One Predator. It's a right of passage for them. Sort of akin to the old ways of gaining a black belt by defeating the class of brown belts single handed. That was my understanding from the first two and comics. The stuff they wear is also rank but don't ask me what rank they were...

Well actually in AVP:R, that one predator was like a cleaner cleaning up the alien mess but still, why only send one to clean up the mess!

lmao. still worth seeing it though.

The Condemned

It has good intentions and ideas but man is it boring. At least See No Evil had really brutal kills and The Marine was hilariously awful but there's barely any brutality and it's too well-made for me to laugh at. Then there's "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, nothing against him he was awesome in the WWE, but I can't buy him as an action guy anymore. His neck is shot, thanks to Owen Hart, and I don't even know if he's doing any of his own stunts...it's almost like watching a DTV Steven Seagal movie where you can tell he's not doing his own stunts.

But there is one awesome one-liner from Austin.

TV Producer: What were you doing in El Salvador?
Austin: Working on my tan.
TV Producer: Why did you blow up that building?
Austin: It was blocking my sun.

5/10

Live Free or Die Hard

It's so over-the-top and cartoonish that you can't help but love it. Then again, I kinda did miss the little bits of realism that previous ones did. But then, the bald guy from District B13 is there and he's awesome in the short time he has.

For the record I did see the PG-13 version and while f-bombs and violence would be truer to the series, it wouldn't actually make the movie better.

7/10

For some reason, I've been watching a lot of '80s movies lately...

huh?

Why would you do that

Rob

Well, I have pulled out some films, (some from the 90's) from the library, been ill the last few days, so that is what I do sometimes when I am sick,

I pulled out the Usual Suspects, which I bought, but never watched since the film left the theatres way way back, I also watched Shawshank with my wife, she had never seen it, and a couple of Ozu films, (not from the 90's ) Tokyo Story, and Early Spring, I watched a ton of Ozu this past summer, I was in a certain mood, but felt the need to watch them again.....and again.....

Recent films Saturday at the theatre include, Revolutionary Road, Taken, and believe it or not, I had to watch Paul Blart MC because my students made me promise I would go see it. I use a scale of 1-10 with 5 being strictly average so I will give it a 4-5,

I watched that instead of Milk. What I do for my students...... always next weekend......

Cheers,

Wade

Hey Wade

I'm a huge fan of Ozu. I only discovered him a year ago. I recently watched late Autumn and loved it. My introduction was Tokyo Story which is simply wonderful. Any recommendations?

Rob

Floating Weeds (59 the early one is from 34 and silent, also very good) , Late Spring, Early Summer,

Being a photographer as my second job, I love the way every shot in his films could literally be mounted on the wall, they are so perfectly balanced, with great symmetry, subject importance and interesting focal points for the eye to wander around in the scene.

I call these films my, pure, cleansing films,

I saw Coraline and Push today.

Coraline was excellent. It was Miyazaki crossed with Pan's Labyrinth, all in stunning 3D stop-motion. Gorgeous to look at, as clever and creative as anything Pixar has done. ***1/2 out of ****

Push was mediocre. The concept worked, the setting felt appropriate and looked great. The gritty cinematography worked for me. But the movie never went anywhere. The ending was weak, the climactic action scene was nowhere near as climactic as I expected given the powers these people had. They still had a fist-fight even though they have telekinesis! The idea of putting thoughts in people's heads was cool, but underused (could've made for a big-time twist). **1/2 out of ****

Hi there

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll be getting them from Netflix.

I am a very keen amateur photographer. I too like the compositional skills of Ozu. What interests me most from a photographic stance is the positioning of his camera. It's most unusual. In fact it maybe unique. Every shot seems to have been composed from waist height or lower. Every shot is also filmed from a completely stationary camera. I am sure this is part of the compositional thing you mention.

Rob

thanks for the thoughts, I am planning on seeing Coraline soon, perhaps this weekend. Push, maybe..... time is always my enemy.

Wade

I watched some movie I had never heard of last night...for the first time! I think it was called George... or maybe Patton. It was pretty good.

Species

It's funny to see Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Marg Helenberger, Forrest Whitaker and surprisingly young-looking Alfred Molina team up to kill Natasha Henstridge. Oh Natasha, she was supposed to be this generation's Bo Derek but she followed Bo's career too closely and now she has no career like Bo's.

Anyways, the movie itself is something my 15-year old self would love. There's aliens, violence, sex and boobs! So it may not be a great movie but it is great trash.

6/10

Friday the 13th (2009).

Figures... just when you wish the projector would break down or the movie would be out of focus or someone would set off a fire alarm, none of those things happen.

ouch....

A very guilty pleasure
I even bought the DVD, but please don't tell anyone. It was for the quality of the surround FX!
Rob

By surround FX you mean seeing Natasha Henstridge's nakedness in crystal clarity?

Patrick

You are a cruel and harsh judge of a fellow movie fan.

Who is Natasha Henstridge

Nakedness aside, I actually do think that Species is a lovely throwback to the genre silliness of the 1950's. I am a complete sucker for sci-fi B movies from that era.

Rob