Kevin's Watch

Went to see this the other night before seeing any reviews and I'm glad I did as if I'd heeded the reviews, I might not have. I have a reasonable surround sound set up at home, nothing too flash, but good enough to enhance the experience, however when it comes to "shoot 'em up/blow 'em up" movies, you can't beat the cinema.

So to the movie, the two word that come to mind are "puerile" and "fun". It's not much as either a movie making chart topper or a cerebral journey through poignant dialogue, but it is a bit of fun in a sort of "doom" way. The plot borrows a lot from Independance Day and the cinematography a lot from Green Zone. The aliens are not bad, tho' the difficulty in killing them at the start of the movie to the ease with which they are dispached towards the end, shows some severe limits in continuity.

The acting is a more re-acting than anything else and I was suprised that Bridget Moynahan lent herself to something that so fitted the increasingly typecast Michelle Rodriguez.

This has been panned by nearly everyone and I won't be rushing out to get the director's cut when it comes to DVD, but it is what it is and makes no apology for it. Turn off the brain, grab your balls and go along for the ride, you probably won't want to go on the same ride twice, but what the hell.....!

Saw Battle LA a few days ago. I had read many reviews however I also took the time to read reviews from the movie nerds at AICN. Going in I was concerned that the film would be too intellectually blank to the point of being annoying however to my delight I genuinely enjoyed the experience. I'll definitely buy the film on blueray when it is available. I guess I don't have a problem with an alien invasion story that features blowing the crap out of things and stuff.
In my opinion the acting was decent, the FX splendid and the overall direction competent. Sure there's some stilted dialog to deal with but on the whole I'm very happy I decided to read some good reviews along with so many of the negative ones to inspire me to see it.
In a nutshell my opinion is "not bad". Not great but I enjoyed it just fine.

The film was almost as bad as the following book cover:



Almost.

Lord Foul wrote:The film was almost as bad as the following book cover:



Almost.

The most awesome paperback book cover I think I've ever seen in my life. Why I think it's so awesome there's no reason whatsoever to read any of the words held within.
Thank you, LF. You have definitely enriched my life. In what way I cannot say.

i am so stealing the stars falling spacemen / rising line for a poem or song.

wish i had money this week Battle LA looks like a great matinee movie.

aTOMiC wrote:

Lord Foul wrote:The film was almost as bad as the following book cover:



Almost.

The most awesome paperback book cover I think I've ever seen in my life. Why I think it's so awesome there's no reason whatsoever to read any of the words held within.
Thank you, LF. You have definitely enriched my life. In what way I cannot say.

I dunno, but that lizard's expression is against God. That's what I love the most.

Lord Foul wrote:The film was almost as bad as the following book cover:



Almost.

I would swear that lizard image was stolen from an original Jonny Quest episode. The "artist" just put it in a dress and hat. Yep. I'm that old.

Damn... I thought it was Joan Rivers!

I saw the movie today. 2 stars out of 5. Whilst I loved the aliens, I found it a bit odd that a species with their amount of technology would need our water - surely they could manufacture it using hydrogen and oxygen? Second, just how fast where they siphoning water, given that within twenty-four hours sea levels were dropping. That's a huge amount of water being drained every second.

The characters were pretty average, even one-dimensional. I couldn't connect with any of them, so there was absolutey no tension in any of the battles. I was more interested in seeing the aliens.

Awful, melodramatic dialogue. Especially between the staff seargent and the hispanic kid.

Lastly, and this is a trend I have been noticing in many modern movies, the movie is anti-intellectual. Not that the movie is dumb; it is what it is - a war movie with aliens. What I mean is that university educated people are treated with disdain (i.e. the Lt). Masculinity wins the day, not real smarts. Sure, the Sgt works out how to bring them down, but he's a grunt. The Lt is seen as a 'wet behind the ears' uni grad who can't manage a fight.

Anyway, I did enjoy the movie for what it was. It's not pretentious, and doesn't pretend to be anything more.