Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Predators (2010) - Antal, Rodriguez and Brody successfully take the sci-fi-action franchise back

8/19/2016

Predators (2010) - Antal, Rodriguez and Brody successfully take the sci-fi-action franchise back

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2 Film Excess nominations:

Best Cinematography: Gyula Pados (lost to Wally Phister for Inception)
Best Practical Effects (lost to Inception)

Adrien Brody looks intense and very dirty in front of a predator on the poster for Nimród Antal's Predators

A group of some of the toughest hides of this world are parachuted down to the jungle of another planet without knowing why. They soon realize that they are there to be the prey in a hunt.

I have to applaud this reboot/sequel to the first two Predators movies (1987 and 1990), which renews the sci-fi-action universe, effectively taking it 'back' after two messy mashup flicks, Aliens vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007).

Predators works due to a suitably meaningful script, effective, digital cinematography (by Gyula Pados (Million Dollar Arm (2014))) and excellent effects, as perfected by producer and special effects supervisor Robert Rodriguez, along with a cool cast united as the tough team: Adrien Brody (Splice (2009)) is not Arnold Schwarzenegger, (the overshadowing, formidable star of the original movie), but he is something else which works here, and the radical change in lead is surely for the best. Laurence Fishburne (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2008-11)) is good in a supporting role as a survivor hermit. And, importantly, the predators look awesome, and we get to really look at them, which is also important.

Predators is written by Alex Litvak (The Three Musketeers (2011)) and Michael Finch (Hitman: Agent 57 (2015)), based on the characters created by Jim and John Thompson (Mission to Mars (2000)), and directed by Nimród Antal (Vacancy (2007)).

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Hear the main theme for the movie here

Cost: 40 mil. $

Box office: 127.2 mil. $

= Box office success

[Predators was released July 7 and runs 107 minutes. It is based on a script that Rodriguez had written for Fox in 1994, who at the time were not interested. Filming took place in Hawaii (Kolekole mostly) and in Rodriguez's Austin, Texas studio in 53 days, starting in September 2009. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Despicable Me and holdover hit The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, to a 24.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it dropped out of the top 5 (to #8) in its second week and grossed 52 mil. $ (40.8 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 9.8 mil. $ (7.7 %) and the UK with 9.1 mil. $ (7.2 %). A sequel titled The Predator, which is to reinvent the Predator universe, is in the making now with Shane Black as writer-director for a February 2018 release. Predators is fresh at 64 % with a 5.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Predators?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)