SilentLuminary Reviews

  Genre: Sci-Fi/ Horror Time: 2h 4mins Director:  Ridley Scott Quick Summary:  Following clues to the origin of mankind, a team finds a structure on a distant moon, but they soon realize they are not alone. How can you dislike this? I get that it's not how the original films were, but I actually like this new direction. I will say that yes, the script is pretty bland and not a lot of the characters are really developed. They're just there to further the plot at times. As well there are a few things that happen in this, which lead to questions about the continuity, or timeline of the Alien series. A good handful of the characters are pretty stupid as well, like taking off their helmets in an unknown atmosphere or trying to befriend an obviously hostile alien creature.  The look of this film screams Science-Fiction and it looks so stunning. I love how clean everything looks and that I am still able to believe that they are on a spacecraft. The cinematography is brilli...

  Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror Time: 1h 49mins Director:  Jean-Pierre Jeunet Quick Summary:  Two centuries after her death, a powerful human/alien hybrid clone of Ellen Ripley aids a crew of space pirates in stopping the aliens from reaching Earth. Okay, this is definitely a step up.  In the beginning, the movie feels more like a sci-fi film. The set designs are cool and interesting, and I personally enjoyed them a lot. However, there were many bizarre close-up shots that I found more humorous than serious. In this version of the movie, Ripley's character is depicted differently, but I find it appealing. She is more thrilling, confident and daring. It's quite refreshing to see her changed, especially given that she is not the same Ripley as before. In this movie, she is virtually unstoppable and relentless, with a touch of wildness. Winona Rider's performance was also enjoyable, even though it may not be her best work. She managed to bring a nice balance of innocence to her...

Genre: Sci-fi/Horror Time: 1h 54mins Director:  David Fincher Quick Summary:  Returning from LV-426, Ellen Ripley crash-lands on the maximum-security prison Fiorina 161, where she discovers that she has unwittingly brought along an unwelcome visitor. Even though this is the weakest in the whole series for me, I still like this. I'll be honest, this didn't really feel like an alien film as it didn't have the same atmosphere the rest has. For a good portion of this film, I was just waiting for something to happen that was actually interesting. Another issue I had is it changed some of the information we had previously learnt about the aliens, which never really made sense. I was very unsure about Ripley at the start as I think they weren't sure how to write her, and she does a few things that are very out of character. Though she was still pretty strong and still pretty cool.  An interesting thing that was created through this is that we learn the aliens change slightly...

  Genre: Sci-Fi/ Action Time: 2h 17mins Director:  James Cameron Quick Summary:  Decades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring. I don't say this often at all, but somehow, they made a sequel that stands on the same ground as the original.  Essentially this is everything in the previous film but amplified. It does change route ever so slightly by being more action-focused but I am not complaining at all.  Ripley is much more fully developed in this film, I adored her in the last and loved her even more in this. The definition of a badass who just gets cooler throughout the film as she continues her powerful presence. I personally really liked that they gave her a maternal arc with the introduction of Newt, who I found hilarious and adorable. Any time she spoke she was throwing out some sort of shade. She and Ripley work wonde...

  Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror Time: 2hrs Director:  Ridley Scott Quick Summary:  The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating an unknown transmission. Straight away, this is a classic. Fight me Honestly, this is almost perfect. The characters are so well written, they don't need to be fully fleshed out for this as the characters' personalities are not what is important, is the atmosphere and tension that is. Which is absolutely brilliant in this. It's terrifying to watch as this alien creature stalks the entire crew. Now, I know everyone knows the chest-burster scene, but I think it's still perfectly executed regardless. It's violent and terrifying, and mostly it's a brilliant surprise during a calm moment. This film is brilliant for calming things down and striking when you least expect it. It's not necessarily jumpscares, but it certainly knows how to use quick action-surprised as well as the fear of the unknown to its ad...

  Genre: War/Drama Time: 2h 28mins Director:  Edward Berger Quick Summary:  A young German soldier's terrifying experiences and distress on the Western Front during World War I. Depressing, realistic, tense and incredibly moving. Such a stunning film about the harsh reality of World War I. So I did find this incredibly slow and difficult to get into at first for the first 40 minutes. It felt a little bit all over the place and wasn't really sure how to find its feet for a while. The first characters that were introduced as well I just didn't have time to like them as they didn't really get any character development, or get anything to feel sorry for them. But once it hit the halfway mark, I was fully invested.  This does not glamourise war at all, in fact, this is pretty much an Anti-war statement more than anything. It shows the harsh and brutal reality of what soldiers went through. It rips away the propaganda and romanticism that were shown to the naive younger g...

  Genre: Mystery/Crime Time: 1h 40mins Director:  Kenneth Branagh Quick Summary:  In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a seance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to once again uncover the killer. Just saying, I figured this out within the first 30 minutes.  I did like the cinematography as it had some interesting angles and surprisingly a lot of close-ups, as well some interesting angles. On the flip side, it annoyed me as they revealed so much in the beginning through the use of these shots (I won't spoil anything) but the things they chose to show you at the start of the mystery unfolding, I picked up on as they were just too obvious. That added with a few lines casually mentioned that seemed way too obviously placed to be not important, I pieced together the mystery too quickly which is where a lot of my dissatisfaction is with this film. Acting-wise, everyone...