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).
Of all the 25 films I have on my list, none has me more at a loss for words than 2011’s The Tree of Life.
I recently tried watching it (my Blu-ray got busted up halfway through, so it looks as though I will need to get the Criterion Collection version after all), but it was enough to remember two things: This is one of the most visually stunning films in my lifetime, and I am still not entirely sure what to make of it.
By the time her film Nomadland (2020) had won her Best Picture and Best Director Oscars, Chloé Zhao had already finished her attempt at a superhero film, Eternals (2021), considered by many to be one of the most inferior in the MCU library (I know it is not good, but it is not near as bad as some of the others).
I never once thought to blame her for that and knew that her next film would demonstrate she is still a bona fide talented filmmaker. Well, I was more than correct, because after seeing Hamnet (her fifth feature film in ten years), she exceeded my expectations as someone who is truly a cinematic poet.
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.
In High School, my english class always seemed to be one of the first of the day, and that was no exception back in my sophomore year.
Yet one day in January of 2004, I can safely say I don’t at all remember what we were supposed to be doing, because I was not paying any attention. We were in one of the computer labs (do those even exist anymore? I don’t know), working on research of some kind, but my mind was elsewhere: the Oscar nominations.
“You know what freedom is Bob? No fear. Like Tom ****ing Cruise!”
When this is said by the character Sergio (Benecio Del Toro) in the recent One Battle After Another, you get a sense of content agreement. Growing up, I always saw Cruise as the guy who was able to sleep with the girl in some way shape or form, whether he was risking his life or not. That was not the case when I saw him in Minority Report.
In the past 15 years, I’ve been blessed to get to work a lot in my Church’s children’s ministry.
This has included being a camp counselor 11 times, plus another 3 at another Christian Camp. Yet all of this can’t hold a candle to what Rocky Braat has achieved in the film Blood Brother (and continues to achieve).
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the first MCU entry in some time where prior knowledge of previous films/TV Shows is not entirely needed.
Admittedly, I was thrown off at the start when I found out the setting was Earth-828, which is not the main earth from the prior MCU films (that was…let me check…oh right, Earth-616). This is an interesting approach, since the Fantastic Four are, as far as I can tell, behind only Spider-Man and the X-Men when it comes to the most prominent of Marvel characters.
Nothing else to say 