"2012" is very much like how all disaster movies are, to go by: loads of special effects and a very usual course of action that has been adopted by a whole legion of it's predecessor- over the years. Not that it entirely scores off the mark all through. Like all Roland Emmerich movies, this one too has it's share of glory, that being the astounding special effects. It is the special effects and that alone, which managed to carry the movie forward on it's shoulder and was the sole actor of the film. The stunning bit of cinematography worked upon by Dean Semler was surely the saving grace of the film. The excellent editing by David Brenner and Peter S. Elliot couldn't have turned any more gripping. From the tumultuous mountain avalanche to the terrifying landslides, every inch of the screen captures succeeded to evoke a sense to eerie and religious fear in to the hearts of the viewers. The sense of doom that was portrayed by the special effects almost seemed make believe and concrete enough to make one dread the approach of the year 2012. After a very slackened first half [that was occasionally peppered with the special effects portraying volcanic upheavals], the second half did manage to prove to the better lot of the bargain. While the characters seemed sketchy enough [even the leads], they did manage to somewhat strike a cord amidst the tale of chaos. Amidst a roller coaster journey that took the viewers hurtling past crumbling towers and volcanic eruptions, it almost did convince that apocalypse was at hand. John Cusack plays the character of Jackson Curtis, who is a science fiction book writer and is probably the only one in the cast who could blow some life in to his otherwise cold screen alias. Amanda Peet, who played his former wife, had nothing much to do besides being present as the female lead. Woody Harrelson was almost wasted, playing the affable and almost eccentric Charlie Frost. Others, like Danny Glover [essaying the role of the 45th American President, Thomas Wilson] mostly did what they could in the minuscule role that they had in hand. It being a disaster movie and consisting of an essentially big cast, it is quite understandable that not everyone will have a big screen time. The remaining of the ensemble cast that had the likes of Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, timidly added in their bits to the saga. One moot point that was very much appreciable in the film was the way it dealt with the issue of humanity and all things that are considered to be humane, even in this brusque, fast paced world. One can quickly note the tone adopted, which promotes humanity and just how frail man is in front of the might of the nature. However, when united, nothing seems an impossible feat and man can, if not overcome, at least brave the toughest of all battles for survival [as has been echoed in the film]. And it is once again the idea of Noah's arc [here also conveniently addressed as the arc] that managed to save the many species in the world, including that of mankind.

Paranormal Activity, the super-low-budget movie that's actually been lying around for two years, gets a high rise in profits and it has The Blair Witch Project to thank. And when I say "super-low-budget", I'm mean embarrassingly low. Blair Witch was around $20,000, but Paranormal Activity managed to record over that figure with $15,000, which results as a slap to the face (or forehead) of Hollywood movie marketers. Another major difference is that Blair Witch attempted to sell itself as a documentary which is actually wasn't at all and this angered the audience quite a bit before they even saw it. Paranormal Activity on the other hand is relying much more on the reaction of the audience to market itself. Before understanding how this is being done, here's a little background. The horror flick directed by Oren Peli, an up and coming San Diego filmmaker, began garnering attention to the extent of what some are calling a cult following about a year ago after giving the film a screening at the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival. Who else but Steven Spielberg of all people was originally interested in directing a re-make of the film with a much larger budget (the blockbuster director obviously hasn't gotten enough out of paranormal movie making). He intended to put the original cut into the DVD release as a DVD extra, but then carried the film over to Paramount/DreamWorks where it's subsequently taken off as is. The grassroots-marketing use of the Paranormal Activity movie's web page is what is allowing the film to be brought to select theaters, literally by the audience requesting (or "demanding" as the website says) it to their local theater by pressing a button, and the movie has Josh Greenstein and Megan Colligan of Eventful to thank. Eventful provides "a user-generated entertainment booking site of sorts, for a campaign that goes far outside the traditional route."[1] Paramount then uses the info collected from the website to decide where to market the movie through radio and T.V. with the Paranormal Activity movie trailer, which barely shows much from the film and more of the reactions from the audience at Hollywood viewings. The method is being talked of as an "experiential sell" by Greenstein and is certainly doing quite a job of it, especially after watching the tweet counter on twitter go up to 870 from 25 over a half-hour and from 5:00 to 5:30 ON A MONDAY MORNING. What's more is that, thus far, the strategy is quite a success. Over the weekend of October 2nd, 2009 the movie was shown exclusively at 12 theaters in the U.S. at midnight only and grossed $500,000. That's a 3,333% profit so far. It should be interesting to see what happens now that Paramount has released it to 170 theaters at regular viewing times, though not surprising in the least as it displays the cliche reaction of a giant corporation when dealing with an independent work of art. It seems that this move would kill the whole concept that Eventful has going, that's made such a huge return, wouldn't it? Regardless, while Eventful has previously worked with the tour scheduling of comedians and musicians, Paranormal Activity has scratched a new notch in Eventful's history, setting a record for film after their original projection for demands was 100,000 and ended up surpassing that in a matter of days.