Chaos Theory on Friday Nights
The Butterfly Effect: The assertion that "if chaos theory is true, a single flap of a single seagull's wings would be enough to change the course of all future weather systems on the earth", first put forth by meteorologist Edward Lorenz in the early 1960s. More simply put: "Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil set off a Tornado in Texas?"
Last night was MY movie night. For those of you who don't know, a number of us get together every Friday night and we each take turns bringing a movie. The rules are simple: You can't tell anyone what you've brought, and you can't walk out on your own movie (unless it is a unanimous group walk-out. New rule, created last night. Read on). Friday Nights started out originally as X-Files night, but during the summer rerun season, we switched to bringing movies. I am a relative newcomer to the Friday Night festivities, and I've been a part of it for.. gosh... I think it's been at least 8 years now. Maybe 9. Friday Nights are not just tradition for us all - they are a necessary part of life. Our Friday Nights preserve my sanity and restore my faith in the world. Friday Nights. Good friends, good food, good conversation and go...um, diverse movies. Guaranteed.
Anyway, last night was MY Friday Night movie, as I mentioned. I had received many excellent suggestions from Sarah, as well as from Tim. And I had all of these in mind as I was heading to the local Blockbuster Video. But before bee-lining for one of those options, I purused the New Releases section. Just in case I had missed something.
I was standing in front of the New Releases with two selections - one in each hand. I must have looked either thoughtful or confused because one of the nice red-smock-wearing Blockbuster employees came up to me and asked "May I help you with your selection?" I proceeded to show her the two movies I had chosen and explained I was having trouble deciding between them. She glanced at my choices and with an excited gasp grabbed the one from my right hand and exclaimed "Oh - I OWN this one! It is excellent. I would DEFINITELY go with this one". And that was the movie I chose.
On to the festivities. Wonderful food by Dave as usual. A beef sausage pot pie. Originally advertised as chicken pot pie in his friday night e-mail sent earlier that day. But we're an adaptable crowd, and it was most excellent with sausage. Everything Dave cooks is excellent. Pot pie was followed by Brownies a la Vinnie. I can't eat brownies - the old chocolate-gives-me-migraines story - but I smelled them. Smelling chocolate doesn't give me migraines. So as a former chocoholic going on 5 years of a self-induced chocolate-free diet, I have learned to satisfy my cravings by smelling the chocolate instead. And lucky for me, I have good and tolerant friends and a husband who indulge me without (too much) mockery. "Oooh - Brownies! Can I smell them?" (big whiff) "Mmmmm. Tasty". I don't do it if I have a cold. Anyway - Vince had tried an alternative recipe this time and lets just say he'll be bringing "makeup" brownies for the gang next week.
So - bellies full, we headed down to the basement movie viewing area. Everyone settled into their spots, and I popped my movie into the DVD player.
Yes - my selection was "The Butterfly Effect". For those of you who have seen it and know what we were in for, in my (rather lame, I know) defense - I do NOT read movie reviews (too often I've found I've disagreed with them so I find them of little to no value), and it was highly endorsed by the red-smock-wearing Blockbuster employee. PLUS I remembered seeing a 15-second ad on TV when the movie first came out thinking "Oooh - that looks promising; what an interesting premise" so I didn't think I could really go too wrong with my choice.
I went horribly wrong with my choice.
If anyone out there hasn't seen it and still wants to then I am warning you now, I'm about to give away the first 25 minutes (24 minutes and 56 seconds to be exact). I can't give away more, because that is all we saw.
The first 24 minutes and 56 seconds of the film, consisted of:
- A clearly troubled boy who was prone to blacking out and drawing detailed and grisly murder scenes with crayons
- Same boy holding a large butcher knife in the kitchen during one of these blackout episodes, scaring his mother (and us) half to death
- Same boy being sexually molested by a neighbourhood dad (who was also sexually molesting his own children)
- Boy meeting his crazy father in the insane asylum, being strangled by said father in the first 5 minutes of their meeting, and then watching said father being beaten to death by the asylum guards,and then falling dead at his feet with a pool of blood emanating from his head spreading rapidly across the floor towards him
- Boy, older now, with his friends (the same ones who were molested with him - brother and sister, they were) blowing up a mailbox that resulted in the death of innocent passersby
- Boy's friend (one of the molested)beating the #$%* out of a complete stranger at a movie theater, bludgeoning him with a metal pole to within an inch of his life it seemed, after catching boy kissing his sister
But that is not the worst of it. The coup de grace (pun not intended) was the same "friend" capturing boy's dog, throwing him in a sack and (I'm speculating from here because at this point I was underneath my blanket with my eyes closed and my ears covered whimpering "no no no nono... oh no... oh no" but based on the conversations post movies, this is what I gathered I was missing) hoisting said dog on a spit and roasting it over a fire.
That was the point at which we all decided we needed to see no more of this. For the first time in Friday Night history, the movie was stopped and ejected.
And we all just sat there in the dark for a while. Finally, after chatting sufficiently about the multiple ways in which this movie sucked to have cleansed it (mostly) from our systems, we slowly got up and went about the business of going home.
When I got home, I had to leave the movie in my car over night. I didn't want it in our house.
Interesting note: IMDB gives the movie 7.5 out of 10 stars. So even if I did check reviews - that would probably have been my source. And it too would have led me astray.
Comments
You inherited Dad's bad moving picking ability too I see. Let that be a lesson to you. Repeat after me: "I hereby promise the Friday Night Movie club that I will only bring selections previously vetted by Sarah or, in a pinch, Tim." ;-)
Posted by Sarah on October 18, 2004 10:34 AM.By the by, I saw Butterfly Effect, and it's terrible. Had you gotten past the first 25 minutes, you'd have realised that the boy's blackouts allow him to travel back in time by concentrating on that entry in his journal. He keeps trying to alter the past to make his present more bearable, but keeps screwing things up instead. There are also two alternative endings, both equally dismal. That's why it's never made the Sarah Recommendation List. ;-)
well, it would have gotten a bit worse, and then better. a lot of it gets explained... definitely F*#&$'ed up though.
Posted by gracie on October 27, 2004 5:34 PM.