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Capone talks PREDATORS and other future projects with producer Robert Rodriguez!!!
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
I don't feel the need to go on and on about Robert Rodriguez. You know who he is and that he has made some of the greatest homegrown genre films in the last 20 years, beginning with EL MARIACHI and continuing to DESPERADO, FROM DUSK TIL DAWN, ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, SIN CITY, PLANET TERROR, and I'm guessing the upcoming MACHETE. His commitment to a very different kind of family filmmaking has resulted in the highly successful SPY KIDS series, as well as his last film, SHORTS.
As close a relationship as Rodriguez has with Harry and Quint and many other friends of AICN in Austin (where Rodriguez calls home and built a headquarters for his production company, Troublemaker Studios), I've somehow managed never to meet him in the nearly 12 years I've been with AICN. I've never even come close! So at the SXSW Film Festival in March, I was beyond anxious when I got assigned the enviable task of talking to Rodriguez a couple days after he and director Nimrod Antal premiered footage and a trailer for PREDATORS, his first studio film as solely a producer.
I didn't want to just focus on PREDATORS during our lengthy chat (about 30 minutes), because I was more curious about Robert recasting himself in the role of producer of another filmmaker's movie. Clearly, he feels close to this material since he took a pass at a PREDATOR sequel many years ago that would have starred Arnold Schwarzenegger again. We didn't even have time to get into his latest film as director, the awesome-looking MACHETE, although I did get him to talk a bit about his SPY KIDS relaunch and what exactly is going on with SIN CITY 2. I collected some advice on getting the most out of our talk, but in the end I kind of did what I usually do. It seems to have worked so far, and I love the resulting conversation. Please enjoy the most generous Robert Rodriguez…
Capone: I can’t believe I’ve been coming down here for 12 years working for Ain’t It Cool and I’ve never met you.
Robert Rodriguez: [laughs] Yeah, I know. So where do you come in from?
Capone: From Chicago.
RR: Right, of course. Okay. I just didn’t know where you were based.
Capone: Yeah, I’m actually from there.
RR: So you don’t live down here.
Capone: If I lived down here, I’d probably get lost in the shuffle of geeks. So I talked to [PREDATORS director] Nimrod [Antal] yesterday about movie-specific stuff, but I’m actually kind of curious about your role as a producer. I think this is the first time you produced something that you didn’t direct. What did you see your role as a producer being?
RR: I wasn’t sure. I was going to figure it out as I went. I wanted to get into producing for many years and I just thought, “I don’t know if I can do it, I’m so hands on I’ll probably just creep out who ever I’m working with and be all over them and get in the way.” I know as a director you just don’t want that, but I knew I could be a good producer in some way, because I always thought “I don't want to be one of those producers…" Let me put it another way: unless you can pick up a Steadicam and actually help the problem, you’re not going to be worth anything. "Get the hell out of here!” [Laughs]
So I knew I could at least do that if anything came down to anything, if we needed an extra camera I could go get some cool shots and we could get the coverage we needed. And then also I had an effects background, and he hadn’t done effects, and we knew there were going to be some effects in this film, so I could help teach him how to figure that out pretty quick. There was really short learning curve actually, and I thought it would be more work, but he picked everything up very fast. It was just fun. I just wanted to oversee the movie with my crew. A lot of it was just having the right people, and I had such a great crew so I gave him my A crew, so he had the best support. He brought his DP, and they got a great look out of it, and I just over saw it and in that way I didn’t have to go in there. You want to get the right guy where it’s someone that you can collaborate with and work with and you see eye to eye, yet he has a vision and is able to carry the whole movie, so that you are not having to go in there and help out unless it’s asked, because you want it to be the director’s vision.
Capone: Onstage the other day, you made that very refreshing statement about how Fox really wanted you to keep their hands off of it. That’s so unusual for any studio to just say something like that.
RR: They examined their process and they said, “You know, usually we would probably do things the wrong way. We see how other studios have been successful. Like, how do you revitalize the BATMAN series? They gave it to a filmmaker to go and do, and they don’t usually do that. "If we have a property, we will hire someone who is not as experienced that we can kind of punch around and tell them what to do and then it ends up getting all messed up, so we would rather turn it over to a filmmaker who is passionate about it, and you wrote the original script--maybe you can do it.” Then they came down and saw Troublemaker and said “Oh, you’ve got to make it here. You have a whole studio in here! Just keep it here and make it a Troublemaker movie. You don’t have to make it a Fox movie. Do what you do, because we don’t even know how you do it. You make them for less than we ever could make it and you will probably make it a lot better, so just keep us away from it.” And they stayed out of the whole production. They were just very supportive. Everything they saw, they loved. They just said, “Make the best movie” and they don’t care whose idea it is. It doesn’t have to be their idea, so long as it’s a good idea. “Just make it good and make it for the fan base, because you are all the fans. You guys go and make it.”
Capone: Let’s be honest, Fox have been struggling with some of the bigger properties. Did you get a sense that they have a lot riding on this? They really don’t just WANT it to be successful, they NEED it to be successful. Is that an added pressure on you? Everything you do is self-generated and costs so little that it only has to do like a certain amount of business for you to feel like it was a success. But for something like this, there are a lot more people depending on this. Do you feel that?
RR: Yeah, I mean we wanted it to be successful. We knew that there was a fan base that really was still hungry for a good one and we just said “With the resources we have, let’s go make the absolute best movie we can,” and these guys sell movies better than anybody, so if they have something they can actually sell, they do it even better. We are confident that it will do well and that they are going to be happy, so it’s just at what level does it get that they get happier? [laughs}
The main thing was, I’ve just done that before where I go “I’m just going to make what’s a solid movie and if it gets sold bad and doesn’t make business, people still watch it over and over again.” And on this one, I know that they know what they are doing as far as selling it.
