Movies Opening This Week: How to Use Bland Typography

It's been approximately three weeks since I last made a "Movies Opening This Week" and for this, I apologize.

What, intro's too bland for you? Well, I have an excuse because, well, this 3D movie's a bit bland as well.

How to Train Your Dragon
I never even knew that there was something like this in development, but when something in 3D becomes successful, everybody else follows suit, and this movie, drowned in Alice's 3D buzz, just got relegated to semi-obscurity, at least for me anyway. Hell, when I was on the way to the theater to watch Alice, that was the only time when I actually saw publicity for this title!

Still, this was the same thing that happened to Monsters vs. Aliens for me, and when I got to watch it, I thought it wasn't half bad. Hopefully this movie will be the same pleasant surprise, but... I highly doubt that, to be honest. First thing's first: the main dragon doesn't remotely look like a frigging dragon. Maybe there's a few dragons that actually look credible in the film, but the main dragon... is a shameless design that demands you to buy merchandise. While there is the prospect of the film possessing some exhilarating flight scenes and 3D "in-your-face" gimmicks (that I actually kind of enjoy), I'm going to pass on this one. Maybe it's because of "Dreamworks", maybe it's because of how the studio wants to duplicate Pixar's manner of making trailers, or maybe it's because of the poster's bland typography. I mean, seriously, the title's fonts don't have personality at all. There is no impression. No... excitement.

But if you're still interested because of the fact that it has a dragon instead of vampires, then the movie is pretty much about a boy who wants to defy the tradition of his viking lineage by actually befriending a dragon- a creature that the vikings want to slay to extinction. The reason for this is not quite fully established, but I have a feeling that it will in its denouement. Whatever the case, I'm at least going to give it a go on DVD.

Also coming out of nowhere for me is this next movie...

Hot Tub Time Machine
A rather modern, pop-culture ridden comedy that somewhat pays homage to Back to the Future, Hot Tub Time Machine has 4 men discontented with their adult lives transported back in time through a hot tub. Doesn't sound quite as awesome as a time-travelling car, but hey, cut the movie some slack.

It stars John frigging Cusack for God's sake!

While the jokes don't always take off, the premise is just (not as) derivative enough as to warrant a viewing on DVD. There'll obviously be a lot of jokes that reflect the "fish out of water" situation the 4 men are in, and a few tips of the hat to 1986 icons, references, and trends, but I'm still not sure if it's gonna actually be funny.