I Love the ’80s was a ten-hour VH-1 series that waxed nostalgic for all things pop culture in the decade, and a new five-hour documentary strives to do the same thing with the sci-fi genre movies of the decade as its focus. In Search of Tomorrow: A Journey Through ’80s Sci-Fi Cinema is the result of a crowd-sourced project, now available for pre-order exclusively at the project’s website here. It is one of several projects we’ve seen like it over the years, the best being Must-See Sci-Fi (reviewed here), Turner Classic Movies’ guide to 50 significant science fiction movies, and James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction (reviewed here), a book and series which gives insight into the genre’s most significant creations via interviews with the directors that made them. In Search of Tomorrow features only a handful of A-listers in its interviews–the advertised top talent being Peter Weller, Billy Dee Williams, Dee Wallace, and Nicholas Meyer. It pulls together a group of the few remaining actors, visual effects artists, and other creators behind the scenes who fans of the genre probably haven’t seen in decades (yes, it’s been more than 30 years since the 1980s). Writer/director David Weiner focuses on a swath of 54 movies that reflects the best–and the worst–of the decade.
Stanley Kubrick’s The Lord of the Rings starring The Beatles. Peter Jackson’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. George Miller’s Justice League. Robert Rodriguez’s Barbarella. Shane Black’s The Monster Squad. Two John Carpenter movies you’ve never seen. If you’re wondering what the best movie was in any given year, you have plenty of options. You can look for the movie that had the biggest take at the box office. You can look to critic reviews. You can scroll through the Internet Movie Database. You can review awards lists or Alternate Oscars. Or you can just watch the movies and choose for yourself. Underexposed! The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made, a new book arriving this month from Abrams, could have been called False Starts–it’s a book about movies that almost made it to the big screen.
Peppered with movie poster mock-ups from art group PosterSpy, filmmaker and film enthusiast Joshua Hull tracked down interesting histories of some of the best and most quirky movies that almost got made, but were either abandoned, had legal rights issues, lack of funding, lack of interest, or simply were not made to save audiences from a bad idea. They aren’t from obscure creators, either. The list includes projects from Alfred Hitchcock to Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg–and some are ideas that sound like they could have been pretty great. What were they thinking? Find out in this book.
It’s been another long year of great entertainment. Before we wrap our coverage of 2018, it’s time for the sixth annual round of new honorees for the borg Hall of Fame. We have plenty of honorees from 2018 films and television, plus many from past years, and a peek at some from the future – 40 in all. You can always check out the updated borg Hall of Fame on our home page under “Know your borg.”
Some reminders about criteria. Borgs have technology integrated with biology. Wearing a technology-powered suit alone doesn’t qualify a new member. Tony Stark aka Iron Man was an inaugural honoree because the Arc Reactor kept him alive. The new Spider-Man suit worn by Tom Holland is similar to Tony’s, but as far as we can tell it’s not integrated with Peter Parker’s biology. Similarly Peni Parker, seen outside her high-tech SP//dr suit in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and Black Manta from Aquaman (and decades of comics before), seem to be merely wearing tech suits. We’d love a reason for a Mandalorian to make the cut, like Boba Fett, or Jango Fett, since nobody has more intriguing armor. Maybe Jon Favreau’s new television series will give us something new to ponder next year.
Also, if the creators tell us the characters are merely robots, automatons, or androids, we take their word for it. Westworld continues to define its own characters as androids (like Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Lt. Commander Data throughout the TV series), and not cyborgs (going back to Michael Crichton’s original story), so we continue this year to hold off on their admittance unless something changes, like the incorporation of living biological (blood, cells, etc.) materials. Are we closing in on admitting individuals solely based on a breathing apparatus that may allow them to breathe to in non-native atmospheres? Only if integrated (surgically). Darth Vader has more borg parts than his breathing filter. We assume new honoree Saw Gerrera does as well. With more biological enhancements we’d allow Tusken Raiders, Moloch, and Two Tubes from the Star Wars universe, and Mordock the Benzite from Star Trek, but wouldn’t that also mean anyone in a deep sea suit or space suit is a cyborg? Again, integration is key. Ready Player One has humans interacting with a cyber-world with virtual reality goggles and other equipment, but like the Programs (as opposed to the Users) in the movie Tron, this doesn’t qualify as borg either, but we’re making an exception this year for the in-world Aech, who is a cyborg orc character, and two Tron universe characters.
Already admitted in 2017 were advance honorees that didn’t actually make it to the screen until 2018. This included Josh Brolin’s new take on Cable in Deadpool 2 and Simone Missick’s Misty Knight after her acquisition of a borg arm in Marvel’s Luke Cage. New versions of Robotman and Cyborg are coming in 2019 in the Doom Patrol series, but they are already members of the revered Hall of Fame. Above are the new looks for these two earlier honorees.
