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Reviews
Terminator Salvation (2009)
Better than T3...
I went to the film with modest expectations. I didn't think it would be anywhere as good as Terminator, or T2, but I hoped it would rise above the parody that was T3, and that it would be a decent action movie.
T4 was exactly that. It had a lot of issues, to be sure. The story was unfocused and split between John Connor, who would have been better off remaining a mysterious figure behind the scenes, and Marcus who should have been the main character. From what I've read, that was the initial idea for the film, but McG changed it to accommodate his star, which did nothing to improve the story.
To distance his film from T3 and Charlie's Angels, McG eschewed any trace of humor. I think that was a mistake. The touches of visual humor in T2 don't make the subject matter less serious but make the film more enjoyable.
There are quite a few cringe-worthy moments in T4: Marcus saving Bloodgood's character from bad men, and of course the time-honored and much-parodied Hollywood cliché of the bad guy revealing to the apparently defeated hero his/her/its evil plan in detail.
But even with all this, the film was watchable enough. Action scenes were well-done, and McG genuinely tried to bring it some emotion to the proceedings, although to a mixed result. The tone of the film was dark, as it should have been, and the 'factory' where captured humans were herded by the machines was truly sinister. Worthington and Yelchin were great, and Bloodgood was decent. Bale didn't have too much to work with, so he brought in a rather boring variety of angst to make a totally uncharismatic John Connor. Nick Stahl's John Connor looked ridiculous with his scar as the leader of resistance, and got overpowered by a vet (as in "veterinarian") but at least he was likable.
I'd grade this film between 6 and 7. Not something I'd rush to buy on DVD, but fun enough to go and see T5 if it gets made.
AVPR: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem (2007)
Whoever wins... who cares!
After a lot of fan complaints following the PG13 rating of Alien vs Predator, the creators of this film decided that the only thing they needed to improve on the first one is by adding gore. Everything else went -- AVPR doesn't have even AVP's feeble attempts at character development, storyline, humor, coherence, and worst of all, suspense...
No one expects another Citizen Kane from an Alien vs Predator movie, but we do expect a tense film that would keep us on the edge of our seats. AVPR isn't it. Characters come and go so quickly we don't care if their heads are blown up. In fact, it makes about the same impact as blowing up the head of a couple of mannequins. The fight scenes between the monsters -- which, let's admit, are its main selling point -- are so poorly lit and messy one doesn't get any guilty pleasure from them.
How on earth do you manage to make a non-scary, non-suspenseful film by combining the two scariest monsters to have ever been created on-screen? For an answer, look no further than AVPR.
My Bloody Valentine (2009)
Fun enough for what it is
Unfortunately, we didn't check that the cinema we went to showed the movie in 3D, and of course it didn't, so we missed out on the effects which, according to the reviews, were the main redeeming feature of the film.
No one expects deep character development, Oscar-winning acting or philosophical depths in a slasher flick. This type of movies is expected to have some scares, horrible deaths, plus sex and nudity. On these levels it delivers. It's creepy and gruesome, yet I somehow found it less nasty than a lot of horror movies nowadays.
There are lots of predictable moments in this movie, but when it came to figuring out the identity of the killer this film surprised me. Usually I'm good at guessing this kind of thing early, so MBV-3D gets an extra point for that.
Fringe (2008)
Too bland to truly excite
I've had high hopes for this show, and while it's not terrible, it doesn't grab me as I hoped it would.
I am not bothered by the preposterous 'science' of this show -- I just accept that it's happening in some kind of a parallel universe where this kind of science is possible. Nor do I share other viewers' aversion to the floating letters (they're just letters, people, get over it!).
It is fashionable to make comparisons between X-Files and Fringe. Fringe is made on a much higher budget and cute as he might be Fox Mulder with his unconvincing tenor was not a match to Joshua Jackson's charismatic character. I also never found X-Files' 'aliens abducted my sister' storyline particularly sexy. But unfortunately, The Patterns are just as tepid.
Where X-Files was far superior, was in its ability to build suspense. Mulder and Scully were constantly put in the way of danger, where the phenomena were after them, not after some girls off the street. This approach allowed to build up tension and suspense and, as a result, make the viewers invest in the characters, two mavericks who were constantly hunted by monsters and bullied by government agencies.
