‘Predator: Badlands’ and the 'Predator' Movie Rankings

Sean is joined by Chris Ryan to avenge their Yautja brethren on planet Genna and cover Dan Trachtenberg’s ‘Predator: Badlands,’ starring Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi. Before diving in though, they briefly cover a handful of movie news headlines, including the reporting that Ryan Reynolds is remaking the 1970s crime film ‘Thunderbolt and Lightfoot’ for Amazon MGM (2:35). Next, they unpack the new 'Predator' legacy sequel and make the case for why it wouldn’t work without Fanning’s performance, explain why Trachtenberg has a clear eye for titillating action set piece filmmaking, and discuss its big box office success and wonder what it represents at large (7:39). Then, they rank every film in the 'Predator' franchise (43:38). Host: Sean Fennessey Guest: Chris Ryan Producers: Jack Sanders and Bex Donnelly Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:30Speaker 01

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• 1:11Sean Fennessey?

  I'm Sean Fennessey and this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about Badlands. You gotta live it every day. On today's episode, Chris Ryan joins me to break down Predator: Badlands, the ninth film in the Predator series and a major box office hit this weekend. Badlands is the second Predator film of the year, actually, after the animated feature Predator: Killer of Killers, which debuted on Hulu in June. CR and I avowed Pred heads, so this will be a fun conversation. Chris, how are you?

• 1:39Speaker 03

  I'm doing great, man. I'm in London. It's great to see you across the ocean, across the nation. And yeah, man, blue wave just sweeping London. We're all feeling it.

• 1:48Sean Fennessey?

  Is that true?

• 1:50Speaker 03

  Very excited for Abigail Spanberger, the original lioness, my spy mommy.

• 1:56Sean Fennessey?

  You just, you really did want to just JMO it. You teased it.

• 1:59Speaker 03

  I told you, yeah, I was like, I'm ready. It's five o'clock here. I'm fucking ready to go.

• 2:03Sean Fennessey?

  I was listening to The Watch and you guys were just trading Mom Donnie jokes back and forth, like in a spirited fashion. And I was like, I guess maybe that's just what The Watch is now. It's just two very gentle men in their 40s thinking about democratic socialism.

• 2:16Speaker 03

  We don't even have Apple TV accounts. We don't even know it's on anymore.

• 2:21Sean Fennessey?

  I gotta say, you know, not to tread on The Watch's tail at all, but Pluribus, hey, pretty good.

• 2:27Speaker 03

  You approve?

• 2:28Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah.

• 2:28Speaker 03

  Okay, good. Two thumbs up.

• 2:29Sean Fennessey?

  I watched it on, I watched two episodes on Friday. Enjoyed myself. Enjoyed your conversation with Vince Gilligan as well. Nice job.

• 2:35Speaker 03

  Thank you for the shout out. That's, that's a real, that was a breath of fresh air television show. That was like, we can still, we can still make things in this country and specifically in Albuquerque.

• 2:44Sean Fennessey?

  It was interesting because we talked about Frankenstein last week on the show and I revisited the post-modern Prometheus episode of The X-Files, because that is of course very inspired by Frankenstein. And so I had X-Files on the brain. So it was cool to hear you and Vince talking about that show and his origins there too.

• 3:00Speaker 03

  Yeah, he's a really fun guy to go back and sort of watch his career evolve from that early, working under Chris Carter era. And then just like, even the way his voice is sharpened over the course of Breaking Bad. And Breaking Bad kind of starts and it's a bit of a, almost slapstick black comedy in the beginning. And then it obviously becomes this huge tragedy and crime noir over the course of the seasons. But what an amazing guy. Yeah, really, really interesting creative mind.

• 3:28Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah, Pluribus definitely, if you're into films, a lot of cinematic energy, especially in that first episode. A lot, a lot of really interesting camera work. Okay, let's talk about some more interesting camera work and another visionary. I'm talking about Ryan Reynolds, who news broke over the weekend that he is eyeing a remake of the 1970 crime movie, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, which starred Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges. And when I say Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges, my first thought is Ryan Reynolds.

• 3:53Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 3:54Sean Fennessey?

  Is he playing both parts in this remake? What have you heard?

• 3:57Speaker 03

  He's doing the sinner's thing.

• 4:01Speaker 03

  He saw sinners. He's like, I can do that.

• 4:03Sean Fennessey?

  Speaking of sinners, you know, we learned earlier this year that Michael B. Jordan is remaking the Thomas Crown affair. He's directing the film and he's also starring in it. I think the script is going to be by Drew Pierce. I guess this is a, is this the grown up JMO version of IP now? Where all these big boys in their 40s who have amassed some box office power are just remaking incredibly cool movies made 52 years ago?

• 4:27Speaker 03

  It's probably also just like the rights on some of this stuff in the libraries of these film companies are either they're going to expire or they're like, if, if there's anything here you want to play with, let us know. It's not entirely surprising that Reynolds would gravitate towards this for as much as maybe he's come in for some heat on this pod. And I've been a part of it over the last couple of years. Like dude made Mississippi Grind, uh, a few years ago, which is a movie we have a lot of time for. It has a distinct California split energy. Um, and so I wouldn't be surprised if he enjoyed this kind of movie on his, in his spare time. The question being, is he going to take Michael Truemino's vision of the American West and these two lovable losers like doing heists across what I can't

• 5:11Speaker 03

  remember where this is set. Like, is it Wyoming or Montana? Or is it? Doesn't matter.

• 5:17Sean Fennessey?

  I'm not sure. I can't recall.

• 5:20Speaker 03

  It's the West, you know? And, um, is he going to make this into like a kind of glib digital action farce? Or is it going to be something a little bit more human?

• 5:32Sean Fennessey?

  You know, you've just reminded me of something. I watched Play Dirty, the Shane Black film. Did you watch this film?

• 5:38Speaker 03

  Yeah, of course I did. Yeah.

• 5:39Sean Fennessey?

  The, the Mark Wahlberg, like Keith Stanfield streaming movie that's on Amazon MGM, which is also the studio that Reynolds is working with to potentially remake Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. Uh, thoughts?

• 5:52Speaker 03

  Very strange. Another Shane Black movie that I'm not convinced wasn't completely recut on him. Another Shane Black movie where Thomas Jane is only in it for like 10 minutes. The other one being a film we may discuss later in this pod, The Predator.

• 6:07Sean Fennessey?

  Yep. Todd Parker?

• 6:10Speaker 03

  She's still one of my favorite dialogue writers. So honestly, like even though this movie was pretty inane in places and there's much better adaptations of like the Parker universe over the course of cinematic history, I still had kind of a good time watching this. What did you think?

• 6:26Sean Fennessey?

  I thought it was quite poor, but there were things about it that were entertaining. I think I'm having a hard time with Mark Wahlberg at this stage of my life and his. I think I'm just, it's a little bit harder to, he's just giving the exact same performance in every movie now.

• 6:41Speaker 03

  Yeah. Well, he's got other concerns. He's got other interests.

• 6:44Sean Fennessey?

  What are they?

• 6:46Speaker 03

  Breakfast, eating it at three in the morning, working out six times. You know, he plays 18 every morning.

• 6:52Sean Fennessey?

  I do know that.

• 6:53Speaker 03

  But like runs it. He runs the course. So.

• 6:55Sean Fennessey?

  I believe he owns the course. Yeah.

• 6:57Speaker 03

  Sure. Yeah. And, and just, you know, enjoying life in Nevada. It's been a very long time. When's the last really good Mark Wahlberg, like a film where he gave a crap? Is that Gambler?

• 7:11Sean Fennessey?

  Probably.

• 7:12Speaker 03

  No, that's a long time ago.

• 7:13Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah, that's 12 years ago, 13 years ago.

• 7:15Speaker 03

  It's funny to remember this guy was in like Huckabee's and the fighter, you know?

• 7:19Sean Fennessey?

  Well, he really cared about Father Stu. Did you ever check that one out?

• 7:23Speaker 03

  Oh, I didn't. No, sorry.

• 7:25Sean Fennessey?

  Okay, that's too bad. I believe the first ever Hall of Fame we did was Mark Wahlberg's Hall of Fame for the release was Spencer Confidential. You remember that?

• 7:34Speaker 03

  I do remember that. I think I passionately spoke about The Gambler on that podcast.

• 7:38Sean Fennessey?

  Deepwater Horizon?

• 7:40Speaker 03

  Not bad.

• 7:41Sean Fennessey?

  Not bad.

• 7:41Speaker 03

  There's a lot of oil platforms off this, the cliffs of Dover where I was this weekend. I saw some rigs.

• 7:47Sean Fennessey?

  Interesting.

• 7:48Speaker 03

  I thought about Deepwater Horizon.

• 7:49Sean Fennessey?

  It's funny for Drill Baby Drill CR, that's gotta be exciting for you. Did you get a little tingle down below whenever you see an oil rig?

• 7:55Speaker 03

  I was really there. I was fact checking Dunkirk. I just wanted to see what the straits looked like and whether Loudon and Hardy really could have made some of those moves in the dogfighting sequences. And it turns out that they did.

• 8:07Sean Fennessey?

  Did you let any planes on flyer at the end of your journey or no?

• 8:10Speaker 03

  No, but I offered, I offered all the tour guides. I was like, if you want to make me a POW. Feel free.

• 8:19Sean Fennessey?

  Well, Chris.

• 8:19Speaker 03

  You know how crazy that on the cliffs of Dover, when you are walking out there and you could see France, your data plan changes to France for a few minutes.

• 8:27Sean Fennessey?

  No kidding.

• 8:27Speaker 03

  That's how close you get, man. That's how close they were.

• 8:30Sean Fennessey?

  And did you immediately begin speaking French? Like, what happened? Did you transform in some way?

• 8:35Speaker 03

  Mon ami. Began speaking Yautja.

• 8:38Sean Fennessey?

  Well, thank you for setting us up. Let's, let's talk about Predator Badlands, because it's, it's sweeping the nation. Is it sweeping France and England? Hard to say. You were able to see the film in, in London, England. How nice for you.

• 8:49Speaker 03

  In IMAX at the glorious BFI complex. And if any big picture listeners are on vacation here, or, or get a chance to come here, I highly recommend spending the afternoon getting lost there.

• 9:01Sean Fennessey?

  The South Bank one?

• 9:02Speaker 03

  South Bank one, yeah. And it's just like that whole complex, there's like a, they're showing like a Frederick Wiseman documentary about Laura Mulvey. They've got libraries, they've got gift shops, they've got so many screens, they've got such good programming. So all, all BP heads are welcome.

• 9:17Sean Fennessey?

  There is an elite collection of Blu-rays and 4Ks on sale at that BFI shop.

• 9:22Speaker 03

  Also like a library system where you can like select a film and go watch it privately, which, you know, I took advantage of with some of our, my favorite 70s exploitative films, you know?

