Predators was good as far as how it portrayed the Predators and what it added to the lore, and the performances by Adrian Brody and Laurence Fishburn were pretty good, but the film was bogged down by the rest of the characters, who were either annoying, or did little to contribute and were just there to be picked off. Danny Trejo was utterly wasted. The first two Predator movies at least had a feeling of companionship, the characters felt like a team, and you felt it when any one of them was picked off, even if it was a character not very likable or developed. Predators was missing most of that, and the planet it takes place on carried the film.
I’m might be willing to say that Predator 2 is the second worst film in the franchise.
Don’t know where you’d get a crazy idea like that.
Think you meant to post that in the “Unpopular Opinion” thread. 
1 Like
The Surfer with Nicolas Cage. Total mind fuck. Super interesting. Sorta endlessly stressful, but not as much as uncut gems was. Worth a watch for sure.
2 Likes
Back on a plane… more time for films.
Alto Knights. DeNiro playing 2 real life gangsters who were child hood friends. It’s based on the Appalachian mob meeting that got “stumbled onto” by police and forced J Edgar Hoover to say “yes the Italian mafia is one giant organization that spans the entire country and beyond.”
It was written by Nicolas Pileggi (wrote Wiseguy which was the source material for Goodfellas and then co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese. The two of them went on to make Casino which was also based on a Pileggi book). Pileggi does his homework so much of the film is historically accurate, but without Scorsese’s touch it’s just not as good. Don’t get me wrong, it’s entertaining, and maybe some of it was because the event at the end of the movie was such a watershed moment in history where we all already know what happened, but whatever the reason it just didn’t grip me the way the other films did. DeNiro paying both parts was interesting because of how he played each differently, but this has been done many times before. I enjoyed it, but would rate it below Ray Liotta playing the two brothers in Saints of Newark. Alto Knights is a better show, but these two weren’t brothers and despite the giant nose one of the characters had it just seems too much like they were.
Anyway this one is only worth your time if you just love DeNiro or just love gangster flicks.
1 Like
Sly documentary! It’s so good. Genuine tough guy. At one point he says he grew up in a home with “a lot of turmoil, a lot of physicality, I guess you’d call it violence.” Wild that he can barely call it what it was.
I also liked learning that the scene with him and DeNiro in cop land was 1/2 as long on the page, and then Stallone ad-libbed extra lines and DeNiro rolled with it. Way interesting. I wish that movie got more attention. It’s very real.
Sly = worth your time. There is a lot of reflection of the father son relationship. He basically has daddy issues. He shows real hurt. It’s very human whenever he’s talking about it.
3 Likes
Relay
Something I decided to take a chance on in Netflix and no regrets. A suspense thriller, cat & mouse type of film about a fixer who mediates between whistleblowers and companies they expose and are now hunted by. He massages both parties through a relay service for the deaf as a method of concealing his identity. He also has some pretty clever tactics he uses that generally allow him operate like a ghost in the world. His newest client is a women who’s hounded by a counterintelligence team and as the movie progresses, things start going sideways and he’s forced to adopt to try and protect his client while keeping himself out of the spotlight. Really enjoyed this one, 7/10 
.
2 Likes
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Another movie that could/should be about 1 hour shorter than it is. Clocking in at 3 hours 17 minutes most of the sequences are over long and exhausting, and the entire third act feels like a repeat of the third act in the Way of Water.
That being said the CG i basically flawless and there’s some sequences in there I really enjoyed. But it just feels too much like the previous movie. The sequence that had me interested when Jake is held captive was ironically too short.
2 Likes
Unpregnant
Teen girl road trip movie. One gal enlists her ex best friend from years past to drive with her from Missouri to New Mexico bc the film claims that’s the closest state to Missouri where a girl under 18 can get an abortion without her parents knowing/consenting. It’s really fun and cute and has a fair amount of laugh out loud scenes. I was just surprised they didn’t put on screen at the end the list of states where you can get an abortion under 18 w/out parental consent. The super long drive across 5 states made for a way better film but in real life she could have just gone over to IL and been home for dinner.
Also Betty Who has a tiny role where she plays a a dirt track race car driver who makes out with an underage girl. I bet that scene was fun for her to make since she basically gets to more or less play herself only a racer instead of a singer.
Won’t win any writing awards, but a good wholesome film… worth your time.
Oh also the skateboard burnout guy from clueless is in it. He’s an adult now lol.
2 Likes
Didn’t they do a bit of Googling before pitching the idea? 
maybe five states seemed more interesting
In film they googled it and New Mexico was the closest state to allow an underage girl to get one without her parents signing a form. They are trying to make the trip over a weekend without parents knowing anything about it so they would should have just gone to Chicago someplace just over the IL line, but for narrative reasons the film pretends that isnt an option.
I just sorta saw all these young girls trusting the film to be correct and then taking a 3 or 4 day trip when a 5 hour round trip would be fine.
1 Like
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)
Thought that last year’s 28 Years Later was pretty enjoyable, if a little batshit at the end. This turns the batshit all the way up to 11… and it’s an absolute masterpiece. Loved it, and I now cannot wait for the concluding part to this trilogy, which I would not have seen coming going into tonight’s screening.
4 Likes
I haven’t seen either, but plan to. I only have one question: do these newest movies ignore the events of 28 Weeks Later, or is that movie still part of the canon story?
2 Likes
Technically the events happen, but there’s no relevance. They use some footage from the sniper scene in a montage in 28YL. If you’re asking about what happened to Paris though, Alex Garland said it was probably nuked
3 Likes
Well, good, at least they didn’t excise that from the timeline.
Isn’t that a zombie movie? What’s the link to charity?
The latest ‘28’ film is still broadly a zombie movie (in genre, at least, before Heisenberg has a “they’re not zombies, it’s an infection!!!” seizure), but explaining the meme would be an unwelcome spoiler, IMO. It’s a go-and-see-the-movie and IYKYK kinda deal.
2 Likes
I get why that would be your go-to for me - guilty as charged - but as a big zombie fan and Resident Evil fan, I know the different types of zombies along the surprisingly diverse spectrum, so you won’t get any such pedantic outburst from me this time.
1 Like