Tuesday Movie Reviews

How To Train Your Dragon
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders

I was supposed to review this movie Friday, wasn't I? Ooops. I'll make it short and sweet then...GET IT! It's fantastic! A wonderful, funny, touching movie for both kids and adults. (Young kids may be a little frightened at times, but that's good for them...puts hair on their chests!). Dreamworks is definitely keeping up with Disney/Pixar and this film proves it. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

GRADE: A+

Predators
Starring: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo
Directed by Nimrod Antal

The opening scene is exhilarating. Brody is falling through the sky at an incredible speed. He has no idea how he got there or where he's falling to. Slam, he hits the ground! Unfortunately nothing else in the next 90 minutes lives up to that first 2 minutes. Sure it's fun watching these renegades killing and blowing up stuff. It's neat seeing the traps laid out before them. The Predator make-up is even cool to look at. But there is nothing going on here, folks. Even though the action sequences are loud and bloody, I totally fell asleep from sheer boredom. If you've even seen a movie called "Cube" then you've seen this one, too. It's basically the same premise of people randomly selected for a survival test, only Predators is much more bloody, and did I mention LOUD?!? Meh, it was directed by a guy named Nimrod...

GRADE: D

Night Of The Demons
Starring: Edward Furlong, Shannon Elizabeth, Monica Keena, Bobbi Sue Luther, John F. Beach, Michael Copon
Directed by Adam Gierasch

My co-worker told me yesterday that this was a remake of a movie by the same name that was made over 20 years ago. I wonder if the original was as bad as this new version. The back story revolves around a mansion owned by a lonely lady who resorts to black magic to get the man she loves. Everybody mysteriously disappears. Flash forward about 90 years and a Halloween party takes a terrible left turn when the bodies of those at the seance are found in the cellar. Now everybody is a flesh eating demon! All except for those that have to escape the flesh eating demons. Anyway, bad! I was only curious to see what Edward Furlong was doing these days. He looks old and bloated. Too bad, he was actually a pretty promising actor in the days of The Terminator 2 and American History X. Now he has to resort to straight to DVD horror movies. Bleh!

GRADE: F

Into The Wind
Documentary
Directed by Ezra Holland and Steve Nash

It is every Canadian's duty to watch this hour long documentary from ESPN's 30 years of 30 films series. This one focuses on Terry Fox, his remarkable history and the lives that he touched during those days in the summer of 1980. There are interviews with all the central players, including the friend that drove the van and his parents, rarely seen on film or TV. How can you not shed a tear of joy, sadness, absolute pride while watching what Terry Fox did. It's a truly inspirational story told with grace. Highly recommended.

GRADE: A