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Lost In The Predator and Prey
17 Plays21 days ago
This week we're talking Dan Trachtenberg's latest movie, Predator Badlands as well as Prey!
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Motivation
00:00:15
Speaker
Sir, why don't you take a seat? You're telling me you came here to listen to a Lost in the Frame podcast?
Chris Hansen's Introduction and Predator Impressions
00:00:24
Speaker
I'm Chris Hansen, and this is To Catch a Predator.
00:00:28
Speaker
My name is Malik. My name is Alex. My name is Tachi. you could have told from the intro, we're talking Predator today. Jeffrey Epstein! No. We're all going to do a Predator, our best Predator impersonation. Ready?
00:00:44
Speaker
I'll go first.
00:00:49
Speaker
Oh, that's good. That was good. That was really good. Alex? You go, Tachi. I don't what to do with my mouth.
00:01:02
Speaker
It's not like I'm choking from far away. yeah Somebody save him. All
00:01:10
Speaker
all right. Let me do one. Yep, you got it. A lot of people have been telling me they say that. was good. That
00:01:21
Speaker
was good. Two thumbs up for me. Well
Predator Character Analysis
00:01:25
Speaker
done. We're doing an episode on the predator from space. He's a good guy.
00:01:32
Speaker
He's a hell of a guy. He flies down. He fights people. Very honorable. Very tough. Just like me. Your Trump impersonation is actually pretty good. It's so good. Yeah.
00:01:44
Speaker
The way your face your face contorts and your shoulders come up. It's the jaw. You do the the hand, the mouth, and then the jaw. One my favorite clips is he's just making noises. He's he's like, ugh, ugh, ugh.
00:02:01
Speaker
You don't know which one I'm talking about? i think so. I've studied the game, Phil.
00:02:09
Speaker
Anyway, yeah, we're talking Prey and the new Predator Badlands. um I'm excited to talk about this, but we got a a few pieces of movie news here first before we get into today's movies.
Critique of Moana Live-Action and Charlie XCX's Acting
00:02:22
Speaker
First and foremost, Moana live-action trailer dropped. And my question is, what are we doing here? Is the movie even a decade old? It's not even a decade old.
00:02:33
Speaker
Moana 2 came out last year. The Rock is the big dude, right? Yeah, I think so. Maui. What's the point? Like, I don't know.
00:02:45
Speaker
And this has to be money laundering in in the entire trailer. It's just it's just a big CGI visual effects fest. it' So I'm like. So we just got a couple of real people and just surround them in green screen.
00:02:57
Speaker
The fact that they canceled Questlove's Aristocats to do this about that. Like, I'm. um I'm going to fight Disney. That sounded like maybe the first interesting like live action. Yeah, does.
00:03:12
Speaker
Like I would I would love to see that.
00:03:16
Speaker
Charlie XCX has a new movie coming out called The Moment. Can we like stop with the Charlie XCX and being cast in everything right now? is she Can she even act? I don't know. i don't know. I I like I liked Brad at a good time.
00:03:30
Speaker
I like some of the Charlie songs. I like some of the Charlie songs. Does she know about acting? just Does she have like an acting background? Because she's been getting cast in a ton of stuff. Isn't she in Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? she Yeah, she got cast as the White Witch in the New Chronicles of Narnia movie, which is a a really big role. like Tilda Swinton played the last one.
00:03:51
Speaker
Her? Yeah. Cast as that? Yeah. And it's Greta Gerwig. So I'm like, there's got to be something like I haven't seen her in anything. i mean, let me look her up on Letterboxd. They got to be seeing something that we're not yet. Maybe Greta's cooking.
00:04:07
Speaker
Maybe. I mean, I i do trust c Greta, but the synopsis of the film is this film follows a rising pop star who navigates the complexities of fame and industry pressure while preparing for her arena tour debut. All right, here we go.
00:04:23
Speaker
Charlie XCX's filmography. Okay. The Angry Birds movie as Willow. Awesome. Taylor Swift Reputation Stadium Tour as Self.
00:04:37
Speaker
Taylor Swift 1989 World Tour as Self. Charlie XCX Alone Together as Self.
00:04:47
Speaker
Sacrifice 2025 Mother Nature. 100 Nights of Hero 2025 is Rosa. The Ugly Dolls movie, which I didn't even know existed. I loved Ugly Dolls as a kid.
00:04:59
Speaker
bet that was horrible. I bet that it's like just an ugly little stuffed animal. but They're great. Oh. Eruptcha as Bethany and then The Moment as Charlie. ah What?
00:05:12
Speaker
Her name is Charlie in the movie? Apparently, according to Letterboxd. Maybe it's just like a like a fun pseudo-documentary. Maybe it's like hurry up tomorrow, but Charlie's version.
00:05:24
Speaker
That's what I was. Yeah. My first thought was hurry up tomorrow. God help us. i don't know. We'll see. Yeah. Whenever we heard that Chronicles of Narnia news, was all like, um. And that's real.
00:05:36
Speaker
That's real. Okay. Yeah. That's interesting. That is a huge role. So I guess we'll see. ah Speaking of starlets. Oh, yes. Christie, starring Sidney Sweeney, had the worst second weekend drop for a wide release ever, earning $108,000 this past weekend, a
00:05:57
Speaker
drop
00:06:00
Speaker
that's crazy That is now before the whole controversy of Sydney Sweeney, I already didn't think this movie was going to do that great. It just doesn't doesn't look interesting. And then that whole thing came out, and I'm sure that did not help.
00:06:15
Speaker
She made a historical moment with this. ah The worst the worst second we can drop ever she has been picking some good stuff i watched americana on the plane um with paul walter hauser and simon rex and sydney sweeney was in it obviously is that the one with halsey yes is it good no okay and halsey like halsey like that's so good like her No.
00:06:46
Speaker
What is that? There's another movie with Sidney Sweeney that came out this year. She has a lot of... She's got like three or four movies, but there's another one about couples on an island. and Oh, Eden.
00:06:57
Speaker
Yeah, I heard that one was not great. With Anna DeArmis and Vanessa Kirby. Yeah. And who else was in that? it was... The Dude.
00:07:09
Speaker
Yeah, there were two dudes, actually. Is it the guy from...
00:07:16
Speaker
Jude Law, Daniel Law. Yeah. Yeah. I saw a clip on TikTok. Of just like the three of like all the characters like interacting. And I was like, what the hell is going on here?
00:07:26
Speaker
Like, I kind of have to watch it. It's apparently a true story, but the cast is like so good. Daniel Bruhl, Jude Law, Anna DeArmas, Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney. And that i mean that's kind of where it runs out. That's a pretty like heavy top five.
00:07:42
Speaker
I would, yeah. Sounds like it should have been good, but... The three-star review, that's the top one, it says Nude Law.
00:07:54
Speaker
So if you want to, you know what to do.
Toy Story 5 and Wicked for Good Discussion
00:08:00
Speaker
ah Toy Story 5 is focused on how nobody's really playing with toys anymore. Speak for yourself.
00:08:06
Speaker
Technology has changed everybody's lives, but we're asking what that means for us and to our kids. We can't just get away with making tech the villain. He could easily. It sounds like they're trying to do that.
00:08:20
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, this has potential, I think, to be really good. Or because it's Disney and they're going to corporate sanitize it because they're trying to push some app.
00:08:33
Speaker
You know, like, ooh, could be bad. It could be really bad.
00:08:40
Speaker
It sounds like they have a clear vision. I'm going to trust them. The first four were great. But it is scary. But like was four great? I haven't thought about four ever.
00:08:53
Speaker
After i I came out the year, like, oh, it's pretty good. And I never thought about it again. Four is good. Okay. All four may not be great. But four doesn't like tarnish the legacy. Like not at all. Like one is amazing. Two is perfect. I don't think it ever adds anything.
00:09:10
Speaker
Like four is just there. That's see, that's what I thought too, before watching it, whenever they announced that, I'm like, it wraps up so nicely in three. And then we get like a goodbye between like Woody and buzz. And I was like, you know what? Now, but now he's going to come back, but now he comes back. So now I have those feelings again, but amplified with, this is just the Mandalorian again.
00:09:32
Speaker
Yes. Or it's like baby Yoda's gone. Emotional goodbye. Oh, in the book of Boba Fett, he comes back. Baby Yoda will never grow up.
