Movie: Terminator Salvation

I never got the whole Christian Bale hype. I don't get his Batvoice (that he uses in all his other movies, apparently), especially since from what I've seen in interviews, his voice is completely normal. Why he wants to sound like a chronic smoker is beyond me.

As far as Terminator goes, I've never seen T3. Apparently I haven't missed much. I did, however, watch and enjoy the first two several times as a kid (and I might have had a slight crush on Furlong!John Connor. What? I was like ten. Shut up.), so when a friend suggested we go see T4 this past weekend, I said sure. The only thing I knew about the movie before seeing it was the fact that Helena Bonham Carter was in it. Somehow, I thought she'd be a robot. Don't ask.

Salvation is... okay, I guess. I thought there was a bit too much action *dodges flying tomatoes* and well, John Connor seemed kinda useless. I just didn't care for him. At all. And why is he so important again? I mean, in Salvation, he's not the leader of the resistance. Apparently, people just think he's special because uh, someone from the future and Sarah Connor said so? And people are buying that? No wonder we're going extinct.

Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese was a nice surprise. I love that kid and I was really looking forward to seeing Kyle in his own world. Except they stuffed him in a cage halfway through the movie and that was it. Star, as unnecessary as she was, was insanely cute.

You ask me, the real star of the movie was Marcus Wright. I don't remember seeing Sam Worthington in anything before, but he made an impression. That was a character they could actually do stuff with. So naturally, he had to die.

The ending of the movie just felt like a giant cop-out to me. Reading more about TS, it's clear why. When the Arnold!Terminator (nice touch) stabbed Connor, I was actually shocked. I thought it was kind of an awesome twist. Especially since, as I said, Connor was kind of useless in the whole thing anyway. But no. They had to go and kill the one with potential.

The internet tells me the original idea for Salvation had Marcus Wright and Kyle Reese as the lead characters. Connor only appeared in the last few minutes of the script. I could live with that. Actually, I would have probably liked that a lot more because those two I actually cared about. But then Bale decided he wanted to play Connor and, well, this happened. A lot of useless, pasted-on John Connor scenes and a lot less Yelchin and Worthington. Screw you and your Batvoice, Christian Bale.

Movie: My Bloody Valentine 3D

((spoilers))

I'm a huge horror fan, thanks to my Daddy who let me watch stuff like Friday 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street when I was a wee lass. Child's Play traumatized me for life. I hate that friggin' thing.

Anyway, as we both love to be scared shitless, there was absolutely no fucking way we wouldn't go see MBV3D as soon as possible. Uh, real-d horror? Blood everywhere? Jensen Ackles (that one's for me, Dad was all, who is that guy? because he's a heathen and doesn't watch SPN)? We were so in.

And it's good. Not OMG!scary, but then again, most classic slashers weren't, at least to me. And since this one's a remake (one of the many, many, many remakes coming out this year), I kind of expected that. Still, it was amusingly disgusting (the eyeball! And the pickaxe flying at me! So fun!) and we screamed quite a bit. Because that's what you do when there's pointy stuff flying at you.

I hadn't seen the original (but I might), so I have no idea if the final twist is new or not. Still, I liked it. I like how it wasn't the typical 'monster kills drunken teenagers' slasher, but most of the main cast were adults and the killer wasn't just another Jason/Myers type freak.

That was probably my favorite part of the film, the final reveal where we see Tom, who's obviously been traumatized by the events ten years ago to admit himself into an institution, take on Harry Warden's persona.
The scene in the mine where Tom's smashing the lights and each time one goes out he changes into Warden was nicely done. Also, the very last scene when Tom looks into the camera with the psycho eyes, I think that scared me more than most of the movie.

The cast was good, as well. Kerr Smith did the whole cheating on wife/jealous of wife's ex/angry sheriff thing convincingly, though I had some trouble separating Ackles' Tom from Dean Winchester. But he was good, actually a lot better than at least I'd expect from a lead in a slasher. Not meaning to offend anyone, but honestly, horror flicks don't usually give the best performances by actors. Still, he nailed it at the end and as Harry Warden, he was damn scary.

All in all, I'd say it's a nice fun horror flick to spend an evening with. A bit different than most (and I don't mean just the 3D), a bit heavy on the nakedness/gore (as most slashers are) and with some funny bits thrown in.

Favorite line: "Just shoot us both."