The 7 Word Weekend Movie Review 6/4/10

New releases reviewed in 7 words each

Ondine (limited) - I would have gone catch and release

Splice - Never show the monster in the trailer.

Marmaduke - Are you kidding me with this cast?

Killers - Don't want to watch, but probably will.

Get Him to the Greek - Feels like it'll be a big letdown.

Trailers and advertising in general play a huge role in how interested the public is in a movie. There are certain rules (mine, like Murphy's laws only less jazzy) I hate to see broken in the marketing of a film. In the case of Splice, seeing the creature big and bold in the previews only turns me off from the film. I love Adrian Brody and I love Sarah Polley and I've always enjoyed this type of story, but after seeing the ads I have no desire to see the film in theaters. When the creature's design looks that bad in the commercials, why would I? I'll catch it on video because of it's pluses, and because a friend of mine told me it's really good.

Get Him to the Greek, was a film I've been interested in for awhile. I loved Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and a spin off with Russel Brand and Jonah Hill, sounded good to me. But after seeing the ads I'm under thrilled. It looks like a pretty formulaic comedy thats main attack will be over the top antics. I'm sure it'll provide a few chuckles. I hope it'll be better than it looks. At any rate it's another one I'm content to wait for video.

Then there's Killers. It really doesn't appeal to me at all. It kind of looks like a silly, drippier version of the Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz set to come out soon. Though with Knight and Day I actually find myself interested. When was the last time that Tom Cruise made a movie that genuinely looked entertaining and didn't automatically make you think loony tunes is at it again? It's been a while for me. While all this maybe true, I somehow always manage to end up watching movies like Killers. I'll just be minding my business watching something of interest and then I'll look up an realize it's happened. I've seen it. It's a weird sort of curse.

I suppose the real winner for the weekend is the movie no one wanted, Marmaduke. Who reads Marmaduke? Note, I didn't say who's read Marmaduke. It's never been funny, and it's always been kind of annoying. The obvious demographic for this film is the young'uns, though I doubt they really know what Marmaduke is, so why even bother paying for the brand name when you could just have a funny dog film for cheaper? Still the cast is fantastic so I'll probably get around to seeing it (of my own free will this time).

Awhile back I recommended the horror-ish film Triangle because I thought it was clever in it's telling. This week I'm recommending a movie that is similar in presentation though it came out first and in my opinion did it a little better in some ways. Los cronocrimenes or Timecrimes as it's known in the states, is a movie I'd wanted to see when it came out but just didn't have a chance until recently. The film is a giant time travel loop that one middle aged man finds himself trapped in. 

While the outcome is pretty clear early on, it's all about watching this poor guy do his best to figure a way out of it. The story makes more sense and has less flaws in it's logic than Triangle, though it's not as stylized. Still I, for it's simplicity and the average looking "hero," enjoyed it more than Triangle (which really isn't that fair of a comparison as they are two completely different movies. You'll just have to see them to understand the comparison). It does have nudity and some mild violence in it so I can't recommend it as a family film. But if you enjoy a good time twisted tale it's worth a viewing. 8 out of 10

Busy weekend for me. Finally got an apartment and will be sealing the deal in blood (ink and money) tomorrow. I'll be so happy to finally leave the motel behind and return to some semblance of normalcy.

Hope all of you have a great weekend.