00:09:43
Speaker
I feel like... Well, duh. Yoda's like 900 in Star Wars. You were going to say, Tachi? I think where they messed up is calling it Toy Story 4 and Toy Story 5.
00:09:54
Speaker
Because it's not really... They don't really feel like continuations of the story. They just feel like so side projects. Like how... Yeah, like they should have called it like they should have called it like a toy story. The return of Bo Peep.
00:10:11
Speaker
Let's go a toy story. It's not bad. iPads from hell. Like if this is the last one and this one also has an ending, we'll have three endings right in this series.
00:10:24
Speaker
Goodbye to Andy. Oh, we're done. Nope. Goodbye to Buzz and Woody. We're done. Nope. Goodbye to the earth. We'll see. What if Andy comes back?
00:10:36
Speaker
Give me my kit, my toys back, Bonnie. I would love to see Andy as a crazy tech CEO billionaire. Ooh. And then it just takes a dark route.
00:10:47
Speaker
Andy's got this island and the virgins flies people to it. Andy, the financier. Oh my God.
00:10:59
Speaker
It's a little darker turn. Yep. You brought it We did it. You started You started it. Wicked for Good debuts at 72% on Rotten Tomatoes, lower than the first movie.
00:11:12
Speaker
I was a pretty big fan of the first Wicked I'm um'm a little nervous that they they peach. 72% isn't bad. It's actually ive heard better than I thought. I've heard a common complaint that like the first half of Wicked, the musical, book, whatever, is always better than the second half. like The story itself is just like, it's not a great second half.
00:11:36
Speaker
Just in general? Yeah. So maybe 72% is the best that they could do. I guess we'll source material. I'm going to see on Sunday. so Wait, it comes out already? Yeah.
00:11:48
Speaker
It comes out Friday. Oh my God. what I still got to go see Begonia. I do too. I have not seen it yet. This is a... so i don't know if you guys looked at this one so this is a letterbox video store let me see if i can haven't yet summarize it so a letterbox video store is a film rental platform inside letterbox think of it as curated shelves instead of just scrolling lists endlessly without being able to make up your own own mind on what to watch they're gonna have some festival standouts that have not been distributed oo long watch listed titles finally made available
00:12:24
Speaker
restorations and rediscoveries worth celebrating and limited time drops of sneak peeks and unreleased gems. I like it. It's very interesting. so If they I wonder if you're going to have to like a free pass to it. If you do like patron or pro, I hope so. I will do it.
00:12:43
Speaker
If you get it, it'll probably go up, but I'll do it. I mean, that's, that's really cool. Yeah. I like that. I do because this, yeah. The amount of times that like, there's a movie that I want to see, or you hear a movie, get a lot of good reception out of like con or something like that. And then it just is stuck in like distribution limbo for forever.
00:13:03
Speaker
So that would be really cool. And I really liked the limited options cause I get decision paralysis. So yeah, it was kind of just forcing you to, to watch something new.
00:13:15
Speaker
Alright, that wraps up the news. you guys ready to talk about Prey? Let's do it. I pray we have fun.
Film 'Prey' Introduction and Reviews
00:13:24
Speaker
Boo!
00:13:27
Speaker
Prey came out in 2022 directed by Dan Trachtenberg and the synopsis reads, when danger threatens her camp, the fierce and highly skilled Comanche warrior Naru sets out to protect her people, but the prey she stalks turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal this was a hulu original that did not get a theatrical release in 2022 and back when i watched it 2022 i said what are they doing this movie could have made a billion bucks a pray fit a pray fit exactly
00:14:04
Speaker
ah We'll kick off our discussion with our Letterboxd love like loathe. I'll read today's five star, Alex with our three star, and Tachi with our one star. um Today's five star comes from Adam Broadstreet on Letterboxd.
00:14:18
Speaker
This is how you reboot a franchise. Everything about this movie kept me entertained and on the edge of my seat. By far the best movie in the Predator franchise. I have our three star reviews. i have like three of them.
00:14:32
Speaker
I won't read the third one because it's really long, but I'll read two of them. But it's just, it's like three stars, like the thrift bin of reviews. Everyone's going to five. Everyone's going to one, but like three, there's, there's gems in here.
00:14:44
Speaker
Um, the first one comes from, uh, Clementine and, uh, three stars and a heart. So they liked it. Uh, and the review is my horny ass could not be put next to a prep. Yeah.
00:15:00
Speaker
There, that is a very layered review. There's a lot to unpack. There's, there's a lot going on there.
00:15:09
Speaker
Um, the second comes from PD one eight seven and PD said invisible predator fights a lot of cartoon animals who look like they're from big buck Hunter.
00:15:25
Speaker
It's okay. Okay. Now, the third one that I won't read the entirety um compared this to the episode of Deadliest Warrior where they did IRA versus the Taliban.
00:15:36
Speaker
That's nuts. I don't know what they meant by that. Having watched that episode, I don't know if it's like a... i don't know who the IRA, I don't know who the Taliban is in this scenario. I'm going to go Taliban predator.
00:15:50
Speaker
Maybe. Are you a Catholic predator or you Protestant predator? Yeah.
00:15:57
Speaker
That was terrible Irish accent. I folded in the moment, but I'll pass it Tachi with our one stars. That's me. All right, this comes from Callum.
00:16:08
Speaker
It's actually one and a half stars. Cheated a little bit. Malik, you actually kind of ruined this a little bit, but Callum says more like praying for the credits to roll.
00:16:19
Speaker
Oh, I did ruin it. I'm sorry, Callum. And me, most importantly me. And you. look like a fool now. What is your guys' history with Predator?
00:16:30
Speaker
Have you guys seen the old ones? you care for this franchise at all? I saw the first Predator this year. The one with Arnold. Yeah. the And Carl Weathers, where they do job but the those kind of manly hand clasp.
00:16:47
Speaker
That's where that meme is from, right? The yeah big arms. It's like the first 10 minutes. Nice. Yeah. So, I mean, spoiler, the only two Predator movies I've seen are Prey and then Predator Badlands. I've never really been into Predator like that. I'm interested to watch all of the old ones.
00:17:05
Speaker
Come on, guys. Grow up. Grow up. Get a grip. Um, I've only seen aliening versus Predator and that was when i was a little kid. feel like I've mentioned this before. i think so. on the podcast but I think you have. Yeah. so very limited exposure, but don't know. I thought it was cool.
00:17:21
Speaker
So I've been a distant passive fan. I mean, i've I've heard AVP isn't like good, but it's it seems like a movie that like a 12-year-old would love.
00:17:32
Speaker
I'd say it's like the equivalent of being a kid when Mortal Kombat came out in the 90s. Oh, what a moment. You know what's crazy? What a moment. They tried to have that for like this generation with Godzilla vs. Kong, and instead of like you know Godzilla fighting Kong, we got...
00:17:51
Speaker
Two and a half hours of Millie Bobby Brown running around. my God. Movie still ripped. i Don't tell who. I mean, yeah, I'll just kick it off with this question.
00:18:04
Speaker
What works for you guys for this one? You want, I can go first since I was chastised last time for never going first. Yeah, you better go first. All right, I'll go first. Go first. Here's what works for me for this movie.
00:18:16
Speaker
Taking a look at the director's like filmography, Dan Trachtenberg. So he's done Prey. He's done 10 Cloverfield Lane. And then Predator Badlands. And the Killer of Killers, right? Yeah, we probably should have you guys watched that for this episode. You guys didn't see it?
00:18:34
Speaker
I have. It's sick. Oh, was it really cool? Yeah. I watched like the first five minutes while I was doing laundry and then I got busy and I just wasn't paying attention and I went back to it. But yeah, we shouldve we should have watched that for this one. So Dan's bringing Predator back.
00:18:47
Speaker
I can cover it briefly. um but later.
Dan Trachtenberg's Filmmaking Style
00:18:52
Speaker
Okay. All right. Just let me know when you want to do that. Sure. um I feel like this guy is really good at taking an already established franchise and universe and then kind of giving us a new spin on said universe.
00:19:07
Speaker
And so like Prey came out, haven't really seen a Predator movie like that. Like I get the gist of the Predator movies, even if I haven't seen them, but Knowing that Prey was something like a fresh take on it. And then like we're seeing in Predator Badlands also a new fresh take on it.
