Nimrod Antal’s “Predators” is probably one of the most simplistic action movies of 2010. Probably of all time. It’s a movie so void of any thinking or brains behind it you don’t have to do much except sit back and let the series of events unfold before your eyes and just watch people walk around and shooting things in a wooded locale. “Predators” offers no reason for knowing about the films before it, about the mythology, or about the overall concept. You just have to know that a bunch of criminals and soldiers have been dropped on to a jungle, are being hunted by something, and have to survive. That’s more a paper thin concept than an actual plot and nothing beyond that happens. Antal’s film would love to liken itself after the original “Predator” but in reality it’s just another retelling of “The Most Dangerous Game,” and doesn’t demand much from its audience.
Tag Archives: Sequel
Puppet Master: Axis of Evil (2010)
I love “Puppet Master” I think it’s one of the best horror series to come along in years and provided many hours of wholesome puppet murdering fun that I never got with Chucky. With the series, it was obviously quite ridiculous, but it reveled in such and covered up that fact by giving us an array of puppets to root for who became menaces, villains, and then anti-heroes. “Axis of Evil” is an attempted reboot that will definitely not re-invent the entire series as I’d hoped, since it’s mainly just a lazy hack job with barely ninety minutes of its run time, and I retreat back in the old films.
Toy Story 3 (2010)
What many are assuming is the final installment in the “Toy Story” franchise (until Disney assigns these characters to a new child protagonist) is an otherwise classy and entertaining finisher to what has been a three part exploration in to childhood and the doldrums of growing up and getting rid of the past. While the child audience has taken great joy in the adventures of Buzz Lightyear and Woody for the last ten years, like every other Pixar production it’s about much more than what’s on the surface. “Toy Story 3” much like its predecessors is about recalling a more innocent time and the relics of our past having to face that they’re just not needed anymore.
Serenity: Float Out
I would have killed to be in the audience of hardcore Browncoats as Wash led the Serenity through a swarm of deadly Reavers and land the ship within an inch of his life only to be impaled and die before our very eyes. I can only imagine the gasps and cries among the women as their favorite character died in a flash. Admittedly the “Firefly/Serenity” graphic novels and one-shots have been mixed. They range from mediocre to just plain abysmal, and leave it to nerd extraordinaire Patton Oswalt to take the reigns of the Whedon Universe and bring it down to its emotional core.
Caesar and Otto’s Summer Camp Massacre (2009)
The best way to approach independent films looking to tap the comedy genre is to keep an open mind. Try a parking lot in the Grand Canyon type of open and you’ll be there. That’s the way I confronted Dave Campfield’s “Caesar and Otto” horror comedy. An apparent sequel to an earlier film of his, Dave Campfield enlists the horror genre to this installment and just goes all out wacky in every single instance he can muster up. Campfield doesn’t exactly follow a specific comedy formula here and it shows quite often with scenes that are just insanely nonsensical. From character Caesar’s inherent wackiness when indulging himself in a bit part as an extra in a television show (a scene that promised to be awful but was quite funny), to his implementing of “Where’s Waldo”-like glasses when reading a map, Campfield just seems to be using whatever he thinks will work no matter how nonsensical it may be and… It’s funny. It’s very funny.
Survival of the Dead (2009)
The second leg of Romero’s zombie epic takes a page from “Day of the Dead” in where our characters seek refuge in an island out on the water and are continuing an ever going debate on whether or not the walking dead can be adjusted to eat an alternative to long pig. Once again Romero splits audiences down the middle with “Survival of the Dead,” a definitely polarizing zombie entry from the master who continues to entertain me in spite of audiences continued misunderstanding of what the king of the zombies is pushing for.
It's Groundhog Day Chainsaw Sally! (2009)
On Groundhog day in Porterville Maryland, nine independent filmmakers went deep in to the woods to film a documentary about a string of disappearances and murders that became local folklore and… well, let’s just say they didn’t come across any stupid punk ass witches or giggling children. No, they happened across Chainsaw Sally and her brother Ruby. Stumbling across the group of inept filmmakers, the brother and sister slaughter team decide to bring down their investigation that could lead to their downfall if not stopped. So Chainsaw and Ruby decide to bring down the poor film students one after another cutting off their resources, and cutting off their limbs while having a gay old time.