Alien (1979) Review

Synopsis

In deep space, the crew of the commercial starship Nostromo is awakened from their cryo-sleep capsules halfway through their journey home to investigate a distress call from an alien vessel. The terror begins when the crew encounters a nest of eggs inside the alien ship. An organism from inside an egg leaps out and attaches itself to one of the crew, causing him to fall into a coma.

Release date: May 25, 1979

Director: Ridley Scott

Screenplay: Dan O’Bannon

Budget: 11 million USD

My Review

Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) will have you sitting in suspense throughout the entire film. The pacing of this movie plays with the audience’s mind and mental state in a way that you won’t want to look away from the screen for a single moment. The beginning of the film takes its sweet time establishing the characters and setting before introducing conflict.

Unlike many modern-day horror and sci-fi movies, this film has a strong buildup that leads to an intense climax and resolution. In well-established suspense films, it is the waiting and the build up that excited the viewer and draws them into the movie. While this film isn’t full of intense jump scares in every scene, it’s the anticipation and the build-up that will have you sitting in anticipation. This film is far from predictable, and by creating an alien that changes and adapts the audience never knows what to expect.

Alien was masterly cast, and the actors did an incredible job of stepping into their roles and feeding off of each other’s energy. Sigourney Weaver’s performance is both memorable and captivating. She completely steps into her role and brings her character to life. Because of the established set-up of the film, each character is well developed and the audience is made well-aware of their character traits.

Overall, this film has aged well through time and I highly recommend giving it a watch!

My Rating

4.5/5

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FireFly lane (2021) review

Synopsis: Tully and Kate meet as young girls on Firefly Lane and become inseparable friends throughout 30 years of ups and downs. First episode date: February 3, 2021 Network: Netflix Program creator: Maggie Friedman Executive producers: Maggie Friedman, Stephanie Germain, Katherine Heigl, Lee Rose, Shawn Williamson, Peter O’Fallon My Review: After watching the first few episodes of this series, I was not sucked into…

by Cinematic Geekster February 18, 2021

Alien(s) (1986) Review

Synopsis After floating in space for 57 years, Lt. Ripley’s (Sigourney Weaver) shuttle is found by a deep space salvage team. Upon arriving at LV-426, the marines find only one survivor, a nine year old girl named Newt (Carrie Henn). But even these battle-hardened marines with all the latest weaponry are no match for the hundreds…

by Cinematic Geekster February 6, 2021February 6, 2021

Countdown To Christmas! The 5 Best Holiday Films

There is no shortage of Christmas movies in the world. Here is my list of the 5 Holiday films I find myself gravitating towards every year. 1. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) It’s a Wonderful Life is a film that I did not appreciate at all as a kid. It’s my dad’s favorite Christmas film,…

by Cinematic Geekster December 22, 2020December 22, 2020

‘Unhinged’ Profits $4 Million Opening Weekend- Is It Enough?

The longer the global health crisis in the world right now goes on, the more of a desire there is for life to return to normalcy. In good news, many movie theaters have now opened up back up to a most notable level since pre COVID- 19. Attendance for movie goers has been record low, however a recent premiere of Solstice Studios, “Unhinged” is giving the U.S Box Office some hope.

In a recent article by Rebecca Rubin for Variety, she discusses the film “Unhinged,” and its success as being the first major theatrical release since March. The film premiered in 1,823 venues in North America and pocketed more than $4 million dollars in its first weekend. Unhinged cost $33 million to produce, which doesn’t include marketing and distribution costs, and the filmmakers are aiming to reach $30 million in revenue during the film’s theatrical run time. Which will be longer than the average films run time.

In a recent interview, Shari Hardison, Solstice’s head of distribution, gave a quote stating “We have a lot of stairs to climb, but the first steps are encouraging.” There’s a long way to go for the U. S box office to survive in the pandemic world, but the major success with “Unhinged” since its release is a step in the right direction.

