Chris Pratt movies are a thing now just like Tom Cruise movies and Mark Wahlberg movies. The latest Chris Pratt movie is The Tomorrow War, which just arrived this past weekend on Amazon Prime. It’s every bit a vehicle for Pratt and could star nobody else. Like the Jurassic World movies, Passengers, and even The Magnificent Seven remake, Pratt is a unique casting decision but evidently studio execs keep going for his “aw, shucks” brand of characters. In The Tomorrow War, Pratt plays a biology teacher dad turned rescuer of mankind named Dan Forester. Forester is nearly impossible to distinguish from Pratt’s dinosaur confronting character in Jurassic World. Pratt plays that bit of a dope you can’t imagine actually doing any of the things his character encounters, so you may need to be a Pratt fan or simply be grateful it’s a free action movie and not mind you’re getting what you paid for. Either way, there are worse direct-to-TV movies out there, but as the alien invasion genre goes, don’t expect to count The Tomorrow War high on your list.
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.
If you put aside the summer theatrical release of The Predator (a blast of a military/sci-fi action film, check out our review here), and take a look at the two novels that supported the movie, you’ll see a much bigger story Shane Black created to continue the saga of the alien race first introduced to audiences in 1987’s sci-fi classic Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, Predator. We reviewed James A. Moore’s prequel to the film, The Predator: Hunters and Hunted,here. Moore gave readers the best of Predator scenes, as one of what we would later learn to be multiple aliens arrived only to first face off in hand to jaw combat against an alligator in the deep South. Now writers Christopher Golden (Alien: River of Pain) and Mark Morris(The Great Wall) have arrived with The Predator, The Official Movie Novelization.
Taken together with Hunters and Hunted, the prequel and novelization bridge the events of Predator 2 in some 600 pages with a to-be-seen future story of advanced, evolved, and upgraded Predator hunter-killers–the place where the novel leaves audiences in the final scene. It is not the action star squad that is the focus of the entire story arc, it’s Sterling K. Brown’s quasi-government, too-cool-for-CIA alien chaser Traeger. And if you missed the end of his story arc in the film, you’ll be happy that Holden and Morris’s novel provide a finish worthy of this loathsome villain.
While the novel is faithful to the film, readers will certainly see a lot more than they could see as theater goers–the key scenes in the movie are predominantly filmed in dark and shadow, so the novel amplifies what may have been missed in the outdoor action scenes. Readers will also better get into the heads of the show’s main stars, the soldier McKenna, his son Rory, and scientist Casey, in addition to the Looneys–the men in McKenna’s ad hoc strike force against the Predator Upgrade creature.
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.
It’s that time of year again, time to take a look forward at what movies should be on your radar for 2018. Are you going to see them all? Heck no. These are the genre films we think borg.com readers will want to know about to make their own checklists for the coming year. We pulled 55 of the hundreds of films that have been finalized or are in varying stages of final production for next year’s movie calendar.
What looks that it may top the list of most fanboys and fangirls? How about Ready Player One in March? Solo: A Star Wars Story and Avengers: Infinity War in May? Sequels to Deadpool and The Incredibles in June? X-Men: Dark Phoenix in November? But don’t over look other films that look promising, like Winchester in February, Tomb Raider in March, and The Predator and The Equalizer sequels in August.
So grab your calendar and start making your plans for next year–here is the list of the movies you’ll want to see in 2018:
The Commuter – January 12 — Liam Neeson’s next action thriller finds him on a train with an offer he can’t refuse. Co-starring Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson.
Proud Mary – January 12 — A hitwoman played by Teraji P. Henson (Hidden Figures, Empire) has her life go sideways when a mob hit goes bad. With Neal McDonough and Danny Glover.
Ophelia – January 22 — Daisy Ridley stars as Ophelia in a twist on Shakepseare’s Hamlet told from her perspective. Co-starring Naomi Watts and Tom Felton.
Please Stand By – January 26 — Dakota Fanning, Toni Collette, and Alice Eve star in a story about a young woman with autism who sets her sights on winning a Star Trek writing competition.
Winchester – February 2 — Inspired by true events, the story of the heir to the Winchester firearms fortune finds herself haunted by the deaths of all killed by the weapons, leaving her to try to avoid them in an incredible mansion. Starring Helen Mirren and Jason Clarke.
Cloverfield 3 (yet to be titled) – February 2 — A crew of astronauts fight for survival on a space station. Starring Elizabeth Debicki, Daniel Brühl, and David Oyelowo.
Peter Rabbit – February 9 — Fox Studios brings a great cast of voice talent to their adaptation of the classic Beatrix Potter story. With Daisy Ridley, Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki, Rose Byrne, and Domhnall Gleeson.
Monster Family – February 9 — A family is turned into monsters in this animated romp. Starring the voices of Jason Isaacs, Emily Watson, Nick Frost, and Catherine Tate.
Black Panther – February 16 — Ryan Coogler directs Marvel Comics’ king cat superhero Black Panther in his own standalone movie. Starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, with a reunion of The Hobbit’s Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis.
