Tuesday, again - which means movie review time!!

Happy New Year to you dear reader.

It was meant to be a good day, starting with getting our car back from the body repair shop but that didn't happen and therefore I consoled myself with, not one TuesdayMovie, but two!

The movies I wanted to see were all playing and I could, maybe, even squeeze in three. The order I saw these in don't, then, reflect my level of desire to see them, moreover the schedule they are shown tends to work out better.

With a couple of sausage McMuffins inside me I venture off, first 'up' being National Treasure: Book of Secrets with Nicolas Cage and a girl and Jon Voight and the lovely Helen Mirren.

These treasure hunt type movies often have some basic parts to them so lets just quickly check them off.......

Dashing and intelligent action hero/archaeologist - CHECK
Aging father or mother in tow - CHECK AND CHECK
Attractive colleague/ex-wife/potential love interest - CHECK
Bumbling assistant who sometimes gets it right - CHECK
Evil faction guy who is always one step ahead through evil and unfair methods - CHECK
Car chase - Check
Ends justify the means type of law breaking - CHECK
Final discovery - CHECK
Final disaster incorporating final discovery - CHECK

So on the face of it this film checks all the boxes - and that is true - but that's it - very little more than the above really - the car chase was in London and included a Fullers Ale delivery truck which was cool.

I'm really struggling to see why it was at the top spot for 2 or 3 weeks that it was - I guess the cast is a good draw and it's a sequel so that helps - but frankly it's just a run 'o' the mill treasure hunt film and nothing more - preferred the Mummy trilogy, and that's a brave statement to make.



So the next film is really going to be the next one 'on' and it turns out to be AVPR.

I would guess that if you don't know what that means then you should stay away from this movie all together!

When Alien first hit the silver screens in 1979 with a stomach bursting, T shirt busting, blood-spurting Hurt scream it was the scariest thing around and remained so for years.........until they made the second one (which actually was ok) and then Aliens turned into Alien 3 and it wasn't so scary anymore.

Likewise, the first Predator movie was just brilliant in every way - a classic (in my book) but the appalling sequel was just pitiful in a bad Steven Seagal movie kinda way - they just totally lost the plot!

I mean bad movie too as he has made some stinkers - he has also made some classics of their time too - 'Hard to Kill' is still a classic (again, in my book).

Anyway, back to the film at hand AVPR or in it's longer title of Aliens vs Predator: Requiem is the sequel to the first AVP which brought the Alien and Predator together under the plot line that the predator creatures used the Aliens as sport to hunt and hone their skills - and used humans to incubate them.

I have to say that the idea didn't really appeal to me but the first AVP was such a joy to watch that I still watch it again and again - for a 'no big movie star' cast it was a huge success (hence the sequel).

The sequel fails to bring that same magic - this time the plot starts where is left the last one with the Predator ship on it's journey home with a predator incubating an Alien, the first cross-breed.

This Alien bursts out and created havoc on the ship and it inevitably crashes back to Earth somewhere in Colorado where the usual killings, skinnings and acid dripping teeth shots begin.

The films only recognisable cast member for me was 'Michelle' off 24; actress, Reiko Aylesworth who put in a reasonable performance.

Of course the actors in these movies, unless you are Arnie, are not the stars - that is the role of the Aliens and the Predators - and they don't dissapoint - in their gory killing of the human population as well as each other.

My main problem was that I think they got away with some mediocre CGI by having the majority of the film at night in the rain. I think it was a restricted budget sequel that was ok but I won't be watching it again and again.



Next week it's the turn of Sweeney Todd and I am Legend.

Until next week......

Drude