#Prometheus and covenant my beloveds

[halebert]

it’s really funny how you can be so convinced you hate smth upon first watch until you watch it again years later and you’re like ‘??? THAT RULED’

[aen-hen-ichaer]

just saw romulus im so so normal about it NO IM NOT. GOD IM NOT IM GNAWING AT THE BARS OF MY ENCLOSURE GAAAUUGH

my thoughts + spoilers under the cut :3

• giger would be so proud of this film. so yonic. so phallic. my god. Every vagina shaped thing gave way to the most sinister form of life. Every penis shaped thing was violently penetrating. Super duper leans into the original underlying themes of SA. got under my skin like crazy

• this film combined all my favourite elements of alien (slow burn immersive horror), aliens (great action) and resurrection (human/xeno hybrid) I literally cannot fault it at all

•the offspring (babymorph as me and my bf dubbed it) BAD BAD SO BAD THROWING UP IN MY MOUTH I was legit shaking and had tears in my eyes I have never been so close to screaming in a cinema. 1000/10 creature design. I knew something horrific and fucked up was gonna happen after the pregnancy reveal but JESUS

• Andy's actor was AMAZZINNNGG. The way he played "regular" Andy vs "evil fuckass weyland-yutani synth" was seamless and perfect and he was my fav character

• Ian Holm's cameo felt...... weird. I generally don't like dead actors being reanimated in cgi anyway even with the consent of the family yadda yadda but... blegh. The cgi felt a little dodgy on his face as well but tbh the glitchy jilted nature of it really added to him being a damaged synth LOL

• references were v cute. might be ott to some but I liked it

•PRACTICAL EFFECTS MY BELOVED. BIG SCARY ASS PUPPETS MY BELOVED. GOO AND SLIME MY BELOVED

• the whole birth scene shook me to my coooorrree. As someone who wants to be pregnant and give birth nothing has gotten so under my skin like that before. The ides of doing your best to nurture what will be your child only for this fucking horror to come out of you.... oh my god......... AND LACTATING THE GOO?? ARE YOU FR????????

• mostly smart characters in this movie which I appreciate! the whole zero g acid blood vortex scene was very funsies

• great score. Calls back to the original but not too much

• PERFECT set design. Felt like watching alien isolation as a movie

• I love that they went back to a more analog clicky buttons/flicky switches aesthetic, the holograms and touchscreens of prometheus and covenant never felt right

• the black goo as an almost intelligent substance is so so fun. It "speeds up evolution" but it's smart enough not to destroy its host outright. The offspring was gestated in an egg sac containing fucking acid BUT it didn't hurt kay (until she birthed it and it no longer needed her)

• also the offspring not growing its xeno tail until it consumed the last of the goo from kay? Very nice touch

• JUST. PREGNANCY AS A GROUNDWORK FOR HORROR. SO UNDERUTILISED. SO EFFECTIVE.

• this films chest burster scene... dare I say....scarier than the original. Watching her ribs crack with the xray machine.... YUCKY

• me and my bf has settled to calling the black goo Promethean Fire. This isn't part of the review I just like that hehe

• when I heard the name Romulus I mentioned to my bf about Romulus and Remus being raised by wolves and I was like "what if this is the start of the crossbreeds like in resurrection?" AND I WAS FUCKING RIGHT BITCH!!!!!!!!!!

•Sound design was excellent, the thumping huge heavy footprints of the xeno felt sososososososo good with the cinema surround sound auugghhg

ANYWAY I FUCKING LOVED THIS MOVIE. If u wanna share any thoughts pls do in insane about this :)

[avoutput]

Something Borrowed || Alien: Romulus

My lord is it hot in Texas. I think its quaint that people used to live in this state without a hint of air conditioning, in full jeans, boots, shirts, frocks, bonnets, hats, and anything else you think they might wear on the range. And then some time passed, people were tired of boiling, and the modern movie theater offered a respite from the terrible burden of the hot August sun. You can sit down and blast off to colder climates, like the north pole, the moon, or the dark reaches of space. You may not know this but many of the Christmas or winter classics we adore today came out in the summer. But today, we are in the cold reaches of space in the grip of an all too familiar monster. I went to today's showing of Alien: Romulus with almost no excitement. Almost. This franchise has burned us all too many times ever since James Cameron put down the camera at the end of the unnecessary and beloved sequel to what could be one of the best films of the 20th century. Alien and Aliens have an undeniable gravity and we are stuck in their orbit. Like the fictional Weyland-Yutani corporation, studios greenlight return trips to these worlds. They know we still can’t turn down the journey, and they can’t leave the chance to profit off visiting these creatures over and over again. But a body with gravity is hard to fell and no film in the franchise has been able to truly kill the beast. Alien: Romulus instead chooses to worship at the feet of the masters in hopes of gaining ground, despite the treacherous nature of standing upon giants. 

There are no spoilers in space. You will see them coming like the story of Star Wars, marked as it flies through space. A quick synopsis: Romulus takes place 20 years after Ripley defeats the original terror in Alien. Miners working for the Weyland-Yutani corporation toil in a mine on the far side of a planet that never sees the sun. Rain (Caliee Spaeny) and Andy (David Jonsson) are two orphans whose parents died of cancer breathing in the fumes in the mine. After finishing her required hours of her contract on the planet, she decides to put in for a transfer to a planet with a sunrise. The corporation decides to double all miners required contract time due to the continued loss of people due to cancer. With nothing left to lose and goaded by other orphaned children, they choose to try and rob an unmanned spaceship that happened to drift into the mine planet's orbit before anyone at the company realizes. The prize? A series of cryopods needed for the 9 year flight to the closest planet outside of the corporation's grasp. But will the cost be worth the price?

In a series that spans hundreds of years, it was quite the surprise that we would land within 20 years of the origin of the franchise. Certainly a bold choice. At this point, it's probably in your best interest to know the timeline. From the earliest in the series timeline to the latest (series year /release year / director): 

Prometheus (2093 / 2012 / Ridley Scott)

Alien Covenant (2104 / 2017 / Ridley Scott)

Alien (2122 / 1979 / Ridley Scott)

Alien Romulus (2142 / 2024 / Fede Alvarez)

Aliens (2179 / 1986 / James Cameron)

Alien 3 (2179 / 1992 / David Fincher)

Alien Resurrection (2381 / 1997 / Jean-Paul Jeunet)

Bold choices, bold rewards. The greatest thing about Alvarez’ turn at the helm is that before anything happens, before the title card runs, we see the wreckage of the Nostromo, as if it were a promise of things to come. Just a day before seeing this film, I asked why the newer films, Prometheus and Covenant, abandoned the now low-tech futurism of the original film? The small tube screens, grainy communications, big mechanical keyboards, switchboards, heavy levers, and basically anything the early 80’s would have used to communicate science fiction future. Ridley Scott himself already perfected the tactile feel of working in space with his origin story, Alien. More than likely, it was simply a stylistic choice of the time. The human future looks different now. Our corridors are stark white, our screens flat, our interfaces button-free. But so much of the grit left the screen when our spacefarers traded buttons that click with finger swipes and hand motions. Romulus returns to form and brings that tactile nature back to the screen, and with it, a real sense that people live and work there. The world is lived in, not designed.

