Movie Review #97: Battle: Los Angeles

There was a time this year when I was really looking forward to seeing this movie. Let me see if I can find those posts… OH. Here’s one! #3 with a bang. I ended up seeing #2 in the theatre and i still dont know what the hell happened to Perfect Sense (Though I still want to).

Anyway, I thought this movie looked amazing, but most of that “amazing” was smoke and mirrors created from an amazing marketing campaign.

You see what they did was made this movie seem really indie and unique. They used this weird soundtrack in the trailer that made it seem so dark and horrifying. What we ended up with though was a fairly standard aliens v humans action movie. I’m not trying say there have been a ton of those, but this one doesn’t stand out from the pack in any way.

I think I get the jist of what they tried to do here though. I think the director/screenwriter were trying to create a sort of a “Black Hawk Down” of alien movies. They were saying to themselves “Lets make a super realistic war movie. It will just so happen that the army that the marines are fighting against are Aliens. Big Whoop.”

It doesn’t work though. Well, let me rephrase. They don’t follow through. The first half of the movie sets up to be hyper realistic, but then things truly slip as they try to add more and more exciting aspects, and lets not forget that the rag-tag bunch of marines has to win, right?

I mean, don’t leave it up to a scientist or a general or admiral to figure out a way to beat the baddies. Lets have that be an average Luitenant that figures everything out. Do you think that’s the way it happens in real movies? Generals dont really have anything to do with it. If anything, they usually cause trouble by making people withdraw, right?

This movie would have been best if they just tried to escape. If the movie was “Shit is going down. We might figure out how to beat them, we might not, but all you care about is if this set of marines can get in and out.” That would have been a great movie that didn’t cheat the viewer. Instead it fell violently short. Lets rank some Alien-Action movies…

10. Skyline
9. The Arrival
8. Dreamcatcher
7. War of the Worlds
6. Battle: LA
5. Predator
4. Signs
3. Independence Day
2. Aliens
1. District 9

Can you think of any I’ve forgotten? Agree with my rankings?

Anticipation Rankings: 2/23/11

Lets get some more rankings out there, AmIRight?!

Hall Pass

At first, I wasn’t sold on wanting to see this movie. It’s been a long time since the Farrelly Bros have done anything any good. But then I started looking at the cast list. Owen Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Jason Sudeikis, Stephen Merchant. I’m feeling sold. Then I watch the first trailer and see the posters and I’m like… ugh. Then I see the this trailer and I’m like, ok, I’m back in. So… lets go with top of the list… ish.

Happythankyoumoreplease

It’s too bad for the other movies on this list that my man Ted Mosby, oh geez, I mean Josh Radnor put out a movie around this week. I saw that this was directed by Radnor and i was like YES! Then I saw that Kate Mara was in this and I was like SWOON! Maybe I should try to get a date for this movie. It’d be a good one, huh? OK, I give this 3 HIMYMs.

Battle: Los Angeles

DAMNIT! It’s getting to be that time of year when stuff comes out that I want to see. This movie looks crazy good. I’m all for a good action movie. Aaron Eckhart too? Sold. Remember Independence Day? I love that movie. Remember when Will Smith punches that alien in the face!? awesome. I give this 11 Give-The-Aliens-A-Viruses.

So your new list looks like this:
(PS – I’m dropping Season of the Witch off the list cuz its not even playing in NY anymore. When other movies stop being shown in the biggest city in the world, they fall off too.)

24. The Way Back (Out Now!)
23. The Roommate (Out Now!)
22. The Dilemma (Out Now!)
21. No Strings Attached (Out Now!)
20. Sanctum (Out Now!)
19. The Eagle (Out Now!)
18. The Mechanic (Out Now!)
17. Just Go With It (Out Now!)
16. I Am Number Four (Out Now!)
15. Cedar Rapids (Out Now!)
14. The Green Hornet (Out Now!)
13. Beastly (3/4)
12. Drive Angry (2/25)
11. Hall Pass (2/25)
10. Insidious (4/1)
9. Shelter (2/25)
8. Rango (3/4)
7. Take Me Home Tonight (3/4)
6. Unknown (Out Now!)
5. Vanishing on 7th Street (Out Now!)
4. Happythankyoumoreplease (3/4)
3. Battle: Los Angeles (3/11)
2. The Adjustment Bureau (3/4)
1. Perfect Sense (Unset, Released at Sundance)

Not sure how to deal with Perfect Sense being up there. It might not come out for a long time, but believe me, I’ll check every week. Meawhile, the beginning of march is going to be expensive for me. haha.

Also, I am Number Four dropped 8 positions because of all the bad press and low rotten tomatoes score. I had high hopes, but they’ve been dashed on the rocky cliffs of Dover… or… whatever.