Saw Predators last Sunday. I damn well bloody LOVED it. But you're talking to a girl who loves AvP in all its cheesy gloriousness, no matter how bad it was. So I was going to love it, and enjoy it, and will certainly buy it when it's on disk.
The story and premise were very awesome. Cinematography, pacing, creature design, all awesome. The call backs to the original movies made me giggle with glee. My roommate leaned over at one point and whispered "Is the soundtrack from Scooby Doo?" But within two bars I'd recognized the original themes, and it suddenly made sense to him. Music trying too hard, in scenes that didn't need heavy suspense.
I cannot express how much I loved this movie.
On the other end of the spectrum is Grown Ups. I thought it looked kinda meh, but my friend told me she liked it, so I thought I'd give it a try.
It was pretty lame, and really just went along with a by-formula story. Little monster kids, and hen-pecking wives, and lots of stereotypes, and a great moral ending. Yay!
Except some of those formulas really bother me. Like the parents wondering why their kids are monsters, when it's totally the parents fault. And Sandler letting the hick win in the end, because he was such a small town loser that was the only thing he and his little hick family had to be happy about.
Those kinds of behavior just highlight the decline of society. Boooo!
