Blind Spot Review: Alien (1979)

We’re way out of our comfort zone this month. I think we’re getting braver, but neither Jenna or I watch horror movies. It’s not even the movie itself that’s so bad, it’s trying to go to bed that night that’s the worst! Also, whilst I won’t speak on behalf of Jenna on this point, I don’t do too well with space movies. They tend to be far too clever for my simple mind to follow. Star Wars is the exception!  I'm good with space movies but as someone who lives alone horrors are a big no no, even with someone.  Its the countless nights afterwards when I have to check every cupboard and nook and cranny in my house before I can 'safely' go to bed!  

Which I guess is why Alien (1979) was the perfect choice for our Blind Spot list. I mean, that’s what it’s all about, right? We teamed up for this one, also joined by my fiance, who somehow claims to love this movie despite being a bigger wuss than I when it comes to horror and also appearing to not know what was going to happen!

Thanks to the super helpful opening scene, I can actually explain the plot of this. A commercial towing spacecraft carrying 20,000,000 tons of mineral ore, named Nostromo, is on it’s way back to Earth, along with it’s 7 crew members. The inside of the Nostromo is quiet, until the crew are awoken by the ship’s computer system, Mother. Turns out, they’re not even close to home. Mother has altered their course after picking up a distress signal from another planet, and the crew are forced to investigate, much to the annoyance of some of them.

There’s so much tension between the crew members here that I’d happily watch them all together completely away from the Sci-Fi components of this movie. Speaking of the crew though, there are some huge names here, some that I embarrassingly only knew once I’d looked them up, too. Collectively, we have Executive Officer Kane (John Hurt), Chief Engineer Parker (Yaphet Cotto), Engineering Technician Brett (Harry Dean Stanton), Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Navigator Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm) and last but certainly not least, Warrant Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver).   I recognised a few of the faces but the only name (other than Sigourney Weaver) I knew was Harry Dean Stanton (because he is Pretty in Pink's dad!!) - we are terrible aren't we....

There are trust issues left, right and centre, grudges held over wages paid, and at some points this crew is on the verge of mutiny. I got so engrossed I forgot what we were watching for a while!

Oh! How could I forget the final crew member, ginger cat Jonesy! Within the first five minutes I felt the need to warn the others, this cat is gonna be an ass. And he was! He was indeed! He got the second biggest jump scare for sure, the little furry bugger. I was rooting for him, though!  I was not!!  Can you spot the one of us that has pets?

Thankfully, this wasn’t nearly as scary as I feared it would be, but I think that’s just the movie’s age. I do imagine this would have been terrifying when it first came out, and some of the final scenes where Ripley was walking alone around the ship with the flashing lights and the ominous music had me quite tense.  I have to admit, I'm not sure that I would personally count this as a typical horror, it had the jumps but I didn't spend the whole time with my head behind a pillow.  In fact due to a long day of bridesmaid dress shopping I nearly dozed off a few times!!

I expected a bit more from this, I seem to do the same thing every time and forget to account for movies aging.  I don't think they have the same impact on us watching for the first time in 2016 as they did for the guys watching it when it came out.  The cast were really great and there were some significant twists that I didn't see coming, at all.  I loved Sigourney Weaver, she was everything I had heard she would be, a strong lead characters, no sidekick here.  My guess is I will get to experience more of her strength in the rest of the films I have yet to see.

I’m really glad I watched Alien. It’s not my go-to movie of choice at all but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve since heard from colleagues around my office that the second movie in the series is even better. Is that the general consensus?  My Dad agrees...

Review: Hercules (2014)

I love going on holiday and finding a cinema (particularly in the States as the films are in the same language) because I always feel a bit lost if I can't go to the cinema.  So imagine my joy, to find that on Universal CityWalk a 5 minute walk from our hotel in Los Angeles, there was a huge cinema that also had an IMAX!! Happy Jenna!!

The first film we went to see on our travels was Hercules, (the Dwayne Johnson one) and genuinely wasn't expecting to enjoy it as I'm not a huge fan of Dwayne Johnson, but I was surprised.

This film has a really clever story that the 'Legend' of Hercules, is just that, a legend.  The myth of Hercules is kept alive by a group of 'swords for hire' who hide in the shadows and help Hercules to appear to be the son of a Demi-God.  Supported by the stories of his 'labours' told by his nephew Iolaus to ensure the legend continues, and guaranteeing them business.  That is until they are hired by the King of Thrace and his Daughter to stop a Warlord threatening their land.