• 9:32Sean Fennessey?

  So when I was last in London with you, I did go to South Bank and the film that I saw was Todd Browning's The Unknown. And that film was made in 1924, I believe. And you went to go see 100 years later Predator Badlands, which is, it's kind of related in terms of the Todd Browning cinema, right? Freaks and Dracula. And, you know, you could see something in the connective tissue of genre about monsters and are they really as evil as we think? Because that is really what Predator Badlands is. It's a story.

• 10:03Speaker 03

  Predator, heal thyself. That's what this movie is about.

• 10:06Sean Fennessey?

  So this movie comes to us from Dan Trachtenberg. He has become the creative shepherd of the Predator story over recent years. In 2022, he made Prey, which was the last time we spoke about this franchise three years ago. And he has been working with Patrick Aitken, the screenwriter, to write these stories. And this one is very, very Very different. It stars Elle Fanning primarily, essentially the only, you know, human face we see, even though she is not playing a human in the film. And Dimitrius Schuster Koloamatangi is the, is Deck, who is a young predator, a young Yaucha.

• 10:45Speaker 03

  He's a fail son.

• 10:47Sean Fennessey?

  Well, is he? That's what this, this is not, this isn't no Eric Trump movie. You know what I mean? This is a different situation. This is,

• 10:53Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 10:54Sean Fennessey?

  You know, somebody who might, might have something to him. But we don't know.

• 10:59Speaker 03

  He definitely has, he definitely has some shit to him. You know, he definitely has some game, but not like his older brother Quay, and certainly not like his asshole dad.

• 11:08Sean Fennessey?

  So, as you said, the story is about this young outcast predator who lands on a deadly planet. He lands there because he needs to prove to his tribe that he is worthy of Yaucha honor and to become a proper predator. And he has to go retrieve a trophy in the form of a giant monster known as a calisk. He gets on this, he lands on this terrifying planet, and he very quickly comes across a droid named Thea, which is just the torso and head and arms of Elle Fanning. And they need to work together to potentially capture this trophy. And that's the whole, essentially the whole plot of the movie. What did you think of Predator: Badlands?

• 11:48Speaker 03

  Really, really good. Really, really, really excellent genre filmmaking. I think I've seen a lot of Predator, fellow Pred heads and fans of, of like especially the first two,

• 12:02Speaker 03

  reject some of the kinder, gentler notions in this film because this is hilariously, given how much we've talked about this with the horror episodes we've done. This is like a recovering from trauma movie. This is about finding your family. This is about the Yaucha who made me feel it was okay to be weird, you know, like, and it's, uh, it's goofy in that way and it has a little bit of, I don't know if you would want to call it smarmy, but that like kind of latter day Disney Marvel dialogue. There's a lot of like the jokes are kind of tongue in cheek and a bit. Buffy the Vampire Slayer-ish for Predator. But that being said, I thought like all the other Trachtenberg stuff that he's done with this

• 12:44Speaker 03

  series is, I find it has like a really refreshing energy. Like he comes at these movies without a lot of stress attached to them with like, okay, how am I gonna make this franchise explode? And intricate world building that people need to read a Wikipedia entry to understand. And you need to have seen the cutscene of Prey and you must have watched Killer of Killers to understand what's going on badly. You don't really need that. Like I could tell from the crowd that I watched it with, these people were like, I saw the trailer, the Predator seems like he kicks a lot of ass in this movie. I want to watch it for two hours. And that's what you got.

• 13:19Sean Fennessey?

  I generally agree. I liked this movie a good deal. I wouldn't say I'm in love with it. And I'm, there's a part of me, I'm battling myself and I'm battling the potential of personal hypocrisy by kind of digging into what is and is not a Predator movie. And obviously Trachtenberg knows more about making a Predator movie than we will ever know in a million years. But there are some things in this movie that feel like they are really the opposite of what we've come to expect from these kinds of films. And yet, like, I think you can accept it on its own terms. I did send you a note a couple of weeks ago and I said, ooh, this movie's rated PG-13. That seems not ideal. This is one of the signature violent action franchises of the last 40 years.

• 13:57Sean Fennessey?

  And the first film in particular is an absolute masterclass in severe action filmmaking.

• 14:05Speaker 03

  First two really, I mean, that, the second one, while coked out of its mind in Los Angeles, still has a lot of incredible gore.

• 14:11Sean Fennessey?

  Yes, very, very violent. And so I had a little bit of concern around that. And then I saw someone compare this to The Mandalorian before I saw the movie and I got a little nervous. And it turns out that there definitely are some shades of the kind of Disneyfication of Fox properties going on here. But I generally found it pretty sweet and inoffensive, those aspects of it. And rather than The Mandalorian, what this movie made me think of in terms of the relationships, not just between the droid and the yaocho, but also this, this little guy, Bud? This little, this little character, this little kind of monkey hybrid figure who comes into the movie. It reminded me a little bit more of Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 and C-3PO, which is...

• 14:57Sean Fennessey?

  A more acceptable version of the like cranky companion adventure sci fi movie? And we don't get a lot of adventure sci fi movies these days.

• 15:06Speaker 03

  I honestly welcome, I welcome and acknowledge that it's hypocritical to sort of be fine with this movie and so angry in the newspaper about Alien Earth and about like, I, there are certain franchises, I think this is pretty common for film fans, is like there are certain things you're very protective and, and you know, you're like a, you're originalist about and you're like, no, actually Wayland Yutani Corporation did this in this year, so you can't do that next.

• 15:31Sean Fennessey?

  I did hear you say that a couple of times.

• 15:32Speaker 03

  A hundred times during Alien Earth, I was so mad. And then this time I was just like, oh yeah, it's okay that the Predator is basically like Lloyd Dobler from Say Anything? And he's just trying to figure it out? Like, I just had a much like looser kind of relationship to this. And I dig Predator movies, but do not think deeply about the Yaucha and their code and where they've spread their, their hunts and all that stuff. Like, I, I really like these. I, I think I was almost pleasantly reminded of like, an older version of franchise films, like almost not, not the same, but like an old Bond movie where they just kind of like soft reset every film.

• 16:16Speaker 03

  And I'm like, maybe that's better. Maybe this is a better way to watch what we're on the ninth Predator movie. You know, maybe this is where Alien should go, where it's like, rather than trying to solve the mysteries of the universe or explain the mythology behind things, it's just like, can you scare me for two hours? Can you thrill me for two hours?

• 16:33Sean Fennessey?

  You know, I had a very similar thought that the, the low leverage in terms of the lore around this series is very helpful for enjoying this movie. But then unlike a James Bond movie, what's been really interesting about what Trachtenberg has done with these last three movies is this, he has radically shifted the primary perspective of each movie. It's, they're all set in different times, in the case of Killer of Killers, across multiple periods of time. And this is the first one, it's really notable because this is the first one, it's really through the eyes of a Predator. It's not, it, we've not had a movie in which they are the sympathetic protagonist.

• 17:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 17:10Sean Fennessey?

  It's a pretty bold choice because of the viciousness with which they kill. I guess. The movie works in part because this is an unproven predator, right? It's a Yaucha who is younger, smaller, you know, who is the runt of the litter. And so it's a lot easier to get on their side, despite the fact that they are brutal in the way that they attempt to pursue the mission that this character goes on.

• 17:33Speaker 03

  We also, this movie works because of Elle Fanning.

• 17:36Sean Fennessey?

  Well, go speak on that.

• 17:38Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, I just thought, you know, I really was taken with and enjoyed the like, dad beheading his son for being a cuck early, you know, the 20 minute pre-title sequence of this movie. But it really kind of comes to life when he comes across Elle Fanning strapped to a thorny bush somewhere in the middle of this wasteland. And she's becomes his backpack. I noticed that the film, its code name when they were shooting it was Backpacker, I think.

• 18:08Speaker 03

  And it's just kind of an ingenious pairing of an absolutely brutal killing machine with a fairly charming piece of technology sitting on its back, kind of making conversation. And I've seen people say that like, well, the reason why this works is because Elle Fanning's character is curious. Like she's asking the predator questions that maybe a general, a general audience member might want to ask, like, well, how do you decide what to kill? Or like, do you have to eat? And do you have to sleep? And what are you doing? These kinds of things are a very helpful storytelling device or movie exposition device.

• 18:45Sean Fennessey?

  It is convenient slash smart that she is also a droid who specializes in these other creatures. And in fact, she understands Yaucha and the language. And, you know, there was no predator language prior to this movie. I read that they created this language, the same person who created the language of the Na'vi in Avatar, which is a film you haven't seen. And, and there's a very sophisticated language in that film, as there is in this film.

• 19:12Sean Fennessey?

  How did you feel good about the Yaucha talking?

• 19:15Speaker 03

  Um, they talk about it the way I would figure they talked, you know, like kind of a translated Samurai sort of language, right?

• 19:25Sean Fennessey?

  Sure.

• 19:26Speaker 03

  I thought that the, the Deck got funnier over the course of the movie and I couldn't figure out where that was coming from. Like Deck had some bits, you know, and especially when Bud shows up, he starts to get like some sort of buddy cop energy going with him. So I don't know if that's something that a Predator is like doing a, a quick 10 minutes at the Comedy Store. I'd like to see it. Maybe DeTractor could do it. Is this thing on for Deck next?

• 19:56Sean Fennessey?

  That would mean that Deck is divorced at this point, you think?

• 19:59Speaker 03

  Yeah, Deck's divorced.

• 20:00Sean Fennessey?

  Okay.

• 20:01Speaker 03

  He's like, yeah, Thea leaves him and he's just like, ah, you know, I'm going through a lot.

• 20:05Sean Fennessey?

  I'm thinking of all the permutations. What about Deck in like a Home Improvement style sitcom show where he's got three little Decks running around and he's got a wife Deck who's like, I don't know, Deck, seems like you're gonna be in big trouble this time. Like, have you been at the bar all night, Deck?

• 20:20Speaker 03

  Would you green light for the ringer, Deck, straight to camera, like Tim Dillon, just going through the news, just being like, this is why they don't tell you?

• 20:31Sean Fennessey?

  The answer is yes.

• 20:32Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 20:33Sean Fennessey?

  Elle Fanning, who you mentioned, plays this droid, and she also plays another droid, a droid that she identifies in the film as her sister, um, and has a very different energy than the, the character she's portraying, uh, opposite the Yaucha. What, what's your relationship to her as an actor? Interesting time for her.

• 20:49Speaker 03

  Pretty delighted by her.

• 20:51Sean Fennessey?

  She's wonderful.

• 20:52Speaker 03

  And I think she actually just makes really nice, really cool choices. I, I've been a fan since Neon Demon.

• 21:00Sean Fennessey?

  Interesting.

