I’m going to try to give a film recommendation each week this year based on what I’ve been watching in that week. My “best” of the week? I log everything I see on my letterboxd profile already, so this is more for me to know what I was thinking/feeling about what I was watching in this week.

I just started listening to the excellent Perfect Organism: The Alien Saga Podcast this week*, so it’s an Xenomorph heavy week. I watched the 6 Alien anniversary shorts, Ore is probably the good one, with Specimen being good and Alone being an interesting concept. It’s kinda a bland batch of shorts, they were put together to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Aliens release, they all hit every plot point of an Alien film, there’s a bad android, facehugger and an unsuspecting crew of Weyland-Yutani employees. So instead of a celebration it’s kinda a little bit of a slog, you always kinda know how it will go down (badly) and that you should set your expectations to subverted, but like, formulaically subverted. My frustration at them is compounded by the amazing things authors have been able to do with the Alien franchise, in Alien: The Cold Forge, they’ve got a non-binary character (named Blue, which is 100% an attack) and some really interesting, good politics. Sci-fi shines when it’s aggressive and relevant with it’s politics; Alien is about corporate greed, Aliens continues that and brings in a lot of anti Vietnam stuff (James Cameron being one of the more political Hollywood filmmakers and not one who could be accused of subtly). I think Alien is a franchise that Says Stuff, it wears its politics on it’s sleeve and it fails when it doesn’t.

I also watched Alien Resurrection, Prometheus and Covenant. I did a full review of Covenant. But to summarise my experience of all three? The grade of Resurrection is bland and terrible, it’s like looking at cold coffee. With Prometheus I can’t get over the terrible decisions made by the crew long enough to pay attention to the more interesting and theological aspects. And Covenant hasn’t got much to say, it’s just Alien with extra steps. While it does double the Fassbender count in an explicitly sexual way (which is a win for the Tumblr Girlies), it’s got more in common with those shorts than anything else.

I watched a bunch of stuff I have less to say about, Virtuosity which is Demolition Man crossed with Hackers with Denzel Washington by the director of Lawnmower Man. It’s terrible btw, I know I’m making it sound amazing, but it’s really really terrible. Transformers: The Last Knight, which is like a TV show or something, it’s impossible to follow and the Transformer designs are weird, they’ve all got these hyper human faces and mouths, I don’t like it and it scares me. Species 2, Michael Madsen running around, holding his gun in a weird way and hunting the sexy space Twink who is an evil alien now. Forest Whitaker was meant to return so they’ve got this character that’s just him, but played by another actor, another film from this week has this problem too, Speed 2: Cruise Control. Keanu was meant to return but went on tour with his band instead, so you have Jason Patric playing a definitely different guy who just happens to be the exact same guy. It’s very funny and probably the only kinda interesting thing about the movie. I’d love to have been in the writing room when they decided on a cruse ship for the sequel, a plane that’s not allowed to land is the obvious choice. Cruse ships are so slow and cumbersome and there’s not the ‘wow I’ve never seen a bus do THAT’ factor, it is an unforced error.

My actual recommendation for the week (I guess) is L.A. Takedown, it’s Michael Manns prototype for Heat. Made just 6 years before, it has the same plot, much of the same dialogue and entirely forgettable leads. It’s such a fascinating watch and really not something that happens. People frequently talk about wanting different directors to do the same script, but this is kinda more interesting. I like how this was refined into Heat, it’s the raw materials, the right words and much of the mise-en-scène but it’s crude oil, not yet gasoline. It’s someones sketch of something that would later come to define their career.

*I have a lot to say about Perfect Organism so expect a follow up, I know an Alien podcast in 2023 sounds like a red flag museum, but it’s one of the most interesting and well put together podcast’s I’ve ever listened too. Lindsay (my close friend/own podcast co-host) found it, the first episode she listened to had a deep explanation of Lovecraft’s racism followed by the host saying that white people forgive him too quickly. It’s really fantastic and on point and an easy recommend, even if you’re not a massive sci-fi/Alien head.