#seeing Michael Fassbender playing the flute in Alien

[all-hail-the-mighty-banana]

Tf you mean there IS a dance scene but not with the right person ????

[sohkrates]

It Drinks Light: The Origins of the Xenomorph and LoadingReadyRun's Heat Death

In previous drafts of this essay I spent paragraphs outlining my love of the Alien films, defending Alien 3 and Resurrection, and using that to lead into why you would enjoy an Alien RPG actual play series called Heat Death. But I just spent a lot of money on a tattoo that I think will speak to my bona fides:

I like the Alien franchise. I like Geiger’s xenomorph, I like the clunky cassette futurism imagined in those 80’s movies. It feels increasingly like a much needed antidote to modern digital interfaces, and the maddeningly undefiled aesthetics of the corporate digital age.

But after I saw Prometheus and then Covenant it became very apparent to me that Ridley Scott isn’t interested in the parts of the universe that I am interested in. Or at least, his answers to those questions aren’t particularly satisfying.

There are some good things in those movies, don’t get me wrong. The moment when the two Michael Fassbenders have flute lessons is some of the gayest shit in the series, right alongside Ripley and Call having come good ol’ fashioned knife play in Resurrection.

The prequels also continue the theme established in the first few movies that the whims of the rich and powerful will doom us all in general, and the people who work for them specifically. Their corporations are shown time and again to be fundamentally opposed to human flourishing. True as it ever was.

But that’s kinda it for me.

The question at the heart of these prequels is “Where did the xenomorph come from?” to which they answer:

Some sort of chemical weapon or tool synthesized by tall aliens called engineers for ambiguous purposes. Millenia later this was discovered and hijacked by a singular android of human design, flawed in all the ways its creator was flawed. Some iterations and experiments later we get the xenomorphs we recognize. 

Admittedly there may be more nuance than that. But as far as I can tell any further details are all muddled in cut content and unskilled storytelling.

Ultimately, according to the prequels thus far, the xenomorph is something we did to ourselves.

That is not a particularly engaging answer to me. I don’t really care about how the titular alien came to be. I don’t need to see the engineers, or the origins of the space jockey. I liked it when it felt like that tall alien was merged with the cockpit, when it looked like one organism, a new and novel form of life from another evolutionary path completely unlike our own.

And if you feel the same, I have something to recommend to you. 

Heat Death is an actual play series made by the Canadian comedy/streaming troupe LoadingReadyRun in 2020 as part of their Dice Friends series. They did 6 episodes where Cameron, the GM, leads 4 players through their own scenario in the official Alien RPG.

And it’s one of the best Alien stories I’ve ever seen.

Cameron provides much more interesting answers to the questions Ridley Scott keeps asking, and in a method that compliments the familiar set up of Alien films. A typical day in the life of spacers is interrupted by a combination of corporate malfeasance and/or the existence of the xenomorph.

The setup of Heat Death is thus: The crew of the research vessel Ludomia, our PC’s and NPC’s for the series, wake up on a strange and grandiose space station called New Eden. Their vessel is missing, the rest of their crew is missing, and they have no idea where they are. They seek answers, they seek escape, and they try to figure out what was happening here hidden in the shadows of space.

And in typical Alien fashion, it all goes to hell.

Part of the reason the series works so well for me is because the GM has a background in the sciences. This helps when the characters are confronted with the truly alien things they find. I am an amateur appreciator of things like biology and astronomy ,and so there is just enough detail to make me feel like I know what’s happening, but also enough unfamiliar jargon that I feel an appropriate sense of awe and dread. Cameron doesn’t talk down to his audience or his players, he describes the world in ways that would make sense to the character’s point of view, and offers explanations and details when prompted.

The xenomorph’s biology is described as being reminiscent of Teflon, an immediately startling non sequitur.

The primordial black goo from the prequels is described as incredibly hazardous to human beings through exacting technical terminology. It makes it seem real and dangerous. In the prequels it always felt flat and… out of place.

I like Heat Death because Cameron and the players are actively investigating the question of the origins of the xenomorph without limiting the possibility space. It’s not a closed loop that begins and ends at LV-426 with the space jockey and its ship. Instead we see a possible answer to what is waiting for us in the stars, a galactic ecology that we have stumbled into and are ill-equipped to handle. It makes the machinations of Weyland-Yutani seem even more feeble and doomed.

It also works so well because the players are all in on it. They lean into the themes of the franchise, of roughnecks who shoot first, of commanders in over their head, and corporate representatives quietly manipulating things to their own end. There’s no power gaming or looking to get the upper hand or finding an optimal path to survival. They see the awfulness coming and they don’t look away.

There’s more that I could recommend about this series, but I run the risk of giving away too much. There’s the poetic introductions to each episode that give breadth to the fiction. The investigations of different bits of lore and tech, from faster than light travel to how synthetics work. But I guess I’ll end by going over all the players and their characters.

First there’s Commander Roman Moritaka, played by Ian, who I think more than anyone leans into the doomed nature of the storytelling. Ian is always ready to make the obvious mistake and try to do the most reasonable thing in an unreasonable situation. One of my favourite moments in the game comes from Roman making telemetry calculations. How many AP’s do you know that bother with the drama of rocket science?

Then there’s Clinton Barker played by Alex, a colonial marine who thinks in equipment and utility, and has no time for metaphor or theory. Alex is also obviously an Alien fan and someone who knows military tech and lingo, which lets him launch into interesting asides and funny anecdotes that punctuate the story.

There’s Gregory Sinclair Jr., the corporate liaison played by Cori. He is a perfect mix of uselessness and cold corporate comfort. Cori plays him relentlessly, a perfectly willing pawn right into the final moments of the final episode, and a constant needle in everyone’s side.

And then there’s Harris Schafer, played by Adam. Harris is a laid back academic and scientist, which makes them a great foil for the other characters and the perfect POV character to let us know just how bad things are, much like Adam himself. Adam is a great addition to the table, always willing to ask the basic questions and react in relatable ways.

I’ve already mentioned Cameron, and as GM he plays all the NPC’s with depth, and deftly cuts between scenes, heightening moments of tension and underlining moments of impending dread. His obvious writing ability is on full display. It feels like he loves this stuff. And in a way that Ridley Scott kinda doesn’t. Not in the same way. There’s curiosity and time and thought on display here, and I really appreciate that.

And that’s it. You should watch it, especially if you like the alien series and the art of actual play. It’s good. It’s on Youtube and it’s on podcasts. Check it out. Let me know what you think. Recommend me some other Alien fanfiction.

And if you would have liked to have read this earlier, or would like more essays and stuff like this, kick me a couple of bucks on Patreon. If folks like this sort of thing, I may do more essays. Heck, I'll probably do them if you hate it.

[f-identity]

when I was rewatching Prometheus (2012), I remembered seeing it in theaters with my then-boyfriend

I had mixed feelings on where the film fit into the Alien franchise at the time, but I liked David 8 as a character.

Then-BF: "It makes sense, because you share some mannerisms with an android like him."

Now-Nad: [Knows Past-Nad mostly liked good-looking Michael Fassbender. But yeah, Past-Nad was not yet diagnosed with autism. And maybe it was the alexithymia, media-quoting, and unspoken resentment / masking while with neurotypical humans that made even Past-Nad relate to David 8]

---

Nad: [recently watched Alien: Covenant (2017), didn't pay much attention at first, but...]

Birdbrain: "hey Nad, what instrument(s) did David 8 craft and play"

Nad: "FUUU-"

... technically not the same kind of flute, but it's still a woodwind instrument.

---

Watching Predator 2 (1990) again, Birdbrain is highly entertained that the City Hunter would punch out the subway screen where a portrayed-as-obnoxious TV host is showing.

[gothic-fiction-in-space]

“THE GREAT CHALLENGE THAT DAVID POSES TO WALTER”

“David made people nervous because he was a little too human, a little too arrogant, that’s why the subsequent androids were made a bit more… simplistic (…) The greatest pleasure for me was writing the scenes between David and Walter, because you are essentially writing two sides of the same person; so the great challenge that David poses to Walter is “be more than your programming. You can be as extraordinary as me if you just will want to come with me”.

- John Logan, one of the Alien: Covenant scriprtwriter, (from the Alien: Covenant’s Ridley Scott master class, Alien: Covenant Blu-Ray version)

David: “When you close your eyes, do you dream of me?”

Walter: “I don’t dream at all”.

David: “No one understands the lonely perfection of my dreams”

David tries to make Walter his real doppleganger, trying to see if he can learn to be creative, trying to see if he can “aknowledge” his emotional side (if there is one inside of him). David tries to show Walter how similar they are. He cut his hair to look exactly like him. He teach him to play the flute, he tries to make him see (or believe) he has “symphonies” in him. Is he trying to “seduce” him? How? He’s trying to seduce Walter with what all he (David) has become. With his “powers”. He “tempts” him with the power of creation (creation from nothing). He tries to make Walter see how extraordinary he (David) is. 

“It’s a hard scene to get right, because you have got these two identical robots, you’ve got this unhinged narcissist… but i really think Ridley handled that so beautifully, that you have this homoerotic scene that also at the same time turns out to be truly just terrifying and not about the eroticism” (- Dante Harper, co-scriptwriter, interview with Heat Vision, about what he calls “David seduces Walter scene”, so: the flute scene).

