MrHlad

Eric and Shelly were in love, but then they were murdered. But Eric gets a chance to come back from the dead to take revenge on those who took everything from him. And a little bit of the audience, too. The remake of The Crow is a visually inoffensive, if a little cheesy, film with decent bloody action at the end. Unfortunately, it also comes with extremely unlikeable characters, a dysfunctional romantic storyline and an atmosphere teetering on the edge of ridiculousness. A misstep, and Rupert Sanders clearly has no understanding of the strength of the comic book source material and Alex Proyas' thirty year old film.

After the excellent trailers, it wasn't hard to become excited for Alien: Romulus, but there was still a little red light in my head. It subtly reminded me that behind the camera was Fede Álvarez, a man who certainly has a lot of talent, but not for the horror genre. I suffered through his Evil Dead, and Don’t Breathe was fine at best. And unfortunately, I should have listened to that red light, because while Romulus has its merits, it disappoints in the most fundamental way, it doesn't work as a genre film. Alien: Romulus looks great, and I enjoyed the analog computers, the grey metals, the industrial atmosphere full of hissing pipes, likewise with unexpectedly good actors and interesting characters who behaved surprisingly smart. But that’s not enough when Álvarez can't build a scary atmosphere and his scares are dull and uninteresting. Part of the problem is that this is more a game of referencing and quoting old films, leaving little room for the new. As a result, it's a nice fanservice from someone who knows how it should look, sound and work, but he just can't quite put it together into a workable horror film. Álvarez may be a good producer with an interesting vision, but unfortunately he's not a good director or executor.

A vault full of mysterious alien technology is hidden on Pandora, a planet that is also home to gangs, bounty hunters and a host of monsters. A band of peculiar heroes are determined to find the treasure, even with the galaxy's greatest villain breathing down their necks. Yeah, and it's pretty boring, too. The attempt at a new Guardians of the Galaxy comes  with uninteresting characters, mediocre action and it’s unimaginative in every way.