00:19:22
Speaker
So I think the concept here is really similar to what he does in Badlands. And spoiler review, I prefer this one well over Badlands.
00:19:34
Speaker
Interesting. Wow. What about you guys? What works for you? I have more, but we can go we can go around the horn. I like the cinematography. I like... Alex, go ahead.
00:19:49
Speaker
Got a real prey hater over here. Okay. um The thing for me that I liked the most about this movie was, you know, Naru is young, probably what? 17, 17.
00:20:02
Speaker
seventeen 16 ish in this movie, you know, she's tiny, especially compared to the predator.
00:20:12
Speaker
Um, and I think they did a really, really good job of like power scaling her to the predator. Like they didn't make her overly tough. They made her smart and cunning.
00:20:29
Speaker
And, you know, cause we know she can't do anything to, to fight this thing like head on. Like she just can't. And they didn't do anything or it's like, you know, she triumphantly like,
00:20:40
Speaker
you know, one last stand and she gets a good shot. And like, you know, no, she got her butt kicked for the entire, entire run. And then just was like, okay well I'm going to trap this thing and outsmart it.
00:20:51
Speaker
Yeah. And I really liked that because it didn't treat the audience as like, Like we're in a spoon Fiji the ending. Like, no, we're actually going to make you. We're like, how is she going to get out of this? You know, it was a very true to form for the original where it was like brains beats brawn.
00:21:08
Speaker
And i'm I'm glad to see it. They kept the spirit of that with this and and in a way different format. So. Yeah, I definitely agree with you. I think she puts on a really like great performance.
00:21:20
Speaker
I fully believe like all of her convictions and wanting to be a hunter for her tribe and the way that she realizes very early on, the way that she has to go about it is, like you're saying, much different from the rest of the tribe because, like yeah yeah like you said, like she's she's smaller, so she's using she's using brain over brawn for a lot of this.
00:21:38
Speaker
And I really do appreciate that in this movie, that there is no hand-holding and that we can kind of see her like work through those different thought processes and it's and it's tough like for this entire like runtime like this dude is just slashing through this village like no remorse he is just cannibalizing these people but she's triumphant at the end and i really like the way that it uh that it ends with her in that final confrontation with the predator
00:22:10
Speaker
Yeah, her being cunning was really well done, though I will say her John Wick sequence in that little camp was really sick. I love that fight choreography.
00:22:21
Speaker
Oh, going after all it showed off the French guys? Yeah, showing off her her, I guess, training, you know, expertise. She had a couple of scenes like she is like in the middle of falling, but then pushes herself like off of a tree and kind of does like a cool little like double jump. And I'm like, that's so sick.
00:22:41
Speaker
I'd be on the floor. I can do that. I've never seen you run full speed. I'm i'm not sure if I can believe you. because you get cooked.
00:22:52
Speaker
We should do that. You have seen me run full speed. When? We played soccer together. Intramural soccer. Oh my God. Yeah. Four years ago. That's crazy. we should We should go to a park and like sprint. It's race. I
Design and Historical Accuracy in 'Prey'
00:23:06
Speaker
am not as fast as I was then. i am That was pre-back injury, Alex.
00:23:11
Speaker
I think we would all be really hurt after a while. I think so too. Another thing that I like, the predator looks sick in this movie. Yeah, I like that he matched the ah the era, like his aesthetic.
00:23:26
Speaker
Yeah, so it's like they're obviously like an advanced alien species, but his tech, though way more advanced than anything that that our main characters are are working with,
00:23:39
Speaker
still feels a little ancient for for the predator universe and so like almost primal yeah yeah there's a real there's a real primal quality to it so like that mixed with like the the difference of like a face mask that the predators usually have and having this be like the skull of some other animal i'm assuming was so cool and the first time that we get the reveal without the mask They look scary.
00:24:04
Speaker
They're pretty ugly. They are. Do you guys think you could fight a predator? I am one.
00:24:13
Speaker
Somebody get that guy. I am great to none.
00:24:19
Speaker
yeah Also, the dog. Very good boy in this. Apparently, the dog was inspired by the road warrior, Mad Max. Oh, it's where the inspiration for her having one came from.
00:24:32
Speaker
I like that. i yeah Unfortunately, this dog was not as badass as the dog in the Road Warrior. Dog's still pretty cool. was running It's a good dog, but the other dog is just... Dude, it's probably the goat dog in all movies.
00:24:50
Speaker
um I would say my favorite scene in this movie is the fight scene amongst all the broken trees and the fog. Yeah, that was so sick. That's shocking. just to Give me a real favorite scene. Yeah, this ah this movie was a lot more brutal when I first watched it. A lot more brutal than I thought it would be.
00:25:08
Speaker
And then on a rewatch, more brutal than I remembered. Same. I think my favorite scene was where they first encounter it. She's with the ah the guys that came to find her. And they're figuring out that like this thing can like heat seek them. They're in the the field and yeah, well it has us and you know, so well, so beautifully shot and those guys are getting wrecked.
00:25:31
Speaker
The tension build up to it. is so The chase scenes were really scary. Yeah. Like in the field. Just open field and it's just, you could, you could just come out at any point. Who's doing the noise?
00:25:43
Speaker
Me. What else works for you guys? What else do you want to shout out? I liked Amber Mid-Thunder. I thought she did a really good job. She great. What else is she in? The only thing that... ah So she was in that Jack Quaid movie, Novocaine, that came out this year. oh yeah. The only things that I've seen her in are Reservation Dogs and Longmire. And I don't even think she was like...
00:26:06
Speaker
remember, rememberable. Is that a word? Memorable. That's word. me I don't even think she's memorable in Longmire. She's like eight or something because her dad's in Longmire. But um She's in the reservation dogs. You've probably seen the scene where like the one of the characters is at like this seminar thing. And there's like this like hippie girl. And she's like, oh, like, you know, i'm like Lakota Pine Ridge. I'm from the reservation. It's like, oh, really? Like, I got a cousin from there. And it's like, well, actually, I'm from L.A.
00:26:42
Speaker
But spiritually, I'm from there. It's like. That's Amber Mid Thunder. She's in that FX show Legion. um She was in Dream Scenario. don't remember her there. She was in Opus.
00:26:54
Speaker
That one came out earlier this year. I still got to watch that. She was off. Two movies with Liam Neeson in 2021. Ice Road and The Marksman. Yep.
00:27:05
Speaker
What are these movies? I don't know. Liam Neeson's an interesting dude. He's got an interesting career. He does. If only Qui-Gon didn't die. i didn't i didn't ask you what you guys' is letterbox rating was on our last but segment. What was your rating on this? I gave this.
00:27:23
Speaker
I had this out of four and I've kept it out of four. Had this three and a half. This is the first time I watched it. So I guess I'm keeping it at a three and a half. Okay. Yeah, originally I had it at a ah three and a half. I watched it couple years ago on rewatch.
00:27:42
Speaker
I think I'm keeping at three and a half. I think you're keeping it at three and a half and you didn't have anything to say besides the cinematography. I was like, this is about to trash this. No, I thought I had more to say and nothing was coming to mind.
00:27:59
Speaker
So I just had to pass it off to you for a second. but but I i do like this movie though. It is good. It is good. yeah well What doesn't work Tachi? I think it is really. point we all agree on.
00:28:11
Speaker
It's not that bad but I feel like the the script really failed. Maybe not for the most part but sometimes it just didn't flow like I was hoping it would.
00:28:24
Speaker
It's like really rooted like very basic. It's very basic. Right. Like, we could probably whip it up and in, like, an afternoon, kind of basic. Yeah, there's... That's an exaggeration for... You know, it takes a long time. No, we're that good, okay? I don't... I'm um i'm him.
00:28:43
Speaker
Himothy Chalamet, by the way. No, I agree with you, Tachi. I feel like there were, like, a couple relationships that I would have loved to see fleshed out a bit more. Like...
