It’s true that as humans we retell the same stories endlessly, but the Walt Disney Corporation has transformed this instinct into serpent that eats its own tail. When the studio reenacts their animated versions of folk tales with live actors, retread epics from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, or build interconnected cinematic universes out of decades-old comic book arcs, the “new” movies that result are not made in the grand storytelling tradition of yore, where timeless themes are reimagined for new audiences, with new ideas. Rather, Disney is selling us the same thing we bought before—or more specifically the memory of those things, just repackaged and reassembled.
So when some moviegoers—cranks like me—complain about the sameness of these stories that Disney produces, it’s worth pointing out that these are decidedly not genuine attempts to tell new stories that accidentally turned out to be heavily reminscent of their forbears. It’s probably not even accurate to think of them as films, but rather as new enterprises very purposefully stood up for the specific intent of reminding us how great those previous experiences were. “Remember this?” each movies asks. “Wasn’t it great? Here it is again.” It’s as if, instead of sending us on a new holiday abroad, they’re showing us a carousel of vacation slides from great trips we took many years ago. The only “new” thing here is the sale of another movie ticket.
That is exactly the impulse that drives director Fédé Alvarez’s “Alien: Romulus,” which I saw in theaters last month. Though Disney didn’t produce the original movies in this franchise, they now own 20th Century Fox and so for the first new installment under their watch it was almost inevitable that it would hew to this formula.
Alvarez works diligently to bring back all of the “Alien” greatest hits, including the grim, working class vibe from original director Ridley Scott, the artillery and pyrotechnics from original sequel director James Cameron, plenty of the biomorphic gore and weirdly sexual fluids from original alien designer H.R. Giger, and more. There are a few new things here but not very many: we get a younger, sexier but not particularly memorable cast; an appalling use of very bad CG to resuscitate a past franchise performer; and one zero-gravity scene that does something genuinely new with xenomorph bile.
Still, replaying old hits interspersed with a few new riffs can’t overcome at least one fundamental truth of going back to the same well too many times. Which is to say that, at the point where there are so many sequels in a franchise that many people literally have no idea whether a new entry counts as the sixth or the tenth or whatever, the potential to wow an audience, to really surprise them, is pretty low. For “Alien: Romulus,” this means that as the audience has by now seen the alien so many times, has become so familiar with its beats and tricks, that it’s just not very scary anymore. The xenomorphs that appear in this movie are grotesque and frightening, but they don’t feel new or viscerally dangerous anymore, largely because Alvarez is more focused on recreating the letter of his original templates than he is able to capture their spirit. All of the requisite hallmarks of what made “Alien” so distinctive are here, to be sure, and they’re all presented with adequate competency and in the expected order. But aside from a handful of jump scares, the characters on the screen seem to find the monster much scarier than I did. It’s hard to make a good horror movie when you don’t nail the horror.
Roundup
Here’s the full list of all twenty-two movies that I saw in August. This is the latest in my monthly round-ups of the movies I watch. You can also see everything I logged in July, in June, in May, in April, in March, in February, in January, and summaries of everything I watched in 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. Also, you can always keep up with what I’m watching by following me on Letterboxd—where I’m also writing tons of capsule reviews.
- “Army of Shadows” (1969) ★★★½ (contains spoilers)
Saw a restoration of this Jean-Pierre Melville classic about the French resistance in World War II. It’s frequently brilliant, but at 145 minutes, frankly gets a little boring. - “Baby Driver” (2017) ★★½
Rewatched. Edgar Wright’s rock’n’noir riff isn’t bad, but it is airless and very, very obvious. - “Dìdi (弟弟)” (2024) ★★½
First-time director Sam Wang’s coming-of-age story about a Chinese-American pre-teen in early 2000s, suburban California has a great lead actor in Izaac Wang. But he’s dragged down by a supporting cast of paper-thin characters and a pretty sappy final act. - “The Underneath” (1995) ★★★★
Rewatched. An early Soderbergh that’s largely been forgotten (in fact it’s only available as a DVD extra on the reissue of “King of the Hill,” another early film from the director). Its noir stylings are practically anachronistic (it is a remake of the classic “Criss Cross” after all) but I really dug it. - “Eileen” (2023) ★
More neo-noir, this time served up with a huge helping of melodrama, and starring Anne Hathaway and Thomasin Mackenzie. Unremarkable until a ridiculous third act that no one—not the leads, nor the director—knows how to navigate. - “Perfect Days” (2023) ★★★½
Widely praised Wim Wenders meditation on the contentment found late in life by a lonely cleaner of public restrooms in Tokyo. Beautiful but surprisingly plot-ty. - “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (2024) ★★★★
Rewatched. This viewing, I was blown away by the ambition and delivery of Chris Hemsworth’s performance. - “Alien: Romulus” (2024) ★★½
Re-heated leftovers from a franchise that’s gone on way too long. - “Purple Noon” (1960) ★★★★
In honor of the passing of star Alain Delon, I watched his early, breakout performance in an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” Delon is on fire in this movie, but director René Clement also delivers a ravishing production. - “La Chimera” (2023) ★★★★
An exquisite, richly textured storytelling feat from director Alice Rohrwacher, that takes its time revealing itself, in the best possible way. A real delight. - “GoldenEye” (1995) ★★
Pierce Brosnan’s first outing as 007 is exactly what the producers ordered, no more and no less. - “The Godfather” (1972) ★★★★★
Rewatched. Showed this to my daughter, who at the thirty-minute mark asked, “Is there a plot or is this just a bunch of Godfather stuff?” Immensely satisfying to share this with someone who’s never seen it before - “Midnight Run” (1988) ★★★★
Rewatched. Every time I rewatch this sparkling, hilarious, briskly paced, impeccably constructed road movie I feel like I need to watch it even more. - “Love Lies Bleeding” (2024) ★½
For a movie that purports to show us rare truths, everything about this ersatz 80s neo-noir feels really fake. - “Dead Poets Society” (1989) ★★½
Rewatched. Robin Williams’s careful, tender [[] is what makes this movie rise above its treacly, prestige-fare pretentions. - “Manhattan Murder Mystery” (1993) ★★★★
Rewatched. A barrel-of-monkeys murder mystery that’s also a lovely time capsule of early 90s New York City, without the tourist traps and postcard landmarks.