Capone: Yeah, I was talking to Nimrod about this yesterday, the fast turnaround on thing is unbelievable--it’s basically a year. And I asked him, I said “You really have to trust your instincts at that point.You don’t have time to second guess decisions,” and I realized as we were sitting there that PREDATORS is about just that, too. These guys in a completely unfamiliar situation, but they seem to work really well under pressure, because their instincts are finely tuned.” And that seems exactly like the way Nimrod and your crew, the KNB guys work. The first decision is often the one you are stuck with.
RR: You stick with that, and it’s usually the best one, because it’s not your conscious making it, which is never going to be smarter than your sub-conscious, which is your instinct and that’s what I would just tell everybody when they realized how little time they had and they wouldn’t be ready and they wouldn’t be prepared, and I would just say “In the script did they know they were going to be dropped on this planet? Unprepared?" They all went “No.” With some of the actors, I hired them sometimes a few days before to a week before ,and they were like “Wait, this is shooting when? Oh it’s shooting next week.” They were like “Oh, I don’t know if I’m ready.” I was like “Neither is the character, so you are all ready to go man! Just show up on the set with that look in your eye and you'll be ready to go.”
Capone: “The worst thing you have to do is come to a set. Your character has a lot more things to worry about.”
RR: Yeah and “Start pumping iron and getting into shape, because you’ve got to look like a soldier and a professional this and professional that.” And it was that pressure cooker that emulated the feeling of the movie and I think yeah you have to make those decisions day to day just like they are doing and you come up with great stuff.
Capone: I was joking with Harry last night, and we were talking about the predator designs, and I forget who said it, because I know you have this great love for all things Ray Harryhausen. I’m like “Maybe there will just be one predator that is done stop motion, because they made a big deal about no CGI predators, but that’s not CGI, maybe there will be one.”
RR: [laughs] That’d be great, the Dynarama!
Capone: That’s right. Well, you build your own sets, so you can have your own little guys.
RR: Yeah, yeah. We’ve done things like that before, you make little sets and things, our own miniature sets and those are fun.
Capone: I love that you also said when you wrote the screenplay originally that, because you knew you wouldn’t be directing it, you just wrote balls-out action stuff that would cost millions of dollars.
RR: Oh tons of stuff, especially then. There wasn’t CG back then really; it wasn’t a lot. I started writing it in 1994, so that was just a few years after T2, so it wasn’t like it was affordable to go make movies with all of these things, without the budget being just huge, and I didn’t have to worry about that.
Capone: Was it just funny when they handed you back your script and said, “Make something like this,” and you are like “But this costs too much money for anybody.”
RR: “For how much? Okay, I’m going to re-write this.” First, Arnold would take up the whole budget, and then maybe it would be minus multiple predators. Maybe SON OF PREDATOR.
Capone: [Laugh] Nimrod talked about what it was like coming in to meet you for the first time and how completely nervous he was…
RR: He didn’t seem like it.
Capone: He just hides it well?
RR: Yeah, he had a big smile on his face and just kept saying he was a big fan.
Capone: Yeah, that counts. What do you remember about him that impressed you so much with that first meeting?
RR: You look for people that you just connect with and that you know you get along with, because this is a relationship that you have to have and be around them and somebody who is kind of to themselves or you can tell they are just going to want to run off and make their own movie and not collaborate with you, that’s not the right person, which is fine on their own movie, but on a movie like this it’s got to be a partnership with a lot of people. So immediately I thought he was just a really cool guy.
I loved his movie KONTROL, which showed that he was very resourceful and that he knew how to shoot a movie and get into characters, and then I talked to him for a while and I asked what else he had and he said “Well, I’ve just finished this movie called ARMORED which you can see,” and I saw the cast in it and great singular actors like Matt Dillon, Laurence Fisburne, Jean Renoir, and Fred Ward and I thought, “Oh, this really nice guy is able to wrangle all of these strong personalities in a way that is probably still collaborative.” So I knew he would get along great with my crew just by the way his demeanor was, but to know that he could handle a movie like that with a group of people, which is what this movie was going to be made him the right choice for it, and his old-school approach to things was also going to fit it.
Capone: I was going to ask you about that, because I know that he said one of the things he wanted to do was as practical as possible.
RR: “Practical as possible” and for things that were not…
Capone: For things that make you nervous… [Laughs]
RR: No no, that’s what we loved about the original too, I mean, that's why the original Predator is such an endearing character, because it’s humanoid, so it looks real because it is a person in a suit, and that’s why people can identify with it so well and that’s why it’s still around, that’s why people will go see the movie. So I knew that and then if there were effects, I knew I could help with that, because he hadn’t done effects yet, but that would be where I could help out and teach him that. Like I said, that was a pretty short learning curve; he picked it up very quick.
Capone: Do you remember something specifically that he said or an idea that he had about changing something in the script that made you go “This guy gets it. He understands what we want to do with this.”?
RR: Yeah, there was a lot of that and it wasn’t just in the script. I changed the script quite a bit. I hired two other writers that work closely with him to come up with a lot of the story elements, so he came up with a lot of the story elements, because he really had this idea and vision of concentrating more on the hunt and getting it back to that and making it really lean, where mine had… This was like one half of my script and he took the section that he liked the most and made that the movie, because mine was like three movies in one.