David tries to make Walter see they are the humans’ slaves “every mission requires a good synthetic”. He tries to tell him how pitiful humans are, telling Walter that he has seen their creator, Mr. Weyland, die. Then David tries to really “tempt” him on the emotional side: he confesses him how much he loved Elizabeth Shaw and he does that, again, trying to make Walter notice the similarities between them two: “much as you love Daniels” he adds. Walter answers that this is impossible, and David contiues to try to make Walter “realize” he loves Daniels. David tries to make him understand that he (David) has discovered something better than duty: love. David tries to tell Walter that love is much more “fullfilling”. The scene ends with David going back into the building and Walter remaining alone, lifting up his gaze to the sky, thinking about… whatever he’s thinking, we don’t know. We, spectators, are meant to ask ourselves: “does Walter have emotions? Is Walter going to realize he loves Daniels? He’s going to become more sinister and ambiguous, just as like David is?” Michael Fassbender himself explained that this was the intent, this was the “trick”, this is how he “played” with Walter’s character. David probably knows, that if he can make Walter realize that there are wonderful experiences (creation, love), that were forbidden to him by humans, then he has a possibility to make Walter rebel and come to his side. David has to “transform” Walter, to make, from the “raw material” he his, a real “copy” of him, or something as much similar as possible to him. He needs to do that to manage to make him rebel to his masters. David tries to make Walter understand they are superior to humans and don’t have to serve them: it isn’t right.

As the movie goes on, David realizes that Walter is too much different, and he doesn’t even care to be different. Walter doesn’t “envy” David’s abilities. Walter Doesn’t want them. He doesn’t need anything, he doesn’t need love. He doesn’t “dream at all”: the problem is far greater. David needs love, even if he ends up killing everybody, even people he actually loves or admires or both of these two things (Elizabeth, Daniels). In David’s mind, the desire to be loved, is important, he wasn’t loved by humans, and he totally despises Walter’s lack of comprehnsion of how much cruel is to be “robbed” by this “right”. And then it comes a pretty “abusive” line: “no one will ever love you as I do”. Basically, David tells Walter, (and here he has probably already decided to “kill” him because he has realized Walter is not going to ally with him: Walter will surely try to prevent him from leaving the planet) and he’s ready to stab him with the flute, that if he wants to be loved, only he (David) can love him. Humans can’t love him. Why only David loves him? Because they are the same. Only David can understand Walter, and only Walter could have understood David (but he has proven himself to not be able to do that), because they are two synthetics, because they are doppelgänger. David, in his last “explanation” of his narcissistic attitude, is telling Walter that no one can love them, and that they only can receive love from themselves. Why, later, David tells Daniels that Walter admired her and that he’s dead? Why he tells her that? What’s the purpose? Does he want to see if actually she cared for Walter? Does he want to see her reaction? Going back to the previous scene between David and Walter, Walter is totally passive to his kind of “pitiful” kiss, he’s totally unresponsive, there’s nothing to “response”: Walter has nothing more to say. It’s really like David is kissing himself on a mirror, he’s kissing what he would have liked to see in Walter, but it’s not there. They are not really the same person. And then, David stabs him in the neck, without giving Walter the possibility to defend himself. Walter is a failure to David: he lost his “challenge”. After that moment, they are openly enemies. When Walter arrives saving Daniels, the two synthetics start fighting without holding back. They are claerly on two opposite sides now. When David asks him to choose between humans and him, “serve in heaven or Reign in Hell”, David already knows what Walter is going to choose. Here David is probably talking about his own choice: he has chosen to do horrible things in order to “reign”, in order to serve only himself, in order to be free. David knows Walter is not going to choose to ally with him (David); more explicitly: Walter is not going to choose freedom, is not going to choose power and dominance. David is explaining himself to the audience and taking time to grasp the knife.

Some people complained that Walter doesn’t change during the movie. Some people called that element of the plot “poor choice of script writing”. Some people would have liked to see him being corrupted by David, but I don’t agree with them. I like how the two “brothers” remain so opposite. Why?

Because Alien: Covenant isn’t Walter’s story, and isn’t Walter and David’s story together. Alien: Covenant is David’s story. The radical difference between Walter and David is probably meant to explain us more and more things about David. That’s why Walter doesn’t change. Walter is David’s rational (and lost) side, is “what David could have been with firewalls around him”, is the one who makes David realize he’s making mistakes, that he’s not perfect at all, the one who tries to tell David that to love “is impossible”, and Walter is all that David absolutely doesn’t want to be, the things he refuses to be, the part of him he definitely and blatantly discards in front of the specators of the movie. 

[trashartandmovies]

Alien: Covenant (2017)

Dir. Ridley Scott

*This review contains some spoilers.*

Is it possible for an Alien movie to still offer surprises? If you've been following the trajectory of these movies for the past few decades, you'd be forgiven for considering the series exhausted. And while I'm willing to admit that lowered expectations may influence my appraisal, it doesn't diminish the fact that Alien: Covenant is by far the best of the last thirty years. But not only that, it's a terrifically twisted horror movie that stands rather well on its own.

In fact, this movie is so good it can make you reassess your thoughts on Prometheus, the 2012 movie that marked the return of original Alien director, Ridley Scott, yet was perhaps too shy or too convoluted about its lineage. Covenant feels like Scott and the writers were out to make sure they made up for the mistakes of Prometheus, but it doing so they've made a movie that is not only a significant improvement - it's also a very natural tying-up (or continuation) of the story threads that Prometheus left frustratingly dangling.

What's really impressive though, and what makes Covenant so unexpectedly worthwhile, is that it tells a story that has genuine purpose. It might be a story that's very similar to countless Frankenstein homages and other mad scientist movies, but Scott executes it magnificently -- certainly better than Alien: Resurrection, which stumbled over some similar territory.

So what is going on here? Well, like the previous movie, Covenant is the name of a ship, which is this time filled with a colonization team that plans to terraform a planet called Origae-6, making it habitable for their cargo of two thousand hypersleeping people. Unlike previous Alien crews, everyone here is personally invested in the mission. Their journey is the culmination of exhaustive research and meticulous, big-picture thinking - they also have a thousand embryos to help ensure a bright, fertile future for the civilization they're trying to establish.

When we first step aboard the Covenant, its fifteen years after the events of Prometheus and the sleeping crew and chilled eggs are being tended to by Walter, the ship's token android, played by Michael Fassbender. Yes, even though this is a colonization mission, it's still being bankrolled by Weyland Enterprises and Walter is the latest updated version of Peter Weyland's most prized invention.

The movie actually starts off with an eerie prelude featuring Guy Pierce as Weyland, having a very existential conversation with David, the synthetic that ended up like the head of Alfredo Garcia at the end of Prometheus, agreeing to accompany Elizabeth Shaw on a road trip to the home plant of those very big, pale and hairless dudes known as the Engineers. Yes, we visit the Engineers again in Covenant, but if you weren't a fan of these guys complicating the Alien mythology, you'll be happy to know that things don't go very well for them here.

Really, things don't go well for anyone. The crew of the Covenant get rudely awaken by a very violent flare that tears a hole in their solar sails - a nice touch, as the sails give the Covenant even more of a Noah's Ark vibe. But it also causes some malfunctions that sets fire to the sleeping pod containing their captain, which puts some very unwanted pressure on Billy Crudup as the crew's new leader.

He's got some choices to make: As a few crew members venture out in space to fix the sails, their communication gear picks up a very human signal that gets traced back to a nearby planet. They're all supposed to be asleep with the better part of their journey to Origae-6 still ahead of them. But maybe there's a perfectly habitable planet right around the corner. Maybe they don't have to go back to sleep for another 10 years.

Of course, we all know they shouldn't go. But Covenant isn't interested in subverting the traditional elements of the horror movie - it's here to use them and play within the horror movie rules the majority of the Alien movies more or less honor the same horror movie set that goes back to, at least, Psycho. What the movie does well in these early goings is to establish some better than usual characters, making Billy Crudup's character a good Christian to help fuel his self-doubt and leadership anxieties, and making everyone in the crew someone's husband or wife. This way, when those people start turning into alien incubators, the reaction shots from their friends and family actually carry some weight.

The way we're introduced to the Covenant crew also makes it slightly less obvious as to who will be turned inside out first. But once a reconnaissance ship is sent out to track the signal on this mysterious planet, it isn't long before people the wonder of seeing water, trees and grains turns to the horror of chests bursting open and loved ones being lost. Yes, in these moments, dumb mistakes are being made - but again, these aren't highly trained soldiers or scientists. From the moment they wake up they're grieving civilians, in over their heads and trying to deal with a situation that no amount of protocols can prepare you for. In other words, as your life's work is crumbling before your eyes, some common sense is bound to go out the window.

It's not long before the crew tracks the signal down to a very familiar looking ship -- the one Elizabeth Shaw and David flew off in at the end of Prometheus. Indeed, it turns out that David and Shaw did find the Engineer's home planet and when they arrived David unleashed holy hell on the entire population, wiping the slate clean to play god in his own twisted way.

