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196 - Predators (2009)
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Transcript
Introduction to Hosts and Theme
00:00:20
Speaker
I'll say good for you. If it bleeds, we can podcast it here at the disenfranchised podcast. That's right. We're that podcast all about those franchises have won those films and fancy themselves full fledged franchises before falling flat on their face after the first film. Did I just forget my intro for a second? Yes, I did because I'm because I'm your host, Stephen Foxworthy. And joining me, as always, the most deadly man alive. It is Tucker. Hey, Tucker. Hello.
00:00:52
Speaker
Steven. I like it. Is it too close? Is it too much? I don't know. I don't want to be disrespectful. It's not like he's here using it right now.
Alien Franchise and Brett's Absence
00:01:01
Speaker
Although, I felt kind of dirty, though. I mean, look, you do what you have to do. I got to talk to Brett about this. You really do. I might have to cut that out. You should probably. And pray on it. You know, pray on it a little bit. Yeah. Oh, yeah, definitely. You almost do that. I know you are. It's like that 90 percent of my time, all I do is pray. Right, right.
00:01:21
Speaker
It's like all I'm doing, constantly. Uh, we got to pray just to make it today. Um, and speaking of our good friend and co-host Brett Wright, he is, uh, uh, he mysteriously take it from this world and, uh, put on an ah
Predators Movie and Naming Conventions
00:01:35
Speaker
alien world. We hope he makes it back safely just as soon as he possibly can. In the meantime, Tucker with alien Romulus dropping in theaters later this week, we, you know, Tucker, did you know there is not a single alien movie that has not at least gotten a sequel or prequel?
00:01:54
Speaker
Yes. So we can't cover any of those, but you know what we can cover, Tucker? We can we can cover yeah the aliens vital. ah What's the word I'm looking for? It's sworn enemies, um the predators. And so we are here tonight to talk about 2010's predators.
00:02:19
Speaker
Plural predators than one taking a page from the alien franchise
Comparison with Mad Max Movies
00:02:25
Speaker
playbook. The sequel is just the name of the original with an S on the end. And then we draw a line through the S and it becomes a dollar side.
00:02:35
Speaker
James Cameron's like, hey, wait, wait. they No, you can't do that too. Hey, wait. You got hey. yeah Hey now. Yes, 2010's Predators, directed by Nimrod Ontal, written by Alex Litvak and Michael Finch, based on a script by Robert Rodriguez, who is producer on this movie. Yeah, dude. And starring Adrian Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Oleg Tech,
00:03:04
Speaker
attack harder Taktarov, I'm so sorry. Oleg Taktarov, Lawrence Fishburne, Danny Trejo, Louis Ozawa-Changchen, and Mahershala Ali, along with Derek Mears, Kerry Jones, and Brian Steele. What a cast, dare I say it, what a picture. You dare, you dare, Steven. I do, I actually, in this instance, I do, I truly do.
00:03:33
Speaker
Look, something I like about Predator movies is um they're kind of like Mad Max movies, even more so. Right. Like in in that way to where like the movies have some of the same characters and maybe they take place in the same world, but they're all just different stories. Right. And I like I like that this one does something different with it.
00:03:57
Speaker
it It's kind of a logical reversal of the original conceit, which is really fun, but it like expands out the lore in fun and interesting ways. like It does essentially what you want a sequel to do.
00:04:11
Speaker
Um, and it does it, I think pretty well. Um, is it a perfect film? No. Do I have my problems with it? Certainly.
Stephen's Olympic Anecdote
00:04:20
Speaker
But do I have a good time while watching it? Yes. And honestly, that is all I'm looking for when I go to see a predator movie. I just want to have a good time. I want to see the strong dudes getting murked and I want to see like predators hunting them down like animals. That's all I want from a predator. du d Yeah. Yeah, dude.
00:04:40
Speaker
Agreed. I really appreciated that um this film and I'm sure we'll talk about this more later, but I wanted to mention up front that this is a B movie with money. This is this is a Roger Corman. This is Roger Corman probably wrote this in the 60s, probably. Right. That's just like the setup or some way the characters interact. Yeah. And the way that it it moves forward. It's very, very much like George Corman, New International Pictures kind of stuff. Yeah, Roger Corman. Sorry.
00:05:10
Speaker
Yeah. Good old George Corman. Yeah, that's your brother, George Corman. You know that cheap way of making films you've been looking, you've been talking about? ah Well, take a look at this.
00:05:28
Speaker
Um, no, absolutely. 100%. But you know, but you're right. It's got money. Like the effects are good. You've got some name talent. Like, and and this is like a before they were stars thing with the case of like, Walton Goggins and Mahershala Ali. Like before, like Mahershala Ali now a two time Oscar winner. Yeah. Walton Goggins.
00:05:51
Speaker
if If that man does not own all the Emmys, then we've gotten it wrong as a society. He's been in a lot of stuff that we've been watching lately, too. He has. I mean, he's, I mean, he was in Fallout. um Vice principles, I know is a favorite of yours. We all love the righteous gemstones, which he is phenomenal in. Like he's just, he's got a way, man. He's- Well, no, I mean like for the pod, like there's been a couple of movies that we've done on the pod that he's been in. What else has he shown up in lately that we've been- Gosh.
00:06:28
Speaker
Oh, next karate kid. Oh, that's right. He was in next karate as Walt Goggins. That's right. I do remember that now. And then it was only recently that I watched him improvise a scene apologizing to someone for putting their uncle in jail.
00:06:50
Speaker
in Billy Bob Thornton's Daddy and Them. you Yes, you do like Daddy and Them. You've mentioned it several times. Yeah. And you've pinpointed it for a future episode of What Are We Watching? Yeah, he was in that too. He wasn't in it a lot, but what he did was was really good. I mean, he like he hits it on TV with um The Shield.
00:07:12
Speaker
is kind of his big breakout film role, which is 2002 to 2007. So he's done with the shield by this point, but he's still widely seen as a TV actor. I think it's not until like justified sons of anarchy that he really starts to like pop and people are like, this guy. And then he he's also in the hateful eight, which I think is another thing that brings him a little more to the forefront in 2015.
00:07:40
Speaker
um And so we start seeing more of him.
TV Shows and Actor Performances
00:07:44
Speaker
And and and for good reason, he's he's a fucking national treasure. And william yeah he wasn't he wasn't even supposed to be a main character in the shield. right He was supposed to be like a one off villain kind of thing. And then they like the pilot. Yeah. The second main character because he was so rad. Yeah. The chemistry between the two of them was chickless like him so much. He's like, look, you bring him on or we walk.
00:08:07
Speaker
Like, and like the rest of the the squad was like, yes, no, a hundred percent that. Like, yes, he stays. And so he stayed like it and good. And rightly so, because he's amazing in the shield. Honestly, have you seen the shield? I have not. You should watch this. I own all of it on digital video desk. It's. Oh, wow.
00:08:30
Speaker
drop the old digital video disc. Yes. All right. Yeah. OK. Yeah. I own that entire show. And it's fucking it. And that's one of those damages where they just have amazing guest stars that will just pop in for a whole season. Glenn Close is on there for a season. Forest Whitaker is on there for a season. It's some really top shelf talent on that show. It's really wonderful. Jimmy Smits, I think, is on there for a while.
00:08:56
Speaker
Oh, well, sign me up then. Is Jimmy. smith Now that I say that, I'm like, it wait, is Jimmy Smith's on there? Because now I'm like, fuck, because Jimmy Smith's is another one of those guys that's shown up in so many shows that I like, like Sons of Anarchy and Dexter, that I'm like, fuck, was he was now that I say that was he actually in that show? Speaking of kappa ganda, though, um Homicide Life on the Streets was recently finally released on streaming. Oh, nice. So I do want to watch The Shield, but I haven't seen Homicide since it aired. And I need I need me to watch some of it because it's been a long time and I love that show. So and I've never seen it. And I've kind of always wanted to. So it's a good chance for you to get up with that. You watch that show and you will enjoy Brooklyn Nine-Nine so much more.
00:09:45
Speaker
That is my understanding because apparently very different. It's kind of like you get once you get used to him as his character to homicide and along and it just kind of.
00:09:56
Speaker
Yeah, his work is so much better. I'm sure. Oh, I'm sure. I mean, it's very it's kind of like the reverse of what Chiklis did with the shield, because before that, he was the comm commission. and Everyone's like, well, you know, you're the commission. You can't you can't do it. You're the commission. Then he's like, you know, this bald guy who's beating the shit out of people. And you're just like, well, I guess you can. Yeah. A good actor makes it work.
00:10:22
Speaker
Jimmy Smith's tragically not in ah The Shield. So I'm um I was way off on that one. My apologies. I'm still into it. I'm still going to get to it at some point. Where is it streaming? um It's an FX show. So my assumption would be probably Hulu. Yeah. um Oh, OK. It's oh, Michael Pena shows up in season four. Anthony Anderson has a recurring role in the last few seasons. That's great.
00:10:51
Speaker
Uh, Franca Patente, who is phenomenal. Um, Laura Herring, like some, some good talent for sure. Laurie Holden. Um, yeah. Some, some great talent on the shield. Uh, the shield, good show. Uh, someone on that show, aggressively canceled, uh, for being legitimately terrible.
Predator Franchise in Other Media
00:11:12
Speaker
Uh, one of them, one of the main cast members for all seven seasons, but yeah. Um.
00:11:19
Speaker
So I was wrong. It is not streaming yet. Homicide is not streaming yet. It will begin streaming on the 19th of this month. Oh, well, that's soon. On the Peacocks. Oh, on Peacock, that does make sense. You know, but the NBCs and all that. Of course, of course, of course. Where I watched all my Olympic coverage this year. Yeah, dude, it's the one stream. It's the streaming service. I don't know what to do with all summer because I have it basically for SNL. Right.
00:11:49
Speaker
You watch Olympics and now you can watch Homicide Life on the Street. I wanna watch some motherfucking Olympics. Don't give a shit about Olympics. But I'm glad it brings other people, Joy. I mean, you know the cool thing that happened to me this past week watching the Olympics. No, Steven, please tell us. i am So I was watching a race, ah the men's 1500, and I heard a name. They're like, oh, ah Cole Hawker is coming in from like fifth place. And I was like, I know that name.
00:12:18
Speaker
And I looked up at the screen, and I see this you know skinny guy with a blonde ponytail, and I'm like, I know that kid. And my partner was watching with her. She goes, no, you don't. I was like, yeah, that that was that i I was his teacher. He was one of my students, once upon a time. And she's like, no, you do not know one of the eight best mile runners in the world, Steven.
00:12:39
Speaker
And I was like, I actually, I do, like I know that kid. And so I find him on Facebook. We're not friends on Facebook because I was his eighth grade teacher, like who who friends are eighth grade teachers. But we've got like 19 mutuals of other former students that are are friends of his and and other teachers. And I'm like, look, we've got 19 mutuals together. I showed her a picture of him on like Wikipedia.
