Alien: Romulus

Alone on a colonized world pestiferously ill-suited to humanoid habitation, boldly caring for a kindly android who tries his best to raise her spirits.

A miraculous day defiantly emerges when temporal quotas are efficiently attained, but the corporation cruelly refuses to honour its word and perniciously adds on 5 to 6 years.

Her friends have a radical plan to circumvent slavery with audacious cunning, take a ship and resourcefully hijack cryostasis equipment to reach a far away world.

The daring plan is put into action and the required tools industriously discovered, but a serious hiccup objectively impedes their smooth star sailing across the universe.

For they've accidentally landed upon a virulent space station isolated and hauntingly adrift, whereupon mad elaborate experiments were viciously conducted to catalyze evolution. 

Indeed Weyland Corporation after all of these sequels has finally obtained their sought after serum, which unnaturally transforms biological organisms unfit for space into model citizens.

The same android schematic from the original Alien even malevolently pursues the despotic objective. 

Scientifically mutate contemporary DNA.

To create invincible übermensch. 

Fortunately, the opportunistic marauders aren't so blind to the disastrous potential, and valiantly ignore the robot's plans to bring the formula back down to their planet.

Note that as the excessively rich attempt to make cyborgs hundreds of thousands may be permanently damaged, if you want to give your life for the experiment wisely make sure they're giving you at least $20 million (or try to outlaw that kind of thing). 

Alien: Romulus looks back to its roots and even reanimates the alien from Alien, while paying homage to Aliens and Alien: Resurrection in its bleak horrifying yet hands-on testament (Walter Hill also produces). 

I'm not saying they aren't really cool movies I even bought the Quadrilogy over 20 years ago, but the possibility of escape of the collective reimagining of the cultural codes responsible for Weyland remain unchallenged. 

I thought Alien, Aliens, and Alien: Resurrection made me care more about their characters, that those films gave them more room to develop, genre films that focus on developing minor characters are so much cooler (and rewatchable).

Alien: Romulus spends a lot of its time developing the android Andy and the lead hero.

While indirectly commenting on education and cyborgs. 

There's a lot more to the movie than that. 

*If you're hoping that doesn't happen with the baby, it does.

Kameradschaft

A giant coal mine smoothly stretches from Northern France into agile Germany, both countries in hearty pursuit of abundant resources with industrious zeal.

But as the mine expands and diversifies far beneath the hospitable surface, disquieting developments awkwardly erupt which necessitate chill respective sagacity.

An extended blaze in this lucid case threatens the French side of the massive mine, which they continuously hold off until it overwhelms their sturdy equipoise. 

On the other side of the border, their German counterparts learn of the hardship, and passionately agree to send a rescue team complete with supplies to aid their brethren. 

There are dissenting voices but humanity vanquishes their lack of grace, and inadequate comprehension of goodwill as emphatically applied to angelic standing.

A bold attempt by G.W. Pabst to inspire collegial international relations, and combat the destructive swell ignominiously spreading throughout postwar Germany.

Imagine such alternative thoughts publicly co-existed with the infernal Nazis, and directly challenged their despicable ideology with warm compassionate multilateral friendship.

Within ye olde Kameradschaft we find initiatives which championed the European Union, with multiple languages and ways of life interdependently prospering ensemble.

Would Russia not be welcome one far off day if it abandoned its mad aggression, and devastating obsession to be as powerful as the democratic United States?

Black and white, Jewish and Arab, native and immigrant, does it make that much difference, is it not politically preferable to compassionately unite for common causes?

Look at the destruction in Palestine look at the savagery of the Oct. 7th attacks, is there not an infinitely more suitable way to conduct their alternative codes of conduct?

Don't you want to raise children with the peaceful knowledge that one day they'll do the same, instead of filling their minds with hatred to fight a war with no end in sight?

The sad thing is that before Oct. 7th things had relaxed a great deal in the region, and peace had thriven for so so long that uptight restrictions were widely placated.

I urge anyone in similar situations not to act aggressively should similar restrictions relax, and rather continue to cultivate peace until one day you have a European Union.

But it shouldn't have to come to such bitter malevolent ends.

If people pursue mutually beneficial camaraderie. 

One day one step at a time. 

Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoke)

A young prince must fight a demon who threatens the prosperity of his humble village (Yôji Matsuda as Ashitaka), his people forced to flee long ago after infuriating the emperor. 

He successfully slays the intruder but touches its infected tentacles too, a curse then emerging within his arm which the village elders cannot cure.

Not willing to sit back while it spreads he boldly departs in search of medicine, making his way to a rowdy village engaged in the act of making iron.

He's welcomed for having rescued some of its menfolk from irate wolves, the village leader (Yûko Tanaka as Eboshi-gozen) eagerly entertaining and letting him get to know her people.

But as it dishearteningly turns out, their ironworks is destroying the local wilderness, where a resident forest god has lived forever, in quiet peace and regal seclusion. 