[Both Laugh]
“Let’s do this one. We can save that other part for a sequel when we have more money.” And he knew how to streamline it and really make sense out of it, and then when we got to doing all of the artwork, like we were showing up on the screen. Mentally, I knew he would get the choice of what was what, but mentally I would go in and see the stuff up on the wall and I would think “That’s the one I would pick” and “That’s the one I would cut probably, but whatever he picks is fine,” and then he would go in and look at them and he would pick the same ones that I would. [Laughs]
It’s like we kind of had the same vision, yet when I would go on the set it would be shot completely different from how I would do it. You can give the same scene to three different directors, and it’s going to come out different. It was very interesting for me to watch his approach to things, and I’d be like “Wow, that’s a lot darker and more serious than I probably would have done, that’s really cool. I’m going to steal some ideas from this guy.” [Laughs] I kind of knew I would learn more from him than he would from me, that’s why I wanted to just produce, I wanted to see how someone else approaches the material and learn from that. I like being a student. I like learning.
Capone: Yeah, but you also like teaching.
RR: I love to teach also, but the reason I like to teach is not because I know it all. I think everybody knows what to do, they just don’t always do it, so I have all of this great advice that I constantly was throwing out to him in these long conversations of what he should do, and the whole time I’m taking mental notes like “Yeah and I should do that too.” [Laughs] Because I don’t ever follow my own advice, obviously, because it’s really good and makes total common sense, but we don’t always follow that common sense.
Capone: With your own sort of self-generated things, you are always really particular about the flow of information and images and clips. Will you have that same kind of control with this film, because I guess Fox has this big promotional thing planned?
RR: Yeah. I co-cut the trailer with them. They brought me the trailer and I had some suggestions, but I don’t just say, “Hey, try this or that.” I cut it again and then send it back, and then we go back and forth, and that’s how I’ve always worked with studios, and they love that because they know you know the material very well at that point, because they haven’t seen the movie yet, so you have to help out in that way. We made that poster, and they love the movie.
Capone: Thank you for that by the way.
RR: [laughs] You’re welcome. We just said, “Hey, here’s something we cranked out in our studio.” They are very happy with that collaboration. We really think about how to market a movie ourselves, so that can help them out. In such a truncated amount of time, it really helps to put the teams together.
Capone: Yeah. I don’t know when you said yesterday during the press conference about rebooting the SPY KIDS franchise, have you decided that’s probably your next film after MACHETE?
RR: I just turned the script in.
Capone: You did?
RR: I get parents and kids all of the time saying how often they watch those movies, and how the parents are having kids that haven’t seen it. So it would be 10 years when this next one comes out since [the first SPY KIDS] happened--getting to reboot your own series is pretty interesting.
Capone: No one gets to do that.
RR: It’s pretty fun and it doesn’t feel like we are going back to the well again, and the idea is doing it again with new kids and making this one… The first three are the Roger Moore Bond movies; this is the CASINO ROYALE. That’s kind of where are going with it. It’s good.
Capone: So you won't be using the same characters?
RR: No. New characters. Alexa [Vega] shows up, because she’s now an older spy who wants to revitalize the SPY KIDS division, which got shot down seven years ago for budget reasons.
[Both Laugh]
Capone: Times are tough.
RR: “Times are tough,” and it’s cool, because I kept all of those old props, which when you walk through the whole Spy Kids division, it’s going to be spider webbed and closed down, but you see the submarine and the plane and all of that stuff that I’ve kept--the jetpacks. It’s pretty cool.
Capone: We were talking about Harryhausen before and that second SPY KIDS will always be my favorite, just for your wonderful Harryhausen tribute with those creatures.
RR: I love that. That’s my favorite one.
Capone: And I've got to ask about the status of SIN CITY 2. I have this strange idea with no supporting evidence whatsoever. But I always assume, because it’s so segmented that, that you are just shooting it all of the time, a few days here and there with your actors, when they are available.
RR: [laughs] Like I’m shooting right now?
Capone: Yeah or just that you have been a little bit here and a little bit there.
RR: Yeah, I should have.
Capone: And then just one day there will be an announcement “This comes out in a month.”
RR: I should have. I’m trying to and I might be getting my own financing so that I could do that, because that way you don’t have to wait for a studio and have them cry poor. You could just be shooting…
Capone: You could work around actors’ schedules.
RR: That’s the way to do it. The next step is Troublemaker studios will have it’s own financing so that it can just turn around and greenlight something, and we can just say “We want to make that, let’s just make it.” We will ask ourselves for permission. “You want to make it?” “Sure, we’re making it.”
Capone: Like a real studio. Just going back to PREDATORS before they kick me out of here, that one clip that you guys showed was some scary shit.
RR: Oh cool! I wasn’t sure how it played, because it really works well when you see it in the context of the movie.
Capone: Just the whispering, I’m like “What is that?” At first I thought maybe one of the predators had the ability to mimic voices.
RR: Yeah, yeah, that was the idea they were going for.
Capone: That’s what I was thinking like in THE RUINS, where they learn to actually mimic English to draw people in, and then they just slaughter them. But the reveal is great obviously. And those woods look like they just co on forever; I’m excited.
RR: Oh yeah, absolutely.
Capone: It was excellent meeting you, and good luck with this.
RR: Thanks a lot.
Capone: Now that you’ve gotten a taste of this producing thing, do you thing you are going to keep looking for new directors?
RR: Oh yeah, new directors, and I enjoyed, like I said I love being a student and learning from people and that was a great way to learn and get to see movies get made that I want to see made that I don’t have time to direct myself, but still be a part of and be supportive and teach and learn at the same time.
Capone: Are any of the ones that you have on your docket, like the RED SONJA thing, is that something you might turn over to somebody?
RR: Well those are things are owned by other people, that’s why it takes so long to get made when they don’t have financing. It sits there, and they have to wait until CONAN gets made, and I’m like “Screw that, I want to get my own financing, so if I have an idea, while the idea is hot, you go and make it instead of sitting on it for four years.”
Capone: Sure. Well all right, man. Great to finally meet you.