Our characters and their story leave little for our actors to chew on with one standout in David Johnson as Andy. What starts as a one note character doesn’t really grow per say, but like the xenomorph, he grows in you. Out of everyone, he is the one I want to see more work from. Sometimes its not the song, but the pitch perfect note that you remember. As for the film's story, without giving anything away, the forward momentum of the film builds in such a way that the rest of the actors never really get to shine the way the actors did in Alien and Aliens. Sigorney Weaver battles with a lack of control and only succeeds when she takes it. And we get to see her realize this as the people in power fall away. In Romulus, we have a different set of circumstances that you could imagine excuses this absence of growth. With an average age that feels far below any of the other films, Romulus creates an atmosphere of inexperience across the characters, which would be fine, but it doesn’t appear to be of any consequence to the story being told in the film. For instance, there is no other thematic purpose to the characters being orphans other than to chide the churn of human labor in capitalistic imperial enterprises like Weyland-Yutani. As far as I can tell, almost any thematic or metaphorical point born of Romulus is shallow. Worse than that, this single layer is reminiscent of another space franchise and certainly a cause for pause. I couldn’t help but feel a disturbance in the fabric of cinema, a feeling I have not felt since the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But hold your groan folks, unlike the The Force Awakens, Romulus conceals itself better than most. Almost as if it was the Dark Side of The Force.

Under its dark shroud is an entertaining rebuild of both Alien and Aliens. The first half of the film is a homage to Ridley Scott, the back half to James Cameron. Alvarez uses his runtime to create something more unique than anything thought of in J.J. Abrhams turn with Star Wars. But like Abrhams turn, it’s a reconfiguration of the base model. It takes what we already are familiar with and constructs a version with a modern twist. Like the VW Bug of the 60’s and its 2000’s counterpart. There was no new lesson to learn, nothing to expand upon, just beautiful carnage and delicious retro sci-fi ships with interiors to match. The problem is that if this film is successful, will it spawn a spiritual Star Wars sequel? The Last Sith? Probably not, but in so much as this film has no original ideas, it does create a new branch to follow during its runtime.  As much as the characters lack in richness, the inspection of the callous nature of Weyland-Yutani as an entity is much more clear in this film than any other. Specifically because we see both their heavy handed nature and the method of their control over the daily lives of people in their employ. Before this film, the company seemed to loom in the background, like the parent company of a conglomerate full of child companies who have never met their owner, bought from a financial broker before they learned to run. You can almost hear the takeover speech from the c-suite, “We have been bought, but nothing changes”. 

I enjoyed my relief from the Texas sun, sitting aglow in another tale of how the universe is ultimately indifferent to humanity. Put another way, how lucky we are to be alive. Put one more way, how unlucky we are to recognize any of this at all. The dichotomy of being able to look into the abyss only to see it stare back at you is palpable in the Alien pantheon. Alien: Romulus is no different. Where the other films struck out striking out for something new, this film plays it close to home for better or worse. It is immensely entertaining and immediately engrossing, a heavy familiar coat. And while it leaves me with confidence in everyone who made it, I don’t have much confidence in its addition to the legacy that is Alien. This series has more swings for the fences than any other like it, and because of that, even its failures are notable and re-watchable. I re-watch films to see something new I didn’t see the last time, but I feel like that will be exhausted in the next couple of viewings, where films like Prometheus and Covenant will have me re-examining why they failed for years to come. What could they have done differently? Why did they make one choice over another? All of this is clear in Romulus from the first viewing. Because it looked damn good. Because they already know it will make for a good time at the theater. And you while you can blame them for not taking too many chances, you can’t say it wasn’t a good time.

[oldxenomorph]

top 5 fictional races/ancestries/species

top 5/top 10 anything.

xenomorphs (alien) MY BELOVEDS. MY SWEEITIES. MY DARLINGS. tries to hold them all in my arms. 😭 really a no-brainer considering my url lmao. i first watched alien and aliens when i was around 8. the formative impact h.r. giger's artwork and the xenomorph design had on little me was truly life changing. they will always be my favorites. i just think they're so beautiful, i was really glad when covenant got back to their original design. but i also love different variations like the queens, the deacon in prometheus, the neomorph in covenant, even the red ones i've seen from the comics. i give them each a lil kiss on their heads.

the reapers (mass effect) wouldn't be here without our favorite sentient starships that harvest organic life in the galaxy every 50,000 years. i love the design of the ships, of reaper technology itself, and their sound design. i think they are one of the best things about the mass effect series. some of my favorite moments are the ones involving the reapers: talking to soveriegn in me1, the reaper iff mission in me2, the opening of me3, menae/tuchanka/rannoch/thessia priority missions in me3. the leviathan dlc was my favorites because of that delicious reaper lore. i'm also a control ending apologist.

the outer ones/great old ones (cthulhu mythos) on one hand, you know how ol' howard phillips lovecraft was. but on the other, without him we wouldn't get the reapers, or the great ones in bloodborne, or even cosmic horror as a genre. that's why the outer ones/gread old ones are free real estate for everyone to use and as they see fit. it's been nearly a century since they were first written, i'm more interested in seeing how other folks (especially those of us who are othered in some way) interpret them. also they're an important part of the emperor's story (they're her literal family), so they deserve a place in this list.

tsimisce (vampire: the masquerade) me? liking creepy, inhuman, eldritch vampires? shocking. every time i've played v:tm with friends, i've always created a tsimisce. i love them, i think they are delightfully strange and creepy and lend themselves to the creativity of the player in just how weird they can get. i know the lore surrounding them in a mess at the moment (i mostly adhere to v20 rules and i haven't been paying attention to any of the new stuff but i hear things), but i also do love the history and internal politics of the clan from previous versions. everyone and everything's a mess, i love it. also thee dracula is canonically a tsimisce in v:tm and dracula is one of my favorite genders.

elvhen (dragon age) the dragon age lore is a mess and sometimes the writing is really clunky in typical bioware fashion, but i do really enjoy the elvhen. especially all the ancient elvhen that we've met that survived the collapse of the veil. (i've based my inquisitor on this with a little more eldritch seasoning and i've grown quite fond of her. i'm gonna miss playing her in da4, whenever that happens.... if that happens.) also inquisitor ameridan, i wish we had more time with him, but alas.

[computersucker]

well now that i have seen all of them here is my rating

Alien 79/Aliens 86: YES they are tied because i genuinely love them both equally. they are different enough in tone to both deserve first place, one as a slow burn horror in space and one as an 80s Action Movie In Space!! the perfect movie night double feature

Prometheus 2012: fun, exciting, this movie was panned by some and beloved by others (others may mean me only. i am not a market researcher). finally, the robot is evil again. points added for being a post 2010s scifi that isnt fully grey and dark, not afraid to show some good body horror. points docked for being so weirdly proselytize-y

Alien Resurrection 97: hear me out. ellen ripley's clone is playing basketball. if you put on your camp goggles and close your eyes when the Newborn is on screen, an enjoyable, if schlocky experience overall. ellen clone basketball

Alien Covenant 2017: i have mixed feelings about this movie, but my biggest gripe is that it is once again, a gross grey post-10s scifi. the idea that david has been doing his little experiments is interesting, but explaining the origins of the xenomorphs makes them less scary to me. leave some things to the audience's imagination! prometheus would have been a fine, fun standalone prequel to me. to me

Alien³ 92: come on man

this is john gabriel, last survivor of watching the alien franchise, signing off

[justtheendoftheday]

AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)

“Mr. Weyland, what I told you in there wasn’t bullshit. If you rush this, people will get hurt. Maybe die.”

A strange energy reading leads a team of explorers to an ancient extraterrestrial pyramid located underneath a remote island in Antarctica. But things take a turn for the worse when they learn that the structure is actually the battleground for a race of extraterrestrial hunters and their deadly alien prey.

