Alien: Covenant. Review & Analysis

Alien: Covenant, Ridley Scott's sequel to 2012's Prometheus, also brings us closer to 1979's Alien. While there are sequences and shocks which recall the latter, there is a fair amount of the former's ruminations on divinity, creation, and destruction. The end result is tense, heady, & entertaining, but it also feels like a hybrid of two different films imperfectly stitched together.

(WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! CONTINUE READING AT YOUR DISCRETION / PERIL!)

Part of the problem is expectations. We know what to expect from an Alien film.

We also have high expectations when it comes to Scott and science fiction, primarily thanks to Alien and Blade Runner (more recently, The Martian, and for some, Prometheus). Fair or not, we've seen what Scott is capable of when he maximizes his ability. Let's also be honest - no one is more aware of those expectations than Scott himself.

Alien: Covenant, like Prometheus, is preoccupied with making a big statement. Like Prometheus, the narrative twists doesn't cohere well enough to make the film an unqualified success.

But, also like Prometheus, it's visually resplendent and thematically challenging, as well as one of the bleakest franchise films in recent memory.

Tons more past the jump!

Scene Analysis: The Last Supper, Alien

Scene Analysis is where I'll take a look at a scene from a film and try to determine what makes it work (or not), and what it communicates to the audience about the characters, plot, and themes of the film in question.

For my 1st post in this series, the most iconic scene from my favorite movie will kick us off. I'll be taking a look at the infamous "The Last Supper" scene from Ridley Scott's 1979 classic, Alien.

It should go without saying (Alien is 38 years old in May) that spoiler warnings are in full effect. This particular scene also has several NSFW images.

Let's get started!

My 10 Year Plan for San Diego Sports

We can't do anything about the Chargers. We can start setting up San Diego to be successful with sports over the next 10 years - and maybe even give ourselves a second chance at the NFL.

Ok folks, here's the deal. The Chargers are gone. They aren't coming back.

San Diego should grieve, and San Diego fans have every right to be angry. After a certain point it becomes unhealthy to dwell too much on the sadness and anger. As a community, we're fast approaching the point where those raw emotions need to be channeled into something productive.

I don't mean anti-trust lawsuits against the Chargers or NFL. They don't want to be here. Let them go. Don't chase the name, logos, uniforms, colors or records. I want to talk about something different.

My 10 year plan for San Diego sports follows past the jump.

The Chargers' Fraudulent Path to Los Angeles

The media campaign to ingratiate the Los Angeles Chargers into their new market has begun in earnest. We've seen/heard Dean Spanos give interviews all over Los Angeles (hereafter LA). He's shown up at Clippers and Kings games to do interviews and pose for pics with mascots.

So far, the campaign has not gone well. Spanos has been excoriated both by LA and San Diego (hereafter SD) media for the move. He's also been the subject of national media scorn, ranging from sources as disparate as The Jim Rome Show, Jonah Keri, and Justin Halpern.

Back here in SD, the community grapples with the sudden loss of a franchise which called SD home for over half a century. But history is also being written, and it's crucial to get it recorded right.

If there's one thing I want to make sure everyone understands going forward, whether in SD or not, it's this. Measure C, and most of what happened in 2016, was a fraud perpetrated by the Chargers to get to LA.

Stadium Dreaming

It's now up on Bolts From the Blue. Click on the link below...

Stadium Dreaming

Film Review: Star Trek Beyond

Director Justin Lin's entry into the rebooted Final Frontier is neither as much pure fun as Star Trek, nor as overtly political as Star Trek Into Darkness. It's a blend of both movies which somehow comes closest yet to capturing the intimate and inclusive spirit of the Original Series.

(WARNING! SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW! CONTINUE READING AT YOUR DISCRETION / PERIL!)

Star Trek Beyond (hereafter Beyond) has both an incredible opportunity and incredible challenge.

Star Trek Into Darkness left the crew of the Enterprise heading out on their 5-year mission into deep space. Thus, the opportunity for director Justin Lin and co-writers Simon Pegg & Doug Jung to paint on a very broad canvas, expand the universe of the reboot series, and go in a completely new direction. On the other hand, J.J. Abrams and his writers: Damon Lindelof, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman didn't leave any particular plot threads for the new creative powers to follow or expand upon - hence the challenge.

Furthermore, whatever you may think of Into Darkness (I think there's more to like than most), it was a movie which deeply divided Star Trek fans - many insist it's the worst Star Trek film made.

Abrams moved on (he returns here as a producer) to help Disney with maximizing their investment in Lucasfilm. Paramount, back to the days when Star Wars first defined what a blockbuster truly was, has always thought (or hoped) Star Trek could have a similar degree of financial success.

There's also the whole 50th anniversary of Star Trek business this year, not to mention CBS re-launching a new TV series called Star Trek: Discovery in January.

Therefore, there's no small amount of pressure on the shoulders of Lin, Pegg & Jung to come up with a film which can re-invigorate the fanbase while still appealing to a mass audience.

It's my pleasure to say Lin and company mostly succeed. Beyond isn't a masterpiece, but it is a well-made Star Trek film which grows the franchise and characters, carries some encoded political commentary, and still presents the optimistic humanism the series was always known and loved for.

Much more to follow after the jump:

From the Archives: Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek Beyond opened this past weekend.

I'm still working my way toward a full review of Beyond, which will by out later today.

In the meantime, as promised, I've included my old review of Star Trek Into Darkness. Here's a snippet:

As the universally-decreed "Best Star Trek Movie Ever Made," (Star Trek II: The Wrath of) Khan is both the standard by which good Star Trek is measured, and unfortunately "a pattern to follow" as Kirk says of the Ilia probe in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 

And in the case of later Star Trek (generally), and specifically in the case of Star Trek Into Darkness, my response might be the same as Spock's was to Kirk: "Indeed. They may have followed it too precisely." 

Still, Star Trek Into Darkness is very good, and in places it's great. It also works as very good, and occasionally great Star Trek.

Here is the link to the complete original post (please forgive the occasional typo)...

Star Trek Into Darkness

Hope you enjoy it.

As promised, sometime within the next few days, I'll have my full review of Star Trek Beyond.