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brian_dowling
Reviews
Alien: Covenant (2017)
Not an Academy Award movie, but damn good installment
A few years back I saw Prometheus in the theaters. I left feeling a little let-down. In preparation, and after years of not seeing it, I re-watched Prometheus. That movie aged well. The Creators having the ancient Xenomprph's earliest evolutions, and the fact that the planet that Prometheus took place on having been abandoned for millennia allowed for the shared universe with Predator to remain.
Now, Ridley Scott may or may not care about the shared universe. And that is fine. Alien: Covenant managed to expand upon the Creators, David, and the Xenomorphs in grand fashion. The scenery behind the characters is almost as important as the action in the forefront. I have seen people complaining about the acting and the plot, but while maybe not on the level of (insert Academy nominated movie here), it is among the best of the series. I left the theater feeling delighted that the installment in the series is bridging the gap between AVP and Alien well.
Even if you find the acting sub-par, but are a fan of the shared universe, watching how selective breeding by David hastens the Xenomorph evolution is amazing. Perhaps the Creators and the Predators shared this technology ages ago, and that is how in the Aliens Vs Predator movies, the ancient Predators had fully evolved Xenomorphs.
All in all, this movie was fun. The effects are great. The variety of Xenomorphs are amazing. The weird interplay between David and Walter highlighted the evolutionary struggle to survive in grand fashion. The next installment should be good too. Overall, this is a great installment in the franchise.
Hip-Hop Evolution (2016)
Informative, but incomplete
For people that only know what rap/hip-hop is today, this is a series that will fill you in on the basics of the history of the art form. However, given that it ends simply with Dr. Dre's Chronic, this is incomplete at best. The interviews with Russell Simmons, Cube, Ice-T, and other formative rappers are enlightening. The narrator, Shad, rightly goes to New York and the heavy influence of the 70s and 80s on what hip-hop is today. It is the lack of including the response from New York to the West Coast gangsta rap, the lack of even mentioning Tupac, not talking about the rapid evolution the art went through during the 90s and 00s that all make this feel like a let down of a series. I liked it, but it could have been so much more.