Two movies I missed when they were new.

Paranormal Activity
Director: Oren Peli
With: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Frederichs

First, if you are subject to motion sickness, this film has a lot of hand-held camera movement, so you should avoid it.  Otherwise, it’s a nice, tight little horror film.
Paranormal was made for less than $20,000, and relies on character and the creation of suspense and terror.  There are no special effects that you couldn’t do at home.  Very clever.
But, it never rises above clever.  The Blair Witch Project, the most obvious analog, was more psychologically ambitious and involving.  Paranormal goes for a simpler but still effective story.
Katie (Featherston) and Micah (Sloat) are a young couple sharing a house.  She has been plagued by unexplained attentions from a malevolent spirit, and it has followed her into this house.
Her day-trader boy friend decides to video them while they sleep and try to capture the phenomena that have been disturbing their nights.  He also records sound to his laptop.
The film layers on the spooky stuff, and, more interesting, the effect on their relationship.  As the occurrences get more frequent and severe, they begin to take out the strain on each other.
A psychic (Frederichs) not only doesn’t help them, he makes things worse between them.
This really is not bad stuff.  I liked them as a couple, and felt bad for them when things went south in their lives.  There are some creepy moments, and one incident of real terror.  The ending was not horrifying enough, and a bit too predictable, to put the story over as real horror.
It did not have me where it wanted me at the end.  Make a decent rental, though.  And, except for some f-bombs when they are under stress, not inappropriate for middle-school kids.
B

(500) Days of Summer
Director: Marc Webb
With: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Geoffrey Arend, Michael Gray Gubler

Missed this when it was new, but it is still kicking around the pizza-and-beer movie houses.
I generally don’t like romantic comedies, and this one is so off-beat that it hardly qualifies.  Now, I am also getting tired of quirky movies, since all seem to get their quirks out of the same bag.
What we have here, though, are the queen and king of adorable weirdness, Deschanel and Levitt.  I love these two actors, so bear that in mind when I say that they are great in a very good movie.
Sure, some of the action is stuff you’ve seen before, but most of the film is very original and funny.  Credit goes to director Webb.
Summer (Deschanel) and Tom (Levitt) meet at work.  She is an oddball and free spirit.  He is a frustrated architect writing messages for greeting cards and working well below his potential.  They get together, and their relationship is doled out in snippets, numbered but out of order, by the day in the 500 from the time they meet until it is all over.  (This is not a spoiler.)  The conceit doesn’t ever get old, because of the ironic juxtapositions of the action in each segment. 
Tom is way out of his league with Summer, because he is too conventional in his expectations, and she is unwilling to compromise her values.  He never knows what will be acceptable behavior, and it drives him nuts.  His friends are no help, but no one really could be because she is such an odd duck.  Eventually, the anxiety unhinges him and he has to re-examine his whole life.
Both of the principals are perfect, and the writing and direction are terrific.  Of all the young-weirdos-in-love movies I’ve seen in the last few years, this is my favorite.
A-