I must admit to not having been hopeful for this one. I loved Alien and Aliens, and I even liked the assembly cut of Alien 3, but after that they should have left it alone. I’ll watch it when it hits the streaming services.
As an aside, has anyone else’s local cinema gone over-board with the volume? Mine is now so loud that I have to wear ear-plugs.
I usually use a particular youtuber as a feeler on how a movie actually is without getting spoiled. Normally I agree with this guy but unfortunately this time we disagree. In retrospect, I should have realized that Disney would poison the pot. This film has an aftertaste similar to the soft reboot that was The Force Awakens.
Yea my cinema also has the volume turned up way too loud. I just shove my fingers in my ears for some of the action.
Honestly, even in the beginning I had reservations. Rain, the MC, reaches the right number of merit points to be able to leave the colony. The company then changes the number of merit points required to leave and also tells everyone why. This makes no sense.
If word got out that the company did not honor its own contract system people would be really upset since apparently it can take a lifetime to complete these contracts. Since the company straight-up tells people the change was made because they want more labor, I think an eventual revolt would be guaranteed.
It would have made a lot more sense if they at least pretended it was a clerical error.
Ooh, that’s not an endorsement! Checking back through the thread I’ve already moaned about The Force Awakens so I won’t do it again. 
Indeed it is not! Both movies borrow so heavily from their franchise’s first film that it kills all suspense in the third act.
Some reviewers apparently claimed there was a “risky” moment towards the end, but it’s actually just a recycled Alien Resurrection plot point with a slight modification to reference the prequels at the same time. Could have been an interesting moment if the lore was fleshed out, instead it is like drinking a “new” soda that’s the result of mixing all of the beverages at the drink machine.
The only good bit about Alien Resurrection was Ripley with the basketball and that’s because Sigourney Weaver apparently did actually make that shot. Admittedly on the one last attempt before they gave up and faked it, but she did do it.
Well OK, Sigourney Weaver was still brilliant, but the film wasn’t.
That interviewer near the end reminded me of Hardison on “Leverage”, “Three Days Of The Hunter”. 
Game Night (2018)
I actually laughed until I wheezed. Not kidding or exaggerating. This happened.
Not every single thing was all that funny, but the parts that landed had the wife and me howling. Highly recommend.
I enjoyed that one too. Thanks for reminding me it exists I haven’t seen it in years
Same (game night). I don’t think the wife has seen it (although she quickly “forgets” seeing stuff), so I’ll have to add it to the list
8/10 hilarious, very underrated timeless classic.
Snow White and The Huntsman (2012)
The definition of average. It’s not utter garbage, but it’s not very good either. The movie is chock full of visual effects, and their quality varies tremendously depending on the scene. Same with the acting. Decent cast, at least.
I saw Longlegs (2024).
This movie is good.
It’s a horror movie and also a mystery.
It borrows elements from Silence of the Lambs (though SotL is a much better movie.)
For example, the main character is a young woman that works for the F.B.I. and her job is to stop a serial killer.
The serial killer in Longlegs writes some letters in code, like the Zodiac Killer did, and I thought that was interesting.
The movie is a bit slow, but it’s done reasonably well.
The acting is good.
The music, when present, suits the genre.
There are scenes that are extremely creepy, and there are some disturbing scenes as well.
I would only recommend this movie to people that love horror movies.
If that doesn’t describe you, don’t bother.
The movie’s biggest problem is that when the mystery is fully explained, the explanation is not very satisfying.
Overall, the film is just “good” and is probably not very memorable.
I saw Armour of God 2: Operation Condor (1991).
This movie is not very good.
Decades ago, I watched this movie and I remember liking the movie, but it may have been a different version.
This time I watched a dubbed version that is 1 hour 46 minutes long.
The voice acting is bad.
The dialogue is also pretty bad.
Overall, the audio of this movie is atrocious.
The music, sound effects, and some of the characters’ voices are quite shrill.
If the audio weren’t so terrible, the movie would be much better.
Most of the action sequences aren’t very good, but there are a number of great action scenes in the third act.
In fact, the third act is the best part of the whole movie by a large margin.
I give the movie a PG-13 rating for violence, a bit of nudity, and some suggestive scenes.
I don’t know in what venue it was held, but I have a recollection of John Cleese being interviewed about that premise… and they realized they were already walking a very thin line. They knew they’d push boundaries, but they also wanted to avoid going too far. As it was, the movie LOB did get quite a bit of condemnation from the ultra religious. And this is precisely what Monty Python had hoped to achieve, as it served as free marketing.
You can’t take it literally. A lot of the jokes and premises were figurative. Naturally, emperors and other high statesmen wouldn’t have lisps so exaggerated and ridiculous, but this is symbolic of other traits. Basically, this accentuated the fact that many of these people had ridiculous traits or indulgences but expressing disgust or even humor at it was a risky proposition (sometimes even a mortal risk).
As for little coverage of Jesus, this was paramount. They wanted to keep it a mystery, as it still remains to this day (all we have are a few writings from various people). And no doubt, there would’ve been other enigmatic and charismatic people at that time pushing their own philosophy and religious edicts, but Jesus won out. In LOB you see a person unwillingly thrust into such a role of being an adored idol in the shadow of Jesus. He doesn’t want it and no matter how hard he tries, he can’t get them to leave him alone until he’s unfortunately incarcerated and doomed to crucifixion.
It’s a wonderful mockery showcase of how cults form. Once “anointed” as leader, these cultists adopt tremendous tolerance of their leader–he can do no wrong. And even when so overt, undeniably visible malfeasance is revealed, they still cling to the person. We’re seeing it happen to this day and on an even grander scale.
The Alien franchise has gone to hell. Such fantastic potential, totally squandered… all in the interest of making money. The first one was great, the second one was also great in its own way, but the third… was pretty awful. After that? They were tragically bad. Alien Resurrection was actually on track to be a great movie in the franchise with these new interesting characters, but all of that was lost.
The whole Alien/Predator branch was captivating at first, but then… same problem. Tragic degeneration. The only saving grace was “Prey,” a kind of pre-Predator premise. That was well done, although standing alone there were many problems in it too.
Prometheus was a great movie in some respects, tragically flawed in others. I just can’t fathom how with so much money and resources, Weylan Enterprises would hire idiots. The two goofs who end up trapped in the temple are so pathetic and their demise was a ridiculous distraction plot device. And I’m sorry… but where biology is concerned, a human being is super vulnerable (look at how easily humans die from simple viruses and bacteria on Earth) and no woman would survive getting pregnant with an alien embryo. That was just utterly ridiculous.
Alien Covenant had a lot of potential but again was so tragically squandered, worse than Prometheus. I’d have much more appreciated a movie that spent more time exploring the civilization of the Engineers. This whole visceral violence/blood/gore indulgence is just so very tired at this point.
I can’t imagine Alien: Romulus would be any good. Thanks for the confirmation!
I saw A Quiet Place: Day One (2024).
This movie is pretty good.
The acting and music are excellent.
The movie is kinda slow, and not much happens in the film, but it still works.
This one is more drama than horror.
I liked Part 1 the most, Day One the second most, and I didn’t really care for Part 2.
If you decide to watch this movie, I suggest watching it in an area where there are no audio distractions because much of the movie is low in volume.
Also, it’s helpful to have closed captions turned on.