I shall look forward to hearing your report … I just can’t do cinemas these days, so I’d love to know what an unbiased western fan’s take is. Have fun.
The nearest theater to me showing it is an hour away but I am thinking of making the journey this weekend.
On an unrelated note, the total box office so far doesn’t bode well for the immediate future of westerns here in the U.S. In its second week of release, it has dropped out of the top five following a lackluster opening of $11 million over here. They are saying that it cost $100 million to make the first two chapters. Given how close together the first two chapters are being released, I don’t see the second part out drawing the first.
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I intend seeing it later this week
The Last Duel (2021) d: Ridley Scott. I’m a fan of The Duellists(1977), Ridley Scott’ s freshman production about two officers in Napoleon’s army who fight a series of duels during the Napoleonic Wars. I watched Scott’s 2023 biopic about Bonaparte with Joaquin Phoenix about Corsica’s most famous son. I liked it. But, I agree with the sentiment that it’s impossible to make a satisfactory biopic about Napoleon Bonaparte because his life was so epic in scale that a movie would quickly turn into a mini series in order to adequately cover his amazing life. A coworker friend and fellow movie nerd told me that The Last Duel was worth a watch. All I could say was that Mr. Scott has a thing for Bonaparte and French guys who are out to kill each other in long-standing vendettas. The movie was reminiscent of Kurosawa’s Rashomon. The story follows a growing vendetta between two French squires (played by Damon and Driver) that is fuelled by their lord’s favorable treatment towards Driver and dislike of the other (Damon). When Damon’s wife (Comer) accuses Driver of rape, both former friends must duel to the death for the king.
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A few nights ago: Longlegs (Perkins, 2024)
A supernaturally-tinged police procedural in which FBI Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe, It Follows), a cop with either low-level ESP or incredible intuition, is assigned to a multitude of cases in Oregon all involving men who have killed their families before killing themselves. There shouldn’t usually be a link between murder/suicide cases but, in each of these incidents, a coded letter has been left, signed with the moniker “Longlegs”. Aside from said note, there is no indication that anyone else was present at any of these murder scenes. What gives? Who is “Longlegs”? Is he a super-elusive serial killer? A Charles Manson-like cult leader? Something else? And might Agent Harker have met him before, long ago?
Longlegs, the latest from Anthony “Psycho” Perkins’ son Osgood, is being hailed as the latest Next Big Thing in horror but, like so many which have held that mantle before it, Longlegs will likely put off as many folk as it wows. It’s no spoiler to mention that Nicolas Cage plays the titular Longlegs and he does so with typically manic, OTT glee (and under a pile of make-up) but his singing/screaming performance is pretty much the only thing that doesn’t move at a glacial pace. Aside from Mr. Cage and the very occasional bursts of violence, this is a very slow and deliberate picture, taking its time to ratchet up the tension. There are elements of both The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en in Longlegs but if you’re expecting similarly taut thrills you’ll likely be let down. If on the other hand a bit of slow-burn horror snaps your radish - as it does mine - Longlegs really hits that chilly spot.
It’s also a thematic cousin to Perkins’ 2015 (delayed to 2017) picture The Blackcoat’s Daughter (aka February) so, if you saw and liked that one (I thought it was one of the best movies of that year and one of the best horrors of the decade), you’ll love Longlegs.
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Bough tickets to a 70mm screening of Dune 2 for tonight 
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Damn that was great
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Last night: Deadpool & Wolverine (Levy, 2024)
In which The Merc With the Mouth finally lands in the MCU with his own brand of R-rated gore, filthy language, innuendo, a kick-ass soundtrack and lashings of 4th-wall breaking. That’s all well and good (and in fairness, the movie delivers these goods in spades), but how has he managed to pair up with Hugh Jackman’s beloved Wolverine, last seen dead and buried in James Mangold’s cracking send-off Logan (2017)?