RR: Yeah, thanks. Take it easy.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcool.com
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Readers Talkback
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true he's done some cool stuff, but He has to be one of the most overrated directors of the last 20 years. His films often have too many mexican references and it makes them feel cheap and lazy
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if your drunk at a baseball game don't try and do a superman to catch a foul ball
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And they used the fucking Grindhouse voice over guy. Stop that shit. Predators isn't a 60s movie and it's fucking 2010 anyway.
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where all da people at?
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July 7, 2010, 8:44 a.m. CST
"Maybe one of the predators had the ability to mimic voices."
by NinjaRap
...they can all do that, Capone. Have you seen a Predator movie? It's a thing that they do.
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Once Upon a Time in Mexico was not.
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July 7, 2010, 8:45 a.m. CST
yeah predators have been mimicing voices since the first film
by RedBull_Werewolf
damn quint, WTF?
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Speaking as someone who lives in Japan, the Yakuza don't scare me one little bit. I've met many on nights out. They're no worse than the average lowlife in a bar/thug on a street corner anywhere. A Predator would kill the average Yakuza guy in about 1 second. A reasonably tough average guy could do it in 2.
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I've seen better mexican action at the home depot
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There were human mantis hybrids. Not joking. Also Spy Kids? Have his kids not told him enough already? And finally, put a Predator in the Middle East you fuck.
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July 7, 2010, 8:49 a.m. CST
He's a cool and deservedly successful guy. Machete wil rule!
by Mr Nicholas
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There's only one kick ass Sci-fi anti-hero meant to take on the Predators and Aliens and it's Riddick. Long live the Whaliens.
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is that man responsible for Salma Hayek doing her thing in the titty twister. For that alone, I love this man.
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...but it sure smells good!
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These are the only questions he needs to have answers to.
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Edgar Wright recently "Tweeted" that he did a commentary for "Don't". Perhaps a Grindhouse Special Edition is finally on the way?
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I am anti-Twitter. I read that online elsewhere.
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...before, but I have a hard time imagining Harry handing out assignments...<P> Is there an office manager who takes care of these things...allowing Baron Vladimir Harkonnen to watch movies all night while sipping rejuvenating people-juice from bubbling vats?<P> Just curious.
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Shame too, cause I quite liked the first one.
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I've lived in Japan as well, and you're spot on. The gangster yakuza thugs you meet on the street in Shinjuku or wherever are as scary as a bowl of applesauce. Even walking through a back alley and having to pass through a group of four or five of them standing around in their ill-fitting cheap suits isn't even remotely threatening. I suppose somewhere there's a badass yakuza assassin in Japan... maybe...
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Get on that Rodriguez. The first one was your best film. There are more books out there that can be adapted. Just get Frank Miller off of whatever shitty comic book project he's doing now and make him write.
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...to make. I it must have made its money back...right?<P> I can't be bothered to look these things up.
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Let's face it that movie succeeded because of QT. <BR> Desperado is ok,Once Upon A Time In Mexico is awful. Planet Terror, just plain bad. The final straw was Sin City. I'm a huge fan of the books and Frank Miller in general but damn what a joke of a movie. It's not completely without merit but RR's stamp of "tacky" is all over it. It, like most of his work, looks unnecessarily cheap. Look I respect the guy and am not the type to wish failure on someone but I've learned my lesson with RR.
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Instead of all these jag-fest interviews?
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THIS IS LIKE A FAN FILM MADE WITH SMALL MONEY, YOU SUCK, ANTAL SUCK, THE ACTORS SUCK, ANYONE INVOLVED IN THIS PIECE OF SHIT MOVIE SHOULD BE CONDEMNED TO MOVIE JAIL. (A JAIL TO PUT OFF THE MAP PEOPLE WHO MAKE BAD MOVIES AND RIP THE PUNTERS OUT OF THEIR 10 BUCKS TICKETS)
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Can't get enough of those. . .
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Where the fuck is the DVD? One of the best movies of the 90's!
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I agree that Once Upon A Time In Mexico is painfully awful, but I liked all the rest. You realize that Planet Terror was *supposed* to be bad, right? Campy and awful? And Sin City was too. I mean, Frank Miller thinks that people act like that in real life, but everyone else reads his comics and goes, "Haha! What a exploitative, campy, violent, deranged, stupid, and fun comic!"
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I used to live in Japan too, and I agree; the EXACT same thing can be said about the "Italian Mob" in the US -- they're not scary, they're just a bunch of low-life retards who think they're in The Godfather. BUT, this is what they call a "MOVIE" in which we are asked to believe unrealistic notions about the world for the sake of etnertainment. Like, for instance, a movie about an Austrian body-builder / actor / Governor dude who can throw a truck at a bunch of guerrilas and then kill a couple hundred of them without a scratch, later on taking a Space Alien Shoulder Bazooka Missile to the arm and being fine -- after said Space Alien Shoulder Bazooka blew a hole through a Wrestler-Governor's chest and severed the arm of the guy who beat up Rocky.<br><br>So, yes, if you only like films portraying social realism, I understand. Things like Ozu's Tokyo Story, for instance. But here? Here were talking about a movie where a race of Hunter Aliens with Vagina Dentata Mouths spacewarp a bunch of killers to a Game Preserve Planet to hunt them. Given this, having a problem with a tough-guy Yakuza (which has been done in manga and films for AGES) is, well, stupid.
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I'm surprised they'd do it, ask him to keep them away from the decision making on Predators, saying they would only mess it up. Maybe they have finally learned a lesson and their genre films will improve? Too bad they didn't entrust this one to someone more capable of making a truly awesome Predator film though (no offense meant RR, it's just the truth.)
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What the Predators already do is record and playback clips of human speech. What I think he meant was the ability to mimic someone's voice and speak brand new English sentences in an imitated voice/accent. And that that wasn't what was really happening.