Fringe, on the other hand, is more of a procedural with a crazy old man (best character on the show) solving the problem, and then Olivia Dunham swooping in on a location with her SWAP team. It's just a little too... CSI-like for me.
I had hoped Fringe would be one of these shows I'd want to eventually own on DVD. Not so much. Gooey corpses notwithstanding, it's too bland to truly excite.
Bionic Woman (2007)
Disappointing
I've never seen the 70's series (and at this point, have no intention to) so my disappointment with this show has nothing to do with my attachment to the original. I had some hopes for this show, and I gave it every possible chance, religiously watching each episode and waiting for it to improve. Guess what, it never did.
As many people have noted, this show gets wrong absolutely everything. The cast, the writing, the direction, the special effects. Ryan is very bland as the lead. She is not an incompetent actress, but she doesn't have the presence to carry the show. Clever writing and good direction could have probably helped her to overcome that problem, except she didn't have the benefit of clever writing and good direction.
And she was not the only bland character. Even Katee Sackhoff's character was only marginally better. Other than psychotic episodes, fights in the mud and that trademark wicked half-smile of hers, she had almost nothing to work with.
All characters in the show were so dull I couldn't care less about them. When one of Jaimie's co-worker died I just shrugged while wondering whether the death was supposed to shock and move the audience. And how can you possibly create suspense if the audience don't care?
Most insultingly, the show writers didn't miss the opportunity to insert every single Hollywood cliché: a woman hanging on the edge of the roof waiting to be saved, a mugger in a dark alley trying to mug the Bionic Woman... But worst of all, the show didn't seem to have any direction or coherent story arc. Some story threads hinted at in the earlier episodes, simply disappeared. And don't let's even start on the copious holes in the plots.
As for the special effects... are we supposed to be impressed by Jaimie being pulled on wires from one rooftop to another? Pah-lease.
Despite all that, I kept watching, and even hoping that there would be a second season, because with a different team the show was not beyond salvage. But, to be fair, far better shows have been canceled. I guess we'll just have to wait for the next BW remake in around 2030...
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008)
Room for improvement
I had very serious doubts about this show, but it's turned out better than I had expected. While it doesn't have the emotional intensity of BSG or linguistic inventiveness of Whedon's shows, it is miles better than the hugely-anticipated/hyped mess that was Bionic Woman.
The good. Season 1 is a ripping yarn, ending in a big cliffhanger. The season arc is inventive, with a lot of twists and turns along the way, and some interesting development of the Terminator mythos.
The average. Dialogue is mostly adequate, but many scenes are underdeveloped. In some cases, I found myself liking what a scene was trying to achieve, but disappointed because it failed to pull it off.
Now the bad. Both in casting and in character development, the three main characters don't compare to the iconic T1-T2 characters. Instead of the huge, menacing figure of Arnie as the Terminator, we have an occasionally creepy ballerina, who isn't even as creepy as other characters keep trying us to convince she is. Lena Headey as Sarah Connor is close enough (visually) to Linda Hamilton, but instead of the 'hell bitch' who could be at the same time incredibly vulnerable, Headey's portrayal of Sarah Connor is more of a soccer mom with a mission. Thomas Dekker, although not as terribly miscast as Nick Stahl in T3, is playing a very bland version of John Connor. Gone is the independent, irreverent kid with a sense of humor. Instead, we have a sulky, stubborn momma's boy. As the future leader of humanity, he just doesn't cut it -- he needs the writers to inject a little more personality into this character to make him a convincing hero.
I have less problem with characters new to the franchise. I particularly like the mysterious Derek, with enough 'bad-boyness' about him to make him the most attractive character on the show so far.
I don't mind either the absence of the old stars on the show (because I'm a realist) or the low budget look of the series (again, realist), but it's ultimately the writing and casting that somewhat lets this show down.
Despite all its flaws, the show has my respect because it doesn't condescend to the audience by using cliché, or by providing comfortable resolutions to some familiar Hollywood situations / conflicts (a woman on the edge of the roof preparing to commit a suicide).
While there is room for improvement, the show seems to be getting on its feet. My hope is that next season (fingers crossed) the creators will build on the strength and fix the problems that can be fixed.
The main thing... I can't wait to see what happens in Season 2.