00:28:54
Speaker
i what The one that I wrote down was I would love to see the relationship with the mom fleshed out a bit more. like We had that scene in the tent between them and we kind of get the um like the doubt that the mom has in her own daughter for being a hunter. And I think that's a really interesting concept and would have liked to see more of that specifically with the mom because the scenes of that that we get with like the brother and the other tribesmen I think are just like fine I think the brother um has a pretty like okay performance in this the other tribesmen I kind of felt a little bit flat for me so I think for like the central like heart of the film I think I would have liked to see that fleshed out a bit more with her mother I think that could have been interesting I think another 30 60 seconds of dialogue between the two would have gone a long way
00:29:42
Speaker
i yeah I told you guys my issue with this last night, and i finally I talked to somebody about it, and it finally articulated well enough that I'm like confident to bring it up on the pod.
00:29:54
Speaker
I did not love how inauthentic this movie was. And you know before someone comes and says, oh, you know you're alien space movie isn't historically accurate, like no, it's not going to be accurate Obviously, when the aliens came to Earth, they didn't encounter the Comanchu. don't have a record of it.
00:30:15
Speaker
They encountered the Egyptians. Duh. um They built the pyramids. I watched, you know, ancient aliens. ah That's the truth. um No, but... yeah know, this this movie centers around the Comanche and, you know, going to pretend I'm an expert, i'm not going to pretend like I'm some deep anthropologist. But what I can tell you is that the Comanche like never, ever, ever lived in territory in this like the one shown in this movie.
00:30:46
Speaker
This movie was shown. This movie was filmed outside of Calgary in Canada. The Comanche, it's like Comancheria, that area, were like Southwest Texas, West Texas, Central Texas, Oklahoma, Eastern New Mexico, and Eastern Colorado, and maybe a little bit in Kansas and a little bit in Mexico. Their raiding parties went out a little bit farther than that, but they never really were like a mountain-dwelling civilization like they were in this movie.
00:31:20
Speaker
And it bugs me. Now, I this movie, I think it does a very, very good job at respecting native and indigenous culture. I mean, they did a full dub in Comanche. It was the first movie ever to do that. And that's awesome.
00:31:34
Speaker
Like, that's just sick. I'm sorry. You know, if you got a problem with that, come fight me. But the fact that like. They a like. i don't I don't I would love to know why they pick the Comanche as the tribe.
00:31:48
Speaker
Because there are many other tribes you could have gone with and had nothing in this movie change. um you know Tribes that were in that area that did you know have you know that kind of experience um with with the land. um But it just, yeah I don't know, it bugged me because the whole I sitting there thinking, I'm like, they wouldn't have been up here.
00:32:11
Speaker
It's she's like, well, the ridge, I'm going over the ridge, three ridges. It's like, no, you wouldn't have because you lived in a land where there were no ridges because there's no hills. because It's just all flat. But, um you know, the Comanche were, you know, we if you haven't figured it out yet, we live in Austin. We record this in Austin. um I mean, the Comanche, I believe, used Mount Bunnell Road. like What used to be Mount Bunnell Road was like a trail. like The Comanches would come in and raid Austin from that, or the early settlements of what ended up becoming Austin.
00:32:41
Speaker
That's cool. Yeah. like So they were around here. They weren't really up there. um And you know maybe I'm wrong, and maybe like they did get farther into Rockies than I think.
00:32:53
Speaker
My... knowledge of the comanche is based solely on reading blood meridian and lonesome dove and then going how accurate are these depictions and then like reading a couple articles on it um and looking at a couple maps but i just i don't know it the whole time i was thinking it's like they just they wouldn't have been up here. like ah Like, why wasn't it someone else? Like, why i wasn't it a different tribe?
00:33:23
Speaker
yeah you could have picked anybody else. Like, you could have picked, like, a First Nations tribe from, like, the Calgary area. Uh-huh. Is like, I guess, do the Comanche like sell well? Because they're like a rep. Like, I mean, then they're more exciting Navajo Hopi. Those are all the names people know. Iroquois. Yeah. He can. be I mean, at first I was just kind of thinking just location wise for the movie. Like I thought visually that's a very interesting place. But then you brought up the point where it's like could have just picked any other tribe. Well, it's it's visually gorgeous. I i love Canada. like I think Canada produces some of the best like Western sets. That's where they filmed all of Hell on Wheels was Canada.
00:34:02
Speaker
Where did they film The Revenant? That was Canada 2? I believe they filmed Revenant in Canada. Yeah. Like Longmire was all like New Mexico. But like, yeah, the thing is like, you know, you didn't have to film in Canada.
00:34:15
Speaker
You could have actually met. New Mexico has some of the best like film grants and tax breaks in the country. That's why New Mexico has such a strong presence in television. Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Pluribus, Longmire. Those are all filmed in New Mexico. Stranger Things is being filmed in New Mexico. and um Or if Stranger Things was filmed in Georgia, now I believe parts of it is being filmed in New Mexico. um you know Netflix has a studio in Albuquerque. Yeah.
00:34:42
Speaker
you know So it wouldn't have been like hard to go and film in New Mexico and had keep it as the Comanche, but it would have looked a lot different. You would have had to design the script around that kind of terrain.
00:34:56
Speaker
um Or you could have... you know done a little bit more in the desert. You could have have the Navajo do it. um You know, and I don't know. Like, I don't know why they picked it. And I tried to figure out why they picked the Comanche and I couldn't figure it out.
00:35:14
Speaker
I like I just I couldn't figure it out. I never saw one thing that was like, oh, this is why they picked the Comanche because i don't know. Maybe someone had like a like a familial connection to it. Maybe someone was, you know, has you Comanche part of the tribe, you know, part of the DNA, you know, an ancestor is from that tribe.
00:35:34
Speaker
But I never found out. I wonder if the director has any like interviews talking about that decision. I'd be interested to learn about that decision. It was really disappointing because there was an article in or there was a section on Wikipedia that was like, oh, like historical accuracies. And it was like the orange powder thing. Like they used that. That was the extent of the section. I'm like.
00:35:56
Speaker
They did. The the flower, the cold flower. Yeah. yeah But like for me, it's like I'm a big, I'm a big, big believer in authenticity. And there's things where it's like you just can't really do it. Like.
00:36:10
Speaker
The Odyssey is a good example I was literally about to bring it up. I wanted to see what you thought. The Odyssey is a great example because as cool as it would actually be to someone for someone to take those tin cans, tin can suits of armor and have that be what Matt Damon's wearing.
00:36:26
Speaker
They're not photographed well. They don't photograph well. They probably don't move around great. And it might look ridiculous on camera. So, you know, we can, you know, bend the armor a little bit. yet the ah At the end of the day, it is the Odyssey. And the Odyssey is ah ah it's a myth.
00:36:42
Speaker
You know, the Cyclops wasn't real, guys. What? Maybe he was. Yeah.
00:36:50
Speaker
Research Nephilim.
00:36:54
Speaker
he you know, so it's like, okay, like that works. But for, you know, because that's like a decision that does affect like how this move, how that movie is made and filmed and stuff yeah and costumes. Like that's like a pretty big, like a small thing to change that has like a big effect.
00:37:11
Speaker
But this movie, like it really felt like if you had cut Comanche and put any other tribe in, it would have worked. You couldn't have done the dub. but it would have worked.
00:37:23
Speaker
Yeah. So, you know, I don't know. I just, I would love to know why and I'd love to change my mind. Like I'd love to be proven wrong. So if anyone wants to prove me wrong, hit us up and you'll get me tail between the legs in our next episode.
00:37:40
Speaker
Nice. How much did that detract from your score of the movie? Not much. Like, it probably would have been a seven either way. know, seven out of ten. So, it just felt like a seven. So, historical accuracy is not something that really could break a movie for you. But, like, if you're in it, maybe the immersion is just not as... Yeah, like, my immersion wasn't as, like, much as it could have been. i don't think, like, the ceiling of this movie for me was super duper high. Yeah. um But...