Well, as has been the case in more or less every MCU product since the concept was introduced, the answer is BLAH BLAH BLAH MULTIVERSE. Yup, the Deus Ex Machina of all Dei Ex Machina is back to ensure that there are never any real stakes because no one is ever truly dead. See, in Wade Wilson’s Fox-centric universe (wherein Wilson had applied unsuccessfully to be an Avenger, and had subsequently retired from Deadpoolery to become a used car salesman), Logan was an “anchor” being - whatever the fuck that is - and his death meant that their entire universe was about to be scrubbed from existence. Eh?? Never mind. The Time Variance Authority - the folk responsible for looking after the Sacred Timeline and pruning any unnecessary branches of it (Eh? Never mind) - offer Deadpool the opportunity to abandon his universe and take up residence in the aforementioned Sacred Timeline where he will be a vital cog in the Avenger machine.
As tempting as this is, Wade declines in typically cocksure fashion and sets to finding another Logan from another universe, to replace his dead anchor Logan and therefore save his universe from annihilation. Upon finding a particularly down-on-his-luck variant of The Wolverine and convincing him to tag along, they set off on an adventure which largely takes place in somewhere called The Void - EH?? Never mind - where long-forgotten heroes and villains alike are sent to either live in purgatory or kill each other when their respective universes are pruned. Can Deadpool fight his way back to his own universe and save it from obliteration? Will our “worst” version of Wolverine find redemption for being a failure in his own universe? Will any of this wind up making a luck of sense? Some of these questions will be answered; some will not. Eh? Never mind.
From the above, one might guess that I didn’t enjoy Deadpool & Wolverine, but in truth I had a lot of fun with it. I mean sure, I hate the Multiverse concept - both the MCU and DCU iterations of it - because it’s like a really weak “Get Out of Narrative Jail Free” card. And it’s all-encompassing presence in this move was inevitable given the need to resurrect a dead lead. I mean, that’s what the multiverse is for. That’s all it’s for. So here we are.
But the 4th wall-breaking nature of Deadpool & Wolverine enables Mr. Reynolds and co to have fun with it anyway. Deadpool addresses the failings of Fox, the recent failures of Disney and the MCU, and the shitty Multiverse concept on several occasions, often directly into the camera towards us, the audience. “Fox killed him off, Disney brought him back! They’re gonna make him do this 'til he’s ninety!” is one such worryingly believable observation made by Reynolds/Wilson of his new partner, Jackman/Logan.
And what of Mr. Jackman and Weapon X this time around? Well if I’m honest, he’s a little bit more mopey than he usually is. I mean, he’s always introverted and gruff, but he’s carrying a lot of regret here. Why? That’s touched upon but not made particularly clear. But, eh, never mind.
It’s good to see him anyway, and he makes a good straight-man foil for the wisecracking motormouth Deadpool, who barely stops to take a breath throughout. Principal antagonist Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), Charles Xavier’s twin sister (EH?? Never… you know the drill by now) isn’t up to much, as is so often the case with MCU villains. But there are a raft of cameos and extended cameos from heroes and villains long-since departed from our collective memory, the identities of which I’ll not go into here. And, although I think the “Bring 'Em Back For No Real Reason” gag is kind-of played out now, Deadpool & Wolverine does about as well as any movie could with it.
In all then, it’s a lot of puerile nonsense which, thanks to Disney/Marvel, doesn’t make a lick of sense; but, thanks to Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and just about everyone else on the screen, it’s a lot of fun in spite of itself. Better than Deadpool 2, way better than almost all of MCUs recent(ish) output, and a worthwhile method for pissing away a couple of hours.
All merely IMHO, of course.
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Alien: Romulus (Fede Álvarez, 2024)
A blend of the first and the second part of the Alien series. The protoganists make it clear who the target audience is: sixteen to thirty-year-olds. Quite pleasant tedium, like meeting an old, old friend, or reading a favorite book for the seventh time.
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Night before last: Alien: Romulus (Álvarez, 2024)
We’re somewhere within that 57-year gap between the events of Alien (Scott, 1979) and Aliens (Cameron, 1986). Rain (Cailee Spaeny, Civil War) and her “brother” Andy (David Jonsson, currently filming an adaptation of Stephen King novella The Long Walk) work on the Weyland-Yutani mining colony of Jackson’s Star, a grim, permanently dark shithole many light years from Earth. Rain is an orphan, her parents long dead thanks to the toxic conditions in the mines. Andy is a synthetic, an android, an older model than either Bishop (Aliens) or even Ash (Alien), saved from the scrapheap and repurposed by Rain’s then-dying father with one prime directive: Keep Rain Safe. Unfortunately, his glitchy nature means that Rain looks after Andy far more often than not but, still. They’ve got each other and this is just as well, since working at the colony amounts to little more than inescapable slave labour.