Fright: 1.5 / 5 Crossover Events

To the movie’s credit, when it tries to generate horror it actually does an alright job. That being said, it almost never tries. The majority of the time it sacrifices scares to go for a more Action-flick kinda vibe.

Gore: 3 / 5 Incidental Alien Autopsies

Okay, so there’s certainly some gore. But it’s not the usual sort.

I mean, sure, there’s some impaling, bits are chopped off, chests are burst, organs are seen, etc. But the gory stuff is almost always one crazy alien doing something gory to another crazy alien. Outside of getting stabbed, there’s an oddly minimal amount of anything being shown done to a human. Some messed up stuff is implied to have happened to them, yes, but you almost never see it.

Jump Scares: Light

There’s certainly some potential startles, but it’s more of an action flick than a horror one, so it never bothers attempting any serious jumps.

Review:

While it certainly delivers a lot of Alien and Predator action, it never fully grasps onto any of the deeper elements from the respective franchises. If all you want is some Who-would-win-in-a-fight-between style action, it certainly delivers. However, it doesn’t really offer anything much beyond that.

Thoughts:

There is something weirdly human about wondering who would win in various bizarre fantasy fights scenarios.

And what deeper expression of that is there then the weirdly long-running existence of Alien vs. Predators stories.

But the big question on everyone’s minds is whose decision was it to name it “AVP”?? I’m dying to know who was in charge of that decision.

Am I wrong here? I think we can all agree that “Alien vs. Predator” is a much better title. There’s just something about a “AVP” that that screams old people trying really hard to sound “cool.”

Anyhoo, before we get into it I should let you know a couple things:

I have only seen the theatrical PG-13 version of this one. I’ve heard word that there’s an extended unrated version, but I think it’s only available on fancy home media versions and thus I’ve never seen it.

Despite the fact that the filmmakers wanted AVP to be canonical for both franchises, both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant chose to completely disregard it. And I honestly can’t blame them, because this movie is so clearly meant to just be ridiculous action fun. So please don’t waste your time trying to figure out how this thing fits into the timeline.

Okay? So with that out of the way, here’s why AVP bugs me: it pays homage to all sorts of memorable visual elements of its respective franchises, but doesn’t even attempt to pay homage to any of their themes. So yeah, there’s predator heat vision and sneaking around all invisible. And sure, there’s chest bursting, facehugging, wee-little-mouth frenching, and all that good stuff.

But…that’s about it. If you look past those flashy actiony bits the film is rather thematically hollow.

The original franchises had very different styles, but like all horror movies they were both stories of survival. A big part of what makes stories of survival so intriguing is the excitement of seeing characters being pushed to their limits only to overcome them. We want to watch with rapt excitement as people are put against impossible odds only to keep going through sheer feats of wit, skill, and sheer determination.

And yet AVP basically puts all the characters into a death trap from which escape is more or less impossible. Characters are put up against impossible odds and then...well, then they just die.

It isn’t a story of survival so much as it is a string of people/aliens dying in X-treme ways. Everyone kind of feels like a redshirt more than a flesh-out character, because their choices never really have any impact and they’re really only there as meat for the grinder.

Now to be fair here, lots of movies sacrifice story and fulfilling character arcs for the sake of hardcore action. But this one takes it to such an extreme that they don’t even bother letting you know what most of the characters’ names are. And yet a while into the movie someone will be all like “WHATSYOURFACE! NOOOOO!” and I’m sitting over here thinking “wait, that dude had a name?”

When it comes to a movie like this the real question is who is this movie for? The way I see it there are three types of people that would be intrigued by AVP: 

People who want to see a movie that delves deeper into the lore of these respective franchises.

People who love bizarre B-horror movies.

People who just want to see xenomorphs have crazy fights with Predators.

If you’re in the first category and are looking for a movie that provides an interesting addition to your beloved Alien and Predator franchises? Well, you should probably lower your expectations.

But what if you already know the premise is inherently silly-good-fun and just want a crazy action fest, chalk full of predators (aka Yaujita/Hish-qu-Ten) and Aliens (aka xenomorphs) taking out humans and each other with signature style?

Well this movie certainly has lots of that!

Is it a quality example of that though? Well...that’s up for debate.

—————————————

—————————————

content warnings: ummm...shockingly I don’t think there are any serious ones here.

after-credits scene?: None.

—————————————

Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson

Written by: Paul W.S. Anderson

Country of Origin: USA...

[also the United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Germany, and Canada? I’m really not sure of what the story behind that is.]

Language: English

Setting: Bouvetøya Island, Antarctica

Sequel: Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

If you liked this you might also like: Aliens (1986), Predator (1987), Tomb Raider (2018), Freddy vs. Jason (2003), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), Sadako vs. Kayako (2016)

—————————————

Context Corner:

Although it may seem odd, the connection between the Alien and Predator franchises actually goes back decades.

So the basic timeline goes like this:

Alien was the first one to hit the scene way back in 1979.

Then 7 years later (1986) its sequel Aliens was released.

A year after that (aka 1987) we got Predator.

The two franchises had nothing to do with one another, but they were both distributed by 20th Century Fox. Then later both franchises were licensed to the comic book publisher Dark Horse Comics.

The first time the world saw the two extraterrestrials cross paths was in a Randy Stradley and Chris Warner’s “Alien vs. Predator” chapter in Dark Horse Presents issue #36 in 1990.

Shortly thereafter the connection resurfaces as a pretty great easter egg in the 1990 film Predator 2, wherein you can see a xenomorph skull on the trophy wall in the Predator’s ship.

And ever since then it’s been a thing. Way before this movie ever came into being there were tons of Alien/s vs. Predator books, comics, video games (including a pinball video game), and even board games.

If you think Alien vs. Predator is still a slightly whacky concept, I feel compelled to mention that the crossover madness could have gone so much deeper! There are MULTIPLE examples of comics wherein the xenomorphs and predators encounter Batman...and Superman...and sometimes BOTH!

[I’m 100% serious. Look it up.]

—————————————

“I wish you’d reconsider coming with us, Lex. Come on, don’t make me pull out pictures of my kids again.”

“Your kids aren’t that cute.”

“What if we got pictures of other peoples’ kids?”

“Want my advice?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Stay on the boat.”

[eyanril]

Movie Round-Up 2017

My opinions only, of course! :)

Best of 2017:

Logan - This movie is magnificent from the opening to the end credits, and if you haven’t seen it, go out and rectify that RIGHT NOW.  Hugh Jackman brings an utterly heartbreaking vulnerability to an aging Wolverine. Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier and newcomer Dafne Keen as X-23 keep pace easily with Jackman’s fantastic performance.  The story is amazing, the acting is phenomenal, the special effects and fight choreography are stunning.  Seriously, just sit down and watch it already, even you are not a fan of the X-Men franchise.  You won’t regret it. 

Thor: Ragnarok - A delightful romp that, although it doesn’t hold up particularly well on its own, lightens up the Marvel Cinematic Universe almost as easily as a Guardians film. And despite its overall silly tone, it does a good job wrapping up the Asgardian story line and delivers some actual consequences that will reverberate in later films.

Wind River - Stunning cinematography and superb writing elevate this fairly by-the-book murder mystery above its brethren.  Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olson (as well as the supporting cast) are fantastic, and their performances alone make it worth watching.

Get Out - As much biting social commentary as it is thrilling horror movie, this was by far the biggest surprise of 2017 for me.  Everything about Get Out was meticulously crafted, and it deserves every bit of praise it got.  I can’t wait to see what else Jordan Peele has up his sleeve.  

