The Official Movie Thread

[Krow]

Comanche dub makes it look like a 70s karate dub.

film was pretty whatever. Pumped up ratings because of… well you know why.

 

[Krow]

hey guys know what would be super cool and progressive? If we have a girl kill a Yautja.
Fuck off.

also lol. Guilty of being… right!

 

[CiG]

At least she didn't team up with one like AvP. So lame.

 

[rms]

Thinking Prey could've been worthwhile if they did something fun, like learning from Comanche or something like that...rather than reboot the same plot with the always failing protagonist until the very end

 

[no country for old wainds]

chaw gave prey a 4/4 rave btw lol

 

[Metalloner]

What kind of movies do you guys like? It's horror/exploitation movies for me. Collecting obscure b-movies is like a secondary hobby for me next to my music collecting addiction.

I love exploitation moves too. Ilsa she wolf of the ss is a favourite . Also the female prisoner scorpion series. Blaxploitation movies are class also.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

chaw gave prey a 4/4 rave btw lol

Wow, so it's even better than Terminator: Dark Fate!

 

[no country for old wainds]

Wow, so it's even better than Terminator: Dark Fate!

true but that also means it’s better than terminator 2, so that’s pretty good!

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Sick, I've been waiting for a movie better than Terminator 2 since 1991.

 

[CiG]

I thought his review was mostly bullshit, like how he says Prey has "shades of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto" which is a stretch into undeserved generosity if ever I saw it. He compliments Prey for its Chekhov's Gun writing, while simultaneously saying it isn't formulaic, but for me this is precisely why it's so predictable.

But it's good to know I'm not the only one who sees the predator as chauvenistic, with how it doesn't perceive Naru as a threat for so much of the film. Though it also means Chaw contradicts himself when he calls Prey "tremendously ethical" towards its source material. The moment Naru picked up a weapon, she should've been game, as per the source material.

 

[Krow]

P-p-p-p-p-p-PLOT ARMOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

 

[Einherjar86]

But it's good to know I'm not the only one who sees the predator as chauvenistic, with how it doesn't perceive Naru as a threat for so much of the film. Though it also means Chaw contradicts himself when he calls Prey "tremendously ethical" towards its source material. The moment Naru picked up a weapon, she should've been game, as per the source material.

That’s a great point. I haven’t seen the new movie but recall this explicitly from the original. I’ve also never thought about the gender dynamics of Predator (likely because I haven’t kept up faithfully with the post-2000 sequels); but this reading gibes with the Yautja hierarchy—a curious (unconscious?) mirroring of patriarchal dynamics in Western thought.

To be honest, I never had a strong desire to see Prey—and haven’t really enjoyed any Alien or Predator film since Predator 2 (I lump them together because of the crossover reference). Even Prometheus has lost its luster over time, a movie with lofty ideas that fails at the levels of script and plotting. I have little hope of any valuable entry/reboot at this point, although the high schooler in me continues to dream.

 

[CiG]

I think you might actually like Prey dude.

Chaw compares it to Apocalypto but I think that's off. To me it plays out a lot more like The Revenant, just mashed with the first Predator. My biggest issue is that it feels over-produced and too much is achieved with CGI. But if those things for you are afterthoughts it's probably a great popcorn flick.

But the Predator films have never really explored gender dynamics. Women with weapons get dispatched like anybody else. So the idea that a Yautja wouldn't view a female warrior as a threat (until she's literally harming him) feels much more like witnessing the director's hand at play, as opposed to just a convenient plot device to set up for the ending.

As an autistic lorefag it feels like crashing into a brick wall.

 

[Einherjar86]

I think you might actually like Prey dude.

Chaw compares it to Apocalypto but I think that's off. To me it plays out a lot more like The Revenant, just mashed with the first Predator. My biggest issue is that it feels over-produced and too much is achieved with CGI. But if those things for you are afterthoughts it's probably a great popcorn flick.

Problem is, for me, I don’t view these as popcorn flicks; and the fact that they’ve kinda been reduced to that annoys me. Both Alien and Predator are first contact narratives (later entries notwithstanding), and damn good ones at that. Alien is high cinema, and although Predator doesn’t aspire to that peak, it’s a pretty awesome depiction of raw masculinity encountering a force it can’t overpower.

Maybe I’ll give it a go with Gray Man expectations, but it’ll probably still be a letdown.

edit: I might be missing your point—The Revenant comparison intrigues me, but I don’t view that as popcorn fodder.

 

[CiG]

Prey only really compares to Predator superficially. It hits a few call-backs to strengthen the illusion but it doesn't really explore the same themes. I can't say much more about how they fuck up the Yautja itself without spoiling, but if you watch it I'd be interested to revisit this. It's definitely worth watching at least once, as it does in some sense represent the Predator franchise getting back on the right track after Shane Black's abomination or the AvP films.

edit: I might be missing your point—The Revenant comparison intrigues me, but I don’t view that as popcorn fodder.

No it's like The Revenant (survival film, French trackers in Prey play a similar role to the Indians hunting DiCaprio, CGI wild animals, bears etc) but most of the gravitas is replaced with the more popcorn elements of Predator. So effectively the least interesting elements of both films haha.

 

[rms]

I think there's some merit to Naru not being recognized as a threat because she's a constant failure, more than anything else. I don't really remember if that's been a thing in any of the movies, and the last women I can remember from Predators and 2 we're able bodies. I think I remember the weapon thing from Predator and the hostage, but she never crossed into "threat territory" regardless

Even if that worked for the movie, just not that good of a flick

 

[CiG]

I think there's some merit to Naru not being recognized as a threat because she's a constant failure, more than anything else. I don't really remember if that's been a thing in any of the movies, and the last women I can remember from Predators and 2 we're able bodies. I think I remember the weapon thing from Predator and the hostage, but she never crossed into "threat territory" regardless

Spoiler

At first I thought that yes it ignores her because it doesn't see her as an apex, but the entire point of the film is that Naru is underestimated by everybody, not just the Yautja, and this is how she defeats it in the end. The overarching theme of Prey is that Naru is underestimated at every turn, but is very intelligent and represents an alternative to masculine brute force. It's not a coincidence she's the only female warrior and really the only female character visible at all. Even her mother underestimates her.

And no competency doesn't play a role in the original films, plenty of bumbling retards get dispatched simply because they have weapons.

Edit: IIRC in Predator 2 they established that children and pregnant women are never targets, even if they're armed. Maybe Naru was preggers?

 

[rms]

Haha I did forget she was pregnant in Predator 2. But she got got on the train with Bill Paxton right? Or did she live? I gotta rewatch 2 again. Anytime

Spoiler

but that's why I think the movie stinks anyway. Gal can't do anything but somehow outwits the thing that can kill everyone and everything. Feels like a feminist reboot from Hollywood but 8-10 years late.

I'm sure the film is accurate in that no women were fighting because it wasn't likely their societal place. You get those cooking jokes or whatever from the hunting group a few times to showcase that (or just general Twitter responses of today blah blah.blah)

So I'm sure they could use that as an angle, the predator is smart and studies/learns from it's prey...therefore it never sees women in these roles, doesn't see them as threatening etc etc.

But I don't think they thought this through, or at least pivoted into what we see on Hulu today, so it's just moot haha. Regular ass Hollywood movie with a female lead /shrug

 

[CiG]

But she got got on the train with Bill Paxton right? Or did she live?

The Yautja attacked her initially and then it scanned her and saw she was pregnant, and let her live.

I agree with what you put in spoilers.

 

[no country for old wainds]

lars von trier diagnosed with parkinson's (and olivia newton john died)