Why I'm a nightmare to watch a movie with, and randomocity

I've been a writer all of my life.

I've always analyzed stories, movies, and TV shows, and I know most of the tricks writers use to tell stories and otherwise manipulate their audiences. So, I find a lot of movies sort of tedious--watching a horror movie I usually amuse myself by watching the opening credits and predicting which actors' characters will die, and in what order. Every now and then I'm wrong, but even then it isn't by much--I may expect a particular character to be the third victim and he or she turns out to be the fourth.

I'm also pretty good, when watching a mystery, at figuring out who the killer is. Not by following the clues but looking at which actor is playing which role. I was watching a thriller with a friend a few years ago, and the first time the killer--whose identity was supposed to be a secret until near the end---appeared on-screen we looked at each other and said, "That's the guy."

How did she and I both figure it out? Because it appeared to be a tiny little role being played by an actor we both recognized. Had nothing to do with the plot, or anything--if he wasn't the killer then anybody could have played that role. But the director wanted somebody he knew was experienced and could handle it, which meant he had to go with a known actor. Which lead to us figuring it out an hour and a half before we were supposed to.

I focus too much, I think, on the story during a movie, and for many movies this is a mistake. Other people watch the cinematography, the choices the director makes as to shots, that sort of thing, and if that's your thing, I'm fine with it. As a writer, however, I have no choice but to focus on the story being told, and if I don't find it compelling, I don't care about the rest of it. I simply have no choice. If I find the story compelling I'll probably find the movie as a whole compelling, as I'll forgive a lot of sins in that case.

But how to make a story compelling? The best way is to have interesting and relatable characters. Watch Rob Zombie's remakes of Halloween and Halloween II. Zombie has watched more horror movies than I ever hope to, and he understands what makes them work. Both of those films are populated with interesting characters, many of whom I would hang around with in real life. I don't want anything bad to happen to them. Needless to say, something bad happens to most of them, and it's even scarier and more horrific because they are people I like. I recommend both of those movies highly.

I bought a new PC this week--I'm using it right now, actually--to replace my dying desktop PC. This one has Windows 8 on it. I'm still figuring it out, but so far, so good. It definitely took some getting used to, and I'm still figuring out all the navigation, but I think I like it so far.

I just did another pass through another old project I'm rewriting--one more and I think I'll be done with it. Then, back to The Sorcerer's Daughter.

Oh, and to make this completely boring, I'm doing laundry today, too.