It’s 2017 and it’s time to write about Luke Skywalker being a show-stealing character… It’s one of the many weirder things about Star Wars being back, but I’m happy to see the character get to put in another great appearance. The film overall can be summed up like this: Great opening, great ending, dull middle. Two out of three ain’t bad! Let’s take a closer look then!
Before I head off to see Episode VIII tomorrow, I thought it would only be right to review this first, thus finishing off all the Star Wars films being reviewed on the site… well, until early next week when I review The Last Jedi, but you know what I mean! So “The Force Awakens” was a bit treat when it first came out, in fact leaving the cinema I would have voted it a 5 out of 5, but now my feelings have dulled just a little. Why? Well, why don’t you read to find out!
Never got the chance to see this in the cinema, so I watched the blu-ray last night and can finally comment on it… or Review it even! Spider-Man – Homecoming is great film, the very definition of “fun”, plus it overcomes that classic MCU film problem and has a really good villain in it. So let’s take a closer look!
Here is my review of Studio Ghibli co-production The Red Turtle, which can be view by clicking HERE. Not my usual cup of tea, but undeniably well crafted!
The latest Alien movie has come to blu-ray (and other formats!) so I was finally able to watch it, and too my surprise… it might be my least favourite film in the franchise (Counting the AvP series as separate…). With the sole exception of David from Prometheus I just didn’t have any interest in the characters at all, and once again the Xenomorph stuff seemed tacked on to an otherwise well-plotted “A.I. gone rogue” storyline. Ah well, let’s have a closer look anyway!
Prometheus is one of those films that had a huge marketing campaign and hype going into it (with a lot of the hype based around an incorrect idea that the film was a direct prequel to the original Alien film) and when it disappointed it created a large negative backlash. There are still people who put this on their “worst films” list, and that’s definitely too harsh, having finally watched the film for the sake of this Alien Week marathon, I can say that it’s … alright. It does some things well, other things poorly, but it’s far from terrible. Let’s take a closer look!
If Alien3 was a poor attempt to recreate the feel of Alien, then Alien Resurrection is at least a new viewpoint on the franchise. Resurrection is made to be a straight up action movie, with plenty of cheesy scenes, a bit of slapstick, and some straight up moments of “cool action”. There is at least something to be said about its honesty, and I definitely find it more enjoyable than the third entry, so let’s take a closer look at what is currently the end point of the known Alien timeline…
Alien3 is an odd one. It went through hell during development, leading to filming starting before the script was even finished, and the end result was pretty poor. The alternate edit, known as “The Assembly Cut”, helps it a bit (apart from one scene which I’ll get to later) but it’s still a mess. Not a bad film, but not a particularly good one either. Let’s take a look at it anyway… because otherwise this would be a very short blog…
Aliens is always a tough one when it comes to “what are the best sequels”, because it’s hard to say if it’s better than the first because it’s pretty much in a whole new category. Alien is sci-fi horror, Aliens is sci-fi action (with some horror still) and therefore it’s really down to which kind of film you prefer. Either way, Aliens is a great film, and more than deserves its reputation as a great sequel, whether you prefer it over the original or not. Let’s take a closer look!
“In space no one can hear you scream” is one of the best tag lines in movie history, and sure enough, it’s tagged on to one of the best sci-fi films in history… which is also a great horror movie! Kicking off Alien week with Alien, and although the sequel is great in its own category, I feel it’s personally safe to say that the series never reaches the heights this first film created. So let’s take a look at it!
Hogan Reviews 