Old Dogs Brings Back an Old Hollywood Trick; Hollywood Repetition

I saw a trailer the other day from the movie “Old Dogs,” which stars John Travolta and Robin Williams. Overall the trailer was decent. This is one of those movies that I am straddling the fence on. I can see it being pretty funny or tragically dumb. However, there is one thing about this movie that I was sure of. One of the scenes seemed way too familiar. On the trailer, you will see a scene where Seth Green gets trapped with a mother gorilla. I’m guessing she thinks he is her baby, since she rocks him in her arms. Seth Green quickly figures out that the gorilla goes bonkers if he stops singing. On the whole, the scene looks pretty funny. Problem is, I’m a huge Seth Green fan and realize that he has played a scene that is way too close to this one. If you were to go back and watch the movie “Without a Paddle,” you will come to a scene where Seth Green gets trapped by a bear and has to pretend to be its’ cub. This scene wouldn’t bother me as much, but it is a very similar scene with the same actor. I think Seth Green is a great actor, but if you were going to have a scene so close to the one in “Without A Paddle,” wouldn’t you have been better off to have it played by a different actor? I will still watch “Old Dogs” because it is only one scene and Hollywood has some glaring examples of being way worse.

I understand that as the years go by that it is getting more difficult with Hollywood to come out with original fresh material, but sometimes one has to wonder if they try. I am a self admitted movie geek and am not complaining about movies as a whole, but small things seem to ruffle my feathers.

Without even trying to think, there are two glaring examples that come to mind showing exactly what I’m talking about. In 2002, there is a movie released that is about a videotape that people die from watching. This movie of course is ‘The Ring” which I found to be a pretty good movie. A tiny bit later that same year, the movie “Fear Dot Com” was released. What was this movie about? People mysteriously start to die after watching a video on a website. No, those don’t sound similar at all. Needless to say, I thought “Fear Dot Com” was awful and the scariest part was sitting through the whole movie. Maybe it’s just coincidence that these two movies were so similar and came out at the same time, right? How about another example? Everybody remember a 2005 kids movie where four animals escape from a zoo and end up in the wild. The main four characters in this movie, “Madagascar” were a lion, hippo, giraffe and zebra. The penguins later became the true fan favorites, but they were meant to be supporting characters. Now, do you remember a 2006 kids movie called, “The Wild”? A lion is accidentally shipped from a zoo in New York to Africa, but don’t worry, some of his buddies, including a giraffe, are on the way to help.

I know that the same ideas and scripts get passed around to everybody in the movie business, but come on; give us movie watchers a bit of credit. At least try to change it and make it seem different.

Lakeview Terrace (2008) Movie Review. Samuel L. Jackson is the the neighbor cop you want, if you are on his good side.

So what do you when a neighbor is threatening and harassing you? Some of us would try to handle it ourselves, but what happens when that doesn’t work out so well? You give in and call the cops, right? It’s about time you stopped being a stubborn horse’s romp. We have one problem though. Don’t worry; it’s just a small one. I’m sure it’s really nothing at all. There is something you should know about the neighbor you are having problems with. He kind of, sort of, well, definitely is the police. That sure changes things a bit.

Lakeview Terrace is a 2008 film about one LAPD officer, Samuel L. Jackson and his dislike for his new neighbors. Samuel L. Jackson is attempting to raise his to children by himself since his wife passed away almost three years before. As any of us would be in this situation, Jackson’s character Abel Turner, is struggling to move on after his spouse’s death. Without her in the picture, there is nobody to offset his dictatorship form of parenting and the kids are taking the brunt of it.

Abel turns his new hatred for life up to full speed when his new neighbors move next door. Abel instantly hates the new couple, the Mattsons, for one very simple reason Lisa is black and her husband Chris is not so black. Okay, so he is as white as a bag of marshmallows. Abel’s new mission in life is to make them pay for being together, and get them the heck out of his neighborhood.

The Mattsons know exactly how to take care of this situation, so there is nothing to worry about. They will kill him with kindness. Isn’t that what our mothers always said to do? Okay. That didn’t work out perfectly for them. That’s okay; on to plan B. Confront him. He is just looking to pick on somebody. Surely, when they stand their ground, he will just look for easier prey. Surprise, he didn’t back down. No problem there is a plan C. Call the cops! Wait a minute, what does Abel Turner do for a living again?

This wasn’t the greatest piece of work I’ve seen, but it was still entertaining enough to watch one time. I like the idea of this movie and the way the plot sets up. The problem that I have with this movie is that it could have been so much better, if there was more suspense throughout it. I just felt like that every time they built up to a moment, the suspense came to a standstill instead of slowly building to a climax. I will give it a 6.5 out of 10.