The Giant Mechanical Man (2012)

Tags

Cameron Diaz, Chris Messina, Comedy, Drama, Jenna Fischer, Movie, The Giant Mechanical Man, Topher Grace

hahaha, that's so pleasant...

I wish I liked this movie more.  I wish the supporting characters hadn’t been so unbelievable.  I wish some of the situations and plot developments hadn’t felt so forced.  I wish it had more of an emotional core.

The central idea is a nice one – slow down, stop trying to chase material things and focus on bringing a little happiness into a fellow human’s life.   And maybe, just maybe, you’ll find that one person in the world that gets you.   That one true love of your life.

Of course, from frame one, it’s clear that Tim (Chris Messina) and Janice (Jenna Fischer) are destined to fill that role for each other, so all of the manufactured complications in between just seem like time wasters.  Especially Topher Grace’s character.  Sorry, caricature.  I mean, just look at him in the trailer and you’ll see that it’s impossible to take him seriously at all.

It’s a pleasant little story with likable leads and its heart in the right place, but there’s nothing that feels very original here.  It just goes through the usual romantic comedy paces without taking any real risks.   Likable but unmemorable.  Hey wait, I think that’s what it said under my yearbook photo in high school…

5.8/10

[youtube http://youtu.be/T5D8JMsPk3o]

Predators (2010)

Tags

Action, Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Danny Trejo, Drama, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Movie, Oleg Taktarov, Predators, Science Fiction, Topher Grace, Walton Goggins

hey little friend, can you tell us where we are?

R

Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, Danny Trejo, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali

Cuchillo: This is hell…
Royce: Last time I looked, you didn’t need a parachute to get there.

A group of people, all a sort of “predator” in some way, find themselves dropped into a strange jungle where they are hunted by an even more dangerous group of Predators.

Not quite as fun as the original, but still fairly enjoyable.

It seems pretty obvious that the movie makers wanted to get back to the general feel of the first movie, and they did a pretty good job of achieving that feel.  It’s fun to keep an eye out for all the little nods and references to the original, and while Adrien Brody is no Ahhnold, he and his gruff, Batman voice still work well enough.  He manages to display a certain toughness and anger that doesn’t usually come across in his performances.

The supporting cast isn’t quite as fun as Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, and Bill Duke were in the first one, but they’re okay.  I must say, though, it was really easy to predict what order they’d be killed off in.  There were a few other easy to predict moments too, but I won’t go into those.

Despite some predictability, and initially seeming a little too much like the setup for a Saw movie, it was still pretty fun.  The story did manage to take some interesting turns here and there.  Plus, they threw in one fun little cameo that I didn’t know was coming (since I didn’t read the cast list beforehand).

There’s not too much more to say about a movie like this.  If you liked the original, chances are you’ll get at least some enjoyment out of this one.  Unless you just hate Adrien Brody…or the jungle…or Predators…

If you wake up one day to find yourself free falling into a mystery jungle, just go ahead and give up.  You’re pretty much screwed.

10 – 1.7 for being fairly predictable – 1 for some underdeveloped characters = 7.3