00:13:02
Speaker
him in college. He did not look that different when he was in eighth grade. And then finally, after he won the gold medal for the men's 1500, like out of nowhere, a really remarkable win. They're like, and who would have thought Cole Hawker from Indianapolis, Indiana. And of course, at that point, my partner looks at me just
Directors' Approaches to Predator Movies
00:13:20
Speaker
a gog like former student of Steven Foxworthy.
00:13:26
Speaker
So yeah, that was really cool. One of my former students is an Olympic gold medalist. So that's kind of fucking wild. Yeah, dude. And like I was saying in the chat, hey man, it might not have been a lot, but you had something to do with that. i don't I didn't have anything to do with that. I'm just saying at one point you were an adult in that kid's life, like an adult in charge, like showing him how to be an adult and like teaching him things and stuff. So even if it was just for a little tiny bit,
00:13:55
Speaker
You shaped that boy, Steven, I'm just saying. Just a little bit. But you you deserve some credit. I'm gonna give you some credit, Steven. I'm gonna take none. um So there you go. But predators, Tucker, predators. and we Can we now refer to you as? No. Whatever you're about to say, no. Steven, former teacher of Olympic gold medalists. And then that person's name and then your name.
00:14:25
Speaker
We'll just call you that from now on. No, like you earned it I have not. um I have heard no such thing. Oh, I exercise my right of refusal. I'm going to say you get it on a technicality, then. OK, fine. But I mean, yes, I was his teacher, but like. You molded that boy. I molded him. Nah. What did you teach him? Bible.
00:14:49
Speaker
Yeah, he molded that. but You spiritually molded that boy, dude. You had so much to do with that. like Look, think about this, Steven. If he is still a believer or whatever, like you had a hand in that, dude. like If he's thanking God and stuff for winning and stuff, that's you helped do that, dude. It seemed like he is still of the faith.
00:15:13
Speaker
so Based on, you know, a couple of things he said in interviews after the race. And Stephen, think of this. You taught him the Bible for one year. that's Like the whole religion. It's right there. That's the religion is the Bible.
00:15:30
Speaker
You molded this fan, Steven. You molded it, I'm telling you. You got to take just a little bit, take just a little bit of credit. I was his teacher. That is ah as much credit as I'm willing to take. I taught the fan for, no, I'm not even willing to go that far. I was his Bible teacher for like a year. yeah As far as I'm gonna go. he went to He went to Cathedral High School in Indianapolis and probably had much better Bible teachers there who'd been doing it a lot longer and were far more knowledgeable about those things than one such as I.
00:16:00
Speaker
What about this, Steven? What if something that some interpretation of the Bible that you bestowed upon him turned him into like a rad religious person instead of like a magga i be person? I'd be okay with that.
00:16:13
Speaker
Now, if true, if true, I would be OK with that. OK, I always I always used to say I I more than the Bible, I will like to think I taught critical thinking. um And, you know, sometimes they got it and sometimes they didn't. And you can always tell which ones. Yeah, dude. That's a that's said i I applaud you, Steven. That's that's a big deal, man. I've never done anything like that. Like I've mentored some people. I've never like, you know,
00:16:43
Speaker
really brought some people up like that, you know, you teach them how to be people. Well, it's not for the kids, but fucking kids, whatever. Yeah, you be kids, man, kids, kids, um, predators. Okay, bit over. Sorry. It's just so fun.
Personal Preferences: Predator vs Alien
00:17:01
Speaker
Just so fun. A film released in 2010, um, the third entry in the predator franchise and probably the third best predator entry honestly I gotta tell you even the first Predator um I recognize that it is a great movie and it's the best of the series but I kinda get bored during it sometimes I know I don't mean to I want to be engaged but there's a couple times in the middle where I'm like hmm I could be doing something else right now but overall it's really great so for me like I think this is
00:17:43
Speaker
having only seen three Predator movies. This is my second favorite. Sure. i So what is what is your history with the Predator franchise and with this movie specifically? Well, I'll tell you what. I've always been familiar, of course, because, you know, they used to sell toys of that shit, man. Yeah, man. The toys were more popular than the brand for a while.
00:18:13
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. ah So I always knew what it was. um I think the first Predator movie I saw was Predator 2. And I think that was because for a very short time when I was a young man, a teenager, I was very into Danny Glover. Okay. i I don't know what to say. I just was.
00:18:37
Speaker
Sure. Danny Glover is ah is is a treasure. We love Danny Glover. He's great. Yeah. And like and he's been too old for this shit for decades, for decades. ah I had just seen the first couple of lethal weapons and then I saw Maverick. Mm hmm. And then like I saw Predator 2. Mm hmm. I was like, yeah, I like Danny Glover. I like him a lot. I still like him.
00:19:02
Speaker
Uh, but I was unreasonably obsessed with him for probably a few months when I was a teenager. So I saw a predator two first, and I think that's still my favorite. That's the one where Bill Paxton dies. This one, yeah, this one, this one is a close second, but also like, that's also not to say anything bad about the original. Like they're all pretty for me. They're all barely.
00:19:28
Speaker
above each other. Right. They're pretty comparable in entertainment value. Right. Now, i'm I wasn't a huge fan of the Shane Black one that and I do not blame Shane Black for that. I haven't seen that one. Which I mean, you future episode of this podcast of The Predator, like it's coming. We're doing it. ah Maybe we'll wait till ah another they they do another prey. And which I always sequel.
00:19:54
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know. but I mean, thanks to this movie, um the Internet became incredibly obsessed with the ah predator fighting the the Ronin and feudal Japan. um Idea, you know, it was one of the better scenes and one of the best scenes in the movie, honestly, like really liked it. It's good. Like there's some good shit.
00:20:20
Speaker
um But yeah, and I mean, Prey is definitely set up for a sequel, so i they yeah absolutely could. You watched it? I did not. I i just looked at i looked at a snippet of the plot synopsis on Wikipedia. Okay. um But I wouldn't be surprised, honestly, if they if they did a sequel to it.
00:20:39
Speaker
um There are discussions for additional installments to be developed after the release of Prey, saying their intent was to quote, do things that have not been done before in the franchise. And I think that's something that this franchise lends itself really well to. Absolutely. All you need is a predator. Like you don't need any other characters to carry over. You just throw any, any time, any place, any, any era, like you get 1950s Los Angeles.
00:21:09
Speaker
Throw some fucking predators in there. ye You know what I mean? 1870s New York City. Pop them bitches in there. Let's have a good time. 1920 Chicago. Let's get a predator a predator against Al Capone. Let's fucking do it. Let's just do this shit.
00:21:23
Speaker
Like, yeah I am 100% love, Predator is probably a top five movie monster for me. Maybe even top three, top three or four. Cause I don't know where I put him vis-a-vis John Carpenter's thing, but it's close. um But like, he's up there with the Wolfman and the Gremlins. Like, I fucking love the Predator. um I rewatched Predator like right,
00:21:49
Speaker
my ah My ex and I did like a full watch through of the entire Alien and Predators franchises um yeah because we were I was like, I want to watch Predator. So we watched Predator. And then.
00:22:00
Speaker
we I watched the Alien vs. Predator along with the Predator franchise, and that was a big fucking mistake. yeah and um And then she she but when we were watching that, she had all these questions about the aliens, and I was like, oh, well, now we need to watch all the alien movies. So I own all the alien movies now. I do not own all the Predators, which is too bad, because I fucking love those way better than the alien movies, which is not to say I don't love the alien movies. I do.
00:22:28
Speaker
I just love the predator movies more. Like I love the predator. The first predator is a damn near perfect film. It's a fucking masterpiece. Well, I think, I think what makes the predator more interesting is that you don't really get, you, we still don't know where the fuck they're from or like, what they do you get, you get little snippets of like world building and and backstory and stuff for the individual predators, but it's never the same predator. Right.
00:22:58
Speaker
So it's, it's mysterious with the aliens. Like it was like that for a minute, but then we got into the prequels and everything. And now like, I don't like that explanation. I don't like it. I don't like the way that xenomorphs are being created in the prequels. I think it's stupid. I think it's a really dumb idea.
00:23:20
Speaker
Right. So I'm kind of like I do love. I mean, I get what I'm sorry. Go ahead. I would say I do love the. You're good. I do love the first four alien movies. Yes, I said four. um But the prequels. Thank you. The prequels just. ah They bore me and they just ruin them for me. Like, it's just like, that's not that's not good enough for this thing that is so rad. Like, it needs to be better. I mean, I love Prometheus. Like, I think Prometheus may be my third favorite Alien film after the first two. Like, I think that one is really fucking good.
00:23:54
Speaker
um And that's the one where we get like the whole idea of. but And again, that I think that riffs saw on something that Ian Holmes' character, Ash, says in, or no, his it's not Ash. Who's the, what's the Android in the first movie? Is it Ash? Oh.
00:24:11
Speaker
yeah I don't envy. I think it's ash. um Something that he says in the first movie, like they're like a perfectly designed organism. And so we get kind of the the origin of that design. And we're introduced to like the Weyland Yutani Corporation, like Mr. Weyland and his obsession with it and why. And I like that. I think it adds some more to it. Now, I don't think Alien Covenant really added much to it. I wanted more out of that movie.
00:24:38
Speaker
It ruined it like I liked Prometheus the first time I saw it. But once I saw the sequel, I was like, well, you just ruined it. You just fucking ruined all that goodwill that you so like all this really interesting shit that you were leading up to for this. Yeah, I did enjoy the performances in it. But outside of that, that movie fucking sucked and I hated it. Yeah, I was not a big fan of the narrative in that movie. um Whereas I again, I think the first Predator is a damn near perfect movie.
00:25:05
Speaker
um I've not seen Prey yet, but this is my second favorite and from what i've under what I'm given to understand, it will become my third favorite after I see Prey, which is fine. um I want Prey to fucking slap. um My favorite thing about Prey is when people were being really shitty to the the star of Prey on social media. All the guys from the original movie like Bill Duke and Jesse Ventura.
00:25:31
Speaker
ah We're all like, hey, we support you. We love you. Welcome to the Predator family. You're the best, like your movie fucking rules and so do you, like all that shit. And I'm just like, Man, and i i am I am a Bill Duke like defender. I fucking love Bill Duke as an actor, as a director, like anything that man does is A-OK by me, even if it's not particularly good. i He's great. So yes, please. The fact that he's in Predator, just icing on the cake, man. I fucking love Bill Duke so much. um And then Predator 2 is,
00:26:08
Speaker
it it's it's the logical ah it's It's the logical next step for someone who's had a lot of cocaine, like urban jungle, right? Am I right though? Am I right? I disagree. I think that's a very natural like next film that you do. like what Well, what would you suggest? You another jungle one? like Honestly, this one feels like ah another logical extension of the original premise. Like, predators feels very... And that's kind of what Rodriguez was going for. Like, when he started writing this thing, he started he pitched this ah right after Desperado came out.
