November 13, 2025 • 38 mins
Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi leads the charge in Predator: Badlands, the record-breaking new chapter of the iconic sci-fi saga. On this episode of The Moviegoers Society, Sean Tajipour, the Mayor of Nerdtropolis, and Drew Munhausen break down Dan Trachtenberg’s fierce and emotional evolution of the Predator franchise — from its box office domination to its powerful new perspective that humanizes the Yautja.
They discuss the film’s subtle connection to the Alien universe, Elle Fanning’s layered performance, and how Badlands blends heart, horror, and high-stakes action into one unforgettable cinematic hunt.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:13):
Well, hello and welcome to another episode of the Moviegoer
Society. I'm Sean Todtwart, the mayor of
Neuropolis, and joining me, as always is my awesome Co host of
German housing, the professionalmedia and movie mastermind
himself. I feel like it's been a while,
Drew, but since we done one of these, but I don't know, time
has flown. October flew by.
(00:35):
I think that is what it is. And November, it's struck in the
lawn. It's not too bad, right?
Yeah, I feel like I've started my movie intake has started to
pick up. Just October was AI feel like
October is usually a pretty goodmonth for movies and this past
October was like a little up anddown.
Some movies I really liked, but just it didn't seem like there
(00:57):
was a whole lot to pick from andI feel like November is really
ramping up. Yeah, I feel like this year the
release schedules has been kind of wonky.
A lot of great movies, but with our placement on the release
schedule has been kind of odd. You know, a couple things that
come to mind is obviously getting into it, but also Tron,
maybe a summer flick, right? And then you have Five Nights at
(01:20):
Freddy's coming on December. Maybe that should have been in
October and we'll get into this film 'cause I got some thoughts
on that too. I also think, you know what
we're all talk about is kindly oddly released.
But tonight we are diving into Predator.
Badlands just tore up the box office Directed by Dan
(01:41):
Trachtenberg, the mind behind myone of my favorite films,
actually 1010 Cloverfield Lane. I actually like this Cloverfield
series and I've ever seen the first one, but I thought his was
just brilliant. I actually liked it.
And he did pray. And then what is it?
Killers of killers. That's the one I admittedly I
(02:01):
haven't seen Predator Killer of killers the animated 1.
I believe that's on Hulu and Disney Plus.
Yeah, I've seen a little bit of it, but I haven't got into it
lately from you during I say it's hard for me to get into
back to some of this adult animation like talking about
Marvel Zombies. I didn't get into really finish.
What if some of the stuff targeted towards us, I don't
(02:23):
know where I stand with it. Yeah.
Yeah, it's kind of ironic that Isit here and I'm like October
kind of weird from movies and the only real, I feel like big
horror release in October was Black Phone 2.
They got like a wide release andeverything, but but then I'm in
the same boat as you. I'm like, didn't touch Marvel
Zombies, You know, I haven't. There's stuff I could have been
watching I guess, but no, I justdidn't touch it.
(02:45):
That was one. And then the Wakanda one I got a
little bit into. But I think we need to save that
conversation because I think that's NC based of why I'm not
watching. But Drew, I do have a question
for you. Last time you caught a press
screening at that Regal Greenwaygrand.
I'll tell you about the most memorable one.
(03:06):
This past summer, I went there for press screening to see
Karate Kid Legends. And it's kind of shocked when I
walked in because they've given that place such a huge facelift.
And that theater was really nice, like one of the nicer
theaters in the city, I feel like.
And that wasn't even like the IMAX or Dolby or like, you know,
one of the night. Like that was like a regular
theater and it was really nice. Yeah, because I was going to
(03:29):
say, if you haven't been back, this renovation that I've been
doing is awesome. So everyone out there, if you're
in Houston or you're coming through Houston, check out the
Regal Greenway Grand, completelytransform the place.
Every auditorium like has like luxury recliners, the ring of an
IMAX to it. Finally, the 40X is like
apparently the best 40X. Shout out to Emmanuel that says
the 40X. There is actually much.
(03:50):
It's probably the best one in town.
It's just a lot going on there. They really facelift inside a
little bit outside the RPX kind of redone screen, X added.
I mean, there's so much honestly, hands down probably
the best place to watch a movie in Houston right now.
So definitely check out, you know, Regal Greenway grand must
must go place if you're a film fanatic and a movie goer like
(04:13):
us. So it had to definitely talk
about that. It's definitely a next level
theater. 100% drew Before we jump into this film that is
almost the holidays, can we say?Yeah, we're in the holiday
season. I think that's Yeah, we can
definitely say that cause admittedly have not put up my
tree yet My. Christmas tree, someone's coming
after you. Because I was going to say in
(04:34):
two days, the Grinch, the GrinchStole Christmas 25th anniversary
edition is coming. 4K edition. Look at that.
That's beautiful. I saw it's coming back to
theaters too and and was considering taking my 5 year
old. We'll see.
You should experience that. But yeah, shout out to Universal
for sending me this. Awesome.
(04:54):
I love the green on top. I just love that.
That's great. 25th anniversary edition.
It's going to be available November 11th.
And yeah, this is a family traditional tradition film for
us. And can't go wrong with Jim
Carrey and the Grinch. And they just had like a little,
oh, what's, what's her name? What's the young girl's name?
(05:15):
That's all grown up. I keep forgetting the she's a
rock star now. Taylor.
Taylor Mumson. They were.
They were reunited at the Rock'n'roll Hall of Fame things.
That was really cool because I guess both of them were
inducting Soundgarden. I did see those those press
photos, it's pretty cool. I will say this, watching it
(05:35):
though, there was some sound issues to start the show, like
the microphone wasn't working orit was working, but it wasn't
working for television. And like there's no audio.
Disney Plus, please step up whenyou do these live events, like
that's that's not good. But you can only hear vocals.
There's no drums. I was just so weird.
But any who drew the weekend manPredator Badlands became the
(05:59):
apex Predator at the box office with $40 million domestic debut
that sets a franchise record at the the Thrones Alien versus
Predator 38,002,004. So it is the best Predator
opening. Are you shocked by that?
No, actually I'm. I'm not.
(06:19):
I feel like the trailers for this looked cool.
The timing has been as decent like I I mean, regardless of
when in the year, at least it's like kind of a clear runway
right now. I feel like if you were going to
go see something this week and this is what you went to see,
it's it also has the they've been smart in the marketing to
(06:39):
it's not, not a, it's not a spoiler to say this 'cause it's
an all the marketing that like the Waylon Utani androids are in
this movie. So it's also like a slight alien
universe crossover, which might have more genre fans interested
than normal, but it's good for the franchise.
Considering Prey with straight to Hulu if I remember correctly.
Yeah. And this actually added 40
(07:00):
million overseas, so it's like 80 million globally.
Budgets around 1:05. So on a pretty good pace, better
than Tron, unfortunately, a filmthat I really enjoyed in a film
I really enjoyed the second timeeven more actually, once I
accepted the the way they were going to go about the Tron
franchise, I enjoyed the cycle, the second watch much better.
But yeah, this one is a strongerstart for Disney, 20th century
(07:21):
and and so forth. So pretty, pretty good numbers.
And I have to mention PG13. Were you were you surprised by
the PG13 rating? I'm surprised hearing that now.
I didn't even realize that when watching it, but I guess it is
alien creatures and there's no, there's not a single human in
this movie, I guess. So all the death and
dismemberment is like CGI creatures or robots.
(07:44):
So I guess that's how they're able to get away with that.
There's no red blood. Yes, that's the way you get
away. No red blood.
So, Drew, let's start right there.
You know, after all these years,the product franchise is back in
a big way. The original 1987 classic with
Arnold Schwarzenegger and you got Predator 2, Predators, the
Predator 2018, of course, Prey. The series continues to just
(08:09):
grow and grow, and Trachtenberg really delivered something
special at Badlands. I have to ask you, what do you
feel about the new take? Rooting for the Predator instead
of fearing it? Did that work for you?
Kind of of two minds about it. I think at first when I sat down
to watch the movie, knowing thatgoing into it and the movie
started up, I kind of found myself thinking, I don't know if
(08:31):
I'm going to be able to get behind this, like I'm going to
watch this movie, but like, am Ireally going to be able to root
for this character? And I'd say pretty quickly the
answer is yes. I they do a good job of setting
up how he is, you know, essentially the rent of his
family, I guess, so to speak. And so as humans, it's a natural
(08:53):
instinct, I think, to want to root for the underdog.
And he's clearly an underdog. And so I think that worked.
