Kym:
Well, after a brief hiatus from movies, we finally got to see two!
Rob:
We were pretty much in agreement on both, save for how necessary a airline 'sick bag' was when watching....
Kym:
Ignore my fiance, this was a fun movie.
Rob:
Fun for you, maybe. I mean, it was a nice action movie, and I like how they jumped right into the action....
Kym:
They didn't even shoe horn in a romance, like they do for every other action movie that comes out. There's nothing wrong with romances, of course, but it doesn't mean every movie needs to have one.
Rob:
That was nice, but regardless, this movie almost made me lose my lunch. Why? EXTREME SHAKY CAMERA! It wouldn't have been that bad, but every scene in the movie had the 'realistic' shakiness effect with it, not just the action scenes. I was feeling queasy a mere fifteen minutes in to it.
Kym:
I didn't have any problem at all. The movie had a lot of good action, and an admittedly light plot, but I liked it. It had a nice Independence Day feel to it.
Rob:
Basically, Independence Day ditched Randy Quaid and then made sweet love to an Army recruitment ad. Another problem was that most of the characters were forgettable. Aside from Two Face we have two black guys, a guy who looks twelve, half a dozen identical white guys, a tough girl air lifted into the movie half way, and plenty of mushroom aliens.
Kym:
I thought the plot was a bit more realistic here. The whole situation seemed a bit more believable, and less like a Hollywood blockbuster.
Rob:
Although the aliens didn't quite have the advantage over us that you'd expect a space faring civilization to have, I think it worked a bit better here because the alien attack had this air of 'desperation' to it. You can't help but assume that the aliens didn't quite have any other choice but to attack now.
Kym:
And their weakness isn't as silly as 'the glowy part under the ship, or water.
Rob:
Man, are space aliens stupid. It's as if we decided to invade a fiery planet completely naked.
Kym: By the way, can you believe it's been 15 years since Independence Day came out? Special effects have come a long way since then, and I liked what Battle for LA had to show us, even if all of the movie's other elements were a bit weak. I'd still take it over 2012 any day.
Rob's Rating (school style): C+ (assuming you also don't get motion sickness)
Kym's Rating (buy/rent/ignore): rent, unless you're a fan of the genre
...
Rob:
Here's a nice throwback to back when horror/slasher movies weren't just torture-fests!
Kym:
Yeah, this is just the sort of horror movie I like. It's a little funny, a little scary, and although there's a bit of blood and gore, it never gets too bad. It's been quite a while since I've seen a movie like this one come out to theaters.
Rob:
Aside from Sorority Row, although that was better than I expected. A little dumb, sure, but it was still quite a bit of fun.
Kym:
And enough topless women to keep you interested.
Rob:
I plead the 5th. Anyway, Scream 4 didn't need any of that. Instead it relied on a smart story, the talent of the returning cast, and the direction of Wes Craven to bring us a Scream sequel worth watching.
Kym:
I thought the other sequels were worth watching too. They all added something to the series, and I always liked that it was never the same killer twice, making it a bit of a mystery as well as a horror movie.
Rob:
As for plot, it's mainly teenagers getting stabbed with a lot of horror movie jokes. The first ten minutes, in particular, are hilarious.
Kym:
Still, unlike other reboots, it's less about bringing in new fans, and instead focuses on drawing in the old ones who first saw it.
Rob:
I think it was that, more than anything else, that led it's opening week to be a little disappointing, revenue-wise. It's already made its budget back...
Kym:
It's a good thing some directors/producers still know how to make a good movie for under 40 million dollars. The only real special effect, besides fake blood and gore, was Ghost Face's knife blade, which was CGI, so the actor using it could stab people as hard as they want, without the knife looking fake.
Rob:
It was a smart move that helped make the action a bit more visceral than it could have been. Regardless, at least until the final act, the movie doesn't quite have the same 'edge' of the first. It's nothing we haven't seen before (that's sort of the point of the movie, actually), and I still prefer the first one. There's something about the first 10 minutes of Scream 1 that still makes me shiver a bit.
Kym:
Still, it was good, although perhaps not as good as the original. The last bit really drew me in though, and there's a scene near the end that made every man in the audience shudder.
Rob:
*Shudder*
Kym:
Or anytime it's mentioned, for that matter.
Rob:
Want to mention something about the David Arquette and Courtney Cox?
Kym:
Nah, don't encourage them. Just let David's career rest in peace.
...
Rob's Rating (school style): B+
Kym's Rating (buy/rent/ignore): buy
...
ROB CRACKED UP KYM WHEN:
*Battle for L.A., with the main hero staring intently into the eyes of one of another soldier, as they argue*
Rob:
I wish they'd just kiss and break the tension.
