Alien: Romulus, the Alien story continues. Great poster though

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Alien: Romulus, the Alien story continues. Great poster though

7 June 2024

Movie poster for Alien: Romulus. The poster has a red background and depicts an alien creature attached to a person's face.

Best I keep this brief, especially after complaining about film franchises continually rebooting and retelling the same story. Alien: Romulus (isn’t Romulus a planet in the Star Trek universe? Yeah, I thought so), is a story about some people on a spaceship, whose lives are threatened by a sinister alien stowaway. Reminds me a lot of a film called Alien, but that must be a coincidence, right?

Anyway, here’s the teaser/trailer for Alien: Romulus.

You’d have thought better lit spaceships would have been designed after Alien, but no. Like, wouldn’t it be a good idea to eliminate as many dark nooks and crannies as possible, so you know, sinister aliens can’t hide in them, and terrorise the crew?

Well-lit spaceships are also kind of practical, sinister aliens notwithstanding. Wouldn’t the crew want to be able to walk around the vessel, without tripping over, because they can’t see where they’re going? But what’s the point of utile design, if it means the same film can’t be remade time and again?

While there’s a stack of films whose trailers were better than the film itself, we just might find the poster for Alien: Romulus trumps both trailer and the feature itself. Alien: Romulus opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday 15 August 2024. Needless to say, I’ll be camping outside the cinema the night before so I can be among the first to see it on opening day.

Wake Up Dead Man, by Rian Johnson, with Daniel Craig: Benoit Blanc returns

7 June 2024

Great news for fans of 2019 thriller/comedy/whodunit, Knives Out… a follow up is on the way. Daniel Craig will reprise his role as private detective Benoit Blanc, in Wake Up Dead Man, due for cinematic release sometime in 2025. Check out the teaser/trailer, though it’s more teaser than trailer.

Good to hear CSI KFC’s voice again. I liked Knives Out so much I watched it three times.

It was also good to see Craig in a James Bond like role that was not James Bond. I gave up on the Bond films years ago. The world needs more filmmakers like Johnson, who create and write their own original characters. Rather than maintaining the apparent status quo, which sees the same old story rebooted and retold decade after decade. I’m looking at you James Bond. Or rather, I’m not.

Make only honest film trailers: you might be sued for deception otherwise

23 December 2022

An American judge has ruled producers of the Danny Boyle directed Yesterday deceived potential viewers of the movie. Two fans of Cuban and Spanish actor Ana de Armas had hired a copy of the 2019 rom-com, after a trailer they saw suggested de Armas had a prominent role in the story.

After discovering this was not the case, they filed a lawsuit against the film producers. While de Armas was involved in filming, none of her scenes were included in the final cut.

Film production company Universal Pictures had contended film trailers are an “artistic, expressive work”, presumably meaning any content — within reason I imagine — can feature in a trailer, but the court rejected the argument:

But according to a ruling from U.S. District Judge Steven Wilson, obtained by Deadline Hollywood, “Universal is correct that trailers involve some creativity and editorial discretion, but this creativity does not outweigh the commercial nature of a trailer. At its core, a trailer is an advertisement designed to sell a movie by providing consumers with a preview of the movie.”

Plenty of film trailers include scenes that are not seen the later theatrical release, and this often happens for good reason. Some scenes may spoil vital plot points, while other “extra” snippets may play a part in building up pre-release anticipation. I’m not entirely against the practise, these sorts of trailers are better than the ones that are essentially a short version of the feature itself.

But suggesting a certain actor will feature, when they don’t, is another matter. Particularly for people who see films solely because of the (advertised) presence of a specific actor. It will be interesting to see what the final outcome will be in this case.

Trailer for Triangle of Sadness, a film by Ruben Ostlund

23 December 2022

Triangle of Sadness, trailer, the latest feature from Swedish filmmaker Ruben Őstlund, he of Force Majeure fame, looks like a lot of fun. Sort of.

A group of rich and powerful people set sail on a yacht under the command of the captain (Woody Harrelson). It’s all plain sailing until a storm hits, and then things get messy, really messy. Passengers vomit en masse, toilets block and overflow, and then some of those aboard end up marooned on a desert island. A kind of Gilligan’s Island, but on steroids maybe.

Late South African actor Charlbi Dean stars as Yaya, an Instagram influencer, who has been given free passage in exchange for promoting the vessel. She’s accompanied by her boyfriend Carl (Harris Dickinson), a fashion model. For those who can stomach tossing seas, Triangle of Sadness can be seen in Australian cinemas from Monday 26 December 2022.

Macadam Stories

4 September 2021

Macadam Stories, a 2015 film by French filmmaker Samuel Benchetrit, tells the story of four people living in a dilapidated apartment block on the verge on an industrial wasteland, each of whom are seeking connection, whether they know it or not.

Sternkowitz (Gustave Kervern) finds himself confined to a wheelchair after some exercise misadventure. He strikes up a friendship with a nurse (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) who works nights at the local hospital, after he goes in search of food late one evening.

Charly (Jules Benchetrit), a lonely teenager, befriends Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert), a despairing actor, living across the hall, who’s struggling to find a new role.

Madame Hamida (Tassadit Mandi), meanwhile finds herself hosting John McKenzie (Michael Pitt), an American astronaut who’s capsule inadvertently landed on the roof of the apartment block.

While viruses, lockdowns, and self-isolation, are not a part of this story, all the characters here are cut-off in some way from the outside world. Macadam Stories is a hopeful, warming, film for our times.