I think now stepping away from this movie, what it raises for
me is are we able to go back? You know, if you look at the
franchise, we've done a lot, youknow, from Predator and Predator
(09:14):
2. Predators and the Predator have
all experimented and even and Prey have all experimented in
different ways and different settings to make the Predator
alien the antagonist and Prey most recently I think was really
successful. That was a great take on it and
I I could do kind of feel like they've made me exhausted.
The love the options like how doyou do it again or what setting
(09:37):
do you do next? And now going in this direction
where the Predator now becomes the protagonist.
I enjoyed this movie and I thinkthat that premise worked well.
But is there now a way to go backwards where the Predator
becomes the antagonist again? Or do we move forward with this
franchise with the Predator as the protagonist in all the
(10:00):
stories moving forward? Again, I haven't seen Killer of
Killers the animated film. I don't know if the if the
Predator in that is the protagonist.
Well, there's like 3 stories, I believe.
It's like an anthology and I think that's one of the reasons
I haven't sat down to watch it. But also, Trachtenberg said that
this takes place in the it's like the furthest futuristic
timeline. Like it's so ahead of all the
(10:20):
other films, maybe Alien or Predator.
It's so far forward apparently. And this, this movie really
human eyes is the predator a newperspective.
And what's really strange about it's not it's not a creature
feature at all. It it's emotionally character
driven movie. And the fact that it's PG13 is
(10:43):
still I'm like kind of shocked about.
But I really think that's what helps the box office numbers.
And now you're letting a new type of fan base or generation
enjoy these films where the parents take the kids, not worry
about much and just introduce the predator to a whole new age
range. Now you're going to have you're
going to see Halloween, but you already saw it a couple of
(11:04):
times. Did you just see like some of
the little kids start cosplayingand and dressing as Halloween as
a predator, which is kind of cool.
But like now you're going to have more of that I think next
year for Halloween, Halloween and so forth.
Did you like like the emotional part of this film or did that
kind of stray too far away from what we're used to in the
franchise? And it's just like a weird
little shift for you. No, because I think it's pretty
(11:26):
straightforward that it doesn't try to do anything to abstract.
So I think that it's it's simpleenough to to get behind.
I don't know if you're referringto the familial aspect of it and
the main character, who I guess you know, it's Deck.
You know, if you're talking about the drama between him and
his family or if you're talking more about the relationship
(11:47):
between him and the other. I think all of it, honestly.
But you know what really stood out?
I mean, you did mention this is how it does connect alien, the
world of alien and predator so subtly like such in a micros
microscopic cell, like so small,but it works.
There's only a couple reasons, like the name and then also the
(12:07):
the synthetics and and people were saying that you could put
Blade Runner into this world. Does that work?
Does that work timeline wise? Could Blade Runner work in this
world with? Alien, I feel.
Like, have you heard that before?
No, I haven't. And I, I don't know, because I
feel like there's so much of, ofthe drop, like whether people
(12:31):
are synthetic or not in the Blade Runner franchise and if
they're aware of the fact they are not.
And within Alien, I feel like all the androids and synthetics
are fully aware that they are. And I think if you start putting
that into it, it's going to makeeverything.
It's going to make you have to re evaluate everything.
I do think that if you look at the two franchises, I wasn't
(12:53):
expecting to go here now, but I guess like we're kind of on the
topic. So I'll say this with say what
you will about the Disney, the the acquisition of Fox by Disney
and all the properties, Alien and Predator.
I guess you have to give a little bit of credit because I
thought Alien Romulus was prettygood as a movie I enjoyed.
(13:18):
Yeah, I was going to say. That like we haven't mentioned
that, which is great, and I needto go finish that halfway now,
you know, 'cause it does focus on synthetics, but yeah.
I enjoyed, I, I enjoyed that show and I do feel like overall
the reception to that show was, was positive.
So you have the Alien franchise,despite a history of ups and
downs, I feel like in a pretty good place right now.
(13:41):
And now you have Dan Trachtenberg who's done 3
Predator movies and that that have been released in the past
three, three plus years. So you have a steady hand
guiding that franchise and a slow integration kind of into
the Alien universe with the Wayland Utani Android.
So you it's an interesting placeto be in where you have these
two pretty popular sci-fi franchises that are both in a
(14:05):
decent spot after having years of ups and downs and you're
slowly finding a way to merge them.
It makes me think that like, notthat I'm trying to give too much
credit because, you know, corporations and IP like
notoriously can be planned badlyor, you know, things can be in a
great spot and, and quickly go downhill.
But it almost feels like they have a plan and I'm interested
(14:27):
to see where they go. And, and Dan Trachtenberg
obviously is like kind of shepherding the Predator
franchise right now. And it seems like this obviously
means a whole lot to him. So I'd be interested to see
what's next for the franchise. Yeah, it's kind of odd how much
we've gotten so much Alien Predator in the past three
years. A lot more than I would have
(14:47):
ever expected, how much love those franchises are getting.
I'm like, why can't we put this much care and love into the
other IPS that Disney's operating?
And I'm not feeling burnt out. On them at all like.
I can look at Xenomorphs all dayand I can look at Predators all
day. Exactly.
But like, when you don't, nobodyclipped that.
Nobody clipped that quote. I could look at Predators all
(15:10):
day. That sounds really bad, but you
know what I mean. The alien being.
But you know when for the like even the MCU, and I hate going
on this all the time when I bring it up, they shove so much
down their throat and you have to watch them so you can
understand what's going on. But with these alien Predator
films, you're just like, OK, what's the new story now?
What's going on? I'm up, I'm up for the ride.
(15:32):
Our new Predator is pretty awesome.
You mentioned his name, Deck, played by Demetrius Suster Kola
Mantangi is what I'm assuming the name is.
I. Think it's yeah, Koloa Mantangi.
We're probably butchering it, but.
It's we. Can't call him Demetrius.
As deck, he carries his film man.
He literally is carrying Al Fanning's character on his back.
(15:57):
Super amazing. Obviously he did the he does the
voice, he does the mocap. I mean he's actually right
there. That's like him there with the
mocap suit and then his face is shown so later on they can go
over and see Jai with it. The behind the scene.
I need I need a behind the scenes documentary because I've
seen a lot of pictures from thisfilm, the behind the scenes and
how he pulled it off because it's a lot going on and she is
on his back like when they're shooting and half her body,
(16:20):
which I guess it's not a spoiler.
It's in the it's in the trailers.
So she's missing half her body and in the behind the scenes
photo, she's literally just on her back and then the green, the
green cloth, the CGI out is justlike draped on her waist below.
It is pretty wild that how they're filming that because
this is like AI have to say it'slike a buddy cop film, right?
(16:41):
It's it's a very interesting dynamic to team them up.
They were saying this is like, what was it Chewbacca and C3PO?
That's. That's the vibes I got.
Yeah, it's definitely yeah. Gosh, Star Wars fans.
So come for me. It's Empire right?
When C3PO gets broken up and is on his back.
(17:02):
I'm pretty sure it's an Empire. Yeah, and that's kind of where
this idea came. There's so this movie came from
so many different ideas and whatthey put together was a
brilliant movie for for a Predator film.
You have Elle Fanning as Thea and she's great in this role.
But I have to say this and I do like she does play dual roles.
So I do think this is impressive.
(17:24):
But when she's Thea, she's a little annoying.
I believe, I believe on purpose.But Ben, she is so annoying in a
chatterbox and but she's has a reason why she's talking so
much. Yeah, you're not wrong.
I felt this too. It almost felt like a little too
cheery over the top, but I understand that you're also
(17:47):
trying to differentiate the androids clearly.
And that's not to say anything from of Elle Fanning as a
performer, because I actually really like her.
You know, we just saw her in a complete unknown last year,
which I know is one of your favorite movies.
Was it your number one of the year?
It was up there for you. It I don't was it my number one
man, time flies. It was up there.
(18:07):
It's my top five but. I know you really, we both liked
it, but you really liked it and she's really good in that.
And so like, I think she's a really good performer, but in
this she is definitely now granted, this is a sci-fi
franchise movie, so like I'm notreally going to criticize the
performance too much, but like she's a little bit cheesing it
up a little bit, I'd say. But on.
(18:28):
Purpose. There's a reason behind it.
There's also a scene where she'sriding on his back, but reverse
kind of like piggyback and he gets tired of her talking kind
of in his ear. And that's why he reverses her
like that too. I don't remember, I don't know
if you caught that scene, but there's a scene where he's like
annoyed by it too. And he's like, OK, now you can
talk. You're you're facing the
opposite way. But I thought she's great.
(18:50):
What was her? What's her other character's
name? What's the sister's the sister's
name? Tessa.