• 21:00Speaker 03

  And, um, she's fantastic in The Great, uh, which is sort of her signature role, I guess, a, a TV show on Hulu. Um, but I find that like, you know, I know she's got a big year with sentimental, uh, sentimental values. So it's like, she's just is one of those people that I think is like, I'm not really trying to be the third person in Ant-Man. I'd like to just work with interesting filmmakers. Um, I honestly, between her and Dakota, I'm sure life's pretty good, you know? They, they don't have to like scratch out rent money.

• 21:30Sean Fennessey?

  You make it sound like they are like relying on each other financially. Do they share a bank account?

• 21:35Speaker 03

  Like the Morris Twins.

• 21:39Speaker 03

  Remember the Morris Twins got paid like 40 and it was like, it's just up to you guys.

• 21:43Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah, you guys split it up. Depending on who averages 8.2 rebounds a game and 6.6 rebounds a game.

• 21:50Speaker 03

  Do you think they left some money on the table here by not having L play Tessa in this movie? Or have Dakota?

• 21:57Sean Fennessey?

  Oh Dakota play Tessa. Um, no, because I think they needed the consistency of all of the female droids looking the same and all the male droids looking the same. That was consistent. We do see a lot of male droids get their heads absolutely blown off. Classic stormtrooper situation with those male droids. Those guys really just totally incompetent. Like they have no idea what they're doing. They really did suck.

• 22:16Speaker 03

  They got beat by a pair of legs. Yeah.

• 22:18Sean Fennessey?

  Pretty sad. I really enjoyed that. You know, there's a series of great set pieces in that film. That's one of the best ones near the end of the film where we, we do find eventually Thea's legs and those legs have a mind of their own and they're put into action to help Deck and Bud and Thea attempt to overwhelm the other side. But there's a lot of, you know, unsurprising. If you watched Prey, you could see Trachtenberg has an incredible mind for these kind of action set pieces. I just watched some of Prey over the weekend and even just that sequence where Amber Midthunder's character is watching the Predator battle the bear, which is just crazy. Um, this one also has the sort of snapping,

• 22:58Sean Fennessey?

  uh, tree vines in the very early sequences of the film that who come back later on. We see the razor sharp blades of grass. There's a series of like ideas in the Badlands that make this fun. I, I, before Thea showed up, I did have some concerns that this was going to be like video game cutscene energy the whole time where there's not like a single living thing on screen.

• 23:19Speaker 03

  If it had just been Predators being like, "Father, give me the cloak." I would have just been like, "All right, man." Like this is, but I think it just gets a little bit more charming. And then, uh, for, uh, men of a certain age, the introduction of the Wayland-Yutani Corporation is meaningful. Like it's popped up before. Um, obviously there's the Alien vs Predator movies. Uh, Lance Henriksen plays Charles Wayland in one of those movies, although they don't make a huge deal about.

• 23:46Sean Fennessey?

  I believe it's the first Alien vs Predator movie.

• 23:49Speaker 03

  Yes. Right. And I think there's an alien at the end of Predator 2. Shane Black had designs on expanding the universe and stuff like that. These two movies are, these two franchises are both Fox Disney properties. So there can be pretty easy integration. I would be the first person to be like, get this shit out of here. I thought it kind of worked. And the thing I think I'm most charmed by after spending close to two months discussing the stewardship of the Alien franchise with Alien Earths is the idea of Trachtenberg taking over both.

• 24:21Sean Fennessey?

  Right. Which is very interesting because we, you know, we both were, I think this is similar to Alien Romulus, where we were fans of that movie with some reservations. It's kind of, it's a fun time at the movies. It doesn't necessarily feel like it is entirely violating what's very special to us about Alien and Predator and Aliens and all the great installments of those films. You know, it's slightly lesser than, it's never, it is IP management for decades post haste. But there is something, when you have a very competent and creative filmmaker in charge of the properties, it's, it's that much more exciting. I thought Alvarez was really good at the haunted house stuff in Romulus. I think Trachtenberg is really good at scaled action, which is something that is really necessary for Predator.

• 25:06Sean Fennessey?

  I, I'm a little bit torn on the long term of this. Part of what was really effective to me about the Waylon Yutani stuff is that they just operate in the same way that they do in the Alien films, which is that they are a corporation in search of powerful technology to take over the world.

• 25:22Speaker 03

  Bioweapons.

• 25:23Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah, that's, that's pretty much all that they do. And that is, I think, a fairly coherent big bad for any sci-fi movie. And they, they map quite neatly onto this world. The same way that honestly, they did in the Alien versus Predator movies. The problem is, is that those movies are really poorly made and they're not, not well-written. But the idea of them and the idea of those two, two creatures coming into each other's paths is, is kind of logical, right?

• 25:46Speaker 03

  And that's some earthbound company would have the hubris to think that they can, you can master that, that you can pull something out of these things that would be of value. Yeah.

• 25:55Sean Fennessey?

  What do you think about a movie with no humans?

• 25:59Speaker 03

  I suppose this movie did a pretty good job, about as good as you can do in that scenario. I'm not a fan, as you know. I mean, like, it's hard enough for me to sort of stay locked in on animation, much less a film that's largely about like other creatures talking to each other. They obviously anthropomorphize the hell out of a lot of these things. And so they have a lot of sort of Disney charm and Disney humor. Even the snapping tree branches kind of have like this amusement park, you know, Tower of Terror kind of vibe to it. And especially the Bud character gets grogued, even though it is supposed to be a galaxy champion killing machines' son.

• 26:43Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah. You know, it's tricky. I think, obviously, they created this very smart solid by having the droid at the center of the movie, you know, casting an actor who has just a ton of charm and a ton of personality in Elfanning. But there were times where I was like, we are in, we're in the schmear, you know, we are in the thing that I talk about on the show from time to time, that I think held me back from being like a full-blown major advocate for this movie.

• 27:10Speaker 03

  It's just, it's just gonna, I think it's gonna happen to everybody with a different movie where you're watching. And it's just like, some days you just, you just hit the lottery, or you just hit in that slot where you're like, I saw this at like 12:30 on IMAX. I was like, this is really a pretty fun experience. If I had watched this on like a 42-inch screen, I think I would have turned it off midway. There was something like very enveloping about the landscapes, albeit obviously CGI augmented, the sound, the music was pretty good. I found the story pretty compelling. The mirroring of Duchess sort of learning how to beat the Predator in the first film with the Predator learning like, oh, here are all the different things that I have encountered in cross my journey that I will

• 27:53Speaker 03

  bring together, the exploding berries, the dart-throwing eels, you know, the razor glass, like you said. It was just like a nice touch, but none of that felt too heavy-handed, like, oh, we really must honor to the Predator. I completely understand if you were like, this movie doesn't count unless a man gets his chest excavated by another alien. And like, I'm, I'm the guy who re-watches Bill Duke and Jesse Ventura scenes when I want to get hyped up. Like, I get it. I see you.

• 28:25Sean Fennessey?

  When you want to get hyped up to go do what?

• 28:27Speaker 03

  Um, just do, just do a pod with you, man.

• 28:30Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah. That's what you do. I ain't got time to bleed. I have to pod.

• 28:34Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:36Sean Fennessey?

  Um, yeah, I, I, I generally agree with you. I was thinking about what, what sci-fi action is in 2025 because, you know, this week we've got The Running Man coming out starring Glenn Powell. The, the rare dystopian action movie. That's a, something that used to happen all the time when we were growing up and now is, is less and less common. There have been some really big sci-fi movies this year, though. We did an entire episode about The Electric State, which was a deeply unfortunate Russo Brothers directed Netflix production. Um, Megan 2.0, one of the least successful, you know, most kind of most talked about failures at the box office this year. Also, you know, attempting to recreate some of the energy of Terminator 2. Mickey 17, the Bong Joon-ho film, which also did not do very well.

• 29:21Sean Fennessey?

  Jurassic World Rebirth, which I thought was a dog baby of a movie.

• 29:25Speaker 03

  That is another good example of like, I should, I should hate this, but I was, I was not offended.

• 29:29Sean Fennessey?

  Um, I wouldn't say I was offended, but I could have used my time better.

• 29:33Speaker 03

  You seemed pretty offended.

• 29:34Sean Fennessey?

  Maybe I was offended. I was a little offended.

• 29:36Speaker 03

  28 Years Later, another example?

• 29:37Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah, that horror sci-fi blend. Yeah, there's, I mean, the virus aspect of it for sure. There is Killer of Killers. Did you watch Killer of Killers?

• 29:45Speaker 03

  I sure did.

• 29:46Sean Fennessey?

  So, you know, you're on the record, you're not a big fan of animation. You've been creeping towards, I guess, adult animation, and by that I mean pornography over the last few years. Um.

• 29:58Speaker 03

  You know what my relationship to animation is now? It's like the dude who only listens to Jason Isbell. And he's like, have you heard this? This is really solid, you know? So that's like, I'll watch Blue-Eyed Samurai and be like, these guys can really draw. What a compelling tale.

• 30:12Sean Fennessey?

  You watched Scavengers Reign, right?

• 30:15Speaker 03

  Uh, yeah.

• 30:15Sean Fennessey?

  That was a cool show. Um. Killer of Killers is more in that vein and Killer of Killers was really interesting to me too, because we're in the midst of this big anime wave. Killer of Killers is not an anime film per se, but there, there is some influence there for sure. And Trachtenberg also directed that movie, which I think is really cool. I think-

• 30:32Speaker 03

  It's, it's pretty, I wonder, I was gonna ask you, how would you have felt if Badlands had been the animated movie and they had tried to make Killer of Killers as the live action?

• 30:42Sean Fennessey?

  I mean, I would have loved to have seen the live action of Killer of Killers, but it would have been extremely expensive because you, it's, it's four different stories across history where real life-

• 30:52Speaker 03

  Vikings, Samurai, World War II-

• 30:55Sean Fennessey?

  Yes.

• 30:55Speaker 03

  And then a team up at the end, right?

• 30:57Sean Fennessey?

  Yes, the battle at the end. And, you know, you'd have to do the 9th century, the 17th century and the 20th century.

• 31:07Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:08Sean Fennessey?

  But, man, I just, just purely in terms of the design of the action sequences, the battle sequences, really, really cool stuff and a movie that just-

• 31:18Speaker 03

  I love the Viking chick's blades shield that she uses.

• 31:22Sean Fennessey?

  Yes.

• 31:23Speaker 03

  That was awesome.

• 31:23Sean Fennessey?