00:38:12
Speaker
like the immersion piece, I was like, ah, you know, maybe the predator didn't show up in history after all. I thought maybe could have, but this was a documentary. I i thought, cause like, I mean, historical, like, again, it's just, it's not accuracy. It's authenticity. That's, that's the thing where it's like, I really, really appreciate when people take the time to do authentic, like to make it more authentic. Like think about Eddington, you know, the, the,
00:38:42
Speaker
the gunshot and the crack the sound is slightly delayed from the muzzle flash yeah and that was something you like immediately shouted out afterwards i lost my mind those small things yeah it's i i love stuff like that and so for me like it feels a tad lazy to not do like the research and be like okay well this you know this thing can easily change because there's filmmakers that do and then you hear them talk about it and you can kind of just feel like their appreciation and love for whatever they're adapting and I think that always translates very well to the screen yeah um for me one of the year reviews
Production Challenges and Mixed Reviews of 'Prey'
00:39:25
Speaker
already kind of hit on it but a lot of the visual effects didn't really land for me
00:39:29
Speaker
Some of them are really bad. Yeah. the The predator itself looks good. The predator looks really good. I mean, they just talk about like the animals, the bear didn't look great. Yeah. I saw one of the trivia facts on IMDB that, um, they were already about to be like over budget when they were doing the visual effects for the bear.
00:39:47
Speaker
And so they had a longer sequence um filmed, but since they were out of budget, that's why they had her go into a dam that they built. that way they could only get like the kind of shaky.
00:39:59
Speaker
You can kind of see the bear. You kind of can't. So that's why they went that route. But the budget for this movie was $65 million. dollars And I'm very curious. This goes for like all streaming movies.
00:40:11
Speaker
Like how do where did I go? Yeah. How do they make their their money back? in the context of Hulu ad revenue, ad revenue off it. yeah Yeah, but like there's so many things on Hulu that like, how is that dispersed?
00:40:26
Speaker
i think that' I think that's interesting. I'm having a hard time understanding. i guess I'm really thinking about it now, movie budgets and how bloated they are.
00:40:37
Speaker
u They are really bloated. Like, Bogonia was like $65 million or something like that. Doesn't make any sense. like Of course it's going to flop. Like, what are they spending the money on?
00:40:48
Speaker
I would love an itemized receipt. Me too. And the thing is, you don't need to spend a lot to make a great movie. No, not at all. Like, Sofia Coppola, I think, Lost in Translation's budget, I think may have been, like, under $10 million.
00:41:02
Speaker
Wow. I think. I know she, like, guerrilla filmed a lot of it. And it's always crazy to see, like, the budget of, like, Avatar. Let's see what the budget of the newest Avatar movie is.
00:41:14
Speaker
Four million. And it made 118 million in the box office. That's insane. Her budget was 4 million. Her budget was 4 million. It made 118 million. Wow. I didn't know that it was that big of a box office success.
00:41:26
Speaker
Good for her. It won an Oscar. I knew that, but I was like, I didn't. Avatar Fire and Dash budget is 250 million. Which I mean, makes sense because like they actually went to Pandora.
00:41:38
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they filmed the blue people. What else doesn't work for you guys? I only had visual effects. We kind of hit a little bit on the pacing. um And then more of Naru and her mother's relationship.
00:41:51
Speaker
So in some ways, the way that it was filmed, I felt pretty immersed sometimes. Like the sequence in the field, that was one of the highlights for me. But otherwise, the the tension building kind of fell apart for me too.
00:42:09
Speaker
I feel like with the movie surrounded around these two subjects, her and the predator, there should have been a lot more dread. feel like there wasn't enough dread. You know what i mean?
00:42:20
Speaker
Yeah, I kind of get what you mean. I think i yeah I wrote that down, wrote that down in a little bit like with the pacing, like whenever whenever like we are getting those moments of tension and the Predator is about to attack, like I think it does it really well, but then it slows down like very quick.
00:42:37
Speaker
Then it stays slow for a while and then it picks back up. yeah I think like in the middle there could have been some some ringing out or or anything to kind of keep that tension. So I I'd agree with you there.
00:42:50
Speaker
But I mean, when it was on, it was on. Yeah. And I was sure. And I was having a great time. and more saying it Yeah. actually really enjoyed the last 30 minutes for the most part.
00:43:03
Speaker
Those are my thoughts on Prey. I think this movie is great. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. It's a lot of fun. Yeah. We were pretty negative, but it is a good movie. I don't think we were negative. Okay.
00:43:14
Speaker
The problem was I spent 20 minutes talking about historical accuracy. I think that was the only thing. It's fine. But that Alex is our resident history buff. So if anyone's going to do it, he will.
00:43:26
Speaker
I thought were going to autist, but I'll take history. You guys ready for Predator Badlands? I am ready for pre Predator Badlands. All right.
'Predator Badlands' Reviews and Visuals
00:43:36
Speaker
Predator Badlands, released in 2025, also directed by Dan Trachtenberg.
00:43:40
Speaker
Cast out from his clan, a young predator finds an unlikely ally in a damaged android and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary. Let's get to our letterbox love like loathe.
00:43:52
Speaker
My five star comes from Royal Jacko. Says, yeah, fuck it. Five stars. The camera trainee went crazy on this one. Don't know what a camera trainee is. Objectively a solid action film despite its Disney DNA.
00:44:05
Speaker
Can't describe how cool it was watching the scenes come to life after working on them a year ago. Still feels surreal. Go check it out. Oh, so this guy works. Oh, he's the camera intern. The camera trainee. Oh, I'm sorry. The camera trainee. Oops. was like, what's a camera trainee?
00:44:19
Speaker
That guy. <unk> cool That's cool. Good job. My review, my three star review is from Alex and it's, uh, it says the enjoyable mid. Is that you?
00:44:32
Speaker
You know, it actually is. My one star review comes from Jacob Osborne. Half a star. Actually watch the light. Leave my homeboys eyes. As you realize another franchise, he loves this fucking garbage. Now, yeah,
00:44:49
Speaker
yeah There's a lot of that going around. Yeah. What did you guys give this? I gave this ah three. Wow. You'll never guess what I gave it.
00:45:01
Speaker
Oh, let me guess. It's got to be the three. How'd you know? oh my God. I don't know. They just, I got the site. Do guys have a guess for me? Uh, I said you gave it a four of five. I'll give it a four.
00:45:17
Speaker
think 4.5. i think four point five It's a four. Let's go. All right. Let's go Malik. I just took all your money. It was, it just needed one thing to be a 4.5, but it's okay. We'll get there.
00:45:31
Speaker
Okay. All right. We'll start with what works for us. The visual effects. This was to me, one of the,
00:45:43
Speaker
Just say it. It's just one of the prettiest movies I've ever seen. Wow. That's nuts. I loved the shots. I love the framing. I love the composition.
00:45:54
Speaker
it just felt so cinematic. I guess you could argue that it's, you know, style over substance, but it works for me and I'm glad that it was there. I'm happy for you because yeah it needed that.
00:46:07
Speaker
um To me, it looks good. i mean, that first trailer of the shot of the like the dirt bike just speeding through the desert. I was like, oh, shit. This movie does look really good.
00:46:19
Speaker
um I'm going to sit here and pretend that it doesn't because it does. um But i mean, most one of the most beautiful movies you've ever seen is nuts. that's That's crazy.
00:46:31
Speaker
Like, I wish I could. I like what I I know I legitimately wish I could have gotten that from this movie. Like, that's that's nuts. It works for me. I would have loved to see this on a big IMAX screen.
00:46:42
Speaker
Yeah, it will. Yeah, that's a dream. I should probably buy IMAX tickets for Avatar. Yes, I've literally told you. I keep not seeing the second one.
00:46:54
Speaker
You buy the tickets and then you make sure you watch the second
Dan Trachtenberg's Future Projects and 'Predator Badlands' Critique
00:46:57
Speaker
one before. and Yeah, that's how that You don't have to watch it and then buy the ticket. um I also really like just the overall concept of the movie itself.
00:47:09
Speaker
Like i hit on earlier. I'm excited to see what Dan Trachtenberg does in the future because i mean, he can't keep like doing like, oh, what if we did this universe? But we did this crazy thing. This like movie doesn't on a cliffhanger.
00:47:23
Speaker
It does. And I hate it, but we'll get there. um I like the concept of this movie of being with like, what's his name? Deck?
00:47:35
Speaker
Yeah. Are they Yaukjas? Yaukjas, yeah. Of having the Yaukja be like our protagonist. I think that's super interesting. I thought that was cool too. They could have picked a cooler name than Deck. Deck is kind of funny.
00:47:46
Speaker
So like, what is it? Deck and what Quay? Bill. It matches the characters. but like It's like, you know, you know Yeah.
