I’ve been rewatching Ridley Scott’s Prometheus recently and while his reported weariness of dealing with the Alien is fairly obvious, what bears mentioning is that there are few directors with an eye as all-encompassing, as acute, as Scott’s. From the way its shot to the casting, special effects, prop design and costumes, everything just works […]
I watch a lot of movies (which isn’t a humble brag because that would be weird) and while I don’t typically find a lot of stuff I hate – which isn’t to say that it don’t exist though I usually won’t sit though it to discover the true depths of it’s awfulness – I also […]
Typically I don’t particularly care much for commercials though I also have to acknowledge when they’re done particularly well. For instance, the Geico and and Progressive commercials have been pretty entertaining for a while now (though the latter ebb and flow. The most recent bunch I’m haven’t been terribly impressed by. They’re not terrible, just […]
If you’ve seen monster movies like Underwater you probably noticed that they’re not exactly known for their complexity. And that’s fine–not every movie needs complexity–though it’s also nice to see filmmakers try to do something atypical with the concept every once in awhile. Which leads me to Willian Eubank’s Underwater, which on the face of […]
When I heard Damon Lindelof (Lost, Prometheus, Star Trek: Into Darkness) was tackling Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen I wasn’t too optimistic. And my hesitancy–on the surface–was justified because Into Darkness ranked among one of the most irritating movies of 2013 while Prometheus (2012) may have looked spectacular, its story was underwhelming and for […]
Alien: Harvest is the sixth 40th Anniversary Alien short and it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Visually, it’s likely the strongest of the series and reminds me more of Tony Scott than Ridley Scott. The place where it falls apart is toward the end where it plays less like a cohesive narrative than a […]
I know, I know, recording clean audio is my current bête noire. It’s something I’m working on but the thing about sound recording is that where you are is where you are. You can’t reduce ambient sound in an area–because I’m not Doctor Strange–and have to deal with what I have. So until the lavaliere […]
Visually speaking, Beyond The Aquila Rift is remarkable. In fact, it’s so good that if someone told me that this movie existed in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus/Alien universe, I’d have little problem believing it. The problem is that the storytelling is the weakest point, and that’s a HUGE issue. The story just meanders in that you […]
In preparation for a video on the Screenphiles Youtube channel, I re-watched Ridley Scott’s Alien (the 2003 Director’s Cut, which adds a few scenes not in the theatrical version) and doing so reminded me of a colloquialism, namely you can never go home again because not only is it overrated, it’s also a bit silly in […]
What is it with the Alien and Predator franchises? It almost feels like they’re being deliberately sabotaged (few other things can explain why Ridley Scott is so intent on undermining a series he himself helped to create) by some really bizarre decisions on the part of the people directing them, and it’s a pity. In […]
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