Anti-Monster Squad: "The Predator," reviewed.

Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Keegan Michael-Key, Thomas Jane and Augusto Aguiliera. (Fox)

Predator, directed by John McTiernan the year before he made Die Hard, has been a favorite film of mine ever since I biked home with the rented VHS cassette (I couldn't persuade my dad to take me, aged 10, to see it in the theater) and watched it three or four times in a weekend. It was the 12th highest-grossing film of 1987, a year when the box office top five was Three Men and a Baby, Fatal Attraction, Beverly Hills Cop II, Good Morning, Vietnam, and Moonstruck. One sequel and four original, not-based-on-preexisting material screenplays. Just in case you need a sense of just how long ago that was.

Anyway, I love Shane Black, so I wanted The Predator to be better than it is. My NPR review is here.

When Iron Man Ate Superman's Lunch: Summer movies, autopsied.

My summer movie autopsy is up on the Village Voice site today. Please enjoy at your leisure, now that Labor Day is past and you don't have to look out overhead for the computer-generated debris from collapsing skyscrapers.

I also have a couple of short film reviews up on the Voice today, of the documentary Herb & Dorothy 50 x 50 and the the romantic drama And While We Were Here.

Shane Black Like Me, or Fear of a Shane Black Planet

Naturally you'll be rushing out to see Iron Man 3 this weekend. I'm afraid that film won't make one lick of goddamn sense to you if you do not study up by reading my Village Voice rewatch of the filmography of Iron Man 3 cowriter/director Shane Black.​

Movie Trailers That Represent the Product with Perfect Accuracy: The Last Boy Scout

Being a 1991 Bruce Willis action vehicle, written by Shane Black, produced by Joel Silver and directed by Tony Scott. ​I'll be re-watching it soon for the first time in about 20 years, but the trailer is pretty much EXACTLY WHAT I REMEMBER ABOUT IT.