Review - Prometheus

Off to probe the farthest corner of the galaxy for the origins of humanity flies the spacecraft Prometheus in Ridley Scott's ambitious prequel to the Alien franchise he himself spawned 33 years ago. That original classic is revered for being both a grade-A creature feature and a legit science fiction with strong thematic undertones, but while Prometheus reaches for the same proverbial stars (much like the ancient pictograms that lead our inquisitive scientists on their voyage), its philosophical quandaries and narrative ambiguities are as vexing as they are thought-provoking.

Noomi Rapace (sans dragon tattoo) headlines as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, who theorizes that the aforementioned pictograms – discovered in the art of different civilizations the world over – are evidence that humans were created by something beyond our world. “Engineers” is the term she and her husband (Logan Marshall-Green) coin for our hypothetical creators, and their thesis is enough to convince optimistically superstitious trillionaire Peter Weyland to finance an interplanetary mission to literally meet our maker. Anyone who's seen even one of the previous Alien films knows that going into space in search of answers is seldom a good idea, and indeed, this entry proceeds to follow many of the same beats as its predecessors. We are introduced to a mostly expendable crew of characters, including one synthetic personality, the robotic David, played with calibrated nuance by Michael Fassbender, the clear standout of the cast. Naturally, there's enough mistrust and hidden agendas to pique our suspicion until the bad stuff starts happening to these curious cats.

Sunday Top Ten - Pre-CG special effects films

All aspects of filmmaking evolve over time, but none so conspicuously as visual effects. The advancements made even over the last few years continue to amaze audiences. But for all the wonderful possibilities these technical achievements have opened up to filmmakers, I sometimes find myself yearning for a simpler time. Computer-generated images may make for convincing and exciting special effects, but am I alone in feeling that the digitization of this art has somewhat diminished the "specialness" of those effects? When you see a spaceship being blown up on screen today, you know how it was done; CGI. When you see a lifelike ape play the lead role in a movie today, you know how it was done; CGI. Wouldn't it be grand to watch a movie nowadays and legitimately wonder, "how did they do that?"

There was a time when you could, and the effects, though widely considered dated by today's standards, are still truly special in my eyes. For my money, these are the ten best pre-CG special effect showcases.

Sunday Top Ten - Challenging movie-related halloween costumes

Halloween is less than a month away, which means if you haven't already given some thought to your costume this year, you'd better get started! Sure, in a pinch you could always buy something last minute, but I would shake my finger at you for it. They've got no personality, those things. I'm something of a Halloween purist, and as such, I firmly believe that the only worthwhile costumes are homemade, usually requiring weeks of careful preparation and assembly to get just right.

I'm sure you can find all sorts of easy-to-make movie costumes around the Internet, but if you aren't afraid of a challenge, you might try tackling one of the more head-turning ensembles listed here (in no particular order).

Sunday Top Ten - James Cameron action sequences

With a mere eight feature films gracing his thirty-year career (not including his forays into television and deep-sea documentary filmmaking), it can be a bit frustrating being a James Cameron fan. Who wants to wait three years at a time between films? But then again, it's Cameron's painstaking perfectionism that makes his movies, and especially his action sequences, so thrilling and unforgettable, and most definitely worth the wait. No one understands better than he that action should extend organically from the story, yet should also take on a life of its own; a mini-story within the story. For my money, these are the master storyteller's ten best:

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Aliens

Nathaniel Rogers' Hit Me With Your Best Shot series over a The Film Experience is examining the strange goings-on on the planet LV-426, which I'm sure you'll recall is the setting of James Cameron's wicked 1986 sci-fi actioner Aliens. Cameron and DP Adrien Biddle concocted arresting images too numerous to count for the film, but for me, there are a select few standouts:

The reveal of Stan Winston's mother alien in all her slimy glory is heart-stopping to say the least, and makes a great gasp-inducing start to her tense staredown with Ripley. A nice companion shot to the one above would be this similarly back-light image of Ripley and her weapon of choice, a mechanical loader, on the cusp of the her most cited quotation, "Get away from her, you bitch!".

But the real money shot is that of young Newt in peril, trapped in a flooded corridor, initially unaware of the sinister tail emerging from the water behind her. I jumped clean out of my seat the first time I saw this, and it still gives me shivers to this day.

Sunday Top Ten: Awesome movie deaths

I almost found it a little disturbing how much fun I had putting together this particular list, but if there's any time and place where one can take morbid delight in overly elaborate and exotic deaths, it's the movies! I had lots of bizarre bucket-kickings to choose from, more than this list could include, but if I had to choose only ten that would make me say, “Now that's the way to go!”, these would be them:

(Needless to day, here be a few spoilers.)