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This is NOT a prequel to “Alien.”

Well, it’s 95% not a prequel…

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Every film critic has a Top 10 movie list, even if the only place it’s scribbled down is in the back of his or her mind.

We’re a list-crazy culture, and movie buffs of all stripes can’t help but place certain films in their personal hall of fame.

This film scribe is no different. And, in response to a Big Hollywood reader who suggested I post my own Top Ten Movie List to better introduce myself to this site’s audience, here goes nothing.

A quick note: To me, a Top Ten Movie List is deeply personal. It’s not a list of films that are more poignant, or better directed, or more richly artistic, than most movies. These films spoke to me in some profound way, reflecting both my formative years and the person I eventually became.

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Blue Valentine is one of those movies that chronicles the kindling and death knell of a relationship.  Think Annie Hall, but minus the wit and the New Yorker neuroticism.  It instead opts for a mumblecore feel, except with dialogue that doesn’t feel completely pointless and impenetrable.  Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling co-star as a failing couple struggling to keep it together, despite the numerous problems facing them.  The film juxtaposes the complex beginnings of their romance with its subsequent floundering years later, the piece at the center being their awkward trip to a cheesy sci-fi themed sex motel in a limp effort to spice things up before the inevitable break-up.

The best thing I can say about Blue Valentine is that its tone does a good job of capturing that horrible feeling you get when you realize that you’ve fallen out of love with your significant other.  While critics have been using the dreaded word “brave” when describing her performance, Michelle Williams brings an intense emotional weight to it that makes the story more engaging than it otherwise would be.  While she shares some great moments with Gosling, such a lovely scene where she tap dances whilst he charmingly sings and strums a ukulele, her co-star doesn’t really come through at all times.  Gosling’s performance stinks of blue-collar working-class posing, like when a New Yorker thinks they can pass off a southern accent in a movie.  He can do the stubborn, occasionally drunken male well, but the other elements come off as forced.  Williams is the only thing preventing the lead performances from being anything other than self-congratulatory, though the film’s sexual content brings it damn close.

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The critical moments of a movie are the first moments, the first few minutes where it either grabs you or loses you for good.  That’s what we mean when we talk about the movie experience, the wonder and delight of the shapes flickering across the screen that overcome you, and you think, “Oh yeah, this is going to work.” 

Contrast that to the soul-crushing dismay when you realize that what you hoped would be a great couple of hours is instead going to be a dreary death-march of clichés, lazy writing and bad music broken only occasionally when you glance longingly at your watch and wish you could have your $11.50 and two hours back. 

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You know a great opening when you see it; if fact, you feel it.  My definition of “opening” is rather loose.  An opening can go up to, or past the credits, or it may just be the credit sequence itself.  Some openings are rather long, 10-15 minutes.  Some are just a couple of minutes.  There is no one formula for a great opening – the ten listed here as my personal favorites are as different from each other as Democratic Party governance is from competent leadership.  But there are some common threads.  A great opening tells you something about the story you will see.  It might be in words of formal narration, or a sequence that takes you into the story, or in some cases it’s just a few images.  There may be prominent music, or little or none.  But when the opening is over, you are ready – you understand enough to begin the journey.  And, more importantly, you are eager to go. 

It’s easy – and serves an important purpose – to point out where Hollywood fails.  But it’s a special pleasure to point out where it got it just perfect.  Here are my Top 10 favorite movie openings: 

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With the Middle East in turmoil and Japan triple-whammied with problems, the whole world could use a laugh right about now. Thankfully, the new sci-fi comedy “Paul” is arriving in theatres Friday, packing more laughs per minute than almost any movie in the past decade – along with great performances, inventive twists and a sweet core of silly fun.

Written by and starring British comics Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, the dynamic duo behind the brilliant cult hits “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz,” “Paul” centers on two nerdy British tourists named Clive (Frost) and Graeme (Pegg) who have come to America to visit the sci-fi nerd mecca of Comic-Con before driving an RV across the US to visit sites where alien encounters have allegedly occurred. Even they realize that they’re just being silly, and there’s no way they’ll ever encounter a real alien – until a car races around them in the dead of night before careening off the highway and exploding.

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Looking for human survivors, they instead encounter a surly, wisecracking, dope-smoking alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen in one of the best voiceover performances I’ve ever heard) who’s on the run from federal secret agents (Jason Bateman and Sigourney Weaver) that he believes are out to kill him. Paul took his name from the dog his spaceship crushed when it crash-landed in rural Wyoming in 1947, and he’s spent the past 60-plus years being questioned at the clandestine Area 51 for his advanced alien insights and technological know-how.

