Paranormal Activity 2
With Halloween just days away, the rush of requisite horror movie sequels are descending upon your neighborhood theater. First on the slate this year is Paranormal Activity 2, which drops before the other big sequel of the season, Saw 3D, and offers some less gruesome thrills for those who shy away from all-out gore porn. 

The tension in this follow-up to the surprise hit Paranormal Activity—the low-budget Blair Witch-like faux documentary in which a couple films themselves sleeping and review the tapes every morning for supernatural activity—is fueled by a sense of extreme vulnerability, a la Psycho's shower scene. The reason for introducing cameras in Paranormal Activity 2  is security surveillance after a family discovers their house has been trashed by vandals. The entire movie consists of footage from these security cameras stitched together by home movies, mostly recorded by the family's terrified teenage daughter.

More chilling thrills after the break.

 
 
Jackass 3D
There’s probably little I could say to change your opinion of Jackass. Like the equally intellectually stimulating Beavis and Butthead—who, appropriately enough, have a cameo in Jackass 3D—your mind was probably made up about Jackass long ago.

It would be easy to belittle the Jackass gang’s sophomoric self-injuring brand of daredeviling, but let’s take a moment to give the guys due credit. Jackass hit the MTV airwaves in 2000, five years before the birth of YouTube, and though videos of fame-seeking fools injuring themselves are an old hat by this point, the attention-starved skateboard kids of Jackass arguably played a significant role in the movement.

A butt-powered dart gun and why you should give Jackass may be one of the funniest movies of the year after the jump.

 
 
Life as We Know It
Like most moviegoers, I enjoy the trailers before a film, but there’s one thing during those pre-feature moments that makes my heart sink in my chest: when I turn to my date and see her smiling head nod in approval after a preview for an upcoming romantic comedy. Because of her, I see my fair share of romcoms. That’s how I found myself watching Life As We Know It. Lucky me.

The title implies that Life As We Know It has something to say about life, and maybe it does. Maybe the artistic statement Life is trying to make is that life isn’t funny—in fact, it’s often painful—and though you know how it’s going to end and you know you won’t like it, by the time you get to those final minutes, you’re just glad it’s over.

Or, some writer thought to himself, “Baby vomit? LOLZ.”

Self-gratification, Joan from Mad Men, and an unlikeable odd couple after the jump!