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The Innkeepers ***1/2
The Woman in Black ***
The Grey ***
Man on a Ledge ***
Underworld Awakening **
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos ***
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Beauty and the Beast ****
Contraband ***
The Divide *
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ****
The Devil Inside **
The Iron Lady **
A Separation ***
Pariah ***1/2
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ***
The Darkest Hour **
War Horse **1/2
In the Land of Blood and Honey **
The Adventures of Tintin ***1/2
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Predators (2010)

Rating: 3 Stars (out of 4)

Fear and Dreads

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

In a terrible movie summer such as this one, sometimes a well-engineered "B" movie like Predators can make your day.

Borrowing most of its ideas from existing genres (including a samurai swordfight), it begins when eight international soldiers, mercenaries and assorted killers wake up to find themselves in a mysterious jungle. The white male (Adrien Brody) takes the lead, with Alice Braga, Danny Trejo and others following. They bicker, learn to work together, and die off one by one, as they discover the real reason they're there: to fight the evil dreadlocked, invisible predators from Predator (1987) and three other sequels/spinoffs.

Directed in lean "B" movie style by Nimrod Antal (Kontroll, Armored) -- and closely produced by Robert Rodriguez -- things sometimes get a little dark and a little shaky, and the screenplay never really exploits the "teaming up against a greater evil" idea. Nor does it really make interesting use of the group's wild card, a doctor (Topher Grace), but as the Little Richard song that explodes over the closing credits says, there's some fun to be had here.

Fox released a very nice Blu-Ray jam-packed with extras, including a commentary track by Antal and Rodriguez. There are lots of featurettes, deleted/extended scenes, and motion comics. It comes with a digital copy on a separate disc.


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With: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali
Written by: Alex Litvak, Michael Finch, based on a story by Jim Thomas, John Thomas
Directed by: Nimrod Antal
MPAA Rating: R for strong creature violence and gore, and pervasive language
Running Time: 106 minutes
Date: July 9, 2010
Please also see my review at Las Vegas Weekly
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