We knew a Predator prequel film was on the way from 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg. Back in July we knew that. A few things are different now. One is, it no longer has the title Skull. It now has the much cheekier title, Prey. And we also now have a first look at both the title treatment and a really cool image showcasing the time period of this new film. It seems we’re going right the way back; the Hish-Qu-Ten alien species taking on Indigenous warriors. Something like the original movie meets The Revenant.The title looks exactly like the original title font for the original Predator back in 1986. So that’s cool. The movie will see the Predator facing off against the Comanche Nation 300 years ago. The action-thriller follows Naru, the skilled warrior who fiercely protects her tribe against a highly evolved alien predator. The concept art below shows the giant hunter stalking Naru though a misty, frigid forest.It looks very cool, and will hopefully bring the terror. Taking the entire concept back to its roots (a lone alien hunting warriors in a forest) seems the right choice. This time, of course, the warriors don’t have machine guns and grenades, so it could be a bit one-sided. Although we imagine Naru will put up plenty of fight.
An origin tale is certainly a different, but welcome, direction for the franchise. Back in 2018, producer John Davis indicated the franchise’s fourth installment, The Predator, was the first film in a trilogy. However, the film was poorly received by critics and fans alike. Director Shane Black, who appeared in the original Predator film, also caused a major controversy. He hired a longtime friend who is a registered sex offender in a minor role, and didn’t disclose it with the cast, namely Olivia Munn, who appeared opposite the actor. There’s no word as to whether the sequels are moving forward.
Plot A fascist group who call themselves New Order want to set some “new rules” in town while the police in Halifax, Nova Scotia are on strike. They try to scare the patrons of a gay bar, but by accident the owner of the establishment is killed, and the leader of the bullies then decides to execute all witnesses. One man escapes and takes refuge in an isolated block of flats. The young tenants in the house refuse to hand over the survivor, and the bullies then decide to kill all the residents in the house. This turns out to be not so easy when the young people in the house barricade their apartments and set up traps and arm themselves in order to fight back.
Gorgeous and vacant, “The Eternals” is the most numbing entry in Marvel’s 13-year-old MCU franchise — even as it struggles to be its weirdest and most philosophical.
An Oscar-winning director (Chloé Zhao of 2020’s “Nomadland”) and exciting ensemble cast are no match for corporate demands in the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is clearly building to another Infinity Saga-style climax after 25-odd movies.
But Disney isn’t necessarily to blame for the movie’s Swiss-cheese plot holes, oppressive cinematography and flat delivery (of everything, including action sequences). That’s on the filmmakers.
Set throughout modern human history, “The Eternals,” opening on Nov. 5, stars a diverse ensemble as the title-beings, with most of the focus on the slight, stoic Sersi (Gemma Chan) and similarly fleet, expressionless Ikaris (Richard Madden). Their fellow Eternals — a.k.a. super-powerful buildings living secretly on Earth for the last 7,000 years — are led in their shiny, form-fitting suits by Ajak (Salma Hayek), who also lords over Thena (Angelina Jolie), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), Sprite (Lia McHugh), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), Gilgamesh (Don Lee) and Druig (Barry Keoghan).
Add to that a hunky love interest (“Game of Thrones” co-star Kit Harington as Dane Whitman, who will soon become the MCU’s Black Knight), a comic-relief Harish Patel (as Kingo’s manager, Karun) and other gods and monsters, and you’ve got a mess of script.
And yet Zhao at least gets this part right, giving all characters their due as they grapple with orders from their celestial, Marvel-demigod master, Arishem (David Kaye), who first dispatched the Eternals to Earth to defeat the Deviants. The latter are a squishy, skinless bundle of neon muscle that need to be eradicated to protect humankind.
Having been scattered centuries ago, the Eternals must now reunite to confront the resurgent, mysterious Deviants. But there’s little agreement on how to do that. Thena’s grappling with the weight of thousands of years of memories; Druig and Phastos are breaking the Eternals’ pledge not to interfere with human history; Kingo is clinging to a career as a Bollywood star. Their clashing personalities — some like children, others like wizened owls — make for agreeable sparks, especially with comic masters like Nanjiani and Henry delivering solid, affecting performances.
Still, the general sleepiness dulls otherwise appealing scenes as the movie takes an enormous amount of time to say almost nothing. My enduring sense of it is tiny people set against huge landscapes, dwarfed by nature, history and the unrelenting, same-y cinematography. “Doctor Strange”-style spells and visuals feel pat at this point.
It’s the inverse of most MCU films, which can sound inane or arbitrary on paper but which can also translate beautifully to the screen (think “Guardians of the Galaxy,” for starters).
44th Denver Film Festival guide: The return of red carpets, celebrities and critic’s picks for 2021 In real life, though, it’s a depressing waste of its $200 million budget. As with its last few genre-shaped MCU widgets (the wuxia-influenced “Shang Chi,” the spy-thriller “Black Widow”), “The Eternals” would have looked better without the Marvel logo, which figuratively undermines Zhao’s languid pace and Ben Davis’ hazy, beachfront frames (he also shot “Guardians” and “Captain Marvel”).
By contrast, Denis Villeneuve’s new “Dune” masterfully dispatches with this sort of complex, atmospheric world-building by leaning away from the blockbusters’ tentpoles. You know them well: crowd-sourced, toy-friendly designs (“Eternals” Happy Meal toys are already out); a puzzle-piece script; and an unintelligible, CG-driven third-act.
