2017: The Year in Film "Alien: Covenant" Review

The Alien franchise is, at this point, nearly as inexplicable in its survival as the Fast and Furious franchise. After 4 individual Alien films (only 2 of which are evem good - although those 2 are obviously great), 2 awful Alien v. Predator films and innumerable aborted starts, stops and would-be reboots, cinema master and director of the original Alien, Ridley Scott returned with an ambitious vision of the world that's home to the franchise with 2012's Prometheus.  While Prometheus is by no means a perfect film, it is incredibly ambitious, gorgeous, incredibly well-made, and gorgeous to look at. Michael Fassbender's performance alone is worth the cost of admission. Personally, I'm a fan of Prometheus, and even though several of the characters are inexplicably idiots, the film simply has a vision and an ambition that is sadly empty from most major studio releases, and especially sci fi.

Alien: Covenant is a direct sequel to Prometheus, and thus a prequel to the 1979 original. As Prometheus ended without revealing the classic xenomorph monster, Alien: Covenant has work to do.

It's 10 years after the exploration vessel Prometheus was lost, and humanity's first large-scale colonization mission to the stars has been undertaken to a distant world. After a fluke occurrence leads to the discovery of a mysterious distress beacon, the crew decides to investigate a seemingly hospitable world, with predictably dire consequences.

The Good: This film manages to ground the speculative ambition of Prometheus more firmly within the world of the first film, successfully bringing the story to a place where the origins of what will come to pass in the original films actually make sense within Scott's framework. Like every Ridley Scott film ever, this one is absolutely gorgeous, with top notch effects, cinematography, world-building and filmmaking across the board. Michael Fassbender is, as he was in Prometheus, far and away the best part of this film, this time playing two separate "brother" androids who drive much of the plot. English actress Katherine Waterston (I recognize her from Inherent Vice) channels her inner Ellen Ripley and Danny "Kenny Powers" McBride transitions to a serious role rather seamlessly. The plot is smarter and more sensible (if less ambitious..) than Prometheus' was, even if some of the characters yet again make inexplicable decisions. It IS a horror movie, after all.



The Bad: Billy Crudup's character (the acting captain) is a straight-up idiot. It's not even Crudup's fault, although his performance isn't going to win him any forgiveness here, as it's fine but not great, but the decisions of his character are throughout stupid at best. The film is occasionally clumsy and obtuse in its efforts to link it with the original film, with many, many explicit homages throughout. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think the film could have been more subtle about it, as "Alien" IS right there in the title after all. I think, even though it's absolutely a good thing that the series has become more grounded in the world of the original film, that abandoning a good chunk of Prometheus' ambition and speculative vision are a mistake, even if this film is ultimately satisfying, I think it could have potentially said even more than it ultimately did.

In all, if you're a fan of Alien, Aliens, Prometheus, or the franchise as a whole, you won't want to miss this one. A talented cast, gorgeous filmmaking, fun world-building and creepy space horror all combine to make a successful film that stands among the best sci fi films of recent years. I'm a little disappointed that it didn't build more on what Prometheus had suggested, albeit in a more sensible way, but ultimately Michael Fassbender and Ridley Scott make a pair that fans of the genre won't want to miss.

8/10.

2017: The Year in Film: "Free Fire" Review

First, I saw this MONTHS ago, but the most important part of getting current is catching up, guys. (Or something) So Ben Wheatley has been something of a cult success over in the U.K., with the flicks Kill List and Sightseers gaining some traction as underground successes. He also directed 2015's High-Rise, and now Free Fire, which sees him paired with executive producer Martin Scorsese and a top-notch cast including Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer and Sharlto Copley in the R-rated action crime genre popularized by the likes of Scorsese himself, Tarantino and Guy Ritchie.

It's 1978 in Boston and an illegal arms deal is taking place in an abandoned warehouse between a mysterious criminal element and elements of the IRA. Needless to say, things are about to go horribly wrong.

The Good: the flick is well-crafted, often funny and well-paced. The characters are charming and keep the events moving right along. Movie shootouts are just COOL, after all, there's a reason that they've been depicted so ubiquitously for decades, and the concept of a movie that is solely one giant shootout is an interesting and compelling one. Visually, the flick looks great, with splashes of color and excitement punctuating the gritty and grim events and surroundings.