00:26:46
Speaker
And apparently what he turned in was or while it while it was like getting ready to come out like he was like just about to hit on Desperado and everyone was like he wrote the script without any kind of like mode ah to like um what it would cost or what whether or not the effects were possible. He had Arnold Schwarzenegger coming back to play Dutch in it. Like just all these pie in the sky ideas and the studio read the script and were like, this is great. There's no way. Like there's no fucking way. It's too expensive. And so then in the the late aughts, someone stumbled across it and was like, you know, there's the bones of a good thing here. We can... we can use this idea and kind of turn it into something else. And they they reached out to Arne even though he was at the time governor of California. They're like, look, you probably don't want to do this, but like, would you want to do this? And he's like, no, I'm running a state. And they're like, don't be fair.
00:27:50
Speaker
Totally fair. Cool. That's cool. Like we get it. We just thought, you know, just out of respect, sir. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. um Your governess and governor assistance. Governatorship, sir. Yeah. Your majesty. is that is that mean I don't know. I don't know.
00:28:09
Speaker
his honor, the governor, of I don't know. There you go. Yeah, something legal sounding. Right. um But like Rodriguez said, he he learned what to do by watching Predator and what not to do by watching every other movie the Predators ever been in. Well, and here's the weird thing, Steven, you'd think there'd be a lot more Predator movies. But there's Predator, Predator 2.
00:28:31
Speaker
and then nothing until the crossover films. Right. Nothing. Which are themselves like. 15 years, almost. 15 years. This franchise existed solely in comic books and in action video games and video games, too. For like. Yeah, because there was a really. Decade behalf. Yeah, I dip a toe into the video game corner here. There was a really popular ah SNES game, ah Alien Versus Predator, and there was a completely different but also equally popular Alien versus Predator arcade game. And I could be wrong about this, but I think it was Predators versus Alien is how they phrased it. One or both of those, but I don't remember. ah Also, interestingly enough, speaking of Arnie, crossing over in the video game world, Terminator and Robocop. Right.
00:29:25
Speaker
And honestly, I just want to see all four of those fight each other. Just get them. Yeah, get them. Mortal Kombat 11. OK. I'm pretty sure they're all extra characters on that, but I want it. I want it. I want it as a movie. Oh, gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you could even get Rambo in on that shit if it was Mortal Kombat 11. They got everybody in that game. That's what I heard. Yeah.
00:29:52
Speaker
Um, yeah, no, I, God, the Predator is so fucking cool. But no, you're right. Like this, for, for an IP that's been around for as long as that, for almost 40 years, coming up on 40 years here in just like another three years, it, it's been so sparsely used by Hollywood. And part of that, it, like the original premise for the original, um,
00:30:18
Speaker
the original Predator was like a joke. It was like Rocky versus Alien or something. yeah Like that was the original premise. And then it turned into what what the movie became, which is the quintessential gear shift movie where you've got, for the first half, it's an 80s action, balls out like action movie. And then for the back half, it's a slasher movie about all those guys getting hunted and killed in the in the middle of the fucking South American jungle. yeah And we fucking love it for that. But then no sequel to the no no film sequel within the franchise has done what that movie did. Like they've all done very different things, which is why I say this franchise lends itself so well to any kind of genre trope that you want to play with. Like in a way. It's kind of an anthology franchise in a way. Because I don't think they're with the exception maybe of
00:31:14
Speaker
No, I don't, with the exception of Jake Busey, who plays his father's son, the son of his father's character from Predator 2 in the Shane Black film, The Predator, I don't think there's any recurring characters. They reference a lot of them, but yeah. I'm okay with like referencing and like a few nods here, like ah ah a someone who's related to another character who knows another character. Right. That's fine. I'm just saying you keep this as an anthology series.
00:31:43
Speaker
The possibilities are limitless. There's so many cool things you could do with the predator. Exactly. And speaking of the time it took for them to get back on the predator train. Look at this. So within three years, you have the first two predators, right? Right. You don't you don't get another standalone predator movie until this one 2010, which is like. And then in the next 12 years, 20 years later, three total. Yeah.
00:32:10
Speaker
You get three total in the next last like 10 years, 12 years. Yeah. I mean, it's wild that it was dormant for so long. I will never understand that because the second one made money. The second one did good. People liked that movie. Right. Well, and that's just the thing. Like, I remember when Prey came out, a couple of film critics that I really love and respect were on social media. I think it was Bilga Iberi.
00:32:35
Speaker
ah said on Twitter um the wild thing is there are no bad Predator movies and I kind of bristled a little bit but I'm like I get where he's coming from because at the end of the day even bad Predator movies are still pretty good like I don't like the Predator but I It's got some stuff in it. Like it's not a complete waste of time. And you've got some fun performances from like Tom Jane and Keegan-Michael Key, um that little Jacob Tremblay kid who's in everything. um And, you know, in typical Shane Black fashion, it's set during a holiday. Not Christmas this time, it's Halloween. um But like this kid finds a predator mask. And what happens when a little kid finds a predator mask and the predator has to get it back?
00:33:22
Speaker
and Meanwhile, you've got like a you've got like a dirty dozen squad of commandos who are trying to hunt the predator before he like finds this kid and murders him like
00:33:34
Speaker
I'm initially down with that premise. it's a cool premise it's a cool light it's the shane black thing and i will i've talked about this in the podcast before and i will talk about it when we cover the predator it's the shane black thing of you made a really good movie come make our big studio blockbuster dam it not like that And then so he's like, well, fuck you, I'll do my own thing. Hey, you made a really good, like, you know, straight up funny action thing. Come direct our studio franchise movie. Damn it, Shane, not like that. And so that, I mean, he's directed four movies and it's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which is amazing.
00:34:12
Speaker
yep Iron Man 3, which was taken over by the studio and cut to cut to ribbons. um It's The Nice Guys, future episode of this podcast, The Nice Guys. Oh, yeah. Finally watched that. That's so fucking good, right? Yeah. That movie is so much fun. And so what did you do after that? The Predator, which is a movie that gets completely taken away from them.
00:34:33
Speaker
And it sucks like that the guy, it's it's just not fair for him at all. um But i I love Predator movies. like I think they're great. I can't believe I haven't seen Prey yet. I take that as a personal... In fact, I'm gonna go on Amazon and see if the 4K is available and just... Look, while you do, um didn't the guy who um directed Night of the Creeps, didn't he write The Predator with Fred Decker? Yes.
00:35:03
Speaker
He was one of the writers on The Predator. Yeah. Yeah. Fred Decker, they're boys. Yeah. They work together a lot. They're tight. They're good friends. Yes, they are. Yeah, absolutely. The Night of the Creeps. Yeah. Fred Decker. And Monster Squad, dude. Future episode of this podcast, Monster Squad. Have you seen that yet, Steven? Of course I've seen Monster Squad. The only Fred Decker movie I have not seen is Robocop 3. Oh, you could skip that one.
00:35:34
Speaker
Oh, it's not even it's not even it's not even Peter Weller. It's not even Peter Weller in that one. well Well, we'll cover that at some point when we get to we'll cover that on unenfranchised at some point. I don't know. Like I told you, there were like five TV movies made into a series after that. I don't know if that counts.
00:35:56
Speaker
Well, we'll talk about it later. I guess. Really, I just want an excuse to get Brian Kipron here to talk about Fred Decker's entire oeuvre is what I want. Yeah. You know, when you guys talked about Night of the Creeps, I was jealous I wasn't on the show.
00:36:11
Speaker
Um, that was, that was a Brian pick. We were, we reached out to Brian. I was like, Hey, we want you on the show. What do you want to do? He's like, night of the creeps. And we're like, absolutely. Come do it. So you guys are like, what is this? I just want to be like, Oh man. Oh, in fairness, we are both fans now. Brett and I both like watch that movie and we're rightfully like this movie fucking slaps. We love it. Yeah, I do. Because that movie fucking slaps and we love it. And that's okay. Reference in it. Um,
00:36:40
Speaker
neither creeps i don't think so but maybe uh nope it's only on blu-ray damn ladies your dates are here ladies ladies ladies oh predators though predators so the predator There was a hard pivot away from the aesthetic of the first movie in terms of the actors like Adrian Brody was a very intentional casting choice for them. They wanted to go with guys that were a lot lot more lean and wiry than you know the muscle bound.
00:37:20
Speaker
hunks of the 80s, I guess, like all those guys are just like with the exception of Shane Black, who kind of has the Topher Grace role in that he's wearing glasses and is the comic relief. um and Unlike Topher Grace, though, he's the first to get murked in in that movie.
00:37:38
Speaker
Um, no but like all of those guys are just like ripped and huge. And even the ones that aren't like ripped are still like big guy. Like Bill Duke is a big guy. Um, he's not, he's not a small man. Like dude is tall and dude is broad. Like he's, he's built.
00:37:55
Speaker
So this one, you don't with the exception of Nikolai, the Russian Spetsnaz officer, you don't really and even he's not super jacked. Like you don't really have anyone who's got that kind of build in this movie. Maybe Lawrence Fishburne 20 years ago. Right. Right. Maybe I I'll get to that later. Never mind. I'm not going to not going to let that cat out of the bag quite yet.
00:38:25
Speaker
meow
00:38:28
Speaker
Let's do the plot, Steven. Let's do the plot. Yeah, what's let's do the plot. So for those of you who are not familiar with this show, ah the plot in 60 seconds is the part where we have to be hest of the coin of justice, or if Brett's here, the D6 of destiny, but Brett's not here, so we do the coin of justice. I'll flip this, and Tucker will call it, and whatever the coin decides, one of us will be ah recounting the plot of the 2010 science fiction action film, Predators,
00:38:56
Speaker
In 60 seconds or less, Tucker, are you ready for the coin toss? I am ready. I am ready. Tails. It is heads. Yeah, ah very cool. So I am going to be putting 60 seconds on the clock so that you, Tucker, can recount the plot of predators. I will give you 30 and 10 second warnings as I normally do. This works out for me because like I really have to pee.
00:39:26
Speaker
But like I was thinking, well, if Steven does the plot, who's going to tell him 30 seconds and 10 seconds if I'm peeing? So this works out better for me. So like I do this plot, I pee, edit out the the part where I'm peeing, and then it's seamless. No, one if I hadn't said anything, no one would have even known. And I mean, you could still edit this part out, too. You won't never. But you could never. i I mean, I know.
00:39:54
Speaker
Integrity, Stephen accountability. What? Exactly. All right. So ah people are falling out of the M.F. and Sky and one of them is Adrian Brody. And they give him a what is known in some video games that I have played a saw. It's just a kind of a gun is called a saw because it will straight up saw somebody in half. So.