Tessa So you got Tessa and the dual roll.
Really awesome. I really liked it.
But did you think this? Did you think they had a
chemistry together? I really thought they did.
But did you think the two of them not talking Tessa and Thea,
but Deck and Thea, what do you feel about their their chemistry
(19:13):
and what they were building throughout the story?
Yes, I'd say it works. And you know, there's multiple
times early on where Deck refersto Thea as a tool that you were
just, you were a tool, you're a robot, and you're helping me do
these things because you were a tool.
And by the end, clearly it has evolved to be more than that.
Yeah, that is true. And we don't want to get into
(19:34):
spoilers. We want you to go watch this
movie. I will say this, being on X is
the worst thing ever because there's so much negativity on it
over nothing. And there's a lot of these fan
people, whatever they are, complaining about this movie for
many reasons that they haven't even seen it.
I've not been a part of that social media sphere.
(19:56):
I don't even know what people are saying.
I guess it doesn't surprise me to hear that.
But like, this movie's good, so.But if you've seen it and don't
like it, you are welcome to havethat opinion and please tell
people that you didn't like it but you saw it.
For those that say I'm not goingto see it because of this, this
and this doesn't make any sense.Watch the movie.
(20:17):
Make your own decisions. Stop with this ranting without
seeing a film. We need to get rid of that
because that's all My feed was. It was weird.
I've never seen My Feed just chalked up with all that stuff
of people talking mess about thefilm and then they have not seen
it 100% because the things they were complaining about never
happened. They had some people saying some
(20:41):
type of love interest between these two.
I'm like, where did that come from?
No, I have to say that it's wild.
Let's talk about visual and sound.
I actually caught this in Dolby,and the Dolby was cranked to 11,
I'm not going to lie, a little too loud.
Maybe forever or whatever they had to set up there.
(21:01):
But I thought visually, the filmdid a really good job
introducing us to new landscapes.
Nothing felt overly fake for this world because it's hard to
kind of come across of somethingorganic because there are
creatures and monsters and everything else.
But it was like deserts, there'sforest, there's, you know,
barren land as well. But I like the balance between
(21:23):
some practical digital effects and the digital effects didn't
look messy at all. The only nitpicks that may be on
the CG side is some of the fightscenes went too fast for me.
And so it was a little blurry attimes maybe to me.
And then watching a Dolby, our Dolby was a little darker than I
expected. So some of those action scenes
kind of maybe were lost. But the sound mix was intense.
(21:44):
I thought when they did crank ittill 11.
So drew from a technical standpoint, you know, the
cinematography, the sound design, the score.
What do you what do you think about this film?
How does it do on that? Oh, you saw an IMAX?
This is the first time Drew has seen an IMAX and that's making
me feel bad I didn't see an IMAX.
(22:04):
Dude. You went and saw it in IMAX?
Oh, I'm jealous now. So the the sound was booming.
It looked really good. Yeah, I I had AI had a really
good theatrical experience for this movie.
So that's a plus. And then I think to your point,
just about the visuals, it's to the movies advantage that it all
takes place on a fictional alienplanet and it's constantly
(22:27):
introducing things. It's like this is obviously not
a place you want to be. Everything about this planet is
deadly. Even the grass is razor blades.
Like there's there's just you can't take a step on this place
without being in danger somehow.And so there's constantly new
threats being introduced and andanimals and creatures and most
(22:51):
of the world is CG, but it all works because it all is it like
there there are practical effects, like you said, I think
that the the predator makeup itself is so well done.
Like at times I think you can tell the mouth moving the
mandibles RCG, but other times they're practical.
(23:14):
And sometimes it's blended so well that I found myself
wondering, was it real in that scene or was it not?
And it's like when you're wondering that about the main
character, you're not questioning as much about the
character being set against the CG backdrop where you know, the
the foliage or the animals or whatever CG.
So it, it all works. It's almost like watching one of
(23:37):
those live action Disney movies like like The Lion King where
it's quote live action, but it'sall CG.
It's like kind of in the same vein of that, but you do have
actual practical characters heremoving around.
Yeah, I mean, I want to see likea documentary how they how they
made this because it looks. And I I saw on Disney Plus they
(23:59):
just added like a 4 minute long special about with some behind
the scenes if I haven't checked it out yet.
But I I want to because I do want to see how some of the
production of this and how they did it.
Yeah, because I thought it was very interesting how you know,
you have some human, you know, you have you have the human
character. Not human characters, but the
actors, right? And just how it all worked out
and what's real and what's fake.Because it's kind of hard to
(24:20):
tell because there's a lot goingon and on this planet, obviously
majority is fake, but I'm sayingI want to see the practical
sets. What are they using, what parts
are they adding later on and so forth.
So I think it's like visually the best Predator film we've
ever gotten probably. For you, where does this movie
stand throughout the whole franchise?
(24:44):
I mean, it's top three, but I feel like there's, you know,
there's only 7 movies. But like, I think for me, the
John Mctiernan directed Predatorwith Arnold is like always going
to be #1 Because I've seen it somany times.
I have the nostalgia for it. It's like it's going to be hard
to unseat that. But up until now, you know, Prey
(25:06):
was the only one that I'd be like is good, you know, other
than the original and, or is like truly good.
But now I do feel like this one is really good too.
It's like now we're, we've, we've basically tripled the
amount of good Predator movies that we've had in the past
couple of years 'cause I, I really didn't like as much as I
like Shane Black as a director. I wasn't huge on the Predator in
(25:29):
2018. Predators back in 2010.
That was not it for me either. Predator 2, I think.
Do you think some people might have some nostalgia for?
But it's not. It's not my favorite.
That's a fun one though, yeah. Is that the one where it's like
in a building? It's like in in.
The city, right? Yes.
(25:51):
OK, I remember seeing that. Maybe what is on the back?
Of the Danny Glover and. What is on UPN showed up or
something like that? That's how I watched a lot of
movies I watched as a kid. Was whatever came on UPN?
They have some random movies always come on serving back to
box office performance. You know, it wasn't projected to
make what it made the 40 milliondomestically, but I really think
(26:16):
the PG13 rating helped it even though it didn't feel like it
was watered down. Did you feel like it was watered
down with the PG13? You said you didn't even know.
I didn't. I didn't feel that way, no.
Yeah, so people complain as the PG13 movie.
I think it just makes it a makesit easier for it to be more
successful than it would have been if it was rated R Nothing's
taken away from the film. Honestly, I think they there was
nothing. They weren't trying to make AR
(26:37):
rated film. They're just trying to make this
Predator film and it ended up being PT13.
It just what you do is get rid of red blood because there's a
lot of violence in this too. That's not like there's not
violence. It's not like they had to change
things like the Predator blood has always been that kind of
like neon green and that's cannon so and it's so striking
when you do see it. I enjoyed that.
(26:58):
Yeah, IMAX. I'm kind of jealous.
I want to see what look the the Dolby screen I saw that was
awesome. It was massive, I'll tell you
that. I read that Dolby and the IMAX
screenings counted for nearly 60% of the opening week in
total. So between you and I, we went to
the the most sought after formats for this film.
I think we're in a time now where that's a thing like when
(27:19):
you're going to see a Predator movie or like a big blockbuster
of some sort of a franchise movie, People seek out the
premium format screenings, whether it's IMAX, Dolby 40X,
you know, even 3D. This one was getting 3D
screenings too. Oh, really?
It was the 3D. I'm pretty sure, yeah.
That's wild. And then you know, there's I
(27:40):
wonder what 40X would be like. I don't know if in a 40X, but
maybe one day I'll give a shot again, you know, what kind of
success Drew do you think this movie has done for for the
Predator franchise? And where do you want to see the
franchise go? And you want track number back?
You want someone else to have their hand on it?
I know he's been kind of knocking around some ideas too,
(28:02):
but where do you want to see this?
Franchise go. You know, I'm cool having Dan
Trachtenberg be the Predator guyfor now, as long as he keeps
putting out good movies, which so far he has.
So I'm not itching, you know, I'm not needing a change there.
I think the biggest question forme is, like I said earlier, it's
like, how do you go back? Or you know what, what's the
next step with this franchise? If now you've established the
(28:24):
Predators essentially being the protagonist, where do you go
from there? And I mean, you can always put
the Predator gets bigger, baddermonsters and have him just be a
total badass. And I think that's entertaining
in itself. I do think it's interesting that
this franchise has been around since the late 80s, is like
still kicking now in the twenty 20s and getting new, new entries
(28:46):
that are like some of the best entries of the franchise.