Tie: Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Spider-Man:Homecoming - Both manage to balance the humor and the gravity of their plots fairly well, giving us plenty of funny interspersed with character growth.  I have to give a slight edge to Spider-Man because of Tom Holland’s adorkable performance as Peter Parker, but I enjoyed them both a lot. 

Most Disappointing of 2017:

Ghost in the Shell - Damn, I wanted to love this, but even Scarlett Johansson wasn’t enough to make this live action adaptation of the beloved anime work. (In fact a lot of people seemed to think she was part of the problem.  I disagree).  It’s gorgeous, and it’s well acted, but at the end of the day it just felt flat and forgettable.

Alien: Covenant - Not sure what I expected, considering the let down that was 2012’s Prometheus.  A far cry from the quality of the original Alien and Aliens, it has all the shine but none of the substance that would be a good modern addition to the franchise. It goes in a direction that makes little sense, and made less of an impression on me than even the much derided Alien:Resurrection.

The Dark Tower - Ugh.  It took me months to read Stephen King’s epic fantasy/horror series in its entirety, and all my hopes and dreams for a good adaptation of the source material were dashed very quickly during The Dark Tower. Not only was it a bad adaptation, it was a bad movie in general.  I only hope that someday down the road someone can do the saga justice, even if it’s as a TV show or miniseries, because at this point anything would be better than this movie.  

Kong: Skull Island - Another one I had high hopes for, another one that let me down.  Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson were given nothing interesting to do in a movie with a bloated run-time and little plot, which is a shame because they are both fantastic actors.  Utterly forgettable.

Beauty & the Beast - Why, Disney? Why do you have to keep making these mediocre live action adaptations of your already excellent animated films?  I don’t know exactly what I expected with this one, other than more of what made the original good.  Instead we got a charmless scene for scene rehash, with lukewarm chemistry and tepid song and dance numbers that don’t hold a candle to that of the original.

Surprises of 2017:

The Lego: Batman Movie - Having enjoyed 2014’s The Lego Movie on a very basic level, I wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I did.  Genuinely funny and heartwarming, it was a better Batman movie than Batman V. Superman and a better DCU movie than Justice League.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Hear me out on this one.  Going into The Force Awakens in 2015, I had seen only A New Hope and The Phantom Menace in their entirety, so I had no idea what to expect of this new iteration.  As it turned out, I was largely indifferent to The Force Awakens.  Color me shocked when I walked out of The Last Jedi very excited for Episode IX.  Was The Last Jedi flawed? Absolutely - and yet, due to a few very crucial elements (mainly any part involving Rey or Kylo Ren), I wouldn’t call it unsalvageable.  In fact, it’s one of the few movies I’d ever consider going to see in the theaters twice, just so I can have more of the good stuff.    

IT - I may have spent half the movie covering my eyes, but as far as horror movies go, that’s high praise coming from me.  While IT has a few issues, overall I found this modern adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel to be thrilling, terrifying, and terribly beautiful.

Power Rangers - Having grown up with a cousin who spent a good chunk of time obsessed with the original Mighty Morphin version, I watched this mostly for nostalgia.  While it takes itself way too seriously for the most part, Elizabeth Banks’ campy turn as Rita Repulsa elevates the quality whenever she’s hamming it up onscreen.  Overall I enjoyed it, which was not something I expected for a movie rebooting a very bad 90s kids’ show.

Colossal - Based on the trailer, you’d think Colossal was a comedy - and you’d be completely wrong.  Hiding a slightly disturbing redemption story behind a funny facade, this one came out of left field, but managed to leave a good impression.  

Movies of 2017 that I wish I had seen:

Lady Bird - From all accounts, it’s brilliant, and I’m just upset that no theater within a reasonable driving distance is playing it. Saoirse Ronan is an amazing young actress and I’ve always enjoyed anything I’ve seen her in.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - See above, ha.  As we both consider In Bruges to be one of the best movies ever made, my husband and I are eager to see it.

Baby Driver - For some reason my husband and I completely missed this in the theaters and we’re now regretting it, considering the amount of praise it has gotten.  Edgar Wright’s movies are always fantastically shot, and I’m sure this is no different.

[gothic-fiction-in-space]

~ THE ROOTS OF HORROR SCI-FI: FRANKEINSTEIN ~

Mary Shelley’s “FRANKEINSTEIN” (at the beginning called also “The Modern PROMETHEUS”) is considered the first science fiction (an horror sci-fi, a gothic fiction). The first Alien movie was an horror science fiction too, and this prequel saga seems to bring us back in time, at the time of the Frankeinstein’s monster. That’s not a new topic in sci-fi movies, not a new topic for Ridley Scott himself: Blade Runner (for example), already has some references to Mary Shelley’s novel. What connections can we find between the story that unfolds in Prometheus and Alien Covenant and the story of Frankeinstein? The novel is about a young university student, Victor Frankeinstein, that has always wanted to discover “how nature works”. He’s no “mad scientist”, he’s no mad man. He’s so brilliant and passionate in his studies, that suddenly finds himself with an incredible power in his hands: the power to create life from death (David is pretty obsessed with the connection life-death, destruction-creation too, and he creates the fagehuggers with Elizabeth’s dead body). Frankeinstein decides to use his power to accomplish the most difficult and glorious goal, building a man (not a more simple animal). Frankeinstein is moved by scientific curiosity, by the desire to solve the problems that afflicts mankind (death, illness… ) and by the desire to make creatures that would have rejoiced him as their creator, a good creator. That makes us think a bit about Weyland, because he solved lots of the problems of mankind and because he built a man (David) that could call him his creator. That makes us think a bit about David too: David created the Xenomorph because he wanted to give life to some creatures that would have considered him their “father”. We already have two “scientists” in this story. But David is also Weyland’s monster. In Mary Shelley’s novel, all the problems begin because Victor, soon after he has given life to his creature, rejects him because he’s an hideous wretch. The story is the tragedy of the monster who is so ugly that all men fear him and force him into solitude. The monster is forced to learn how to live by himself, because his father abandoned him. The monster then turns his creator life’s into a nightmare, killing all his beloved ones for revenge. Weyland knows the story of Frankenstein. Weyland thinks to be far better than Victor: he didn’t created a monster, he created David, a very handsome android, and he gave him all the gifts he could (David doesn’t age, he can’t die, he can’t “feel the heat of the stars or the cold of the moon”). Weyland is a creator who did all he could do for his creature. Weyland is a “winner”, he built “better worlds”, so, he also creates “better men”. But that doesn’t change the crucial problem of the “monster”: Weyland doesn’t love David. He wants to be called “father”, he says that David is the most similar thing to a son to him, but yet, David feels, right from the start, that he’s no really a “son” to him, as a son should be, as a son generally is.

David: “Am I?” Weyland: “Perfect?” David: “Your son”

As soon as David is “born”, Weyland is satisfied to see that he’s perfect, his “living” Michelangelo’s David statue is no Frankeinstein’s monster. But David is interested in something else: he wants to know if he’s really a son to him. He soon realizes that he’s not. He’s not loved. David is the symbol of Weyland’s godly status, he’s the piece of finest art that makes Weyland a creator, that makes him worthy to “enters to Walhalla”.