00:40:22
Speaker
ah There's some other people and like they're all like bad dudes sort of. And ah they get, you know, there's some traps and they find a dead guy. And then, yeah, then they find Lawrence Fishburne and he's nuts, but he somehow survived, but then immediately gets exploded. um And then they save the one pretty boy that shows him where the ship is. And then it turns out Topher Grace is a straight up serial killer.
00:40:49
Speaker
And, but then like he dies, which is rad. 10 seconds. And then that's the end. They're like, Oh shit. What now? Here comes some more people. The end. Two, one, and time.
00:41:05
Speaker
I was stalling at the beginning because there's not like they drop and they meet a few people, go a few places, fight some stuff. The end. you know It's i'm totally cool with that. they're but like They do go into the Predators camp. The IDF ah sniper played by Alice Braga recognizes what a predator is. And that is the one hanging there is the classic Predator design from the first film.
00:41:29
Speaker
um But like you see other there's other aliens there too. Like there's an alien that strongly resembles the the original Predator design from the first film before they like when it was going to be played by Jean-Claude Van Damme before they completely redesigned it. um That's the thing that's chasing Topher Grace through the jungle that Lawrence Fishburne shoots. Nice. Yeah. So. um Yeah, that and that's the that's the, I don't know, I think it the the group of people that they have combined together I think is really cool. You've got like this mercenary ah played by Adrian Brody. ah You've got a ah cartel enforcer played by Danny Trejo, who was written, the character was written in the script as a guy who looks like Danny Trejo.
00:42:17
Speaker
And Trejo apparently called up Rodriguez and goes, hey, I've been reading the script for for Predators. And there's a guy in here who looks just like Danny Trejo. And guess what? I look just like Danny Trejo. Can I get it a dish? And that's I mean, that's the thing about Danny Trejo. And I've said this before and I'll say it again. Like one thing I absolutely respect and love about that guy is that if he is available to do a thing, he turns down nothing.
00:42:44
Speaker
that man loves to work and he will and like kind of like Samuel L. Jackson like they'll do those guys just work constantly. And Adrian Brody also. He'll be in like Oscar bait and then in a couple months will have like three direct to DVD movies like streaming you know that nobody's heard of. Right. Yeah. It's he's the k Nick Cage of his day really.
00:43:08
Speaker
Kinda, yeah. yeah ah you've You've got a Spezna's alpha group soldier, the IDF sniper, um the RUF officer, and the, was it the, there's a Yakuza guy, and then Walton Goggins is the, he's an ah he's an inmate, but like FBI is most wanted or whatever. Yeah, according to him, he likes to be aggressive with people without their consent. Correct.
00:43:36
Speaker
Yes. Correct. And then you also have, uh, Topher Grace, who's an unsuspecting doctor that everyone just kind of, everyone just kind of assumes like, Oh, they must've wanted a medic to keep us all healthy. No, he's a fucking serial killer. yeah And it's like, yeah, he's just, just creepy and weird. Um, I don't know. I i don't like that reveal. No.
00:44:05
Speaker
I like you guys. e it No, but it comes. it It kind of comes out of nowhere for me. And it it's, just they do nothing with it. Like it's only, it only creates tension for like five minutes. And then then it's like, cause it happens right at the end of the movie.
00:44:28
Speaker
I know why i I remember now why I saw it coming. It's because I've seen this movie before. Right. Yeah. When you've seen the movie before, it's very easy to see it coming. Well, I had I had forgotten. I had forgotten. I had forgotten most everything except for the premise because I saw it when it came out. Right. I was like almost 20. I was almost 15 years ago. So um I would most of it was still a surprise to me. But I was like, I'm pretty sure the Topher Grace is like a crazy dude. Mm hmm. Pretty sure the whole time. And that was probably because I'd seen it before.
00:44:58
Speaker
I doubt it. I'm really good at suspending my disbelief and being as dumb as possible so that I can enjoy a movie. Even if it's a really bad twist, I enjoy it because I am just like trying not to figure things out the entire time. Sure. Whereas my brain can't help but go, I bet he is blah, blah, blah. It's just the way my brain works. I'm deeply broken. and But like I don't know. For me, it's...
00:45:23
Speaker
I don't like the reveal itself because they don't really do anything with it. It's kind of a throwaway. And then you cast someone as big as Topher Grace, so it's almost like they're setting you up for it because Why else would we cast Topher Grace in this? Like I almost kind of want it to be someone like a step down from Topher Grace. I understand he's a name and you want him. And he does play like this was the kind of role he was getting around this time. Like Spider-Man 3, he's playing a very similar kind of like, you know, weird creepy dude kind of thing. Like he he did this kind of thing a lot around this time period. So I get why you do it. I just don't like it.
00:46:09
Speaker
And I, you know, I don't like that they didn't give him a chance to really have fun with that aspect of the character because I think he, he could have chewed some scenery huh if they give him a, given him a little more to do than just the reveal. Right. It was basically just the reveal and he's like, Oh, I'm straight up going to kill you. Cause you're, and I want to stay here cause I'm a straight up predator or whatever. Yeah. And, and homeboys like, I didn't blow up.
00:46:36
Speaker
but that's ah I stab you in the chin. You done? that's it Yeah, stabs him in the chin with that with that paralytic shit and then like lays him on a bunch of bombs. Yeah. You get like a minute of that Topher Grace performance. and I want more of it because I know he can do that. Right. And that's why I hate the reveal is because the reveal it's it's a tossed off reveal. Like it adds nothing. Like it's not one of those that like, Oh, it changed the way I looked at the movie. No, you're just like, okay. So he was just lying in wait the whole time for what to what end? Like it feels like one of those really cool things that like sounds really good on paper, but in the execution of it, you're just like, this doesn't work. Like this just does not work. Yeah. I agree.
00:47:20
Speaker
I agree. And it's it for me, both the the character, the reveal, I don't mind the character, but it's I think it's the Topher Grace of it all. I think he's a little too big um for it and the reveal of it. I just I don't think either one are very well done, unfortunately. So I don't disagree. That said, I like his performance. I like what he does with the character for most of the movie.
00:47:47
Speaker
I just like him in general. Yeah. Topher Grace, um you know, the best of the that 70s show cast. Just he he stole our hearts by default. Really? Like the rest of the guys ended up being awful. If you love that 70s show, no matter what Topher Grace is in, you still just love him. Yeah, I still just whatever I see him. I'm just like, oh, that's nice. Oh, Topher. Did you watch his his television show that he had a few years ago where he was like some kind of teacher?
00:48:17
Speaker
Uh, no, I didn't, but I am current on that 90s show. Okay. Which is really dumb, but I really like it. And it's the, it's the leads. It's the two routine returning leads right of ah Kirkwood Smith and, uh, uh, what's her nuts. i got I know her name. I can't think of it right now. deborah jo ro Yes.
00:48:40
Speaker
And they, I mean, the whole cast is actually really, really good. The writing isn't always there as much as it needs to be, but it's good enough because the cast really sells it. And like I said, those two coming back in those roles is you can't fucking miss with that. Right.
00:48:57
Speaker
Yeah, I have not seen that 90s show. I did see the original that 90s show with Glenn Howerton. You mean the the 80s show? Oh, yes, that's the one. That's right. Yeah. Yes. That 80s show with Glenn Howerton and Tyler Lierz's brother. Right. yeah No, he was in that 70s show, actually. He was in the last season of that 70s show. Right. Yeah.
00:49:17
Speaker
after after Topher Grace left and he just he was like, well, we got to have we got to have someone with that Eric Foreman energy. And so they get in Josh Meyer like, OK, yo, I've tried. I tried really hard to listen to ah the podcast that they have together where they talk to people about family vacations, the Myers Brothers family vacation or something. Right. I had to listen to the Julie Andrews episode, obviously, obviously. But I it's so hard because they're talking and You don't, you lose who's talking because they sound exactly alike. Yeah. Exactly alike. I will say though, Josh Meyer, I think the, was no, he was not on Saturday Night Live. I was gonna say he was on Mad TV. no There was a guy who was on both SNL and Mad TV and his name is escaping me.
00:50:09
Speaker
Oh, crap, that's making me mad that I can't think of it now. it's um Is it Terry? No, the one sketch of his, i wrote his name was like Jeff something. The one sketch of his I remember from Saturday Night Live was with Queen Latifah, where he played a fussy baby and they end up wrapping together at the end of the episode. Oh. so Or at the end of the sketch. It was not good. I mean, it was not good. He was a later, I think he was actually in the cast with Uh, Josh Meyer, actually, Jeff Richardson, Jeff. Not Jeff Pro, Jeff Richards was his name. He was in three episodes of, of mad TV. And then like, I think three seasons of SNL, he went from that TV to SNL. Not the only sketch comedy show crossover that has existed though.
00:51:05
Speaker
Because you also have Damon Wayans with in living color and the like handful of episodes of SNL that he did before he got fired. Right. Well, it was kind of mutual because Lauren was like, no. And Marlon Wayans was like, you're right. No. And so she's kind of, you know, it's basically all that way. Right. Right. Like we thought we had something, but it turns out it it was like I don't think they're mad at each other, but it was kind of just kind of like, yeah, we're just working. Let's maybe not do this. Yeah.
00:51:33
Speaker
Um, but yeah, no, I, yeah. And again, the Topher grace of it, not that I, any ill will, the Topher, I just, not this movie. Like, yeah I want someone that's a little less of, less established, less of a name. and And I don't know who that would be. Like I've thought about it and I don't really have an answer to like who I would put there instead, but like. In 2010. Exactly. And that's, that's the math you've got to do.
00:51:58
Speaker
Like i'm thinking the the thing that's tripping me up is I'm thinking about the the poker scene from Oceans 11, because that's kind of the ilk of like teens teen celebrity around that time that you'd want to put in a role like that. But I don't think any of the rest of them are doing what he's capable of doing. You know what I mean? Yeah.
00:52:24
Speaker
You know you remember what I mean with by the poker scene right where it's got like homegirl from ah from What's the name of that witch show that was on the WB forever? Charmed charmed. That's the one. Yeah, it's got girl from charmed and like one of the guys from seventh heaven or something in there See everything You know that one, Steven? Come on, give me a little 7th Heaven. No. Just a little bit. Just a couple bars. Just a couple bars, dude. My sister was a huge, huge fan of 7th Heaven. And so that was ah on constant replay in my house. Yo, that dude is a snitch.
00:53:04
Speaker
Like those they're all snitches. That whole family is a bunch of snitches. Watch that show. All they do is fucking snitch on people. Yeah. All they do. Oh, my my thing on that. Oh, you know what? Joshua Jackson wouldn't be too bad. I could see that for sure. I'm just I'm literally looking at the cast of Ocean's Eleven. um There's ah my my big biggest complaint about the show is that everyone on that show behaves in the most irrational way possible.