  Incredible creativity and just a cool, a clever idea for the use of the Predator character and one that doesn't really develop the character of the Predator that just kind of lets it be a killing machine, which made it a lot of fun. People haven't seen that, they should check it out on Hulu, but just thinking about that movie a little bit, it did have me thinking about something that happened with the Predator series, because this movie made $40 million over the weekend. This is one of the biggest hits of the fall now. You could probably tell that was gonna happen a couple of months ago for a few reasons. One, especially, The Running Man was supposed to come out on November 7th and it moved a week. And it moved off of the date the Predator had landed on and it was like, I don't know if I wanna mess with this. And so the movie does very well. And I think there's something going on here that feels like the inversion of what has

• 32:07Sean Fennessey?

  become commonly accepted wisdom. So, Knives Out came out in 2019 and after it came out, Ryan Johnson signs this deal with Netflix to do the next two films. Now, thinking is very clear. It's like, that movie was a box office hit, it's an established brand, now we can make it a streaming property. And that did work, clearly. Glass Onion clearly drove a lot of views, he got an Academy Award nomination, Wake Up Dead Man is coming out later this year. I feel like the opposite was true for Predator where Prey and Killer of Killers reseeded the land in terms of Predator interest and got more and more people kind of hyped up for what a Predator movie could be. Prey was one of the first movies I remember people being like, god damn it, put this in fucking movie theaters. I'm sure I said it on the episode we did.

• 32:51Speaker 03

  There was, that was, and also was that post-COVID, like Fox was like doing that with some streaming stuff, right? Like there was that thriller set in the like Park Ranger building that we really liked. Was that, I can't remember, I can't even remember what it was called now.

• 33:08Sean Fennessey?

  Right. So the movie you're talking about is called No Exit.

• 33:10Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 33:11Sean Fennessey?

  Which was a crafty little thriller about a bunch of people who are all trapped in a cabin with a criminal. And they've done this a few times, you know, Deep Water went straight to streaming, Prey went straight to streaming, you know, Barbarian could have gone straight to streaming. I'm very thankful that it did not, but the same studio, Rosaline went straight to streaming with Kalen Dever, The White Men Can't Jump remake, No One Will Save You, two years ago, the, another Kalen Dever film, the sci-fi movie, which was very good.

• 33:41Sean Fennessey?

  And so this is part of the, the studio strategy is to kind of keep bouncing back and forth. They released Romulus in theaters, they released The Amateur in theaters, but Killer of Killers goes on streaming. They just released Swiped on Hulu. Did you see Swiped?

• 33:54Speaker 03

  No, that's the, is it dating horror or is it just like a rom-com?

• 33:58Sean Fennessey?

  No, it's a biopic about Whitney Wolfe-Hard, the founder of Bumble, starring Lily James.

• 34:05Speaker 03

  Oh, I've seen ads for it.

• 34:06Sean Fennessey?

  So kind of a, kind of a dating horror movie in a way. How's your Bumble account looking?

• 34:11Speaker 03

  Well, it's also just so funny that you're like swiped it. I'm like, so she swipes right and the guy's a killer, right? Like I just need to maybe take some, some air.

• 34:18Sean Fennessey?

  Swiped right to hell.

• 34:22Sean Fennessey?

  The Hand that Rocks the Cradle also just came out straight to streaming, the remake of that movie. So it's like, this is what 20th Century Studios does.

• 34:28Speaker 03

  Some of these things I think have like legs to be franchises and some are kind of interesting, just gambits of like, this would be a programmer, this would be to quote Bill Simmons' dad, a five o'clocker. You know, the kind of like, it's Thursday, I'm on my way home from work, don't feel like going there yet. Let me stop at the movies, what's on kind of thing. Now that is streaming, now that is when you go home and you're just like, I'll just fire up Netflix or Hulu and see if they've got anything new. One thing I wanted to talk to you about is something that I think is becoming pretty common with these franchises is the use of a essentially a television writer's room. Now, I don't have any like deep reporting on this, I gleaned this from the internet, but I've heard about it with other

• 35:11Speaker 03

  big franchises, especially Disney ones, where they get five or six pretty talented screenwriters in a room just to whiteboard, blue sky it, let's talk about like where this could go, what this should do, what if this happened? On Predator Badlands, at least there was reporting and there was WGA like kind of, you know, extra literary credit given to Brian Fuller, who's probably best known for TV work like Pushing Daisies and Hannibal. Patrick Somerville, who did Station 11, obviously. And I believe Brian Duffield, who wrote a movie that we're really big fans of, or I am, Underwater.

• 35:47Sean Fennessey?

  Yep. He wrote and directed No One Will Save You, Brian Duffield.

• 35:51Speaker 03

  And I don't know if those guys are just like sounding boards for Trachtenberg and Eisen to be like, what do you think about this? Or what do you think about that? Or what if, how would we do this? But it's an interesting inversion of the development process, or maybe it's something that Disney feels very confident in doing because of the way that they've made Marvel movies over the years. But you know, Chris Storer and Aaron Sorkin had extra literary credit on F1. This is something that I think is a little bit more common than we realize and maybe, maybe it helps for something like Predator come up with a bunch of different takes on something like this. That is essentially like, I want to see the Predator kill some things, but like what we do around it is not that important.

• 36:33Sean Fennessey?

  I think it's incredibly logical for this kind of material management of,

• 36:38Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:39Sean Fennessey?

  You know, I think it's not ideal when it's a movie that is meant to be.

• 36:41Speaker 03

  Yeah, you don't need it for tar.

• 36:42Sean Fennessey?

  Right, an original story that's like, character driven and meant to be from an auteur, like that's, that you don't want to hear that nine guys had to get into a room to say, here's how to improve your movie. But when you're talking about managing the next phase of a Predator movie, and this has been happening for a hundred years in Hollywood. There's an entire scene in Mank, it's just nine guys who went to Yale, talking about how to make a Frankenstein movie, you know, like this is. Yeah, and being absolutely hammered, but, and those guys were all geniuses and they were talking about like, the same sort of low-rent monster material, uh, that Predator could be. And there's nothing wrong with it. It's honestly probably a good idea. If this was, if these were the great works, maybe you'd have a slightly different feeling about it, but,

• 37:26Sean Fennessey?

  um, I guess the idea of it being more public is kind of interesting. This is something that has historically gone on behind the scenes, you know, in back in our days, writing about rap, you would always hear about ghostwriters. There would always be like, oh my God, did you know that Jay-Z wrote half of 2001? Like, isn't that so crazy? And these things were kind of, they became mythological over time, but, I, I.

• 37:48Speaker 03

  I think for guys like you and me.

• 37:49Sean Fennessey?

  It should be public.

• 37:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, but we're, we're big fans of like, the hidden lore of PTA wrote Killers of the Flower Moon kind of stuff.

• 37:57Sean Fennessey?

  But it took less than a year and a half for that to become not hidden anymore. That's where the point.

• 38:01Speaker 03

  That's true.

• 38:01Sean Fennessey?

  It's like, nothing can really stay quiet in that way. I remember the first time, I told you this, the first time that someone called me and they were like, PTA wrote Killers of the Flower Moon. I know it. I'm looking at the screenplay. I was like, that makes all the sense in the world. When you go back and watch that movie and the fact that it did actually trickle out, that he worked on that and that he wrote Napoleon, parts of Napoleon at least. That makes me appreciate the movies more. It makes me understand the movies more. I don't have, you know, the idea of Patrick Somerville being able to like, contribute to Bud's energy in Predator Badlands, I'm about it. That's cool.

• 38:30Speaker 03

  Yeah, and that's, your Mank analogy is very good. It's just, it is like nine guys being like, this wrestler needs an orphan that he's taking care of because we need people to care about the outcome of this. I mean, um, I, I had high hopes. I know we're going to talk about the, those sort of other films in this franchise. High hopes for the shame black version of this.

• 38:51Sean Fennessey?

  Mm-hmm.

• 38:52Speaker 03

  Um, it seemed like something. In my mind was tailor made for him and that he would obviously as a since he appeared in the first one and I think maybe did some uncredited work on it was going to be a perfect union of like writer director and franchise but that obviously didn't work out. Do you feel like Trachtenberg staying on this and I think he's gonna make another Predator movie with the success of this one, I think he could make probably as many as he wants. Is this a waste of his talents or is this a good use of his talents? It doesn't have to be a binary, I know.

• 39:23Sean Fennessey?

  It's a really interesting question because the only other film that he's directed that is outside of this franchise is Ten Cloverfield Lane, which is a damn good thriller. And that's a movie that used the Cloverfield brand to kind of get through the door, but if it had nothing to do with Cloverfield, still would have been tremendously effective. So you can tell that there's something, he could, he could probably do a lot of different kinds of genre storytelling and I, we need guys and women like that making these kinds of movies. Him being in Predator mode for 15 years is a little depressing to me.

• 39:55Speaker 03

  Sure.

• 39:56Sean Fennessey?

  However, I would rather someone talented be making these movies if they're gonna get made than someone who is less talented. And we saw like in Alien vs Predator, we saw like, you gotta be careful who you give these characters to because you can kind of torpedo the whole thing if it's not the right, a steady pair of hands.

• 40:11Speaker 03

  Yeah, and you're not gonna be able to make a large scale action film about a Comanche woman in, you know, the 18th century or whenever Prey is set, I can't remember, but it's like that, that you're gonna have to have a Predator show up in that movie for it to be economically feasible for something like Disney or Fox to get to work with.

• 40:29Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah, it's definitely true. I think, to me, it would be nice to be able to have both. It would be nice if Trachtenberg's next movie was a scaled down $25 million thriller and we could see if it's commercial and be, it could be a studio movie or we could see if it's gonna be something a little bit smaller that has to go to streaming and then he can make now to $150 million Alien Predator movie. Can, can you handle an Alien Predator movie in 2028 if that's announced?

• 40:53Speaker 03

  If he's doing it, yes. And I think. I think weirdly like audiences have now arrived at the fact that they would like they would actually enjoy that whereas when those Alien versus Predator movies came out I just remember that being like this is this is used bin stuff like this is pretty cut rate movie making with no disrespect to the people involved in that I didn't take them very seriously he is obviously with all the whalen stuff with the fact that Ridley Scott's getting on years the Alien franchises you know tussled over but will belong to Fox long after some of these figureheads are no longer working on them you could very easily transition over to this and I think the direction

• 41:35Speaker 03

  these things are going is going to be more stuff throw it against the wall see what works see which way we want to go rather than we're banking 15 years and it's like whoops we got Jonathan Majors on our hands or something like you have to kind of be nimble and so I think that I could very much see Trachtenberg taking a bigger role in the Alien stuff does that mean I want to see Ripley in it no but

• 41:56Sean Fennessey?

  yeah yeah I do you think that these movies can continue to successfully be one offs that like it doesn't really matter what came before that's an interesting journey I have been wondering this is probably not

• 42:11Speaker 03

  I don't ever ever ever want to see a trailer for a Predator movie that says the epic conclusion of the decade-long saga I just don't care I don't want it to feel like Fire and Ash or Return of the King ever like I want it to just always be like what if we put the Predator

• 42:28Sean Fennessey?