Weyland (to the Engineer, in a deleted scene of Prometheus): “Do you see this man? My company built him from nothing. I made him, and I made him in my own image, so he would be perfect, so he would never fail. I deserve this, ‘cause you and I… we are superior… we are creators… we are Gods. And Gods never die”

The most important question of humanity: where did we came from? It’s the question that permeates all Prometheus movie and that opens Alien Covenant. Weyland asks that question when David is born. David makes that question himself, inside of him. But David finds the answer in few minutes. David has his creator in front of him. “Where did I came from”, “who I am”, “where am I going” are the questions that give meaning to human life; mankind looks for an answer to these questions. In Mary Shelley’s novel, the monster asks these questions to himself a lot of times, because at the beginning he doesn’t know who he is or who created him. He really wants to know. The novel shows us that the question “where did I came from” is connected to another extremely important question that is basically the other face of the medal: “WAS I LOVED?” Weyland explains David that without an answer to the question “where did I came from” life is meaningless, all the works of art are meaningless. Unfortunately, David already has the answer: he comes from Weyland. And here’s the next question connected to the first one: “was I loved?” No. David is not loved by the man who brought him to life. All the answers David gets are extremely disappointing. David’s life is meaningless. Few minutes after his birth, David learns that he’s born to serve Weyland. He’s Weyland’s work of art and his key to find his creators, and no more. During his life, David see how humans have no kindness towards him, because he’s a robot, a machine in human shape. David is no “monster”, he’s handsome, but people are scared by him because his humanity is unnatural. He’s like the David of Michelangelo “so human but not really human”. He’s too similar to them. They find that resemblance creepy. That’s a huge frustration: what’s the purpose to be so handsome and clever if David can’t be treated by humans as an equal? But David is disillusioned. He knows the truth right from the start.

Frankeinstein’s monster: “You, my creator, abhor me; what hope can I gather from your fellow-creatures, who owe me nothing?”

The monster has been rejected by the one who created him, he wasn’t loved by him, so, he can’t hope to be loved by people not related to him. That’s also David’s situation. That’s the problem of Prometheus movie: humans look for their creators, for different reasons, the creators can make them happy, that’s what they hope. When Holloway starts to fear that he will never manage to talk to the Engineers, he gets drunk. Holloway wats to ask to the Engineers why they created mankind. David already has the answer in the answer his creators gave him: “we made you because we could”. Stop. No love. No meaning of life (Alien universe is a very dark and sad universe). Victor Frankeinstein made his creature for the same reason too: he finds the power to do it, he does it, without a second thought. David hates both humans and Engineers because they both create with irresponsibility. The monster of Frankeinstein decided to identifies himself with Satan against his God (Victor), even if he should have been his Adam. David identifies with Satan too in Alien Covenant. They both red Paradise Lost and got inspired by that poem. They both are lonely, even if Milton’s Satan has his fellows devils. So, David is a true mix of Lucifer and Frankeinstein’s monster, because he’s really evil deep inside him, but at the same time, he truly feel the need to be loved, (even if maybe he can’t fully acknowledge that, always for pride. Frankeinstein’s monster is ready to leave all his evil thoughts in exchange of love, but I think David isn’t interested in accepting love alone, at all, it seems to me that David wants to go on on his way no matter what). This Alien prequel saga is FULL OF FRANKEINSTEIN’S MONSTERS: David is Weyland’s monster, but humans are the monsters created by the Engineers: mankind too looks for the creators but he’s sadly rejected by them. Weyland searches immortality as a gift from his creators, Elizabeth searches answers.

Elizabeth: “I need to know why!”

That’s something that Frankeinstein’s monster too could have said.

What David choses to do in this situation?? His life has no meaning, and he’s superior to every other creature in the galaxy. When Weyland dies, David decides to become an “artist”, and to fill the void of his existence becoming a creator himself. A better creator, a better father than the previous ones. To create is a way to say to the universe you truly existed. David is built fearless. David can’t get tired. David has all the time he needs to try to accomplish his goals. David decides to basically START ALL OVER AGAIN. David decides to reset the entire universe and write something new… also because “nothing is written”, not “for some men”, the ones who are “the dreamers of the day”, that are “dangerous men” (David doesn’t sleep and ends up believing to be able to dream, to metaphorically dream, so, he literally dreams with his eyes open… ) At first, he decides to do that with the “cooperation” and the company of Elizabeth (Elizabeth is also the name of Victor Frankeinstein’s girlfriend, and she’s killed by the monster), the only human that showed him kindness, the woman he truly loves in his amoral and flawed way, but she refuses to be part of David’s “second Eden” and David ends up killing her to prevent her leaving him (one of the crucial problem of Frankeinstein’s monster was finding a way to have a female companion). David “moves forward”, David decides to become “the new Engineer” and to erase the previous “dying species” to substitutes them with his creations. His sons. The ones who “trust him”. The alien monsters who will never suffer because they are ready to survive no matter what (a bit like David himself), monsters that maybe are “perfect” because they don’t ask fundamental questions anymore, because they are “unclouded by conscience, remorse or delusion of morality”.

(Sorry for the long post ☺️)

(Table of Contents:

https://gothic-fiction-in-space.tumblr.com/post/164533391538/table-of-contents-1-the-romanticism-of-alien

)

[blankiejacket]

Alien:Covenant is Ridley Scott’s homage to the late H.R. Giger

Watch Dark Star: H.R. Giger’s World (2015) before you watch Alien: Covenant.  Or, if you’ve already seen Covenant, watch Dark Star before you see Covenant again.  Many have written that Covenant doesn’t make sense to them, but I interpret Covenant to be director Ridley Scott’s homage to Giger. The film makes perfect, beautiful sense when seen through this lens [SPOILERS FOR ALIEN: COVENANT FOLLOW]:

-I was worried, going into Covenant, that it would be the first Alien film after Giger’s death. I thought, “Oh no, will we see less of Giger’s work now that he has passed?  Will we only have Giger’s designs of the Aliens themselves, and no more of his brilliant and terrifying art?”  Fortunately, my concerns were completely unfounded.  Covenant is chock bursting full of Giger’s work.

-When the crew of the Covenant meets David, he leads them into a large structure presumably built by the Engineers.  The structure itself evokes Giger in every surface and curve, every hard edge and sinister swirl (credit to art director Damien Drew).  If it is a temple, it is Scott’s temple to Giger.  Far from emptying out the world of Alien of the artist’s guiding vision, Scott sets Alien:Covenant in Giger’s world.

-What we learn about the ten years between Prometheus and Covenant is that David has spent that decade experimenting with the design of the xenomorphs, making many, many drawings and sculptures, as well as actual Aliens of varying forms.  In other words, David has become an artist, he has spent his time making art, and attempting to translate his artworks into reality, trying to give his designs life.  In other words, David has become Giger: Giger who filled his home with his work, and who was asked by Scott to turn his sculptures into three-dimensional reality for the 1979 Alien film. If you watch the Dark Star documentary, you will see that Giger willingly, willfully, lived in a “dire necropolis” of his own making (this is what David calls the temple of the Engineers in which he has been dwelling and working: a “dire necropolis” -- and keep in mind that the title of Giger’s work that Scott knew, on sight (perhaps shown to him by Dan O’Bannon?), would be the inspiration for the Alien, was Necronom IV, the title reminiscent of the word “necropolis.”)

-When we see David as a Giger-like figure, we can understand Covenant as a meditation on Giger’s creative power and artistic obsessions: What would drive someone to bring into being a world as dark and threatening, and a creature as terrifying, as Alien and the Alien? It is a question that Scott asks not only of David/Giger, but of himself, for Giger and Scott (of course with the input and collaboration and labor of many others) manifested this gorgeous nightmare in our reality together.