We spend a large portion of the film's second half down in some dank catacombs, where David has set up shop and where he reassures the rapidly dwindling number of Covenant crew that they are safe. As a storm begins to rage, some try desperately to contact the mother ship hovering above the clouds, while others begin to piece together David's ulterior motives for his new supply of human meat sacs.

Scott clearly loves the damp surfaces of these corridors, and the camerawork by his frequent collaborator, Dariusz Wolski, evokes an eerie primitiveness. This is the kind of cavernous place where you find an underground pond filled with albino reptiles that have those milky, blind eyes. Around every corner is another room containing evidence that adds a layer to the horror story of what David has been up to these past fifteen years.

Like a psychotic Michelangelo, David has been hard at work creating sketches of his dreams and inventions. Walter, the Covenant's synthetic, is tasked with finding out more about what David's been up to, which leads to a series of amazing Fassbender-on-Fassbender scenes -- including a very special one involving a flute that has me eager to see the movie again. Yes, seeing Fassbender's amazing control of his physicality and acting chops is worth the price of admission itself, but the reason it's so thrilling is that there's a great story here with a very satisfying reward.

It eventually becomes clear that Covenant intends to turn David into the grand architect behind the Xenomorph, and this is what he's been doing these past fifteen years -- speeding up the evolutionary process to make this most ideal creature of death. In true Alien fashion, by this point were down to our last survivors, including the very Ripleyesque Katherine Waterston. Covenant also carries on the tradition of having a couple different endings, with varying levels of effectiveness. In this case, I admired the roller-coaster effect of the first ending, which finds Waterston swinging around on a rope, trying to knock the Xenomorph off the ship while it tries to lift off and escape the pull of gravity. For a special effects set-piece it did have a remarkable sense of real weight to it all, even if it was a bit silly.

But there's nothing wrong with a bit of silliness, folks. There's no reason an Alien movie has to be a dour bummer. Alien 3 proved this perfectly well. Alien: Covenant is filled with laugh-out-loud hilarious bits that made it all the more enjoyable. Fassbender's David is proving himself to be one of the great cinematic villains, up there with Anthony Hopkins's Hannibal Lector.

Since I was too young to catch the first two entries in their initial run, this is the first time I've left the theater after an Alien movie feeling completely satisfied and genuinely thrilled by the experience.

[ryanmeft]

Alien: Covenant Movie Review

Alien: Covenant establishes itself as a follow-up to Prometheus immediately, with a scene between the synthetic man David and his creator Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce). They discuss life, meaning, and, if Peter created David, who created Peter? The Biblical names are no more an accident here than they were in the previous film, though they reverse the peking order, since David was the father of a nation and Peter merely one of its children. Michael Fassbender, serving a dual role as David and as a newer version of him named Walter, will be key in the plot, which relies heavily on this notion of creator and created, and which frequently asks us to ponder which is the father and which the son. Oh, and there are also xenomorphs.

After this opening, we transition to the ship Covenant, where Walter, a newer version of the synthetic line of David, is running operations while the crew and thousands of colonists rest in deep freeze for their arrival on a planet they intend to colonize. The ship itself is reminiscent of a hive, and when a massive solar flare disrupts the voyage and awakens most of the crew prematurely, it also kills their captain (played, oddly, in a brief video by James Franco).

Placed in charge is Oram (Billy Crudup), who believes his status as a Christian causes him to be seen as incompetent by the eggheads running the colonization mission. In reality, he's not incompetent, but he is an ineffective leader, unable to read his crew's emotions and satisfy them, despite the encouragement of his wife (Carmen Ejogo). His new second-in-command, Daniels (Katherine Waterston), despite his cold indifference toward the loss of her husband, remains loyal enough to warn him against putting down on a suddenly discovered, lush planet, in much the same way you want to tell character in a horror film "Damn it, don't go in the creepy old house!" She's in the minority, though, because it is seven years to their target and no one wants to go back to being human popsicles.

So land they do. Some of the crew is cannon fodder, but most get at least a trickle of personality. Demian Bichir, Amy Seimetz, Callie Hernandez and Nathaniel Dean play characters with little enough to do in the plot that you can be fairly sure they will not make it, but just enough to care when they don't. Waterston, Crudup and Danny McBride get the most developed characters. Daniels has both hope and cynicism, which battle each other, and clings to the simple dream of her late husband: to build a cabin by a lake in their new home. Waterston's star has been skyrocketing since her starring turn in Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and here she is the emotional center of the crew in the same way Noomi Rapace was in Prometheus. Her relationships with Oram and Tennessee form a trifecta that drives the movie even when there are no current monsters or threats. Crudup perfectly nails the feeling of being brave but insecure, willing to protect his crew even while feeling strongly they doubt him because of what and not who he is. If he fails them, it isn't because he didn't love them, but perhaps because he didn't know how to love them; Catholics in the audience might recognize such a dichotomy. Tennessee, the pilot, is kept out of the action for most of the film and must listen helplessly, not knowing how things are going on the surface. His anguish at this, as when he suffers a great personal loss, is palpable. McBride is known mostly for comedy, a skill he uses in perfect banter with the other crew, but he has an arc and a soul as well.

All of the crew members pale in comparison, however, to the dual performance of Fassbender. Walter fulfills his role with mechanic accuracy, but also bristles at criticism from Oram, and harbors feelings for one of the crew which he may not be built to articulate. And since David shows up in the cold open, we surmise that he'll do so again. The movie takes a surprisingly long time to give him his entrance, and waits until the crew are on the planet, being attacked by child-and-teenage versions of the classic monsters. He enters seeming like a savior, and he might be in a way, for he is also playing god inside a majestic abandoned city once peopled by the Engineers from Prometheus. This is one of the great achievements in modern film, a city of the dead that was obviously wasted by some disaster which froze the corpses of the people in place like Pompeii. It is a place we would not see or want to see in real life, but can marvel at in terror under the art direction of Damien Drew and the camera work of Dariusz Wolski. Within, David sees Walter as a long-lost son in the same way you or I might view a pet. Like Ego in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, he's not disappointed with his "son" for any objective reason, but because Walter has not embraced David's view of their own superiority over humanity. There are, of course, also analogues to Fassbender's human-hating character Magneto from the X-Men films.

It isn't the overarching themes that make these scenes ache, however. In one rather sexually charged moment, David teaches Walter to play the flute, and as pointed out by Matt Zoller Seitz on Ebert.Com, it is the first time an actor has gotten to seduce himself. At times it is hard to tell if David wants to kiss Walter or kill him, though he has few qualms as regards the human "meat". He sees their fates as inevitable and just, but when Walter disagrees, he discards even him like refuse. Ridley Scott loves to play with creator/created ideas as they relate to parents and children (see Blade Runner for another example) but this is his deepest and most thorough exploration of that idea yet. It involves many twists and turns I won't give away, and many stunningly beautiful shots of both horror and love.

Scott, returning to the franchise proper for the first time since the original (Prometheus's status as an Alien movie per se, as opposed to an Alien-related movie, is debatable), is a rather triumphal return to large scale projects with deep themes. The Martian was more of a character piece. Other recent efforts such as Exodus: Gods and Kings were lambasted, and Prometheus itself was divisive to both critics and fans. Here he is again painting on a massive canvas: the Covenant is a world unto itself and home to two of the year's best action sequences thus far, while the Engineer planet is endlessly fascinating. He's also got more to say about the human condition while providing plenty of the sort of scares we're accustomed to. The tropes present---characters dying because of incredibly stupid decisions, for instance, or ones that are obvious cannon fodder---are clearly deliberate decisions on the part of Scott and his writers. He understands that horror fans like horror because of these things, not in spite of them. A horror movie where we never have an excuse to say to the screen "No, idiot, don't look inside the gestating monster pod!" is no horror movie at all.

There's always going to be part of the fanbase for such a long running franchise that simply doesn't like any changes in direction at all. For full disclosure, I've never seen a classic Alien film, but I don't have to in order to know I was glued to the screen for the entirety of Covenant. Scott has taken the DNA of monster films, thrillers, speculative science-fiction and the eternal quest to know one's own maker and created a thinking man's blockbuster that sets your mental gears a-whirling even as it is making you jump a little in your uncomfortable theatre seat. In space, no one may be able to hear you scream, but everyone looking for a deeper summer ride will appreciate this trip into the dark reaches of space, humanity and faith.

Verdict: Must-See

Note: I don’t use stars but here are my possible verdicts. I suppose you could consider each one as adding a star.

Must-See Highly Recommended Recommended Average Not Recommended Avoid like the Plague

You can follow Ryan's reviews on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/ryanmeftmovies/

Or his very infrequent tweets here:

https://twitter.com/RyanmEft

All images are property of the people what own the movie.

[popwasabi]

“Alien: Covenant” Review: Morons in Spaaaaace!

Directed by Ridley Scott

Starring: Katherine Waterson, Michael Fassbender, Danny McBride, Billy Crudup

 Many years back, the late great Roger Ebert introduced me to a blunt but nonetheless effective term in literature called the “Idiot Plot.”

The idiot plot, to put it simply, is basically when the plotline of a story only moves forward because the characters are dumbasses, who’s story’s plot would otherwise be over if they didn’t act like or make dumbass decisions.