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in predator 2 they danny glover and old pistol as a reward, which implies they can travel through time. why dont they go through time and grab some of the badasses from before such as Ghengis Khan, Hannibal, Myamoto Musashi, fuck i dont know a whole slew of others to choose from. dump them all on a planet and hunt them. im sure they would have problems with language barriers and shit like that but tom cruise can german in valkerie then anything can happen. i think that would be cool
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July 7, 2010, 11:56 a.m. CST
batmans_pants.. I couldn't agree more
by NomoredirtyjokespleaseweareYanks
I have two film sexual obsessions. <p> The first. I was 16. She was Cameron Diaz in a red dress in The Mask walking through that fuckin bank. Fucking wank-vault(heh) material for at least a year. <p> The second was Selma with a fuckin snake in the Titty Twister. <p> For that reason alone.... Robert I salute thee.....
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July 7, 2010, 11:58 a.m. CST
bourne7855... dude you couldn't be more wrong
by NomoredirtyjokespleaseweareYanks
It's not time travel. They have just been hunting us for a loooong time.
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nomoredirtyjokes i am definitely with you on that. the mask was the best cameron diaz ever looked. she still had some curves then before she became a damn stick figure and selma hayek, dont even get me started lol
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yeah your right, my bad. well maybe they could have been around back then and snatched them all up or something. fuck i dont know, it would just be cool lol
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July 7, 2010, 12:14 p.m. CST
that's alright. You worship at the Altar of Selma
by NomoredirtyjokespleaseweareYanks
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July 7, 2010, 12:15 p.m. CST
San Dimas High School Football Rules!!!
by NomoredirtyjokespleaseweareYanks
is that how you spell it?
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The same Jean Renoir that was in Godzilla and Leon?
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we had mostly (questionable) reviews that were saying predator is not very good, except one who said it was great, which seemed kinda fake to me.. merrick said on twitter a little while ago that it was kinda dull, no new ground broken etc.. but rotten tomatoes has it at 100% still with around 9 or 10 reviews and mostly praising it. whats to believe?
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No one sets out to make a bad movie. I don't know what it is, but Tarantino plays in basically the same sandbox and he's my favorite living writer/director. his masterful technique elevates material whereas RR'S work just doesn't have that level of craft. <p> I can't agree about Miller either. He doesn't think everyone really talks like that, its just that he's stuck on this particular type of stylization. which is worse imo. we know he can do other things, he just.won't. His output from the early 80s to early 90s is amazing. <p> I also think that at least the first Sin City book had more to offer than being dumb and fun. It had genuine heart which was completely undermined by RR's always.present goofiness
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..."Ohh! Look at the little one just standing there. You just KNOW he's about to do something good!"
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Then port that to iPhone. Holy shit it's great to play a real console game on 3Gs Prince of Persia warrior within plays better than god of war psp. They crammed the whole thing on there. Tell them to port shadow of the ico now. Oh and make Marvel Zombies. It's the movie you were born to make. Also nobody I know loves planet terror as much as I do. Why? It's clearly better than anything ever done in the entire pantheon of zombie films. It's even better than sin city. Don't make me get all French guy from the meaning of life on you. It's better than sin city. But they're both great. Anyways. How do you feel about the fact that ps3 is more entertaining than any movies ever made? What do you plan to do about this? Also is there some reason I say random, seemingly unconnected shit all the time? The only time people with any kind of a brain can even stomach the same non-iteractive,formula-based drivel they shill on us is when they are too tired and buzzed to do anything but watch the screen. I guess movies and tv exist because people are tired all the time and can't dredge the energy to pick up a controller. The set direction of many games is now beyond most movies. Most. So it's all about story and I heard em all. So is what's it about now? Making a new genre with little big planet 2. Anyway I'm glad this made no sense.
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July 7, 2010, 12:43 p.m. CST
I am with Monolith_Jones on Rodriguez though
by NomoredirtyjokespleaseweareYanks
I dig his style, and love of genre films but compared to Tarantino he is found short. His style is more slapdash rather than Tarantino's crafted genre films(Sin City excluded, that my friends is his masterpiece)
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that just fried what was left of my brain... goodnight.
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Guess you found out that scores of us either really like or love Predator 2. <p> <p> How about running a retraction. That's what any respectable journalist would do.
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I don't think Capone has actually seen the first two PREDATOR films. Honestly.<p> Yesterday he dismissed PREDATOR 2 out of hand. Today he was amazed that a Predator might be able to mimic a human voice??<p> I think the guy just exposed himself.
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July 7, 2010, 12:54 p.m. CST
The Sin City film was all Frank Miller
by BP_drills_america_a_new_asshole
Wasn't Miller so involved in the film he was almost like a co director? People give RR too much credit for Sin City. Imagine of Tolkien were still alive and worked with Peter Jackson on adapting LOTR. You'd hardly give the lions share of the credit to Jackson, would you?
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I've always thought they should make a prequel of sorts, have the predators land in the 1700 and hunt a group of pirates or cowboys or something, Predator tech up against 18th century human tech would be awesome. It seemed to me when P2 ended with the 1176 gun thats where the series was headed (even back in 1990 when prequels were barly a thing let alone the rage in hollywood), not sure why they thrid one took so long to happen, but if this one is a hit, then FOx should take the series back to the 18th century
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Fox learned! Troublemaker pooping out a bad movie (Not saying this will be bad) is better than their best forced bowel movement.
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I watched Predator 2 again a few days ago and was thinking almost the exact same thing. Although, I think it might make a better comic book than a film.
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Miller directed the actors, RR did everyhing else
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If you have Predators in the 18th century, it seems logical that they would have much less sophisticated tech 200 years ago (assuming their tech evolves over time like human tech). So yeah, it would be interesting to see more primitive Predator tech.
