?
- Why did Joel Courtney’s mom have to be so pretty?
- How come the Army didn’t finish off Dr. Woodward when they had the chance? Why allow this dangerous and subversive man to teach high school biology? Why were they not more apprised of the danger to National Security by allowing this man to live?
- Why did school authorities allow Dr. Woodward to keep a locked trailer on school grounds? What if he were a pervert and had a stash of X-rated magazines in there, wouldn’t the school then be exposing itself to the possibility of a lawsuit? Oh educators of xxx town, why oh why are you so lame?
- And the million dollar, most bothersome question of the day: What the heck was inside those little white cubes? (Self went through half the movie expecting little aliens to come popping out. But that would have seemed too much like an “Alien” rip-off. And we all know J. J. Abrams is too classy a director to stoop to such cheap tricks)
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Kanlaon 