They have some friends too. A handful of other orphan workers like themselves: Rain’s ex-boyfriend Tyler, Tyler’s pregnant sister Kay, Tyler and Kay’s cousin Bjorn, and Bjorn’s girlfriend Navaro. They’ve detected a derelict space station - essentially, the titular Romulus - which has drifted into orbit above the colony but which is going to crash into Jackson’s Star’s planetary rings, where it will be obliterated utterly.
So what use is it? Well, our enterprising young heroes believe that the Romulus will have cryo-stasis pods and the fuel to operate them, which they can transfer to their own shuttle and then escape to the nearest habitable planet, nine years’ journey away. Risky? Yes. Illegal? Definitely. They’re stealing from the company. But it’s the only way they’re ever going to get off of Jackson’s Star.
Rain isn’t keen. It all seems like an unlikely caper to her. But the gang needs Andy to pull this off. See, all Weyland-Yutani deep space vessels are fitted with a MU-TH-UR interface which our kids can’t bypass but with which Andy, a Weyland-Yutani synthetic, will be able to communicate. And, well, it’s this or nothing. So, they’re all in.
But why is the Romulus derelict, exactly? What were they doing? They appeared to be performing experiments up there, but what? And on whom? Andy successfully restores power to the space station but, in doing so, he’s awakened some other lifeforms on board. And they’re not entirely friendly…
Whilst Alien: Romulus fails to reach those high bars set by Ridley Scott’s horrifying 1979 original and James Cameron’s action-packed 1986 sequel, it’s almost certainly the Best of the Rest (I’d have to see it a couple times more to know if I prefer it to David Fincher’s polarising Alien³ for which I’ve always had a lot of time, especially in its “Assembly Cut” form). It looks the part from top to bottom and, although our young cast - doubtless attempting to reach a fresh new generation of fans - isn’t as heavyweight as that of either Alien³ of of Ridley Scott’s beautiful but frustrating Prometheus, they are considerably more likable (the sadly absent Ms. Weaver notwithstanding, of course). Director Fede Álvarez already has form as a decent horror director and he knows how to ratchet up the tension when necessary. Yes, there’s a justifiable criticism amongst this new films audience that Mr. Álvarez has thrown in a few too many aural or visual callbacks to the earlier movies but, personally, I didn’t mind. As someone who likes to watch movies multiple times over, every time I rewatch a movie is a “callback”, really. Yes, he’s playing all of Alien’s Greatest Hits, but those Hits are pretty fucking Great, after all.
There’s also the equally justified criticism of the return of a major character from a previous entry in the franchise, given considerable screen time thanks to some of that back-from-the-dead CGI tomfoolery which managed to shoehorn the long-departed Peter Cushing into Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Edwards, 2016). This is indeed the worst part of Alien: Romulus simply because it was so unnecessary; a similar result could’ve been achieved in any number of other ways. Still, it didn’t pull me out of the movie enough for it to work to the detriment of my overall enjoyment, although I can see why it certainly might for many.
Still, all things considered I was pleased with the picture. It’s a good Alien movie, and those have been few and far between thought the franchise’s 45 year existence. Cailee Spaeny is very good as our Ripley analogue Rain, and David Jonsson is excellent as the synthetic Andy. Recommended.
This post is now also a review up on Furious Cinema:
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An excellent and informative review, Asa. 
I love a good ‘Alien’ film, so looking forward to seeing this…
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Would be a great review for furiouscinema.com if you’re down for it
Yeah, no problem. Let’s get Furious! Do I need to do anything or will you simply cut and paste?
Last night: Trap (Shyamalan, 2024)
Cooper (Josh Hartnett), a fortysomething Philadelphia firefighter, is taking his teenage daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a pop concert being performed by Lady Raven (director M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter Saleka), a Taylor Swift-style pop mega-princess and idol to young teen girls everywhere. Cooper is hoping for a bonding experience with his daughter. He hasn’t been very present at home lately and Riley’s been going through some awkward bullying experiences with some former friends at school. So, Cooper’s scored some kick-ass floor seats at the Lady Raven gig. Dad of the Year or what, eh?