Not since the original Predator, Alien, and Aliens has Hollywood been able to match these sci-fi classics, despite attempts with eight sequels in these franchises. But the ninth attempt–this summer’s release of The Predator–has come the closest to matching that classic blend of sci-fi, horror, future military, and action thriller. In the new behind-the-scenes book The Predator: The Art and Making of the Film, writer James Nolan explains why director Shane Black’s return to the franchise after 30 years was the right stuff needed to bring the excitement and fun back for fans of the original genre-defining alien hunter.
The colorful hardcover includes Black’s own multi-page mission statement provided to the cast and crew, where he provides a truly unique look into the mind of a Hollywood director and storyteller. He unveils the risks, the challenges, and his choices to resurrect the spirit of 1980s blockbuster action movies, while providing an update that is both loyal to the original movie and its ground-breaking creators like Stan Winston, while carrying forward a future vision for the film series. Hired to serve as writer on the original 1987 film, Black chose to take on an acting role instead, and the rest was sci-fi history–until he was entrusted last year to helm this sequel. To provide a first-hand account of production, Nolan interviewed Black, his writing partner Fred Dekker, key cast members Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Sterling K. Brown, Trevante Rhodes, Jake Busey, Jacob Tremblay, Thomas Jane, Keegan-Michael Key, and Augusto Aguilera, Predator actor Brian Prince, stunt performer Trevor Addie, production designer Martin Whist, director of photography Larry Fong, special effects supervisor Jonathan Rothbart, set decorator Hamish Purdy, costume designer Tish Monaghan, prop master David Dowling, producer Bill Bannerman, special effects icons Tom Woodruff, Jr. and Alec Gillis, and many more.
The biggest attraction in the book is the detailed photography of the interiors of the two alien spaceships and the armor and props. Readers get to see concept artwork, computer mock-ups, designs, in-process photographs, and close-up stills. In many films props are just set decoration that help to create the environment, but in The Predator the prop gauntlet, the helmet, and especially the “kudjad” spaceship key factor directly into the mystery. Who could ever get enough of the aliens–the dreadlocks, those teeth, the shoulder cannon? And then there’s the giant hunter, whose size and ship also factor into not just the finale, but the future of the films.
Shane Black has finally delivered what fans of the Predator alien have been after since they first saw Arnold Schwarzenegger take the creature on in the original 1987 film that featured Black in an acting role as one of the marines. The movie The Predator, in theaters now, delivers exactly as promised. More Predators. Bigger and badder alien fight scenes. Great new sci-fi special effects tech. A wall-to-wall movie of rude jokes and one-liners. A squad of maladjusted, badass misfits in the realm of The Dirty Dozen (if every character was played as Telly Savalas’s character), only this time the squad isn’t recruited for a suicide mission to fight the bad guys. The surprise comes with an actual, serviceable plot that knocks the predecessor sequels out of the ranking (some elements… gasp… it even handles better than the original).
For diehard fans of the franchise who read the prequel novel (a great read we reviewed here earlier at borg) the movie lives up to the introduction provided in the book, which gave plenty of backstory for Sterling K. Brown’s pseudo-military leader Will Traeger–one of the movie’s key villains. Screenplay writers Shane Black and Fred Dekker include an ambitious, layered story with interesting subplots. One thread follows a boy played by played by Jacob Tremblay, the autistic son of star Boyd Holbrook’s tough Captain McKenna. The kid begins to play with what can only be described as “really cool alien tech” his dad sends him in the mail. Olivia Munn gets to play her most badass character yet, a biologist called in to work with the research group that has caught a Predator, being studied in a lab led by Jake Busey, who plays the son of the character his father Gary Busey played in Predator 2–Jake Busey offers a solid performance as a low-key scientist that could make it back for a future sequel. Another subplot follows the alien hunters as they each search for some secret objects. The ensemble ad hoc military unit that takes on the Predator includes a diverse team of actors pulling together a chaotic brand of chemistry: Trevante Rhoades, Thomas Jane, Augusto Aguilera, and Keegan-Michael Key. Another subplot sets up the next film nicely, a new phase for Predators this film only touches on.
The reason we see more than one kind of Predator is explained in the film, but each has incredible updated props and costumes, and the plot makes great use of both. It’s all loyal to the original. The best part of the 1987 film was the absence of the alien throughout the film, appearing sporadically, menacingly, like the shark in Jaws. We don’t see much more of the alien in this movie, but we get to see what he looks like head to toe in the lab, we get to see how his arm gauntlet and helmet work, and plenty of action scenes as in the original. One character even gets into the head of a Predator (sort of) to understand its technology and motivations.
Warner Brothers and Twentieth Century Fox are taking us into Labor Day Weekend with new looks at two major coming attractions.