00:53:30
Speaker
And there was one episode I was watching and the mom starts freaking out and she goes, no one here is behaving, or is behaving rationally. And I just, I lost my shit. I'm like throwing stuff going, no one ever behaves rationally on the show. I've been seen. Just started throwing shit around. Like when you call it out, it feels hollow because you're never rational. You're the least rational one lady. The absolute least. Oh my word. God. God. Ugh.
00:53:58
Speaker
Yeah. So there you go. Here's the thing. I used to know it by heart. I don't anymore. I don't anymore. OK. Because again, I have tried to block as much of that show out of my memory as humanly possible. Yeah. See, I got I got gypped by that show because like I came into it thinking it was going to be like the kind of family drama like life goes on. Mm hmm. No, I liked all those M efforts. Mm hmm. All those people in seventh heaven, man, they fucking suck.
00:54:28
Speaker
Yep. I hated all of them. Mm hmm. It didn't even matter that Jessica Beale was hot. I was like, damn, get out of here. She find out. Get out of here. She find as hell. But that show. No, thank you. No, no. Yeah. Yeah, dude. Yeah. Yeah. And like it was also at low stakes, too. Like I don't mean to keep bringing up life goes on. But like there was that whole story arc where like the girl's boyfriend had AIDS and like but they were going to try to have sex anyway. And like it was Man, the 90s were a weird time for television. Fucking hey, they were. And then 7th Heaven comes along and is like, oh, your friends having troubles at home? Well, let's put our big feet in the middle of it. Fucking snitch on everybody and make everybody else's lives miserable. Oh. But it's OK, because our dad's a pastor. Yes, he knows best. And they were low key, one of those, they were low key, one of those quiverful families. You just fucking know it. You just fucking know it.
00:55:29
Speaker
Mm hmm. Um, but Alice Braga in this movie, though, love her debt. Well, that's the gal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The one woman in this movie, man, that's who yeah there is a woman in this movie.
00:55:43
Speaker
ah We actually mentioned her on our um on our I Am Legend episode. She plays ah the the the woman in that movie. She's the woman, yes. She's really good at playing the woman in movies. Right. um I also really liked her in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. um She's like a head of a mercenary group. She's also in our previous episode on The New Mutants. She's in that as well.
00:56:10
Speaker
Like she's just she's she's good. She's good. She shows up in movies that are not great, but she's always good in them. So, yeah, no, I dig. I dig her. I really like her in this movie. Like she's kind of filling in the ah the the role of the woman from the original movie. um Oh, wow.
00:56:31
Speaker
She got to start in City of God, dude. Have you seen that movie? I own it. I haven't seen that. It's one of those like I know I've got to be in a right headspace for this movie. And yeah, it's one of those movies where like you existed before it and you exist after it, but it's not the same existence. Right. And that's why I also have that on DVD. I also have that on DVD and I've only watched it once. I've had it for over 20 years. Yeah. One time, one time.
00:57:00
Speaker
one time and I don't say that I blame you honestly but I'm sure I'm sure I'll watch it okay watch it you watch it Steven let's do it um we'll do a patreon special oh god ever do anything on the patreon again sure we just working it on it no I'm working on it I'm working on it ah But Alice Barra kind of taking the role played by Elpidia Carrillo in the original predator, but no I think she's I think she's phenomenal. I think she's really great um In this movie we we talked about Danny Trejo and Walton Goggins. You know who we haven't talked about though Adrian Brody we haven't talked about Adrian Brody, but before we get to Adrian Brody I
00:57:46
Speaker
We have to talk about Mahershala Ali. Oh, yeah. In this fucking movie. He dies a little too early for me. Which is a fucking bummer. They like the two characters. Two of the characters that kill off earliest are like the are like people of color, which is. i I just think that there aren't any throwaway characters in this movie. So I like if if I'm going to say he died too early,
00:58:13
Speaker
Who would I have put in this place? I have no idea because I kind of want to spend time with all these characters, especially them all together, like butting heads. And I think that's way into the back and forth in this group. And I like some of the there's not a lot of it because there doesn't need to be. There's not ah a whole lot of character development, but the stuff that is there, like with Walton Goggins.
00:58:33
Speaker
his character, like he almost kind of sort of maybe redeems himself a little bit. A little bit. I almost just a little bit because like he was sad that that dude he wanted to kill, got killed. He was sad. Remember that? He was like, hey, man, no, dude. like I just thought that was a weird character arc, because before that he's talking about.
00:58:56
Speaker
taking your wife and your sister and your mother and everybody else. And then he's like, oh, man, I'm sad. Let me sacrifice myself for the group. Yeah. And and he sold it, though. He fucking sold it. So I was into it. You know why he sold it? Because he's Walton fucking Goggins is why he sold it like he's good. um But yeah, man, Mahershala Ali, I fucking love him. Two time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali.
00:59:22
Speaker
um Is it weird that the first thing I ever saw him in was Luke Cage? No. Actually, that's not true. The first thing I saw him in would have been House of Cards. The first thing I ever noticed him in was season three of True Detective. OK. Wow. I had seen him in this movie, but I don't know the way he's costumed and I guess the lighting. It doesn't. He doesn't. His face isn't as distinct as it normally is.
00:59:54
Speaker
in Predators. I don't know what's going on there, but he his face is much more distinct now, I feel like. I'm i'm inclined to agree. He does his first film in 2003. It's called Making Revolution.
01:00:07
Speaker
um
01:00:11
Speaker
Then no no films until it looks like 2008. when he is in the curious case of Benjamin Button. He's Benjamin Buttons. Yeah, he's Taraji P. Henson's guy in that movie, which I mean, talk about your all time beautiful couple. Good God.
01:00:34
Speaker
um And then he does something called Crossing Over in 2009. He does a TV movie called The Wronged Man in 2010, right before he does Predator. So Predator is only his fourth theatrically released feature length film. um And after this,
01:00:57
Speaker
It takes him a couple years, like he gets House of Cards in 2013, so a few years after this, but he he's doing a lot of TV. He does Place Beyond the Pines in 2012, which I've not seen. He's on Tremé, which I've heard is a good show.
01:01:15
Speaker
and then eventually does like the Hunger Games before finally getting his academy ah award his first Academy Award winning role in Moonlight in 2016. But like, you know, one of those guys who kind of gets his start in horror and like ends up becoming like one of the most bankable, recognizable like actors of quality of his generation, like phenomenal. I would say I would consider him a character actor.
01:01:44
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Character director. Yeah. Yeah. And he's he's phenomenal in this for what little he has to do. Have you have you watched season three of True Detective yet, Steven? No, dude, of course. OK. So the reason that I have so much respect for Mahershali is in that show, him and Stephen Dorff played two characters at three different points in time. And each one is physically, visually,
01:02:18
Speaker
aurally distinct. Like, just enough to tell that someone has aged. And like, Stephen Dorff does good too, but just, I mean, the way he moves as an old man, the way his face, the way he his expressions change, I've never seen anybody, like, I believe that. Like, I'm like, wait, is this guy young? Or is he old? Or is he in the middle? and i Like, because when I first saw it, I didn't know who he was. I was like, wait, is this a young guy? Like, or is this an old guy? I don't know. Right. Because he was just man there. I say I believe a performance a lot. i will I will use that as a phrase. I use a lot to say I like a performance. But man, like I was hook, line and sinker on that. I was I way believed it. Like, I expect him Hershaw Lee, if I ever met him in real life, just to be that guy from True Detective.
01:03:13
Speaker
He's so good. But he wouldn't be because he's an actor. Yeah, I know. I know. And that's that's what makes him a good actor, dude. And he's only like he's less than a decade older than we are. Like he's he's he's good. He's talented. We are peers. Mm hmm. Had his 50th birthday earlier this year in point of fact. Nice. So there you go.
01:03:36
Speaker
Um, he is going to be the next blade, apparently. And maybe if it ever gets made. And Stephen Dorff was the villain in the original blade. So there you go. That's true. That's the thing. Um. Deacon Frost. Deacon Frost. What? ah ah we We said earlier that we like the um the the Yakuza versus Predator scene, which is fucking incredible. It's really great.
01:04:04
Speaker
I love the throwback to like the end of Predator 2 where they throw out the pistol at Danny Glover and it's from like the 1740s or something. Yes. Like something ridiculous like that. And, you know, they they refer back to that here when he throws the, any when that the Yakuza guy picks up the katana and is like, this is really old. They've been doing this a long time.
01:04:30
Speaker
Yeah. um And we just kind of get to see and and Larry Fishburne, another part of this movie I don't like. um I love what he's doing. I like his performance. I think it grinds the entire movie to a halt. It's fun for a throwaway character. um But I think honestly, it makes me mad that they killed him off so early, but also I'm kind of glad they did when they did because he's kind of... they I don't know if I want to spend a whole movie with that guy. Right. He's entertaining for a bit. Right. But when he gets blown up, it's like, I'm OK with that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and you're like, Lawrence Fishmore got second billing for this movie. um That's wild. He was on set for two days. I know he's oh yeah he's doing good. It's just I don't like the scene just grinds. That scene grinds the movie to a halt. And that's the scene where I'm bored out of my mind.
01:05:28
Speaker
Like you were like, that's the reveal I like, though, is when he's try he betrays them. Yeah. I like that reveal. Yeah. Because I'm I'm in like he seems like a nice enough guy. He's a little cuckoo, a little. I didn't both times. I'm assuming I didn't expect for him to just try to sell them out like that.
01:05:52
Speaker
Right. And it was the Topher Grace line. He's a scavenger. He just wants our stuff like that's it. That's all he wants. And that's how he's managed to survive for as long as he has is just by kneee skulking around and scavenging. But I mean, I understand why you need the character as well. Like you need someone who's like been there and been through it and seen everything so that, you know, like this is someone who you need the exposition, basically.
01:06:22
Speaker
Like I understand the function of the scene. I just, I wish there was a way to do it while continuing to propel the narrative without just like stopping it dead for like 10 minutes. Yeah, dude. I agree.
01:06:36
Speaker
I agree. it i It doesn't bother me as much, but I agree with what you're saying. Like, yeah, I don't know. It just and I like i but even the first time I watched it, I was like, I don't really like this a lot. Like this scene, I don't I could I could I could take or leave this scene like I like that Larry Fishburne's in it. I like that he wears the Predator armor. um I like that he he gets to play a character because at this point he was still like the the number one most associated role or role that people associated with him was Morpheus. And it's so different from Morphe. It's actually a lot more similar to his John Wick character than it is to Morpheus. But like it seems that that's the thing most people know of him. It's got to be fun for them to see him in kind of a different vein. But it's nothing like he's nothing like his character in Nightmare on Elm Street 3 in this, though. No. Speaking of people getting their start in horror,
01:07:32
Speaker
Yeah, a little little Larry Fishburne hanging off a boat in Apocalypse Now. Yeah. Yeah. And he was going. He was going by Larry then, too. He is a stick in that movie, dude. You seen Apocalypse Now? Yeah, of course I have. He's so tiny. You can see it in his face. You can see it in his face. But that's a boy. Yeah. That is a boy in the movie. Correct. He's not a man. No. Not at all. Which brings us, I guess, to Adrian.
