#the-cauldron

"Bubblez, I'm just trying to make it to retirement."

I respond, "So am I, Uncle."

He kind of laughed it off but it really made me angry with him. He sat there complaining about this he can absolutely change if he'd stop acting like he's already dead.

Now, he complains a lot about his life. In fact he was complaining during this particular conversation that he hasn't done anything with his life. Which is why I was trying to tell him there's still time. He could still do something with his life.

But he won't, he told me so. Telling me it was a "young mans game", "if i were younger" that sort of crap. And I told him I still have to live here. So, I'm going to do something about the issues. He half laughed at me and said "Good luck with that."

The subject changed because honestly he's not worth my time.

I don't want the world to end just because the last generation has given up on it. That's not fair! To tell me "Good luck" when you're the ones who brought us here in the first place.

I know this as life, I'm not surprised by it, at least I haven't been in a long time.

I've had to say goodbye to people I wasn't ready to let go of yet and I've had to walk away from people who didn't see me for who I was becoming. It's been a journey to get to this point. Lots of self doubt, constantly wanting to give up and go back to my parents because that seemed easier than continuing to fight for myself. Many nights crying wondering what the point of all of my struggling is. I pushed myself farer then I ever thought I could go. I'm still shocked that I'll have a university degree soon.

I will have a BA in English Studies!

I have ADHD and dyslexia! And I will soon be a graduate with a 6.0 GPA (a B average). I'm not that impressive but I have impressed myself and I don't think I get I do that enough. I'm very happy with all my work so far. I'm not done. I'm taking a year and then going back for teachers college! I'm so excited to get to be a teacher, to be the teacher I never had in school.

But to get there I have to get through this weird point. I have to graduate. I'll be moving in with my boyfriend this summer. The first time I am ever fully moving out of my parents house, I won't be living with family and I'll be fully in charge of all my bills! I am freaking out a bit. Finding myself here, at this point is scary. Everything is going my way and I'm just not use to it. I'm not use to life plans working out. I didn't think I'd be able to be a teacher, but I'm so close now I can imagine how I'll decorate my classroom.

I find myself at this point where I'm finally getting what I've been working so far toward. My degree, my own place with the man I love, my own dishes, my own office... it all feels so far still but also right around the corner and I'm scared. I'm scared I won't actually reach it and I find myself trying to sabotage myself because I can't possibly have it all right? I haven't worked that hard to get here, have I? Have I done enough to be here, standing at this threshold instead of trying to climb through an open window that's ten-stories up. Have I really earned my degree, my own place, a person who loves me and have supported me through three years of long distance, my place in the world?

I wrote this ages ago for a class because I love Halloweenteen. It's one of my favourite trilogies. I don't count the fourth one because a part from the weird recast of Marnie the story makes no sense based on the first three! The world was thrown out and it doesn't even feel like a Halloweentown movie! I do mention it in this because I didn't want to be docked marks for not including it and just because it sucks doesn't mean I should condemn the work that went into making it. So I see it. I know it's a thing! But it's bad and it upsets me that is so bad but whatever! This is about the first one!

Wait for a real horror movie if you want to see one as It Chapter 2 is not a horror movie. Sure, while watching the movie I was creeped out and disgusted but I didn’t find it horrifying. That being said! I think it was an entertaining movie. For this review, I will talk about why It Chapter 2 is not a horror movie, as well as, the characters, the story, cinematography; and a few scenes that really stood out to me in this movie.

There were too many moments of tension broken by the characters making (unfunny) jokes for me see this as a horror movie. Even though they were supposed to be scared; they didn’t seem that scared. Yeah, who gives a crap that the evil clown never died and is trying to kill us again after all these years? Every time a joke was made the timing made it difficult to stay in the moment and if I should laugh or not. A lot of the jokes weren't very funny so it felt awkward at times. That may have been because I didn't see It Chapter 1 so a lot of the character relationships weren't there for me but I won't watch Chapter 1 now! It was advertised as a horror movie but between the awkward jokes and lack of horror it wasn't a horror movie at all.

The story was easy to follow by the end of the movie I knew who every character was by name. It (the book and now movies) started when this weird shapeshifting monster (sorry,) alien (Wait? I'm sorry a shapeshifting human eating alien? Ok...) appeared and started eating kids in the town of Derry. It Chapter 2 is the sequel to It Chapter 1. The sequel follows the same seven characters as the first but twenty-seven years later. Their story is about how their town had many children go missing and they, as children, had to save the town and stop the monster, Pennywise a shapeshifting alien that likes to scare and eat children disguised as a clown. (His voice was creepy but it made me laugh so unless he was eating someone, I didn’t find him scary at all.) As children the seven came together because they were bullied and had no one else to turn to so they became friends and called themselves the loser as they were always told they were. Now twenty-seven years later Pennywise is back which means the group had to come back to the town and find these mementos (the mementos work by the person going to a place in the town that means a lot to them and collecting them by remembering the events leading to or the feeling of getting that thing from their childhood) to help them defeat Pennywise. Spoiler for the ending: They collect them but surprise! it doesn’t work; they end up yelling at him, causing him to shrink, and kill him by ripping his heart out and crushing it. Why they needed to come back as adults to defeat in this remake when the book and the first movie version didn't... I don't know, someone wanted more money I guess.

The characters were Mike, the group's token black kid, the only one to remain in Derry after their first fight with Pennywise. He has this crazy idea of how to defeat Pennywise and calls everyone back to Derry when Pennywise attacks again. Beverly, the token girl of the group, got married to a man who is much like her abusive father. Richie became a comedian; he was the group's jokester and a closet gay. Eddie got married to a woman who was like his emotionally abusive mother and he was also a closet gay. Ben grew out of his baby fat as he was the group's fat kid. Stanley, we meet briefly as he committed suicide out of fear of having to face Pennywise again. Bill, was the leader of the group when they were kids, he doesn’t have much of a story outside of the town as his younger brother was one of the children that went missing twenty-seven years ago, he struggles with that throughout the movie as he blamed himself for his brother’s death. They are exactly how'd you expect traumatized children who have become traumatized adults. (I really didn't have anything to say about them as characters or actors.)

The film was beautifully shot and I really appreciated the work that went into the cinematography. The transitions from present to past were seamless. That being said one of my favourite transitions is when Ben is getting his memento from the school, while Ben is at the school he goes to this old classroom where he met Beverly. The camera zooms in on the lit projector and zooms out to reveal that we are back in the past, in Ben’s memory. Eddie’s memento was disgusting he was vomited on by this gross zombie monster with a long tongue. I don’t want to go into more detail, it was disgusting. Not scary just disgusting and pointless. Eddie dying was hard to watch because he and Richie never got to have their moment and Richie had to watch him die never having told him how he felt. You could see how the two of them wanted to say something about it but they never did. The opening scene was honestly the most horrifying of the whole movie. Watching that poor gay couple get beat up and then eaten was horrible. I thought "Oh, my god. This is going to be a horror movie" and then it wasn't. It was a comedy with horror elements at best.

All in all, it was an interesting movie to watch but not worth watching in theatres. Or again.