Alien: Romulus: 0:49
Kinds of Kindness: 3:09
The Movies & A Meal Podcast
Alien: Romulus and Kinds of Kindness
[Music] Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Movies and Meal, a podcast where we talk about movies and other things while we eat. I'm a co-host Ben, and in this episode you're going to hear two segments kind of so together, but Keith and I are going to contribute a very short episode where we're going to review two movies. Keith's going to talk about Alien Romulus first, and then we're going to come back and separately talk about Kinds of Kindness, the You're Ghost Lanthamom movie that just came out, or at least is available now on streaming. You're going to hear Alien Romulus first, then you're going to have Keith talk about his opinion on Kinds of Kindness, and I'm going to close it out, but I might as well get the plugs out of the way. You can always reach us at moviesandamilog, a gmail.com, moviesandamilom, on Twitter/X, and basically anywhere you can hear podcasts, and now here's Keith with Alien Romulus. I was hesitant at first to see Alien Romulus, mainly due to the fact that Sour Taste left my mouth by Wolf Prometheus and Alien Covenant. But thankfully, Fadi Alvarez and his crew were up to something much more fun with this latest installment in the franchise that stretches way back to 1979. In fact, much of the charm of Alien Romulus, in spite of it being too laid down at more than one point with fans' service, is that Alvarez is clearly a fan of the original Alien movie, still the gold standard for horror movies set in space. But first, a little about the setup of this movie, which will indeed sound familiar to Alien fans, but this movie is so expertly built and just so much fun that I doubt anyone who sees this whole mind. As the movie opens, we see what we think are two young people in a slave, not a remote mining planet, unable to get out from under the yoke of their masters. But as any fan of Alien will suspect and we find out fast, it's our heroine, Rain Caradine, and our devoted man, Android Protector, Andy. From the outset, what makes this so often deliriously entertaining is that Rain and Andy are played by Kelly Spaney and David Johnson. Spaney, already familiar to fans from recent flicks Priscilla and Civil War, proves they were the successor even to Sigourney Weaver, giving Rain and all the fragility and then determination this needs. But believe me, Johnson is even better. Programmed as Rain's Protector, he of course plays the vital role when things inevitably go horribly wrong. It's only Johnson's second starring role ever after charring in my favorite movie, "Designy 3, Rylane." And the second thing Alvarez and co-writer Roto Asavigwez get right is keeping the story as simple and tight as it is scary and of course slimy. Without revealing too much more, Rain and Andy join a crew of friends on a long-shot scheme to take over a stranded space station they know has pods they can use to escape to a new more friendly planet, but of course has so much more in store for them and us. The crew is rounded out by Archie Renau, Isabelle Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu. And of course, eventually the alien creatures we've run to both fear and love. That's it, nothing more complicated, with less Alvarez focused on two things he gets dead right, constructing the perfectly suffocating atmosphere of the stranded ship Romulus and Remus, and once the name is unleashed, never holding back on the thrills. That's all to be good, and trust me, there's a whole lot of it here. But Alvarez's devotion to the series does get the better of him with a few cloying scoops of fan service that muddy the mix. And the ending, which is appropriately insane and what you won't hear anything more from me about, is marred with some truly cheesy CGI that almost, but not quite, ruins all the monster mayhem that came before it. But overall, I was surprised by Aileen Romulus, and if you're a fan of the franchise, I think you will be too. For a tight, seriously fun story also filled with emotion and prime performances on top, I'll give Aileen Romulus an affectionate three stars. I decided to just skip kinds of kindness, even though so far I've been a fan of everything you're going through the most since it's way back to the lobster. If you're a fan of his warped humor, you'll find that here, but inherent in structure, less of the intense character development that drives his best movies. Well, you're getting kinds of kindness as a triptych. Really three separate short movies in one, linked by both length and most wickedly weird sense of humor, and a cast that clearly had fun sliding in and out of the roles they play here. length and most regular Emma Stone shines the brightest, but Jessie Plummins is her equal in screen time. Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, and Hong Chow also float in and out in differing roles, giving this a dreamlike quality along this wicked spirit. What I missed from length and most of his earlier best works is the stories that draw you in just as much as they wear you out. But this movie does show that even in mid-gear, length and most is a top director for people who like their movies more than a little twisted. Here, even though the ending I won't reveal, was so perfectly, darkly funny it had me laughing through the credits. I can only give kinds of kindness two and a half stars. I don't really have much more to add from what Keith has already said, so I'll just give my two cents as someone who is a movie watcher, but more of a casual... I wouldn't even say casual, but I'm just not as ardent a fan of your ghost anthem as Keith is. So, if you're interested in watching this movie, you're kind of intrigued by the trailer. You see Emma Stone dancing, you think, "Oh, this is going to be a quirky 90s pulp fiction style movie." It's really not. Like, Keith already mentioned, I can't say the word "trip-trip-titch", but anyway, it's basically three mini movies in one movie. You see the cast that Keith has already mentioned, like Emma Stone and Jessie Plummins, Willem Dafoe. They play three roles, or they basically play roles in each of the stories that are loosely connected through one through line. If you want to watch this movie, just come into the mindset that it's a little weird. And if you're used to just kind of a straightforward ABC plot movie, or again, you're thinking it's more like a pulp fiction, couple stories that are kind of sewn together, it's really not that. You should also be aware that it is a big time commitment because there are three stories. This movie runs two hours and 47 minutes. I think Keith and I both kind of broke up the stories. We didn't watch it in one sitting. Again, I'm not the biggest, your ghost anthem fan. I don't say I don't like the movies, I'm just not into that particular style or his vise as much as like Keith is or other people. So, if you're interested, if you're a movie file, I think you should give it a shot. If you're just a casual person looking for a movie to entertain you, I don't know if this is necessarily the one. And for that, I'm going to give it a two and a half out of five. [music]