Based on a true story that’s wildly stranger than any fiction, Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World is a riveting, thoughtful, expertly performed thriller that almost never made it to the screen this year.
Ridley Scott
After Ridley Scott’s return to the Alien franchise with Prometheus garnered a divisive critical and popular response, the aging director’s follow-up, Alien: Covenant, feels like a retreat to more familiar territory. Still owing to the film that came before it, but not always beholden to it, Alien: Covenant contains more nods to the first film in the franchise and a handful of thrilling action sequences that wouldn’t feel out of place in James Cameron’s Aliens. It doesn’t abandon Prometheus’ religious and philosophical leanings, but Scott has consciously made the decision here to deliver something a bit more rousing and primal. For the most part, that decision turns out to be the correct choice.
Despite the franchise that grew up from director Ridley Scott’s epic film, Alien, which debuted back in 1979, it’s worth remembering that Scott, for good and bad, only ever directed the original movie, and that’s fairly obvious once you watch his latest venture into the Alien universe.
There have been few films in the last 40 years that have truly changed the genre of sci-fi and horror at the same time. The only one that can really claim such an honour is Ridley Scott’s 1979 sleeper hit Alien. From its ‘B-movie’ beginnings to having a multiple film franchise and several video games spinoffs, the film has claimed multiple successes.
New arrivals this week on home video include: the campy, and hilariously gory Drive Angry, starring Nicolas Cage; Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita, George Lucas’ American Graffiti and Ridley Scott’s Legend, all on Blu-ray for the first time; plus a look at True Blood: The Complete Third Season.
New releases on Blu-ray and DVD this week include: director Ivan Reitman’s romantic comedy, No Strings Attached, starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher; the intense drama, Blue Valentine, featuring Michelle Williams’ Oscar-nominated performance opposite Ryan Gosling; plus a look at Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, and the 25th anniversary release of Legend on Blu-ray.
New this week on Blu-ray and DVD: Russell Crowe stars in Ridley Scott’s action-adventure, Robin Hood; Kevin Spacey stars in the 1990s satirical drama, American Beauty; plus a look at a number of new television seasons coming out on store shelves.
New in theatres this Friday: Russell Crowe stars in Ridley Scott‘s action-adventure, Robin Hood; Jay Baruchel plays a reincarnated historical icon in The Trotsky; plus a look at the romantic comedy, Just Wright.
New this week on DVD, Angelina Jolie stars in Clint Eastwood‘s Changling, the story of a mother in 1920s Los Angeles whose son goes missing. Also out today, I take a look at Ridley Scott‘s Body of Lies; the Dead Like Me movie, Life After Death; and Bill Maher‘s documentary, Religulous.
Get ready for guns, thugs, and special agents this week, as two big movies try to duke it out for Canada’s Thanksgiving weekend. On the one hand, Guy Ritchie‘s RocknRolla brings the director back to form, while director Ridley Scott debuts the CIA thriller, Body of Lies. Also opening this week is the family film, City of Ember; the sports drama, The Express; and to get you in the mood for Halloween there’s the horror film, Quarantine.