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My 12 for ’12: Prometheus, Faith, Treachery & The Great Beyond…

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Darren

I’m counting down my top twelve films of the year between now and January, starting at #12 and heading to #1. I expect the list to be a little bit predictable, a little bit surprising, a little bit of everything. All films released in the UK and Ireland in 2012 qualify. Sound off below, and let me know if I’m on the money, or if I’m completely off the radar. And let me know your own picks or recommendations.

This is #5…

In the year 7510,
If God’s a-comin’, he ought to make it by then.
Maybe he’ll look around himself and say,
“Guess it’s time for the Judgement Day.”

In the year 8510,
God’s gonna shake his mighty head.
He’ll either say “I’m pleased where man has been”,
Or tear it down and start again.

-Zager and Evans, In The Year 2525

Faith is a funny thing. If you don’t have it, it’s impossible to explain. If you do have it, it needs no explanation. Ridley Scott’s Prometheus feels a little bit ham-strung by the “Alien DNA” that it carries. As a prequel to the iconic film series, it’s hardly the most successful endeavour. Indeed, the film’s references to everybody’s favourite chest-bursting extra-terrestrial feel almost forced. Like the discussion about the Scientology influence on The Master, focusing on the instantly recognisable xenomorph tends to obscure the unique strengths of Prometheus as its own film.

Interestingly, the strongest connection to Alien is thematic rather than literal. Like Ridley Scott’s first science-fiction masterpiece, Prometheus postulates a cold and uncaring universe, one that is inherently alien, incomprehensible and hostile. The human condition causes us to question, but Prometheus suggests that there can be no answers – no satisfactory answers at least.

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Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: alien, Alien (film), Alien DNA, arts, British Isles, christianity, damon lindelof, DNA, god, Ireland, Jon Spaihts, Lykke Li, Movie, Prometheus, ridley scott, Scientology, Shaw | 8 Comments »

Dancing on the Edge of a Blade (Runner): Prometheus & Hyper-Intertextuality

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Darren

Prometheus arrived on blu ray last week. I’m a big fan of the movie, despite the palpable sense of disappointment generated on its arrival – I suspect that I was wise not to expect answers, and instead to enough the movie for what it was. I’m not alone in considering the film’s ties to Alien to be among its weakest elements, forcing the movie to tie into something that had been a massive movie mystery for decades, rather than allowing it to be its own thing. However, it has emerged that Ridley Scott apparently hoped the movie could go further than that. Reportedly, the director had hoped that it could serve as something akin to “connective tissue” to tie together two of his most definitive science-fiction universes. Apparently, the director wanted to set the film in the same world as Blade Runner.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: alien, blade runner, David, inglourious basterds, List of Blade Runner characters, los angeles, Prometheus, quentin tarantino, ridley scott, science fiction, Steven Soderbergh | 4 Comments »

Tony Scott, R.I.P.

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Darren

One of the downsides to running a blog the way that I run a blog is that I don’t always have the opportunity to respond to news as it breaks. As such, in writing about the passing of director Tony Scott, pretty much everything that I would say has been said by the time I can publish this, and far more eloquently than I could ever hope to say it. Obviously, I never knew Tony Scott personally, so I won’t comment on the man himself – although the tributes from those who did know him are deeply moving. I knew Tony Scott as countless film fans knew the director, through his work. And that work meant a lot to me.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Beverly Hills Cop II, brad pitt, Crimson Tide, denzel washington, michael bay, quentin tarantino, ridley scott, San Pedro Los Angeles, Scott, tony scott, top gun, true romance | 6 Comments »

On Second Thought: Alien Resurrection (Special Edition)

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate the release of Prometheus in the United States this week, we’ll be taking a look at the other movies in the Alien franchise.

So this is Earth, huh?

This is Earth.

– Call and Ripley try not to sound too disappointed…

I am not the biggest fan of Alien: Resurrection. I think it is, to be frank, a mess of a film – the result of a director and a writer who seem a very poor fit for one another, with Jeunet’s macabre design aesthetic at odds with Whedon’s sardonic irony. It would take a fairly radical reworking of the film to solve that fair fundamental tonal dissonance… and the Special Edition is not that much of a reworking. Indeed, Jeunet himself has gone of record stating that his own definitive version the film was the original theatrical cut. He introduces the Special Edition on the superb anthology collection with that confession, “The special edition version you are about to watch is not the director’s cut, because the director’s cut is the version you watched in theatres in 1997.”

So it’s no surprise that while the Special Edition does add a bit more shading, nuance and complexity to the film, it doesn’t salvage it.

Not quite what the doctor ordered…

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Filed under: Movies, On Second Thought | Tagged: alien, alien 3, Alien Resurrection, Computer-generated imagery, david fincher, directors cut, Eiffel Tower, Ellen Ripley, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, ridley scott, Ripley, United States, Walmart | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Alien vs. Predator – Requiem

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate the release of Prometheus in the United States this week, we’ll be taking a look at the other movies in the Alien franchise.

Alien vs. Predator: Requiem is pretty close to indefensible. I’m not the biggest fan of the original Alien vs. Predator, but I’ll concede the film throws a few interesting ideas into a disappointingly generic and less-than-enthusiastic monster mash run-around. While the first film wasn’t original, it at least looked to acknowledge its hokeyness in places. In contrast, the sequel is just soul-destroyingly mundane, taking anything that had been unique or compelling or interesting about these two iconic movie monsters and rendering it all completely pointless as it devolves them to the equivalent of generic teenager slasher villains.