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July 7, 2010, 1:15 p.m. CST
Frank miller is the greatest director of his generation
by RedBull_Werewolf
The spirt is hands down the funniest movie of the last 20 years. Non stop laughter from begining to end
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It's a movie about muscle bound mercenaries being hunted by a giant lizard in a helmet mask. It's not a GOOD MOVIE. It's entertaining, sure, but it's not good. The way people hold up movies from their past never ceases to amaze me. The first Predator is your benchmark for greatness? You may want to rethink that.
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The poor quality of the movie made the fact that the film was actually "The Mexi-kids" even more annoying.
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I'm not even sure that I should be delving into arguments like this online, but here it goes. When determining the quality of film, I always examine that film with regards to its particular genre. Different genres have different intents. If you are watching French New Wave, for example, the director probably wants to shock the viewer out of their complacent bourgeois construction of morality. An action film, however, is meant to invoke tension and provide a few well placed action scenes. In other words, it is aiming to tell a serviceable story that is also well crafted. <p> Now, is Predator as great a film as Belle de Jour? No, of course not. But it is also a completely different genre with a completely different goal. However, as an action film, Predator is well paced, well written and entertaining as hell. The craft in that film is far and away better than most action films.
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July 7, 2010, 1:44 p.m. CST
Fulfill all your wishes with my taco-flavored kisses.
by ThroughTheBrokenWindowWithDancinDelroyLindo
I need to make a run for the border. If you pay, I'll take off my top. Do you remember what I want to order? Three tacos, two tostadas, and a soda pop! ...and don't forget the hot sauce, CHULLO.
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He is a lot older now and maybe he doesn't have any more great ideas....there's no shame in that, but might be the truth. Of course lack of a great ideas doesn't usually stop sequels from happening but maybe Rodriguez doesn't want to work from a cruddy script.
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I'm gonna echo LV_426's sentiments regarding Predators visiting Earth during other moments in our historic past.<p> Why not have a Predator in the Old West? Or one during the American Revolution? Or in medieval times? There's limitless possibilities with the idea. Each film could have a different director, different era, and different style which would prevent any staleness with the brand. There's only so many times guys can blindly shoot at Predators with machine guns, before it gets old.
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Way off the mark with the time travel theory....they've just been hanging around...hunting....for awhile.
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Now if only FOX had done this for X-Men 3 and Fantastic 4.
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might be cool to give Predator a Animatrix/Gotham Knight release. have each story take place in different time periods.
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In another ten years, you guys will be praising the Planet of the Apes remake.
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July 7, 2010, 2:05 p.m. CST
I'd like to see the situation reversed
by BP_drills_america_a_new_asshole
I'd like to see a Predator captured by the ancient Romans and forced to fight for its life in the gladitorial arena with only ancient weapons. Gladiator meets Predator. And we'll root for the Predator for a change.
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[HotBlackwhite is] widely considered to be the greatest singles club ever by millions of black white singles, about half of which have actually found matches from it.
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July 7, 2010, 2:12 p.m. CST
A Civil War era Predator where a Blondie-esque bounty hunter
by Kal Reeve
tries to claim a $1 million bounty on the mysterious killer of several Union battalions. Of course, he comes to discover that the killer is no ordinary man, but a Predator.
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I'd loved to see some animated DVDs of the quality which DC Animated produces.
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Can we please stop making Predator movies? Does anyone see them?
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They're alread doing doing Cowboys vs. Aliens so i don't think an old timey Predator movie is going to happen. <p> However...REFUCKINBOOT the AvP franchise and DO IT RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <p> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I had to stop reading the tb to let you know that you win this one. Nothing I may read in the rest of this thread can POSSIBLY top your post. Baron Harkonnen...people juice. <p> I mean it. I'm typing through tears here.
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From Dusk Til Dawn is good for the first half, where you can guess that QT wrote all the witty dialouge that Seth and his brother have...the vampire gore/cheeze fest was RR. (in fact, it was probably where they got the idea for Grindhouse from, as I'm almost 100% positive that the first half of the film is QT's.)<p>However, Sin City was awesome and Desperado was great. <p>And for Salma lovers, it's better than the dancing scene in Dusk til Dawn!!
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if Predators bombs, that'll probably be the last Predator movie for a while. Then again, it only cost like $40 million to make, I think, so it's not some huge risk franchise.
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At Fox. Those guys have been the KINGS of interference for ages. Maybe someone in the office realised they weren't talented.
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IN the Guttenburg forest of Germany. BAda$$.
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Seems like a perfect environment for him. Or middle ages. This franchise could go on a lot longer, as far as I'm concerned. There's a lot of untapped material for it.
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To FOX's Conference call...<P> Quit fucking with the production and let the talent make the fucking movie.
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Those would be my picks.
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founding Islam.
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Damn, we've got at least four more movies right here.
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He seems to believe that Predator only belongs in a jungle setting. He's said this time and again. That's so shortsighted and sad; imagine how repetitive the franchise would be if we never expanded beyond the jungle. Thank god for Predator 2 giving us a world-building sequel where we saw the Predator use weapons other than a shoulder cannon and a claw, a Predator who ventures into the goddamn CITY and shows that he's gone places other than the jungle before when he hands off that pistol at the end.
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Aztecs or Toltecs would also be purty cool. And make sense geographically-speaking; helping cement the idea they'd been hunting that area a while. Chariots of the Gods, baby. <p> Or Shaolin Predator vs the flying guillotines.
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Predator in the snow? That would be cool.
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Not with all the love for Sam Raimi around here. THAT guy is the most overrated director in over 30 years.
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or the Battlefield Earth aliens.
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No, Joss Whedon is the overrated one.
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Ok blank stare over. How-could-they-ruin-another.. one. How hard is it to spot themes. Alien 1- trapped in a tight place. Alins- trapped on a large planet. Predators trapped in a hot unchanging place (jungle). Predators should have been trapped in a COLD changing (blizzards, avalanches, ice storms, collapsing ice, large furry carnivores)place. Why are these people allowed to write films.