The animals are loosely united and intent on fighting the destructive town, arguments erupting amongst them, at other times, cohesive calm.

A young maiden lives with the wolves and is just as fierce in her condemnation, known as Princess Mononoke (Yuriko Ishida), she denies fear and exhales resolve.

Prince Ashitaka soon finds he's in love with her as all hell emphatically breaks loose.

Eboshi-gozen wants the god's head to grant immortality. 

But is unsure if the legend's true. 

Princess Mononoke and Prince Ashitaka find comfort in their mutual adoring amicability, the ideal unification of masculine and feminine harmoniously embracing age old enlightened daring.

It's more difficult to figure out the role matronistically played by Eboshi-gozen within, for on the one hand she supplies freedom and community, on the other, environmental devastation.

Not only the naturalistic bedlam to be expected by efficient mining, but she also pursues the forest god itself, intent on despairing ancient resiliency. 

She frees many from vile servitude and supplies honest work for her surrounding cast, while promoting the development of Mordor, it's a difficult contradiction to balance.

Environmentally friendly mining practices at peace with resident animals, certainly would have been less burdensome, and providing a heightened degree of friendly interdependency.

Love still innocently flourishes beyond problems associated with industrialization.

A narrative like none other.

Forest mystics, spellbound exhilaration. 

*Note: Ghibli doesn't show up in spellcheck!

The Ice Road

Two brothers contend with anti-social commentaries, one suffering from a potent malady that engenders inhibition (Marcus Thomas as Gurty McCann). 

They're both fired after the other raises fists in his determinate firm defence (Liam Neeson as Mike McCann), after which they're stuck looking for work once again, even though they're resolutely versatile. 

Meanwhile, a methane gas explosion traps miners in Northern Manitoba, and the only equipment that can swiftly free them must be transported by ye olde ice road.

From way down south in the 'Peg.

But it's late April and the road's reliability is called into brittle question, ample compensation offered for the drivers, if they don't break through the ice.

Mike and Gurty take on the job with the aid of fellow truckers Jim Goldenrod (Laurence Fishburne) and Tantoo (Amber Midthunder), Tantoo's brother trapped in the mine below (Martin Sensmeier as Cody Mantooth), with time rapidly running out.

If the melting ice isn't enough of a hazard, sabotage is soon calamitously afoot, as Jim's rig suddenly breaks down, after having passed the pre-trip inspection.

It turns out there's more money to be made in letting men perish than saving their lives.

Mike, Gurty and Tantoo disagree.

And strive onwards in strict contention.

Inherent courage reflexively materializes in the face of daunting unpredictability, as maddening shortsighted voracious decisions write off integral animate life.

As kind-hearted gifted trusted technicians lack viable steadfast agency, since they aren't argumentatively or rhetorically stern, and simply possess expert free-flowing knowledge.

Visceral integrity impacting resilience necessitously arises through cause and effect, boldly adjudicating vivacious spirit in terms of hands-on practical tenacity.

Every once in a while it's fun to take in another high-stakes Liam Neeson film, with an over-the-top epic scenario chaotically encouraging heroic action.

It's not clear cut by any means indeed mistakes are made then compassionately forgiven, the circuitous path to pinnacled payload not as straightforward as one might expect.

Apart from the critical pressures of the stressful melting ice road, scene after scene of diabolical intrigue keeps the kinetic distress flowing.

But it's not concerned with superheroes as provocative realism takes centre stage.

And real people confront a worst case scenario.

With productive teams.

Driven by virtue. 

La théorie du tout

Travelling throughout the Québecois countryside, Céline Baril presents the thoughts and observations of a wide variety of local points of view in her documentary La théorie du tout. The countryside is indirectly compared to a musical instrument that needs to be played in order to maintain its jaunty fluidity. Providing work for rural areas enables them to similarly maintain their communal vitality. But over production and obsessions with continually increasing profits have decimated resources that could have indefinitely supported them.

Changing technologies are lamented as a worker who has spent decades operating a specific machine must learn a new set of skills.

A young adult attached to her town wants to stay but her journalistic ambitions leave her with few employment opportunities.

Some individuals adapt and move from one industry to another as mining rejuvenates a struggling economy.

An ominous sense of anxiety pervades thoughts concerning the future of various fisheries as overflowing populations have been reduced to a fraction of their former plenitude.

The emphasis on providing rural workers/job seekers/small business owners/ . . . with the chance to voice their ideas and share their knowledge establishes a bucolic social democratic aesthetic which modestly illustrates sustainable development alternatives to the rapacious bottom line of 'moving forward' capitalists (without using the phrase).

A lot of people don't want to leave the town where they grew up or have lived and worked for most their lives. Sustainable development offers them with symphonic methodologies to orchestrate their futures along harmonic pastoral lines possessing environmentally sound melodies.