The CEO of Solstice, Mark Gill, stated that his mantra throughout the whole global health crisis has been “Slow and steady wins the race.” He later expressed his satisfaction with “Unhinged’s” opening weekend stating: “This weekend is the first step. The next couple of weeks will show us a lot more. The rebuilding process is going to take 9- 18 months. Our belief in the long-term success of the theatrical business is unshaken.

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Read Rebecca Rubin’s article Box Office: Russell Crowe’s ‘Unhinged’ Off to Decent Start as U.S. Theaters Slowly Reopen Here

Listen to Mark Gill’s full interview on the release of Unhinged Here

Hereditary (2018) Review

Synopsis

When the matriarch of the Graham family passes away, her daughter and grandchildren unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry, trying to outrun the sinister fate they have inherited.

Initial release: June 7, 2018

(Russia)Director: Ari Aster

Screenplay: Ari Aster

Nominations: MTV Movie Award for Most Frightened Performance

Awards: Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Actress, Bandung Film Festival for Imported Film

My Review

I have always been a tremendous fan of Ari Aster’s films, becuase of their ability to create suspense and leave a psychological impact on the audience. After watching Midsommar, I had high expectations for this film, and it left me slightly unimpressed. There was a loss of mystery in this film, and I found the plot was predictable at times. However, the film is very well made from a production standpoint.

Unlike Midsommar, there were times this film was not subtle enough in its clues. For example, as soon as they showed the doormat at Joans door step, and Annie stated that her mom used to make mats just like that I knew there was a connection between the two. Since I knew the film focused around Pagan rituals, I knew the two were related, and that Joan was up to no good. While I could not fill in all the missing details of what was going on. Enough information was spoon fed to me I didn’t really pine to figure out the answers.

The one scene that had me holding my breath in suspense, was Charlie’s death scene. I did not see that coming, and it was definitely heartbreaking to watch. However, the only other time throughout this film that I felt this way was when Steve throws the sketchbook into the fire. All the other climatic scenes did not fully have my attention. Especially any scene that involved floating.

When Peter wakes up in bed near the climax of the film, and his mother Annie clinging to the ceiling it terrified me. However, when she began floating around, it looked so fake to me I couldn’t take it seriously.

I loved the parallel of the model doll house in the film, and I wish they would have done more with it. It definitely created a sense to the audience that they were looking in on “dolls” living their life, in which they have no control in the events transpiring. I really liked this, and it made me sad they didn’t go further with it.

My favorite thing about the film was the camera work, lighting, and set design. It was truly a beautiful film to watch and they clearly put a lot of thought behind every tiny detail. The acting was also phenomenal. In fact, I forgot I was watching a bunch of actors on screen. The actor’s performance definitely made up for the lack of investment into the plot and storyline for me.

Overall, the plot of this film was unique and creative. I had a hard time getting invested into the film and I wasn’t too eager to figure out what was going on. I was just watching the film, and so I missed out on the psychological impact of the movie. However, I would watch the film again to see if there were any tiny details or symbolic meanings I missed.

My Rating

6 out of 10

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Alien (1979) Review

Synopsis In deep space, the crew of the commercial starship Nostromo is awakened from their cryo-sleep capsules halfway through their journey home to investigate a distress call from an alien vessel. The terror begins when the crew encounters a nest of eggs inside the alien ship. An organism from inside an egg leaps out and…

by Cinematic Geekster January 30, 2021

Spike Lee’s Advice: Follow Your Passion

In a recent podcast on The Craft of the Director with the Director’s Guild Spike Lee gave lots of insight into the emergence of his career and how he has found success. Lee emphasized several times that it only takes one person to inspire somebody and to ignite a spark within them that begins their…

by Cinematic Geekster December 1, 2020

Sofia Coppola: Characterization and Relatability

In a recent podcast with The Treatment, Sofia Coppola discusses her newest film, “On the Rocks,” starring Bill Murray and Rashida Jones. One of the things the podcast heavily focused on was the characterization of the two main characters and how relatable they are to everyday life. The film follows a father and a daughter…

by Cinematic Geekster November 19, 2020

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What Did I Just Watch? The Platform (2019) Analysis

Synopsis

Prisoners housed in vertical cells watch as inmates in the upper cells are fed while those below starve.