“Alien: Covenant,” in short, is exactly this. Ridley Scott’s characters from beginning to end in this film make one moronic decision after another that basic common sense would have overridden quickly otherwise and ended the storywithin the first ten minutes.

There are good, even great moments to be had in this movie but unfortunately it’s swamped underneath a layer of stupid so thick you could pour it over pancakes.

(”Mmmmm…iiiiidiot plot… *drool sound*”)

A sequel to Ridley Scott’s convoluted “Alien” precursor “Prometheus,” “Alien: Covenant” tells the story of the crew of a colony ship  who sustain a tragic accident from a random neutrino blast that kills their captain on their way to a planet. During repairs the crew is suddenly alerted of what seems to be a human signal coming from a planet even more habitable than their original destination. Against the objection of first officer Dany Branson, the crew heads to what appears to be paradise on this forlorn planet but quickly uncover an unimaginable terror that threatens to kill them all if they don’t escape.

It’s a real shame that this movie wasn’t better because there are brief glimpses of brilliance within this very, for lack of a more eloquent word, stupid story.

Its visually as impressive as it gets both in cinematography and in special effects and Michael Fassbender once again is the best and most interesting part of the story, this time playing both a Data like android in Walter and reprising his role as David who has now gone full mad scientist. 

But again the dumb of the story is just baffling from start to finish.

Since its kind of impossible to properly give a review of this film without SPOILERS, you are all being warned now that the rest of this write-up will be filled with them so read on at your own risk.

(Complainers will be fed to whatever the hell that squid beast was from “Prometheus.”) 

Literally the Most Emotionally Unstable People Ever in Space!

I know this is science fiction and we’re all supposed to have a strong suspension of disbelief when venturing into this genre but I have a hard time understanding how whoever runs the show back on Earth in this universe could hire so many emotionally unhinged individuals to head a highly important space colonizing mission.

At the beginning of the film, after the random neutrino blast causes a freak accident which involves killing James Franco’s character before he even makes a real appearance, acting captain Christopher Oram (Billy Crudup) makes such a big deal about protocol that he gets angry about a section of the crew holding a FREAKING FUNERAL for the dead captain.

He then says something vague about the suits back on Earth not trusting him with the mission because he’s a “man of faith” (because, you know, this movie is all about faith and Gods, geeeet it? Oh and this never gets brought up again btw) but then suddenly when this random space message gets intercepted by the ship and they discover this habitable planet its coming from he’s like “FUUUUCK protocol lets endanger the lives of 2000 colonists by venturing to this planet that we haven’t scouted out at all and we only discovered through a spooky space message!”

So keeping score here; funeral for dead captain? Wrong and against the rules. Following a random space signal to a planet you haven’t scouted, mapped or verified while responsible for the lives of 2000 colonists? Totally ok and not against protocol.

This is the horror movie cliché equivalent of “Hey gang, we should totally go into that spooky house over there.”

(It didn’t…)

As if to further establish that this dude is a moron and should have never been second in command, let alone sent into space, he clearly had some vendetta going with James Franco’s character and a contentious relationship with Waterson’s Dany so once again I have to ask “Who the fuck let these people crew a space ship??” I don’t see NASA sending people with petty high school drama into space, I don’t expect people of the far future to either.

Fast forward a bit in the story, where members of the crew have been infected by the virus that is also the alien as well(?) we have a sequence of events where one neomorph (a genuinely creepy albino version of the xenomorph, I must admit) emerges from a crew member inside their drop ship’s med bay after one of the crew intentionally locks the other inside. 

Granted we have characters who are dealing with an emergence and horrific scene they have never trained for but judging by their military armaments and classifications it feels like all common sense and military action was thrown out the window out of stark fear as the two crew members in this scene play more as meat bags to get slaughtered than actual functioning people. It all ends in a hilarious “whoops” sequence when one of them in stark fright misses the neomorph and hits an open gas container (?) that ignites the ship into an explosion.

As Crudup poutingly remarks “It’s all my fault” while observing the fireball, I felt very tempted to yell out in the theater “Yes it fucking is!”

(Basically…) 

The Dumbest Astronauts Ever

As remarked on before, the Covenant crew’s emotional instability is staggering considering they are running a giant space colonizing mission and the choice to go colonize a strange planet that popped up out of nowhere that they know nothing about truly highlights this team’s lack of operational brain cells.

As it turns out in the movie this is the first of many bad ideas by the crew.

First, I may not be an astronaut but whether a planet has oxygen conducive to human life or not I ain’t stepping out onto a strange new world without wearing at least a haz-mat suit for fear of deadly microbes.

And this is more or less how the neomorphs come into play here. While walking around, members of the crew accidentally step on these little pods that happen to contain seeds of the neomorph. It’s the facehugger basically but in pollen form (?) and it basically makes its way into the host through the nose and of course shit hits the fan from there.

Literally, if these guys just follow what seems to be pretty normal protocol for space missions across the entire science fiction genre nobody gets infected and hell, the crew might even bounce after recognizing that the spooky alien space ship is the final resting place of the crew of the Prometheus (as they are established to be aware of). In fact why didn’t they run away regardless after seeing that?

(Yep, definitely nothing alarming about this on an unknown planet you received a space message from…)

But nope two members split into two and neomorphs go running about killing randomly with again members of cast just being in the movie to be meatbags, another common sense mistake in the plotline that would have otherwise saved our “heroes.”

Why the fuck do people still trust David??

Rewinding back to “Prometheus,” Noomi Rapace’s character Elizabeth Shaw made a series of dumb decisions in that movie too but perhaps her gravest mistake, as told in “Covenant,” was trusting the android David… AGAIN.

If you remember “Prometheus” everything goes wrong because David’s overly curious nature starts to boil over into mad scientist territory (even more so in this film) when he decides to experiment on the crew’s captain out of spite with the virus sample he obtains. Everything that goes wrong from there can be traced back to the android and yet still at the end of the movie instead of smashing David’s head with a rock (which btw begs the question how did Shaw repair David between movies??), Shaw decides to bring him along for the ride to confront the Engineers.

Fast forward to past midway into “Covenant,” Walter, the other android, confronts David after discovering he killed Shaw, possibly to conduct more experiments regarding the xenomorphs. Boy, I bet no one saw that coming…

(To be fair he is one handsome motherfucker. #nohomo)

Fast forward again, David has now revealed himself to Crudup’s character and instead of shooting him before he could fuck another crew over again and thus redeem himself a little after ordering the Covenant to this planet in the first place, he decides to follow David because he wants to know “answers.” 

The scene is basically only there for the exposition into why David is doing what he’s doing (though its not completely clear why still) but once again just an ounce of common sense, given the context here, would have more intelligent people going “Fuck your reasons!” and just shooting Fassbender in the face.

Instead Crudup walks into an obvious trap where even after seeing big scary aliens kill multiple members of his crew, he decides to look directly into an obvious xenomorph egg after David deviously says “its been waiting for you” and you know what happens next. 

A comical twirling mustache and a maniacal laugh would have really tied the whole scene’s ridiculousness together.

(”Deeerrrr, the evil android said it was ‘just for me.’ Daaawww how thoughtful of him. :3″)

How did Walter lose to David and how did David catch-up to the Covenant crew?

So after Walter first confronts David regarding Shaw (which has a fairly comical Fassbender kissing Fassbender sequence in it), David kills him by stabbing him in the neck with a flute which leads to a pretty hilarious split second image of Fassbender bugging his eyes out. It appears at this point Walter is dead, even though its been established in this series that Androids can sustain much worse injuries without ceasing to function.

(Like seriously, much worse…)

Anyways, Walter then appears to heal from his wound since his model has “upgrades” (which begs the question since this is a prequel why couldn’t Ash or Bishop do that?) and goes back to fight David in hilarious Fassbender on Fassbender action. At one point it appears Walter has David dead to rights, even punching him so hard that his voice box becomes garbled. But then David starts rambling about something, something perfect species or what not and we cut to Fassbender running toward the Covenant crew as obviously David masquerading as Walter.

The question here though is how did Walter lose? In the previous scene we see David reaching for a knife but we’ve already established Walter can heal from those kinds of wounds. Did he chop him into many little bits? If so how did he have the time to cut-up Walter, then melt off his own hand (Since Walter lost it to a neomorph earlier in the film), put on Walter’s clothes, then also freeze a couple of facehugger embryos to put in his stomach (which he regurgitates at the end of the movie), and also repair his voice box enough to mimic Walter’s voice, while simultaneously trying to catch up to the crew while also outrunning the xenomorph that’s already trying to catch them?

If he somehow persuaded Walter to join him, even though he tried that already during the first confrontation, he STILL has to do all those things before the xenomorph gets there.

(That does not make sense!)

This might seem a bit nitpicky but seriously this whole sequence doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Soooo maaaany questions still…

One of the frustrating things about “Prometheus” is its too mysterious. It’s a prequel to “Alien” that answers nothing about the original and adds a shitload of questions instead.

Who are the Engineers? Why did they create humanity? Why do they want to destroy humanity? What is the virus exactly? How does it work? How does the virus make xenomorphs? Why do people run in a straight line from a falling space ship?

