Let me just say this. It's a must see hold your breath ride, die hard, bang'em out, action packed thrill, that's worth two thumbs up!!!

matinee time i think.

i mean, the first paragraph of Ebert's review makes me not want to see this at all:

""Battle: Los Angeles" is noisy, violent, ugly and stupid. Its manufacture is a reflection of appalling cynicism on the part of its makers, who don't even try to make it more than senseless chaos. Here's a science-fiction film that's an insult to the words "science" and "fiction," and the hyphen in between them. You want to cut it up to clean under your fingernails." -Ebert

ouch!

edit:

oh shit! his last paragraph sons it even worse! hahahahaaa!

"Young men: If you attend this crap with friends who admire it, tactfully inform them they are idiots. Young women: If your date likes this movie, tell him you've been thinking it over, and you think you should consider spending some time apart." -Ebert


>Let me just say this. It's a must see hold your breath ride,
>die hard, bang'em out, action packed thrill, that's worth two
>thumbs up!!!

>i mean, the first paragraph of Ebert's review makes me not
>want to see this at all:

meh, these guys are entertainers, not reviewers. i could give a fuck about a professional review


i check the yahoo review overall grade to get a more accurate, overall perspective

like right now, the "pro's" give it a c; users give it an a-.

given that professional critics are a bunch of douchebags who often have far reaching criticisms, i take that c from 9 of them with a grain of salt. people will say "oh, if 9 of them say its a c... it must be a c!"....

but then, you know, 165 people who don't get paid to rip movies with actual budgets to shreds and actually watch movies to be entertained and not write a fucking dissertation on it, they give it an A-. but given that most people have shitty taste and are easily pleased, i take that with a grain of salt.

so i take those two, read a few reviews and arrive at a more plausable conclusion: the truth lies somewhere in the middle. it's probably a solid flick with some flaws.

Battle: LA- A-
Red Riding Hood- B+
Just Go With It- B+
Beastly- B+
Big Mommas: Like Father Like Son- B+
Season of the Witch- B

The people who take the time to review on Yahoo basically like everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. I looked through bad movies today and couldn't find anything lower than a B-. And I was trying.

So with Yahoo user ratings, you need to grade it on a scale.

A+= actual A
A= actual A/B
A-= actual B/C
B+= actual C/D
B= actual D/F
B-= actual F

^^^ this is going to lead you down a more accurate path.

Other comments regarding critics:


>given that professional critics are a bunch of douchebags who
>often have far reaching criticisms, i take that c from 9 of
>them with a grain of salt. people will say "oh, if 9 of them
>say its a c... it must be a c!"....

What comments about the actual film in Ebert's review did you think were far-reaching? I haven't seen it yet-- maybe this weekend-- but these types of movies are often strewn with one-dimensional characters and action without stakes. I usually enjoy them for what they are, but they're not "good movies."

>but then, you know, 165 people who don't get paid to rip
>movies with actual budgets to shreds and actually watch movies
>to be entertained and not write a fucking dissertation on it

Ebert gave 4 stars to Salt and Inception. He also just gave 4 stars to Rango. So he loves what he considers a well-made big budget film. Tons of critics feel this way. Even Armond White, who I dislike strongly, raved about Jonah Hex and the Crank films. Sure, they may be some snooty frappalattechino critics who have blogs or write for indie mags who only praise little films, but the overwhelming majority of major critics love well-made big-budget fare because it's so entertaining when done right.

who should tip off already.

i don't give a shit if he had a stroke, he's a moron.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

................

I thought I saw you there.


BTW, don't confuse military propaganda with motivational language, which works to get troops focused, ready, and motivated in rough times.

Peace.

I never forget a face.. I was in the VIP section in the middle.

Why would you even try to clarify that, propaganda or motivational speech whatever..no man preaching the word of God should try to moralize what they do. There's nothing holy about dropping bombs on God's creations.

>Why would you even try to clarify that, propaganda or
>motivational speech whatever..no man preaching the word of God
>should try to moralize what they do. There's nothing holy
>about dropping bombs on God's creations.


And it was a movie.

???