  Chris Fire and Ash is the third in a planned five film series

• 42:32Speaker 03

  but he said he's not gonna he's giving up even he knows he's like I can't keep making these

• 42:36Sean Fennessey?

  he's who's giving up

• 42:39Sean Fennessey?

  he will never give up

• 42:41Speaker 03

  yeah he is man he's like if people

• 42:42Sean Fennessey?

  he never agreed to make those films officially

• 42:45Speaker 03

  CR has already CR is out there pounding the pavement asking people what they're doing with their lives I maybe I should go go make something else you know

• 42:53Sean Fennessey?

  I'm pleased to announce right here on this podcast roughly an hour into our discussion that on December 2 we'll be recording a an audio commentary live watching Avatar The Way of Water so we have to we have to ask you right now will you be watching the first Avatar film before you record that commentary with us

• 43:12Speaker 03

  what do you think would be better for the pod

• 43:16Sean Fennessey?

  I think there would be a lot of explaining necessary.

• 43:18Speaker 01

  I don't know if you would enjoy it if both me and Amanda are like, what's this? Who's that?

• 43:24Sean Fennessey?

  I'll firmly agree with that. Amanda has seen The Way of Water, though. So I don't know, what questions should she be asking?

• 43:31Speaker 01

  Do you think she retained a lot of it, though? Like, do you think it's like still like right at her fingertips?

• 43:35Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah, I mean, she learned about the Na'vi when she was studying the classics back in college. So I just think she's gonna hold on to that for a long time.

• 43:44Sean Fennessey?

  I am, I am, I'm very interested in where they take this. I think this movie was a fun time at the movies. And I also, as all, you know, middle aged dudes who grew up obsessed with Alien, as soon as the words whale and utani were uttered, I was like, hmm. Don't screw this up, but I'm excited.

• 44:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:03Sean Fennessey?

  And.

• 44:04Speaker 01

  Did you like the loader, the mech loader?

• 44:06Sean Fennessey?

  Too CGI.

• 44:08Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 44:08Sean Fennessey?

  Part of the magic of Aliens is that all of that is practical and feels real. And the movie does, it does slip into a big conclusion with a big CGI monster and a CGI power loader and Bud and all of these. There's just a lot of stuff on screen that I find a little bit disorienting. But when we're on the ground with the actor playing Dec and Elle Fanning, that stuff is really cool to me.

• 44:39Speaker 01

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• 45:24Speaker 01

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• 45:35Sean Fennessey?

  Where this stacks up is interesting in terms of ranking these films. Because we did do this last time and I actually don't know where we landed and I'm not going to look because I don't want to have to, I just want to go off the vibe of seeing this movie and seeing how it connects to the other films. Now, it's safe to say that the first film is still the best film, right?

• 45:53Speaker 03

  Yes, go to.

• 45:55Sean Fennessey?

  The first film is a five-star masterpiece.

• 45:57Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 45:58Sean Fennessey?

  One of the leanest, meanest, just one of the greatest achievements in action filmmaking, John McTiernan.

• 46:03Speaker 03

  And one of the most searing portraits of American military intervention in the southern hemisphere, you know?

• 46:09Sean Fennessey?

  When you were talking about how you sometimes watch those scenes to get fired up, you think Hegseth does that as well before he gives a big speech?

• 46:16Speaker 03

  For his calf exercises, yeah.

• 46:19Sean Fennessey?

  Oh, boy. Um, would you leave the ringer to go work at the DOD?

• 46:25Speaker 03

  Do you think me and Pete Hegseth have the same Letterboxd top four? That would be really fucked up.

• 46:31Sean Fennessey?

  Let me see if I can guess it. So Predator, obviously, Sergeant York, Lone Survivor, and An American Tale, Five That Goes West.

• 46:40Speaker 03

  He doesn't like Lone Survivor because we lost.

• 46:44Sean Fennessey?

  It's all about winning. It's all about winning. Predator is the best film in this franchise by a pretty wide margin, even though I think there are some very good movies here. Now, what comes next? I don't remember what came next last time. I think there's going to be a nostalgic contingent for Predator 2. There's going to be a hipster action contingent for Prey.

• 47:08Speaker 03

  Yes, that's not, neither of those are my number two.

• 47:13Sean Fennessey?

  Are you gonna say Predators?

• 47:14Speaker 03

  I am gonna say that.

• 47:16Sean Fennessey?

  That's a very bold take. Now, I like Predators. Nimrod Antal's story about like a prison camp, like a space prison that is, Crash lands.

• 47:29Speaker 03

  It's a bunch of mercenaries and criminals are marooned on like what is essentially a giant hunting ground planet, a game, like a game warden.

• 47:38Sean Fennessey?

  This is probably Hegseth's favorite as well, when you think about it. It's kind of got a similar training ops vibe.

• 47:43Speaker 03

  This features like a bonkers cast of. Adrian Brody, Walton Goggins, Mahershala Ali, Laurence Fishburne, and, oh, Topher Grace. This is funny because I think that we should go, one of these days is most stacked cast movies, or most random stacked cast movies. Because you know what might be like the clubhouse leader of that that I was just watching the other night?

• 48:09Sean Fennessey?

  What's?

• 48:09Speaker 03

  Hostels.

• 48:10Sean Fennessey?

  Oh, yeah, Hostels.

• 48:12Speaker 03

  Hostels has a crazy, Chalamet is like the ninth dude in Hostels.

• 48:15Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah, you really are holding that Cooper stock. Even after the bombing of Springsteen, you are not letting go.

• 48:21Speaker 03

  You know it's still ringing around in your head.

• 48:24Sean Fennessey?

  I know. Badlands, what a jam that song is. Predators is really cool. I haven't revisited it. I did see it in theaters and I was like, this is what the world needs right now. We need to let mercenaries get hunted.

• 48:38Sean Fennessey?

  You know, it's very clearly a riff on The Most Dangerous Game. It's like a clever movie, but kind of a dumb movie at the same time.

• 48:45Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 48:46Sean Fennessey?

  I really wish I could have rewatched this before I agreed to where you put this at two.

• 48:52Speaker 03

  Fishburne basically is what Elle Fanning is in this Badlands film where it's like, for a long time, you're like, this is pretty cool, but like they are really holding the reins tight on this cast who are just like, just like look at each other and be like, brother, don't get my six. Don't follow me, you know, whatever. And then Fishburne shows up and he's just like, welcome to the continental, you know? He's really having it up.

• 49:16Sean Fennessey?

  But he's been living there for years, right? Isn't that the reveal that he's like?

• 49:19Speaker 03

  He's made it through several tours and is like living in a bombed out spaceship somewhere.

• 49:25Sean Fennessey?

  How do you think you'd do face to face with the yautja? You think you'd be able to hang?

• 49:30Speaker 03

  No, I mean, not after watching Killer of Killers. It just seems like everybody who tries to reason with the yautja gets put in cryosleep or beheaded.

• 49:36Sean Fennessey?

  But you have the secret sauce of, you could do impressions, you could do funny bits.

• 49:41Speaker 03

  Sure.

• 49:41Sean Fennessey?

  You'd be like, she's got a great ass. And then, and then the yautja would be completely neutralized.

• 49:50Sean Fennessey?

  You putting Predators at two is kind of crazy, but I'm gonna do it. I don't.

• 49:53Speaker 03

  What's the, what's the alternative? Prey? Predator two?

• 49:56Sean Fennessey?

  I think Prey is probably the best made. I think Predator two is probably the most satisfying. Cause it's just so crazy.

• 50:03Speaker 03

  Third way, a third way.

• 50:04Sean Fennessey?

  The third way.

• 50:05Speaker 03

  About, yeah.

• 50:06Sean Fennessey?

  Like Maldani. Yeah.

• 50:07Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 50:09Sean Fennessey?

  Okay.

• 50:11Sean Fennessey?

  Prey or Predator 2? That's the big question.

• 50:15Speaker 03

  Inside of me are two wolves. I think I will re-watch over the course of my life Predator 2 more than I re-watch Prey, but acknowledge that Prey is a more watertight movie.

• 50:31Sean Fennessey?

  This is what's gonna happen. It's gonna be 2052.

• 50:36Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 50:37Sean Fennessey?

  You're gonna be into your 70s. You're gonna be living on a sky planet somewhere.

• 50:43Speaker 03

  On my posse weight in inception.

• 50:46Sean Fennessey?

  I'm gonna buzz you on the video phone. You're gonna pick up, you're gonna be in your smoking jacket.

• 50:52Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 50:53Sean Fennessey?

  You've got a pipe in your mouth. It's full of zen. And you've got a 360 degree screen in your study.

• 51:02Speaker 03

  Purpose of zen is.

• 51:05Sean Fennessey?

  And you're watching Predator 2.

• 51:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 51:09Sean Fennessey?

  And you're like, Sean, it's nice to hear from you. It's been some years. I just wanted you to know that when we had our Predator's conversation, it was true to my word. I've revisited Predator 2 38 times since we last spoke of these films.

• 51:21Speaker 03

  And we haven't talked. So this is this version of this.

• 51:25Sean Fennessey?

  This is our last conversation.

• 51:26Speaker 03

  This is our last conversation.

• 51:31Sean Fennessey?

  But you at least will be doing the work with Predator 2. You'll be you'll be logging it several times over the next couple of decades.

• 51:37Speaker 03

  I'll do you one better. It's gonna be the same thing you've gone through on your oft made promise that you're just gonna abandon city living.

• 51:44Sean Fennessey?

  That's right.

• 51:46Speaker 03

  In Zewantaneo, working on a boat. And I show up one day.

• 51:52Speaker 03

  I take off my hat. I have a full head of hair.

• 51:56Speaker 03

  Just wanted to let you know Predator 2 won 32 to 15 over Prey. And I dropped dead right in front of you.

• 52:06Sean Fennessey?

  I'll bury you at sea. It'll be perfect. Oh, God. That's gonna be beautiful. I'll be I'll be putting the whole thing on TikTok, by the way, when that happens. Just 20 seconds at a time, the burial at sea. It'll be like when they buried Megatron at sea in the Transformers films.

• 52:24Sean Fennessey?

  Okay.

• 52:28Sean Fennessey?

  Predator two at number three.

• 52:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 52:30Sean Fennessey?

  And pray at four.

• 52:32Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 52:32Sean Fennessey?

  Wow. That's.

• 52:33Speaker 03

  I got Badlands at five.

• 52:35Sean Fennessey?

  This is like incredibly unwoke of you, this whole list.

• 52:37Speaker 03

  This is. The unwoke version would be if I put the Predator two, which I won't do.

• 52:42Sean Fennessey?

  Oh, well, that, yeah, that's, that would be truly unwoke. Okay.

• 52:44Speaker 03

  But I.

• 52:45Sean Fennessey?

  God.

• 52:46Speaker 03

  No, I was just gonna pray. Pray, pray is, I think. A more like solid film than Predator two, but Predator two just has Bucy. And Paxton. And so just by, by thus needs to be higher.

• 53:01Sean Fennessey?