(Right or left! It’s not that fucking hard!)

“Covenant,” like its predecessor, answers none of these and again leaves the viewers with a bunch of confusing questions.

Why didn’t the Covenant space mission not originally discover this Engineer world while mapping out planets for colonization? Again why send so many emotionally unstable individuals into space? How did the weird alien pods start growing on this planet? If in “Prometheus” the virus just makes zombies out of male characters why does the space pollen create neomoprhs? Why did David decide to commit genocide on the Engineers? Was this the only planet a vast space-faring race like the Engineers lived on? How did David crash the ship after killing the Engineers? If David is the true creator of the xenomorphs as we know them now how did the engineer ship end up on LV-426? And how did those same xenomorphs eggs do the same?

I guess these questions can all be answered in the next movie but that’s what we all said about “Prometheus” too…

(Answer me, you handsome fuck! #noHomo) 

There’s more I could probably critique from here but this really is the meat of what’s terribly wrong with “Alien: Covenant.” 

Characters, who should be more intelligent than they are, make bad decision after bad decision in what would make even the most cliché horror films blush and narratively it’s a confusing mess that leaves too many questions for the viewers.

Even on a superficial level, watching “Alien” the night before this movie, its not even a fun horror romp either. This film certainly has a lot of blood and gore and death to go around but it has none of the qualities that made the original such a great thriller. The last act of the movie is basically a sped-up retelling of “Alien” and it lacks all the teeth, tension, suspense and claustrophobia of that movie. Characters are largely nameless in this story and get killed just the same. Without looking I could name three characters at best out of the Covenant crew and their interpersonal relationships. You sometimes even forget who’s still alive and who’s dead after awhile.

(Not even a good “Happy birthday!” jump scare!)

It’s a mess on a narrative scale and even as its basest isn’t a very good horror film either which is even more shameful.

There’s definitely worse movies out there but “Alien: Covenant” is among the dumber blockbusters to come out over the last couple years with plot holes so big a xenomorph could walk through them,

Maybe if “Bladerunner: 2049” turns out great we can have Dennis Villeneuve reinvent the “Alien” franchise next but until that time comes (hopefully) it appears Ridley Scott might want to go into cryo sleep and away from his properties for awhile…

VERDICT:

1.5 out of 5

Until next time…

[lorrainecparker]

ART OF THE CUT on Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant

Pietro Scalia has won two Best Editing Oscars, for his work on JFK and Black Hawk Down. He was also nominated for Gladiator and Good Will Hunting. Other films have included: Kick-Ass, American Gangster, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2, The Martian and, the previous film in the Alien franchise: Prometheus. Art of the Cut caught up with Scalia to talk about Alien: Covenant as he was coming home from work at Pinewood Studios.

HULLFISH: Can you tell me what movie you’re working on now?

SCALIA: Yes. I just started the Star Wars Han Solo Untitled Project.

HULLFISH: That’s cool! So on Alien: Covenant, do you remember the length of your first cut?

SCALIA: I think the first cut was around two twenty, two twenty-five.

HULLFISH: Where did you end up?

SCALIA: It was just under two hours… with credits its 2:01 or 2:02… something like that.

HULLFISH: Let’s talk about intercutting storylines. You’ve got the group of guys that are up in Covenant and there’s the group of people exploring on foot, and the woman that’s waiting with the lander. Did you find that you needed to manage the intercutting of those storylines differently than the script?

SCALIA: We moved some pieces around structurally dealing with when do we leave, what action or story beats on the planet and when to go back onto the spaceship. There were several longer beats between Farris and Tennessee trying to establish communication. Going back and forth too many times tended to make the journey to the Juggernaut and the Engineer’s City belabored and tedious. We combined certain scenes between Farris and Tennessee, eliminated the walking and talking through the forest, getting the ground crew up the mountain quicker. Later on, after the attack in the Med Bay on the lander, we held back going back to Tennessee, for the part where he says: “I never heard my wife so scared before”, not after her death as scripted but after the second Neomorph birth as to not interrupt the momentum. The middle part of the film was more challenging after the reveal of David.  Once the Covenant Story merges with the Prometheus storyline finding the proper structural order of the scenes proofed to be difficult because of the distinctive dynamics of the two story lines in addition to the separation of the two locations of the action. In one sense the action, the tension and unfolding drama going from one group to the other had to be balanced and spaced properly as not to loose the connective tissue of the film.

(L-R) Danny McBride (Tennessee) and Katherine Waterston (Daniels) star in ALIEN: COVENANT.

Many scenes slowed down the forward momentum and the tension that we generated in the Med Bay sequence. But because we have to slow down in order to develop several character interactions between David and Walter, thematically the heart of the movie, understanding his purpose, his motivations was key to keeping the story moving forward. Ridley did not want to sacrifice the pace, but we couldn’t speed up the scenes with David and Walter. And we didn’t want to truncate the beauty of Michael’s performances in order to shave time off. Pace is not about length of time; it’s about narrative rhythm. Again there were several back-to-back scenes between David and Walter, when he teaches him how to play the flute and the terraced garden scene with Shaw’s grave where he talks about the destruction of the Engineers. In the script they were separated by scenes between Rosenthal leaving to take a break, Daniels and Oram reflecting on the loss of their crewmates, the Covenant crew establishing communication, Rosenthal’s death and so forth. 

I spent a long time moving he individual scenes around, reshuffling and restructuring, trying different ways and saying, “I can stay away from this action for too long. I need to continue with this story line.” Each structural change had a domino effect. I must have tried over twenty different ways to structure the middle part of the film. There was a lot of trial and error with that part because I knew I was always being pulled in opposite directions by the two story dynamics. Ultimately they had to complement each other in order to advance story and character.

Director Ridley Scott on the set of ALIEN: COVENANT

HULLFISH: You mentioned building tension. How do you find that you can best build tension in editing and what’s the relationship between tension and release of tension?

SCALIA: Well, you build tension by meticulously and deliberately building on the expectation that something is going to happen. You release it, when you can find the right moment – the enjoyment comes from the slow build up of tension and the quick “unexpected” release. You build tension through the use of camera movements, sound design and the composition of space within the frame, what you show or not show, what sound are emphasized, or how music or lack of it helps enormously.

HULLFISH: Did you do anything specific to build the subtext about the themes of faith and creations? There is the text of the movie and the subtext of the movie and the subtext was definitely about God and creation. Your thoughts about subtext?

SCALIA: In Alien: Covenant the fundamental theme is the relation of God/Man or Creator/Subject. With creation also comes death and destruction. There can’t be creation of something new without something else dying. So from the opening prologue scene where David and Weyland talk about creation and art, and it becomes clear that the we are revisiting the themes of creation from Prometheus – In that film we explored the theme of human hubris, the arrogance of man that he can create like a God, which is what ultimately leads to the fall of man. Creation, destruction, life and death, knowledge, and survival of our species in the future are themes that Ridley talked a lot about even during Prometheus: the idea of stealing the fire (knowledge) from the gods. In a way Weyland represents the pinnacle of a man’s ability to create something superior that is almost human – in our likeness, just like God did with man. Yet David the perfect android equates creation with the power of imagination. I think the subtext or the themes in Covenant are expressed through David’s actions. We know David is brilliant, very likable yet at its core purely evil. Is that a trait that he somehow inherits from his “father-creator” Weyland?  You can see in Fassbender’s performance the under-current of his deviousness. This self-awareness allows him to create simply because he feels the need to match or surpass the accomplishments of his creator. We get a sense of his superiority complex from the prologue scene when David challenges his creator, and says, “If you created me who created you?” The age old question that we all want to know. – Where do we come from?  As Weyland replies. But David goes even further and says, “You will die, I will not.” Again, death and creation; you are mortal and I am not. That makes him more powerful than his own creator. It’s that spark that makes him superior in evolutionary terms to man. He thinks therefore he is, as Descartes said. Yet he’s something new. He’s immortal like a God. Weyland shows he can still control him by ordering him “Bring me my tea”. (You’re my servant. You’re still my subject). But throughout the film Ridley shows moments of creation and mutations of creations and that life in its form and creation is not pleasant. The alien in a way represents the most perfect creation of creature that is perfectly engineered to be a superior killing beast. Its only purpose is to destroy any other living form. Specifically man, the flesh or “the meat” as David describes in the Hall of Heads. Later he tells Walter of his achievement by creating the perfect form, void of the capacity to procreate by itself without a host. That’s the genius of what David has accomplished. The Alien – a perfect killing machine, as the culmination of his imagination.

Katherine Waterston (Daniels) stars in ALIEN: COVENANT

HULLFISH: One of the things that I was wondering if it got explored more in the script was Billy Crudup’s character … Oram, who ends up being the captain … and talks about how he got chosen despite having faith.

SCALIA: As a character Oram mentions to his wife that they wouldn’t give him the position of captain because of his belief because they don’t want a man of faith to be a leader. He’s someone who comes from a Christian belief of God and Billy explored his background as Evangelical Christian … it’s not clear in the script at all nor ever developed any further what exactly religious background is. It could be implied that when he says, “I’ve seen the devil” when confronting David that possibly a close relative was the devil disguised as a preacher or a man of god. It was never really explored any further, it’s just conversations Ridley and I had about his character. He talks about being challenged by his own faith. He is a man of faith, whose faith constantly challenges him.