A movie that. Started with Jean Claude Van.
Damme, a movie that started withJean-Claude Van Damme in the
suit. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.
That's how our back that that goes.
I don't want to give out spoilers because I don't really
know about it, but until we saw the film, but there's some
cuteness in this movie. Yeah, there's, yeah, there's
(29:10):
some creatures. There was some cuteness that I
think the younger folks will like, you know, the kids will
like. I liked it.
I I really thought it added a a fun little dynamic to this film.
And there are some things there that I didn't, I didn't see come
in that I enjoyed. So yeah, I'll just say that.
That's true. I think I know what you're
talking about. I was like, yeah, I was kind of
(29:31):
amazed by it and that I didn't catch or anything like that.
Drew for me, this one really didexceed my expectations.
I wasn't a hater on the franchise.
I wasn't a hater on the previousfilms.
Like some did it, some of them did for like did it for me, some
didn't land. But I was excited to see this
film. I thought it was a bold move for
them, for the franchise. It has a lot of emotion, a lot
(29:52):
of violence. It's not that long, but I will
say it did feel long at times. And I don't know if that was
Elle Fanning Chitter chatting. That made it just kind of long
for me. I agree there were some
stretches there where he's just like kind of exploring.
And yeah, and I I do agree with that for for wrestling fans,
(30:14):
this is a random note, but it issomething that stuck out to me.
If anybody watches AW wrestling or is familiar with the
wrestlers there, there's a pointin this movie where without
spoiling, the main deck has to create like he, he basically
creates like some new armor and,and, and gear and stuff for
himself and creates a mask that looks straight up like the
(30:36):
Luchasaurus from AW. So I just have to throw that up
for wrestling fans that that is what went through my head in
this movie. And if you thought the same,
just let me know 'cause that's Icouldn't, I couldn't get out of
out of my head. That looked like Luchasaurus.
I'm not an AEW fan so I definitely helped Google that.
Lastly, Drew, I do want to ask you, do you want to see this?
(30:59):
I'll say this trio continue their story.
Yeah, yes, I think it's made. It's like, yes, with the
question mark Emmanuel said in the comments here that they kind
of tease like what the next movie could be in the final
moments of the film, which I think is like partially true.
(31:19):
They do set up something that could be the future, but also I
also kind of felt like it was kind of a gag too.
So like, I, you know, I don't expect that to actually be the
next movie. If they do, that's fine.
But I also thought it was just kind of like a fun moment
without saying what it is. So I don't know.
What if you agree with that, Sean?
(31:41):
Yeah, I'd watch anything they docontinuing if they want to
continue the story or offer something new and they want to
continue the story of I said thetrio and you'll find out what I
mean later on when you watch thefilm.
They could go animated. They do it.
They just did animated. So like that's the cool thing.
Now with Predator, they can decide if they want to do
feature film or goanimate it because they saw success in the
animation and so and that was the right R animations and they
(32:04):
have the PG13 movie. So now they can go R or PG13
with their animation if they want to go that route and they
have the platform to do it with the Hulu, Disney Plus deal and
everything else so. And, and, and find more ways to
integrate the Alien universe as well.
Like obviously we've already seen Alien like Xenomorphs and
(32:26):
Predators fight. Like we don't, that's not the
next step. It's like, oh, well, now we can
see, you know, Predator versus Xenomorph, like, no, we've got,
we've done that. And you know, but I think
there's a way that you can have,you can continue to find
interesting ways to combine those universes and be alongside
of each other. I'm not saying like an alliance
between a Xenomorph and a Predator, but still like just
(32:48):
more ways for the franchises to align in interesting ways.
I hope, I just hope they continue to be creative in that
way rather than just going to the default like, well, you got
to have a Xenomorph fight a Predator because I, I don't need
that. I know we didn't need this in
this one, and it worked and it kind of emerged the Alien
universe. And I think Alien maybe should
take a, you know, a page out, you know, page out of this book
(33:10):
for for this film that how they were able to create something
new and different. I'm I'm not saying I'm tired of
alien films and like alien Earth, like I feel like it's
kind of repetitive, right? Crash land.
There's an alien on the board. Like it's just like, can we get
something more? Fresh Well, that's a good point
because because what Alien Earthdid was slight spoilers for
Alien Earth. It's it's in the pilot episode
(33:32):
of the series. But a big thing that they do
there is they find a way to put the consciousness of humans in
two sense, and it does change them.
But like that's a pretty big development for that that
universe and franchise. And it's like, if that's now
Canon there, there's things thatyou can do now within Predators
(33:54):
universe that incorporates that.So like, you know, the, the, the
Sky's the limit, I guess, right now for these franchises,
especially as they continue to overlap.
No, that is true. And we'll see where the Alien
franchise goes to, but I kind ofwant to see more different
creatures like we saw in Predator bat lands.
They introduced some new monsters, new creatures.
And I think there's more to just, you know, Alien Predator,
(34:16):
like there's more to it. Expand the world and maybe a
third spin off will come out of it, who knows.
And you can add more to the family dynamics to it, like the
kind of the rituals and coming of age and things of like the
predator creatures. We know now that they have to do
like this big hunt, but. I wonder if that's only certain
(34:37):
ones that do that stuff right. I wonder if there's certain ones
that just do that and not all ofthem follow that same type of
tradition like. Maybe so so that's The thing is
like it's almost like now this is a strange comparison to make,
but like look at the Avatar franchise, right How you have
the Navi and in the first movie,it's like these forest Navi and
now and then the second movie inthe way of water introduces the
(34:58):
more water based Navi. And obviously with Fire and Ash
coming out later this year, you're getting the the hire Navi
and it's like, OK, well, maybe like Predators, you have this
tribe that we saw in this movie where debt comes from.
But maybe you have other tribes that are just completely
different in their upbringing and their setting and where they
reside and all that kind of stuff.
(35:18):
Who knows? You can do, you can explore that
because I don't think that anybody here is being like, no
Predator has to be XY and Z. Like who cares really?
That's very true. We did mention, you know, Elle
Fanning. I do want to mention tomorrow
we're dropping a interview from Sophia with Dakota Fanning for
(35:39):
her new show on Peacock. All her fault.
Stay tuned to my socials. I have to say as we wrap things
up because I got some exciting stuff in the works.
Drew's catching running man tomorrow.
That's true. That's true.
That is not I'm excited. I'm, I'm, I'm genuinely excited.
Yeah, and then catch my interview with the director and
(36:01):
producer of Now You See Me and Now You Don't.
Also spoke to Christy Martin that Sidney Sweeney plays and
Christy, so that was awesome. And then Alexandra Daddario
spoke to her. So that full, all those full
interviews are up and there's plenty more coming.
I feel like I'm just backlogged.I almost went to go see Christy
this weekend, but I opted to seeDie My Love instead.
The new Lynn Ramsay movie with Jennifer Lawrence and Robert
(36:23):
Pattinson, which is a That's a wild one.
It's a wild one. I don't know if we're going to
talk about a future episode. We want to just say yay or nay.
I'll. I'll say yay but this movie got
AD plus cinema score so I think.I've never seen anyone.
I've never seen that score as oflately or even in the last few
years. I don't know what films can get
(36:45):
that score. It's wild.
If you've seen Lynn Ramsey movies in the past, they're
notoriously not like warm and fuzzy by any means.
And this movie kind of explores motherhood postpartum and and
what happens there. And I think the thing to say
about it is that Jennifer Lawrence's performance in the
movie is like pretty great. She's really, really good in it,
(37:10):
so I think it's worth seeing forthat.
But this is not a movie that it doesn't even to have a like a
plot in a conventional way. It's almost more of like a
series of vignettes or moments that some seem kind of out of
order. So there's not much about the
movie that's traditionally told.So it could be frustrating for
those that would just maybe wantto see like a more narrative
(37:30):
driven film. It's it's not that.
So I think this is a movie that you have to go in kind of
managing your expectations, which is why it probably got the
low cinema score because you're you're gauging the everyday
movie goer coming out of the theater on their base reactions.
And like, this is not a movie tobe a crowd pleaser by any means.
But I thought that the the Jennifer Lawrence performance of
(37:51):
It All was was really great. Well, that's interesting.
Well, if you're not interested in that predator, Badlands if
you. Totally different.
Like crazy to even talk about those two movies in the same
episode because they're so wildly different.
That's funny. If you catch Predator Badlands,
let us know the format you saw it in IMAX, Dolby 40X, anything.
(38:12):
And then just stay tuned for what we got next.
