where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Monday, July 12th, 2010
show: 11:45 a.m. ( Dollar-Off First Show Matinee )
costs: $6.25 Ticket + $4.00 small Diet/Zero ( w/ Barq's & Cherry flavors ) Coke + $1.00 1.5 oz. CVS Cashew Halves and Pieces ( bought at CVS Drugstore before my vacation, and smuggled-in ) + $0.00 home-made Cookie ( my sister in Michigan gave to me before my return flight home ) = $11.25
auditorium: 2
seat: 5th row, 5th seat
synopsis: A group of military types and criminals is transported to an alien game preserve where they are hunted down one-by-one. They set their differences aside and band together to fight their common enemy.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) Free-falling; 2.) Assorted parachutists; 3.) Light before falling; 4.) Shoes; 5.) Doctor; 6.) Awesome ass; 7.) Trophy monument; 8.) Poisonous plant; 9.) Makeshift compass; 10.) Alien drop zone; 11.) Trap; 12.) Sky; 13.) Predator hounds; 14.) "Dog whistle"; 15.) Hunted; 16.) Bait; 17.) Predator hound tracks; 18.) Predator base camp; 19.) Shoot-out; 20.) Set-up; 21.) 5 o'clock time; 22.) Useful doc; 23.) "I missed"; 24.) "I'm alive"; 25.) Hide-out; 26.) "I talk too much"; 27.) "Enemy of my enemy ..."; 28.) Flares; 29.) Grenades; 30.) Sword fight; 31.) Maim; 32.) Alliance; 33.) Net; 34.) Space ship; 35.) Predator versus predator; 36.) Paralysis; 37.) Self-destruct; 38.) Booby trap; 39.) Ring of fire; 40.) Hack job; and 41.) Realization.
audience reaction: I guess the audience liked it--probably die-hard fans of this franchise.
recommendation: I wasn't impressed by it at all. This movie is so-so ....
spoiler alert! First off, this movie was conceptualized as a sequel to the original PREDATOR ( 1987 ); as such, the writers should have known beforehand that the predators needed a breathing apparatus to hunt human prey on Earth. Conversely, no human should have been able to freely inhale the air on the predators' home planet! Nikolai ( Oleg Taktarov ) had the drop on the other two yet, even with his machine gun firing hundreds of rounds per minute, he didn't hit either one. Speaking of which, all of them should have spent more time on the shooting range because none of them seem to be able to hit anything smaller than the side of a barn! ( What a waste of tax-payer paid bullets. ) Without a means to stabilize them in flight, the wooden stakes would never penetrate the ground as shown. Based on what I know about Biology, certain species of a planet's animal kingdom exhibit analogous/homologous anatomical characteristics, e.g. the internal organs of humans and dogs look very similar; likewise, their blood has a characteristic red color. So, why is it that the humanoid predators have neon-colored glow-in-the-dark blood while their predator hounds have blood of the same color as our dogs' blood? One rifle shot felled a predator hound, but it took countless rounds of varying calibers to kill another--W.T.F.!?!?!? Why didn't they roast one of the predator hounds since they had not eaten anything yet? Or did they get dropped into the game preserve each with a good supply of M.R. E.s ( Meals Ready to Eat ) ? They followed the predator hounds' tracks back to their base camp. But, once they got there, no hound could be found! The predators didn't need to flush-out the humans since they've been following them all along using a spectrometric device. I guess the humans can shoot at anything and everything that moves so long as they keep their voices down so as not to attract the predators' unwanted attention--Duh! Even after a fresh swim in the river with their clothes on, they still stank to "high heaven", huh? No wonder none of the guys made a pass at Isabelle ( Alice Braga )! What was up with that creature that was essentially just a "roach motel" with legs? Why did Noland ( Laurence Fishburne ) try to smoke-out the other humans when he knew that doing such a thing would just attract the attention of the predators? Hanzo ( Louis Ozawa Changchien ) actually had the advantage over the predator, in an actual death-match. Why didn't Royce ( Adrien Brody ) help the turncoat predator kill-off the other predator? How did Edwin ( Topher Grace ) know that the plant's sap could induce temporary paralysis even though that was the first time that he'd come across such a plant--and he even gave it a scientific name! What ... was he a medical doctor, as was implied, or was he really a botanist? For someone whose leg got maimed, that guy sure could stand pretty well without leaning on his other leg. Sure, I'll give anybody a free ride back to his/her home planet--but I ain't payin' for gas ( fuel )! Have you seen the prices for fuel lately ...? They are out-of-this-world!
fyi: If you remember the preview for this movie a few months back, it had a scene that showed Royce with a bunch of red dots all over his face and torso! I guess they omitted this scene because each predator is supposed to have only three laser dots and Noland says that they only hunted in groups of three. So, someone got smart enough and omitted this particular scene. Too bad, I would have wanted to brutally and mercilessly rip on it! ( As if I'm not doing it already. )
I used to have a co-worker, Wiley, who looks like a young Adrien Brody. I told him that he should sign-up with a celebrity look-alike agency. Who knows, maybe he'll get famous this way. I just hope that he takes me up on my advice.
word of advice: Lay low and keep your mouth shut if you're being hunted down.
tidbits: I took my 2001 Hyundai Accent to a Quality Tune-Up shop for an oil change at its 75,000-mile scheduled maintenance. The mechanic said that I would need a tune-up even though the service log for my car states that all I need is an oil change, a new air filter and a set of new spark plugs--it doesn't mention anything about a tune-up. So, I just went for an oil change. I was gonna swing by Kragen's to buy the air filter and the spark plugs after the oil change, but I forgot to bring extra money with me. Then, after a quick trip home to change cars, I thought about going to Pep-Boys, first, to buy the stuff before going to the theatre to see this movie, but I was out of time. I'll just get the stuff for my Hyundai on Friday.
Today, Tuesday, after I got off work this morning, I immediately went to the Chevron gas station two buildings down from my place of work to check my tires' air pressure. The front tires were over-inflated by about nine psi each! The rear tires were at the exact psi that I had them pumped-up to about a month ago before I went on my vacation. I don't know if it was done yesterday at the oil change place, or if somebody has it in for me and wants me to have a front-tire blow-out on the free-way ( You know, as in ... get my car to flip-over ). I'm gonna have to check my tire pressure every day from now on, just in case.
I guess the cookie that I ate yesterday was still good because here I am, still up and blogging!
