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Gamer (2009)
a fun action movie worthy of being seen on the big screen
Most people enjoy video games. I know I do. Since I got my XBOX 360, I've been devoting a great deal of my time to HALO 3 on XBOX LIVE, time that I should be spending being more social. But in this dark and disturbing vision of the future, the world of online gaming pretty much destroys our moral judgement. I was going to play HALO 3 after I saw this movie and I don't think I want to play video games for a week.
This is Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor's third film together, their first two being the ridiculous but fun CRANK and it's way-over-the-top-but-so-much-fun sequel, and I have to say that it's a lot of fun. This one could take place in the same universe as those movies. This movie is a combination of last summers DEATH RACE and Arnold Schwarzenegger's THE RUNNING MAN. Here, we have Gerard Butler who hasn't kicked this much ass since 300. He plays Kable, a convict who participates in the deadly game of SLAYERS where he is controlled by a gamer, played by Logan Lerman. Kable is close to winning his freedom but Ken Castle, played by DEXTER's Michael C. Hall, is in no position to allow that to happen.
This movie works not only as a fun action film, but also as a social commentary on online gaming and how far it can go. There are some really disturbing scenes where a gamer controls a woman to go around places and have sexual encounters with people. It's scary to think that one of those people who spends the day sitting in a chair in front of 6 flat screens will watch this movie on some website and see those scenes and have the desire to control real people to do whatever they want. The thought of it sickens me. Also, the fact that human beings no longer have any sense of morality makes this more disturbing.
Aside from all of these aspects of the film, the action scenes deliver. The scenes are really flashy and edited in a frenetic style but I'm not criticizing the film. I really dig Neveldine/Taylor's direction here as I did with CRANK and CRANK 2. These guys are really good at making something for a small amount of money and still making it kickass. The film looks amazing as well. I really bought into this world and it's amazing to see that being This movie does have it flaws of course, but no one should go into this to expect a great piece of science fiction. I think that it's worth seeing in the theater but only if you watched the ads and really want to see it. Overall, it's a great rental and definitely worth check out on BLU-RAY. It's not as fun as CRANK 2 was, nor was it as ridiculous and over the top, but it's pure adrenaline fun. It's nice to see that Neveldine/Taylor have tried to do something different from the CRANK movies. They don't have just one card trick to show us. I am really looking forward to seeing what these guys try to do next. I'm also curious to see what these guys would do with a really budget.
The Final Destination (2009)
Your FINAL DESTINATION should be as far away as possible from this crap
The horror genre seems to be really dull these days. It was tough to decide which movie I was going to see tonight: Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN sequel or the latest installment in the FINAL DESTINATION series. I watched both of the trailers and HALLOWEEN 2 seemed like it would be really boring. FINAL DESTINATION didn't look impressive either but I was sold on the 3-D and was ready to watch over-the-top death scenes in Digital 3-D at a sold out theater with a crowd that just wanted to have a good time. Unfortunately, the 3-D did more harm than good.
The original FINAL DESTINATION wasn't a classic but it is one of the better horror movies to come out in the last 10 years. The death scenes were set perfectly and really well executed and it also had a good atmosphere. The second movie, directed by David R. Ellis who returned to direct this one, was fun in some ways and the death scenes were creative but there was no reason for a sequel. The third one, I remember seeing it and not liking it. Now we have yet another unnecessary sequel where the only appeal is the 3-D.
The movie begins at the worlds worst racetrack where everything is falling apart (benches, fences, the roof, etc). Bobby Campo plays Nick who has a vision that everyone will die in the stands as the biggest crash in the history NASCAR will happen in front of them. He and his friends leave the stadium with a handful of others and they survive. It isn't long after the accident that Nick has more visions and the survivors die on some freak accidents.
This is lazy filmaking. No one is trying at all. Every performance in this movie is terrible and the script is just a mess. We learn little bits about some of the characters problems but there is no reason for us to care. One of the survivors, only known as the mechanic, says that after the accident he is trying to make changes in his life for the better. He then dies 3 seconds later. It is impossible to care about these characters, especially when one of them doesn't have a name and is just known as the mechanic. No one is trying here and they're just depending on the 3-D gimmick to bring in audiences. Honestly, you deserve better than this. The death scenes were not even well done. They are quick and just focus on throwing blood and guts in your face. In the original film, the deaths had a build up to them that were really well put together and the execution was perfect. Here, it just kind of happens. We don't even get to really know the characters enough so that we can care about them and most of them deserved to die.
This is a waste of 3-D and just an excuse to get a crowd of people to fork over their hard earned money to watch people die for an hour and a half and then leave the theater with a headache. My eyes are still sore as I am typing this review. This is one of the worst movies of the year. Do yourself a favor: instead of paying $15 to see this crap fest, go see something better like DISTRICT 9.