But that wraps up this week's episode of the Movie Girl
Society. Don't forget to follow Juvenile
Letterbox. Check out our full written
reviews on neutropis.com. We've got tons going on social,
so do keep up with us there. But once again, I'm Sean.
Talk about the mayor of Neutropolis.
And I'm Drew Manhausen, the professional media and movie
(38:33):
mastermind. And we'll see you at the movie.
Well, hello and welcome to another episode of the Moviegoer
Society. I'm Sean Todtwart, the mayor of
Neuropolis, and joining me, as always is my awesome Co host of
German housing, the professionalmedia and movie mastermind
himself. I feel like it's been a while,
Drew, but since we done one of these, but I don't know, time
has flown. October flew by.
(00:35):
I think that is what it is. And November, it's struck in the
lawn. It's not too bad, right?
Yeah, I feel like I've started my movie intake has started to
pick up. Just October was AI feel like
October is usually a pretty goodmonth for movies and this past
October was like a little up anddown.
Some movies I really liked, but just it didn't seem like there
(00:57):
was a whole lot to pick from andI feel like November is really
ramping up. Yeah, I feel like this year the
release schedules has been kind of wonky.
A lot of great movies, but with our placement on the release
schedule has been kind of odd. You know, a couple things that
come to mind is obviously getting into it, but also Tron,
maybe a summer flick, right? And then you have Five Nights at
(01:20):
Freddy's coming on December. Maybe that should have been in
October and we'll get into this film 'cause I got some thoughts
on that too. I also think, you know what
we're all talk about is kindly oddly released.
But tonight we are diving into Predator.
Badlands just tore up the box office Directed by Dan
(01:41):
Trachtenberg, the mind behind myone of my favorite films,
actually 1010 Cloverfield Lane. I actually like this Cloverfield
series and I've ever seen the first one, but I thought his was
just brilliant. I actually liked it.
And he did pray. And then what is it?
Killers of killers. That's the one I admittedly I
(02:01):
haven't seen Predator Killer of killers the animated 1.
I believe that's on Hulu and Disney Plus.
Yeah, I've seen a little bit of it, but I haven't got into it
lately from you during I say it's hard for me to get into
back to some of this adult animation like talking about
Marvel Zombies. I didn't get into really finish.
What if some of the stuff targeted towards us, I don't
(02:23):
know where I stand with it. Yeah.
Yeah, it's kind of ironic that Isit here and I'm like October
kind of weird from movies and the only real, I feel like big
horror release in October was Black Phone 2.
They got like a wide release andeverything, but but then I'm in
the same boat as you. I'm like, didn't touch Marvel
Zombies, You know, I haven't. There's stuff I could have been
watching I guess, but no, I justdidn't touch it.
(02:45):
That was one. And then the Wakanda one I got a
little bit into. But I think we need to save that
conversation because I think that's NC based of why I'm not
watching. But Drew, I do have a question
for you. Last time you caught a press
screening at that Regal Greenwaygrand.
I'll tell you about the most memorable one.
(03:06):
This past summer, I went there for press screening to see
Karate Kid Legends. And it's kind of shocked when I
walked in because they've given that place such a huge facelift.
And that theater was really nice, like one of the nicer
theaters in the city, I feel like.
And that wasn't even like the IMAX or Dolby or like, you know,
one of the night. Like that was like a regular
theater and it was really nice. Yeah, because I was going to
(03:29):
say, if you haven't been back, this renovation that I've been
doing is awesome. So everyone out there, if you're
in Houston or you're coming through Houston, check out the
Regal Greenway Grand, completelytransform the place.
Every auditorium like has like luxury recliners, the ring of an
IMAX to it. Finally, the 40X is like
apparently the best 40X. Shout out to Emmanuel that says
the 40X. There is actually much.
(03:50):
It's probably the best one in town.
It's just a lot going on there. They really facelift inside a
little bit outside the RPX kind of redone screen, X added.
I mean, there's so much honestly, hands down probably
the best place to watch a movie in Houston right now.
So definitely check out, you know, Regal Greenway grand must
must go place if you're a film fanatic and a movie goer like
(04:13):
us. So it had to definitely talk
about that. It's definitely a next level
theater. 100% drew Before we jump into this film that is
almost the holidays, can we say?Yeah, we're in the holiday
season. I think that's Yeah, we can
definitely say that cause admittedly have not put up my
tree yet My. Christmas tree, someone's coming
after you. Because I was going to say in
(04:34):
two days, the Grinch, the GrinchStole Christmas 25th anniversary
edition is coming. 4K edition. Look at that.
That's beautiful. I saw it's coming back to
theaters too and and was considering taking my 5 year
old. We'll see.
You should experience that. But yeah, shout out to Universal
for sending me this. Awesome.
(04:54):
I love the green on top. I just love that.
That's great. 25th anniversary edition.
It's going to be available November 11th.
And yeah, this is a family traditional tradition film for
us. And can't go wrong with Jim
Carrey and the Grinch. And they just had like a little,
oh, what's, what's her name? What's the young girl's name?
(05:15):
That's all grown up. I keep forgetting the she's a
rock star now. Taylor.
Taylor Mumson. They were.
They were reunited at the Rock'n'roll Hall of Fame things.
That was really cool because I guess both of them were
inducting Soundgarden. I did see those those press
photos, it's pretty cool. I will say this, watching it
(05:35):
though, there was some sound issues to start the show, like
the microphone wasn't working orit was working, but it wasn't
working for television. And like there's no audio.
Disney Plus, please step up whenyou do these live events, like
that's that's not good. But you can only hear vocals.
There's no drums. I was just so weird.
But any who drew the weekend manPredator Badlands became the
(05:59):
apex Predator at the box office with $40 million domestic debut
that sets a franchise record at the the Thrones Alien versus
Predator 38,002,004. So it is the best Predator
opening. Are you shocked by that?
No, actually I'm. I'm not.
(06:19):
I feel like the trailers for this looked cool.
The timing has been as decent like I I mean, regardless of
when in the year, at least it's like kind of a clear runway
right now. I feel like if you were going to
go see something this week and this is what you went to see,
it's it also has the they've been smart in the marketing to
(06:39):
it's not, not a, it's not a spoiler to say this 'cause it's
an all the marketing that like the Waylon Utani androids are in
this movie. So it's also like a slight alien
universe crossover, which might have more genre fans interested
than normal, but it's good for the franchise.
Considering Prey with straight to Hulu if I remember correctly.
Yeah. And this actually added 40
(07:00):
million overseas, so it's like 80 million globally.
Budgets around 1:05. So on a pretty good pace, better
than Tron, unfortunately, a filmthat I really enjoyed in a film
I really enjoyed the second timeeven more actually, once I
accepted the the way they were going to go about the Tron
franchise, I enjoyed the cycle, the second watch much better.
But yeah, this one is a strongerstart for Disney, 20th century
(07:21):
and and so forth. So pretty, pretty good numbers.
And I have to mention PG13. Were you were you surprised by
the PG13 rating? I'm surprised hearing that now.
I didn't even realize that when watching it, but I guess it is
alien creatures and there's no, there's not a single human in
this movie, I guess. So all the death and
dismemberment is like CGI creatures or robots.
(07:44):
So I guess that's how they're able to get away with that.
There's no red blood. Yes, that's the way you get
away. No red blood.
So, Drew, let's start right there.
You know, after all these years,the product franchise is back in
a big way. The original 1987 classic with
Arnold Schwarzenegger and you got Predator 2, Predators, the
Predator 2018, of course, Prey. The series continues to just
(08:09):
grow and grow, and Trachtenberg really delivered something
special at Badlands. I have to ask you, what do you
feel about the new take? Rooting for the Predator instead
of fearing it? Did that work for you?
Kind of of two minds about it. I think at first when I sat down
to watch the movie, knowing thatgoing into it and the movie
started up, I kind of found myself thinking, I don't know if
(08:31):
I'm going to be able to get behind this, like I'm going to
watch this movie, but like, am Ireally going to be able to root
for this character? And I'd say pretty quickly the
answer is yes. I they do a good job of setting
up how he is, you know, essentially the rent of his
family, I guess, so to speak. And so as humans, it's a natural
(08:53):
instinct, I think, to want to root for the underdog.
And he's clearly an underdog. And so I think that worked.
I think now stepping away from this movie, what it raises for
me is are we able to go back? You know, if you look at the
franchise, we've done a lot, youknow, from Predator and Predator
(09:14):
2. Predators and the Predator have
all experimented and even and Prey have all experimented in
different ways and different settings to make the Predator
alien the antagonist and Prey most recently I think was really
successful. That was a great take on it and
I I could do kind of feel like they've made me exhausted.