  How do you feel about all the Rastafarianism in Predator two?

• 53:05Sean Fennessey?

  You think it works?

• 53:06Speaker 03

  Was that your introduction to Rastafarian?

• 53:08Sean Fennessey?

  Honestly, probably was.

• 53:09Speaker 03

  It really was. That and Steven Seagal.

• 53:11Sean Fennessey?

  I mean, that movie came out in nineteen ninety, so I was eight. I probably saw it when I was nine on cable.

• 53:18Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 53:19Sean Fennessey?

  The cinema of Stephen Hopkins, we don't talk about it enough. You know about Stephen Hopkins's work?

• 53:23Speaker 03

  Did he do Cliffhanger or was that Rennie Harland?

• 53:25Sean Fennessey?

  No, that's Rennie Harland. God, dare you. Come on. Stephen Hopkins, let's, let's talk through his filmography. First of all, the movie he made before Predator two is Nightmare on Elm Street, five, The Dream Child, which just came up in our nineteen eighty-nine movie draft. He followed up Predator two with Judgment Night, which features a remarkable soundtrack and is a dogshit movie. Nineteen ninety-four, Blown Away. Now that's a picture. That's a quality film.

• 53:48Speaker 03

  Incredible accents in that film. One of Bill's favorite movies.

• 53:51Sean Fennessey?

  Boston movie?

• 53:52Speaker 03

  He hates that movie.

• 53:54Sean Fennessey?

  Jeff Bridges, Tommy Lee Jones, Forest Whitaker. Right after that Ghost in the Darkness.

• 54:00Sean Fennessey?

  Honestly, a fiasco. Should have been the coolest movie of all time. Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer go on a lion hunting expedition in Africa in order so they can build trains. And it's kind of boring, unfortunately. Nineteen ninety-eight, Lost in Space. It's pretty much over from here. Do you remember the Lost in Space remake?

• 54:20Speaker 03

  I do. Yes, this was a horrendous. I mean, it seemed like they couldn't build a jail that could hold Stephen Hopkins in there, a director's jail. But then, then he found it.

• 54:29Sean Fennessey?

  How many of the two for six primary cast members of Lost in Space, how many of them can you name?

• 54:36Speaker 03

  Well, it's. Oh no, you know what? I got confused between Lost in Space and Galaxy Quest. Cause I was gonna say Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver.

• 54:43Sean Fennessey?

  No, Galaxy Quest, wonderful movie.

• 54:45Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 54:46Sean Fennessey?

  Lost in Space.

• 54:46Speaker 03

  I don't know anybody in Lost in Space.

• 54:47Sean Fennessey?

  You can't name a single person. There's a very famous TV actor. This was one of his first big film roles in the late 90s.

• 54:54Speaker 03

  Is it David Caruso?

• 54:55Sean Fennessey?

  It's not.

• 54:58Sean Fennessey?

  No, and David Carr, come on, he'd been in movies. King of New York, come on.

• 55:03Sean Fennessey?

  This guy starred on the film Friends.

• 55:06Speaker 03

  Schwimmer?

• 55:07Sean Fennessey?

  No. Oh my God. What are you doing?

• 55:10Speaker 03

  What, who is it? Is it Perry?

• 55:12Sean Fennessey?

  Matt LeBlanc.

• 55:13Speaker 03

  Oh, is it LeBlanc's big screen debut?

• 55:15Sean Fennessey?

  Well, I think that was Ed, the monkey baseball movie. Have you seen that film?

• 55:18Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

• 55:21Sean Fennessey?

  No, this, the cast of this movie is, is deranged. Gary Oldman, William Hurt, Mimi Rogers, Heather Graham, and Lacey Chabert in her feature film debut.

• 55:34Speaker 03

  See, this is why we have to do stacked cast movie, uh, podcast.

• 55:38Sean Fennessey?

  I mean, that is, that's, that's battling with predators for sick cast. Okay, we got Prey at four, we got Predator Badlands at five.

• 55:46Speaker 03

  You agree with that? Killer of Killers or Badlands?

• 55:50Sean Fennessey?

  There's like dead even to me. There's like a limitation on how great Killer of Killers can be to me because of its filmmaking style. But it is more satisfying as a Predator movie for my taste. So it's like, they're almost tied at five.

• 56:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, if they, I mean Killer of Killers would have been like NC 17 if it had been live action.

• 56:08Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of hurdling blood. Will you, would you consider getting into anime with me?

• 56:15Speaker 03

  I, I would, but I do feel like we're reaching the limits of the amount of things that I can get into, uh, as a man.

• 56:24Sean Fennessey?

  Wow. Interesting. What are, what are some of your other hobbies?

• 56:28Speaker 03

  And I also don't want it to be like. Old guy tries to get into anime to relate to people, you know, or to stay relevant.

• 56:35Sean Fennessey?

  Well, but this is the work. I mean, this is not, you're not getting into it to relate to 14 year olds. Like, that's a little creepy. You're doing it so that, you know, 14 year olds will listen to your deep thoughts.

• 56:45Speaker 03

  But they're not gonna wanna listen to me on Chainsaw Man. You know what I mean? They wanna hear me about degrading, you know, depraved men in the 70s, you know, hustling. That's what they want.

• 56:57Sean Fennessey?

  I disagree. I honestly, I think the listeners are at least curious about my thoughts about Chainsaw Man. And I will share them. It was really, really fun. And I enjoyed myself. I found it to be largely incoherent. I was not aware of the fact that it was basically before Sunrise meets Killer of Killers.

• 57:13Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 57:13Sean Fennessey?

  But that's what it is. The first 40 minutes of Chainsaw Man, Reza arc is like a, basically a romantic comedy, or like a more, a romantic dramedy. It's kind of 500 Days of Summer meets-

• 57:25Speaker 03

  Two people just like walking around? Okay.

• 57:26Sean Fennessey?

  A guy with chainsaw head and chainsaw arms, battling a girl who he's fallen in love with, who is secretly the bomb devil. Meaning she's a devil that is terrorizing him, and she is working for an even more powerful devil source. And she's just, she's made of bombs. So like, if you get close to her, she's like, boom, you're dead.

• 57:49Speaker 03

  Explodes. Yeah.

• 57:50Sean Fennessey?

  That just keeps happening over and over again.

• 57:52Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 57:53Sean Fennessey?

  You know, she's the real killer of killers. She's extraordinary. Chainsaw Man, I thought, pretty fun. And I want you to come on the journey with me.

• 58:00Speaker 03

  Well, I mean, they print money now. Like, pretty soon it's gonna be, like, you know, Black Bag will be like something that you can, you can maybe rent as like a two-minute video on your phone, and we'll just all be going to see animes.

• 58:11Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah, we're gonna have to put you in the, uh, let's get you to bed grandma meme when you explain Thunderbolt and Lightfoot to the listeners of this podcast.

• 58:21Sean Fennessey?

  Okay, Killer of Killers at number six. That means, okay, so the Alien vs Predator and Alien vs Predator Requiem are terrible. The Predator is also terrible. The Predator has been dramatically recut.

• 58:35Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 58:36Sean Fennessey?

  To become incoherent. And there also was some scandal during the production of the film. It's kind of hard to rate the Predator highly. It's more enjoyable to watch for me.

• 58:45Speaker 03

  The first half of the Predator, uh, where it's like the PTSD soldiers led by Boyd Holbrook, uh, and then they team up with Olivia Munn's, I think she's like a scientist.

• 58:58Sean Fennessey?

  Uh, yeah, Chris, Dr. Christmas Jones situation.

• 59:02Speaker 03

  But when it pivots in the middle and it becomes about her son played by Jacob Tremblay, who's autistic, and that's why the Alien, the Predators want his DNA. That's where it starts to go off the rails. And then the end, it makes zero sense.

• 59:18Sean Fennessey?

  You did a good job remembering that. I forgot Sterling K. Brown is in, in that, this film as well.

• 59:22Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 59:23Sean Fennessey?

  Why is Sterling K. Brown not becoming a big action star?

• 59:26Speaker 03

  Um, I don't know, but he's still, he's still doing great. He's, he's killing it.

• 59:29Sean Fennessey?

  He's in paradise, right?

• 59:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 59:31Sean Fennessey?

  Did you watch, uh, House of Dynamite?

• 59:34Speaker 03

  Not yet.

• 59:35Sean Fennessey?

  What's your story, man?

• 59:37Speaker 03

  I'm sorry, dude. It's not like I'm not doing the work over here. I was at the Night of the Jugglers, like, screening, like, I'm, I'm.

• 59:42Sean Fennessey?

  How was that? How did that go?

• 59:44Speaker 03

  So great. It was so awesome.

• 59:46Sean Fennessey?

  I was so jealous of not being there.

• 59:48Speaker 03

  Yeah, I can't wait for people to see it if they haven't seen that film before. It's like a really like legitimately like, you know, you were talking about like, sometimes you'll watch like a seventies crime film and you'll be like, I dig it, but this is not actually like a film that needed to be excavated from, from the analysis. This was like an excellent movie. I hope people check it out.

• 1:00:05Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah, that's a movie that for years had been on the cult list of you gotta see it. I, I think I first saw it on YouTube because I had read enough people talking about it. I think it had played the new Bev a couple of times, but it has been fully restored now. And there's this great transmission, uh, Radiance release in the, in the U.S. There's a Kino Lorber 4K as well available. So there's a number of ways to check it out. They should just drop a, drop a Predator in the middle of that movie and remake it. Maybe that's Tr- Trachtenberg's next movie is like 1980s New York.

• 1:00:34Speaker 03

  Dog Day, like Dog Day Predator.

• 1:00:37Sean Fennessey?

  That would be sick.

• 1:00:38Speaker 03

  Predator vs Serpico?

• 1:00:40Sean Fennessey?

  Like, and Bro, I mean, James Brolin is still alive. Should we get him back out there?

• 1:00:45Speaker 03

  Sure.

• 1:00:45Sean Fennessey?

  As Sean, Detective Sean Boyd?

• 1:00:47Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:00:51Sean Fennessey?

  What if we were like Alien vs Predator, Requiem is way better than Alien vs Predator?

• 1:00:54Speaker 03

  I just can't do it. I don't have-

• 1:00:57Sean Fennessey?

  So you want to have Predator and then the two Paul W. S. Anderson movies?

• 1:01:00Speaker 03

  That's my personal feeling and it's like, there's too much good Shane Black dialogue in The Predator for me to rate it below either of the Alien vs Predator movies. I'll be completely honest with you, which one takes place in Antarctica?

• 1:01:14Sean Fennessey?

  That's the first one, Alien vs Predator.

• 1:01:16Speaker 03

  And is there another one that's in Colorado, right?

• 1:01:20Sean Fennessey?

  Hmm, I guess that's Requiem.

