I’m a person who likes to make up things to worry about. What if one day I turned invisible? What if I were stranded on a deserted island with nothing but my wits to keep me alive? What would I do if I were trapped in a horror film? Fortunately, author Seth Grahame-Smith has the answer to this last obsessive question of mine.

How to Survive a Horror Movie teaches you everything you might ever need to know about how to recognize that you are, indeed, in a horror film, the different types of incredibly horrible things that could potentially happen to you, who to stick close with (and of course, who to avoid), and more. This book takes a great look at the themes in horror films, and it pokes fun at it while still holding horror in reverence. Grahame-Smith teaches you what to do if you did something last summer, how to react if there are children in your corn, and that you should always travel on planes with a suitcase full of mongooses (lest there be snakes on your flight). Grahame-Smith is an expert on zombies, as he also wrote Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

How to Survive a Horror Movie is for horror film buffs, the curious, and the obsessive worrier.

Jennifer Johnson – Glenwood Branch

Rushmore presents a comedic slice of the life of protagonist Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) as he learns to leave the world of private school behind and stand on his own two feet. At Rushmore, Fischer is the king of the extracurricular activity. Among his many commitments, he is Debate Team Captain, Lacrosse Team Manager, Calligraphy Club President and Astronomy Society Founder. Because Rushmore benefits from his organizational skills, Max is tolerated, but no one at school particularly likes him. More significantly, with all his time spent on clubs and societies, Fischer is not what you could call an academic success.

In spite of these difficulties, Fischer forges a friendship with local businessman Herman Blume (Bill Murray), who sees some potential in Max’s drive. Blume becomes Max’s friend, mentor, and ultimately competitor for the affections of elementary school teacher Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams). Cross is a likely candidate for Max’s first serious crush. She’s beautiful, sophisticated, educated, and compassionate. Of course, he falls in love. Complications arise when Max introduces Miss Cross to Blume, and finds that he may have sabotaged his own (non-existent) prospects for a relationship. To cope and keep hold of what is important to him, he must come to grips with reality outside the ivy-covered walls of Rushmore.

Director Wes Anderson and co-writer Owen Wilson blend the real and the surreal seamlessly, creating a movie that is both ridiculously exaggerated and completely universal. You’ll laugh as soon as you see Fischer’s yearbook, and the war between Blume and Fischer over Miss Cross is a comedy highlight. Settle in for a good laugh, and watch Rushmore today!

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Teens getting killed. They have been making movies with that very premise for over 30 years. A main character (a female, usually being played by that actress you kind of recognize) and her group of friends (a jock, a nerd, a cheerleader, etc.) are picked off one at a time by a killer in a costume or mask who will reveal his or her identity and motive during the last 20 minutes of the film.

In all honesty, Scream’s plot really isn’t much different than all slasher film plots. The heroine this time is the damaged Sidney Prescot, played by Neve Campbell, whose mother was murdered one year prior to when the movie begins. And while she and her friends fit the typical slasher film archetypes, there is one difference between them and virtually every other character who has ever been written into a horror movie: they have seen horror movies. They know the cliches; they know what not to do; they know the "rules one must abide by in order to successfully survive a scary movie." Screenwriter Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven cram so much wit, humor, and blood into this simple story that you are guaranteed to have a blast.

Scream was one of the defining movies of the 90s. It was a phenomenon reinventing a genre that hadn’t been marketable since the mid-80s. It spawned two sequels and endless rip-offs. An intelligent spoof on horror movies that is still extremely scary, Scream is one of my all time favorites.

Mike Dwyre – East Columbia Branch

Steven Johnson’s Everything Bad is Good For You is a provocative and engaging critique of modern popular culture. Using a concept called the Sleeper Curve, Johnson argues that far from “dumbing us down,” pop culture has in fact been consistently raising the bar and requiring consumers to be more active and thoughtful in their consumption over the last thirty years.

Discussing games, television, the internet and film, part one of Johnson’s book explores the landscape of pop culture. Johnson contrasts earlier forms of media with current forms, and catalogs some of the cognitive skills required to successfully interact with today’s pop culture outputs. Contrasting the tasks and consequences involved in playing the popular video games PacMan and Zelda, he presents evidence that the newer game requires the player to address and complete many more intermediate goals than the older, “telescoping” short-range tasks while keeping the long range goal in view. In the section dealing with television, graphics contrast the amount of time spent on various plot threads in Dragnet, Starsky & Hutch, Hill Street Blues, and The Sopranos and illustrate the increased demand on viewers to understand multiple dynamics and multiple relationships. In addition, a chart compares relationships between characters that the audience should know in order to comprehend Dallas with those required to understand 24. Johnson argues persuasively that the background knowledge required for even the most basic viewer participation has radically increased, and that passivity is not an option.