The love the options like how doyou do it again or what setting
(09:37):
do you do next? And now going in this direction
where the Predator now becomes the protagonist.
I enjoyed this movie and I thinkthat that premise worked well.
But is there now a way to go backwards where the Predator
becomes the antagonist again? Or do we move forward with this
franchise with the Predator as the protagonist in all the
(10:00):
stories moving forward? Again, I haven't seen Killer of
Killers the animated film. I don't know if the if the
Predator in that is the protagonist.
Well, there's like 3 stories, I believe.
It's like an anthology and I think that's one of the reasons
I haven't sat down to watch it. But also, Trachtenberg said that
this takes place in the it's like the furthest futuristic
timeline. Like it's so ahead of all the
(10:20):
other films, maybe Alien or Predator.
It's so far forward apparently. And this, this movie really
human eyes is the predator a newperspective.
And what's really strange about it's not it's not a creature
feature at all. It it's emotionally character
driven movie. And the fact that it's PG13 is
(10:43):
still I'm like kind of shocked about.
But I really think that's what helps the box office numbers.
And now you're letting a new type of fan base or generation
enjoy these films where the parents take the kids, not worry
about much and just introduce the predator to a whole new age
range. Now you're going to have you're
going to see Halloween, but you already saw it a couple of
(11:04):
times. Did you just see like some of
the little kids start cosplayingand and dressing as Halloween as
a predator, which is kind of cool.
But like now you're going to have more of that I think next
year for Halloween, Halloween and so forth.
Did you like like the emotional part of this film or did that
kind of stray too far away from what we're used to in the
franchise? And it's just like a weird
little shift for you. No, because I think it's pretty
(11:26):
straightforward that it doesn't try to do anything to abstract.
So I think that it's it's simpleenough to to get behind.
I don't know if you're referringto the familial aspect of it and
the main character, who I guess you know, it's Deck.
You know, if you're talking about the drama between him and
his family or if you're talking more about the relationship
(11:47):
between him and the other. I think all of it, honestly.
But you know what really stood out?
I mean, you did mention this is how it does connect alien, the
world of alien and predator so subtly like such in a micros
microscopic cell, like so small,but it works.
There's only a couple reasons, like the name and then also the
(12:07):
the synthetics and and people were saying that you could put
Blade Runner into this world. Does that work?
Does that work timeline wise? Could Blade Runner work in this
world with? Alien, I feel.
Like, have you heard that before?
No, I haven't. And I, I don't know, because I
feel like there's so much of, ofthe drop, like whether people
(12:31):
are synthetic or not in the Blade Runner franchise and if
they're aware of the fact they are not.
And within Alien, I feel like all the androids and synthetics
are fully aware that they are. And I think if you start putting
that into it, it's going to makeeverything.
It's going to make you have to re evaluate everything.
I do think that if you look at the two franchises, I wasn't
(12:53):
expecting to go here now, but I guess like we're kind of on the
topic. So I'll say this with say what
you will about the Disney, the the acquisition of Fox by Disney
and all the properties, Alien and Predator.
I guess you have to give a little bit of credit because I
thought Alien Romulus was prettygood as a movie I enjoyed.
(13:18):
Yeah, I was going to say. That like we haven't mentioned
that, which is great, and I needto go finish that halfway now,
you know, 'cause it does focus on synthetics, but yeah.
I enjoyed, I, I enjoyed that show and I do feel like overall
the reception to that show was, was positive.
So you have the Alien franchise,despite a history of ups and
downs, I feel like in a pretty good place right now.
(13:41):
And now you have Dan Trachtenberg who's done 3
Predator movies and that that have been released in the past
three, three plus years. So you have a steady hand
guiding that franchise and a slow integration kind of into
the Alien universe with the Wayland Utani Android.
So you it's an interesting placeto be in where you have these
two pretty popular sci-fi franchises that are both in a
(14:05):
decent spot after having years of ups and downs and you're
slowly finding a way to merge them.
It makes me think that like, notthat I'm trying to give too much
credit because, you know, corporations and IP like
notoriously can be planned badlyor, you know, things can be in a
great spot and, and quickly go downhill.
But it almost feels like they have a plan and I'm interested
(14:27):
to see where they go. And, and Dan Trachtenberg
obviously is like kind of shepherding the Predator
franchise right now. And it seems like this obviously
means a whole lot to him. So I'd be interested to see
what's next for the franchise. Yeah, it's kind of odd how much
we've gotten so much Alien Predator in the past three
years. A lot more than I would have
(14:47):
ever expected, how much love those franchises are getting.
I'm like, why can't we put this much care and love into the
other IPS that Disney's operating?
And I'm not feeling burnt out. On them at all like.
I can look at Xenomorphs all dayand I can look at Predators all
day. Exactly.
But like, when you don't, nobodyclipped that.
Nobody clipped that quote. I could look at Predators all
(15:10):
day. That sounds really bad, but you
know what I mean. The alien being.
But you know when for the like even the MCU, and I hate going
on this all the time when I bring it up, they shove so much
down their throat and you have to watch them so you can
understand what's going on. But with these alien Predator
films, you're just like, OK, what's the new story now?
What's going on? I'm up, I'm up for the ride.
(15:32):
Our new Predator is pretty awesome.
You mentioned his name, Deck, played by Demetrius Suster Kola
Mantangi is what I'm assuming the name is.
I. Think it's yeah, Koloa Mantangi.
We're probably butchering it, but.
It's we. Can't call him Demetrius.
As deck, he carries his film man.
He literally is carrying Al Fanning's character on his back.
(15:57):
Super amazing. Obviously he did the he does the
voice, he does the mocap. I mean he's actually right
there. That's like him there with the
mocap suit and then his face is shown so later on they can go
over and see Jai with it. The behind the scene.
I need I need a behind the scenes documentary because I've
seen a lot of pictures from thisfilm, the behind the scenes and
how he pulled it off because it's a lot going on and she is
on his back like when they're shooting and half her body,
(16:20):
which I guess it's not a spoiler.
It's in the it's in the trailers.
So she's missing half her body and in the behind the scenes
photo, she's literally just on her back and then the green, the
green cloth, the CGI out is justlike draped on her waist below.
It is pretty wild that how they're filming that because
this is like AI have to say it'slike a buddy cop film, right?
(16:41):
It's it's a very interesting dynamic to team them up.
They were saying this is like, what was it Chewbacca and C3PO?
That's. That's the vibes I got.
Yeah, it's definitely yeah. Gosh, Star Wars fans.
So come for me. It's Empire right?
When C3PO gets broken up and is on his back.
(17:02):
I'm pretty sure it's an Empire. Yeah, and that's kind of where
this idea came. There's so this movie came from
so many different ideas and whatthey put together was a
brilliant movie for for a Predator film.
You have Elle Fanning as Thea and she's great in this role.
But I have to say this and I do like she does play dual roles.
So I do think this is impressive.
(17:24):
But when she's Thea, she's a little annoying.
I believe, I believe on purpose.But Ben, she is so annoying in a
chatterbox and but she's has a reason why she's talking so
much. Yeah, you're not wrong.
I felt this too. It almost felt like a little too
cheery over the top, but I understand that you're also
(17:47):
trying to differentiate the androids clearly.
And that's not to say anything from of Elle Fanning as a
performer, because I actually really like her.
You know, we just saw her in a complete unknown last year,
which I know is one of your favorite movies.
Was it your number one of the year?
It was up there for you. It I don't was it my number one
man, time flies. It was up there.
(18:07):
It's my top five but. I know you really, we both liked
it, but you really liked it and she's really good in that.
And so like, I think she's a really good performer, but in
this she is definitely now granted, this is a sci-fi
franchise movie, so like I'm notreally going to criticize the
performance too much, but like she's a little bit cheesing it
up a little bit, I'd say. But on.
(18:28):
Purpose. There's a reason behind it.
There's also a scene where she'sriding on his back, but reverse
kind of like piggyback and he gets tired of her talking kind
of in his ear. And that's why he reverses her
like that too. I don't remember, I don't know
if you caught that scene, but there's a scene where he's like
annoyed by it too. And he's like, OK, now you can
talk. You're you're facing the
opposite way. But I thought she's great.
(18:50):
What was her? What's her other character's
name? What's the sister's the sister's
name? Tessa.
Tessa So you got Tessa and the dual roll.
Really awesome. I really liked it.
But did you think this? Did you think they had a
chemistry together? I really thought they did.
But did you think the two of them not talking Tessa and Thea,
but Deck and Thea, what do you feel about their their chemistry
(19:13):
and what they were building throughout the story?
