"How do you explain midgets or sock monkeys? I don't know!"

One thing I forgot to mention Sunday night when I was plowing through all those reviews from the weekend is how easily swayed I am by a movie simply by spying people I like in the cast. As much as I disliked her character, I was excited when I saw Caroline from The Vampire Diaries (with red hair!) in Deadgirl. The few precious moments Chris Pratt showed up in Jennifer's Body made me melt. So, even though S. Darko was not a great movie or even a good movie, I was so thoroughly thrilled to see it populated by actors I like that I didn't have a problem with it. First and foremost I enjoy Daveigh Chase and have loved her in every single thing I have seen her do, so she was a no brainer. Next, there's Chuck Bass (second time he's popped up during our 100 Movies) from Gossip Girl. He's nothing special but... he's Chuck Bass! Oh, hello there John Hawkes, AKA Sol Star from Deadwood (not to mention Eastbound & Down and Lost)! So nice to see you. Then, my darling dearest Nate from One Tree Hill came onscreen and I just about lost my little mind. I truly adore him, and had a good time watching him try out a nice meaty role as a messed up Iraq vet. I had just recovered from the thrill of Nate when BOOM - is that freaking Jasper from Twilight??? Damn, he's so adorable without that awful Jasper wig! Oh, dear, is that Elizabeth Berkley as a possibly insane Bible banger? Um, yes, it is, and it looks like the Bible's not the only thing she's banging - it's Alaric from The Vampire Diaries!!

Anyway, going into this movie we knew that the creator of Donnie Darko had zero involvement, and that it had gotten horrible reviews, so our expectations were lower than low. It wasn't that awful - it just didn't really go anywhere, nor did it do any kind of mind expansion the way its predecessor did. It seemed like it was trying to pull in lots of aspects of the original without adding anything new or interesting. I was especially put off by the mirroring of the [spoiler] preacher man who everyone admired as probably being the serial child kidnapper/torturer [/spoiler]. That storyline was really half assed and like the rest of the movie, never really explored any new terrain. We're glad we saw it but won't exactly recommend it.