Paranormal Activity 2

1 out of 5 Stars



Their back with the next most pointless sequel in a history of sequels. Once again the film follows a group of people, this time a family with a baby and a dog, in which things go bump in the night and something intense happens by the end. In this family the mother is actually the sister of the character from the last film and this film is a prequel/sequel. So the events of this one begin before the events of the first one take place. But the reality is that if you've seen the first one, you've basically seen this one, except now there is a dog and a baby. And of course they still pretend like it was a real event.

I personally hate these films. So why did I see it? For the heck of it because I got to for free. But I'm always so bored in these movies. It takes over half the movie for anything to happen and by the time something does I'm too bored to even think about being scared. Probably 85-90% of the movie is watching the mundane events of life (much like watching a home movie) until something (actually quite predictable) happens. That is not my idea of a good movie. If I want to watch a home movie, I'll do that. When I go to the theater I want to see something that takes me out of my life. I want to escape the mundane, not revel in it. Many people are scared by these movies but really they are not that frightening. Not really. Unless you're scared easily but then just about anything could scare you. In reality these movies are terrible. They aren't quality. It's just the new Blair Witch. And documentary style film just doesn't work. Not with the way story needs to be. And if good film = good story. Then documentary style film = bad film because the story always seems to fall flat.

But I think that Roger Ebert puts it quite well in his review:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101022/REVIEWS/101029991

Predators

2 1/2 out of 5 Stars




Predators is a direct sequel to Predator. It opens on a bunch of people falling through the sky and finding parachutes they never knew they had. Soon they discover each other and are led through the jungle by Adrian Brody's character and find that they are being hunted by alien creatures known as predators. But of course some people know more than others.

Predators is from what I hear beyond a reasonable doubt much better than the former predator film sequels. I'll just have to take their word for it. All the same, this film is more of a fan film for those who enjoy the franchise more than anything. By all means it's a decent action film with fun sequences throughout the second half of the film. The cast does a surprisingly good job at acting in a film with such a ridiculous plot. It's so simple and mundane that it's storyline follows that of basically hundreds of B-movies but succeeds where they don't. And the acting really does help the films cause.

But the action in the film can't save it from it's mediocrity and slow and mundane first half. Very little seems to happen until close to the one hour mark and therefore causes a sleep inducing feeling before finally picking up the action. And when a film is known as an action film and not much more there is a problem. It was better than I necessarily expected but that didn't save it. I was still too bored. I wanted more action. I wanted more drive. Instead I got lots of walking around and exposition. At least they throw in a samurai and a katana fight.