• 1:01:22Speaker 03

  I think Requiem is set in Colorado and it's like, I don't quite understand the relationship of the predators to the aliens. They seem to be like, basically protecting humans because if the aliens get loose in America, like they will lose their fertile hunting ground. That's, I think, kind of what's going on there.

• 1:01:40Sean Fennessey?

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:01:40Speaker 03

  It's been a minute since I've re-watched these, though.

• 1:01:43Sean Fennessey?

  I forgot to bring up something else in our news segment that is related to all of this, which is that there was an announcement last week that Gremlins 3 is happening, written and directed by Chris Columbus, who of course, wrote the original Gremlins film. And I'm a little concerned about this.

• 1:02:00Speaker 03

  Yeah, if you look at-

• 1:02:03Sean Fennessey?

  Gremlins and Gremlins 2 extremely meaningful to me and of a similar vintage of fun genre movie as the Predator and Aliens films. The Predator and Aliens films are much more serious. The Gremlins films are kind of a laugh, but do you know what Chris Columbus has been up to in the last 10 years? Can you name a single film he's directed since 2009?

• 1:02:24Speaker 03

  Like, he produced somebody's movie where I was like, "Good job, Chris Columbus." Oh, yeah.

• 1:02:29Sean Fennessey?

  And Robert Eggers spoke frequently on his press tour for that film about the Hollywood orthodoxy that Chris Columbus brought to that film, which I thought was interesting. But literally, the movies, he's actually directed a film that came out this year, which I have not seen, but Amanda saw and talked about on the show. But here's the 20 years in Chris Columbus' directorial films. 2005 Rent.

• 1:02:54Sean Fennessey?

  I would say not a beloved adaptation.

• 1:02:56Speaker 03

  No.

• 1:02:57Sean Fennessey?

  Of the beloved musical Rent. 2009, I Love You Beth Cooper. Have you seen that?

• 1:03:01Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. That's the zombie movie, right?

• 1:03:03Sean Fennessey?

  No.

• 1:03:04Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 1:03:04Sean Fennessey?

  It's a teen comedy.

• 1:03:05Speaker 03

  Cool.

• 1:03:07Sean Fennessey?

  2010 Percy Jackson and Olympians, The Lightning Thief.

• 1:03:11Speaker 03

  Lerman, cooking.

• 1:03:14Sean Fennessey?

  Logan Lerman is the star of that film.

• 1:03:15Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:03:16Sean Fennessey?

  2015 Pixels?

• 1:03:19Speaker 03

  Don't know who that is.

• 1:03:20Sean Fennessey?

  That's an Adam Sandler movie where the video games come into the real world.

• 1:03:24Speaker 03

  Okay, that guy gets a lot of mileage out of inanimate objects, like remote controls.

• 1:03:29Sean Fennessey?

  Well, he's about to take it even further because in 2020, he made a film called The Christmas Chronicles Part Two. You know about this movie?

• 1:03:37Speaker 03

  Nope.

• 1:03:38Sean Fennessey?

  Kurt Russell plays Santa.

• 1:03:40Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, for sure.

• 1:03:41Sean Fennessey?

  And Goldie Hawn plays Mrs. Claus. What the hell?

• 1:03:48Sean Fennessey?

  2025, The Thursday Murder Club.

• 1:03:52Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:03:52Sean Fennessey?

  Which seems like a kind of a harmless.

• 1:03:54Speaker 03

  Enjoyable.

• 1:03:54Sean Fennessey?

  Old person, yeah, detective movie starring Pierce Brosnan.

• 1:04:00Sean Fennessey?

  I, maybe, I don't want to tell Chris Columbus how to live his life. He's given me a great many things.

• 1:04:05Speaker 03

  I think he's doing fine.

• 1:04:06Sean Fennessey?

  Primarily Home Alone, which is a masterpiece. Mrs. Doubtfire, a film I like.

• 1:04:13Sean Fennessey?

  I would appreciate it if he didn't make Gremlins 3.

• 1:04:17Sean Fennessey?

  Joe Dante should be making Gremlins 3, and if not Joe Dante, someone younger and cooler, in my opinion.

• 1:04:22Speaker 03

  I was at the Running Man screening a couple of weeks ago, and Joe Dante was at the screening, as was Walter Hill. I got to meet Walter Hill.

• 1:04:30Sean Fennessey?

  Two of the goats of genre filmmaking. What did you say to Walter Hill?

• 1:04:33Speaker 03

  I said, I love Extreme Prejudice.

• 1:04:36Sean Fennessey?

  You said I relate to the Nolte character in that film?

• 1:04:38Speaker 03

  I tried to, I tried to just like go deep with him, and he was like, oh, Powers Booth. Guy's great in that.

• 1:04:46Speaker 03

  He was awesome though.

• 1:04:48Sean Fennessey?

  Walter Hill is the man. Uh, here's our ranking. Are you ready?

• 1:04:53Speaker 03

  Hmm.

• 1:04:53Sean Fennessey?

  This has definitely been one of the most-

• 1:04:54Speaker 03

  So you just let me do it? You just let me rank it? You're not gonna veto me?

• 1:04:58Sean Fennessey?

  I mean, Predators is not number two. Like, Prey or Predator 2 are both better. Predators is-

• 1:05:02Speaker 03

  I don't know.

• 1:05:03Sean Fennessey?

  Is sick on the page and has a couple of cool moments. But it is also dumb as shit.

• 1:05:10Speaker 03

  Uh, Adrian Brody plays a mercenary named Royce.

• 1:05:13Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah. Is it a sequel or a prequel to The Brutalist, do you think?

• 1:05:17Speaker 03

  Um, he has said, he's openly said he would welcome returning to that world.

• 1:05:21Sean Fennessey?

  I'll bet. You know why?

• 1:05:22Speaker 03

  Returning to the character of Royce.

• 1:05:23Sean Fennessey?

  Money is good.

• 1:05:27Speaker 03

  But there's a few guys in, dotted throughout Predator franchise history that I think Tractonberg could be like, "What if he was frozen? We could, you know, get him." You know?

• 1:05:37Sean Fennessey?

  What if he was frozen?

• 1:05:39Speaker 03

  Yeah, cuz like, the, the end of Killer of Killers, you find out that a bunch of the protagonists of Predator movies have been cryo, have been frozen in, in cryosleep. For the Predators to, to, you know, do whatever they do with them.

• 1:05:51Sean Fennessey?

  If you could bring anyone back, would you bring back Jacob Tremblay?

• 1:05:55Speaker 03

  No, I'd bring back Jesse Ventura. Sew him back up.

• 1:05:58Sean Fennessey?

  Well, he's, I mean, he was annihilated. I don't know if that's gonna be feasible. Uh, gosh.

• 1:06:03Speaker 03

  No, I'd bring back Billy. Billy, Billy, who fucking cuts himself across the chest.

• 1:06:07Sean Fennessey?

  Billy, yes.

• 1:06:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:06:09Sean Fennessey?

  I love that. That's a great call. I, we're gonna put this on social media, and we're gonna say courtesy of CR.

• 1:06:15Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 1:06:15Sean Fennessey?

  It's gonna be-

• 1:06:16Speaker 03

  I'll turn my notifications off and enjoy London.

• 1:06:17Sean Fennessey?

  Number one Predator, number two Predators, number three Predator 2, number four Prey, number five Predator Badlands, number six Predator Killer of Killers, number seven The Predator, number eight Alien vs Predator, and number nine Aliens vs Predator Requiem.

• 1:06:34Speaker 03

  If you live in London and you agree with me about Predators being number two, come up to me and I'll buy you a beer.

• 1:06:41Sean Fennessey?

  Chris, you just sealed your fate. You're gonna be murdered in the street. This is unbelievable that you would say such a thing. How are you handling that now?

• 1:06:50Speaker 03

  What, homies? Coming up, saying what's up?

• 1:06:52Sean Fennessey?

  Being a beloved icon of culture podcasting.

• 1:06:55Speaker 03

  Several big picture fans out here have said, sir.

• 1:06:58Sean Fennessey?

  You always deflect and be like, oh, no, it's big picture. No, no. There are men who are like, thank you for everything that you said about Internal Affairs. You roiled my loins with your commentary on Andy Garcia's beauty.

• 1:07:11Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's true. Your Byron Mayo got me through COVID.

• 1:07:15Sean Fennessey?

  You know, I did a rewatchables in your in your absence. It really was like I was in the Chris Ryan seat and I did.

• 1:07:20Speaker 03

  I was trying to detect what you guys were doing based on Bill's, the excerpt of the pod that went on Bill's show. So, yeah.

• 1:07:27Sean Fennessey?

  I'm happy to say it was Snake Eyes. It's not a big deal.

• 1:07:30Speaker 03

  For a second, I thought it was Carlito's Way and I was getting like, honestly mad.

• 1:07:34Sean Fennessey?

  No, we wouldn't do that. We talked a lot about how there will be a Running Man style game show between me and you and Van for who gets to be on the Carlito's Way pod, which was pretty funny.

• 1:07:45Sean Fennessey?

  I.

• 1:07:46Speaker 03

  We need to go Yaucha and take Bill out for that. You know, we just.

• 1:07:49Sean Fennessey?

  Oh, you want BS off the Carlito's Way pod? Well, I was doing like, I was, I was literally doing Pacino for that with the whole, you know, you want me big time? You're gonna die big time. But, um, I did do a little Byron Mayo, even though I know I couldn't come within one one hundredths.

• 1:08:08Speaker 03

  I think I may have to retire all those guys because I just got blanked so hard when I did Wayne Jenkins in front of Glenn Powell and he was like, cool, man.

• 1:08:18Speaker 03

  It seemed like you got a lot of interests.

• 1:08:21Speaker 03

  He was so nice and he was really like, didn't make me feel bad about it, but I was like, holy shit. I just exploded.

• 1:08:31Speaker 03

  Oh, my God. It was just like, I was like, fucking just jumped right off the edge of a building there. Yeah.

• 1:08:36Sean Fennessey?

  That's interesting. Did you bring up Predators to him about how cool it is?

• 1:08:39Speaker 03

  I was like, you know, you might want to look at that. It's a lot of meat on that, the Royce character mode and revive that.

• 1:08:47Sean Fennessey?

  I think Glenn would do well in the Predator world.

• 1:08:49Speaker 03

  Fuck, yeah.

• 1:08:50Sean Fennessey?

  The action in Running Man is extremely good, extremely good action. Uh, too bad you're not going to be on that pod. What the hell, man? Come back to America. What's your story?

• 1:08:59Speaker 03

  I'll be back on Friday.

• 1:09:00Sean Fennessey?

  Okay. And what are you gonna do when you return?

• 1:09:03Speaker 03

  If they let me back into the country, I will be probably talking about prestige television and movies with you.

• 1:09:11Sean Fennessey?

  What's coming up in the world of TV? Anything cool?

• 1:09:14Speaker 03

  Industry's coming back.