I am surprised to say that I really enjoyed this film, the story was clever and not at all what I expected which made for a very good start.  They kept the comedy element present throughout, which made it really enjoyable watching and Autolycus' (Rufus Sewell) dry humour made me laugh out loud more than once.  Ian McShane's foreseer Amphiaraus had his own moments and stole many of the scenes he was in.

The three big battles were well done and not so quick that you can't see what's happening (a peeve of Transformers for me!) and still kept some of the lighthearted humour to stop it getting too heavy.  The overhead shots of the surrounding landscape set the scenes for the battles well and looked amazing in IMAX 3D (anyone who knows me, knows its a rarity for me to see a live action film in 3D).  I don't think this would have been the same in 2D, so i have to commend the choice to film it in 3D.

I also really enjoyed the end credits, I won't spoil it for anyone but it was very clever!

I was surprised (not sure if there are any other Australian Soap fans out there!) to see Daryll Braxton from Home and Away appearing as one of the Trace Army.  

Not what you expect and very entertaining.  Give it a go, you might be surprised.

Review: Snowpiercer (2013)

Out of the blue, my Blogger feed started to fill up with reviews for Snowpiercer. I'd never heard of it before but everyone's reviews were great and when I researched the film a little, the story behind it's release fascinated me, so I knew I needed to see it. I'm writing this while Jenna's on holiday so you'll see this after the hype, but still!

To be fair, the hype appeared to still be alive and kicking when I got back.  I hadn't even heard of this until seeing it on various blogs (gotta love the power of the film blogging community!!).  Anywho, I got on my latest flight and as soon as I saw this and I didn't even bother looking through the other menus!

Snowpiercer is based on a French graphic novel called Le Transperceneige in 1982. The film itself starts in the present day, where an experiment planned to stop the Earth's global warming caused the whole planet to freeze, and wipe out all humans. The only survivors are on a high-tech train called Snowpiercer, and over the years a class system has formed where the wealthy live at the front of the train in luxury, and the poor are left to the slums.

It's been a while since I've been so gripped to a film just by it's plot summary. I knew when I read it that this film would be right up my street.  I knew nothing of what this film was about, honestly from the poster I thought it was a war film (I had avoided all reviews to limit spoilers) and to be honest I'm glad I did because I went into this with no expectations whatsoever.

No surprises here, but I really struggled with the first 20 minutes of Snowpiercer. It just seemed to throw everything at me and I couldn't work out who was who, what was going on or what had gone on in the past that they were talking about, and I had to really sit and concentrate to understand the situation. That seemed to be a running theme for me actually, but as the film went on, a lot of my questions were answered. 

I loved that it took no time at all to get into the story, within the first few minutes you could see this was going to approach to subject of social status.  The characters were amazing, Chris Evans was great in this particularly serious role and Tilda Swinton in (what probably shouldn't have been) a comedic role.  It took me most of the film to work out who she was because she looked so different!! 

At the time I didn't realise Snowpiercer was based on a graphic novel, but if I did I would have appreciated the eccentric characters a little more, as they left me baffled when I was watching it. Minister Mason and Teacher were absolutely fantastic, and I'm not sure if the audience are meant to find humour in their characters but I laughed out loud during some of their scenes!

It was also refreshing to see Chris Evans play a more serious role, and he absolutely smashed it. In one of the last scenes, during his speech outside the door to the engine room, I really wanted to cry for his character.  Oh that scene got me fighting back the tears but also feeling a bit queasy! 

The beginning of this film seemed like a typical action, 'fight against the man' type of film where you root for the lower class protagonist and instantly hate the 'leader'. But the more the film went on the more it started to become more political with more focus on the differences in social status and human nature in the world.  They have shrunk the worlds 'issues' down to one train in an effort to highlight these factors in much stronger ways, which in some parts became horrific (Curtis' final monologue) and other times extremely comical (Alison Pill's amazing singing teacher).  I actually found myself feeling a bit sad when the film had finished, it's much harder to ignore the social issues in our world when they are played out on such a small scale right in front of your eyes!

If you've never heard of Snowpiercer, check out the trailer below:

I'm so glad I gave this film a chance, and I want to watch it again sometime soon because I think I'll appreciate the creativity a lot more the second time round. I wouldn't recommend this film to the general audience just due to its complexity, but watching it was a truly unique experience.

I don't think I would want to watch this again, don't get me wrong I loved it but it left me with an uneasy feeling of how the world might end up, that I don't overly want to think about again.  Ignorance is bliss I say!