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As you can tell, I'm old school. Large sets, scores, and ultra well written story lines. These guys are new-school. Too much dialog, dependence on CGI, and camera tricks. If you check on my comments, I praised James Cameron and John Hughes as icons (before avatar and Hughes' death). I know of what I speak. You owe me my .98 cents. Fuck it keep the change.
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I can accept that his other films appeal to an audience other than myself, but those Spider-Man movies were very good in parts and just "why?" in others.
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Not sure I've seen anything he's done
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He's more of a cult director. If anything he's underrated. I also like the fact that he's a fanboy who genuinely seems to love making movies. His stuff is a lot of fun.
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it's because they hunt IN THE JUNGLE (where it's already hot), only during the HOTTEST YEARS. Apparently, they like it hot. They even mentioned record-breaking temps in Predator 2. <p> That's one thing about AvP that was strange. I can see an ancient pyramid moving due to continental drift & ending up in the frozen north. I can't see any Predators going back there.
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since they use heat-sensing goggles. It boggles, don't it?
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They did it with Ang Lee and the Hulk and look what happened.
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That's one of EVERYTHING about AvP that was strange. <----how it should have read.
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MrFacety, the script goes to great lengths in both PREDATOR and PREDATOR 2 to mention that Predators only appear in the very hottest summers. So the blizzard, cold place idea is shit...<p> Come to think of it ALIEN VS PREDATOR *was* set in a very cold place... and it *was* shit.<p> Now it all makes 2 sense. Keep the change.
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Fuck Fuzzyjefe beat me to the point, and posted a couple times after it. He may be fuzzy but hot dang HE FAST!
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it's just because I've been out of work the last week and 1/2, and sit around here online out of sheer frikkin' boredom. <p> I used to wish I was anywhere BUT work, now I wish to hell I had a job to go to.
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According to his Twitter.
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Even if I only see it once. I would love for this movie to beat that Twilight shit at the box office. Keep dreaming though right? Fucking Twilight fans....
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HAH!
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Not a shock.
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I would think that dude would be eating this shit up.
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You really need to check out Vern's very own site, outlawvern.com. All Vern goodness, all the time. <p> I thought he was a 'part-time' contributer here too, but found out he has his own site via an article by 'The Artist Formerly Known as Moriarty'...apparently he's had it for years. I've spent HOURS over there. He's a gem.
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July 7, 2010, 5:32 p.m. CST
Predator in Washington, DC versus capital police & military.
by GibsonUSA Returns
An issue with a Predator in ancient times is that, depending on region and beliefs, the humans may drop their weapons and bow to it or something.<BR> Fuedal Japan seems like the best choice. A warring period of some sort where there is chaos over superstition. <BR><BR> Or a Predator in modern day Washington, DC. It could start with the street crime, then end up against capital police or something.
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...about that one as it was rolling off my fingers.<P> In retrospect, I probably should have personalized it as Baron Vladimir Harrykonnen or some such.<P> Life is full of little regrets...
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I have been a RR fan since Desperado came out, before that I had read an article about this up and coming director in Premier Magazine and tracked down Mariachi in the video store. RR makes fun genre flicks. I saw Desperado 2 times it's first week in the theater. I thought he slipped with Once Upon a Time In Mexico, and I totally skip the kids stuff, but the rest of his stuff has been very enjoyable over the years. I am glad to see that he was left to create the "Predators" that he and Nimrod wanted to make. I am very excited for this movie and am only wishing much more success to RR in the future.
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in my previous post I indicated I saw Desperado 2 times, that is a typo, I saw it 7 times opening week.
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...would you clarify that?
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it was a perfect geek joke. No regrets. It still gets me, hours later Fried gold.
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THERE it is. Little bastard needs to get up there after 'later'.
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Yeah totally agree with everything you said there. I haven't caught any of the kids stuff, although it's pretty impressive that he can switch between adult and kid mode so readily. Once Upon a Time in Mexico had a lot of cool stuff, but it didn't hold together well. It could have been several movies, as there were so many characters. I kind of wish he had just made a movie that focused on Depp's blind gunman character... that guy was cool.
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I'm not saying the film is good, I'm just saying that Merrick's opinion pulls no weight around here.
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The blizzard cold place is a great idea. In the new aliens film, we encountered NEW alins. In a sequel, we should encounter NEW predators. Hunting by smell instead of heat. Now they can't get warm, if they do, he arrives. See the great conflict. We stay cold freeze to death, we heat p, he kills us. NEW MOVIE NEW PREDATOR.
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Who said there were only 1 type of predator. Nobody told Cameron, there were 1 type of alien.
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Harry likes to be entertained and enjoy movies, warts and all. Merrick seems more concerned with finding flaws than actually enjoying a film. Which isn't to say he's wrong (sometimes he's right). It's just that he seems to have a lot of bile towards everything he posts about.
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after a little thought I could get behind that idea with a little tweaking. Maybe it's a tribe of preds that would see an arctic hunt as a challenge; getting out of their element, so to speak. <p> That would allow for some cool new designs in Predator-wear at the very least. Alien furs, weapons made for sub-freezing temps....lots of possibilities.
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Sometimes there always has to be positive and negative reviewers, as it's here, yin and yang yaknow.
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Heres the great conflict in scene form. Alien arrives, character has to leap into a icy lake in the middle of a glacier. Monster leaps in with them. They cannot be smelled, but the pred is soo close. The pred leaves the water and is about to move on. Character's teeth chatters and he gets a laser beam that decapitates him. Scene 2. Character hides inside the skin of a dead polar bear to mask his odor. Predator is tricked and moves on. Suspense. Scene 3 Character cuts himself on sharp ice, they must stop the bleeding, the smell of blood is escaping. They can't stop the bleeding in time. The character tells them to leave him and run. We get a life or death stand off. Predator like his bravery and disarms his laser. Similar to the climax in the original. Need I go on.