I think a man that brandished a gun and then goes to preach the word of the lord is somewhat of a contradiction..but hey life is complicated right? Since we're in PTP go watch Restrepo and tell me if you see God in those soldiers eyes, cause all I see is damage. Since this is real life, go ask a kid who just saw some action what he was even fighting for. I come from a big family with a lot of cousins that served, and they can't tell me what they did it for.

And before you call me a pussy or unAmerican just know that if there was a real threat to our country, on our streets, I would gladly blow the brains out of it to save your life, but I won't be expecting God's mercy when I have to face that.

he's talking about a fuckin movie, numbnutts. a movie.
what the hell are you talking about, "brandishing a gun"? HE'S TALKING ABOUT A FUCKIN MOVIE HE WATCHED!!!!

you're over here talking about real life situations and rambling like a lunatic talking about how case is a contradiction for brandishing a gun and than going on to preach the word of god.

huh? he's talking about a movie he watched, and in fact NONE of the you're talking about was even said by him.

so please help me out here because you make as much sense as the homeless guy who yells at fire hydrants.

EDIT

OH I SEE

lol he was in the army. hey, newsflash numbnutts, gods people go to war. war and murder are two separate things.

Battle LA was a 2 hour informercial for the Marines. ( Which was fine.) Despite the fact that a evacuation that large would be impossible, the Marines would be right in the middle of it.

I just wish there had been more of a story. It was literally a two hour battle. Eckhard was great. So was M-Rod.

I was glad it wasn't full of stupid one liners and alien jokes. There wasn't a forced romance or any precocious kids. My girlfriend said it made her feel hopeless about 20 minutes in, because it seemed so one sided.

It played more like a video game. Street level, police station, bridge level, Big boss final level.

I was expecting the film to be another Independence Day. I'm glad it wasn't. I got my moneys worth.


**I saw this at the Cinema Dome in LA and I'm sure I lost some hearing.

Since my wife is so pregnant i couldn't take her to something like that.

or would regular be just as enjoyable?

GO FOR IT

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nm

wait, that's a diss to Saving Private Ryan. More like mashed up with Thin Red Line or Pearl Harbor. Better than "Skyline" but no hot chicks.

B-

Absolutely no plot at all...just a group of marines shooting for two hours, with a few interruptions for "sentimental" scenes that didn't matter because you didn't care about any of the characters at all. Calling this movie predictable is truly an insult to all the decent films I've seen with somewhat predictable plots. I tried just turning off my brain and enjoying it as a action flick, but even the action was bland. Just an overall horrible film.

I'm intrigued tho

It's essentially a 2-hour (far too long) commercial for the Marines, except in a commercial, you care about the characters.

I'm not sure if I hated this or Skyline more. Skyline was far stupider and the characters were less likable. But this movie manipulates you, repeating over and over again that these are Americans and Marines and they never give up, so the movie doesn't allow you to feel anything. It crams it down your throat.

They honestly repeated that they were Marines at least a hundred times. Ecotage looks the part, but his "inspirational speeches" are terrible. The biggest one, where he explains his backstory and how he's a Marine, honestly got giant laughs from my audience when he followed it with a very earnest "But none of that is important right now." Huge misfire on the script.

The aliens are not intimidating. They are made to seem unstoppable and then the Marines slow them down perfectly when the plot dictates that they need time. There isn't a plot though. It's non-stop, illogical, incomprehensible action.

Most offensive of all? The effects aren't great. Skyline and District 9, both far cheaper, had more convincing effects. They keep cutting to these sweeping shots of LA burning that all look as real as a Roland Emmerich flick from 2003.

It's not fun, not exciting, and the only emotion or feeling you might have is from the movie yelling at you that if you don't care about these brave American Marines, just grab a gun and join Al Qaeda, because you're a terrorist. Newsflash: even Marine grunts have personality in real life that goes deeper than "the scared one," "the angry one," "the jokester," "the one with a pregnant wife," and my favorite, "the black one with glasses."

Not worth your time.

EDIT: Thinking about it, Skyline isn't much stupider, it just draws attention to its stupid ideas. Battle: LA has plenty of REALLY stupid things, but it glosses over them with zero plot, lots of running, and repetition of the word "Marine."

