Prey - (2022 Hulu I think) - Decent if unbelievable addition to the Predator franchise.
Can you watch it as a standalone, or watch the original Predator first?
You can watch as stand alone. If youāve watched the original Predator youāll probably notice some similarities and differences. I think the original is the only one Iāve ever scene, I havenāt watched the rest of the franchise that I can recall or if I have, Iāve forgotten it.
Easter Sunday at the theater. Stars Jo Koy, who I have never heard of before, but it seems he is a thing right now. Pretty basic story about family and how they can come together to help and love each other and how they can drive each other crazy. It has a Philippino bent to it due to his heritage, but the same story could work with anyone/any background. Nice diversion, but not a real good film. The story tries much harder than it needs to. Nice to see Lou Diamond Phillips in it.
I was expecting Kenya. Donāt they have some great national parks?
The Gray Man (netflix) Iāve listened to all the books and pretty much enjoyed them. He seems to be one hero who actually gets hurt a lot and survives (sometimes barely) and keeps going, as opposed to rarely getting a scratch.
Watching how it was portrayed, seemed a bit over the top, even for him. But I liked the adventure/action.
Just watched Ghostbusters: Afterlife and give it a perfect score, 5/7, would LOL again. Great acting, music, story, writing, even the homages they made to the originals were well-done.
in stark contrast to Top Gun: Maverick from earlier this year, this one was actually a good movie. Iām gonna write up a review soon.
Watched Prey on Hulu last night. It was fun, and didnāt require watching Predator first. My daughter liked it and we will probably watch the original as well.
The main actress is pretty good. I liked her in Legion as well. There is chatter of her being Wolverine in a future Marvel thing.
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The original with Arhnald was really good, quite campy in spots as he can be. But itās been years since Iāve seen it so no idea how well itās held up over time.
Ah yes, Predator. Is it the only movie with 2 future governors and 1 future gubernatorial candidate (Sonny Landham)?
I donāt think there was an additional gubernatorial candidate in The Running Man.
I saw a list that mentioned Batman & Robin, too, for a 3rd Arnold/Jesse movie.
Only 3 actors have also been Governor, and the 3rd was also President.
Landham ran unsuccessfully
I found another list that had 4 actor governors. The fourth was John Davis Lodge, who acted in the 30s and 40s and was governor of CT in the 50s.
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Lightyear - enjoyable enough family movie.
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Bullet Train at the theater. This is the latest from Brad Pitt and it is a great ride. The twists and turns are unexpected in many ways. The uncredited cameos are great (Channing Tatum and Ryan Reynolds). Michael Shannon is as creepy as ever. Brad is as confused as ever. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry as the twins is great. I wish they had closed captioning for their dialogue as I missed a bunch and I think it would have been nice to catch all the witticisms. The level of violence is pretty high and graphic, but it all fits in with the story pretty well. Highly recommend.
I see āI wish they had closed captioningā and immediately my mind is like, āthis is a great use of 3d glasses or VR or something.ā See, we donāt want to force everyone to have to watch CC if they donāt want it, but we want to make the option available to only those who think they might need it. At home I can turn them off or on. At the theater, itās all or nothing.
Or, maybe one showing a weekend has the CCs on and you just know about it beforehand when youāre buying tickets.
Thatās a good point about CC. It is very distracting if I donāt need it.
Agreed, but as I am old, I find it almost always helps. That being said, I would re-watch at home eventually with CC on. I do not expect that at the theater, although specialized glasses might be interesting.
Had the opportunity to watch this in the theater yesterday; and Iām glad that I watched it there than wait for the DVD/streaming.
Iām in this camp: I thought the movie was outstanding. Good ties back to the original without direct recycling of the original. The one I liked best was the connection to Penny (which I caught myself and confirmed here). I loved how the tension between Rooster and Maverick wasnāt centered on Gooseās death.
I agree (and your avatar is of Gooseās wife, BTW).
To Broās linked critique; I would attribute it as āclick baitā far more than a true critique:
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The title of the movie makes it clear that the movie is about Maverick, not āTop Gunā. So having a full history of all of the supporting characters isnāt all that important. In fact, you can garner a lot about these charactersā ābackgroundsā from their call signs and other āone linersā during the various sequences. Phoenix as a female . . . H_NGM_N . . . Bob (and I love the bit regarding this call sign that also gives an insight to the character). WRT Harvard & Yale, the exchange between Rooster and Maverick about āthinkingā should be enough to indicate why theyāre not more prominent.
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One of the best things about the original was the action sequences of the dog fights. TG:M delivered on this aspect and was better than the original, IMO.
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WRT the relationship between Penny and Pete, there was enough other elements present to make it clear why Penny would be interested in Pete (again) and not harboring a long-term grudge (just observe the young girlās response to Maverick when asked about where her father is).
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Bob and H_ANGM_N were both well acted, IMO.
I know. I just think of her in all the movies with Tom Hanks. We were going to have them play mr aj and me in our movie. 
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Emily The Criminal at the theater. Aubrey Plaza is one of my favorites so I see almost everything she is in. I wasnāt too sure what to expect here. She usually has a bit of biting sarcasm in her character, but she played this so straight, it was almost award worthy. She plays a gritty 20 something with 70K of student loan debt, a DUI and a felony aggravated assault charge that makes getting a decent job tough. She also had to drop out of college with the felony and to take care of sick parent (or was it a grandparent). She works for a catering company that serves lunches at workplace functions. Her work mate gives her a number to call where she can make $200 as a dummy shopper, using a stolen credit card number, etc., to buy large screen TVs that can be sold on the black market. The story really kicks in when she goes back and finds ways to make a lot more money. The ending was telegraphed a bit, but I was still taken by surprise some. This has a real indie feel, so if that isnāt your cup of tea, you may not enjoy it as much as I did. One of the best films Iāve seen this year.