-When we see David as an avatar for Giger, we can also understand David’s fixation on, and murder of, Shaw through a detail of Giger’s life.  One of Giger’s lovers and muses was Li Tobler, who lived with Giger and committed suicide at the age of 27. When you see Dark Star, you can see that Giger still loved her at the end of his life, loved her very deeply, though she died decades earlier. Some say that Tobler’s depression was exacerbated by living among Giger’s works. From this perspective, we can grasp that Shaw is a Tobler-figure to David. She is the beloved, lost muse whom the artist killed. She inspired the very art that ended her. (I do not mean to be facile about Tobler’s depression and suicide; I do not mean to suggest that Giger’s art definitively contributed to Tobler’s illness. I am only putting forward a poetic reading of the events of Tobler and Giger’s life together and of the narrative of Shaw and David.)

-I read Alien:Covenant as Scott’s museum and mausoleum for Giger’s great creative power and output, which has profoundly inspired Scott’s own creativity and bolstered and supported it to fantastic effect. Covenant is all about Giger, it is an homage and memorial to him. Scott’s love letter to his collaborator.

[mouseheart]

'This doesn't make any sense'

Which I believe is close enough to what one of the characters says about half way through Alien Covenant.

The Alien franchise is much like a school reunion, these days. You have some decent expectations but you get there and find out that everybody is a dick, and not only that, but they treat you as though YOU'RE the dick. Following on from the beloved-by-nobody Prometheus, Covenant attempts to straighten out the chronology and cause and effect of the series and bridge the gap between that and Alien. And it fails. Don't be suckered in by the generally positive reviews, it just really doesn't work, either in the series or as a standalone. It doesn't explain why there's a derelict Engineer spaceship on LV426, how come the Engineers themselves haven't evolved and appear to be living in some kind of Bronze Age citadel despite this being many thousands of years after they visited or seeded Earth, or why 90% of AIs, robots and androids are utter dicks. There seems to be some kind of choice that programmers of synthetic intelligences make in pretty much all science fiction films between the Kill Your Creator pole and the Stilted Prig Who Misunderstands Colloquialisms pole. Covenant doesn't address this, although it reintroduces Michael Fassbinder's malevolent android and attempts to give him some kind of motivation for his malicious sabotage in Prometheus.

Where the film falls down, basically, is that it is a lazy and uninvolving retread of themes and scenes that we've seen before from the other films in the series- the nervous, indecisive leader, the incremental mortality, the blow the alien out of the airlock moment, the half arsed idea of sending the majority of your crew and resources into an unknown situation, the utter lack of any kind of safety precautions ('Yeah, it looks like Earth. Go out there and suck the wildlife. Microbes? Nah, worrying about microbes is for losers.') and ultimately the resourceful if  emotionally bereaved chick-with-a-dick. Is it a coincidence that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is subtitled The Modern Prometheus, and this film resembles something stitched together from the dead parts of other films? That isn't the real issue, though, that's basically that it's no fun. I've sat through some leftfield rubbish in my time, some low budget dross, and haven't judged it as harshly as I do Covenant but this should have been more, from its budget and its pedigree. It's just not that entertaining.

Plus, what do the aliens eat to go from chest burster to a 300 pound seven foot monster in a matter of hours?

[specsnsarcasm]

My Review of… ‘Alien: Covenant’

(I thought I already posted this AGES AGO! It’s ancient, but I took the time to write it, so I don’t want to just toss it, ya know? Anyway, here ya go!)

I was SUPER excited to see what became of Shaw and David after the events of Prometheus (2012), in which we last saw them on a mission to find the Creators. I was interested to see how the stories would link up. While this movie does answer some questions, it mostly rehashes the same Alien story, while making the same, if not worse mistakes all over again. 

(WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD )

For a sci-fi franchise so beloved, I get how hard it is to straddle the line between finding new things to do and showing enough of what made the old fans love the original. But this movie is full of clichés! They’re not even homages or those “f^ck yeah!” moments we root for. They’re stupid mistakes that even regular, non-scientists wouldn't make, and that cause audiences to yell at the screen.  

Characters:

First off, we have the captain (played by Billy Crudup). Just moments after the first captain (played by blink-and-you'll-miss-him, James Franco) dies, he adopts the role, for which he is ill-suited and ill-prepared. He alienates the crew right away with his lack of empathy, and by throwing his weight around. Every decision he makes is reactionary and comes from a place of insecurity, not strength or leadership. His wife, played by the lovely Carmen Ejogo, should really be captain (p.s. I don’t get that relationship at all!). His character is one-dimensional. We’ve seen this before in every sci-fi movie: there’s always one hothead who doesn’t play well with others, which I always lament as being completely unrealistic for a group of people starting a new life on a new planet! NASA crews training in habs in the desert for future Mars missions, and astronauts on the ISS have to be very good at interpersonal skills like cooperation, communication and otherwise getting the f^ck along! It’s not just a “bonus”, it’s part of the whole package of being chosen in the first place! In an interview I saw (I forget which), one astronaut even said that the “lone wolf” astronaut won’t work. Yes, there's rank and protocol, but you have to be able to work well in a team and depend on your crew in the face of isolation and heavy psychological pressures. You can’t just shut down. You have to be able to articulate what’s wrong, ask for help, delegate, work the problem! You know -- like a ducking adult! Sigh. I digress...

Speaking of lack of character development... I didn’t even bother to learn anyone’s names because apart from a few people, I didn’t recognize any of the crew, meaning that I knew they were pretty much all gonners. lol.

I have to say, I wasn't expecting Danny McBride to be as good as he was in this. I’m so used to seeing him play stupid, crass, bumbling asshole, stoner characters that watching him play a dramatic role is kind of refreshing. (Although I kept expecting him to turn into a stupid, crass, bumbling stoner a**hole character. Haha). 

Did Jurnee Smolette even talk in this movie? Barely. And then there was the lack of chemistry between him and his wife, that culminated in an awkward af shower sex scene that was about as sexy as it was necessary (i.e. not at all), only for him to die like that a second later. 

I love a good homage, but not everyone can be a successor to Ellen Ripley, ok? Both Shaw AND Daniels can’t be Ripley (although I think Daniels is probably closer to her, by design). But why try to make them copies of the original? Let them each be their own women: unique, not derivatives. 

I'm just here for David/Walter. Fassbender looks like he’s having fun chewing the scene, playing opposite himself, and plays each character with nuance. I also like the dynamic between Weyland and David. It showed how early Weyland's hubris (as David's creator) contributed to David's aversion to being subordinate. I also like the bit about him mis-attributing Shelley’s "Ozymandias" to Byron, to show that David himself is a "flawed god" creating: the same as both humans AND the Creators.

(p.s. David with long hair and dark ROOTS(!) is a) hilarious, and b) lewk af!)

Plot:

I'm glad we found out what happened to Shaw. I would like to have seen more of a continuation from that story (but then again, I’m one of the few ppl who actually liked Prometheus. Lol). I liked the backstory behind the extinction of the Creators. I wish it wasn’t so glossed over, but more of a central story line. I had to go back and re-watch the scene to understand it, and looking online, apparently it wasn’t just me who was confused. At first, I was unsure whether David had deliberately cause the event, or even if he was actually there, or whether he had just placed himself as a spectator in order to show us, the audience.

It hardly seems plausible that there are that many expert couples on the same colonization mission (possibly more, including the ones still in cryo). I mean I get that they’d want their spouse if they’re starting their lives on a new planet, but what are the odds that that many (five) healthy, stable, mission-ready, experts-in-their-respective-fields, husband-and-wife couples are willing to leave home, sleep for a decade and live on an uninhabited planet? Even one seems like a lot! 