Lifeless, uninvolving, cornball, and 100% stupid

And for the love of Roger Deakins, can someone put a fucking camera on a fucking tripod again? I'm really tired of seeing these action movies featuring the EXTENSIVE overuse of handheld camera. The "it's supposed to be disorienting and feel 'real' and thus EXCITING!" effect fails and is really fucking annoying and adds ZERO to the story being told.

Poorly written and executed from start to finish. This is the alien invasion movie for guys who haven't seen very many military invasion movies.

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We are eye to eye my friend. "turrible"

had my wife's family over last week we were all watching Saving Private Ryan on TBS. We were talking about how great a movie it was and how our wives are nuts that they dont like it. Then I said yeah but FUCK Speilberg for introducing the god damn shaky cam. Everyone was like HERE HERE! It was hilarious. I know its not Speilberg's fault. He used it great. But fuck I get headaches when I watch any movies with the military in them. If you dont know how to use it dont use it.

I agree with the script and majority of the dialouge. Cringe worthy. I enjoyed the film but I believe it's forgettable after a few hours. If you watch this and ID4 side by side, they have the same beats and trappings. First couple of scene, you're introduce to a black man who's about to get married while talking to his best friend (Will Smith and Harry Connick Jr ?!?). Fast forward, you have the inspirational speech. Also, I'm no Marine, but isn't a Staff Sergeant not that high in ranking? It's an OK for me, at least Michelle Rodriguez didn't die. Lastly, I'm getting tired of aliens that are anthropomorphic. Have some originality for Pete's sake.

Specially the part about putting in his 20 years. If after 20 years the best you can do is an E-6, especially in a combat unit, something seriously fucked up happened in your career. It can't be the Iraq episode they keep referring to, since that's towards the end of his career. A lot of the lines were corny and over the top, but overall, it was a decent movie, good action (I enjoyed watching the aliens fire and maneuver). And Michelle Rodriguez didn't die.

>I agree with the script and majority of the dialouge. Cringe
>worthy. I enjoyed the film but I believe it's forgettable
>after a few hours. If you watch this and ID4 side by side,
>they have the same beats and trappings. First couple of scene,
>you're introduce to a black man who's about to get married
>while talking to his best friend (Will Smith and Harry Connick
>Jr ?!?). Fast forward, you have the inspirational speech.
>Also, I'm no Marine, but isn't a Staff Sergeant not that high
>in ranking? It's an OK for me, at least Michelle Rodriguez
>didn't die. Lastly, I'm getting tired of aliens that are
>anthropomorphic. Have some originality for Pete's sake.

no, they wouldn't. i don't care if liquid water doesn't exist anywhere else in the universe. these guys have mastered interstellar travel and advanced intergalactic warfare, but haven't figured out how to put together two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen? or how to melt ice? 'cause that's everywhere. you can get tons of it on nearby mars without having to fight an enormous war over it.

and they haven't figured out how to build spaceships that run on something other than this super rare liquid only found in one remote corner of the universe? it was almost as bad as signs, where the aliens invaded a planet that's 75% deadly poisonous water, where it rains all the time, and they all got out the spaceships just walking around with no suits or protective gear. i mean, at least TRY to give your film's antagonist some thought. just TRY. and in the future, would all invading aliens please stop putting control of your entire army in one central location, so that a single well-placed explosion can take down your entire force worldwide? yeah, stop doing that thanks.

>no, they wouldn't.

so..you're really going to sit here and tell people you know for a fact that that *could possibly* exist but that you otherwise know absolutely nothing about absolutely would not ever invade for this reason?

well fuck i'm all ears for your explanation here. it's amazing that you would know this.

i don't care if liquid water doesn't
>exist anywhere else in the universe. these guys have mastered
>interstellar travel and advanced intergalactic warfare, but
>haven't figured out how to put together two atoms of hydrogen
>and one atom of oxygen?

oh yeah, the classic "if you can do THIS you absolutely ought to be able to do THAT!" argument.

quick question- isn't water considered a limited resource? if it was such an easy thing to synthesize in mass quantities, don't you think we, ourselves, would cease to have so much drought across the world? or is this a super secret method only the illuminati uses but keeps from us as a method of population control.

but oh yeah, since they figured all that other shit out, then they should have figured out how to create water. right? logic doesn't even exist in your assumption.


