I'm watching Alien Covenant and the characters are making such ridiculous decisions I'm about to turn it off. They've never been to this planet before, know nothing about it and they've split up and are wandering round with no helmets or suits!!! They deserve death.

I saw No Other Choice, the latest film from Park Chan-wook. I've said previously that he quite possibly my favourite filmmaker, mostly because he's so consistent, and this was yet another winner from him. Many of his films have contained some level of dark comedy but this one is different as it's far more accessible in tone. I've seen some reviewers call it "Park Chan-wook's Parasite" and whilst I don't like how every good Korean film now gets compared to Baby's First Korean Film Parasite (ironically it was Oldboy, a Park Chan-wook film that previously held this title) in this case the thought did also cross my mind. It really is quite similar and if you enjoy Bong Joon Ho's darkly comic and chaotic style, you will love No Other Choice. The one criticism I would make is that the pacing is quite uneven (the middle of the film drags a bit), which makes the 2+ hour runtime feel a bit long (and I'm saying that as someone who enjoys longer films). The ending is excellent and very satisfying, though.

I have already posted but here we go:

• Mickey 17: It was total dud. The movie didn’t take enough to time to get the audience to invest in the character or the events of the story. The whole thing moved at breakneck speed and as a result the social commentary was comical and the characters were just caricatures. It is really unclear what the movie was going for, the narration was the worst.

• Edge of Tomorrow: I had not seen this movie in a long time but this movie was a lot better than I remember. I remember it really falling off in the second half but that was not my experience this time. Wow this movie was a blast from the start to the finish.

The Princess Bride 4/5: This is a movie I saw far too much as a kid and developed a distaste for it. Now that I gave it a decade break I can see coming back to it that this movie really is a great fairy tale

Backdraft 2.5/5: Look, there's a reason we've never heard from this Baldwin brother, he's not a good actor. For the caliber of talent in this movie it's not very good

Predators 3/5: It's passable. It's filled with cliche characters and the Predators are fine enough. The whole "Predator civil war" thing seemed goofy but as Yahtzee Croshaw says "if it's stupid but it doesn't impact the plot then I guess it doesn't matter"

Aliens 4.5/5: It's a huge tone shift from Alien but I love it anyway. One thing I like from these late 80s/early 90s movies is that the CGI was so expensive that they had to be super deliberate about putting the Aliens on screen. Hell the first Xenomorph doesn't even appear on screen in the first 50 minutes

Event Horizon 4.5/5: I fucking love this movie. The intersection of the infinite vastness of space with the eldritch horrors, the most reasonable horror protagonist of all time, and just incredible set design

I've been watching movies with Mads Mikkelsen in them, watched Another Round (2020), Arctic (2018), Flame & Citron (2008), The Green Butchers (2003), Flickering Lights (2000) and The Door (2008) so far.

• Killers of the Flower Moon (2023): Native Americans, especially the women, get murdered, but the movie is about white guys stealing native wealth.
• The Substance (2024): Y'all had me hoping there'd be more to this than body horror. It isn't allegory, it's cartoons. See Sunset Boulevard instead.
• Revenge (2018): Sexy chick has to fight. Sexy blood & gore. Not empowering.
• Poetry (시) (2010): Director Lee Chang-dong. Working grandma is sliding into dementia when grandson in her care does bad. She joins a poetry class as she tries to resolve issues while she still can. Highly Recommended.
• Peppermint Candy (박하사탕) (2000): Director Lee Chang-dong moves us backwards through a man's life to see how he evolved, going back through and before the Gwangju Uprising of 1980. Highly Recommended.
• To Live (活着) Huo zhe (1994): Director Yimou Zhang tracks married couple and the art of their shadow puppets through revolutionary times from landowner to peasantry and beyond. Recommended.

I also went on a Jacques Tourneur binge because Cat People was airing on TV and I love Out of the Past and Berlin Express, so I watched a bunch of his early stuff. They are generally well paced, well shot, and easy to watch without needing much search for hidden meanings. Before I list what I watched of his, here's a bit on the man:

Tourneur began work as an editor and assistant director. He made his debut as a director on the French film Tout ça ne vaut pas l'amour [fr] in 1931. In 1934, Tourneur went to Hollywood, where MGM Studios put him under contract.

He was hired to run the second unit for David O. Selznick's A Tale of Two Cities (1935), where he first met Val Lewton. In 1942, when Lewton was named to head the new horror unit at RKO, he asked Tourneur to be his first director. The result was the highly artistic (and commercially successful) Cat People (1942). Tourneur went on to direct masterpieces in many different genres, all showing a great command of mood and atmosphere.

• Cat People (1942): First solo U.S. film by director Jacques Tourneur. Serbian émigré thinks a curse will turn her into a cat if she's intimate/impure.
• The Leopard Man (1943): Tourneur was told to make a sequel. Escaped leopard blamed for deaths, but is it?
• Curse of the Cat People (1944): NOT Tourneur, but Gunther von Fritsch takes most the original Cat People cast and does an actual sequel. Lovely.
• Days of Glory (1944): Tourney has Gregory Peck as lead Russian in guerrilla cell fighting Nazis.
• Experiment Perilous (1944): (Tourneur) Mixed up bags give a man insight into a family's dysfunction as he falls for the wife.
• Easy Living (1949) : Doctors tell football star to ease up or die. His wife wants fame, so what to do? (Trigger warning: domestic violence -- and it is excused).
• Stars in My Crown (1950): Nostalgic look at a small town and its pastor from the POV of the orphan who loves him.
• Great Day in the Morning (1956): Southern drifter wins Denver hotel in card game at start of Civil War. He'd rather make money than pick sides, and the women love him. This time the orphan is the fault of the lead. Worst of the Tourneur set.

I watched Holland (2025, stars Nicole Kidman).

It's a weird slow pressure cooker of a movie, really enjoyed it :-) (avoid spoilers before watching if that sounds like your jam)