Is there a more resolute, fictional lovable loser than Wile E. Coyote? Because I can’t think of one.
For over ¾ of a century, his quest to capture the Road Runner has been more memorable than any cartoon short of Tom and Jerry. His 0 percent success rate is one of the truly rare things that can make me laugh with the same delight I had as a kid watching reruns on Cartoon Network. Still, all this time I thought Wile was the bad guy (being a carnivore and all), but now, having seen Coyote vs. Acme, I’m not so sure.
Since I never got around to seeing the TV series Lost and only a few years ago finally got caught up with all the Mission: Impossible films, the first time I remember seeing J.J. Abrams was for the 2011, now nearly forgotten gem Super 8.
That film (starring upcoming future star Elle Fanning) was an original nostalgia trip into late 1970s sci-fi (a true precursor to Stranger Things). It was no surprise to me, then, when I found out Abrams was one of the main producers of The End of Oak Street (granted, it is in the early 80s, but that is not far off).
When The Devil Wears Prada came out in 2006, I had just graduated from high school.
Looking back, the reason I never got around to seeing the film in the theater was a mixture of work (had to save up before college, obviously), still being under the spell of Roger Ebert (who did not like the original much), virtually no knowledge of fashion magazines, and other forgotten factors that led me to simply never seeing the films until…honestly, a few years ago.
At some point, Netflix has really cornered the market on rom coms (more quantity-wise, not entirely quality-wise).
With an infinite amount in their library, a fair amount of these Netflix original rom-coms also have to do with exotic travel (the most recent one I remember seeing was People We Meet on Vacation). Looking back, the last of this type I remember seeing in the theater (not including last year’s regrettable A Big Bold Beautiful Journey) was 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians. Sufficite to say, these varieties of rom com getaways are rare in the theater setting, which is why I was surprised to hear about You, Me, & Tuscany, a film coated with everything those predictable Netflix movies are known for,…but is that a bad thing?
As Disney/Pixar now approaches their 30th film with Hoppers, it has me looking back at previous films revolving around animals (especially when it comes to human interaction).
Except for the two masterpieces Finding Nemo (2003) and Ratatouille (2007), the rest of them have been, at best, passable (I also exempt 2001’s Monster’s, Inc., due to those characters being more fantastical than realistic). Add in the fact that the last truly great classic was 2017’s Coco (though I can see defenders of 2020’s Soul, which I do need to rewatch), and you can see why Hoppers has a lot riding on its shoulders.
Looking back at my Letterboxd ratings of the first two Avatar films, I realize that there is a slight decline.
That is not at all to say that “The King of the World,” James Cameron, is losing his touch as a filmmaker. His original world-building of Pandora and the Na’vi is so mesmerizing to see that it is becoming redundant to say so. In Avatar: Fire and Ash, the tradition of outdoing the previous film with truly special effects continues. The problem, as has been stated, is the writing (which is also by Cameron).
Who would have thought that a Predator had personal problems?
Apparently, director Dan Trachtenberg.
The formula for the first few Predator films (I have only seen the first two of the ones made before Trachtenberg) was reminiscent of the Alien films (which, oddly enough, I also have only seen the first two of that franchise): a bunch of humans are in the near vicinity of an extraterrestrial monster, and only a few survive. Then, in 2022, Trachtenberg came in and made the film Prey, which used somewhat of the same approach but in the early 1700s with Indigenous peoples. Now, he flips the script with Predator: Badlands, asking the question: What does it mean to actually be a Predator?
The predator protagonist in question is Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamantangi), considered the runt of the clan (and in the Predator species, runts are seen as too weak to be allowed to live), but still eager to prove himself. So eager, in fact, that when it comes to finding the adversary, he must hunt to be accepted, he goes after an unkillable monster called a Kalisk.
Upon landing on the creature’s home planet of Genna, Dek runs into Thia (Elle Fanning), a damaged android who is only accepted by Dek (since Predators only work alone) when she is seen as a “tool”. She is in search of her counterpart, Tessa (also Fanning), whom she was separated from after their last encounter with the Kalisk. They also encounter a monkey-esque creature that Thia names Bud, whose true objective is to steal every scene it is in (and succeeds with hardly any effort).
The planet of Genna itself is indeed dangerous, but not “bad”. It does have some rather inventive naturalistic dangers to behold, such as blade grace, an unstable purple cactus thingy, and exploding caterpillars/slugs. The result is (mostly) rather profound CGI that does not feel like a low-rent MCU film that is almost always in front of a green screen.
Parents, this is a rare case where I actually agree with a film being PG-13 instead of R. There is indeed violence and blood (albeit green blood, since that is what a Predator’s blood color is), but there is no sexual content or nudity. There is some swearing, but nothing drastic. In my theater, I saw a dad with his two sons, who were probably between 10 and 15. I would argue this is a great “guys’ night out” type of film.
There are clear homages to other films such as Aliens and The Empire Strikes Back (Thia is basically C-3PO even before she is being carried around like him). I read on Wiki how Trachtenberg is hoping to do at least one more film in this universe if Badlands makes enough money back.
I’d be down for it because he definitely has a caring mind for the material. Plus, I am a fan of Elle-3PO…or maybe it should be C-3P Elle.
Perhaps I am late to this realization, but with short films, it is much easier to find out the intent of the filmmaker(s) since there is not too much to worry about plot wise.
Such was the case with two new short films I saw by Chris Paicely and Miles August (“Chris and Miles”): Silk (directed by August) and The Girl in the Street (directed by Paicely), both of which each of them wrote.
Recently, there was news that a company named Particle6 had created the world’s first AI actress, and that certain agencies were looking into hiring her.
The idea of this actress (named Tilly Norwood) has understandably upset most of Hollywood. I read one actress said one of the main reasons this won’’t work is because Tilly lacks one of the most crucial tools an actor needs: past experiences to draw from. This is one of the main ingredients that makes Dwayne Johnson’s performance in The Smashing Machine so remarkable.
Nothing else to say 