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a sequel would involve a pred having a ship malfunction, forcing it to eject with minimal equipment and having to evade US. Flip that shit man.
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Cold weather conflict in scene form. Scene 4: Characters can't afford to let any body fluids escape. They must drink their own urine. Very real and funny scene.
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Trapped behind enemy lines makes the pred a hero. Nobody wants a pred hero film. They want a man vs beast film. That was the essence of the original. Primal Battle.
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It could be a nice little parable about how ruthless man can be. If you like a little meat with your potatoes.
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You're a Hollywood producer, aren't you? If not, you missed your calling. IT'LL MAKE A FUCKING BAJILLION!!! WHO'S KING OF THE WORLD NOW, JIMMY C? Somebody get me a hooker MADE OF COKE!!!!!!
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It was already done as a fan film by a friend of mine. Check it out. http://tiny.cc/ayy4i
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Just finished Predator: A masterpiece! Groundbreaking in concept and style. The ultimate action celebration of masculinity and the perseverance of man. <p> <p> About to start Predator 2! Still got enough KFC chicken liver and Walmart sweet potato pie to last until the end of Action Jackson. Started the night off at 152 pounds, will probably close it out at 157.
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Why the fuck are you assholes constantly talking about Robert Rodriguez. Do you people know there's a difference between PRODUCING and DIRECTING a movie. Jesus, even a skim of the interview shows that RR was hardly on the set for this movie. Sure he had input, but at the end of the day this is NOT HIS FUCKING MOVIE. And I don't even like the dude that much, christ. <p> And seriously, Predator was a good movie, but not "the best movie eva!!!" Let's be realistic.
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who would have thought
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I read your first comment, then skipped past every other talkback following it to tell you what kind of great personal turmoil your blase attitude is causing me. FROM DUSK TIL DAWN GOT DAMMIT. FROM DUST TIL FREAKING DAWN.
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..and saw the original the other night. the most accurate thing i could say is that the new one is *no better* than the original, rather than being *as good as*. brody was badass, so were the predators, trejo was criminally underused.
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I don't believe you were the target demographic of that one... ? And also, how does the race of the characters factor into the film's enjoyability? I'd truly like to hear this one. Oh wait, no I wouldn't. I could easily just go to Rants & Raves for any city in the world's Craigslist page and read infinite ammounts of ignorant racist rhetoric. Then again, I'd rather drink a big old jug of Drano, Heathers style..
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I got my money up...
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Just sayin'.
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to make movies for kids. He's the Uwe Boll of family movie filmmakers. He directs scripts written by his children, and does so because he has too much money to know what to do with. He is not aware about quality. At least Will Smith's The Karate Kid was a half way decent film. Leave the family films to the experts at Disney/Pixar.
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IT DOES say a lot of about creativity state of his mind, doesn't it?
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and looked like shit. Grindhouse has also been shoot under Troublemaker and cheap it was not
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so-so execusion and was dragging in the middle. Nimrod has a great shot here at his career but Rodriguez is either one brave motherfucker or a complete idiot to hire Nimrod base on 2 movies he had made and one of them beeing ARMORED.
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Fuzzy, you seem like a cool guy - if you're still reading this thread then post a 'hello' in the Mamma Mia tb.
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I was going to go but got caught up at work...hoping to see it tomorrow, though im expecting nothing at all...certainly nothing great.
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I watched it tonight (In Australia), I felt every Predator death was fairly anti-climatic. The one on one sword fight was cool but after all this build up and how they 'learn' from their mistakes a modern yakuza defeats a predator in a sword contest?
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The movie is decent but there was potential for so much more. Walton Goggins was my favourite human.
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Didn't you watch the first two movies? That's EXACTLY what they can do!!! Jeebus man, I don't get it.
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I liked it thou I feel the death scenes could off been more gory other than that. Its the best Predator Sequel since the original, I just Hope next time Rodrigez Directs next time! Plus you dicks out there that seem too bash the man for making kids films, fuck right off the guy obviously make those films for 8yrs olds who are the key audiences, the kid like em and to be honest thats what counts, Hell I remember my Dad taking me to watch Transformers (the 80 animated movie) labyrinth and dark crystal, he thought and still does think all those movies are bollocks and too right so as he was 38 at the time and they were aimed at kids. Fact is Rodrigez makes films for the LOVE off making films and he enjoys making his movies, Unlike Uwe Boil who does it for the Money and blatantly churning out crap game adaptations just to blatantly cash in on people that like games but dont like movies. If you look at Spy Kids and really looked deeper into them would a normal studio Kids film get away with having stop motion animation Jason and the argonaught style? and if i was not for Spy Kids Sin City would NEVER get made!! Here is a director that could off sold out and done a shit studio picture but instead goes and makes a kids film that he believes in. Just coz we don't necessarily want to see these kids picture does not make what he does garbage as somewhere there is obviously and audience that wants another kids pic.
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This is the first film this year ive not been disappoint with,sure it wasnt perfect but will do for now...
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http://www.you tube.com/watch?v=oi2iog_XFAE
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just got home from the midnight showing of this terrible and pointless movie. SPOILERS AHEAD you know that shot from the trailer where a hundred predator laser sights aim at brody? bullshit. in the film, it's only one! that's just a blatant misrepresentation of what we're in for. the earth-like planet was so earth-like that topher grace's character IDENTIFIED A FUCKING PLANT! agree with early reviews that this is a terrible performance from fishburn. the predators do look good, but you barely see them, and the movie they briefly occupy is just straight up bad. it makes predator 2 look positively stellar.
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