This week I hit the theater and continued my Alien series rewatch in preparation for Covenant.
Anyway, on to this week’s viewings.
Sleight – 4*
I saw this previewed early this year and thought it looked really cool. Turns out, it is. On the surface, Sleight seems to be a mix of inner-city drama mixed with magic. The might seem like a weird mix on the surface but as the film unfolds and you get to know the characters, the magic aspect of it all begins to congeal with its other half as the film drives towards its satisfying sci-fi conclusion.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – 3*
I enjoyed the original Guardians immensely and I left Guardians 2 feeling very similar. However, the more I think about it, the cracks begin to show. Like many of Marvel’s sequels, it returns to the well a bit too often and it feels a bit less exciting than it did the first time around. This isn’t to say that Guardians 2 is a bad movie, it’s not. But it is more popcorn fluff than anything else.
Rings – 2*
Where Guardians Vol. 2 was a welcome sequel, Rings is an unnecessary one. Did we need to have a return of Samara? After seeing this, the answer is very clearly, no we didn’t. The Big Bang Theory’s Johnny Galecki plays a professor that discovers “the tape” and devises an experiment to study the phenomenon. I’m not going to lie, this premise actually sounds pretty cool. Unfortunately by the halfway point, this is no longer being explored and it’s back to hunting down Samara’s history. It’s not scary. It’s not creepy. And it’s just not good.
Alien 3 – 3*
I remember liking Alien 3 and defending it to a certain degree. After watching it again, I still like aspects of it, particularly Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) , Dillon (Charles S. Dutton), and Clemens (Charles Dance). All three of them give solid performances within a very dull and uninspired looking film. The rest of the cast… well that is a different story and let’s not even get started on the CGI, which has soured like old milk. As my Movie Dudes co-host said while we recorded our upcoming episode, Alien 3 is remake of Alien in a boring warehouse. Even so, I can’t hate on it, although I might not return to it again for quite a while.
Alien: Resurrection – 3*
If you go into Resurrection attempting to take itself and its history seriously, you will leave disappointed. If you can clear your preconceptions though and just take Resurrection at surface level, there is a lot to like here. It is straight up goofy, mostly courtesy to the writing (Joss Whedon) and the casting choices. It’s dumb, up and down, but it is fun as well and after the drabness of Alien 3, Resurrection was a nice change of pace. I can see myself returning to this one before 3, simply because it is an enjoyable mess.
They’re Watching – 3*
My Hump Day Horror film this week came courtesy of another Blumhouse list. They’re Watching is a found footage horror film that follows the exploits of a TV crew for a home repair show. Why it is in Moldova, I don’t know but creepy Eastern European superstitions, a weird house, some witchcraft, all work really well. That is up until the final act, where the film goes all cheap CGI and has ridiculous looking set pieces. Still, for a low budget, indie found footage film, I’ve seen worse and this one mostly works.
So, that is what I’ve been watching this week. I’ll be continuing my Alien series rewatch by watching Alien v Predator and Prometheus this week. Let me know if you’d like me to watch something and more importantly what you thought about some of these if you’ve seen them.
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