01:08:01
Speaker
my fucking Brody in this movie. Yeah, dude. What do we think of Adrian Brody? I think he's a very capable actor. I think he's really, really good when he has good material. I have a lot of respect for him as an actor. ah But I'm not, most of the time I'm just not into what he's choosing to be in most of the time.
01:08:24
Speaker
That's kind of where I land on Adrian Brody as well. I think he's is very capable. I don't like a lot of the decisions that he makes as an actor, um particularly looking at you the village. um Like, hmm. Yeah, well. Yeah. Well. no No, thank you. But he is in ah Peter Jackson's King Kong, a movie that I love.
01:08:50
Speaker
um like he's he's and he's a frequent collaborator with your boy, Wes Anderson, too. That's true. um And as much as I love Adrian Brody, um the ones that he's in, with the exception of the French dispatch, are the ones I don't really care for. There. I don't like I don't like Darjeeling Limited. You like asteroid city, though, right? I really liked asteroid city, which is weird because, like,
01:09:19
Speaker
I went to see Asteroid City at the movie theater and I was like, damn, Wes Anderson disappeared so far up his own ass. He somehow came out the other side, clean. This is good. Like, this is really, really good. And like, I'm always like the, I'm the bottle rocket Rushmore guy, where he was just a little bit of that in there, you know? And as it goes on, I like them less and less. Though, I mean, I do like Royal Tannenbaums and I like Steve Zisu.
01:09:44
Speaker
um But somewhere after Steve Z. Sue, he just kind of lost me until, like I said, he resurfaced from his journey into his own anal cavity. He resurfaced on the other side and somehow made all of that stuff into fantastic cinema with the French dispatch, which wow, if you haven't seen the French dispatch, that's.
01:10:08
Speaker
That's a good looking movie. I will tell you, Wes Anderson is not. Wes Anderson is not appointment viewing for me, I'm afraid. So like it's that's the one I don't I don't really seek out his movies. There's one of them that I've enjoyed. And so I tend to just be like, I don't need to see this. So, well, I do want to say something more about Wes Anderson, but I want to finish my original point here. OK. Is that um I saw Asteroid City and it was my favorite. It is my favorite modern Wes Anderson film.
01:10:38
Speaker
um And then the next week after I saw in the movie theaters that Rolled all that adaptation. He did it with Benedict Cumberbatch hits Netflix. I Couldn't make it through ten minutes of that right on the worst fucking things I've ever seen in my life and people love it It's got like I'm saying that on run tomatoes. I'm like how are we watching the same thing? This is utter garbage. And so like that's I ah Wes Anderson's one of those directors to where, like, because in the beginning he impressed me so much, I'm always going to see what he puts out. You gave i you give him more of a pass than you would another filmmaker. But I'm also not afraid to say that fucking sucks. Right. You're dealing limited. Fucking sucks. The the hotel one fucking sucks. That was the one that got nominated for all the fucking Oscars, too.
Roald Dahl's Movie and Royal Tenenbaums
01:11:29
Speaker
That Roald Dahl one fucking sucks. Steve Z. Sue is fine.
01:11:36
Speaker
Outside of that, they're all real good. Yeah. Royal Tenenbaums is the one that I like. Like, that's the one that I'll point to and go, I like that one. That's I also didn't like Moonrise Kingdom, but um I like Royal Tenenbaums, but it's like it's a harbinger to to the thing, the movies I don't like. It's right. It's the movie that made those other movies I didn't like. A way that I didn't like them. Right. That makes sense. Yeah. No, it makes perfect sense.
Adrian Brody's Career Highlights
01:12:05
Speaker
Um, what's your favorite Adrian Brody performance? Oh gosh. Oh gosh. I might have to, I might have to consult IMDb here. Honestly. I'd have to say it's going to be the jacket, but pretty much anything from 2002 to 2010 with a few exceptions. That's his golden run for me. So you got stuff like Cadillac records. Do you got.
01:12:34
Speaker
Stuff like the Brothers Bloom, which you you know I love the Brothers Bloom. Brothers Bloom was great. You know I love Brothers Bloom. I know you do. you It's a Rian Johnson movie. Of course you love it. Hollywoodland, King Kong. Did you ever see Hollywoodland, Steven? I did. I saw that one shortly after it came out on digital video desk. You did it again. I did it again. That's why we're friends. It's called a callback. Yes. Yes. ah But the jacket, Steven, have you seen the Joaquin? No, I have not seen La Chiqueta.
01:13:04
Speaker
yeah I call it a huakit because I always imagine that Joaquin Phoenix doesn't wear a coat. He wears a huakit. So ah it so sorry. But The Jacket, ah it's really, really good. It's a very claustrophobic film. It's it's um it's the kind of performance that only a few people I think could pull off. Oh, well, Adrian Brody is one of them. And you should you should watch it. It was kind of a cult hit in the horror scene in those days, and it's still It's still you still spin yarns about it at conventions, you know, OK? It's real good. Put it on your list. I don't know where, but, you know, i watch it at some point. and I've heard good things. I have heard good things. I mean, it's a good double feature with the machinist. OK, those two movies together. It doesn't matter the order. Double feature. I think my favorite Adrian Brody performance and I've not seen his Academy Award winning performance in um the pianist.
01:14:03
Speaker
He's right. But I I mean, I'm a I must sucker for Peter Jackson's King Kong. So it might be Peter Jackson's King Kong, honestly. Yeah. Like I fucking love that movie. and He gets to share the screen with the Sumerian rat monkey box. Call back to Dead Alive. What's up? In King Kong, because you can see Dead Alive, did you, Stephen? No, we talked about this because right. Because I kick ass for the Lord. I edited that episode.
01:14:33
Speaker
back when I used to listen to him when I added him. um So don't do see. OK. In King Kong, when Adrian Brody, he's in the ship and he goes past some cargo and one says Samarian Rat Monkey. Right. And that's what causes the zombie plague in Dead Alive, a Samarian Rat Monkey. I have seen um I've seen the other one. um Brain Dead.
Summer of Sam and Zodiac Comparison
01:14:56
Speaker
Brain Dead. Yeah, I've seen Brain Dead, but not Dead Alive. No, Brain Dead is Dead Alive.
01:15:00
Speaker
It's just there was another movie in the US called Brain Dead, so they couldn't release it in the US as brain dead. You're thinking of bad taste. Yes, I am thinking of bad taste. yeah You need to get on Meet the Feebles, dude. That was the one. I tried to watch Meet the Feebles in college and I i couldn't. I could not.
01:15:19
Speaker
As a lifelong Muppet fan, I had problems with Meet the Feebles. Speaking of, the Muppets have acknowledged that film. Oh, I know. Remember the Mayhem? Yes. The Ejax that rolls in, and he's like, yeah, we met the Feebles. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I sure do remember that. I love that. I will also say, I really loved Adrian Brody in Summer of Sam. Oh, yeah. He is really good in Summer of Sam. I always forget he's in it because I don't watch Summer of Sam anymore now that I've seen Zodiac.
01:15:49
Speaker
Right. Exactly. Like now that's a good that's a fun double feature. Summer of Sam and Zodiac in that order. But yes. Yeah. Watch Summer of Sam first. You don't like respect Spike Lee respect. But no, I mean, look, up until Zodiac, that and was probably the best serial. Like it's between that and like Silence of the Lambs. But yeah, like based on like a real so like a real serial killer, like probably the best movie.
01:16:16
Speaker
And you got Mugg, was Michael Rispoli as as David Berkowitz in that one? Yes, dude. Like, God, that movie's so good. um And he's really good in it. So, yeah, there you go.
Adrian Brody's Unconventional Roles
01:16:29
Speaker
um But yeah, I mean, adrian but but but then he does shit like, ah you know, wearing dreads on Saturday Night Live. And you're just like, what the fuck are you doing, dude? Oh, you didn't see high school, did you?
01:16:43
Speaker
Uh, high school is this really weird comedy that he was in like in like 2010 ish. So around the time this movie came out. Uh, I think it came out like right after this movie. It came out right before, apparently. Okay. There you go. And he, this was when, like at that time, you know, he had just gotten the Oscar and like he's been, he's done all these big productions. I feel like this was kind of the start of him being like, you know what, this is cool, but I also want to do shit I want to do just for fun.
01:17:14
Speaker
You know, like I've got I've got a couple of cars and my house is big. I just want to do this for LOLs. And he brings it in high school. He plays this psychotic drug dealer and he is at both both at the same time terrifying and hilarious. OK. And the cast on this thing is weirdly good. It's a pretty decent kind of forgotten. We might have to do it on ah what you call it. What's that show I have? Straight up.
01:17:44
Speaker
Yep. We might have to do it. Michael Chiklis, Colin Hanks, Yardley Smith, Curtis, arm the great Curtis Armstrong, ah Michael Vartan, Adrian Brody, Michael T. Williamson. Fucking love Michael T. Williamson, dude. Who does? I was just thinking about him because when I was thinking of Mahershah Ali in season three of True Detective, I was thinking the only person I've ever believed that much in a role was Michael K. Williams in Happen Leonard.
01:18:15
Speaker
but I didn't feel it was relevant, but then you just, I can't, now I have to, you know? You did this, you
Wes Anderson's Cinematic Influence
01:18:21
Speaker
did this. Sure. And speaking of Wes Anderson, the oldest Wilson boy, Andrew Wilson, is in high school, who plays Future Man in Bottle Rocket. Okay. There's more Wilsonses, and they show up in a few different places. Yeah, yeah, he's with Adrian and Michael T, yeah.
01:18:42
Speaker
Booger is in Curtis Armstrong. Yes, I mentioned him. Yes. Moonlighting Curtis Armstrong. The only thing that kept me watch in the last couple of seasons of that. I believe it. I mean, because after they fuck, it's like, do I even care anymore? That's the thing. When you're in the entire premise of your show is a will, they won't. They and they do. Why the fuck do we need to keep watching? They did. You're right. Wyatt Russell also in high school. I love that kid.
01:19:11
Speaker
you guys it's it's I don't know why nobody I only know this because my at the time wife ah was a manager of a video store and so I just watched all the new movies that came in we just watched every new movie that came in I just happened across that and yeah I'm gonna see where it's streaming because I think I'm gonna watch it tonight when we're done here there you go I love to be reminded of that film Uh, what else you gotta say about, uh, about predators, man?
Hope for Predators Sequel
01:19:39
Speaker
Not a damn thing, honestly. I mean, they, they had wanted to do, uh, a sequel. There was a s sequel, uh, planned, but, uh, never really ended up happening. Um.