Once there at the arena, Cooper can’t help but notice the increased security/police presence at the gig. Like, disproportionately huge, even for a megastar concert. What’s that all about? During a costume change interval, Cooper coaxes the answer out of a merchandise vendor: The FBI have reason to believe that ‘The Butcher’, a Philly-based serial killer with a penchant for kidnapping his victims before chopping them into tiny pieces, will be at the show tonight. The staff have all been briefed on what’s going down, and every possible exit is now swarming with cops and feds while a top FBI serial killer profiler (Hayley Mills of all people) goes through the crowd with a fine-tooth comb, plucking potential suspects from their seats at will. Yeah, boy! We’re going to enjoy a great Lady Raven gig AND nail The Butcher once and for all. But keep it to yourself Coop, okay?
Oh, Coop will keep it to himself, alright.
Coop IS The Butcher.
How is he going to get out of the arena? How is he going to do this without alarming his starstruck daughter sat next to him? What’s he going to do about the terrified young man currently chained up in his basement, on whom Cooper occasionally keeps tabs via his mobile phone? This is pretty tense, right? Pretty intriguing?
Nah, not really.
Well, it is an intriguing, somewhat Hitchcock-like premise. And, while we’re following Cooper and his coolly calculated attempts at misdirecting the cops so’s he can bust out of there, it is tense. Josh Hartnett does brilliantly at playing a predatory killer playing a lovable doofus dad, so much so that we’re kind-of rooting for him, despite us knowing what he’s done, what he’s doing, and what he’s craving to do some more.
Alas, M. Night wastes Mr. Hartnett’s gleefully psychotic turn and his own potentially thrilling premise on a movie which, in the end, is nought but a nakedly self-serving attempt by the director to push his irl daughter’s pop star career by having her play the pop star at the center of the movie AND having her perform all her own songs, pretty much in their entirety every time. Saleka (she likes to be known mononymously, like Madonna. Or Lidl) might be playing a Taylor Swift type, but she ain’t no Tay-Tay. No way-way.
So every move by Cooper to escape the arena is preceded and followed by a song. And another. And another. And another. Every one more-or-less the same, every one immediately forgettable. And this kills the momentum. Again and again.
Now, the good news is that (SPOILER!) maybe a little over halfway through the movie, the action moves out and away from the arena, meaning the gratuitous self-promoting caterwauling comes to a blessed end. But the bad news is that a) Saleka starts acting instead, and she’s so poor you’ll start to wish she’d start singing again, and b) in trying to create some Shyamalan-brand plot twists and fake-out endings, M. Night indulges all his worst impulses to create increasingly unlikely scenarios with no real attention to any of the little details which might have sold these sloppy sleights of hand. He’s always been one to eschew the finer plot points, but he gets away with it when his movie is as good as, say, The Sixth Sense (1999). But Trap ain’t no The Sixth Sense. No way-way.
So all in all then: A wonderful turn from Josh Hartnett, let down by a double-flub by the Shyamalan family. What a shame.
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Watched Cemetery Without Crosses on 35mm. The print was in such a rough shape that they said he copy will probably be retired after this screening. It was almost completely tinted red, and the third reel almost snapped, but it was a great experience.
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nope, I did just that and here it is
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MY LOCAL CINEMA IS SHOWING GBU IN 35MM. I AM FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
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Alien: Romulus, and like @last.caress wrote, it’s totally solid
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The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. The way it was meant to be seen.
I had the most amazing time. It was an extended English language print so it included the cave scene! The end credits had a 2003 MGM copyright for the restoration, so I’m guessing it was a restoration print.
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I’m glad you enjoyed the film, though I see that the image has been letter boxed to fit the screen, rather than expanded the way a scope film is meant to be seen - It defeats the purpose of shooting in a 2.35 ratio if the image isn’t any wider than a standard 16.9 screen.
I experienced the same sloppy projection method when the Clint movie, ‘In the Line of Fire’ played at my local multi-plex … trailers, adverts etc in 16.9 WS, then rather than expand the screen when the main film began, the black masked area came from above and below , just like watching on TV . Just realised that was over 30 years ago … yikes!
To old hands like me this is unforgiveable.
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