• 1:09:16Sean Fennessey?

  This year?

• 1:09:17Speaker 03

  I think I think so. I'm not sure. Don't don't quote me on that.

• 1:09:21Sean Fennessey?

  I would have heard about that.

• 1:09:24Speaker 03

  And yeah, Stranger Things is kind of taking up all the oxygen.

• 1:09:28Sean Fennessey?

  I'm not gonna let you leave until we talk about Sydney Sweeney for a minute, okay?

• 1:09:30Speaker 03

  Sure.

• 1:09:32Sean Fennessey?

  This is the most recent run of her films. I wanted to go through this with you because she's just had Christie come out over the weekend and it didn't do that well at the box office. I saw the film. I thought it was perfectly fine. I think she gives a really good performance in the movie as it's a biopic about Christie Martin, the boxer. And it's a very sad story, very complicated story, but it is a kind of a rote drama directed by David Michaud, who's directed some movies that you and I like quite a bit and has been a little been a little bit on a wayward journey in the last five or six years. But in 2021, she made a movie for Netflix called Night Teeth, where she played a vampire, didn't didn't really connect.

• 1:10:05Speaker 03

  I don't think I saw that.

• 1:10:06Sean Fennessey?

  In 2023, she played a reality winner in a film called Reality that was on HBO.

• 1:10:11Speaker 03

  That was a fucking banger.

• 1:10:13Sean Fennessey?

  Interesting film. Very good performance by her.

• 1:10:15Speaker 03

  She's great in it, yeah.

• 1:10:17Sean Fennessey?

  Then she was in the smash sensation Anyone But You.

• 1:10:20Speaker 03

  Yep. With the aforementioned one, pal.

• 1:10:23Sean Fennessey?

  Correct. Our boy Glenn. 2024, Madame Web.

• 1:10:28Speaker 03

  Not not her fault.

• 1:10:29Sean Fennessey?

  Not not not ideal, I would say.

• 1:10:31Speaker 03

  Maybe nobody's fault. Who knows whose fault that was?

• 1:10:34Sean Fennessey?

  Fair to say the filmmakers, the studio, everyone who participated, they're all kind of in the wrong on that one. Then Immaculate, an amusing non horror film that did modest business.

• 1:10:46Speaker 03

  We dug that. We saw that.

• 1:10:47Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah, we talked about it on the pod. Then she made Eden with Ron Howard, which was just released this year. Didn't do very well. Echo Valley, which is a film that went straight to Apple TV plus.

• 1:10:59Speaker 03

  That was Julianne Martin. Julianne Moore, sorry.

• 1:11:02Sean Fennessey?

  Yes, did you see that movie?

• 1:11:04Speaker 03

  No, I've seen that it's on Apple TV.

• 1:11:07Sean Fennessey?

  Okay, thanks for your commentary. And then and then the film Christie. So we've got Anyone But You, Smash Sensation.

• 1:11:17Speaker 03

  Uh huh.

• 1:11:18Sean Fennessey?

  And then, Not Too Much. Not Too Much. We did have a jeans controversy at this time.

• 1:11:23Speaker 03

  Like a pretty, like gritty B-movie, like with Paul Walter Hauser that came out.

• 1:11:30Sean Fennessey?

  She did. She made Americana, which I have not seen yet, which.

• 1:11:32Speaker 03

  I have not seen that either.

• 1:11:33Sean Fennessey?

  I think that played at South by in 2023, but was only released this year, but I will see Americana. It's on my list. Now, I bring this up for two reasons. One, her next movie is The Housemaid. Have you seen the trailers for The Housemaid?

• 1:11:47Speaker 03

  I haven't, but I know what it is about.

• 1:11:50Sean Fennessey?

  What's it about?

• 1:11:51Speaker 03

  Isn't it about her and Amanda Seyfried and it's like a thriller?

• 1:11:54Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah, I wouldn't say that's like what it's about. I mean.

• 1:11:57Speaker 03

  It's a great logline. I'm sorry. Yeah. Is it about a woman with a maid and the maid might do something wrong? Like, what, like, what did I miss?

• 1:12:04Sean Fennessey?

  I'll read you the logline. "A young woman with a troubled past becomes the live-in housemaid for a wealthy family. However, their seemingly perfect life unravels when she discovers their household hides dark secrets beneath the surface." This movie is directed by Paul Feig. I think it's going to be a very big hit, and I'm wondering where we're at with Sydney Sweeney.

• 1:12:23Speaker 03

  At the box office with, I mean, look, I, uh, she's a controversial figure right now. I continue to find her choices as a performer to be very, uh, interesting. And I look forward to Euphoria season three, uh, coming sometime in, in 2029 when they finish filming it.

• 1:12:43Sean Fennessey?

  Shot entirely on Vista Vision.

• 1:12:45Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 1:12:47Sean Fennessey?

  Is it 70? I can't remember. It might just be 70.

• 1:12:49Speaker 03

  I can't remember, but it's like something where I'm like, why, why are you shooting this on Vista Vision? Uh, I'm trying to think of like, I think Reality is probably my favorite performance by her as of yet.

• 1:13:03Speaker 03

  I admire the fact that she's real big. She's a big believer in Bill Simmons' bet on yourself, uh, doctrine. Like not a lot of like, I'll be the fourth person in this movie. More like, I am the star.

• 1:13:18Speaker 03

  I don't know, she seems, it seems like a little earlier in her career to go award hunting with like Christie and stuff like that, but like, whatever, you know, we'll see, we'll see how she shakes out.

• 1:13:26Sean Fennessey?

  I, I think it's cool that she's trying to make films like that. I think it's smart to be under 30 and to not limit yourself to being the bombshell in everything that she does, but.

• 1:13:35Speaker 03

  She drives people insane. So I don't know if, uh, if she's gonna be able to ever like, just be like herself or like truly be seen as a character. Because I think she's such a, like a, a controversial figure in pop culture. And people use her as like a litmus test, like, oh, do you like Sydney Sweeney? You must have, you know, enjoyed the government shutdown, you know?

• 1:13:57Sean Fennessey?

  Who is the, who's the last America's Most Wanted babe that elevated up to credibility? Is it Halle Berry? I'm trying to think of who is the last actress who really, cause you know, we've had a lot of very, very young actresses become very successful at a young age, become honored, you know? Beautiful actresses, but maybe not in the same category of like desirable, I guess, like Emma Stone, Jenna Lauren, Jennifer Lawrence, like, these are like really glamorous actresses, but, and who are celebrated in their work. But it's a different thing where the like ogling is a part of the persona.

• 1:14:28Speaker 03

  Yeah. I mean, this, she is kind of a throwback to like the Maxim era, you know?

• 1:14:33Sean Fennessey?

  Or the Marilyn Monroe era, you know, like there, there is like a long history of actresses trying to elevate utilizing.

• 1:14:41Speaker 03

  I can't think of the last person who's crossed over from that world, mostly because it's become so lucrative to be in that world now with the ways you can kind of make money. That, you know, like, you don't necessarily have to become a serious actress to sort of elevate your career financially.

• 1:14:55Sean Fennessey?

  That's another reason why I, I think it's cool what she's doing, which is that like she keeps making independent films. She works with filmmakers that she likes. She's trying to make movies. She cares about what she's producing movies. I mean, you know, I.

• 1:15:04Speaker 03

  She could just have like a reality show called like Simply Sydney and probably do quite well for herself. So the fact that she's like.

• 1:15:09Sean Fennessey?

  Stop giving ideas away. That's insane. You just gave away a, literally a $10 million idea. Simply Sydney, it's just Sydney Sweeney. She wakes up, she makes eggs.

• 1:15:19Speaker 03

  And she looks at her phone.

• 1:15:20Sean Fennessey?

  Yep. And everybody's like, wow, this is incredible.

• 1:15:23Speaker 03

  This is slow TV. This is amazing.

• 1:15:26Sean Fennessey?

  CR, it's just nice to spend some time with you. This is the first we've spoken in 10 days.

• 1:15:31Speaker 03

  I know. I gotta run out. Still happy hour. It's always happy hour here. So I'm gonna go meet my wife for a lovely, like some pheasant or whatever we eat here.

• 1:15:40Sean Fennessey?

  Give her my best. If you eat pheasant, that's weird. Do me a favor. Ask Phoebe to just text me her thoughts, like right off the top of her head about Sydney Sweeney. Like, I just wanna know. Unfill, don't give her any setup. Don't, like, just, I wanna know what Phoebe thinks.

• 1:15:54Speaker 03

  She, sometimes, next to me in bed, will watch an Instagram video, like the GQ interview that's obviously gone quite viral. She'll just keep watching those clips and like plays the audio out loud and then like out of the side, like looks at me to see what my reaction is.

• 1:16:09Speaker 03

  And I'm like, I don't know what you expect. Like, I'm not gonna be like Sylvester the cat, like with my eyes popping out.

• 1:16:17Sean Fennessey?

  I, uh, you know who she reminds me of in that very specific respect is Jennifer Love Hewitt? Where Jennifer Love Hewitt kinda drove a generation of women, at least women that I knew, crazy. Cause they were like, she's not that hot. What's the deal? And I said nothing. I just said, whatever you say. Thank you.

• 1:16:33Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:16:35Sean Fennessey?

  Well, give Phoebe my best.

• 1:16:36Speaker 03

  I will.

• 1:16:37Sean Fennessey?

  Give the yaoche my best. And are you dining with Hakeeth Seth tonight, or what are you doing?

• 1:16:41Speaker 03

  No, no, we couldn't make it work, timing-wise.

• 1:16:44Sean Fennessey?

  Too bad. Uh, when are you gonna be back on American Shores? Friday?

• 1:16:47Speaker 03

  Friday. Yeah, so look for me hitting LAX. You send the TMZ cameras.

• 1:16:52Sean Fennessey?

  And just so we can circle back, you said if someone agrees with you about predators on this list, they should kiss you on the mouth in the street?

• 1:16:58Speaker 03

  No, I said if you come up to me in a bar, if you see me in a bar, or whatever, and you're like, I also think predators is number two, I will buy you a drink.

• 1:17:08Sean Fennessey?

  That's a beautiful sentiment.

• 1:17:09Speaker 03

  And I'll put it on my expense report, so you can approve it.

• 1:17:13Sean Fennessey?

  CR, nice to see you. Thanks so much for your work.

• 1:17:17Sean Fennessey?

  Thanks to Jack Sanders for his work on this episode as well. Later this week, number five.

• 1:17:21Speaker 03

  Thanks to Bex for staying late in London for producing on this.

• 1:17:23Sean Fennessey?

  Oh, thanks, Bex. Um, later this week, Chris, we're doing number five on 25 for 25. I told this to the live audience when we did our show on Saturday night, our secret screening, that number five is Freddie Guff. Figured, so congrats.

• 1:17:57Sean Fennessey?

  Yeah.