00:47:57
Speaker
Thragnorox, the destroyer. i Yeah, I really like the the concept of him trying to prove himself and then amongst his tribe and going on this journey. My name Dick. Now i like the i like the concept, but what we'll get into for what doesn't work, there's a lot about it that ends up not working for me. Mm-hmm.
00:48:18
Speaker
i I loved how this the world looked. I liked um a lot of the sound design on it. i thought the roars, both decks and the the big monster thingy were like, whoa, that's sick. They were cool. The noises his like laser sword thingies make.
00:48:37
Speaker
The sound design was amazing. lot of great noises. Like a chill goes up your spine. Just like, whoa. ah Sounds good. and They did a fantastic job in building out this universe and seeing all the different little like little critters, the plants, like everything. It was it was something to see.
00:48:58
Speaker
It was something to hear. once I was pleased. um The practical effects of deck. I love the suit. Yeah.
00:49:08
Speaker
I did think so when someone in the trailer came out I was like this guy looks a little ugly. it' like His head was nearly proportioned. to Yeah like not like standard predator is ugly but I was just like oh he's kind of he's kind of a freak.
00:49:22
Speaker
But I like that i like that that's like that was his whole thing. like He is smaller. like He is a little unproportioned. He's he's like the runt of the litter.
00:49:33
Speaker
Manlets can't even survive in the Yautja universe.
00:49:39
Speaker
It's over, Short Kanks. It's so over. This dude was probably still six three and And he was the worst of the worst. Son, you're weak. runs like a 4'2", 40, shredded, can put 50 reps on the bench.
00:49:59
Speaker
Dad tries to kill you. Yeah. Insane kill ratio. the ah I mean, the 20th trimester abortion there was crazy. Oh, my God.
00:50:11
Speaker
He just changed his mind. He's like, yeah we're we're done here. Yeah. um I really like the beginning of this movie and the relationship with the brother. I thought that was interesting.
00:50:23
Speaker
I love that they didn't try and make Dex speak English. They actually kept it in the Yautja language, which wonder what language it actually was. Yeah, it is a fake language that they fully constructed with grammar, vocabulary um and everything created by a real linguist named.
00:50:44
Speaker
That's so cool. Britain Watkins. Do you think can learn on Duolingo? You can try. Probably. Okay. You got to get Duolingo Deluxe though. Oh God. Not another paywall. How am I going to talk to predators when they try and come up to me? I don't know how they sound. I don't have candy.
00:51:08
Speaker
That's super cool. But yeah, I really like that relationship. I also appreciate that they were just speaking in their language for a while. i' sure But this movie does something that like I don't know what the workaround is or this, but they just do something that I hate.
00:51:21
Speaker
And it's the first interaction with Elle Fanning where she's like, oh, I speak every single language. Let me just ah let me just change the channel. Now I can understand you and you can understand me.
00:51:33
Speaker
But she just says it out loud. I don't know. There's it just that's a that's a trope that just bothers me. But you kind of need it to happen. One of the craziest workarounds I've ever seen for that is in Teen Titans. I think it's like season five of Teen Titans. They do like the throwback episode where it's like the first Teen Titans, like how they came to be.
00:51:52
Speaker
And Starfire doesn't speak English. And to get this ability to speak English, she makes out with Robin. remember. Yeah. with that It was crazy.
00:52:05
Speaker
What if they made out?
00:52:09
Speaker
The predator and the robot. Deck and... What's her name? Thea. Thea. do yeah
00:52:17
Speaker
Half a girl. I ship thick. Thick. Sounds like a disease. i get thick, guys. Alex, what else works for you in this movie?
00:52:30
Speaker
Um... I thought the last action sequence was really good. You know, he, I wanted, the thing I wanted to see, and I was really worried we weren't going to get, is I just wanted to see the Predator doing Predator stuff.
00:52:46
Speaker
And I was like, oh God, we're not going to get it because it's going to be one of these stories. Well, you know, violence is unbecoming of the outshot. Like, shut up. Death begets death. Yeah.
00:52:57
Speaker
But he still balled out in the end. i'm like, this is pretty sick. You know, some good kills. I thought it was a little bit lame that everybody he killed was an android. Like, that was some Samurai Jack stuff. Like, dude, make the movie R-rated. No, that's why the movie is PG-13, just because they're androids. Like, there's no humans in this Slaughter the humans, dude. We're rooting for the Predator this time. like There's no humans, though.
00:53:21
Speaker
But there should have been. How? What do you mean, how? Wayland? but Yeah. Like a lore-accurate... reason that there's means it makes sense humans running the operation it okay i think what they did makes sense for this universe that they're trying to build like trying to tie this into alien like or the weyland yutani corporation it makes sense and this is what they do to send their androids to these planets to collect species like typically those aren't human driven missions
00:53:59
Speaker
Especially planet like this. I want to see blood and guts. The Predator should be a PG-13 franchise. Stop with the... Don't Marvelize my stupid killer aliens.
00:54:11
Speaker
Do we think this franchise is going to be Marvelized slash Disney-fied? Probably in some capacity. you think this was the first step? I could see it. I mean, this one already introduced like cute little animals. so I hate cute little animals. Okay.
00:54:29
Speaker
This episode is brought to you by PETA, equal for ethical treatment of animals. PETA. Hey. Hey, Peter. The horse is here. Hey. Hey, Peter. Hey, Peter. Hey.
00:54:44
Speaker
PETA, the horse is here. All right, i want to give you guys another chance to do what else works for you before i get we get into what doesn't. No, let's go into what doesn't. Tachi, you liked it the most. What else?
00:54:57
Speaker
what What other scenes do you want to shout out? Like favorite scenes? Favorite scenes. ah I really liked, okay, before the last 10 seconds, I really liked the like Western standoff shot of him and his dad.
00:55:12
Speaker
That was really cool. i like the way that that was put together. I mostly liked the final showdown with Tessa. Not Tess.
00:55:23
Speaker
Is it Tess or Tessa? I don't fucking know. Either way, the evil one. The other one fanning. Yeah. M fanning.
00:55:38
Speaker
Another sinner's moment. I like the blade grass. I thought the blade grass was cool. Oh, yeah. That was cool. That whole scene was really cool of him trying to hunt it down the way he cuts it in half.
00:55:50
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. shot I just feel like they put a lot of Outside of one aspect in particular, I think they put a lot of effort into building this world and and have it feel mostly real.
00:56:07
Speaker
I felt like I was there, kind of. Amongst the blade crash. Yeah. I don't know know. It just did something for me. You brought up um that something specific didn't work for you.
00:56:20
Speaker
So I'll throw it to you to kick us off for what doesn't work for us. Yeah. movie Once again, I think it just suffers from maybe not lazy writing, but not the best writing.
00:56:31
Speaker
Just simple writing. Right. Like even just dialogue between characters or... how they handle some storylines, but it just felt a little lacking and like they took the easy route sometimes.
00:56:46
Speaker
It just feels very, this was our third shot at the script. We got it. This is yeah point A, point B, point C, point D, we're done. Yeah. You know?
00:56:57
Speaker
And I think there could have been something super interesting going on here for this movie. Oh, before I forget this part, this is neither negative or positive. I just want to point out um what's her face from prey?
00:57:12
Speaker
What's her name? Amber Midthunder. Oh, no, the the character. Sorry. Oh, naurru Naru. Naru. Naru and deck go through almost the exact same um story of bringing back their their trophy and losing a sibling.
00:57:27
Speaker
ye Yeah. Yeah. I just realized that like an hour ago. So want to put that out there. I didn't make the sibling connection until now. Okay. i That's why I kind of brought it up like in the beginning of the episode. like These movies are doing very similar things as far as like structure goes, but I like the the tone of Prey a lot more.
00:57:50
Speaker
is Is the next movie in this franchise going to be like a guy going out with his dad in deer season in the 90s, and then it's the Predator? Just a father-son comedy drama.
00:58:04
Speaker
Hunting trip. They can literally do anything. um he doesn't have yellow or He doesn't have his orange viz on. What the heck?
00:58:15
Speaker
I'm not a fan. I'm not a fan of what this movie is. Which is what? Of like what it becomes. Of the whole like the buddy dynamic and the cute creature and the found family. you think it was too soft?