>or how to melt ice?
i can freeze any substance- coke, oil, kool aid, maple syrup- melting it doesn't make it water.

>'cause that's
>everywhere. you can get tons of it on nearby mars without
>having to fight an enormous war over it.

and? you're assuming it's all actual iced water, not ice from another substance. also, you're forgetting one thing about the movie: the scientists on tv were using their best guess based on onservation. it seemed accurate, but who knows what other motive they could have had in the process? oh, and why can't we melt ice from mars and bring it here?

also, i love how people try to make all these arguments of logic inn movies "they wouldn't do this because it's so much easier to have done it another way!" as though we, ourselves, in real life, don't make irrational decisions where other alternatives are possible.

>and they haven't figured out how to build spaceships that run
>on something other than this super rare liquid only found in
>one remote corner of the universe?

i didn't get the impression that it was necessarily a fuel source. could be wrong though.

lol, you're even dumber than the movie. like, significantly dumber. i was debating whether or not your post was even worth responding to. usually i let dumb responses go, but yours was just so far below the mendoza line. i can't not.

>i can freeze any substance- coke, oil, kool aid, maple syrup-
>melting it doesn't make it water.

but melting *ice* does make it water though. which is why i was confused about the point you were trying to make... until i read this:

>you're assuming it's all actual iced water, not ice from
>another substance.

wow. okay. wow. gather round, my son.

ice is frozen water. that's the definition of the word "ice." you can't get ice from another substance. so no matter where you find ice-- whether on another planet or in antarctica or in your glass of tea-- if you melt ice, you get water. and if you freeze water, you get ice. you can freeze substances other than water, but freezing them doesn't make ice. it makes frozen whatever you just froze. and melting them doesn't make water. it makes liquid whatever you just thawed. so.....

one last time. ice is frozen water. frozen water is ice. i'm not sure how i can make this any simpler for you. if i made a terrible alien invasion film about it, would that help you understand better? or maybe some flash cards?

That shit had some turrble (c) Sir Charles dialogue. The action was pretty good I'll give you that but the overall story was some paint by numbers bullshit. Straight B movie status with slightly better special effects. SLIGHTLY

SPOILER ALERT
.............

the plot? get from point a to point b, where you'll grab civilians and get them to the safe zone! that is to say, there wasn't much of one. at all. it's kinda frustrating because there were quality side-story elements in play that could have been much better executed with an actual story.

what i will say is that it felt like exactly what i would guess an alien invasion would be like if i were in the military, the same way cloverfield felt like what it would be to be in the midst of a giant monster invading your city.

but the alien encounters? i felt a tinge of fear when they first showed up but not much after that. i felt like i was playing time crisis, the way they would pop in and out. it was essentially mindless waves of aliens, for days and days, and little else.

but again- if i were a grunt in the military? this is roughly what i would expect to experience. so while the movie has it's drawbacks, i suppose i "get it". the effects were fine by me though, i've got zero issues with that department. i have no qualms with the non stop fir fights; it's much better than tom cruise and his kids, or a love triangle with jeff goldlum and bill pullman.

personally i enjoyed it; it's certainly flawed but many of the current complaints are kinda EH to me.

there was a frank longo/koshersam post in GD a couple days ago. this is much worse.

whats much worse? your confusion?

both your names consist of: c---, underscore, short word. same exact capitalization structure too. so scanning posts quickly, i often get your user names mixed up. also, you're both idiots, so that doesn't help the situation.

I have a high tolerance for these types of movies, but this one was just far too offensive. the main points of disinterest:

- the action was horrible! repeat this over 120 minutes: cut to close-up of Marine’s face, cut to indiscernible scenery, cut to blurry aliens shooting, cut to explosion, cut to close-up of Marine’s face, cut to indiscernible scenery...

- despite introducing about a dozen Marines with personal stories, none of them end up being remotely memorable. one guy has PTSD and his condition is never touched upon again. one guy is loud and from New Jersey. one guy is from Africa and has a sister. one guy is a virgin, so naturally you get *really* emotional when he dies without pussy. the comedian has two bad jokes and is quickly killed, leaving the audience not pandering for his light-hearted ways. seeing them all slaughtered was cathartic for me -- one less nameless face to utter dialogue.