Yes, I'd say it works. And you know, there's multiple
times early on where Deck refersto Thea as a tool that you were
just, you were a tool, you're a robot, and you're helping me do
these things because you were a tool.
And by the end, clearly it has evolved to be more than that.
Yeah, that is true. And we don't want to get into
(19:34):
spoilers. We want you to go watch this
movie. I will say this, being on X is
the worst thing ever because there's so much negativity on it
over nothing. And there's a lot of these fan
people, whatever they are, complaining about this movie for
many reasons that they haven't even seen it.
I've not been a part of that social media sphere.
(19:56):
I don't even know what people are saying.
I guess it doesn't surprise me to hear that.
But like, this movie's good, so.But if you've seen it and don't
like it, you are welcome to havethat opinion and please tell
people that you didn't like it but you saw it.
For those that say I'm not goingto see it because of this, this
and this doesn't make any sense.Watch the movie.
(20:17):
Make your own decisions. Stop with this ranting without
seeing a film. We need to get rid of that
because that's all My feed was. It was weird.
I've never seen My Feed just chalked up with all that stuff
of people talking mess about thefilm and then they have not seen
it 100% because the things they were complaining about never
happened. They had some people saying some
(20:41):
type of love interest between these two.
I'm like, where did that come from?
No, I have to say that it's wild.
Let's talk about visual and sound.
I actually caught this in Dolby,and the Dolby was cranked to 11,
I'm not going to lie, a little too loud.
Maybe forever or whatever they had to set up there.
(21:01):
But I thought visually, the filmdid a really good job
introducing us to new landscapes.
Nothing felt overly fake for this world because it's hard to
kind of come across of somethingorganic because there are
creatures and monsters and everything else.
But it was like deserts, there'sforest, there's, you know,
barren land as well. But I like the balance between
(21:23):
some practical digital effects and the digital effects didn't
look messy at all. The only nitpicks that may be on
the CG side is some of the fightscenes went too fast for me.
And so it was a little blurry attimes maybe to me.
And then watching a Dolby, our Dolby was a little darker than I
expected. So some of those action scenes
kind of maybe were lost. But the sound mix was intense.
(21:44):
I thought when they did crank ittill 11.
So drew from a technical standpoint, you know, the
cinematography, the sound design, the score.
What do you what do you think about this film?
How does it do on that? Oh, you saw an IMAX?
This is the first time Drew has seen an IMAX and that's making
me feel bad I didn't see an IMAX.
(22:04):
Dude. You went and saw it in IMAX?
Oh, I'm jealous now. So the the sound was booming.
It looked really good. Yeah, I I had AI had a really
good theatrical experience for this movie.
So that's a plus. And then I think to your point,
just about the visuals, it's to the movies advantage that it all
takes place on a fictional alienplanet and it's constantly
(22:27):
introducing things. It's like this is obviously not
a place you want to be. Everything about this planet is
deadly. Even the grass is razor blades.
Like there's there's just you can't take a step on this place
without being in danger somehow.And so there's constantly new
threats being introduced and andanimals and creatures and most
(22:51):
of the world is CG, but it all works because it all is it like
there there are practical effects, like you said, I think
that the the predator makeup itself is so well done.
Like at times I think you can tell the mouth moving the
mandibles RCG, but other times they're practical.
(23:14):
And sometimes it's blended so well that I found myself
wondering, was it real in that scene or was it not?
And it's like when you're wondering that about the main
character, you're not questioning as much about the
character being set against the CG backdrop where you know, the
the foliage or the animals or whatever CG.
So it, it all works. It's almost like watching one of
(23:37):
those live action Disney movies like like The Lion King where
it's quote live action, but it'sall CG.
It's like kind of in the same vein of that, but you do have
actual practical characters heremoving around.
Yeah, I mean, I want to see likea documentary how they how they
made this because it looks. And I I saw on Disney Plus they
(23:59):
just added like a 4 minute long special about with some behind
the scenes if I haven't checked it out yet.
But I I want to because I do want to see how some of the
production of this and how they did it.
Yeah, because I thought it was very interesting how you know,
you have some human, you know, you have you have the human
character. Not human characters, but the
actors, right? And just how it all worked out
and what's real and what's fake.Because it's kind of hard to
(24:20):
tell because there's a lot goingon and on this planet, obviously
majority is fake, but I'm sayingI want to see the practical
sets. What are they using, what parts
are they adding later on and so forth.
So I think it's like visually the best Predator film we've
ever gotten probably. For you, where does this movie
stand throughout the whole franchise?
(24:44):
I mean, it's top three, but I feel like there's, you know,
there's only 7 movies. But like, I think for me, the
John Mctiernan directed Predatorwith Arnold is like always going
to be #1 Because I've seen it somany times.
I have the nostalgia for it. It's like it's going to be hard
to unseat that. But up until now, you know, Prey
(25:06):
was the only one that I'd be like is good, you know, other
than the original and, or is like truly good.
But now I do feel like this one is really good too.
It's like now we're, we've, we've basically tripled the
amount of good Predator movies that we've had in the past
couple of years 'cause I, I really didn't like as much as I
like Shane Black as a director. I wasn't huge on the Predator in
(25:29):
2018. Predators back in 2010.
That was not it for me either. Predator 2, I think.
Do you think some people might have some nostalgia for?
But it's not. It's not my favorite.
That's a fun one though, yeah. Is that the one where it's like
in a building? It's like in in.
The city, right? Yes.
(25:51):
OK, I remember seeing that. Maybe what is on the back?
Of the Danny Glover and. What is on UPN showed up or
something like that? That's how I watched a lot of
movies I watched as a kid. Was whatever came on UPN?
They have some random movies always come on serving back to
box office performance. You know, it wasn't projected to
make what it made the 40 milliondomestically, but I really think
(26:16):
the PG13 rating helped it even though it didn't feel like it
was watered down. Did you feel like it was watered
down with the PG13? You said you didn't even know.
I didn't. I didn't feel that way, no.
Yeah, so people complain as the PG13 movie.
I think it just makes it a makesit easier for it to be more
successful than it would have been if it was rated R Nothing's
taken away from the film. Honestly, I think they there was
nothing. They weren't trying to make AR
(26:37):
rated film. They're just trying to make this
Predator film and it ended up being PT13.
It just what you do is get rid of red blood because there's a
lot of violence in this too. That's not like there's not
violence. It's not like they had to change
things like the Predator blood has always been that kind of
like neon green and that's cannon so and it's so striking
when you do see it. I enjoyed that.
(26:58):
Yeah, IMAX. I'm kind of jealous.
I want to see what look the the Dolby screen I saw that was
awesome. It was massive, I'll tell you
that. I read that Dolby and the IMAX
screenings counted for nearly 60% of the opening week in
total. So between you and I, we went to
the the most sought after formats for this film.
I think we're in a time now where that's a thing like when
(27:19):
you're going to see a Predator movie or like a big blockbuster
of some sort of a franchise movie, People seek out the
premium format screenings, whether it's IMAX, Dolby 40X,
you know, even 3D. This one was getting 3D
screenings too. Oh, really?
It was the 3D. I'm pretty sure, yeah.
That's wild. And then you know, there's I
(27:40):
wonder what 40X would be like. I don't know if in a 40X, but
maybe one day I'll give a shot again, you know, what kind of
success Drew do you think this movie has done for for the
Predator franchise? And where do you want to see the
franchise go? And you want track number back?
You want someone else to have their hand on it?
I know he's been kind of knocking around some ideas too,
(28:02):
but where do you want to see this?
Franchise go. You know, I'm cool having Dan
Trachtenberg be the Predator guyfor now, as long as he keeps
putting out good movies, which so far he has.
So I'm not itching, you know, I'm not needing a change there.
I think the biggest question forme is, like I said earlier, it's
like, how do you go back? Or you know what, what's the
next step with this franchise? If now you've established the
(28:24):
Predators essentially being the protagonist, where do you go
from there? And I mean, you can always put
the Predator gets bigger, baddermonsters and have him just be a
total badass. And I think that's entertaining
in itself. I do think it's interesting that
this franchise has been around since the late 80s, is like
still kicking now in the twenty 20s and getting new, new entries
(28:46):
that are like some of the best entries of the franchise.
A movie that. Started with Jean Claude Van.
Damme, a movie that started withJean-Claude Van Damme in the
suit. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.
That's how our back that that goes.
I don't want to give out spoilers because I don't really
know about it, but until we saw the film, but there's some
cuteness in this movie. Yeah, there's, yeah, there's
(29:10):
some creatures. There was some cuteness that I
think the younger folks will like, you know, the kids will
like. I liked it.