This is not just a survey of the media; part two of the book looks at evidence that we’re responding to this subtle increase in cognitive load by getting smarter. Observing that IQ scores are increasing from generation to generation, Johnson suggests that our “mental diet” is in part responsible, and that conditions in the marketplace are forcing media companies to “race to the top” in order to produce high-quality content that can stand repeat viewing and playing. In looking at form alongside content, Johnson provides us with a fascinating thesis about the relationship between media consumption and intellectual engagement. Take a look at Everything Bad is Good For You, and then add your thoughts to the comments section.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Diggers, directed by Katherine Dieckmann & written by co-star Ken Marino, presents a slice of life on Long Island’s south shore during the summer of 1976. Against the backdrop of the bicentennial, Ford & Carter’s election campaign, and South Shell’s corporate takeover of the oyster beds in the south bay, four friends (Hunt, Jack, Cons and Frankie) navigate their changing lives and responsibilities. These four baymen feel the economic pressure of the South Shell corporate expansion into their waters, and deal with lower prices, lower yields, and engine thefts as their business takes a downturn.

The movie focuses on Hunt, (Paul Rudd) who would rather take artistic black & white landscape polaroids of the island than drag the bay-bottom for oysters. His horizons broaden as he develops a relationship with Zoey, an outspoken artistic beauty from the city (Lauren Ambrose), and as he’s challenged to think about whether he can get what he really wants from life by staying in his hometown. The gradual flirtation between the two, and their first conversation, are marvelously comic.

This is truly an ensemble piece, and each character contributes to the movie. Hunt’s sister Gina (Maura Tierney) reads Shere Hite, runs the local diner, and is looking for something more out of life after ending her marriage to a local loser. Her independence and choice to live life on her own terms are a counterpoint to much of the indecision felt by those around her.

Frankie (Marino), a family man married to Julie (Sarah Paulsen), is the only one of the four with adult responsibilities. His challenge is to keep his growing family afloat in difficult economic times. Frankie and Julie’s marriage is passionate and fiery. Paulson in particular does a great job of showing that there is more to their relationship than just the screaming matches. Jack (Ron Eldard) is a ladies’ man entering his first serious relationship, and Cons (Josh Hamilton) is an armchair philosopher/pot-dealer who can be relied on to provide a comically high-concept vision of the situation. “Is the universe made of marble, or wood?…” We watch each of these characters negotiate the changes in their world that take place in the summer and fall of 1976, and are drawn into their circle as they deal with life’s ups and downs.

In addition to the appropriate soundtrack, there are some great special features on the disc, including deleted scenes and outtakes, a behind-the-scenes documentary, and the 1999 documentary “Baymen,” which features interviews with eight baymen discussing and demonstrating the history and challenges of their industry. A great addition to a movie that shouldn’t be missed. Reserve your copy of Diggers today.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

A two-part post in praise of the post-millennial Bill Murray, and a couple of great mood movies. Today’s featured new classic is Lost in Translation (Sophia Coppola). Watch for a forthcoming review of Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmusch).

Lost in Translation is atmospheric and powerful, with the backdrop of Tokyo co-starring and conveying the sense of loneliness, isolation, and social dislocation felt by both of the central characters. Murray stars as fading movie actor Bob Harris, who is in Tokyo to make a whiskey commercial… Suntory Time. His deteriorating marriage is reduced to a discussion of similar-colored carpet samples conducted over the phone, and he’s not particularly interested in anything except the paycheck that’s coming for his work in the commercial. During consecutive nights at the high-end but sterile hotel bar, he connects with the similarly alienated Charlotte, (Scarlett Johannson). Charlotte is newly married, but finds herself emotionally distanced from her workaholic photographer husband. He’s in his element while Charlotte’s obviously a long way removed from hers, and he’s to busy to notice.

Left alone in the city, Charlotte and Bob develop a passionate but platonic relationship as they set out to explore Tokyo together. They’re good for each other. Bob rediscovers his interest in the world around him thanks to Charlotte and her young, hip, Tokyo friends. Charlotte discards her abstract, philosophical perspective on life and matures in Bob’s company. Lost in Translation is a wonderful mood movie that is evocative, atmospheric and engaging, and well worth a first or second look. More to come on Sophia Coppola’s movies, including the exceptional Marie Antoinette, which screens at Savage Branch on Wednesday, July 16 at 7:00 pm.

If you’re looking for movies that take you on a journey that you don’t want to end, take a look at Bill Murray in Lost in Translation, and check tomorrow to read about Murray in Broken Flowers.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch