Did my eyes deceive me? A comedy about getting the girl, set in the ‘80s, and no John Cusack in sight? Is Hollywood evolving in some respects? After watching the 92 minute feature Take Me Home Tonight, the answer is a mild yes.

The overall storyline is pretty standard and all the staple characters – spoiled rich guy, the likeable loser/dreamer, the “it” girl, etc. – found in all these types of period comedies are still involved. What ends up separating the plethora of these coming-of-age flicks, is whether the script will focus on the characters or dwell on the nostalgia and behavior of the time period. In this story’s case, the ’80s gimmick.

MIT graduate Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) is as smart as they come in his field of engineering. He’s almost “Rain Man” smart. For whatever reason, he chooses not to get a job using his expertise and decides to work at a video store in a Los Angeles mall. His father (Michael Biehn) is baffled by Matt’s lack of direction and continues to put the pressure on him to do something with his life. Matt is 22 and subscribes to the philosophy of not committing to something unless he is sure about. The only one who seems to support him is his twin sister Wendy (Anna Faris). Also, his longtime best friend Barry (Dan Fogler) backs his every move. Frankly though, Barry can’t really comment on Matt’s life, since he bypassed college to become a car salesman. And not a real good one at that.

Matt begins to see classmates from his 1984 high school class while working his video store gig. Including his high school crush that he never talked to in Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer). All of a sudden, Matt’s life has a purpose. He believes he has a second chance to get the girl of his dreams. However, he realizes that his current stature in the world may be a turn-off. So he invents a new one. After spinning lies about a big financial career, he follows Tori to a party that all of his former classmates will be attending. Hosted by Sherman High School’s most popular student, the popped-collar wearing Kyle Masterson (Chris Pratt). Matt, Wendy and a ready to rock Barry, invade the party – each with their own agenda – and find themselves taking part in Motley Crue-like back stage shenanigans.

By reading the above plot summary, one might think that Matt will have to match wits with the popular Kyle Masterson in order to get Tori’s attention. And there has to an under-the-radar type girl who has always been by his side. Well, that’s not the case, and by side-stepping a few other similar clichés, is the reason why this particular ’80s coming-of-age concept flick evolved just enough. There is no climatic showdown between two people. It is basically Matt fighting against himself. This plot point becomes more substantial as the story opens up and will draw the audience in. Personally, this was a pleasant surprise, for the opening 15-20 minutes suggested that this could be going nowhere fast. Taking away some of the usual type-cast behavior of the characters adds a welcomed depth to the story. Or at least something different. Which is a relief because the comedic elements are not consistently strong enough to keep one entertained the entire duration.

With that being said, this is one of those flicks that benefit greatly from multiple viewings. The comedy will resonate more by a third viewing I believe. Certain scenes and/or characters are delivered in such an awkward way – which is done purposely – that the audience is caught off-guard. For instance, the dialogue interaction between Matt and the wheel-chair guy is meant to be funny, but it just isn’t the first time through. Reason being, the tweaking of how all the characters interact with each other deviates from the norm commonly found in these particular flicks. I guarantee that by the 2^nd or 3^rd viewing, that particular scene will derive a good chuckle.

As far as performances go, everyone was serviceable and did their part. Topher Grace has never been the most charismatic guy on screen. Though his career was born from a sitcom, he just isn’t that funny and really needs to be put in the right situations via the script. He does work well with the people around him though. Dan Fogler seems to channel a little Sam Kinison in his performance in both looks and vocal delivery. It might not be a bad idea to give his character “Barry Nathan” his own movie. One will wish that the writers loosened the noose just a bit more on Fogler’s character, for the results would have enhanced the entertainment value. If they did decide to go that route though, the story would have lost its balance and tone. That’s a tough trade-off to debate.

Anna Faris is just there and seems to be content in that role lately. The rest of the cast is just used to give the audience a break from the main plot of Matt and Tori, which ends up opening the door and letting in a handful of funny skits involving sex, drugs and, uh…Sex and drugs.

Overall, Take Me Home Tonight needs to be seen because its replay value down the road will be worth it. It really is one of those flicks that you’ll keep discovering funny moments that you didn’t catch the first time around. It does resemble late ’80s and early ’90s products and only incorporates a sample of unique concepts. So even though it deviates from the formula here and there, it may be too subtle for some to recognize the tweaks. Actually, it seems like an adult version of License to Drive in some respects, fused with a taste of Better Off Dead. Guess that equates to a homage piece then.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5

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I had the impression that Predators was just another way for 20th Century Fox to milk the Predator franchise even further following the whole Vs. saga a few years ago. The trailers that have been released thus far for Predators have been decent enough, although it didn’t look like it would be as good as the original.

Well today IGN debuted a new international red band trailer for the reboot, and it actually looks pretty good.

Watch below: (contains bad words from Mr. Laurence Fishburne)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X92Cv3T9s7o

Adrien Brody plays Royce, a mercenary who reluctantly leads a group of elite warriors who come to realize they’ve been brought together on an alien planet… as prey. With the exception of a disgraced physician, they are all cold-blooded killers – mercenaries, Yakuza, convicts, death squad members – human “predators” that are now being systemically hunted and eliminated by a new breed of alien Predators.

Predators, directed by Nimród Antal, will be released on July 7th and co-stars Topher Grace, Danny Trejo and Alice Braga.

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Earlier this week we got our first look at Robert Rodriguez’s Predators reboot in the form of a behind the scene featurette, and now we have the first official teaser trailer for the film. It looks good. The whole ‘world’s deadliest killers thrown together in a remote location and have to fight for survival’ plot has been done a few times before, but I suppose the story isn’t the main reason people would want to see Predators. They want to see people get violently killed by an alien.

Adrien Brody plays Royce, a mercenary who reluctantly leads a group of elite warriors who come to realize they’ve been brought together on an alien planet… as prey. With the exception of a disgraced physician, they are all cold-blooded killers – mercenaries, Yakuza, convicts, death squad members – human “predators” that are now being systemically hunted and eliminated by a new breed of alien Predators.

Predators will be released on July 7th, five days after The Last Airbender.

Read similar posts to First official trailer for Predators! at Filmonic

Image removed due to request from 20th Century Fox

CONFIRMED: there are PREDATORS in PREDATORS.

A dozen photographs taken on the set of upcoming Predators have been uploaded on the AVP Galaxy forums. I guess some of them contain minor spoilers, but nothing that’ll have a huge impact on your enjoyment of the film (I think/hope). If you wanna stay completely clean though, don’t check out the rest – particularly the one on the top right.

The film is being directed by Nimród Antal (Vacancy) and stars – among others – Adrian Brody Brody (The Pianist), Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix), Walton Goggins (Shane from The Shield), Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3…disappointingly), and Danny Trejo (Machete). I’m almost 100% sure I didn’t need to give bracketed examples for most of those names. It’s a pretty impressive cast, considering the potential the premise has for awfulness. Keep in mind that it still also has potential for awesomeness. We shall see in July.

The costumes, make-up, set, etc. all look great, don’t get me wrong… But is it just me – or do the Predators look just like they’re about to do some Mighty Morphin’?

UPDATE: Okay, so 20th Century Fox got them. Fox also cancelled Firefly, Futurama, and Arrested Development. My thoughts on the company are rated M for Mature. You most definitely can’t find the Predators pictures elsewhere.

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I’ve never seen Oscar winner Adrian Brody as the action type, but that all about to change as he’s signed up to play the lead in Robert Rodriguez’s Predators. He will be joined by Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3) who will play “an accountant-type whose unassuming facade masks a dangerous serial killer”.

From Heat Vision:

Written by Rodriguez, Alex Litvak and Michael Finch, the script follows a group of elite warrior-types who are being hunted by members of a race of merciless alien trackers called Predators.

Brody is a man who ends up inheriting the mantle of leader and is known as a hunter of men.

Shooting begins next month in Hawaii then moves to moves to Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios in Austin. The movie is slated for a July 9, 2010, release.

Variety also say that Adrian Brody and his reps lobbied hard for the role, probably because we’ve never seen him in a movie like Predators before. It could open up a few more doors for him. Brody has also signed on for more movies, should the first one become a success. I guess he doesn’t die then?

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