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Good, Bad, or just One Ugly Motherfucker?



I am feeling some classic AvP-level apprehension.

Shane Black keeps me hopeful.

static14 wrote:Shane Black keeps me hopeful.

And Fred Dekker!

Honestly I don't hate any of the Predator films, while 2 is definitely the weakest I used to enjoy it, I haven't seen it in over a decade though so my memory is foggy. Predators was fun. This hopefully is excellent but I'm trying to keep my expectations in check.

Predator
Predator 2
AVP
Predators
AVP 2

Also, this new movie looks bad from the trailer. Why do we need an UberPredator in the first reboot? I am remaining (very) cautiously optimistic based on Black & Dekker's involvement, but the trailer looks like a bunch of network TV level acting in an unremarkable film. I hope I'm wrong. I'll be seeing it in the theater.

Yeah the trailer did nothing for me but it also reeks of studio marketing as well so it might just be misleading to what the film is actually like. Care to elaborate on why you like AVP more than Predators? While Predators didn't really do anything new, it's at least a film I've seen more than once by choice. I watched both AVP films on release and hated both of them. The only thing I remember from AVP2 was thinking cool, at least they decided to go R again. Both stories I thought were shit and I HATED the Predalien (seriously, why did they think this was a good idea and/or design?)

inksb wrote:Yeah the trailer did nothing for me but it also reeks of studio marketing as well so it might just be misleading to what the film is actually like.

I agree that it looks exactly like this, Inksb. My hope, too, is that it's just he trailer that has been effed with and not the film as a whole. Fingers crossed.

inksb wrote:Care to elaborate on why you like AVP more than Predators? While Predators didn't really do anything new, it's at least a film I've seen more than once by choice. I watched both AVP films on release and hated both of them. The only thing I remember from AVP2 was thinking cool, at least they decided to go R again. Both stories I thought were shit and I HATED the Predalien (seriously, why did they think this was a good idea and/or design?)

I could write about this at length, but I'll spare us all. AVP did exactly what AVP should have done; it created a lean, efficient B action picture. And it was fun. Predators definitely had its moments, several of them in fact, but tried throwing in too many twists and turns instead of embracing exactly what it was, like AVP did. I don't hate Predators, but it's not anywhere near as good as P1 or P2 and I simply enjoyed AVP more than Predators. That's the short of it.

You know @mateo you might be the first person I've come across that said they enjoyed AVP. And I'm willing to bet I would probably enjoy it too if I revisited it. I watched it once on release and that was it. I know my expectations were out of proportion at the time.

inksb wrote:You know @mateo you might be the first person I've come across that said they enjoyed AVP. And I'm willing to bet I would probably enjoy it too if I revisited it. I watched it once on release and that was it. I know my expectations were out of proportion at the time.

Yeah, it's just a comic book movie but with cool, killer aliens and with people who actually die. I knew we weren't going to get a sophisticated film like the Alien franchise or a genre-defining blockbuster like the OG Pred. We got a fairly kickass, if silly, b-movie comic book film where all the character actors get to chew the scenery before they are sliced and diced by our two favorite interstellar interlopers. I don't think of it as 'canon', I just enjoy it. it seems like they enjoyed making it, too.

Mateo Sanboval wrote: Yeah, it's just a comic book movie but with cool, killer aliens and with people who actually die. I knew we weren't going to get a sophisticated film like the Alien franchise or a genre-defining blockbuster like the OG Pred. We got a fairly kickass, if silly, b-movie comic book film where all the character actors get to chew the scenery before they are sliced and diced by our two favorite interstellar interlopers. I don't think of it as 'canon', I just enjoy it. it seems like they enjoyed making it, too.

Dammit- you may have me curious about AVP for the first time. PA is a POS filmmaker, TBH. But hey, YOLO.

ScoJo wrote:

Mateo Sanboval wrote: Yeah, it's just a comic book movie but with cool, killer aliens and with people who actually die. I knew we weren't going to get a sophisticated film like the Alien franchise or a genre-defining blockbuster like the OG Pred. We got a fairly kickass, if silly, b-movie comic book film where all the character actors get to chew the scenery before they are sliced and diced by our two favorite interstellar interlopers. I don't think of it as 'canon', I just enjoy it. it seems like they enjoyed making it, too.

