MOVIE REVIEW: ALIEN: COVENANT

Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, members (Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup) of the colony ship Covenant discover what they think to be an uncharted paradise. While there, they meet David (Michael Fassbender), the synthetic survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition. The mysterious world soon turns dark and dangerous when a hostile alien life-form forces the crew into a deadly fight for survival.

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir

Release Date: May 19, 2017

Rated R for sci-fi violence, bloody images, language and some sexuality/nudity

Runtime: 2 hr. 2 min.

Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama

Review:

Alien: Covenant is best described as Ridley Scott plays all the hits.  On Prometheus, Scott tried for some headier sci-fi, even if the human decision weren’t, but fans complained about its lack of outright Alien connections.  Publicly, Scott’s been on record as saying he’s heard these complaints and delivered Alien: Covenant.  Fans of the series will find plenty of call back to the original film all the while Scott continues threads from Prometheus.   The film itself looks beautiful, even if the scares never really come since the beats are so familiar.  Katherine Waterston is primed to be the heroine in this entry but she’s never magnetic enough to completely captivate your attention.  Michael Fassbender more than makes up for the slack while playing duel roles.  Fassbender is clearly having a ball throughout and its audience benefit as he’s the most interesting thing on screen during the entire film.  The supporting cast is made up of familiar faces but their clearly just cattle being lead to the slaughter with only Danny McBride leaving an actual impression.  Alien: Covenant is a solid entry into the prequel series that sure to leave plenty of fans happy while others will complain about certain story decision. 

B

Cindy Prascik's Review of Alien: Covenant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dearest Blog: Yesterday it was off to Marquee Cinemas for the latest installment in the Alien franchise, Alien: Covenant.

 

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

 

Alien life forms are sometimes very dangerous. Who'da guessed??

 

Dear reader(s), in the interest of full and fair disclosure, I'll confide that I don't like the Alien movies...ANY of them. I keep giving them chances because people who like the things that I do seem to love and even revere at least some of them but...welp...let's just say this latest installment finally may have cured me of my need to figure out what I'm missing.

 

If I heeded that old adage, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all," this review would be a blank page; however, since I paid the cost of admission expressly for the privilege of writing about the movie, I shall briefly disregard that sage advice to tell you Alien: Covenant sucks so hard. I might say it was worse than Prometheus, except I didn't fall asleep in this one. Maybe I just wasn't tired yesterday, but I'm gonna be generous and concede that point. Katherine Waterston is terrible, all teary eyes and quavering voice; in fact, for a team of scientists and explorers, the minute something goes a little sideways these people lose their s**t faster than the slutty girl in those teen horror flicks. Many of the choices they make are about as stupid, too. Cardinal rules: When in doubt, don't split up and don't have sex. Pretty simple, right? This crew is so dumb it's hard to invest in any of them...more fun to try guessing in what order they'll (deservedly) be picked off. The writing is so predictable I was finishing lines in my head like a movie I'd seen a hundred times. Covenant features some lovely locations and decent effects, but the "horror" is limited to gore and cheap jump scares that you'll see coming a mile out. There's a minor, but weird and unnecessary, reference to a character thinking he's considered untrustworthy for being "a person of faith." That probably got under my skin more than it should have, but it stuck out as one of the most offensively pointless spots on an almost-entirely pointless movie landscape.

 

Alien: Covenant clocks in at 122 minutes and is rated R for "sci-fi violence, bloody images, language, and some sexuality/nudity."

 

With a top-notch cast, mammoth effects, and spectacular sets, it's clear the makers of Alien: Covenant weren't shy about throwing money at the screen; however, in the immortal words of Butthead: "You can't polish a turd, Beavis." Or, as the lady behind me stage-whispered about the halfway point: "This movie stinks." Of a possible nine Weasleys, Alien: Covenant gets one.

 

Fangirl points: Billy Crudup! Country Roads! Dariusz Wolski!

 

Until next time...