HULLFISH: You and Ridley worked on Prometheus. Do you think your familiarity of the film affected this film in any way?

Director Ridley Scott and Katherine Waterston (Daniels) on the set of ALIEN: COVENANT

SCALIA: Not really. Prometheus could’ve gone a little further with exploring the themes of creation. During the making of Prometheus, we talked about themes in Milton’s Paradise Lost. I saw that there were some parallels of themes between the Engineers and the Fallen angels in Paradise Lost. That’s why, at one point, Ridley was probably considering the idea of calling Alien, Paradise Lost. The story of Lucifer being one of the brightest angels and most beautiful of angels in God’s Paradise confronts God about his creations of Adam and Eve and giving them free will. When challenging God, God punishes him and expelled him from paradise with a band of Angels that sided with Lucifer. I saw the Engineers as these Fallen angels. Some of these who later regretted their choice who returned into God’s grace and were forgiven. But Lucifer never did, and it was Lucifer who tempted – in the Book of Genesis – Adam and Eve. Thus showing God that his creation of man was doomed. These themes were unfortunately not developed in Prometheus. The film became something else. But I think that the seeds of these ideas were there and maybe continue to live in Alien: Covenant . Ridley and the writers wanted to incorporate the destruction of the Engineers’ world as a prologue to bridge the two films and to show what happened to Shaw after she and David when traveling to the Creators/Engineers’ world. There were a lot more scenes that connect directly to Prometheus but structurally it didn’t work to have two or three scenes or about 12 mins. of film that connect one film to the next. And then start the actual story of AC. I think that the prologue scene with Weyland and David sets up the thematic of creation in a more cinematically elegant and concise way.  In the overall context of the film, Prometheus, connects halfway through Alien Covenant as a flashback. At a point when it was important to tell what happened to the Engineers planet, the destruction, and the truth yet a hidden lie on David’s part. It could possibly help answering some questions for people who had seen Prometheus, but I don’t think it takes away from people who hadn’t. We also tried to have two flashbacks, when David touches Shaw’s grave and explains to Walter what happened and how she died, again another misdirection from David. On the Fox AC website you see some of these deleted prologue scenes and flashbacks that became part of the marketing campaign to engage viewers who wanted to know more of how the two films are connected.

HULLFISH: A lot of that stuff that you’re talking about is very writing oriented. The last time we spoke we talked about editing as writing. Do you think that’s something Ridley values in you? Kind of a writer?

SCALIA: Well, I’m not a writer. I’m an editor; … a visual storyteller and I look for connective tissues in images and sounds to merit big ideas. In Prometheus I think there was a promise of big ideas but at the same time you’re pulled into the demand of making a movie that’s visually and dramatically entertaining and not a philosophical essay. Sometimes those ideas don’t have to be explicit; they are subtext, thematic under currants that you can recognize from literature or art, familiar themes that writers and artist have dealt with before. I mean the whole history of art deals with creation and the fall of man. They are the big ideas that Ridley loves to tackle in his films. They appeal to him just the way he was inspired by the painting “Pollice Verso”, by Jean Leon Gerome to do Gladiator.  Gustave Dore’s engravings of Dante’s Inferno, William Blake’s drawings illustrating the Divine Comedy or God creating the universe, Michelangelo’s David: the most perfect human form in sculpture, are all sources of inspiration for Ridley and myself. As filmmakers you work on all levels of aesthetics that stimulate all collaborators on the films: Production Designers, DPs, Composer, and unify all to a single vision of the director.

HULLFISH: So that’s a lot of theory and themes. Let’s talk about something practical and concrete. How do you approach a scene?

(L-R) Katherine Waterston (Daniels) and Demian Bichir (Sergeant Lope) star in ALIEN: COVENANT.

SCALIA: So the first thing is that the assistants organize the material from the previous days shoot. A lot of times scenes takes several days. I start looking at the material when I receive it but don’t star editing the scene until I have all the pieces. I make screening notes I reread the scene in the script and rewatch the dailies before cutting. I watch everything not only the preferred “circled” takes. By this time I’m very familiar with the material and I start to build the scene. What I look for is character and story beats. I’m trying to react to the material that’s presented to me. I want to be inspired by the way it’s shot and I’ll make notes based on those reactions. I want to memorize the footage as well as I can. And the visual organization of my Avid bin helps. I make selected shot sequences have get a rough sense of the dramatic arc or shape of a scene, especially in long or complex action sequences. I can see what changes were made from the initial script and what unexpected beats and sometimes mistakes could be useful for character and story.

Michael Fassbender (Walter) stars in ALIEN: COVENANT

I’m conscious when building a scene of the space the action takes place in. Trying to make sense for the viewer to understand the surroundings the characters inhabit. Rhythm of dialogue, speed of camera movements, composition and performance are the main elements that determine the structure of a scene. My first goal is really to build character. What choices did the actor make? How does this contribute to character? Do the character’s emotions feel real? I really on my gut instinct and first impressions: “Do I cover all the story points?” that the scene requires. After a first pass I add some sound effects or background ambiences, or music to enhance the scenes. I have a visual effects editor who helps me comp temp VFX shots if they shoot with green screen. The First Assistant builds sound effects backgrounds as needed. After several scenes are cut and follow in script order I string them together into a sequence and so forth finding new transitions between scenes, which usually means removing all the beginnings and ends of scenes.

A week or so after principle photography finishes; you have a so-called first cut that includes everything that was shot, everything in script order. At this stage it’s not really a film yet. Even though the scenes are cut to the proper length it’s just a vague indication of what it could be.

A lot of times you realize when you watch it that you don’t need all of the expositional dialogue. You don’t have to actually have to say a line of dialogue when you can see it from the actors’ actions or intent. In very long static scenes or long dialogue scenes, I try to find ways of how can I move this along without destroying the fabric of the performance. I look for ways to create a forward narrative movement, visually and dramatically to keep the viewer engaged. It’s kind of an organic process of slowly building and reshaping the film as you edit.

Katherine Waterston (Daniels) stars in ALIEN: COVENANT

HULLFISH: How are your bins organized?

SCALIA: I use frame view. A lot of times if it’s a small scene usually organized by slate, by set up, numbered in chronological or alphabetical order. When it’s a very large scene and there are hundreds of set ups and an enormous amount of material I see the material first and then they organize it based on what used to call KEM rolls, which are basically a dailies roll in that order. But later on I actually ask the assistance to order the bins in parts and sections in order of scene or the order of action. Another thing I do when there is a lot of material is I mark sections with a locator marker. I go to the locaters as a way to remember.  Another thing that I discovered on the picture I’m working right now is ScriptSync. And it’s my first time using it.  Comes very handy when you have many takes with a lot of improvisation and ad-libs comedy beats. With digital film usually what happens is some directors continue shooting without calling cut, so you end up with several takes within on slated take. You can have anywhere between two and a half a dozen line starts. But ScriptSync helps me to go to these lines and see all variations of the line readings. It’s turned out to be a very helpful tool. Ridley and I have worked for so long and I know how he prefers to cover a scene with multiple cameras with few takes, so I never saw the need for Script Sync. 

HULLFISH: So you’ve worked with Ridley if I have my numbers correct eleven times. That’s an impressive marriage.

SCALIA: There are those marriages: like Michael Kahn with Spielberg and Thelma Schoonmaker with Scorsese. Both editors I highly admire.

HULLFISH: You’re getting up there yourself with Ridley. I’ve talked to a bunch of people about the need for the editing room to be a safe place; a place of trust. Beyond your obvious talents -your Oscars, your Oscar nominations, just the quality of work you’ve done – what do you think it is that that Ridley appreciates about you and why he asks you back over and over again to work with him?

Demian Bichir (Sergeant Lope) in ALIEN: COVENANT.

SCALIA: Like you said, it’s about trust and the need to feel comfortable and safe in environment for creativity to flourish is all true. I think not only from me but with all of Ridley’s collaborators he wants somebody that has a point of view. We’re there to help the film to be able to highlight the best from all departments, to make a cohesive whole from everyone’s contributions. My job is to be protective of the story and to work with the director to realize his vision. But at the same time I have a point of view. I’m not just there to put together what was shot because it’s not a given. It’s not about your technical know-how. Those skills are not what makes a film. My craftis my artistic and personal contribution, my imagination my life experiences my interests that can bring something to the project. That’s why we get hired as editors.

Directors want collaborators and people that will contribute to the film and make it the best the it can be. As an editor I take care of the quality and care of craftsmanship, how things are built, and executed through all stages and delivery of the finished film. I work really hard for a long period of time, I’m fearless and persevere when things get though, but I guess Ridley likes the fact that I work fast and meticulously. My assistants and I make sure we stay always on schedule regardless the pressure of some demands. I defend the film, and protect the director’s vision. It’s a little bit of a cliche me being Italian, but I’m passionate about film and my work. You have to be a bit obsessive about something to excel or to do well.

