What Emily's Been Watching.........lately. (Aug/Sept edition)

So I don't know what was going on the first week of September, but I can tell you that What Emily's Been Watching was not on my mind at all, cause I didn't even realize I forgot it until it was way way into Oct. I decided to combine the months and then it has taken to until mid November to post it (make that the end of Nov. to actually get it finished and posted).  I get it, I suck. Better late then never though eh? I am afraid this isn't going to be too exciting, I didn't watch a ton of stuff besides catching up on The Office, Grey's Anatomy and I found out that the entire series of Wings is on instant Netflix and I had a little nostalgic Wings party for one over many weeks of bedtimes and had a good time (I was a MAJOR Wings fan back in the day). I hope I remember everything else I watched, but no guarantees.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 and 3 (2010 and 2011) [R]  Horror.  I got these two movies in on Halloween weekend.  Cat, I and Booker made plans to go see number 3 that last weekend in October, and I hadn't seen the second one yet, so I watched that alone on Friday night.  Everyone that has seen it will appreciate the fact that Tiny E woke up like 7 TIMES THAT NIGHT!  She will usually wake up in the early morning for a bottle and then go back to sleep.  Not that night.  She woke up a million times and I am ashamed to admit that once or twice my mind briefly thought that she and that demon are on their own in there.  Just a brief thought mind you, I always ended up manning up and going in there, but you know- human survival can trump mom instincts sometimes in our darkest moments.  
Then, the night after seeing the third one, at almost exactly midnight, I was awake in my bed probably watching Wings, and there was a giant crash  in my living room followed by Elinor's little train playing it's annoying little song.  This was followed by the telltale sound of dog ear's flapping back and forth as a dog tries to shake off an embarrassingly ungraceful exit off of the couch.  My heart finally resumed beating again, just as Lola walked sheepishly into our room to see if there were any witnesses.  I forgave her, but then every five minutes or so, she would come to the doorway of our room and creepily stare at me for a minute or two (this was her checking to see if I was settled or asleep, so she could sneak back onto the couch instead of pretending to settle down for sleep on her dog bed.  You see, she is not allowed on the couch, but breaks the rules frequently.  She seriously was giving me the major creeps and I was about to kill her.  
Anyway, I guess I should mention the actual movies for a second:  Love them.  These are the kind of scary movie that really gets to me.  There is no visible monster to ruin the effect by being fake or not as scary as you think it will be.  These movies are super creepy and scary and I find them great fun to watch (and by fun I mean scare the crap out of me).  Usually your imagination can scare you more then anything else ever could and these movies require a bit of that.  Also having an evil presence in your house that can possess you is a super scary concept to me.    Emily recommends the whole trilogy if you like scary movies and you have yet to see them.  They are all good.  But let me wqrn you: they are total creep sauce.

Nothing in this trailer is actually in the film, but it is relevant to the movie and keeps the tone at least.

BUFFY THE  VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON 1 AND PART OF 2 (1997-1998) [TV14]  Action/Drama/fantasy.  So after knowing about this TV series for a very long time and having absolutely zero interest in ever watching it, I started watching it (this is despite the fact that I saw the movie it was based on back in the day and liked it a lot).  I got into watching this series in a round about way:  I started listening to a podcast about Twin Peaks.  In this podcast, the hosts watch one episode a week and comment on it.  The hook is, that 2 of the hosts have seen the series and are life long fans, and the other two hosts are watching it for the first time.  It has been a fun podcast to listen to, cause you get to hear the reactions and point of view of two people that haven't seen it and it is fun to hear them react and predict what is going on.  There is a growing family of podcasts that is stemming from this concept and the mother of all of them is one started a few years ago about Buffy, called Potential Cast.  They mention it often and I finally decided to give it a try and watch it along with them just to try it out only because it is on Netflix streaming, so why not, right?  (Don't judge me- my husband is in school full time and working and I have two easy kids and no job.)  Well, it turns out that Buffy is a pretty dang good show and I am totally enjoying it.  It started out pretty bad but in a good way.  The whole concept is campy and stupid, and I embraced that and had fun.  The first season is pretty short, and pretty bad, but like I said, I embraced the camp and enjoyed myself.  It's kind of like Interview With the Vampire meets Freaks and Geeks meets The Lost Boys meets Clueless.  The monsters are pretty shoddy, but that is fun sometimes I think.  The lines are pretty bad both in delivery and content, which I found fun too.  Well, midway through season 2, things started to change and it actually legitimately kind of became good.  I admit I was a bit disappointed.  I was in when it was laughable and a good time, I wasn't sure I was in for a seriously good show.  Well, it turns out that I am and now I am in deep and am really glad I am watching it.  I made a rule that I can't watch the next episode until I listen to the corresponding podcast.  This makes it so I sometimes have to go an extra day or two before getting to the next one, but it is worth it.   I also am not allowed to be spoiled by anything including reading the description of the show on Netflix.  I read a few early on and got spoiled and was totally sorry.  Oh and even though it's getting respectable, there are still enough bad lines to keep me happy.  Emily really recommends this show (I can't believe I am saying this!)  But it is becoming a darn good show.  For all of you nay sayers- it is listed as #10 in Entertainment Weekly's top 100 greatest shows of all time- number 10!  I can also recommend watching it as I do, following along with The Potential Cast.  It is kind of fun to listen to people discuss the show you just watched and then watch the next one along with them.  One piece of advice:  avoid spoilers!  I knew NOTHING about the show, not one detail, and it is really fun to go into it blind.  In fact, if you also know nothing and decide to follow along with the podcast, there is a spoiler in one of the first episodes that they announce and I ignored it and listened to the spoiler and I was sorry!  So don't listed to that spoiler, because the way they reveal it would have been really surprising and fun if you didn't know.  Anyway- you should give this show a try, I have a feeling it is going to have some great times ahead.


Sorry for this trailer, but I had to find one without spoilers.

THE PAINTED VEIL (2006) [PG13] Drama/Romance.  So this was an Ami recommendation that she has been waiting for me to see.  Well, I saw it and liked it very much.  I was confused for a while because I thought it was a Bollywood movie.  She recommended it to me along with some Bollywood movies, which I thought were all Bollys and it turns out this is not so.  I kept watching it thinking that this isn't what I expected Bollywood to be, but maybe I had some preconceived notions.  I still might, but this was made in China and stars Edward Norton and Naomi Watts.  It is a little independent film set in the twenties (maybe it was the thirties- I forget) and involves a young couple moving to China during the Cholera outbreak.  Edward is an infectious disease doctor and Naomi just wants to get away from her family.  It was a beautifully shot film and a great story.  I really connected and felt for the Edward Norton character through the whole thing and am interested in reading the book it was based on to get a better look at what he went through, cause I found it very compelling.  I connected with the Naomi Watts character also and felt very invested in her story too.  Great casting, I mean, Norton is amazing in all his roles and he played what I would guess is a really interesting literary character, and played it awesome.  Gosh, I really need to read that book.  Have you read it Ami?  Emily recommends this movie very much.  Especially if you like yourself a good, tragic romance.  Oh come on- you know it's got to be at least a little tragic.  Great character movie and great scenery.  Well done and well written.  Alright Ami- what's next?


Wow- melodramatic trailer alert.  I assure you that the movie isn't.


Next installment of WEBW will be up in a week or so- I'll be good I promise.