The Expendables (2010)

★★☆

Director: Sylvester Stallone

Writers: Dave Callaham & Sylvester Stallone

Action stars, martial artists, professional wrestlers and UFC champions. You couldn't fit more testosterone into a single film if you tried. Granted less than half of the big names attached to this film only ended up appearing for a few scenes, it's still an impressive line up, and so for that reason I had to see it.

I wasn't expecting a huge amount from this film, and you don't need to be a genius to see that it's just going to be a bunch of good old fashion mindless action violence. And it was. There's nothing wrong with that. But unfortunately I felt that it fell just slightly short of other films of it's kind, which I would attribute to the visual effects and script.

I don't know who was responsible, whether it was Sly or this 'Dave Callaham' fellow, who's professional writing credits can be counted on one hand, but there were some seriously bad lines in this film. Stallone and Statham both have love interests, and the sentences that came out of their mouths in an attempt to be romantic or dramatic, were just disgraceful. Even soap operas would throw up upon hearing these lines...

Having said that, there were a few one-liners that did get a giggle from me because they were so corny, which is what one-liners should be. The scenes where the lads' were sitting around casually joking with each other, captured the bro-mance that these tough guys have with each other really nicely.

The visual effects were the other problem I had with this film. Each time someone would get shot, bright red blood would shoot out, drawing attention to the fact that it wasn't real. I don't know why they didn't just use squibs, like most other action films, as animating the blood really detracted from the realism and just didn't work for me. There was even a scene towards the end where the flames were added in, which looked very cheap.

The Expendables is an ok film. Nothing special, but it could have been much worse.

Grown Ups (2010)

★★☆

Directed by: Dennis Dugan

Written by: Adam Sandler & Fred Wolf

After their primary school basketball coach passes away, five childhood friends are reunited for his funeral, and then spend a weekend together at a holiday house.

The five comedy actors, Sandler, James, Rock, Spade and Schneider were very believable as old friends, and the scenes they shared reminiscing about the past, felt very natural and cosy.

This is one of those films where you can tell that all the actors must have had a blast making the film, and it shows and gives the film a very pleasant, feel-good vibe. The montages during the water park scenes are a great example of this, when I think they weren't so much actors, as they were just big children being filmed.

It's nice to just be able to relax in light-hearted comedies like this, where you don't have to concentrate on complicated plot details or painfully deep characters.

As far as comedies go, while there were a few laugh out loud moments, Grown Ups wasn't anything special. I think it's appeal is just as much in the feel-good family market as it is in the comedy market.

Predators (2010)

★★★☆

Directed by: Nimród Antal

Written by: Alex Litvak & Michael Finch

Before I saw Predators I was expecting to like it, but not love it. I think this had something to do with me expecting them to ignore the sci-fi possibilities (which I am a huge fan of) of the story and just focus more on the survival/action angle of the film. But then it occurred to me that survival is the essence of the Predators and their films, so why shouldn't they focus on that? But as it turned out there was actually more sci-fi content than I was expecting anyway, so that wasn't really a problem any more.

The introduction of the Predator's 'hunting dogs' was a interesting insight into the Predator lore and worked well as something extra to add to this film and to set it apart from the previous films.

What I also liked, was how as well as the humans, the Predators also brought other alien species to their game planet. This gave me a sense of the entire universe as the film's setting, rather than just the planet it took place on. It implies that the Predators have traveled all over the universe to find different species to hunt. I loved this because it gave the film a very sci-fi feel, and for me that's always a good thing.

There were one or two minor things that got to me a little, but not nearly enough to effect my enjoyment of the film. I can't remember exactly when, but it was mentioned at some that the Predators have two different social classes, and that one is dominant over the other. This would have been very interesting, but they just never followed it up with any more explanation or an example, making it seem like a rather pointless piece of information to give us, if it isn't going to be made relevant. Another thing was that I found Edwin's (Topher Grace) true character reveal at the end of the film a little unbelievable, whether it was because they hadn't justified it enough with in the story or for some other reason, I found it surprising, but not in a good way. The last thing was Royce's voice. While half the time it wasn't really a problem, there were quite a few times, especially when he had to yell, that his put-on deep voice just sounded a bit silly. Some of his lines also struck me as a bit too melodramatic. But other than that, he did a good job with his character, as did the other actors.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: Cuchillo's (Danny Trejo) death scene. Just after the Predator hunting dogs attack, and have all been killed, the group realises that one of their own is missing. They find Cuchillo in the middle of a clearing, slumped on the ground and facing away from them. Silence falls over them, and we hear Cochillo's voice groaning slowly; "help me", but he doesn't move. This was immensely eerie and creepy, and amazingly effective. Some of the group attempt to go over and help him, but Royce stops them, demonstrating with a rock that the area is booby trapped. All of them except for Isabelle (Alice Braga), decide that they have no choice but to leave him behind, and walk on ahead. After a moment Isabelle agrees, and out of sympathy shoots him in the back to stop him suffering. As Isabelle starts to walk away, we again hear Cuchillo's blood curdling; "help me". The camera then pans in front of Cuchillo's face and we see that he was already dead before they found him, and that the Predator's recorded his voice and were replaying it. That moment after Isabelle shoots him and we hear him speak again, was just sooo chilling and well done. I would have to say it was probably the best part of the film for me.