Suspension of disbelief frequently pancakes in “The Eternals,” with gods acting like spoiled Gen X’ers and soulless white-collar workers. But the MCU’s numbing regularity is the real enemy, constantly crying wolf on Earth’s destruction while depicting millions of deaths from environmental and cosmic disasters — a precipice so high that audiences may eventually just plummet to their boredom.
In new Warren Miller film, Steamboat’s humble Howelsen Hill takes a turn with glamorous ski destinations
Warren Miller is back. Here’s how to win HEAD skis and tickets to a screening.
44th Denver Film Festival guide: The return of red carpets, celebrities and critic’s picks for 2021
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Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (Sony) The new trailer for Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City has just been released, and it’s already clear that this will be a real treat for fans of the original video games. In the new trailer, there are certain Easter eggs that would go unnoticed by the more casual viewer while longtime fans will find them to be pretty awesome. At least I did. Watch the trailer for yourself below.
There are certainly some very obvious callbacks to the video games, including the designs of certain characters, along with locations like the RPD station and the Spencer Mansion. Longtime Resident Evil fans may appreciate the more subtle references even more so. With that said, let’s go through and highlight five of the Easter eggs in the new trailer which particularly stood out!
1THE FIRST ZOMBIE
Capcom / Sony In the original Resident Evil video game, the story begins with S.T.A.R.S. making their way to the Spencer Mansion to avoid infected dogs on the outside. The very first zombie encountered certainly made for one of the game’s most memorable moments. After hearing a gunshot, the player finds this zombie munching on a fallen comrade before it slowly turns its head to peer directly at the screen.
There’s a very similar moment that can be seen in the Welcome to Raccoon City trailer. The scene has been recreated as a direct nod to very first big scare of the franchise, as two characters come across a zombie who reacts in exactly the same way as his video game counterpart. Such an iconic moment, that scene was also featured in the Resident Evil video game remake.
2THAT CREEPY ASHFORD TWINS VIDEO
Sony Resident Evil: Code Veronica was the last real sequel of the franchise set in the original continuity before it was rebooted on the game cube with RE0 and the REmake. In that regard, it marks the end of an era, and it’s fondly remembered by old school fans who have nostalgia for those classic tank controls.
At one point in the game, players discover a video of Alfred and Alexia Ashford, twin siblings raised by Umbrella researchers who wind up subjected to experimentation. In the footage, the two take glee in ripping the wings off of a dragonfly and watching it suffer. That’s before they gaze into each other’s eyes before the clip comes to an abrupt, unsettling end.
This very video has also apparently been recreated for Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. While watching through old footage, Claire is shown snippets of a video that looks to be almost an exact replica of the one from the game, though this one comes with a researcher taking notes in the background as the two do their thing. It’s fun to see a nod to Code Veronica featured in the trailer, as the game doesn’t seem to get the love it deserves.
3ITCHY TASTY
Sony Going back to the original Resident Evil, anyone who’s played through the game will definitely remember the researcher’s journal. These games are filled with various documents for players to read that further expand the lore, but there’s perhaps nothing more memorable than that creepy diary. In it, a researcher — slowly turning into a zombie — details how he’s growing increasingly itchy and hungry. By the final entry, he’s a full-blown flesh-eater, with one of his final pages reading the simple phrase, “itchy. tasty.”
You can’t really have viewers of a movie reading a journal like players of the game, but writer-director Johannes Roberts still found a fun way to feature a throwback to the researcher’s journal. In the trailer, we can see that someone has used their bloody fingers to write the phrase on a glass window, easy as day to read. It makes for a creepy moment for those unfamiliar with the original Resident Evil game, but for the fans, it’s a good time to pull out that “Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at the TV screen” meme.
4EXPLODING TRUCK
Sony A similar idea applies to the semi truck in the new trailer and fans of Resident Evil 2. Some fans would argue that RE2 is even better than the original game, and because it’s still so popular with fans, it was followed up with a very successful video game remake. In both versions, the story begins with Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy getting separated when an infected truck driver crashes in front of the RPD station, generating a massive explosion.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City‘s trailer shows us both the infected truck driver behind the wheel along with the vehicle rolling on its side and slamming into the police station. It’s another clear nod to the game that will be instantly recognizable for and who recall that same scene in RE2 more than two decades ago. You can almost even hear the guy say, “That guy’s a maniac. Why’d he bite me?!”
5ENTER THE LICKER
Sony Remember that first zombie encountered in the original Resident Evil, and how he basically served to give that first real jump of the game? The “licker” introduced in Resident Evil 2 served a similar purpose. By this point, players were familiar with dispatching zombies, so making it to the police station wasn’t too much problem. Even the most confident player, however, would soon after feel their heart stop once that licker first shows up.
In the game, Leon or Claire (depending upon whom you’re playing as) will find a decapitated corpse before noticing something dripping from the ceiling. Slowly looking up reveals the freakish, long-tongued monster peering back down with a growl, ready to strike. You’re not given much reaction time before it then jumps down and launches into a full attack, and the horrifying moment sets the tone for the rest of the game.
Again, Johannes Roberts made sure to incorporate this scene as closely as possible. Both Leon and Claire together seem to stumble upon the licker as they both slowly and nervously look up, just for the creature to splat down on the ground and pounce. Even knowing it’s coming, this moment will still probably be even more horrifying seeing it happen on the big screen.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City will be released in theaters on Nov. 24, 2021.
RELATED: ‘Resident Evil 2’ Remake: Top 10 Easter Eggs
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