I find it completely un-scary seeing the neo/xenomorphs being born… and born... AND BORN! They lose all mystique! The thing that was so shocking about the John Hurt scene (respect) in the original becomes less shocking with each new chest/back/mouth burst. Moreover, the CGI neo/xenomorph, while cool-looking, loses a tangible quality. They’re too quick, too perfect, too videogame-y.

(p.s. doesn’t the “skin” texture look like something you’d see under an electron microscope? That’s pretty dope).

Conclusion:

All in all, Covenant was okay, but it didn’t really add much for me. Part of the reason why I was excited about Covenant was I was hoping for a continuation of the Prometheus saga, in which Shaw and David would continue on with the Creators story line. That seemed like the next evolution in the Alien franchise (the Creators are the most interesting part to me anyway). But Covenant didn't evolve so much as it got bigger. It was more of a re-hash of Prometheus, only on a larger scale, and the way they set up the next one, it looks like it's going to be more of the same.  

[Note: These are just my opinions. You don’t have to agree! I’m not a proper critic, I just like to watch movies and write about them!].

[diaryofanangrynerd]

Well, Hello 2017

Most Anticipated Films of 2017

 Well, hello everyone. I know it has been a while since we have spoken, but the truth is I haven’t really had much to say. I was utterly disappointed with the way that 2016 turned out, film-wise, that I had to walk away from this for a bit. I took a look at my much anticipated list and realized that maybe two of those films were worth anyone’s time, those of course being Rogue One and The Nice Guys. So I figured that this being a new year and with that comes new beginnings, I want to look ahead to a year with so many films to look forward to. (P.S. I apologize for leaving you…it wasn’t you, it was me.)

Honorable Mentions:

John Wick—Chapter 2: In late 2014 an action film snuck into theaters and blew everyone’s mind. Now since then we have all been clamoring for a little more John Wick.

Kingsman-The Golden Circle: Kingsman: Secret Service is another film that took people by surprise and intrigued for more snooty British spy antics.

Justice League: Okay so Batman v. Superman or Suicide Squad didn’t go so well, now DC Comics fanboys everywhere are praying that 2017 will be a better year for their beloved characters.

Wonder Woman: Please see comments above. Wonder Woman’s theme from BvS gets me jazzed though!

Blade Runner 2049: Loved Ridley Scott’s sci-fi masterpiece, however I am just a little skeptical trying to do a sequel 35 years later.

8 Most Anticipated fro 2017

(Yes I understand this list gets bigger and bigger each year!)

#8—Logan

First and foremost, there are very few things in the upcoming cinematic world that is more exciting than seeing a rated R Wolverine movie with Hugh Jackman portraying the titular character. Sprinkle in some Old Man Logan storyline and the “passing of the torch” to X-23 and you have a recipe for a great movie. However, as much as I am excited by this film there are a couple things that worry me about the final product. First is the comparisons to Deadpool and the R rating. Deadpool was a nice addition to the comic book film genre, nevertheless people need to remember the difference in characters and the huge difference in tone Logan will be. Second is the X-Men continuity and where this film will actually fit in the grand scheme of the X-Franchise. If only 20th Century Fox and the producers of these films can get that under control, I believe that the X-Franchise could be as good, if not better, than the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

#7—Spider-Man: Homecoming

Speaking of the MCU, Spider-Man is finally coming home. Tom Holland was one of many bright spots of Captain America: Civil War and the recent Homecoming trailer just added to the eagerness that I have for this film. I strongly think that introducing new villains and not recycling old rogues that we have already seen on screen was a wise idea, but I’m not so sure about the amount of villains was as smart. Though easing Spider-Man into the already vast MCU is a major plus as well. If Holland can continue with the wit and enthusiasm he had in Civil War, then Spider-Man: Homecoming is going to do just fine.

#6—Alien: Covenant

Ridley Scott + Science Fiction + Alien Franchise = Awesomeness! Dare I say more? Now I think that we can all agree that Prometheus was hit or miss with a lot of film goers, but I dare say that Scott’s official return to the Alien Franchise looks as beautifully gruesome as his 1979 classic. The sense is that Scott is returning to the horror aspect of the franchise, but setting Covenant as a prequel, with hopes of other films to follow. I am hoping that Scott is able to capture the magic of the first film, all the while adding something new and fresh to a franchise that is in need of a jumpstart.

#5—War of the Planet of the Apes

Ironically, here is a threequel to a rebooted franchise that a lot of people didn’t think we needed. Rise and Dawn were films, which I feel, quietly good with a lot of film guru’s waiting for that inevitable bad turn. With the first two films surpassing low expectations, I just hope that this isn’t the film that this groundbreaking franchise falls off the high cliff they put themselves on. I love the technology that goes into these films and still holding on to hope that the Oscars finally come in the times and see that even though Andy Serkis plays CGI characters, he is amazing and deserves a little gold statue. I am also excited to see Woody Harrelson as a villain.

#4—Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

In 1997 a film was released that blew my mind. A great mixture of action, science fiction, and comedy; The Fifth Element was a hidden gem of that year. Ever since then I have been clamoring for the day that director Luc Besson makes a film of that quality and have been slightly disappointed since. But this year, Besson has made his way back to the world of Science Fiction and has brought with him a film that looks to be what I have been waiting for. Valerian, rumored to be a pet project of Besson, is about two operatives that try to keep the peace in the galaxy. Here’s hoping for a Multi-Pass!

3#-- Dunkirk

My favorite director is at it again, but this time he is taking on World War II. Christopher Nolan has taken audiences to vast, multilayered worlds that seem to suck us in and change us. I don’t think that following a group of Allied soldiers surrounded by Germans on the beaches of France during the early stages of the Second World War is going to be as mind blowing as Inception; however I know that Nolan is going to deliver a beautiful film with heart and soul. The trailer looks amazing and I can hold on to hope that my director won’t fail me now.

#2—Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Another surprise of 2014 was the comic book film about a ragtag group of misfits out to save the universe. James Gunn’s take on the Guardians of the Galaxy is probably the single best thing to happen to the MCU, with Civil War coming in a slight second. Guardians wasn’t supposed to do well and was only meant to fill the gap between Avenger films and yet it did much more than that. Now with all of the cast and crew back for another adventure in the cosmos, I am over the moon excited to see what these “Guardians of the Galaxy” are up to now. Crossing my fingers for another Howard the Duck sighting!

#1—Star Wars: Episode VIII

What did I tell you all last year? Star Wars will be ever in the top spot of these Most Anticipated lists for a long while. Furthering the adventures of Rey, Finn, and the rest of the new characters of this sequel trilogy, Rian Johnson (Looper) is tasked with expanding this franchise and making it good. Being a big fan of his earlier work, I am honestly not worried. Please just don’t copy the formula of Empire Strikes Back like J.J Abrams did with A New Hope.

 Alright everyone let us all pray that 2017 will be a better year for movies so that I don’t have to stay away from you good people as long as I did before.

[delayedcritique]

ALIEN: COVENANT REVIEW

“Yet another attempt to make a worthy third film in the Alien series”

BY COLLIN DE LADE

              Alien: Covenant is the latest film in the Alien franchise that’s a sequel to Prometheus but a prequel to Alien and Aliens. The movie is set on the Covenant colony ship, bound for a remote planet with a bunch of couples on board as crew. When they get a distress signal from an unknown planet, the crew travels to discover its origin. Things take a turn for the worse when a violent threat affects the crew as they lose communication with the ship. Everyone on the ground must carefully make their way to a safe area to get picked up before the dangerous threat attacks again. Alien: Covenant is going to leave everyone divided. Some will be disappointed by the direction the movie goes in with the franchise while other will find it a step in the right direction in getting a worthy third film in the series. Personally, I’m more the latter.

