film: jennifer's body
beer: blue point pumpkin ale
while this year's pumpktoberfest season has definitely been horrorific enough & pumpktastic enough, i was getting kind of worried that it hasn't been sexy enough. with that in mind, the other night i decided to up that sexiness with a viewing of jennifer's body, diablo cody's 2009 follow-up to her debut screenplay, the indie darling juno. her career thus far: juno, showtime's united states of tara & jennifer's body, which stars megan fox as jennifer & amanda seyfried (the daughter in big love) as her friend needy. yep, that's her name..."needy." the film's a first for me, as up until watching it, i'd never seen megan fox "act." why's that word in quotes? i think you know why.
here's the deal: jennifer is a popular high school flag girl who can get pretty much any guy she wants. one night, she & needy head out to a local bar to see a concert by an emo band named low shoulder. during the show, a fire starts in the bar, eventually engulfing it & killing a few people in the process. jennifer & needy get out safely & in the parking lot, they run into the band, whose lead singer uses the smoove line "listen, it's uh, really dangerous out here. do you wanna head someplace safer, like my van?" to convince jennifer to come with them. needy refuses to join them & heads home. later that evening, a blood-covered jennifer shows up at needy's house, makes some demonic noise, vomits a bunch of black gunk all over the kitchen floor & takes off into the night.
the next day, she's back at school looking all perky & acting like nothing ever happened. from there, she uses her sexy to seduce & disembowel both the football captain & some emo kid. when needy returns home to find jennifer waiting for her in her bedroom, jennifer tries to seduce her. needy goes for it for a second & they lock lips, but then she pulls away. this is when jennifer finally explains what's the hell's going on with her. when she left with low shoulder on the night of the fire, she told them that she was a virgin & they decided to sacrifice her to satan in exchange for fame & fortune. she isn't actually a virgin though & as a result, when they sacrifice her, an evil spirit takes over her body. needy does some research & learns that the only way for jennifer to stay alive & avoid looking all demonic & whatnot is to feed on boys. with the school dance on the way & low shoulder scheduled to perform, needy realizes that it's a recipe for disaster & she's the only one who can stop jennifer.
while it's not the greatest horror movie ever, it does have a few redeeming qualities & some promise. for starters, it's an interesting enough story that explores the dynamics between a pretty girl (who's actually the "needy" one) & her friend. megan fox is awfully fun to look at & amanda seyfried is rather cute. she can act too. plus, there's that scene where her & jennifer make out. for fans of emo crap (myself NOT included), the soundtrack was released on fueled by ramen & features songs by panic! at the disco, black kids, cobra starship & dashboard confessional. needy's mom is played by amy sedaris & she's good in the one scene she's in. unfortunately, she doesn't appear in the rest of the film. in short, i'd suggest checking it out, especially if you're a straight dude who's comfortable with the idea of a hot chick who mauls anyone who's attracted to her.
whilst watching megan fox act all hot & tear high school boys to pieces, i had myself a bottle of blue point pumpkin ale. the long island brewery has made somewhat of a name for itself since its founding back in 1998, taking home world beer cup medals for their toasted lager, hoptical illusion & oatmeal stout. i've tried a bunch of their beers (including the blueberrry ale & the rastafa rye ale) over the past few years & while they're good for the most part, i'm always left wondering what the heckarooney all the hype is about. the pumpkin ale is the first time they've thrown their hat into the pumpkin beer ring, so when i first started seeing it in bodega coolers a few weeks back, i was curious enough to give it a try.
it turns out that their pumpkin ale is just like most of their beers...nothing to write home about. in fact, i'd go as far as to call it "disappointing." it's a light amber beer with a scent & flavor that are both essentially devoid of pumpkin & spices. it's actually ok as far as amber ales go, but as a pumpkin ale it's extremely weak & other than the pumpkin on the front label, nothing about it makes me think of pumpkins. you can go ahead & try it if you want, but if you're looking for a quality pumpkin beer this pumpktoberfest season, don't say that i didn't warn you when you're left with a pumpkin-sized "meh" in your belly.