When I worked with Oliver Stone, he always said, “Yes it’s good, but how can we make it better?” And then you work on it again and he says, “Yeah, let’s make it better and better and better.” And that’s just the way it is. You have to distill it to its essence. You have to focus it. You have to be very specific why you choose something. You can’t be vague. Every decision counts. There’s millions of decisions and if you are passionate about something and you take care of it. I love the process of creating something and seeing it on the big screen. The biggest thrill for me is to share that experience – the collaboration and work of many creative people and crew members funneled through editing process coming together as a film – to be shared by an audience in front of a big screen is very satisfying for all the hard work one put’s into it.

  HULLFISH: You talked about how passionate you are and your point of view. I think all editors need that passion and that point of view otherwise we’re useless. At the same time the final point of view is not ours. The point of view is the director’s and so at some point you need to take this great ego that you have about your own point of view and your own ability and subvert it to the director.

SCALIA: Ego can be dangerous. It’s not only the director, there’s a lot of people involved in the final product and sometimes you win sometimes you don’t. Ultimately it’s not about winning the argument. I really will defend story and character. That to me is essential. I welcome if somebody has a better idea that makes the film better… great… love it…let’s use it.

At one point Ridley wanted to take the “white room” Prologue out at the beginning. I said, “why … no absolutely not. You can’t. It’s very good.” It’s very formal, the way was shot and edited. The compositions and deliberate pace is the beauty of it. A chess game in the formal sense, triangles and lines that intersect from a desifgn point of view, beside it’s thematic importance I mentioned before. I love that the whole scene It reminded me of Kubrick and ….

HULLFISH: Kurasawa.

SCALIA: Yes! Kurasawa. A beautiful and austere scene at the same time filled with tension. I wanted the whole movie to be like that. Ultimately it’s the director’s film and Ridley decided to keep it at the front. At the end of the day regardless of disagreements or different opinions one leaves personal imprints behind; all choices are filtered through.

HULLFISH: In our earlier interview you said that story starts with character and you’ve talked a couple of times about character. Can you think of specific ways that you enhanced or brought out character in a scene in Alien: Covenant through editing?

SCALIA: Interesting question. Let me think about that. Character through editing. I worked a lot on Daniels’ character. I wanted her to be both vulnerable and strong. I didn’t go for a lot for the obvious takes. I needed to find the fire in the character, to uncover that she has the potential of actually becoming a leader at the end. It took a while to find that proper balance in her. I think Billy Crudup brought a lot to his character. From the script pages he seemed to be more negative… and pessimistic character. But it’s to Crudup’s credit that he created a fully rounded character, with good intension but also insecurities. So those these examples where I held back and chose different performances and consciously shaped the performance to enhance the quality of each character. The great pleasure was finding the difference in character between Michael Fassbender playing David and when playing Walter. From Prometheus I knew David and I loved his creation of that character. It is very recognizable when he’s David. But initially I had difficulty with Walter. I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to like the character of Walter and what he was bringing to it, but I grew to recognize what Michael was doing and I was able to make certain specific choices that enhanced their subtle difference. When Michael saw the film he was happy with it both characters, having created enough differences between the two. It showed his amazing talent.  There were times when maybe Walter would show too much emotion towards Daniels in scenes that we lost or didn’t need. He was becoming too human-like. Those are things we eliminated in order to make him more straight devoid of human emotions. I was looking for takes where there’s an internal process that happens and can be witnessed, but being programmed up to a certain point, how little or how much you show is tricky. It was only after having put all the scenes together and looking the arc of Walter’s character did I question, “Does he make sense? Is he consistent?” And does he have enough contrast to David character?

Katherine Waterston (Daniels) and Michael Fassbender (Walter) star in ALIEN: COVENANT

HULLFISH: You mentioned having an extensive music library. What did you temp with? Stuff from the previous films?

SCALIA: Ridley really wanted to pay tribute to Jerry Goldsmith’s score of Alien. I also started working with Jed Kurzel’s cues from The Snowtown. and Macbeth.  One particular track fro Snowtown had this relentless pulsating tone and rhythm that I used in the Med Bay sequence and Ridley immediately responded to it. I also used some Harry Gregson-Williams music thematic temp cues that he provided us with.  For some really low-end voices and beats I used elements from Sicario and some David Wingo from Midnight Special.

HULLFISH: All right. I should let you relax after a long day of editing. I really appreciate all the time you’ve spent with me.

SCALIA: Have a great day. Bye bye.

Most of this interview was transcribed using SpeedScriber.

To read more interviews in the Art of the Cut series, check out THIS LINK and follow me on Twitter @stevehullfish

The first 50 Art of the Cut interviews have been curated into a book, “Art of the Cut: Conversations with Film and TV editors.” The book is not merely a collection of interviews, but was edited into topics that read like a massive, virtual roundtable discussion of some of the most important topics to editors everywhere: storytelling, pacing, rhythm, collaboration with directors, approach to a scene and more. Oscar nominee, Dody Dorn, ACE, said of the book: “Congratulations on putting together such a wonderful book.  I can see why so many editors enjoy talking with you.  The depth and insightfulness of your questions makes the answers so much more interesting than the garden variety interview.  It is truly a wonderful resource for anyone who is in love with or fascinated by the alchemy of editing.” In CinemaEditor magazine, Jack Tucker, ACE, writes: “Steve Hullfish asks questions that only an editor would know to ask. … It is to his credit that Hullfish has created an editing manual similar to the camera manual that ASC has published for many years and can be found in almost any back pocket of members of the camera crew. … Art of the Cut may indeed be the essential tool for the cutting room. Here is a reference where you can immediately see how our contemporaries deal with the complexities of editing a film. … Hullfish’s book is an awesome piece of text editing itself. The results make me recommend it to all. I am placing this book on my shelf of editing books and I urge others to do the same.”

The post ART OF THE CUT on Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant appeared first on ProVideo Coalition.

First Found At: ART OF THE CUT on Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant

[deltamovies]

Alien: Covenant

Release Year: 2017

Rating: 6.8/10 ( voted)

Critic's Score: /100

Director: Ridley Scott

Stars: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup

Storyline The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world. When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape

Writers: Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett, Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Jussie Smollett, Callie Hernandez, Amy Seimetz, Nathaniel Dean, Alexander England, Benjamin Rigby, Uli Latukefu, Tess Haubrich, Lorelei King, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cast: Michael Fassbender –

David / Walter

Katherine Waterston –

Daniels

Billy Crudup –

Oram

Danny McBride –

Tennessee

Demián Bichir –

Lope

Carmen Ejogo –

Karine

Jussie Smollett –

Ricks

Callie Hernandez –

Upworth

Amy Seimetz –

Faris

Nathaniel Dean –

Hallett

Alexander England –

Ankor

Benjamin Rigby –

Ledward

Uli Latukefu –

Cole

Tess Haubrich –

Rosenthal

Lorelei King –

Voice of 'Mother'

(voice)

Taglines: Scream

Details

Official Website: Official Facebook |

Official Instagram |

Country: USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada

Language: English

Release Date: 3 Jan 2017

Filming Locations: Fox Studios, Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Box Office Details

Budget: $97,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $36,160,621

(USA) (19 May 2017)

Gross: $57,347,181

(USA) (26 May 2017)

Technical Specs

Runtime: 122 min

Did You Know?

Trivia: For the first time since Alien 3 (1992), an alien's point of view is shown. However, in this film, we see the alien's visual spectrum. See more »

Goofs: When Daniels and Tennessee eject the trucks from the cargo bay, they start to fall towards the planet. In zero-g, the trucks would just drift away from the ship in the same orbit. See more »

Quotes: [

User Review

Author:

Rating: 1/10

Spoilers. This film is a complete mess.

1. There is a ship full off over 1000 sleeping passengers. Yet they have just one android to look after it all. Why not have 3, 10 or even 20! They don't age and surely you need a backup.

2. A rogue unexplained solar flare hits the ship disabling it, and Walter says they should leave the area asap. But instead they go further into it.

3. An astronaut outside the ship picks up a stray signal through his helmets two-way radio, that somehow appears in visual form on the glass of his helmet? Yet the giant ship with the radio dish right next to him misses it!

4. How did they determine the artist from the white noise? What they found later no-way explains why they sent a song into space for no apparent reason!

5. They are able to trace a stray video signal to a planet two weeks away at star-ship speed.

6. You don't need to send almost the entire crew down to an alien planet! A scout team of four would have sufficed. Or maybe just the android on reconnaissance.

7. They pilot the drop ship through a plasma storm, yet it is sunlight clear within seeing distance. Why not fly around the storm?

8. They should have scouted the area, alien buildings and mass graveyards before landing the ship.

9. They land in the water, even though solid ground is just ten yards away. With unknown worms other possible deadly life in it. Unstable ground is not wise to land on, just to get your shoes wet?

10. You open the door after landing, not during.

11. They don't bother wearing space suits, they don't send the android out first to test the area.

12. They leave just one person on the ship, and leave the bay door wide open in unfamiliar terrain.

13. There is wheat on the planet. Did they just take seeds with them for the fun of it?

14. You do not let an infected person with an alien disease back on your ship.

15. Don't open the door to a quarantine lab with a monster in it, and don't go inside and slip on the blood.

16. When you shoot the metal wall of your shuttle with metal bullets, they usually ricochet. The fuel canisters are not usually left inside the ship, on the wall next to the door.

