I finally watched AVP 2: Requiem last night and was sorely disappointed. The first AVP is waaaaaay better.

My main problem is that it was boring!!! Why would I want to watch the Predator get all CSI up in the spacecraft of his dead comrade? They go so far as him re-living the last moments of the dead Predator, grasping for clues. Predator doesn’t need to be logical, he’s a natural tracker. He can find the aliens and shoot ‘em up in his sleep.

All they had to do is keep the plot simple and lean. But no, they had to mix in some “7th Heaven” style family melodrama with a war vet mom returning from Iraq to reconnect with her daughter and some stupid teenage love triangle that wouldn’t hold up on “Dawson’s Creek”. Don’t care about the characters, especially if most of them are gonna die.

The key thing to good horror and sci-fi is to keep it simple and to the point. Alien and Predator battling it out. End of story.

I should have listened to FourFour’s advice and skipped it and just settled for watching his “fierce” Alien vs. Predator 2 montage.

Whispers on the internet from foreigners (lucky enough to see it early) say Iron Man doesn’t actually suck. As long as it’s not as bad as Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, I’ll be okay.

Hopefully Robert Downey Jr’s charisma renders the flick virtually critic proof. Most comic book based movies haven’t turned out so well, so I’m not 100% convinced by this internet buzz. Usually, these movies (and rumors) are just fan boy fodder and at best turn out to be guilty pleasure action movies. If Iron Man does well, it may break the comic book curse.

Guess that would be great news from Marvel who plan to release tons of comic book movies in the future.

Earlier: Robert “Iron Man” Downey Jr.

For some crazy reason (maybe not so crazy if you’ve read my Old School Friday posts), I am seriously pumped about AVP 2. None of my friends could find take a break from their new year stupor and watch with me in theaters this past January. So basically, I’ve been waiting for 4 months to finally see what this alien/predator hybrid looks like!

I had no idea that these AVP flicks are based on a Dark Horse comic series. I think I gotta check out the Terminator vs Alien vs Predator comic. Just that phrase alone simply blows my mind.

Buy Alien vs Predator: Requiem on dvd today.

Francis Lawrence did a decent job with his first movie Constantine. I actually happen to like that movie despite Keanu’s cheesy dialogue. Thus, I gave I Am Legend a chance to sway me regardless of the lukewarm reviews.

I knew the movie was going to be pretty bleak, but Will Smith talking to mannequins for comfort was really sad. He seriously loses everything and works alone to find a cure day in and day out. I think the ending was a bit heavy handed with the messiah metaphor though.

Nevertheless, it was beautifully shot. I really believed that Robert Neville was the last man on earth. The production design of the overgrown city was so detailed with lions and deer bounding through the frame. The dark seekers coulda looked more realistic with less cgi and more make up in my opinion. Instead they seemed to be completely computer generated. Still, they were scary enough. I’d give this version a grade B.

Bonus: Discussion on /Film about IAL alternate ending, which I haven’t seen yet. Sadly, the alt ending was pulled from YouTube, but is included on the two disc dvd.

I feel like the remake trend may be going too far after seeing the trailer below for Prom Night.

What was wrong with the old one? All you needed back then was a pun-ful poster and you were set.

Now you gotta set it in a fancy hotel and bring in “teens” who are way too old to pass as high schoolers. The 2008 version looks like a cross between Scream, Carrie, and a CW soap. And why oh why is one of my fave actors from “The Wire” Idris Elba associating himself with this tacky remake?

And what’s this now? Michael Bay, the mastermind behind the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remakes, is producing a Friday the 13th remake starring Jared Padalecki.

Casting him isn’t that surprising since he’s already starred in the horror remake of House of Wax. So he knows how to play stupid and aloof really well.

But sheesh, can we call a truce on the 80s horror remakes.