- I can appreciate some mindless banter to move along the plot and action, but this one actually fills the gaps with completely *worthless* scenes. example: open heart surgery on a wounded alien to find it’s weak point. ten minutes later, we realize it’s...their torsos. now the Marines can stop aiming for the aliens’ toes! unsurprisingly, this revelation bears no significance for the entire remainder of the movie.

- I never want to watch a movie with shaky cam again.

- I never want to watch a movie with Ne-Yo again.

i volunteer saturdays cleaning cages at a local animal shelter, so........ yeah, soldier, put that scalpel down and step aside.

IT WAS SO POINTLESS! They never used that information for the remainder of the film. You're going to just shoot like crazy anyway so who cares!?!?!

Sad film.

don't really want to see this for the plot or character development or anything

just want to see shit blow up good. does it?

it's not a great movie, it has it's flaws, but it's a dumb, empty action film. i enjoyed it, but it's definitely flawed.

I like your sly little shot at "overanalyzing" the movie and whatever, but even for a movie that's supposed to be junk and "it's not that serious" it's not very good

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>I like your sly little shot at "overanalyzing" the movie and
>whatever, but even for a movie that's supposed to be junk and
>"it's not that serious" it's not very good

honestly, it wasn't a shot. I'm just willing to overlook a whole lot of bullshit in a movie if it's good at blowing shit up. Others aren't, that's their bag. No hate; I'm drinking a latte right now.

now if it's not even good at the blowing shit up aspect, as you say, then that's pretty daming

Zero levity, zero characters to care about, and everything is glum, dreary, and sad. Not thrilling, not engaging-- nothing I want in a fun mindless action flick was within this film.

just got back, haven't read any reviews yet, haven't read any of this thread yet...but i loved it. had a good time and didnt feel jipped leaving the theater. dug pretty much everything about this movie. well done....it is exactly what it should be and does exactly what it should do.

two thumbs up from me...

i will prob see it again....

or an attempt at it...lol, but mindless action = loved it...lol

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Just keep fucking shaking in the close ups.

And that speech when confronted about leading the bol's brother to his death? lol

Fuck. I liked Avatar more than this.

I really like the premise for this movie, just don't think it was that well done. They had the same old archetypal squad from all military movies.

The eager, new lieutenant fresh out of "the academy" who struggles to make decisions.

There was the foreign guy who everyone likes.

The guy from Jersey/New York who is kind of a street guy.

The jive talking black guy.

The kid.

The southerner who can shoot/blow stuff up well.

And the old leader with a troubled past.

I thought it was a entertaining movie, but the characters and dialogue were pretty sloppy.

folks in my theater started clapping at the end.



Shit happens

Based on the comments above, I think it's ok to go ahead and ask.

They need water for fuel or something. So they come here cuz it's the only place in the universe where it's in liquid form (wrong). Also, they somehow bury a control command center deep within the center of the city (not explained). This lets them fly unmanned drones. Also, the humans discover they are basically invulnerable, except for one tiny spot, which they then manage to somehow hit every time for the rest of the film. They get stopped by blowing up the top of the command center, and then drones lift the command center out of the ground to make it easier for the Marines to blow up the rest of it.

The end.

also, while liquid water may be rare in the universe, frozen water is not. but the aliens lack the technology to melt it. so rather than discover a way to heat ice above 32 degrees fahrenheit to make the water they need, they figured it'd be easier to invade a populated planet and launch a massive intergalactic war. surprisingly, it's not working out thus far.

Just use the guns that were growing out of your arm (also a really really stupid notion) to blow some shit up, take a giant intergalactic pot, and throw some ice in there.

cuz, as someone said above, this is basically "independence day" re-imagined as a war flick. and w/o will smith. this type of movie is gonna be somewhat full of plotholes, and it's really not worth coming into it expecting detailed characterizations and a thoughtful plot.

i enjoyed it. they kept the adrenaline level high, they tugged at your heartstrings with the father-son storyline, and the aliens were convincingly real for once. i thought it was cool for a popcorn flick, although somewhat predictable. overall i'd give it a C.

It didn't take itself too seriously-- this movie was grim and glum without having enough dimension to merit how seriously it takes itself.