00:58:35
Speaker
I was like, oh my, okay. like and it was And it's hard because, like again, visually, I'm like, I like where we're at. I like what we're seeing. I like what we're hearing.
00:58:47
Speaker
And then when we get to the meat and potatoes of it, I'm just like, goddammit, shit. I hate, I've grown to hate the trope of like,
00:59:01
Speaker
I'm tagging along with you whether you like it or not. And I'm kind of annoying. Yeah. No, going to work on my own. I'm alone here right now.
00:59:12
Speaker
And now I'm going to become a family. It looks like I do have a heart. I just, it's like, oh i I can't think of one time where I've like really enjoyed it except for Cowboy Bebop.
00:59:24
Speaker
where like great radical Edward actually turned out to be like a useful sick character instead of just like a freeloader. But it's just like, Oh, like, you know, we're a family. Oh, actually i have a dark secret.
00:59:39
Speaker
Oh, like, One of my complaints to this movie was it felt like a video game. And that was probably one of the biggest reasons why. You had a character who basically explained everything to you as like this repository of information. I felt like I was just like pressing X. Yeah. Learn more information. She would just blah bla blah blah blah blah, blah, blah, blah. And I did like the world building in this, but I think it went like too far.
01:00:04
Speaker
It was like too coked out, if that makes any sense. Like the blade grass. You know, like the whole movie is basic. Like the whole middle portion of the movie is L Fanning strapped to the Predator's back. They're walking around. He walks into a bush. The bush bites his little deck off. And then.
01:00:22
Speaker
l fanning is like oh that's actually the circumciser rose like you gotta watch out for those and he's like oh no and it happens like eight or nine times it's like oh don't go in there that's the blade grass like oh you can't go in the trees though because the the giant octopus will eat you and it's like thanks like And it's like left and right. and we have like a montage of these things happening. And it's just increasingly like absurd. Like, you know, someone's like ripping a line of coke. Like they have an 11 year old in the room writing with them. They're like, like, give me ideas. Give me ideas. like Don't be sick. Like grass. But it like it's like knives. It's like, oh, yeah. Like grass with knives. Like, okay all right. Now. There's a rhino. What does the rhino have? and it's like Fucking shields. It's got tough skills. shields.
01:01:15
Speaker
Oh my god. Let's go. like And so at some point I'm just i'm getting overloaded with like introductions of like new things that could kill me.
01:01:26
Speaker
like it it felt... When it's like, oh, this is the death planet. I'm like, ooh, it's probably gonna be all like murky and like scary and dark and you know, one wrong move. But it was like sunny and nice. And then there's like all these like video game traps that he has to work around and she's like giving him tips.
01:01:44
Speaker
He like, don't go there. Like you'll die. Like, thanks. And at some point it was just like, shut up.
01:01:54
Speaker
Elphanik's performance. Which one? oh again did not know that this was going to be yet another dual performance one dual performance after another i was so surprised so much so that our last segment once we're done here is a little game called seeing double um I agree with you Alex Tachi, don't let any of this hurt you. No, it's valid criticism.
01:02:21
Speaker
um I'm just ignoring everything he says. Guys, you can't see it, but Tachi's crying right now. For me, I love when a title card drops like 20 minutes into a movie. Yes.
01:02:36
Speaker
But. Okay.
01:02:39
Speaker
And I had this a problem with Prey 2. And I didn't realize on the first one, but the first watch, but I realized that this one. thought it was cool. It was ruined the whole branding. 20th Century Fox, copyright MMXVI, CCC 2025. I was like, dude.
01:02:56
Speaker
I hate that. It's so If that was gone, would have been like, oh, dude, hell yeah. Predator Badlands were here. And I just saw all the, it's such a nitpick, but I was just like, no. Yeah. No, thank I felt the same way. okay okay but the delayed title card i love i love a delayed it gets me every time every time movie doesn't even have to be good and i'm just like all right man well done you get another non-spoken two stars from a late title card drop oh i love snack shacks movie that doesn't even you don't even think that was coming um i have issues with the third act okay
01:03:32
Speaker
turning into like a save the monster now because it's the guy's mom. Yeah.
01:03:40
Speaker
I wanted to see him kill it. I kind of did too.
01:03:46
Speaker
And I picked up for like early. I was like, I think they're related. This cute creature and the one he wants also. But the character design on this creature, I don't know what it's called. The callous. So sick. It was really cool. Yeah, it was sick. When he first beheads it and then we just see all the tentacles kind of coming together to get it back up.
01:04:06
Speaker
Yeah. the sound it's making as like the head is slowly rolling and they're all. Wouldn't it be really easy to kill like you behead it and then immediately like pick it up with a spaceship and fly away with the head? Like there's no way the tentacles can catch up. Yeah. What's the communication distance on the on the tentacles?
01:04:20
Speaker
Plot holes. For a little bit, I thought it was goingnna be like the Hydra where. Yeah, and another head pops out and then it reforms like another body. That would suck. That's the dick situation.
01:04:33
Speaker
How many cows are there? It's like, oh, it's the unkillable beast like that. That actually doesn't seem like it works for the environment. Something has to kill it. I don't care if it's the apex predator, like, you know, something's got a population control it. Like, is there a disease?
01:04:48
Speaker
Could be the answer that world building. What's the Danny look like? um Let's see here. They said L fanning. Yeah. As soon as her double came out, I was like, all right, this is even worse.
01:05:01
Speaker
um they Didn't care for the sister subplot that hijacked the rest of the movie. Yeah. I just didn't. I just didn't feel like the connection. Same.
01:05:13
Speaker
I think it's hard to be emotionally connected to half of a robot and then the other person that we're built up to care for just looks like you. And is evil. And is evil.
01:05:24
Speaker
And has bangs. And a lot of mascara. And is whiter.
01:05:31
Speaker
He's version 2.0. Alright,
01:05:37
Speaker
all right I'm off my soapbox. Kachi, anything else that doesn't work for you? ah I like the effort that they put into the Lord the Rings-esque walking montage.
01:05:50
Speaker
I don't know if that was a nod. It looked really similar. um It wasn't as cool, but I appreciated it. I love a good landscape-y montage.
01:06:03
Speaker
I like the little aliens reference we get aliens to Ripley ah in the second aliens movie Ripley fights the xenomorph in the same exact way land you Tony construction
Crossover Speculation and Reception of 'Predator Badlands'
01:06:19
Speaker
thing.
01:06:20
Speaker
I thought that was a ah neat little shout out. i I foresee another alien versus predator. I don't know how they're going to do it, but all the all the pieces are there. Maybe the aliens strike.
01:06:33
Speaker
the Yautja planet as soon as he's about to fight all those other Yautja. So then it's Yautja versus aliens. Yeah. I saw that Dan had ah intentionally put this movie way out in the future as to not like muddy the waters with what's going on with like the new alien movies and the new alien TV shows. I'm like, that's smart. But they left the little Easter eggs like Weyland Yutani being the obviously the same big corporation in both of these franchises. Right. um so I thought that was neat I guess I guess we'll see what happens with the future of that guess you shall um my last note was I don't really care to see an emotionally regulated well-adjusted predator and I definitely don't need another Guardians of the Galaxy-esque family team-up dynamic they all came out of the ship and I said turn it off yeah I didn't love the last 10 seconds um
01:07:29
Speaker
It's okay. He has me. She has hope.
01:07:36
Speaker
Me in the back. Yeah, and then what's the credits roll, and then it comes back and is like, my mother. i was like, all right.
01:07:44
Speaker
know oh Mommy? Mamacita?
01:07:52
Speaker
There were so many good aura moments, though. There were some good hype moments in Aura. Yeah. So I liked it. an I enjoyed it. You know what? This movie is one of like, this movie is going to do triple platinum on the airplane.
01:08:09
Speaker
Oh, for sure. This is a great plane movie. Like I will, I would watch this again. i think I will rewatch this. Yeah. A six out of 10, like real world, but like a 10 out of 10 on the airplane. Oh, for sure. This is yeah this is a great plain movie.
