Alien (1979): Have I really never reviewed Alien here? Hard to believe, but apparently true. There are few sci-fi films that have had as important an impact and as lasting a legacy as the original Alien – in the world of film and on me, personally. What is astonishing about it is that it has aged very well, which is far from a given for any piece of film-making, not to mention one in this genre. Every time I watch it, I am blown away by two things: the exceptional build-up, paced slowly by today’s standards, but immensely effective, and the otherworldly visuals. Alien just looks good and contrasts the sterile, workmanlike interiors of the spaceship(s) with the organic goo of its, erm, biological matter with great flair. To that I have to add a mention of the clever way in which it introduces the crew and obscures who the main character is until very late into the story. I’ve barely seen that done, ever. And beyond the way it’s all assembled, it does something that’s utterly depressing and infinitely relatable: it makes the future feel as drudgy as the present, with people slaving away for faceless, nameless corporations. Oh, indeed, on social media nobody can hear you scream. 9
(500) Days of Summer (2009): This one I had fond memories of – it has the distinction of being one of the few movies I saw while seated in the front row (the only other I can recall is Borat). But, to be fair, it was at a small screen at Empire, in Leicester Square, and being so close up and personal with Zooey Deschanel was a wonderful experience. Well, time has passed and the movie retains its truth and its quirks. It achieves the impressive feat of being tongue-in-cheek and feeling honest at the same time and it surely struck a chord with me, in spite of some of its excesses. It’s relentless optimism is perhaps the least truthful thing about Marc Webb’s movie, but otherwise, yeah, relationships are serendipitous…and sometimes they remain so. 8
Saturday Night Fever (1977): After the Bee Gees documentary, I just had to finally watch SNF – and I went into it expecting some kind of Grease/Footloose variation. It wasn’t. Sure, the first hour or so it seems to be intent to focus on dancing, while various elements bubble around this plot. But by the end it turns out that the dancing was the actual backdrop to a story about class, racism, sexism and the American Dream. The 1970s were probably the most daring decade in mainstream American film-making and John Badham’s SNF has a place on the list of the better movies to have come out during this time. It dares to just characterise and create seedy and uncomfortable characters, leaving the viewer to process it. Honestly, I felt it was borderline shocking in its rawness, as opposed to something like Cruising (1980), which had the reputation of being shocking, but the passing of time made it feel less so. 8
Trap (2024): Why is it that Shyamalan is such a cliche? Almost all of his movies have an actually interesting idea/set-up, but almost none manage to bring it to the finish line. This is another defining example: we are delivered an exciting first half of a story about a serial killer (hope you haven’t seen the trailer for this one), which then goes completely off the rails in its resolution. While the movie is set at the concert venue, it is fresh and effective. After it moves away from it, in spite of the usual twists and turns, it cannot sustain that. Thankfully, a gleeful Josh Hartnett keeps this one watchable until the end, but more so than even Knock at the Cabin, Trap feels like a missed opportunity. 6
Inside the Mind of a Cat (2022): I didn’t rush to watch this, expecting it to be a fairly simple narrative kind of Netflix production – vaguely informative, but low on emotion and storytelling. It proved as expected. Of course, time spent watching cats is never wasted, so even seeing some of the research and conclusions of people who have devoted their professional lives to understanding cats has some reward. It’s just not very memorable and I would rank it below anything like Kedi (2016) or Cats of Malta (2023), both of which are able to establish the connection between people and cats, as well as establish cats as characters more successfully. 6
tributary stu 