Furthermore, ID4's one-note characters had far more personality, making me care more (the father-son line only tugged heartstrings because it was a cute little kid-- neither character had any personality, story, or revealing dialogue at all!).

Also, its effects for 1996 >> B:LA's effects for 2011.

So, yeah, I think Independence Day was a much better film experience. Probably still is today.

ID4 did the "epic disaster movie" thing much better (all the cool shots of the ships getting in place, then destroying the landmark buildings like the White House). It had a more complex plot (you had several characters in separate locations who had actual storylines to follow - Will Smith and Vivica, Jeff Goldblum and his dad and ex-wife, the drunk cropduster pilot and his kids, the president and his wife, etc.) ID4 was also sort of the first of the modern epic disaster blockbuster movies (came out before Armageddon, Deep Impact, Signs, the new War of the Worlds, Day After Tomorrow, 2012, etc.)

The script was corny at times, (and the plot device with the computer virus was wack) ID4 basically set the bar for that genre. So if you're gonna make a movie in a similar genre, 15 years later, the bar needs to be set higher. I mean in Battle LA they even stole a line from ID4 exactly - "we're sending the word out across the world on how you killed them."

then there's no way i'm paying to see this movie. i have seen ID one time and that was when it came out and i really disliked it and have avoided it anytime i came across it on cable.

I'm not even a fan of ID4. I think it was good for it's time but it hasn't aged well. Battle LA is WAY worse.

could have been much better, I hate how they totally underused Michelle Rod. I think this could have been a great movie. I'm totally cool with with hoorah marines stuff. I mean how do you expect it to be? My friend was a marine and he was into it so who am I to be appalled? I don't think it's much different from athletic competition (don't take that too literal).

They did waste the scene about finding out how to kill them, they did a poor job of showing the aliens and they could have blown stuff up better. But I didn't leave the theater mad so that's good.

-a couple minor spoilers here-

As other have said there's not much of a plot but then again LA has just been invaded by beings from another world... how much more plot do you really need for what's basically an old school war movie? Finally we get a flick where the invaders aren't ultra powerful and humans have a real fighting chance. I thought the battle shit was handled perfectly and the ending wasn't completely over the top as is the case with most of these kind of flicks. Outside of the kid/father thing they really stayed away from the sappy shit we usually get too. If this had been your average invasion flick the vet chick would have ended up being the main characters love interest and the "war" would have been over by the time the flick ended.

This movie knows what it is and doesn't try to pretend otherwise.

Solid B
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At this point in the movie i could not contain myself from laughing. I actually hope the kid died somehow right at that moment. We were also joking when they decided to go find the command center and all left the helicopter that the kid was gonna repel down in a rambo get up. There were so many bad things about this movie characters, dialogue, effects were mediocre at best and the fact that they are seemingly going to make another one.

>We were also joking when they decided to go find the
>command center and all left the helicopter that the kid was
>gonna repel down in a rambo get up.

You can critique the dialog or say the action was repetitive but there wasn't anything that jumped out in the fight scenes that made me roll my eyes.... as is usually the case with these kind of movies. No Will Smith cold cocking aliens here.
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The majority of them were due to the fact that they set up these aliens to be far too invincible early on. You can fire a hundred rounds into the alien and it won't go down, and there are drones all over the air that can spot any movement on the ground and destroy it with heavy firepower. So as a result:

- the idea to board the bus was suicidal. They were taking out all this movement, literally the entire area is abandoned... and you want to roll out in a huge fucking bus?

- Eckhart's Hurt Locker moment where he goes it alone to take out the drone, and the ensuing "that was some John Wayne shit... but we wouldn't have survived without you" moment after.

- the aforementioned Michael Pena grabbing the gun and killing the alien, the same type of alien that a Marine shot a hundred times and couldn't take down, proving that his character ONLY existed so that we could watch a cute kid cry for his zero-dimensional daddy.

- the revelation: "where would you keep a command center?" "... UNDERGROUND!"