01:08:24
Speaker
We just need more brutality from the Predator. yeah i want to I want the kid next to me to look over and start crying. That's how brutal I want this movie to be. yeah Tommy learned the way of the world, kid. I was looking at a lot of the reviews and it seems like people that love the predator franchise, like as a whole, it seems like they all hate it and they're not going to like the direction it's going, but I feel like the predator universe, but I feel like if you're kind of like us and we don't really have a relationship to the predator franchise, like this could just be ah fun iteration. And at the end of the day, that's what I think it was. I was entertained.
01:09:04
Speaker
Good to look at good to listen to. And that's, I can't really ask for more. m I mean, I can, and I am, and I do, but I won't.
01:09:17
Speaker
But you are. Or I will. ah Final thoughts for you guys for Predator Badlands. Let's go back to rated R and let's get a really strong writing room yeah for the next one.
01:09:31
Speaker
You excited for the future? Will you be tuned in? I think and think there's plenty of reason to be optimistic. um Some, you know, some glaring problems, but they can be fixed for sure.
01:09:45
Speaker
I'm very curious if Dan Trachtenberg is going to be the one heading this revival, which it kind of seems like he is yeah very curious to see where he takes it next. Since this was kind of just a reiteration on prey.
01:09:58
Speaker
i think it, there's aspects of it that works aspects of it that doesn't. So I'm very interested to see where he can take it next. Agreed. And I'll be in the movie theater a week after it releases. Okay.
01:10:12
Speaker
That's how we should rate movies. How quick will we be in the theater to see it? How quick will we be seated? Like mar Marty Supreme, Thursday night. Opening night. Wednesday night. Wednesday. hip fuck I'm hiding out. Breaking and entering. They're telling me to leave.
01:10:28
Speaker
Call me Roofman the way I be living in that roof. Oh my God. We watched Roofman last night. You recommend loved it. Yeah? I like loved it. It's... I think it's another one of those movies that's just like it appeals to dudes more than girls.
01:10:43
Speaker
Cam also loved it. i would say the one friend of the pod... The only one....who watched it... Liked it, didn't love it. Like 7 out of 10. Yeah.
01:10:54
Speaker
I gave it a four and a half. Wow. I gave mine a four. Like I said, strong eight. Yeah. That's still really good though. It is still really good. It, it punches above its weight for sure. Channing Tatum, great performance.
01:11:07
Speaker
Probably his best performance to date. soundtrack was fire. It is. oh my God. And Kirsten, I really, i like, I loved it I really, really enjoyed Should we do an episode on it? It's got the same writers from Sing Sing.
01:11:20
Speaker
And so, wait, is that right? No, I'm sorry. I'm mixing that up with a different movie. I forgot who wrote this one. Anyway, I loved it. should we i think we could do an episode on that one. Should we double feature Roofman and Running Man? The two men?
01:11:31
Speaker
Oh, my God. we We just might have to do that. that's a good That's a good idea. Cool. Oh, crud. I forgot we published our schedule so we can't like tease episodes anymore. We have to commit. Yeah, crud. Oh, God. Did you say crud?
01:11:47
Speaker
I did say crud. My parents listened to this podcast. All right, I'm moving on. All right. Here's how we'll end the episode. I got a little game called Seeing Double. I'm going to list off...
01:11:58
Speaker
Actors who have played two roles in this and we're going to pick either. We're going to pick either or our main contender will be L fanning versus the rest of them. So I'll say fanning or Michael B. Jordan and you guys will tell me your answer.
01:12:12
Speaker
Cool. or What do you mean?
Actor Comparisons and Debate
01:12:16
Speaker
Like, I was like, yeah. yeah Okay. Got it. Who does the double role better? and Whatever. However you feel. All right. Ready? How wait how are you going to do this?
01:12:24
Speaker
like just Tachi go. Then I go. And then yeah we'll do Tachi first. Then you. Okay. All right. Zero winner. No, we're just, we're just, it's me. All right. L fanning or Michael B. Jordan.
01:12:36
Speaker
Michael B. Jordan.
01:12:41
Speaker
Alex. Oh, I thought we were going to ask it Michael B. Jordan. Okay. L fanning or I also pick Michael B. Jordan. L fanning or Robert Pattinson. For Mickey 17 or Mickey 17.
01:13:01
Speaker
I like Elle Fanning. I just don't really like Tess or Tessa. But with that said, I think I still have to go with... um Who is it? Robert?
01:13:14
Speaker
Yeah. yeah all Alright. By Hair. And I didn't like Mickey 17. Yeah.
01:13:23
Speaker
So el L versus Robert. I'm going Robert. Mickey 17 wasn't great, but Robert Pattinson was pretty good in it. It really felt like multiple character like different characters.
01:13:35
Speaker
He transforms out. Whereas some of these other ones, it it kind of didn't. All right. L Fanning. I don't think any of us have seen this one. L Fanning or Robert De Niro for the Alto Knights?
01:13:48
Speaker
Hey, I'm walking in. Just tell me. Hey, I'm a go. I guess L. Yeah, I'll go L. Do i get my Italian card revoked if I don't pick De Niro? No. No.
01:14:02
Speaker
Okay. Are you sure? Yeah. Yes. We'll protect you from the angry Italians. I guess I'll pick L. Your Italian card has just been revoked, actually. i just got a text message. I feel Charlie Brown. All right, Elle Fanning or Theo James for The Monkey?
01:14:25
Speaker
I haven't seen The Monkey, so I can't say. um I'm going to say Theo James because because it was so memorable because of how stupid it was. And like how ridiculous his second character was. It's so like funny.
01:14:38
Speaker
it I mean, it was just like, like Elf Manning is just like boring. So it's like, yeah, I want the crazy like, hello, brother. I've been trying to kill you with the monkey 2025 whole time.
01:14:51
Speaker
this whole time It's so good. i also go Theo James. All right. Elf Manning or Mia Goth in Frankenstein. That doesn't even count. Yes, it does. It does not. Yes, it does. she always played it She almost played a third character, too.
01:15:05
Speaker
What two characters? Am I crazy? Mia Goth? Yeah. She played the mom in Elizabeth. Elizabeth. The mom that dies in the beginning? Whose mom?
01:15:17
Speaker
the Victor's mom. Victor's mom. Oh, I don't remember that. We had a whole episode. You you don't even see her face, so it's fair. Oh, okay. you can kind wait I only knew it was Mia Goth because of Twitter. I'm going to
01:15:33
Speaker
Where?
01:15:37
Speaker
I don't know. Oh, for the question. Yeah. I actually don't know what I want to because it's like i feel like i have to pick Elle Fanning because like Mia Goth didn't really play two characters like she did, but like she didn't.
01:15:53
Speaker
She had two minutes of screen time as the mom. More than you. true
01:16:03
Speaker
yeah get shit on. Shitted on him.
01:16:10
Speaker
all right, I'm moving on. Elle Fanning or David Cornswit in Superman?
01:16:16
Speaker
I'll go Dave. think i think Dave's the big D. I think he's the easy answer. think so too. All right, last one. Elle Fanning or Lewis Pullman in Thunderbolts?
01:16:26
Speaker
Oh, Lewis. Lewis. Lewis did great. hello he's He's the boy. He's the man. he did He did a really good job in that. He's the new goat. All right. Does that wrap it up?
01:16:39
Speaker
Sure.
Recommendations and Podcast Conclusion
01:16:42
Speaker
Oh, right. If you haven't seen, ah what's it called? Predator cu Killer of Killers. It's an animated movie directed by Dan Trachtenberg as well.
01:16:54
Speaker
um It's good. lot It's really action-packed. It's kind of an anthology, so it follows three different characters. um in three different time periods but really entertaining less than an hour and a half so easy watch fun watch i think you'll get your blood and guts there like in the first 10 minutes it was yeah but it's animated i can draw blood and guts just fine you know i've seen your handwriting yeah you're right Go watch Kill of Killers. Go watch Prey.
01:17:22
Speaker
go watch Predator Bandlands and watch the rest of the Predator movies. That's that's ah that's a note for us. I'll probably try to watch all of them at some point. Yeah, i need to watch the first one least.
01:17:33
Speaker
Yeah, same here. Watch out for Predators though. yeah Yeah. Walk with a friend at night, okay? If you're listening to this podcast at night. Clicking or Candy Vans.
01:17:46
Speaker
Look out for both. but And politicians. But you can look out for us in our next episode next week. Thank you for listening. Boom.
01:17:57
Speaker
See you later. See ya.