Dammit- you may have me curious about AVP for the first time. PA is a POS filmmaker, TBH. But hey, YOLO.

I agree about Paul Anderson, but I still enjoy movies like Event Horizon and Soldier, warts and all. I want to be super clear, I am in no way saying that AVP is for everyone nor am I saying that it is an objectively 'good' film. I am saying that it never purports to be more than it is and I enjoy it and its modest ambitions. If you go into it with a similar mindset, I think you'll get a kick out of it. If you loathe mindless action flicks, keep giving it a pass. It is a better film than Predators though and a much better film than Magnolia which seems to be everyone else's favorite Paul Anderson film.

LOL. I see what you did there @Mateo

Mateo Sanboval wrote:Predator
Predator 2
AVP
Predators
AVP 2

Yep. The movie rankings being tossed around lately have me convinced that our shared nostalgia heavily favors earlier films (Point Break, amiright?), and I just can't imagine a young lad sitting down today and preferring Predator 2 over AvP or even Predators (unless 90's retro is suddenly cool again), but for me it instantly takes me back to a very specific point in time that was both very awesome and very rad -- and my kid hates when I say the "r-word".

AvP - I recall fevered discussions on AICN where we proudly proclaimed that if anybody had real balls the film would be focused entirely on the two species with only alien dialect and NO HUMANS. What we received was a Paul W. S. Anderson b-film. I should have saw it coming, and perhaps I would have enjoyed that opening night viewing a bit more. That said, Lance Henriksen and a solid comic book vibe have maintained my interest over the years.

Still planted firmly on the fence for The Predator. I am liking the idea of a theater viewing though. That said, I shelled out for AvP 2 and was pretty bummed out. I think I caught Predators at home after the fact and enjoyed the viewing.

^^ Haha, I like the idea of AvP as a litmus test of some sort. But what does it mean....

Haiku for The Predator:

Shane B's three for three
Freddy D is three for four.
Good odds, I'll take 'em.

Into it.

Final trailer:

Still not sure what to make of this, almost looks like a comedy/horror/scifi deal.

deafmetal wrote:almost looks like a comedy/horror/scifi deal.

Sounds about right.

What the heck did I just watch?

Horror. Comedy. Sci-Fi. Hmmmm....











I'm not making a point here or anything, I swear.

EDIT. I might totally be making a point here.

Two words, homies:

Predator. Dogs.

Iron Man 3 was entirely forgettable. I've never seen Kiss Kiss. The others are gold to me. I didn't see them in this trailer. Rest assured, if this movie is good, I'll say it loud and proud. For now, it continues to look shady.

But, hey, at least they actually showed Tom Jane in this one.

Mateo Sanboval wrote:Iron Man 3 was entirely forgettable. I've never seen Kiss Kiss. The others are gold to me. I didn't see them in this trailer. Rest assured, if this movie is good, I'll say it loud and proud. For now, it continues to look shady.

But, hey, at least they actually showed Tom Jane in this one.

Oh @mateo you need to see Kiss Kiss. Like today. It’s fantastic.

static14 wrote:

Mateo Sanboval wrote:Iron Man 3 was entirely forgettable. I've never seen Kiss Kiss. The others are gold to me. I didn't see them in this trailer. Rest assured, if this movie is good, I'll say it loud and proud. For now, it continues to look shady.

But, hey, at least they actually showed Tom Jane in this one.

Oh @mateo you need to see Kiss Kiss. Like today. It’s fantastic.

Duly noted. It's not a judgement call on my part; it's just one of those films that slipped through the cracks. I've heard it's a good flick from a lot of good people.

I'm obvs seconding @static's Kiss Kiss decree.

No love for IM3 though? That seems to be consensus, I really had a lot of fun with it and revisit often.

But then, I fucking love Long Kiss Goodnight too! I'm just a fully paid up member of both the Dekker and Black fan clubs I guess ;)

The Predator trailer looks like almost exactly what I'd expect - a cheesy 'find all the lowest-common-denominator bits of generic dialogue' modern action teaser for a franchise reboot (in terms of the bits of hoky dialogue, both writers deliberately work in that register for ironic effect, but it's thankfully not all they do!)

GODDAMIT, THIS FILM WILL BE GOOD!! THIS FILM MUST BE GOOD!!