Alien: Romulus

Scorecard, our favorite musicals, DEJ's new role looks 🔥

New Mexico Drew, Kelly, Eric H, and 2 others

Aug 16, 2024

If you've been on the internet the last two weeks you've probably seen the Australian Olympic "breaker" Raygun. The plot has thickened beyond memeifying her dance moves as accusations have popped up claiming she rigged her way into the Olympics. This sounds like a biopic in the making. When Amazon Studios inevitably make this a reality, who should play Raygun? Our vote is Aubrey Plaza. 💃

Here’s what we have for you this week:

Concession Stand Scorecard: Alien: Romulus
Temp These Takes: The crew picks our favorite musicals
Watchlist Worthy: Daisy Edgar-Jones might be the victim of Jacob Elordi’s latest train wreck of a character.

We go to the movies every week to tell you if the latest films are worth the price of admission and what you can expect.

This week’s movie - “Alien: Romulus”

Letterboxd Description:

While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.

Best Watched With

That friend who has been dragging their feet to watching any of the 9 Alien movies, and Eric who is obsessed with them.

End credit thoughts

Those of you who want an Alien movie will not be disappointed. Romulus has the franchise’s fingerprints all over it. The callbacks and nods to the earlier films may be heavy-handed, but it’s done well with love and respect.

Romulus expands the world just enough to draw us into the story before we are immediately thrown into the place where no one can hear you scream. The set designs either did a great job of paying homage to Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) or Scott was ahead of his time. Either way, we’re happy about it. This movie felt and looked like the Alien world we expected to see. The shot choices were not only nice to look at but were narrative-driven. They did a great job of making their decisions compound and serve the story.

Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson are on the podium for this film. Spaeny has been heating up this last year, starring in Priscilla (2023) and Civil War (2024), and she continues the streak with this one. Spaeny packs a punch with her performance, giving us tenderness, resilience, and grit. Jonsson tackles the dynamic role of a synthetic, having to act as a machine that is acting like a human, and absolutely crushes.

While the wheel was not re-invented for this one, Alien: Romulus will give you what you want out of a Sci-Fi monster thriller: something to think about, something to jump scared to, and something to talk about with your horror-loving friends afterward on the drive home. Go see this one in theaters.

Watch the trailer here

The Crew’s hottest and coldest takes (you decide) on all things movies.

🎵 Our Favorite Musicals 🎵

Sarah
The original West Side Story (1961). This was the first musical I remember ever watching, and it was magical. The music, the choreography, the costumes. I’ll never forget the energy in the “America” song with the flouncy skirts and Rita Moreno absolutely slaying. I’ve loved musicals ever since.

Eric
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL, BABY! Getcha head in the game? Stick to the status quo? Start of something new? What I've been looking for? BREAKING FREE? Come on - get a grip. No other musical had THIS much cultural influence - and I am sincere in that belief. As a millennial, this movie and the stars in it had a grip on our generation. I'm an Efron Stan TO THIS DAY (RIP his robbed Oscar from Iron Claw) because of this movie. I will gladly die on this hill.

Josh
I grew up watching Grease (1978) a lot. My mom loved Grease, so I loved Grease. But since then, I have always said I disliked musicals. I couldn’t get behind them. They weren’t enjoyable. But then, the year 2016 came about. Two love interests in the perfect rom-com Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) were cast as the leads in La La Land (2016), and everything changed. I love Ryan Gosling, I love Emma Stone, I love Damien Chazelle, I love La La Land, and I now love musicals.

New Mexico Drew
If you would have asked me yesterday if I considered myself a fan of musicals, I probably would have said "no". Which is why I had to google "best musicals". After looking at only fifty or so, I think I've been in denial. But clearly Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971) is the best musical of all time. Gene Wilder could sing me "Pure Imagination" on repeat until the day I die and I'll call it Nirvana.

Kelly
GREASE (1978)…do I need to explain myself? Also…NONE OF YOU CHOSE GREASE??

What’s your take? Hit Reply or leave a comment below and let us know!

A movie one of us added to our Letterboxd watchlist this week.

On Swift Horses (2024) directed by Daniel Minahan

Daisy Edgar-Jones is no stranger to complicated onscreen romances (who here has seen Normal People?), but she’s never dealt with the likes of Jacob Elordi. With previous roles as Nate Jacobs in Euphoria and Felix Catton in Saltburn, he’s sure to wreak romantic havoc in this movie.

I’m excited to see them star across from Will Poulter, who we all just realized is hot thanks to his recent work in The Bear. Daniel Minhan doesn’t have too many movie credits to his name, but he has directed a handful of episodes from some of the best TV shows in the last two decades, so I’m feeling confident about him making this a great movie.

-NMD

Letterboxd Description:

Newlyweds Muriel and Lee are beginning a bright new life after his return from the Korean War. However, this newfound stability is upended by the arrival of Lee’s charismatic younger brother, Julius, a wayward gambler with a secret.

Shows directed by Daniel Minahan:

Game of Thrones (5 Episodes…from the good seasons!)
House of Cards (2 Episodes)
True Blood (8 Episodes)