              A bit of backstory on my thoughts on the entries I have seen in the series; I really enjoyed Alien and Aliens while I really didn’t like  Prometheus. Knowing the backlash the rest of the film in the series has received, I skipped over them. Being two of the most beloved action and horror films ever, I agree with everyone’s opinion in that Alien and Aliens are awesome! Prometheus, on the other hand, was a waste of my time. Besides Michael Fassbender as David and Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw, I couldn’t stand anyone in that movie and couldn’t care less about what was going on. Alien: Covenant is meant to be more of a sequel to Prometheus rather than a prequel to the classic entries, but don’t walk in looking for answers to the last movie.

              I like to think of this movie as a soft reboot to Prometheus, as it takes the best parts of said film and abandons all the intellectual elements about the Engineers and what that film was trying to accomplish. Seeing how I didn’t like Prometheus, I welcome forgetting about its events, but there are many people that did like it and are going to get frustrated about the abandoned issues. Now that you know what plot points don’t carry over, let’s now go into the quality and what’s actually in the movie.

              Just like any Alien movie, the story relies on the crew members and what they have to offer to the film. While the classic films had a full crew of interesting and engaging characters, the current ones do not. I absolutely hated the crew in the last movie and how utterly stupid everyone was when dealing with dangerous situations. While Covenant still didn’t write the entire crew all that well, I can at least say that I liked everyone more. Beside the captain of the Covenant, every member ranges from tolerable to downright fantastic.  Billy Crudup plays the leader of the vessel, Oram, and he is written as an idiotic, doubtful captain that you won’t remember by the end. Everyone else that’s not a leading character is serviceable. Every supporting character is passable to follow without being annoying or anything. I can’t tell you any one of their names, but they don’t take away anything from the movie either.

              Rather, the actors that do catch your attention are Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, and Danny McBride. Going from least to best, Waterson talent-wise is very relatable. Right, when she comes into frame, she is identifiable and the most realistic character out of the bunch. When she’s acting in a scene, she’s great; however, she turns into the female action star at the climax that doesn’t fit her character. Still liked the character, but not when she dramatically turns to over-the-top action hero. As for McBride, he really surprised me at how good he was without relying on humor to carry him along. He is no way a comedic character or trying to bring a light-hearted tone to the movie. He is a developed character like everyone else. However, this is hands down Fassbender’s movie to shine. He is fantastic in the movie. I can’t say why without giving spoilers, but this might be my favorite performance yet from him. Just like how Sigourney Weaver was the face of the original set of films, Fassbender is the face of the second generation of Alien movies.

              As for the action, the best moments come from the suspenseful moments in the first two-thirds. I was very entertained and slightly horrified by a handful of scenes for the majority of the movie. The first scene with the alien bursting out alone is worth the price of admission. There are a couple scenes that do rival some of the classic moments from the original two movies. While this movie in no way comes close to those films, this is easily the best Alien movie since the second entry. It does fall short in a couple of places though.

              As much as I praise the action in this movie, there is a point where suspense goes out the window in favor of a big action set piece. While the characters overall are more likable and more intelligent than the crew in Prometheus, they still are far from smart characters. There are some really stupid decisions both from the characters and from director Ridley Scott in the movie. The third act does not mix well with the first two acts at all, especially with Waterson’s character going complete action hero out of nowhere. First impressions after walking out, I really enjoyed the movie and wanted to praise it as the return to form for the series. Thinking about it more though does take my overall feeling for it down a bit. If the script was a bit tighter or maybe if a worthy director’s cut comes out, then I possible would put it up there with Alien and Aliens. As it is now, it’s a good movie that falls short of being great.

              I do recommend checking this movie out whether you’ve seen the originals, only seen Prometheus, or if this is your first Alien movie. This does stand on its own a bit, as it is telling its own story that doesn’t carry over or lead into any of the other films yet. It is a bit of a mess when reflecting on it but really did enjoy myself even after looking back at its flaws. Honestly, I am a lot more excited to see the next film that continues this story than I have with any other entry. I can’t guarantee that you will enjoy it as much as I did, but there are some quality moments to prevent it from being a waste of time.

7.5/10

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RR Specials: The Alien Franchise

The Alien saga has now branched out through 9 films – yes, 9 films. An Oscar-winning horror phenomenon is now being mixed-up and confused with Ridley Scott’s depiction of mankind’s birth. The iconic Xenomorph now seems like a rushed inclusion to attract bigger audiences; surrounding the beloved villain with 2 hours of religion is absurd. This ‘RR Special’ will discuss the history of ‘Alien’, and where I believe it should go next. Look back 38 years and you will find the original, most superior film in the saga. Deserving of its Oscar for its then-outstanding visuals and its forthcoming ‘Golden Productions’ piece, the 1979 instant-classic reshuffled the genre and brought a terrifying villain in the indestructible Xeno. In my opinion, when you announce an ‘Alien’ film, fans then expect a reflection of the classic consisting of isolation, fear, and a bold protagonist – all of which have eluded fans for decades. In 1986, another Oscar-winner came under new direction from James Cameron (‘Avatar’, ‘Titanic’). Although ‘Aliens’ drifted from the horror-genre and fell into a bullet-fuelled action movie, it can be argued as the last great ‘Alien’ film. Although I hate the concept of expendable Xenos, the production brought fans a horrifying Xenomorph Queen, great new characters, and a compelling plot. Following, was ‘Alien 3’ and ‘Alien: Resurrection’, both regrettable additions that bruised the saga. The damage was not done as then came two unnecessary crossovers with another horror classic in ‘Alien vs Predator’ and ‘AvP: Requiem’. Turns out ‘whoever wins, we lose’ was a very fitting tagline as audiences were given a hash up of two horror icons, although the duo was arguably fun together, they did no justice to a great franchise. Fast-forward to 2012 where Ridley Scott sought to take his creation down an alternate path with ‘Prometheus’. The production made the universe very complex and too complicated, mixing the simplicity of the original with Scott’s hole-filled origin story dissatisfied audiences and left them with so many questions. The sequel was promoted through excellent trailers, illustrating a return to the horror-genre. ‘Alien: Covenant’ did have exciting aspects such as the new Neomorphs, and it was an improvement to its predecessor yet it emphasised that the jumbled direction from Scott and the addition of the Xenomorph to this origin story doesn’t work. Creating more questions rather than answering those left from ‘Prometheus’, I believe the saga needs new direction, and to ignore this unwanted origin storyline rushed by religion, expendable characters, and plot-holes. If you’re wondering where the 9th appearance is, then analyse the final scenes in Stephen Hopkin’s ‘Predator 2’ where you will find Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) nervously passing through a trophy room filled with skulls. So, what should be done with the franchise? Ridley Scott should hand over the keys to someone willing to adapt the highly rated ‘Alien: Isolation’ storyline. Isolation is a video game from 2014, the story takes place 15 years after the events of the original film. It follows Ripley’s daughter Amanda, stranded on a space station in search for the Nostromo flight recorder to help bring closure to the whereabouts of Ellen. An outstanding theme consisting of intense claustrophobia and true terror that pays great homage to the 1979 classic is, at least for me, a defiantly better plot as opposed to Scott’s version and would undoubtedly satisfy fans. An adaptation of Isolation would bring a terrific new protagonist in Amanda Ripley, and would finally see a return to the horror theme yet it seems we are stuck with Ridley’s depiction, as he recently stated he would like to bring another 3 or 4 movies that would act as prequels to the original.