I I really thought it added a a fun little dynamic to this film.
And there are some things there that I didn't, I didn't see come
in that I enjoyed. So yeah, I'll just say that.
That's true. I think I know what you're
talking about. I was like, yeah, I was kind of
(29:31):
amazed by it and that I didn't catch or anything like that.
Drew for me, this one really didexceed my expectations.
I wasn't a hater on the franchise.
I wasn't a hater on the previousfilms.
Like some did it, some of them did for like did it for me, some
didn't land. But I was excited to see this
film. I thought it was a bold move for
them, for the franchise. It has a lot of emotion, a lot
(29:52):
of violence. It's not that long, but I will
say it did feel long at times. And I don't know if that was
Elle Fanning Chitter chatting. That made it just kind of long
for me. I agree there were some
stretches there where he's just like kind of exploring.
And yeah, and I I do agree with that for for wrestling fans,
(30:14):
this is a random note, but it issomething that stuck out to me.
If anybody watches AW wrestling or is familiar with the
wrestlers there, there's a pointin this movie where without
spoiling, the main deck has to create like he, he basically
creates like some new armor and,and, and gear and stuff for
himself and creates a mask that looks straight up like the
(30:36):
Luchasaurus from AW. So I just have to throw that up
for wrestling fans that that is what went through my head in
this movie. And if you thought the same,
just let me know 'cause that's Icouldn't, I couldn't get out of
out of my head. That looked like Luchasaurus.
I'm not an AEW fan so I definitely helped Google that.
Lastly, Drew, I do want to ask you, do you want to see this?
(30:59):
I'll say this trio continue their story.
Yeah, yes, I think it's made. It's like, yes, with the
question mark Emmanuel said in the comments here that they kind
of tease like what the next movie could be in the final
moments of the film, which I think is like partially true.
(31:19):
They do set up something that could be the future, but also I
also kind of felt like it was kind of a gag too.
So like, I, you know, I don't expect that to actually be the
next movie. If they do, that's fine.
But I also thought it was just kind of like a fun moment
without saying what it is. So I don't know.
What if you agree with that, Sean?
(31:41):
Yeah, I'd watch anything they docontinuing if they want to
continue the story or offer something new and they want to
continue the story of I said thetrio and you'll find out what I
mean later on when you watch thefilm.
They could go animated. They do it.
They just did animated. So like that's the cool thing.
Now with Predator, they can decide if they want to do
feature film or goanimate it because they saw success in the
animation and so and that was the right R animations and they
(32:04):
have the PG13 movie. So now they can go R or PG13
with their animation if they want to go that route and they
have the platform to do it with the Hulu, Disney Plus deal and
everything else so. And, and, and find more ways to
integrate the Alien universe as well.
Like obviously we've already seen Alien like Xenomorphs and
(32:26):
Predators fight. Like we don't, that's not the
next step. It's like, oh, well, now we can
see, you know, Predator versus Xenomorph, like, no, we've got,
we've done that. And you know, but I think
there's a way that you can have,you can continue to find
interesting ways to combine those universes and be alongside
of each other. I'm not saying like an alliance
between a Xenomorph and a Predator, but still like just
(32:48):
more ways for the franchises to align in interesting ways.
I hope, I just hope they continue to be creative in that
way rather than just going to the default like, well, you got
to have a Xenomorph fight a Predator because I, I don't need
that. I know we didn't need this in
this one, and it worked and it kind of emerged the Alien
universe. And I think Alien maybe should
take a, you know, a page out, you know, page out of this book
(33:10):
for for this film that how they were able to create something
new and different. I'm I'm not saying I'm tired of
alien films and like alien Earth, like I feel like it's
kind of repetitive, right? Crash land.
There's an alien on the board. Like it's just like, can we get
something more? Fresh Well, that's a good point
because because what Alien Earthdid was slight spoilers for
Alien Earth. It's it's in the pilot episode
(33:32):
of the series. But a big thing that they do
there is they find a way to put the consciousness of humans in
two sense, and it does change them.
But like that's a pretty big development for that that
universe and franchise. And it's like, if that's now
Canon there, there's things thatyou can do now within Predators
(33:54):
universe that incorporates that.So like, you know, the, the, the
Sky's the limit, I guess, right now for these franchises,
especially as they continue to overlap.
No, that is true. And we'll see where the Alien
franchise goes to, but I kind ofwant to see more different
creatures like we saw in Predator bat lands.
They introduced some new monsters, new creatures.
And I think there's more to just, you know, Alien Predator,
(34:16):
like there's more to it. Expand the world and maybe a
third spin off will come out of it, who knows.
And you can add more to the family dynamics to it, like the
kind of the rituals and coming of age and things of like the
predator creatures. We know now that they have to do
like this big hunt, but. I wonder if that's only certain
(34:37):
ones that do that stuff right. I wonder if there's certain ones
that just do that and not all ofthem follow that same type of
tradition like. Maybe so so that's The thing is
like it's almost like now this is a strange comparison to make,
but like look at the Avatar franchise, right How you have
the Navi and in the first movie,it's like these forest Navi and
now and then the second movie inthe way of water introduces the
(34:58):
more water based Navi. And obviously with Fire and Ash
coming out later this year, you're getting the the hire Navi
and it's like, OK, well, maybe like Predators, you have this
tribe that we saw in this movie where debt comes from.
But maybe you have other tribes that are just completely
different in their upbringing and their setting and where they
reside and all that kind of stuff.
(35:18):
Who knows? You can do, you can explore that
because I don't think that anybody here is being like, no
Predator has to be XY and Z. Like who cares really?
That's very true. We did mention, you know, Elle
Fanning. I do want to mention tomorrow
we're dropping a interview from Sophia with Dakota Fanning for
(35:39):
her new show on Peacock. All her fault.
Stay tuned to my socials. I have to say as we wrap things
up because I got some exciting stuff in the works.
Drew's catching running man tomorrow.
That's true. That's true.
That is not I'm excited. I'm, I'm, I'm genuinely excited.
Yeah, and then catch my interview with the director and
(36:01):
producer of Now You See Me and Now You Don't.
Also spoke to Christy Martin that Sidney Sweeney plays and
Christy, so that was awesome. And then Alexandra Daddario
spoke to her. So that full, all those full
interviews are up and there's plenty more coming.
I feel like I'm just backlogged.I almost went to go see Christy
this weekend, but I opted to seeDie My Love instead.
The new Lynn Ramsay movie with Jennifer Lawrence and Robert
(36:23):
Pattinson, which is a That's a wild one.
It's a wild one. I don't know if we're going to
talk about a future episode. We want to just say yay or nay.
I'll. I'll say yay but this movie got
AD plus cinema score so I think.I've never seen anyone.
I've never seen that score as oflately or even in the last few
years. I don't know what films can get
(36:45):
that score. It's wild.
If you've seen Lynn Ramsey movies in the past, they're
notoriously not like warm and fuzzy by any means.
And this movie kind of explores motherhood postpartum and and
what happens there. And I think the thing to say
about it is that Jennifer Lawrence's performance in the
movie is like pretty great. She's really, really good in it,
(37:10):
so I think it's worth seeing forthat.
But this is not a movie that it doesn't even to have a like a
plot in a conventional way. It's almost more of like a
series of vignettes or moments that some seem kind of out of
order. So there's not much about the
movie that's traditionally told.So it could be frustrating for
those that would just maybe wantto see like a more narrative
(37:30):
driven film. It's it's not that.
So I think this is a movie that you have to go in kind of
managing your expectations, which is why it probably got the
low cinema score because you're you're gauging the everyday
movie goer coming out of the theater on their base reactions.
And like, this is not a movie tobe a crowd pleaser by any means.
But I thought that the the Jennifer Lawrence performance of
(37:51):
It All was was really great. Well, that's interesting.
Well, if you're not interested in that predator, Badlands if
you. Totally different.
Like crazy to even talk about those two movies in the same
episode because they're so wildly different.
That's funny. If you catch Predator Badlands,
let us know the format you saw it in IMAX, Dolby 40X, anything.
(38:12):
And then just stay tuned for what we got next.
But that wraps up this week's episode of the Movie Girl
Society. Don't forget to follow Juvenile
Letterbox. Check out our full written
reviews on neutropis.com. We've got tons going on social,
so do keep up with us there. But once again, I'm Sean.
Talk about the mayor of Neutropolis.
And I'm Drew Manhausen, the professional media and movie
(38:33):
mastermind. And we'll see you at the movie.
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