The Karate Kid (2010)

★★★

Directed by: Harald Zwart

Written by: Christopher Murphey & Robert Mark Kamen

I really would have liked to have seen the original 1984 film before I saw this remake, so I could comment on the similarities and differences and all that jazz, but unfortunately I didn't...

I liked The Karate Kid. It was good to see Jackie Chan do a slightly different role as Mr Han (the equivalent of Mr Miyagi from the original). Chan did of course get to show off his martial art skill, but  it wasn't done in his usual comic style. It was more about the the discipline and commitment required for the art of kung fu. This character was much more serious than the usual light comic roles that Chan does so well. The the scene in which we find out the reason for Mr Han's stern demeanour, required a rather high level of emotionality, that as far as I am aware, hasn't been required for any of Chan's previous roles. And I think he did a really great job of it, and turned it into what was emotionally, a really effective scene.

The other star of this film and the karate kid, was of course little Jaden Smith. While Smith has had a few supporting roles, this was his first lead role. And he did a great job of it, as Dre Parker, a kid out of his comfort zone, trying to find his place in a foreign country. You can tell that Smith must have gone through quite a bit of training to pull off the impressive moves that he does in this film, so good on him for showing such a level of commitment. It's going to fun to watch Smith as he grows up and to see the kinds of roles he goes for and what kind of actor he develops into. He does after all have a pretty great (and just down right cool) role model in his old man, Will Smith.

While like a said, I haven't seen the original, I was still able to pick up on some of the nods that this remake gave to original. In the film's trailer we saw Mr Han supposedly attempting to catch a fly with his chopsticks, only to have him pull out a fly swat, and squish it to the wall. We also see Mr Han waxing his car, a homage to the iconic 'wax on, wax off' scenes from the original.

I should also mention some of the locations they visited, such as the Chinese temples, were just beautiful.

Superhero Movie (2008)

☆

Directed and written by: Craig Mazin

First off, I didn't go out of my way to watch this movie. AT ALL. There was nothing else on TV and shamefully I was too lazy too put on a DVD. So I watched it. From beginning to end.. *Shudders*

As long as the people behind this film aren't taking it seriously (which I really hope they aren't), then it's not so bad. If they are just setting out to make a silly, silly movie, that is more or less just a series of individual skits, rather than a flowing film with characters and plot, then they've done that.

And I laughed. Not a huge amount, and they were guilty laughs. but enough to be worth noting. But then that's the humour of this film. Not intelligent, clever wit, but stupid slapstick. I'm not saying it was good, I'm just saying it was better than I expected. Maybe it pays off to go into a film with no expectations. And I mean none at all. Like, negative expectations...

Midnight Run (1988)

★★★

Directed by: Martin Brest

Written by: George Gallo

Jack Walsh (Rober De Niro) is a ex-cop turned bounty hunter, who is escorting Jonathan 'The Duke' Mardukas (Charles Grodin) across America, so he can pick up the hefty reward and be done with bounty hunting for good. The two of them are trailed by another bounty hunter, the FBI as well as the mafia, who Mardukas stole from.

The constant disappearing and reappearing of the various characters, just as one thinks they have shaken the other for good, is quite smart and funny.

De Niro and Grodin have great chemistry in this film. The mild mannered Mardukas is constantly questioning the very easily aggravated Walsh. This makes the scenes between these two, especially earlier in the film, before the real shenanigans get started, quite amusing.

The second half of the film is when everything starts getting serious, as the all the different groups of people get closer and closer, until the final showdown, which given the light hearted nature of the film so far, is actually rather tense.

First Blood (1982)

★★★

Directed by: Ted Kotcheff

Written by: Michael Kozoll, William Sackheim & Sylvester Stallone

First Blood tells the story of John Rambo, a troubled Vietnam war veteran who is passing through a small town in Oregan and just wants a bite to eat. The local sheriff isn't a big fan of drifters, such as Rambo, and arrests him after he refuses to leave town. After Rambo busts out of the police station, he runs off into the forest, with the determined, and a tad crazy sheriff and his gang hot on his tail. Back in his natural habitat, Rambo slowly incapacitates the unlucky officers one by one as they come after him, until the situation escalates so far out of control that there is soon a small army after him.

The scenes at the beginning of the film, where Rambo is in the police station, were for me, some of the strongest in the film. When Rambo takes his shirt off and we see the young officer's eyes widen and his face grimace, before Rambo turns around and we see his torture-scarred chest, is a brilliant moment.

As he is taken down into the cells, Rambo begins to have flashbacks to his rather unpleasant stay in a PoW camp during the war. When the officers have to hold him down, and one takes out a razor blade to shave him with, the flashbacks become a little too much for poor Rambo to handle and he consequently starts taking out the officers, left, right and center. The tension that has built up before this point through the scar revealing and Rambo's mysteriously quiet demeanour, makes it quite a dramatic moment when he finally pops.

Another great scene is when the sheriff is stumbling through the forest, listening as his men helplessly cry out as they one by one fall victim to Rambo's makeshift booby traps and ruthless guerilla techniques. 

Rambo's former commanding officer and only friend; Colonal Troutman, sums up the situation quite nicely: "I didn't come down here to rescue Rambo from you, I came here to rescue you from Rambo".

Rambo's closing speech, and possibly the only time in the film that he manages to string more than a few simple words and grunts together, is actually quite touching. You can't help but feel sorry for the big guy when he is sobbing like a child about his army buddy who got blown up in his arms... "I can't find your legs!"