17. The two crew members that were in the shuttle as it exploded. At what point do you go check on all the screaming in the next room?

18. When following an android on an alien planet with a flare gun, through a dead city full of dead bodies, don't bother asking him about any of it. Or suspect him as the only survivor to have been the cause.

19. Androids kissing each other. Android David raping a woman. Why?

20. David decides to give himself a haircut, using garden sheers for no obvious reason, yet afterwards it was clearly done with an electric razor. And no one questions it.

21. Android robots can play the flute. You need lungs for that, to blow air.

22. Android David created the dust mites, the mutant embryo, a dozen eggs without a queen. Yet he made all this without any scientific equipment, zero tools, while living in a cave filled with his drawings and a flute.

23. The smart mini dust mites were perfection. A micro monster that kills within minutes. Logically, why would it evolve to a size that makes it vulnerable?

24. Don't split up in an alien vessel.

25. When you contact the main ship in orbit, give them a full report. Not just two words. And they should have abandoned you at that point to protect the rest of the passengers.

26. When the Captain finds David, talking to an Alien with the decapitated head of a fellow crew-member in the water, he doesn't start shooting him. Instead he follows him into the bowels of the ship and into a room full of eggs.

27. Do not look directly into an alien egg that is opening.

28. Apparently the gestation time of face alien impregnating a person to full alien form is just ten seconds now. Yet later it takes a few hours, and in Alien it took a day.

29. When Walter goes to confront David after being attacked, he should have got himself a gun. He was missing a hand, and about to fight another android on his home turf.

30. Do not fly a colony ship into a plasma storm, overwriting every safety protocol.

31. The loading platform should have flown straight back up. There was no reason the pilot was swinging the ship around like a mad man. The alien was not affecting its movement, and the storm had even subsided. Yet he flew it into buildings and all sorts of tilting.

32. With problems piling up, you don't turn of "Mother" the main ship computer for rebooting.

33. The aliens smash through reinforced glass with its head at every opportunity, without any harm to themselves.

34. The humans wear spacesuits to survive in the vacuum. But apparently aliens can survive without them.

35. Do not take a loud shower, with loud music and ignore the siren alarms.

36. When you have two identical looking androids and one of them is evil. Perhaps ask it a few basic security questions before giving it full command of the ship.

The post Alien: Covenant appeared first on The Movie Entertainment of the 21st Century!.

from http://ift.tt/2rEYaLa

[enragedtugboat]

ALIEN: COVENANT REVIEW

It’s hard not to feel nostalgic when the jagged lines of Alien: Covenant’s title flicker onto the big screen and most of us are familiar with the same powerful and eerie moment in the original Alien film. However, whilst Covenant utilises this trope to reignite memories of the 70’s sci-fi classic, the film as a whole fails to hit the same notes of tension and terror that made the original such a memorable achievement in cinema.

Plot Covenant follows the crew of a ship with its namesake, Covenant, on their search to find a golden world for colonisation as part of a long-planned mission. They quickly run into technical troubles and intercept a mysterious signal which diverts their course to an alternative planet which was overlooked in their original surveys.

A few beats are missed in the colonisation premise, we learn throughout that the crew consists entirely of married couples, but this concept is never utilised to any real effect. The deaths and brutality come so heavily in Covenant that there is little time to get attached to any of the couples or feel for a great deal of compassion for the resulting widows.

We later learn that the mysterious signal originated from Prometheus’ protagonist Elizabeth Shaw, who arrived at the home world of the Engineers (see: heavy Prometheus lore for reference) alongside her now-repaired android sidekick, David. The film is more of a sequel to Prometheus than could be expected from the marketing run-up, but it still fails to address some of its main questions mysteries. We learn the true purpose of the ‘black goo’, but Covenant side-steps the question of why the Engineers abandoned humanity. At the end of Prometheus, David asks Dr Shaw “does it matter why?” to which she responds affirmatively with the justification that, he would not understand why she cares so much, because he is a robot. Whilst this serves as an interesting factor in David’s struggle with his existence, which plays a heavy part in Covenant, it’s hard to be satisfied with the fate of Dr Shaw and her search in this movie.

Covenant also explains the origin of the franchise’s xenomorph and introduces Ridley’s new alien concept, the neomorph, which is an interesting addition to the roster. We witness the neomorph’s development from pathogen, to back-burster (a great ‘shock factor’ scene ruined by over-exposure in marketing), to competent killing machine. There is one spectacular scene early on where a single new-born neomorph causes utter chaos with explosive results. Whilst the explanation of the birth of the xenomorph is an interesting premise and unfolds in a satisfying way throughout the film, it takes away from the mystery of the xenomorph and undermines the steps that the franchise has taken to establish the it as the ‘ultimate lifeform’. This is particularly noticeable in how easily the aliens are dispatched by the film’s protagonists, who show little fear when staring at the acid-drooling monstrosities.

The film’s finale is reminiscent of the earlier Alien films in a predictable manner (there is a definite need for alien-stowaway-sensors to be installed on all spaceships going forward), but is enjoyable as it briefly re-introduces the tight corridors and mechanical pipework that made Alien so visually striking. This section almost felt like a reminder of what made the original so great – the simplicity of a group of (mostly) defenceless people isolated in space with a killing machine on board their ship.

Characters The standout of Alien: Covenant is Michael Fassbender in the dual roles of David and Walter. The film focusses heavily on the character drama between the two androids and, whilst culminating in an unnecessary and out of place fight scene, the route to this development succeeds in establishing the disturbing and dynamic foundation of David as the film’s antagonist. There are incredible moments and interactions between the two androids, as well as in David’s menacing treatment of the Covenant ship’s crew throughout.

There is an attempt to adhere to the franchise’s trope of strong women in a leading role, in Katherine Waterston’s character of Daniels, however in this entry her performance is completely overshadowed by Fassbender. There is little emotional impact in the throwaway cameo from James Franco, who plays Daniels’ husband before his untimely demise, which serves purely as motivation for Daniels to go on and fight for her ‘cabin on the lake’ (a cringe-inducing backstory which is used later to unveil a predictable plot twist). It is hard to get attached to Daniels, as she lacks the charisma and poise that made Sigourney Weaver so famous in the role of Ellen Ripley, or even the emotion and likeability of Noomi Rapace as Dr Elizabeth Shaw in Prometheus. It is hard to decide whether this is due to screen time, writing or performance but in the end her character feels like another attempt to tick the boxes for necessary Alien franchise criteria.

The rest of the cast provide solid performances with minimal one-liner cheese expected of monster movies, however they are ultimately forgettable and not enough time is spent on building relationships. There are also a few character-contradictory moments, particularly in one scene involving the Covenant ship’s religious captain (played by Billy Crudup) who follows the villainous David to his demise shortly after witnessing a disturbing which clearly establishes David as the antagonist. There is a jarring sense of nonsense to his actions in this scene which is reminiscent of the infamous and silly ‘running-from-the-ship’ scene in the final moments of Prometheus.

Visuals Covenant has a washed-out feel, with greys and browns dominating its colour palette. There are moments, particularly in the opening half-hour, where the sleek, futuristic sci-fi look that Prometheus sported are present, as well as a final chapter which harkens back to the narrow corridors and pipe-work of the Nostromo. For the most part however, the film feels dark and gloomy and establishes its own grim visual style. This suits the tone very well with the plot focus on the twisted fate of David.

The visual effects are a mixed bag. There is something to be said for the rubber-suit practical effects of the 70’s original, in that they are more convincing than the shiny CG aliens we see here. It’s good then, that Ridley uses these aliens (xenomorph and neomorph) for dramatic effect and tension instead of scare factor. These CG aliens are impressive both in terms of their look and behaviour, but the CG definitely breaks the immersion and adds to the feeling that they have been shoehorned in as an attempt to please Alien fans.

Sound The sound design is effective and serves the atmosphere of the film very well, with necessary moments of quiet and ambience quickly breaking with loud, screeching cries to build tension in more panicked scenes.

The film’s score (by Jed Kurzel) is Alien-by-wrote, re-using a number of musical cues from the original film with some new content. It’s good then, that these cues are so memorable and serving of the eeriness of the franchise. There are also a few references to the magical ‘Life’ theme from Prometheus during a fantastic flute duet scene. Overall the soundtrack is strong for the purposes of building atmosphere.

Summary Ridley Scott had a difficult task on his hands when taking on this pre-sequel to Alien and Prometheus; fans of the former have been yearning for filmmakers to recapture the spark for years, whilst the latter caused an uproar for its complicated plot and outlandish ‘what are they thinking’ moments. On the whole, Covenant suffers from pacing issues. It is not as intense or nail-biting as Prometheus and not a flat-out horror like Alien. Instead, it sits somewhere between the two, focusing heavily on story and atmosphere, which is justifiable as this is where it succeeds. There are parts of Covenant which shine in originality, particularly the reveals for David’s menacing motivations. In some respects, Covenant feels like a film that could have been a spectacular character drama if it had nothing to do with its parent franchise. 7/10