Death of a franchise…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alien, alien vs. predator, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, Brothers Strause, Ellen Ripley, film, james cameron, Jason Voorhees, Jesus, Motion Picture Association of America film rating system, Movie, non-review review, Paul W.S. Anderson, predator, Prometheus, review, ridley scott | 13 Comments »

On Second Thought: Aliens (Director’s Cut)

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate the release of Prometheus in the United States this week, we’ll be taking a look at the other movies in the Alien franchise.

It seems that James Cameron’s Director’s Cut of Aliens is the only alternate cut of an Alien film preferred by any of the directors. Ridley Scott has gone on record stating that he considers Alien: The Director’s Cut to be an “alternative” cut of the film intended for long-time fans. David Fincher has explained that the only way he’d produce a version of Alien³ that he’d be happy with was if he were to shoot it from scratch. Jean-Pierre Jeunet believes that the theatrical cut of Alien: Resurrection is his preferred version of the film. So it seems that Cameron is the only director who has been able to successfully reintegrate material to produce what he feels to be a definitive version of the film.

And, to be honest, I’d agree. Aliens: The Director’s Cut is probably the best example of how to enhance an already superb film through the addition of previously excised material.

On LV-426, everyone can hear you scream…

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Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: alien, Alien Resurrection, Aliens colonial marines, aliens: the director's cut, Cameron, david fincher, directors cut, GameStop, Hudson, james cameron, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, List of Alien characters, Prometheus, ridley scott, Ripley, special edition, United States | 5 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Alien vs. Predator

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate the release of Prometheus in the United States this week, we’ll be taking a look at the other movies in the Alien franchise.

I like cheesy movies. I have a fondness for those old fashioned mix-and-match creature features from back in the day. I have a remarkable tolerance for some of those incredibly awkward B-movie adventures featuring relatively bland characters trapped in a strange and slightly illogical situations. As such, I’m probably a bit fonder of Paul W.S. Anderson’s creature-feature fight-night beat-’em-up schlock-fest Alien vs. Predator. I’m not so fond that I’d argue it’s a good movie – in fact, I’d readily concede that it’s a disappointing lifeless husk of a movie. However, I will concede that there are some interesting concepts and ideas buried quite deeply in the middle of that film.

Natural born predators…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alien, Alien (film), Alien Resurrection, alien vs. predator, Alien vs. Predator (film), aliens, Antarctica, Cameron, Colin Salmon, film, james cameron, John McTiernan, Lance Henriksen, Movie, nick fury, non-review review, Paul W.S. Anderson, predator, predators, review, ridley scott, United States | 10 Comments »

Looking at it Sideways: 2012, The Year of Unconventional Franchise Narratives…

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Darren

By now I think we’ve all become quite familiar with the cycle of Hollywood movie franchises. I’m not inherently opposed to the concept – I think that Sturgeon’s Law applies at least as much to original and independent films as it does to big-budget franchise films. The prospect of movie sequels, reboots, prequels and remakes isn’t a new thing, after all. Hollywood has always had a tendency to emulate financially successful movies, finding a way to exploit the movie property to maximise the profit off the back of it. It’s an inherently commercial prospect, but virtually any form of mass media must be in order to be viable. However, I’ve been fascinated with how the Hollywood franchise train seems to be working this year – it seems like we’ve been getting stuff that’s a little different than the conventional reboots, sequels and remakes.

It’s a whole other universe out there…

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: alien, arts, business, Cinema of the United States, film, Franchising, hollywood, james bond, magneto, Movie, Opportunities, Prometheus, ridley scott, sequel, X-Men: First Class | Leave a comment »

Non-Review: Alien Resurrection (Theatrical Cut)

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate the release of Prometheus this week, we’ll be taking a look at the other movies in the Alien franchise.

I always feel a little hint of trepidation when I return to a movie that I know I didn’t like the first time. Part of me is reluctant to watch it again, even for the purposes of examining what exactly went awry during production, while some small part of me holds out hope that the film might be redeemed – that I might somehow magically get it the second time around. So, completing a marathon rewatch of Ridley Scott’s Alien and the sequels it spawned, I left Alien: Resurrection until last.

Unfortunately, it was just as flawed and messy as I remember it.

Reflecting on his behaviour…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alien, Alien Resurrection, Brad Dourif, business, Ellen Ripley, film, Franchising, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, james cameron, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, joss whedon, Movie, non-review review, Opportunities, Prometheus, review, ridley scott, Ripley, sigourney weaver, Weyland-Yutani | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Prometheus

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Darren

Prometheus is an impressive science fiction thriller. Indeed, its weakest link is its attempt to “line-up” with Scott’s original Alien, as its own interesting ideas end up caught up in an attempt to throw knowing winks and nods towards an overly eager audience. “look! green gooey possibly acidic blood!” the movie seems to cry or “gee! that illustration looks familiar!” The problem is that these feel like distractions from a plot that is compelling and fascinating when explored on its own merits. Still, it feels like a worthy science fiction film in its own right, a fitting hybrid of Scott’s Alien with his Blade Runner, daring to pose interesting existential and philosophical questions about humanity’s place in the universe.