Twentieth Century Fox saved the best for last in the latest–and final trailer–for this month’s return of everyone’s favorite alien headhunter in Shane Black’s The Predator. Now that we’ve seen three different looks at the movie, viewers will have no doubt what kind of movie is coming their way. Blood and guts? Sure. Sci-fi alien battle? Yep. 1980s-style action flick? That, too. And alien dogs? Oh, yeah. They had us at the first trailer, so now we’re really, really in. It’s okay if we cheer for the alien dogs to win, right?
We’re thinking this one looks more like Zuul or Vinz Clortho than Kruge’s targ.
Next, take a trip back to Hogwarts. Everyone’s favorite school is the subject of a new behind the scenes featurette from Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the next entry in the Harry Potter wizarding universe. This movie isn’t arriving until November, but no doubt the giant international fan base will be excited to see just a little more of what’s in store from J.K. Rowling.
So take a look at this final trailer for The Predator and a look behind the scenes at The Crimes of Grindelwald:
Shane Black, director and screenplay writer of next month’s sci-fi action film The Predator, could have gone in any direction with his return of the Yautja alien hunters to Earth. He, along with co-screenplay writer Fred Dekker, decided to continue onward to the present day following the events of Predator 2. Since the third film, 2010’s Predators, was set away from Earth it doesn’t factor in to the new film and neither does 2004’s Aliens vs Predator and 2007’s Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, so The Predator is basically Predator 3. If you missed the latest trailer, check it out here. The first trailer (and the movie) begin with a child opening a package where he finds a strange futuristic device. His play with the device ends up triggering the return of one or more Predators to the planet. So what happened between Predator 2 and this kid handling the device? You can find out inThe Predator: Hunters and Hunted, the official movie prequel to Shane Black’s The Predator, from author James A. Moore.
The novel follows a single Predator on a hunting excursion to southern Georgia in alligator country where he starts plucking off townsfolk, biker gang members and local law enforcement. Derived from the team headed up by Gary Busey’s Peter Keyes in Predator 2, a new government-funded initiative is focused on locating and capturing one of these aliens, and this Georgia sighting has been their first lead since an appearance in Los Angeles back in 1997. We get a brief appearance from Keyes’ son Sean (to be played by Jake Busey in the new movie), but the focal point is an opportunist named Will Traeger–Sterling K. Brown’s character in the new film–who is carefully manipulating both a military special ops unit called the Reapers and Congressional leadership to gain full control of Keyes’ project, now called Project Stargazer. Traeger’s impediment is the current project lead, General Woodhurst, a four-star general played by Edward James Olmos in early cuts of the film (later to be excised entirely from the final cut). Woodhurst is very much like Olmos’ General Adama in Battlestar Galactica, a military strategist more than someone on the front lines with the troops. Woodhurst and Traeger are the guys in Washington, DC, trying to gain funding while answering to the federal agencies dolling it out.
A Yautja alien in Shane Black’s September theatrical release, The Predator.
For most readers the more interesting part of the prequel novel will be the viewpoint of the Predator. While not giving us the play-by-play of the bureaucrats, the story alternates between the Predator’s perspective and thoughts and the Reapers’ efforts to capture him (the Predator’s vantage was also a feature of the novelization of Predator 2). The best scene in the book is entirely removed from everything else–an inspired, vivid one-on-one battle with an alligator. Why waste time on these puny humans when you have a real threat like that? The prequel novel is key to the coming movie because it establishes from the Predator’s perspective an important code that the hunters must follow. Unless this gets recounted in the movie, it’s some key data to know before heading into the theater.
The second trailer for The Predator is out, and this time we get some clips of the latest incarnation of the classic intergalactic headhunter in action. 20th Century Fox released the first full movie trailer for the autumn release of The Predator in May, and the studio’s buzz for the alien’s return is now gearing up. Cinematographer Larry Fong (Watchmen, Super 8, Kong: Skull Island) has said audiences shouldn’t expect a CGI-heavy film (like those recently flooding cinemas), but more old-school practical effects including a live-action Predator as seen in the original film. From this new trailer, it looks like that means not just one–but at least two–Predators.
Although we initially surmised that the film would disregard the 21st century sequels, it looks like director Shane Black (who played the joking marine in the original Predator) is merely setting the film between 1990’s Predator 2 and 2010’s Predators. The role of Jake Busey places the new film 30 years after the first sequel. He plays the son of the character played by his dad, actor Gary Busey, in Predator 2. The new trailer shows more of Boyd Holbrook, who played the cyborg villain of last year’s Oscar-nominated film Logan, and Sterling K. Brown, who played the king’s brother in Black Panther and the defendant in Marshall.
