Quick Review: A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas

The high seems to be wearing off. Too much of the third installment in the Harold & Kumar franchise, "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas," felt a bit forced and obvious. (It's still amazing that there's actually a H&K franchise to begin with. The first one, "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," didn't become popular until it got to home video and cable, which is where I first saw it.) The film starts with our heroes apart. Harold (John Cho) has stopped smoking pot and gotten married, and now works on Wall Street. Kumar (Kal Penn) is still in a haze, and his reaction to the news that his girlfriend is pregnant causes her to storm out of his apartment. A package arrives addressed to Harold, and Kumar decides to deliver it himself. That leads to the two estranged friends, and their new best friends, heading out on Christmas Eve in a desperate search for the perfect tree for his visiting father-in-law (Danny Trejo). The typically wild and crazy night ensues. The most lively part of the film finds Harold and Kumar again running into Neil Patrick Harris, playing himself (but not really himself). In the previous H&K movie ("...Escape from Guantanamo Bay") Harris was shot and seemingly killed. There's a great explanation for why he's not dead, not to mention the whole gay-with-a-partner-and-kids deal. Still, there were a lot of stretches where I sat there, not laughing. Maybe if I saw it stoned? My grade: C-plus.

P.S. Unlike just about every 3D movie released, none of the theaters near me showed the 2D version. I was forced to pay the 3D surcharge and wear those stupid glasses over my regular glasses. That deserves a demerit in itself. I read that the 3D version was shown on a very large majority of the movie's screens. It still managed to underperform at the box office compared to both projections and the first sequel. Good.

Quick Review: Predators

If you're familiar with the "Predator" movies, you know that the third and fourth were crossovers with the "Alien" franchise. The only "Predator" movie I've seen is the original, which is briefly alluded to in "Predators," the new and fairly successful reboot of the franchise. The others were ignored, and from what I've read that's a good thing. This new one starts with Adrien Brody waking up to find himself in mid-air, plummeting into a jungle. He opens a parachute and manages to survive the fall, but he has no idea where he is or how he got there. Neither do the others he meets, who have arrived in similar fashion (including Alice Braga, Danny Trejo and Topher Grace -- and who would have imagined both Adrien Brody and Topher Grace in this type of movie?). All except Grace's character (a doctor) are revealed to have some sort of military background or expertise in killing. They learn, by reaching higher ground and seeing an alien sky, that they're no longer on Earth. Then they're attacked by creatures. Brody's character figures, correctly, that these creatures were used to flush them out of hiding to be hunted down and killed. (Those Predators are pretty smart.) The explanation for what is going on, as it's eventually spelled out, is interesting enough and at one point there's a conflict over whether to abandon an injured party or risk everyone being killed. And, of course, there's plenty of action and gore. Without spoiling it, let's just say that they're set up for at least one sequel. My grade: B.