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-James

Predators

Posted by james on Dec. 18, 2010

(post.rating: 7)
Rating:

IMDB   Apple Trailers

I really didn't have much hope for this one after seeing Aliens Vs. Predator. That movie was a crapfest of the worst of both series. PG13? Cheesy stereotypical human characters? The weak girl becoming an "honorary predator" at the end? What the heck?

But I figured, why not. This movie surprised me in a very good way. First off, a very impressive list of characters: Danny Trejo (Desperado), Alice Braga (Blindness), Topher Grace (cmon, it's Foreman!), and especially... Adriane Brody. Having Brody as the lead pretty much sold the trailer to me by itself.

The story is pretty clear, but it's not really about the plot, is it? It's the interaction between the characters. It's nice that the movie ignored the decadent 90's themed Predators 2 inner-city setting, and the "let's do one in space!" Aliens vs Predator setting, and went right back to the original Predator - in the thick of the jungle. Granted, this is an Alien jungle. But still a nice touch.

I really expected a gorefest with a bunch of action stars thrown in, and the creativity limited to "let's see how each one dies". But the movie was surprisingly enjoyable, a few twists, and the ending left open for a sequel. Depending on the trailer, I'd go see it.

The pseudo buddy/romance among the top two leads was a bit worn out, but overall a good movie. Much better than I expected.

Christmas Cards From ShutterFly

Posted by james on Nov. 27, 2010

Lauren saw a free promotion - mention ShutterFly's Christmas cards on your blog, and get 50 free cards. And when she asked me, I jumped at the chance to become a corporate shill.



This year we *definitely* plan on making & sending Christmas cards. That differs from last year where we thought about it, wanted to do it, then got lazy and forgot all about it. The one thing we have going for us this year is that we've finally got amazing pictures of our new baby that'll make sure we have the best cards this year.

ShutterFly's cards actually look pretty decent - not as cheesy as most create-your-own cards. I can't wait to see how the print quality is for these.

They even have "religious" Christmas cards, though I'm not sure if we'll go with those. Lauren has a very low tolerance for lame quotes.

At any rate, I'll post a review of the quality once we get them.

PS. Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly. Sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Cirque du Freak

Posted by james on Nov. 23, 2010

I saw previews for this one - it looked like it would be a crazy comedy about real-life monster/freaks in a circus. Even the lead (John Reilly) I know from other comedies.

But the movie stunk. It was unimaginative - you can pretty much guess what's going to happen after the trailer, and anything else is inconsequential anyway. Besides the bad dialog, the most annoying thing was that it felt like everyone everyone took high-school acting lessons. Remember to enunciate and speak robotically. Make sure you pause awkwardly when someone's supposed to interrupt you.

But two things really killed it. The lead kid sounds like he took lessons from the early-Val Kilmer (or Keanu Reaves) acting school, and the worst part - it was just boring. Nothing really funny here, nothing really good enough to take seriously. It decidedly wasn't a comedy at all.

So all the camp of a parody and none of the humor or cleverness. Too bad.