Other actors appearing in the movie include Lochlyn Munro (Riverdale), Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck, Dexter,The Handmaid’s Tale), Olivia Munn (X-Men: Apocalypse,Iron Man 2),Keegan-Michael Key(Tomorrowland), Thomas Jane (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Crow: City of Angels), Trevante Rhodes (Westworld), and Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica).
The Predator is back. Today 20th Century Fox released the first full movie trailer for the autumn release of The Predator, the eagerly awaited sequel in the Predator franchise. And this first trailer looks pretty fun. Will this sequel finally approach the original Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi classic from 1987? The Alien franchise seems to have raked in the big box office bucks for decades while the Predator films haven’t moved past the original. All indications point to director Shane Black (who played the joking marine in the original Predator) leaving aside 2004’s Alien vs. Predator, 2007’s Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, and 2010’s Predators. The role of Jake Busey places the new film 30 years after the first sequel. He plays the son of the character played by his dad, actor Gary Busey, in Predator 2.
If you’re a fan of the next generation of character actors, The Predator may be what you’re looking for. Boyd Holbrook, who played the cyborg villain of last year’s Oscar-nominated film Logan, plays Quinn McKenna, a member of a military assassin squad. Sterling K. Brown, who played the king’s brother in Black Panther and the defendant in Marshall, plays a government agent. Lochlyn Munro, star of Riverdale and guest star in every genre TV series since 1989, plays a General. Chuck, Dexter, and The Handmaid’s Tale co-star Yvonne Strahovski plays a character named Emily. X-Men: Apocalypse and Iron Man 2’sOlivia Munn, featured heavily in the trailer, is Casey Bracket, a scientist researching the aliens. Comedian and actor Keegan-Michael Key and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Crow: City of Angels’Thomas Jane co-star as members of the strike force. Westworld’s Trevante Rhodes plays a member of the team named Williams. Young Wonder star Jacob Tremblay is the kid that sets the story into motion, with a package in the mail. And for a dose of gravitas, look for Edward James Olmos as a general in the movie.
This is the plot description for the film:
From the outer reaches of space to the small-town streets of suburbia, the hunt comes home in Shane Black’s explosive reinvention of the Predator series. Now, the universe’s most lethal hunters are stronger, smarter and deadlier than ever before, having genetically upgraded themselves with DNA from other species. When a young boy accidentally triggers their return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher can prevent the end of the human race.
In theaters now, if you look quickly and listen closely, you can see my profile and hear my voice in the fantastic new movie from Shane Black, The Nice Guys. I recommend seeing The Nice Guys, not only for me, but because it is a dry, fun, and interesting movie that has a number of laughs. But, as usual, the movie is the background to my musings and in this case, my personal experience.
On my birthday in 2015, I got a text and a phone call on my way to meeting with friends. Since I was in the car, I didn’t pick up, my preference, and waited until I was walking along the sidewalk to my destination, expecting to see calls and texts with well-wishes. As I looked, I got another call, from my call-in booking service. I answered and immediately gave my acknowledgement that I was available to work the next day. It was only after this that I was able to look at the text and see that it was my first union gig, as a photo double.
To understand this all-new stage as a background actor, I must explain my normal experiences. As a friend once relayed to me from a recent L.A. Times article, background actors are known as props that eat. Generally there are at least 20 of us descending upon a production to provide atmosphere and a realistic look of city streets, courtrooms, bars, malls or wherever the protagonists need to be. We sit, we walk, we mime talking, we run for cover, we sit in a Ferris wheel, we play at eating food and generally try to be as real as possible with several cameras capturing the moment. In between the scenes, we descend like locusts on craft services, lunch catering and our holding area, eating, talking, reading, writing, playing music or whatever we do to make the eight, ten, 12 or longer hours to pass by while assistant directors and production assistants try to corral us and keep us to a mild whisper so as not disturb filming. I love the job as the time in between gives me moments with graphic novels or whatever I’m reading at the time, but it can be stifling to many others with low tolerances to being told exactly what to do, wanting to talk, preferring not to listen and expecting the spotlight. If you’re happy just fading into the background and realizing that your issues are the smallest in the world of a production with many moving parts, days pass wonderfully well.
My days on The Nice Guys were so much different. My first day of my first union gig, I was nervous. When I met the production assistant checking me in and he said something along the line of these words, “Great, glad you’re here! This day is all about you,” my nerves shot up a notch as it became apparent that I was the only background actor there. Instead of being sent off to hang with the other extras, I got to eat at the same time and table with the crew. I felt guilty of impostor syndrome as I sat among the people there on a daily basis with specific jobs to make the production move forward. After finishing my food, I got a full haircut from the people in the hair department along with some grey added to my dark brown hair to match the original actor. A special suit of specific clothes awaited me at wardrobe. Once ready for the camera, I arrived on set, ready to exit the production van, one of the PAs opened up an umbrella for me and held it over me until, feeling very sheepish, I took it from him and walked toward set.