- the pulling the command center out of the ground (how it got there is anybody's guess) to "fix it"-- why was that again? I don't recall it being satisfactorily explained, and if it was explained, the point was moot, since the REAL reason they pulled it up out of the ground was (a) to show off the movie's only cool special effect, and (b) to make for an easier target for the humans, who would have had zero chance to win had the aliens had a way to fix it while it was still underground. The drones were still flying after the command center was hit... soooooo why not just leave the rest under there?

Then again, I'm wasting time trying to apply logic to a film that didn't bother to ask questions of logic in the first place. All I want is a sci-fi alien movie with good characters and good suspense. Several have been made already. But if you can't give me at *worst* a fun time at the theater, and instead you want to make it very glum and serious, why not flesh the characters out and ask the questions about logic in the making of the film?

*walks away from post*

but everything else you mentioned is just nit picking. I've seen far worse in just about every other alien movie not named District 9 or Alien Nation. The flick was just not for you ... and that's cool. Everyone I went with enjoyed it.
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>Then again, I'm wasting time trying to apply logic to a film
>that didn't bother to ask questions of logic in the first
>place.

http://blog.melanism.com/2011/03/14/movie-of-the-week-battle-los-angeles/

When you see a trailer for a movie like Battle: Los Angeles, you know what to expect – loud explosions, CGI, video game-like action, cliche lines – but you hope that somehow it will be different. You hope that this is going to be the movie that will transcend the alien invasion genre. You hope you are seeing the first Matrix movie and not Equilibrium*. Unfortunately, it was more the latter than the former.

First of all, was this movie co-produced or financed in any way by the U.S. Marines because even though it’s a sci-fi movie about an alien invasion, this felt like propaganda for the Marines. I wish I could have taken a shot every time any of the soliders’ ability to overcome any problem, no matter how improbable, was attributed to him or her being a Marine or an American.

On the positive, Aaron Eckhart was good as conflicted Staff Sergeant Nantz. The writing of his (and all the characters for that matter) was dubious at best but he played it like he wanted an Oscar for it which is all you can ask from an actor in a sci-fi movie. Also, I’m glad Michelle Rodriguez has found a niche for herself as a tough officer/solider who gets off the occasional funny one-liner. The director must have told her to pretend she was playing the ancestor of her character in Avatar.

As far as the movie goes, I was generally entertained. It started slow but once the action got going, I was onboard. They didn’t shy away from killing characters who we briefly got to know which is always a plus in my book. If you’re not afraid characters might die, you might as well be watching G.I. Joe cartoons (although there were G.I. Joe moments where the aliens bullets would keep missing the Marines despite outnumbering them 3 to 1). The special effects were underwhelming and I guess they thought by making everything REALLY loud you wouldn’t notice. The script was paint-by-numbers war movie with a sci-fi setting. I wanted to write down every cliché but I lost track. Here’s what I can remember:

- Our hero has a past conflict that clouds his judgement throughout the movie until he eventually comes to terms with it

- They are on a time crunch but we have time for 2-3 soul-stirring speeches to rally the troops

- They run into two separate people along the way who *just happen* to have specific skills/knowledge that’s useful

- There’s a “leave me behind, that’s an order” moment

- There’s a young commander who freezes at the moment of conflict who is snapped out of it by our older hero

- Even though there was an invasion with thousands dead and abandoned cars everywhere, our heroes are able to drive a BUS in the roads to escape without their seriously path blocked

2 stars

* I bet Academy Award winner Christian Bale wishes he could forget that one.

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but in this case I enjoyed the flick fully for what it was: dumb, cliched, and pretty badass. I guess I just liked the premise enough to disregard any logic flaws, and maybe it was the matinee setting but I had a good time watching it. Or it could be that my standards are low for this sort of flick which means that I don't apply the same scrutiny than I would for, say, a Godard movie. With that said Skyline is still the worst piece of tripe I have ever seen in a theater, so this rule is not all-forgiving by any means.

I loved STARSHIP TROOPERS.
I love, love, loved ID4.
I wasn't CRUISED-OUT by WAR OF THE WORLDS.
This movie was pathetic!
Longo, goes in.
"Underground!"

with Neyo playing a character in the movie;

bridget moynihan looking like she's damn near 50 years old and haggard;

michelle rodriguez going way too over the top with the "masculine broad" characterization

and stupid reasons for how you kill the aliens...

shit was too cliched, and just plain HORRIBLE