The Bad: ultimately, the concept of a film that is one long shootout, at least as executed here, falls flat and rings hollow. Despite the strong cast, the lack of characterization lends the whole endeavor a general air of "who cares?", as we just aren't given any to care about these people and whether or not they get shot or shoot the people they're trying to shoot. Ultimately, the whole thing feels a lot like the finale of a prestige TV series where we aren't privy to the events of the rest of the story, and that's just not enough to sustain my interest or justify the existence of the film as a whole. It's basically a long version of the 2nd half of Reservoir Dogs without the first half, you know, where you meet everyone, are introduced to who they are, and given a reason to care about everything else that happens.

At the end of the day, this film is worth watching, but it's ultimately just an experiment that feels half-baked and underdeveloped. Often funny, with plenty of cool moments, there just isn't enough meat here to justify the flash and experience. It's a fun idea, but I guess we learned WHY shootouts are only a part of the film and not the entirety of it.

6/10

2017: The Year in Film: "The Fate of the Furious" Review

Yep. Late. So it wasn't so long ago at all that I wasn't on board with the F&F franchise, AT ALL. See: The Fast and the Curious for more. But guys, once the Rock comes on board, these movies took the next step into the single most insane action franchise currently on the market. From humble beginnings as a derivative action racing movie set squarely in the awful culture of the late 90's/early 2000's this franchise has turned into a global phenomenon, with the last few entrants raking in huge box office returns both domestically and overseas. I must say that the color-blind nature of the films and international feel of the 5th, 6th, 7th and now 8th F&F films has really made them into one of the more global film franchises I can think of. Obviously Paul Walker's (R2D2Soon) passing was going to have a profound effect on the franchise, so how would the F&F series survive the untimely departure of one of its key cogs? Enter new director F. Gary Gray (who most recently directed Straight Outta Compton) and let's see if the series can survive.

Following the events of Fast7, our team finds itself amidst a much needed vacation. Dom (Vin Diesel duh) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) are on their long-awaited honeymoon and all seems well with the world. Right? Well... let's just say that high tech terrorists are NOT done with Dom Toretto and his motley crew.

The Good: No one does non-superpowered action as well or as preposterously as the F&F guys, and that's just as true in the 8th installment of the series as it ever has been. The ever-expanding cast and ever-increasing stakes may not have served the series all that well in the 7th installment, as I felt that film fell a little flat, but this film nicely draws on what's come before to build something bigger and better than we've seen thus far in the F&F series. Writer Chris Morgan has been with the series since Tokyo Drift, and that continuity has really served the series well during its transition from silly car racing dramatics to preposterous car action dramatics. The idea of motivating Dom to take on his increasingly-unstoppable team was executed well, and the events of 6 and 7 especially were tied-in nicely to create a neat little trilogy within the larger series. There are several action sequences that are insane even for this insane series, with Jason Statham especially bringing an even bigger and better element to what's already become just maybe the best action series out there today. Charlize Theron is always great, and she brings an effortless menace to the endeavor that makes me hope (and given what's happened in the series thus far I'm sure she will be) that she'll be back in future installments. After part 7 I wasn't sure if this series really needed to continue but this one was strong enough to set the series on a positive trajectory that absolutely justifies at least one more installment. And let's be honest, given just how much money this one has made both domestically and overseas, there will be future installments as long as Vin Diesel and the Rock feel like making them.





The Bad: things are just as preposterous as they've ever been, and the series misses Han, Gisele and Brian to be sure. The shrinking core group has required new additions to keep the ensemble intact, and while some of these additions (especially Statham) have been great, others have been misses, and the attempt to replace Paul Walker with Scott Eastwood in this one falls flat. The motivations of the characters are occasionally silly, and the omnipotence of the villains a little hard to swallow, but all in all this film is well worth watching for fans of the franchise, and a marked increase over part 7.

After 8, my ranking of the series goes as follows: 5, 6, 8. 7. 1, 3, 4, 2. For fans of the franchise, this one represents a return to form of the series since the Rock came in and turned things around. If you're a fan of the family, you won't be disappointed.

7.5/10.