Mockbusters

Unless you have been hiding under a rock for a while, then you have no doubt heard of the “Mockbuster” and in case you have in fact been using a hallowed out chunk of granite as your abode, allow me to explain.

The “Mockbuster” is basically a B-grade movie that cashes in, by riding the coat-tails of bigger blockbusters! These Mockbusters, often “Borrow” plot elements and a similar name to their source material.  So, in essence, they just rip off good movies, and try to trick you into watching it, by making you think you are about to watch the “Good one”, only to find that instead of watching transformers, yer watching freedom fighters hiding under a bridge battling badly rendered robots(So badly rendered that one could be forgiven if they thought these models were originally ran on a PSOne game console) that turn into, pretty much anything imaginable.

Ok, now that Mockbusters are explained, I want to state that normally I don’t have an issue with Mockbusters. In fact, I find most of them to be quite enjoyable, but in all fairness, I am a huge fan of B-rated movies, and consider Plan 9 From Outer Space to be one of the best movies ever created! Though, a few Mockbuster titles do come close to beating it for the number one position.

Let’s be honest here folks, most people aren’t going to be fooled by a Mockbuster title. If you can’t tell the difference between AVH: Aliens Vs Hunter, and AVP: Aliens Vs Predator, then you probably shouldn’t be watching the real one, since those iconic characters apparently don’t mean shit to you. Same applies to Transmorphers and Transformers.

Now, I’m not saying that anyone who gets suckered by a Mockbuster is a dumb shit. In fact, some Mockbusters are titled quite sneakily! For instance The Terminators and Universal Soldiers. One would be forgiven for mistaking them for their source material. The names are quite similar, so it’s a given that probably more than one person has fallen victim to this particular switch and bait.

I am also not saying that I am so perfect, that I haven’t been tricked into watching one, because I have! Now, While I enjoy Mockbusters and B-Rated movies, I don’t enjoy them so much when I am sitting down, expecting one thing, and instead getting something completely different, which has happened to me exactly twice.

The first time, I waltzed into Blockbuster video and picked up H.G. Wells: War of the Worlds, when what I meant to get was the Tom Cruise movie “War of the Worlds”. However, I ended up with a C. Thomas Howell rip-off version, which oddly enough turned out to be better than the Tom Cruise version. If you haven’t seen it, I totally recommend it.

By the way, I firmly believe that C. Thomas Howell has been in more Mockbusters than any other actor. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.

As I mentioned before, I have been suckered by a Mockbuster twice, the second and most recent time, and by recent I mean this afternoon, I went out to get my Mail, and saw Netflix had delivered my newest batch of must see movies. I popped them open, and found myself holding a Mockbuster! Apparently, instead of adding BATTLE: Los Angeles to my queue, I ended up adding Battle for Los Angeles!

Obviously, I hopped onto the computer, logged into Netflix and quickly added the right movie to my queue.

So, yeah, anyway, remember to double-check what movies you rent or you might get suckered.

I Miss the Drive-in

Image via Wikipedia

Why are theaters so damn popular? I miss Drive-ins! I keep hoping that one day, it will turn out that Theaters were nothing more than a passing fad, and Drive-ins will take its rightful place as the place to go and watch movies.

Let’s face it, Drive-ins are much cooler than theaters. What does a theater have going for it? Ok, the A/C is nice, I will give you that. Other than that though? Not a damn thing! Sure, you can go see movies even during the day, but seriously, what’s the point of seeing a movie during the day? Night-time is the time to watch things for entertainment value. I don’t care if its Plays, Television shows or movies!

Ok, you got me, Soap Operas are best watched during the day. I’ll give you that, but unless they are planning on releasing “General Hospital: The Motion Picture”, it doesn’t really matter!

You can go to the Drive-in wearing your pajamas and slippers, you can sit in the comfort of your own car and watch the movie, or plop out a mattress in the back of a truck and watch it laying down. Plus, since women folk always like to talk during movies, you have the option of talking about the movie in the privacy of your own car, without disturbing others who might be trying to enjoy the film.

I know, there’s only a handful of drive-ins still in existence, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t any good. I don’t really know what it means to be honest, but I think people should wake up, and demand that Drive-ins make a come back!

I will state this; if Drive-ins were still around, I would go to see movies on the big screen again. As it is, I just wait for the flick to get released on DVD. That way, I can still watch it in my PJs, laying down, and people can still come over and talk about the movie while I am trying to enjoy it.

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Paranormal activity

Cover of Paranormal Activity

The movie Paranormal Activity is out on DVD now.  Needless to say I had to rent it just to see what the big deal was about this flick, and I must admit I was not really all that impressed. It’s not really the makers fault either. I suppose in its own right, it maybe a good movie. Here’s the thing though. When you as a person hype a movie, and make comments like “That was the scariest thing ever”, It builds up expectations. Now, that might sound like a good thing, but it’s not! What happens is, I start watching this expecting to get scared out of my pants, and am treated to people waking up and finding a trail of footprints through baby powder.

Hardly a scary movie experience. In fact, I believe Cloverfield was a dozen times more scary, and the blair witch project was twice as scary.

As for if the movie was any good? Well, the chick that played the girlfriend was friggin hot. So it got bonus points for that. However that’s about where the bonus points ends. I don’t know. Like I said, it wasn’t bad. Although my opinion of it could be blurred slightly because I really dislike those hand-held movie style flicks. They start causing me motion sickness after a while.

The acting also wasn’t really that good. The only one who seemed to be able to act even in the slightest was Katie Featherston, and to be honest, the only time her acting was REALLY good, was when she was acting mad or pissed off. Which actually made me wonder if she might be a very angry person normally.

Anyway, Bottom line: Was it any good? If I did enjoy that style of movie? If I hadn’t had my expectations raised so high? Then yea, maybe it was a good movie. I guess it’s worth a rental. Hell, you should watch it for the hotness of Katie Featherston alone!