Paul is just desperate to stay on the run and alive, but things keep getting more complicated as junior federal agents (Bill Hader and Thomas Lennon) get roped into the chase, and the on-the-lam trio also pick up a fundamentalist Christian named Ruth (Kristen Wiig) who’s desperate to make a getaway of her own: from her repressive life managing a desert RV park with her Bible-thumping father (John Carroll Lynch).

“Paul” is literally a wonder to behold, a smile and laugh-inducing romp from start to finish that is rated “R” for some profanity and a few dope-smoking scenes but which has such an inherent good-natured vibe that teens and even the children of liberal-minded parents should be allowed to enjoy it as well. Director Greg Mottola (“Superbad,” “Adventureland”) displays the best of his strengths from both those prior films as he weaves frenetically funny action scenes with revealing emotional moments that steer clear of sappiness.

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After a long hiatus, ABC’s sci-fi drama series V returns to the network’s regular lineup tonight at 8 EST. It’s a show well worth watching. Based rather loosely on a 1980s limited-run series from NBC, the new show tells the story of the coming of a large group of extraterrestrials to the earth and the world’s reaction to them. In the twelve episodes of season 1, the aliens presented themselves to the world as interested only in making things better for mankind, offering us new technologies and healing abilities. The aliens are all physically attractive, and the great majority look like humans in their twenties and thirties.

That, of course, was just their public face; in reality, it soon became clear, they are ugly and reptilian under their human skins and have an agenda to exploit humanity in some way, either as slaves or as food or both, or perhaps some even worse and more horrible fashion. And a small group of people have divined this agenda and set up a small, loose, but dedicated resistance organization.

Central to the narrative is the resistance against an intrusive government that claims to be for nothing but the good of humanity but is in fact pursuing sinister, elitist, and exploitative hidden agendas. As such, the show makes a strong commentary on contemporary political issues and constitutes one of the most frankly libertarian TV series seen in many years. In addition, it suggests strong approval of religion, specifically Christianity, in a way that makes the resistance group a spot-on analogue to the current-day Tea Party movement. (more…)

“Predators” opens with a group of strangers dropped into a jungle not knowing how they got there, who sent them and where exactly they are. The audience doesn’t know the answers to these questions either, but what we do know is that the characters will soon be confronted with “predators,” alien monsters who want to hunt down and kill them. However, what the audience may not be prepared for is many of the surprises and interesting plot turns that make this sequel worth a look.

“Predators” serves as yet another sequel to the original that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. This one — the 4th in the series – finds new characters in a new locations battling multiple predators — unlike the original, which only featured only one.

To prepare for the sequel, I re-watched the 1987 original where a group of mercenaries are sent on a mission to rescue hostages in Central America. Led by Schwarzenegger, that team attacks a village that supposedly holds the hostages and only later discovers that the real threat is not the kidnappers but an alien that blends into the jungle and tracks its human prey using  body heat. One by one, the predator attacks the team leading to a showdown with the hero. (more…)

Much has been written about the premiere of the new ABC drama “V” and its relationship to  the election last year of President Barack Obama. As an article from the Chicago Tribune noted:

Nominally a rousing sci-fi space opera about alien invaders bent on the conquest (and digestion) of all humanity, it’s also a barbed commentary on Obamamania that will infuriate the president’s supporters and delight his detractors.

While it’s true there are reasons why comparisons between the candidate of hope and the aliens who want change are plentiful, the show “V” is about much more than a critique of the Obama administration.

“V” begins as a show about aliens who suddenly appear in spaceships around the world and the reaction they receive.  At first, as can be expected, there is a lot of fear and anguish about the visitors (which is what “V” stands for) as the ships show up hovering above different cities. However, when the alien leader appears on a ship’s video screen and talks about the benefits they will bring to the people of this world, audiences applaud (an unrealistic action, but an important one nonetheless in the development of the program). As the show goes on, though, some people learn that the aliens have more in mind than providing “heal centers” and universal health care for people around the world (which they are in favor of). (more…)

I hated the ending of Raiders of the Lost Ark. No, not the Citizen Kane homage rosebud scene at the end – I loved that – but the ending of the movie. I didn’t want it to end. I hadn’t enjoyed a film that much since, well, Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, or Jaws. I wanted it to continue. I wanted more. 

I got more and I didn’t want it. 

Why don’t sequels do well? Obviously, I’m not alone in feeling the way I do about Raiders or Star Wars or Jaws or any other great character-rich, dynamically set film that pulls you in and doesn’t fully let go even after the end titles trail up and we see that film certification symbol fade out. So, why is it that more of what we love, we hate? Well, maybe not hate, but not love quite so much. What’s going on here?  (more…)