Initial release: February 21, 2020

(Taiwan)Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia

Language: Spanish

Nominations: Goya Award for Best New Director

Awards: Goya Award for Best Special Effects, Gaudí Award for Best Visual Effects

My Review/ Analysis

Wow. There is a lot to this film. Overall, this film is making lots of statements on society and humanity. In the film, prisoners are kept in a cell like blocks with a roommate for an extended amount of time. Every day a platform full of food travels down the platforms from top to bottom. The more food the top levels eat, the less food there is for the lower levels.

The film is making jabs and comments on the society of the real-world, however; the filmmakers created a society all of its own within the pit itself. There is a set of rules to follow within the society of the pit. For example, each level has two minutes to eat as much food as they want before the platform will move to another level. If any food is kept on your platform and being saved for later, the people in charge will either freeze you to death or heat you to death until you return the food to where it belongs. Despite these strict rules, the citizens of the pit are free to do as they choose. There seems to be no repercussions for murder, or psychically harming another person within the pit.

There are 333 platforms in the pit, and with two people per level that equals 666 lives living within this hellish society. This is symbolic of the hellish society humans have created in the real world. The people in the film are very individualistic minded and are very little for one another. If everybody ate only what they needed, everyone would have enough. But the people in the pit seem to have very little regard for one another.

Despite those at the top platforms, having experiences life at the bottom, they still hoard food and hold no regard for those below them. Even though the members of the pit physically get to experience life at every level they still posses strong selfish actions when at the top.

Immediately this made me think of the recent Pandemic the world is facing. People hoard food and toilet paper, leaving very little for others. It was a scary parallel realization. The film is stating that as a society we only look out for ourselves, and the majority rarely consider how those around us are doing. While we don’t live in a pit like society, the film suggests no matter who is put in the pit the same pattern will occur over and over again. Those at the top will always take too much and cause pain and suffering for those below them.

Towards the end of the film the audience meets a little girl who is hiding in one of the lower platforms. She appears to be the daughter of the woman who rides down the platform every month looking for her child. The audience is told that they accept no kids to take part in the pit, causing the audience to believe the child was born within the pit. Therefore, making her a direct product of the pits society.

At the end of the film, the child is sent back up on the platform to serve as a message to those in charge of the pit. This suggests that the only hope for a change in society lies within the younger generations of the world. However, the girl in the movie has to go on this journey alone since she solely is the message. The girl represents the hope of humanity to overcome the darkest truths of human nature. The only hope for change is through youthful eyes and innocence.

My Rating

3.5 out of 5

I highly reccomend giving this film a watch. However, I don’t think I would ever sit down to watch it again.

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Lucas Hagar: The Influence of NArrative Storytelling on Documentaries

In a podcast with Film Riot, Lucas Harger talked in-depth about his filmmaking process as well as the creative cross between narrative film and documentary filmmaking. As a filmmaker, Lucas has been successful in crossing between editing both documentary and narrative stories to produce unique and creative content. According to Lucas, being able to create…

by Cinematic Geekster November 10, 2020

Samuel L. Jackson: Career Reflection

In a recent article with IndieWire, Zack Sharf wrote about the impact shooting ‘The Hateful Eight’ had on Samuel L. Jackson. While receiving the Legend of Cinema Award at the 2020 SCAD Savannah Film Festival, Jackson took the time to reflect on his professional career. Jackson states that his relationship with the cast members from…

by Cinematic Geekster November 4, 2020

ava duvernay: tips on being an effective director

In a recent podcast with The Director’s Guild, Ava Duvernay sat down to discuss her tips of the trade on being an effective director. Ava’s biggest piece of advice is to know yourself as a director, including your limitations as a director. Knowing what you are and are not capable of creates a more effective…

by Cinematic Geekster November 4, 2020