01:19:54
Speaker
Nimrod on tell said he would have loved to do one. Robert Rodriguez obviously would have loved to do one. I think I think ah Troublemaker Studios is a good place for Predator. So no matter what Robert Rodriguez creative input is on it, I think that's a really good home for it because I think they're they would take they take care of the franchise. What I'm saying, they care about it. It's obvious in this film. I mean, they it seems like the immediate aftermath of this movie is that, yes, we're doing a sequel.
01:20:24
Speaker
And then in 2014, they pivot to the Shane Black film and basically lead lean on that too as as another way of reinventing the franchise.
01:20:41
Speaker
yeah so i mean It's kind of one of those things like this feels like a direct sequel to the first film. And, you know, there are those lines that are in every Predator movie, like you're one ugly motherfucker, which we hear in Russian in this movie, which I fucking love.
01:20:58
Speaker
um Like you get those those moments kind of that are ubiquitous to the Predator franchise. It's the one Predator movie without get to the chopper, though, because there's joe fucking choppper no No.
01:21:14
Speaker
Not to say that there wasn't. You could have probably thrown it in there when they were trying to get to that ship, but I'm glad they didn't because it would have felt forced. The other ones that they included did not feel forced didn to the point to where I just watching it and they'd say the thing and I'd be like, yep. And then a couple of seconds later, I'm like, oh, hey, wait, that's the thing from. Yeah, that's because I'm watching it. You know, they didn't make a big deal out of it. They were like, hey, guys,
01:21:42
Speaker
And then you just say the thing. Right. And that's the kind of fan service I hate when you're going to like put a button on it, like yeah a hat on a hat. Just, you know, if you can't make it part of, seem like it's part of the thing. Uh, and then you've got the obvious tie-in at the end where you get a little Richard's long tall Sally over the end credits. Yeah.
01:22:01
Speaker
I did appreciate that quite a bit. Which I fucking loved. Like, and that's one of those, if you haven't seen the original Predator, you're very confused to why that song's playing over the end credits. Yeah, you're like, I guess this is fine. This is cool like this, but... Right. Yeah.
01:22:18
Speaker
No, it's i I think this movie is a lot of fun. I have a good time with it. um I wish there would have been another one, because I would have liked to see Adrian Brody and Alice Brodery get off that damn planet and interact with some other like deadly people and try to like have them take on the Lawrence Fishburne role of trying to like shepherd these people through a vast sea of predators to, you know, to to ultimately trying to get off the
Sequel Ideas and Inspirations
01:22:47
Speaker
planet. So.
01:22:48
Speaker
my sequel idea since you asked Steven, I like your idea. I would watch that movie for sure. But mine is you. You be movie it up even more. You do a Hills Have Eyes remake part two, where the first is like supposed to be this serious sort of horror thing, like an event, like a big deal, like which Predator and Predators in a way is. And then you just make the next one where A bunch of people drop down, they meet up with the two that are left over from the original. And then it's just a slasher movie from that point. That's what they did with that Hills Have Eyes remake. They made a Hills Have Eyes movie. and And then they made a second one where the military goes in and and then there were 12, you know, like it's standard slasher movie and it's fantastic because it works in that world and that's all they need. You throw any slasher strip script at that.
01:23:46
Speaker
And it's going to be good. Yeah. Just want get into that story and fantastic. That's what the original Predator was. It's like this big military mission and then you get the the slasher movie for the back half. like But you'd get it in two movies this time where the first one is sort of the survival sort of deal. And then the second one is the scary boy, everybody killing and decapitated and stuff. And speaking of.
01:24:09
Speaker
homeboy got his whole ass spine pulled out of his body. Steven Walton got one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty grizzly rad. Pretty awesome. So rad. But it was presented in such a way that I think even people who are squeamish with that kind of stuff.
01:24:30
Speaker
can still be like, that's fucking rad. It's done in silhouette from a bit of a distance and it happens to a character that you're generally supposed to hate anyway. It's still pretty brutal. Even in silhouette, it's brutal. It is brutal. I mean, is it's perfect. Is there is there a non brutal way to tear someone's spine out of their body? Like, I don't think there is. No, I'm just saying visually, it was. Yeah.
01:24:55
Speaker
captivating with its brutality. and I mean, I i dig i dig
Nimrod Antal's Career Overview
01:25:00
Speaker
Nimrod on Tal. I think he's a really fucking phenomenal director. What else has he So his first film was Control, which is a Hungarian language film. Control. His first American film was Vacancy.
01:25:16
Speaker
Oh, I like that one with the with the and the the loop speaking of the Wilson boys, that Luke Wilson, boys that Wilson boy. Yeah, I like that movie. That's a spooky one for sure. He does a movie called Armored with ah Matt Dillon and Jon Renau and our boy Lawrence Fishburne word. And then he does Predators and then.
01:25:38
Speaker
his' He directed some episodes of Wayward Pines. Yes. Did you ever watch that show, Steven? I watched the first season and as soon as the twist came in, I was like, I know. Thanks. I don't like this anymore. it It was still pretty good. It was. I like this kind of ruined it for me. Oh, but that build up, though, that first season, I think the second season is good, too. But coming from your perspective, before that reveal, that's a fantastic bit of television. I really love.
01:26:07
Speaker
that entire show, and I wish they hadn't ended it after the second season, and they still haven't officially canceled it. He also did a couple episodes of Stranger Things as well. Yeah, Stranger Things. After this movie, he does the Metallica concert film through the Never, does a Hungarian film i about a famous Hungarian bank robber called the Whiskey Bandit. And then in 2023, he does a Liam Neeson action movie called Retribution.
01:26:35
Speaker
I think don't isn't that doesn't every director just do one of those now? It's like, you know, in the so in the 70s, when you were born, you were just born with a copy of Frampton Comes Alive. Like I feel like it's the same kind of every as soon as you graduate from director school, they just pair you up with Liam Neeson and a stunt crew. Right. And a script written in 24 hours by someone gets out of their ass. Yes. Yeah. yeah Welcome to Hollywood, ladies and gentlemen. Here's your Liam Neeson movie, right? And I mean, that's pretty much all he does these days is that like that shit. So, hey, instead of a nonstop, the commuter, like he's got all these movies where he's just like, I'm going to kick your ass because I'm Liam Neeson.
Liam Neeson's Action Film Transition
01:27:24
Speaker
But then he can still come on Atlanta and like ah give a really emotional from my perspective.
01:27:32
Speaker
performance in just a cameo and prove that he's actually better than that. He just likes making money. um Well, I think a lot of it was after his wife died. He just like threw himself into making as many movies as he could just to like squash the grief and then just kind of got into that vein and kind of kept fucking doing it. But.
01:27:57
Speaker
Yeah, he's he developed like with starting with, I think, taken. He developed this whole like. Thing with the action films, although you've not seen it, but his 2016 work in Martin Scorsese's Silence is. I do need to see that you do. It's fucking amazing. God, I love that kind of. It's kind of embarrassing.
01:28:24
Speaker
I mean, I've seen the big ones, but it's embarrassing how many Scorsese films I haven't seen. I mean, same. Or that I've only seen once, like Goodfellas have only seen once. Yeah, it's kind of emotional speaking.
Scorsese's 'Bringing Out the Dead' Release
01:28:39
Speaker
Speaking of, I have to announce it because I do bitch about this a lot. And I know I've done it at least a couple of times on the podcast. um I can no longer bitch about bringing out the dead, not being on Blu-ray.
01:28:53
Speaker
because not only is it getting a Blu-ray release, it's gonna be in a 4K. It is. And you know, the reason I always complained about this is because it's my favorite film of his. And even if it's not your favorite Scorsese film, it's a GD Scorsese film. Right, right. It needs to be it needs to be updated with the formats. We should have had a Blu-ray years ago. Years ago.
01:29:22
Speaker
We never got it, but now you know what? The wait is over. Now, on September 12th, I will be receiving my 4K of bringing you out the dead and I'm calling off work that day. Nice. There's some cool special features and we'll check those out. No commentary, unfortunately. That is a bummer. Big bummer. But there are new There are new interviews specifically for this DVD or for this 4k new interviews with Scorsese and with Nick Cage. And I think with somebody else, I don't remember. And there's, um, some older like promotional featurettes. And I think there's a new, um, behind the scenes featurette there's ah for, for a movie that has only ever gotten a VHS release and a bare bones DVD release. Right. like Got quite a few extras on it. Right on.
01:30:15
Speaker
I'm excited. i I might need to finally check that movie out. Please do. So right on, right on. I dig it. um Predators opened on Friday, July 9th in the year of our Lord 2010. Big summer release. I remember this
Predators Box Office Performance
01:30:37
Speaker
movie coming out. I did not see it because at the time, foolishly, I was very anti predator.
01:30:43
Speaker
oh I was just like, that franchise sucks. That looks dumb. That's stupid. um It opens in third place, which is not great. It opens behind Despicable Me, which is also opening this week.
01:31:02
Speaker
And the second week of the Twilight Saga colon eclipse. Oh, people love those movies. Yeah, they do. They really do. I did some money. Those movies did some money. They shared in two weeks. Tucker, it is it is grossed over two hundred million dollars.
01:31:21
Speaker
It ain't my way, but damn it. It's profitable. It is. ah Meanwhile, Predators opens to 20. It opens at number three to twenty four point eight million in fourth place down from number three the week before the fourth weekend of Toy Story three, which has earned over three hundred thousand dollars. And it's for dude. They're making a Toy Story five. Yep. I heard. I'm man.
01:31:50
Speaker
Look, a lot of people disagree with me here, but sometimes I think that it's okay just to end a franchise. I agree. No, I agree. I absolutely agree. Sometimes you got to know when to bail.
Ending Franchises with Dignity
01:32:01
Speaker
It's okay for something to die yeah because there will be new things. That's how you get new things. Yeah. And just because there's new things doesn't mean the old things don't still exist and you can enjoy them as much as you want. Look, Dr. Katz got canceled 22 years ago and I still watch it. I still watch my video tapes and I watch the episodes on YouTube and shit. It's still there. And I'm not, I'm not begging for more. I don't need it. I'm glad I got it. I already got it.
01:32:33
Speaker
Just let it die. And for some reason, Woody is coming back for this one, which doesn't make any sense. the fourth one because I didn't see the fourth one because I felt the same way about that one because the third one was such a good little bow on the end of the entire franchise. The fourth one handles his departure so well. And this is starting to undo all of that. And I hate it. Yeah, well, apparently it's going to be all about how how kids don't want to play with toys anymore. They want to get on their tablets.
01:33:02
Speaker
It feels like a grumpy old man movie. Oh, I might have to see it then. Hold up. I want to be seen, that's all. That movie will see me. In fifth place, down from second the week before it's the ah future episode of this podcast, the second week of M Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender. Oh, people did not like that movie. Nope.
