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Alien: Romulus (2024) - What did you think?
As a huge Alien fan, I have come away from tonight's screening actually angry. The sets and practical effects were fantastic, but you barely saw the aliens until the climax to the mid-section of the film.
Bringing back Ian Holm as Rook took some getting used to, especially as some of those shots were off. It seemed to get better as the film progressed. I already have a theory on that one. The credits listed the crew who worked on the Rook animatronic. I wonder if they were displeased with the result and used CGI to cover the face? (Maybe I'm just too angry at the moment š)
The visual and audio Easter eggs were annoying, especially when Andy repeated Ripley's line. My audience laughed, and I was just facepalming by this point.
I think what finally broke the camel's back was the third act, which links the film to Covenant and Prometheus. I didn't like those films as hey try to explain the alien's origins, and now we have to have a fight with a creature that was giving me Alien:Resurrection newborn vibes. Is this Ridley sticking his oar in, as it is his creation?
I'm just so disappointed. After seeing the first two trailers, I thought we were getting something that was going to be really special, a return to form.
Ugh!
About THAT one obviously bad part in Alien Romulus
Rant ā¦
spoiler
Iām talking about Ash/Rook, obviously.
Just saw the film recently, and while itās a bit of a love it or hate it film I think, the Rook character is I think objectively egregious.
The idea is good, IMO, in a number of ways, and I can understand that the film makers felt like it was all done with love and affection for Holm and the character. As a viewer, not necessarily onboard with how many cues the film was taking from the franchise, I noticed the silhouette of Rook pretty quickly and was quite happy/hyped to see where it would go.
But OMG the execution is unforgivable! And I feel like this is just so much of whatās wrong with Hollywood and VFX, and also indicates that some execs were definitely intervening in this film. Somewhat fortunately for the film, it had a low budget (AFAICT, by Wikipedia) and is making a profit.
But itās no excuse to slap some bad CGI onto shots that were not designed for bad CGI. Close ups on the uncanny valley! Come on! AFAICT, bad CGI is often the result of a complete disconnect between the director and the VFX crew, in part because the VFX industry is kept at arms length from the film industry, despite (it because of) its massive importance.
That CGI is not something you do a close up on. No remotely decent director would have done that knowing the CGI looked like that. This is likely bad studio management creating an unworkable situation.
What could have worked much better IMO is donāt have the synth functioning well. Have its facial expressions and movements completely artificial and mechanical. Rely on the likeness of Holm and the AI voice (which did and generally do work well). Could have been done just with a well directed animatronic coupled with some basic CGI to enrich some textures and details. Instead we got a dumb āweāll do it in postā and tortured some poor editor into cutting those shots together.
For many the film was a mixed bag. For me too. But this somehow prevents me from embracing it because I just donāt trust the people who made it.
ā¦ End rant.
The shirtless scene in Deadpool & Wolverine is thematic
Earlier in the film, we are told that Worst Wolverine wore the Xmen uniform out of guilt and to remember his lost teammates, Deadpool jokes about it.
In the finale, when Wolverine redeems himself, not only fighting to save the people in the void but also DPs universe, his chains (the suit) symbolically explodes showing that he is free of his guilt
Also this is a pretty good way of tying in the mandatory shirtless scene in a somewhat meaningful way even if it doesnt seem so at first in a movie full of call outs
Dune: Part Two - Denis Villeneuve - 2024
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dune_part_two
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune:_Part_Two
From āGoodfellasā to āFlower Moonā: How Scorsese Has Rethought Violence
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/7336594
> The director was long identified with ornately edited set pieces. In āThe Irishmanā and his latest film, the flourishes have given way to blunt truths. > > #Scorsese #KOTFM
- KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON - Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone
Premise:
Members of the Osage tribe in the United States are murdered under mysterious circumstances in the 1920s, sparking a major F.B.I. investigation involving J. Edgar Hoover.
Director(s):
Martin Scorsese
Writer(s):
Eric Roth, Martin Scorsese, David Grann
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5537002/
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killers_of_the_Flower_Moon_(film)