MOVIE REVIEW: JACKIE

In the immediate aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, his wife Jacqueline Kennedy (Natalie Portman) deals with her immense grief while making plans for his funeral procession. Confiding in her close friend and secretary Nancy Tuckerman (Greta Gerwig), as well as her brother-in-law Robert Kennedy (Peter Sarsgaard), Jackie tries to care for her young family as a bereaved nation watches on. Pablo Larrain directed this nonlinear biopic. ~ Daniel Gelb, Rovi

 Director: Pablo Larrain 

Cast: Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, Beth Grant.

Release Date: Dec 02, 2016

Rated for R some Language and Brief Strong Violence

Runtime: 1 hr. 39 min.

Genres: Documentary

Review:

Pablo Larrain’s fascinating biopic about Jackie Kennedy is an incredibly power piece of filmmaking.  It’s a disorienting movie that takes you through the throws of grief on a personal level.  Natalie Portman is pitch perfect as the titular first lady.  It’s a deeply layered performance throughout.  Portman is able to go through so many psychological levels with impressive ease.  It’s a multilayered performance covers everything from grief, public persona and legacy building all rolled into one.  Larrain’s film isn’t your typical biopic in that it’s also concerned with myth making and how history can be created or skewed.  It’s a dense bit of story telling filled with excellent performances all around.

A

Movie Reviews: WATCHMEN

Sunday, March 08, 2009
Movie Reviews: WATCHMEN
IN THEATERS



WATCHMEN

300's Zack Snyder adapts Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' acclaimed comic book Watchmen for the big screen. Set in an alternate universe circa 1985, the film's world is an unstable one where a nuclear war is imminent between America and Russia. Superheroes have been forced to go into retirement due to the government's Keene Act, but the death of The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), an ex-hero commando, perks the interest of one of the country's last remaining superheroes, Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley).

Cast: Billy Crudup, Malin Akerman, Jackie Earle Haley

Director: Zack Snyder

Opened March 6, 2009.

Runtime: 2 hr. 43 min.

Rated R for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language.

Genres: Superhero Film, Science Fiction.

Review:

Zach Synder’s Watchmen is complex and entirely engaging adaptation of the watershed graphic novel that deliver most of the good with only a few bumps along the road. Dense, disjointed and, as a film, unfocused this adaptation demands a high level of attention from the audience throughout, threatening to abandon you if look away for too long. Synder creates a mystic almost ethereal tone from the start and maintains it for the better part of the film. A spectacular opening credit sequence sets the stages and covers a large amount of back story in a short time. Synder stays as close to the source material as possible, at times to fault, and recreates scenes almost page for page and gives fanboys plenty to squeal about. Still it’s an imperfect process. There are times when the script feels wooden and forced. Also Synder can’t help but indulge himself by staging action sequences in hyper slow mo that feels painfully out place. These 300 like action sequences take you out of the film so much that you start to wish they’d be over as soon as they start. It’s the type of film that would have benefited from more realistic action which would have been more in keeping with the story’s tone. The cast is an effective ensemble that brings these classic characters to life with wonderful vigor. Jackie Earle Haley is the film’s brightest star and delivers the most effective performance of the piece. His grizzled rasp and dead stares, when he’s unmasked, fit Rorschach perfectly. Patrick Wilson also turns in a wonderfully understated performance, perfectly channeling the character from the page. Equally effective is Billy Crudup as the god like Dr. Manhattan, delivering lines in measured monotone that fits his character’s overall detachment. A truly mesmerizing flashback scene really displays Crudup’s talents. Jeffery Dean Morgan is incredibly effective as the Comedian, giving an adequate griminess to his psychotic character. Sadly, Malin Ackerman misses the mark as Laurie Jupiter aka Silk Spectre II. The role is simply to big for her ability, there are lynch pin emotional scenes that simply fall flat with her delivery. She looks the part but can’t make a connection with the audience once the heavy lifting starts. Still as a group the cast is mostly effective and bring the appropriate gravitas to the proceedings. As the film traverses it’s nearly 3 hour run time, it rarely loses touch with the audience and delivers an engrossing experience. Not perfect but an effective attempt at capturing something as complex and subversive as the Watchmen graphic novel.

B-