01:33:27
Speaker
That's what I dropped 59 percent from week one to week two, even though it ah added 34 theaters. So yeah. Oh, that's the thing, because like people were hyped about that shit. People were
The Last Airbender's Negative Reception
01:33:40
Speaker
ready. Like all the little Avatar fans, myself included, were like, oh, damn, there's going to be a straight up Avatar movie? What? Yeah, there is indeed. But I waited too long to see it and the word of mouth got to me and I was like, actually, you know, I don't think I will.
01:33:55
Speaker
and I never have but no desire. I don't think I will. No. ah Rounding out the top 10, you've got Grown Ups at number six. The Tom Cruise Cameron Diaz film Night and Day at number seven. a Future episode of this podcast, Question Mark. The 2010 Karate Kid with Jaden Smith. Yeah. In ninth place, speaking of Liam Neeson, future episode of this podcast, The A Team.
01:34:20
Speaker
Oh, hey, yeah. I like that he plays not Liam Neeson in that movie. Right, right. yeah it's It's an action film he does without, you know, dialing into the the thing he would he would do later. And then in 10th place, Cyrus, apparently, a movie with, starring Jonah Hill, John C. Riley, Marisa Tomei, and Catherine Keener.
01:34:44
Speaker
i Directed by the Duplass brothers. how How have I not heard of this? Did it suck? It might have sucked. A Los Angeles divorcee meets the woman of his dreams, but when her son enters the picture, things start to get messy. Oh, yeah, that probably sucks. I mean, the fact that you haven't heard of it probably means it sucks. But I like all those people, though. So that sucks that it sucks. Yeah, whatever.
01:35:13
Speaker
Yeah, predators, like we said, opens to ah twenty four point eight million, ah which is less or I guess. Slightly less than half of its total domestic gross. It earns 52 million domestic. Another 75.2 international for a grand total worldwide box office of 127.2. Now that is off of a 40 million dollar production budget because Robert Rodriguez knows how to produce a movie.
01:35:46
Speaker
Yeah. But that said, it did not get the sequel that they were hoping for, probably come because of the Shane Black entry, honestly. um The Tomatometer score is a 65%. The critic's consensus after a string of subpar sequels, this bloody action, a string, there was one. ah This bloody action-packed reboot takes the Predator franchise back to its testosterone-fueled roots. When did it ever leave? I mean, there you go. Like, really, when you get right down to it?
01:36:20
Speaker
They are counting the AVP movies, I feel like, which oh, yeah, like those those like the first one was fine. The second one sucked. I don't care that they exist, but they I don't think they're in the actual continuity of either of those seriousness. Right. They're kind of their own separate thing. Yes. Parallel universe where both of those creatures still exist correct in the same dimension. The one thing you get from the from that franchise is you get um
01:36:48
Speaker
You get Lance Henriksen to come back to play um like and he plays the guy that robot was based on the Wayland, like the original Wayland, Mr. Waylander, whatever. Yeah. um The meta score is a 51 percent based on a mixture average reviews from 30 critics. I. Yeah. And Tucker, you want to take a stab at the letterbox review? I feel like this one's going to be somewhere between Two point nine and three point three. Two point nine. Nice. Nice. It is a two point nine. And speaking of how we're going to rank these, Tucker, how do you rank 2010's Predators out of five stars? This is a very solid three stars. It's a three and a half for me. It goes up a little bit in my estimation this time. But yeah, I really, really dig this movie. Kind of want to own it in 4K. I'm not going to lie.
01:37:48
Speaker
I'd buy it on 4K. I would, i would love I would buy a collection, honestly. Even though I haven't seen Prey or The Predator, I know at least one of those is good. They do have the four movie collection, which includes the first four films, everything but Prey. But you can also, and that's, you can get that on 4K for like 56 bucks on Amazon right now. That's not bad. It's not too bad. Yeah, dude.
01:38:15
Speaker
But yeah, there you go, man, like predators. I dig predators, more predators. like And we did this because, of course, we're celebrating alien. um But yeah, which do exist, like ah even though the AVPs are somewhere else, there is that alien skull, a xenomorph skull.
01:38:36
Speaker
in the second one and predator too. And that's that's the whole reason the alien versus predator became a thing is because someone spotted that and their imagination went wild. I mean, it is a good idea. That's partially why I like the first AVP is because it's not a good movie. No, it's not a terrible movie. And you get to see the xenomorphs and the predators fight. And it's pretty cool most of the time when they fight. It is kind of worth it just for that alone. But yeah. And then the second one just takes all the joy out of everything.
01:39:05
Speaker
Mm-hmm, correct, correct. the the The first, the, yeah, the second one is the worst movie in either franchise. I agree. Yeah. Absolutely. AVP Requiem is the worst movie in either of those franchises without, with a bullet. Like it's not even close. It's a shame they wasted that R rating on the good one, on the bad one. Right, right. Because you really, you really kind of want to see it on on the good one. You kind of, you you kind of need that.
01:39:35
Speaker
But no, alas, but no. ah But yeah, that is our episode on 2010's Predators. We have been the disenfranchised podcast. ah You can find us on various forms of social media at disenfranchpod. I don't really update it as much anymore, because who fucking cares? It's not like we get, we don't get a lot of engagement on the socials, so. I do it on Instagram at least, because I'm on Instagram.
01:40:05
Speaker
and I like see the posts, it makes me smile. We get a few likes. I was late in doing the episode one proper for this week, because life finds a way, as it is wont to do.
01:40:17
Speaker
Um, but yeah, no, uh, find out we're at disenfranch pod, shoot us an email, disenfranch pod at gmail dot.com. We may read your email on the air. Um, head on over to patreon dot.com slash disenfranch pod for the official discussion of the disenfranchised podcast. And when you give us five bucks a month, we give you access to just hours and hours of content that we've recorded over our time as content creators here on this wide, wide world of web.
01:40:47
Speaker
World Wide Web, I don't know, whatever. um Yeah, we've been doing this for, gosh, coming up on, that we're getting ready to start our fifth year. Yeah, dude. Of this podcast. like We started this thing in September of 2020, so we're coming ah coming up on our fourth year anniversary, which is pretty cool. um and And yeah, you can, um What else we got? Oh, yeah. read Leave us a five star rating and review. Not enough of you have been doing that. We need we need more of that, please. And thank you. um And yeah, you can find me on social media. I'm at Chewy Walrus on a handful of places. You can find me there by my book. Check in, check out that I wrote with my partner, Mandy Gossage. um It's a comedy thriller. I guess I still have your copy, Tucker. It's right there. I can show. I'll bet. I'll bet it is a comedy thriller. I wouldn't know, Steven. I wouldn't know.
01:41:47
Speaker
Yeah. Um, and, uh, yeah, Brett is not really on socials anymore and not, he's, uh, look, life, life found a way for Brett pretty permanently. And we're, we're kind of bummed. We were, we're hoping to get him back for a couple appearances soon. I think you're gonna like, the well's going to run dry on your creative ways of like having him off world somewhere. Yeah. And you're eventually just going to be like, and this week Brett is at work.
01:42:16
Speaker
probably. I mean, it that's essentially what it kind of comes down to. Like he he he do be working though. I usually just try to tie it into whatever movie we're discussing. But yeah, yeah. um But yeah, Tucker, where are you on socials these days? ah Same as it ever was. I'm on the Instagrams and YouTube as ice 909. That's I see in I in e and the number zero and the number nine. Also, Tuckmugs, hey, Steven, guess what? Hey, what? um you Next time you see my social media coordinator, let him know that I'm working on a Tuckmugs post. You know who sent me a guest mug? Is it is it our good friend Evan Jimmy Toohey? It is Jimmy, yes. He sent it to me and I've been so busy
01:43:11
Speaker
See, Jimmy's not, ah he's a very, he's a good visual artist and he's a great musician and he's a fantastic lyricist. But when it comes to tuck mug posts, i just he just doesn't have what it takes to to really deliver something. Like the photos are great. Sure. I would expect nothing less. The description, it needs a punch up. Like last time I did a punch up for him. Right. And he assumed I would do one this time as well. And I just haven't had time to do it.
01:43:41
Speaker
It's gonna be a great post. And the mug that will be featured on Tuckmugs is a mug that is featured in the music video for a Grand Voodoo Band, AKA Jimmy's most recent single, ah You're Making Me Nervous and I Don't Care. Cool. So check out that video on YouTube and spot the mug in that and then keep keep notifications on for Tuckmugs. So as soon as that get posts soon as it gets posted,
01:44:11
Speaker
BAM, you'll be able to see it. I'm off tomorrow. I'm off tomorrow, Stephen. I'll probably get it taken care of and I'll just send it on over to you and you just kind of put it on. OK. Sounds good. I'll let your social media manager now. Let that guy know. Have we paid him recently? Never pay him. OK. Yes, definitely do it. All right. Hit the petty cash. No, but that's that's where I'm at. That's where I'm at. The summer is not the most um Exciting time at Tuck Mugs. Right. Because not only am I very busy, but I do not do a lot of drinking out of mugs. Because it's too hot for coffee. It's too hot for cocoa. And it's too hot for soup. I occasionally drink cold things out of mugs. I'll put an ice cube in like my coffee mug sometimes in the morning. I drink juice out of mugs. There you go.
01:45:03
Speaker
because I never want like a full like pint glass of juice. Sure. I just want like about half that. And like I broke both of my scotch glasses. So I just used mugs. I was about to ask if you didn't have any juice glasses, but no, I need to get some more. Oh, you call them. I call them scotch glasses. Well, I mean, I have I have separate glasses for scotch that I use. I'm saying it's around that side. It's about half of a half of a standard glass. A little tumblers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Tumblers. There you go. That's it.
01:45:33
Speaker
That's an even playing field there. Right. For sure. For sure. Right on. Yeah, that's me on social media. Cool. Well, and that is our episode on 2010's, 2010's Predators. So ah join us next week when we do another failed franchise starter. um i'm I'm kind of excited and terrified by this one. And um yeah, I'm excited, too, because we're going in blind. I have no idea what it is. I have never happening I have never even seen this movie, although the star of next week's movie has a has a connection with
01:46:07
Speaker
one of the stars of this week's movie. And also we were talking about a fucking show he was on during this episode. If that's not a huge spoiler, I don't know two shows what it could be at any rate. i yeah I know. I know. Sorry, Stephen, go, please. I'm sorry.
01:46:31
Speaker
Sometimes if I don't have anything to add, I just let it let it go. and But you you can't let that happen. You can't just drop it. I can't take my own advice and know when to bail. No, you you really don't. um Anyway, I'm trying to bail now. you know This has been the disenfranchised podcast. Until next time, I'm your host, Stephen Foxworthy. For my co-host Tucker in the absent, Brett Wright. Until next time, would you get to the chopper?
01:46:58
Speaker
Welcome to Hollywood, here's your Liam Neeson movie.