To begin, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was actually a fun movie. I was a bit surprised. Not to say I had anything against the other movies in the series, but let us be honest. The Harry Potter series does not exactly exhibit the best literature the world has to offer, and taking that into consideration, my expectations were at a medium level. The movie was fast paced enough to hold my attention and continued to keep me entertained. That is all I would like to say on the actual quality of the movie. The rest, is the audience who I had to endure while trying to enjoy a movie with my family.

The first rule of attending a mass viewing of a movie (several weeks after its release I might add) is to keep any opinions, exclamations, and other emotions which might distract others from the film, in your head. I realize that you are not overly intelligent. It can be difficult to keep such things to yourself, and of all places in your head, but this is imperative. For the next 1.5 -3 hours, you are nothing but a robot, taking in information, and leaving all thought aside. I repetitively heard things such as, “She is so crazy!” and “Ya!” followed by an overly enthusiastic clap. “She is so crazy! Just look at her!” Yes. We know. You already said that. We understand. Don’t you think it is sad I can hear you several rows over? Are you unfamiliar with movie theater etiquette? You have obviously read the book. Why are you surprised about the unfolding events of the movie?

The second rule of viewing a movie in a theater is to keep yourself in your seat. Some lunatic little kid continually stumbled over my family, exiting the row on the opposite side of his seat rather than exiting only a few seats over. What is going through his head? Anyways, I don’t explain them, I just point them out.

The next film I would like to comment on is Perfect Stranger starring Bruce Willis and Halle Berry. This was a fun little movie delving into the prevalent world of sexual harassment, affairs, and murder within large companies. After initially viewing this, my impressions were quite positive. I found an engaging and twisted story which are typically my stories of choice. Of course, being a thriller, there is that twist ending we all count on in order to keep us guessing until the end. This, as so many thrillers before it, was no different, and the ending caught my off guard. Way off. Upon analyzing this a little closer, I realized there was a reason I didn’t see this surprise ending coming. It was because this movie didn’t play fairly! There is no way anyone could ever get the ending without either a lucky guess, or someone telling them the ending, and to me, that is a treacherous way to play this game. The fun in a thriller is allowing yourself or your audience, if they catch on and look at the subtle clues, to be able to catch the twist before it was presented and explained. Knowing the clues were in front of you the entire time and being shown how they fit together is what makes a thriller a thriller, but whether this be due to laziness, or a desire to cheat the viewer, Perfect Stranger does not do this. That large gripe aside, the movie was fun, and I recommend this to anyone looking for a sadistic fix.