AVP: Alien Vs. Predator (2004)

AVP: Alien Vs. Predator (2004): written by Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shushett, and Paul W.S. Anderson; directed by Paul W.S. Anderson; starring Sanaa Lathan (Alexa), Raoul Bova (Sebastian), Lance Henriksen (Weyland), Ewen Bremer (Graeme Miller), and Colin Salmon (Stafford): I mean, it's a mild diversion with a few gross-out moments and a few decent action sequences. That makes it better than Alien: Covenant. And there isn't a cheap, ghoulish fate awaiting our heroine, a spunky Sanaa Lathan. 

And Aliens do indeed fight Predators, just like the title promises!

Does legendary hack director Paul W.S. Anderson understand the Alien movies better than Alien and Alien: Covenant director Ridley Scott? Yeah, I guess he does, at least in the years since Alien came out in 1979. 

The stuff about pyramids and Aztecs and Egyptians and Cambodians is hilariously dumb. Well, or at least historically challenged. 

And pretty much every effective shot is an homage to a shot from either Alien or Aliens, leading to a somewhat attenuated sense of deja vu throughout.

But the Aliens here were definitely NOT created by cuckoo android Michael Fassbender of Ridley Scott-directed Prometheus and Covenant. No wonder Scott declared that this movie is not part of official Alien continuity. Lightly recommended.

Flatliners (2017)

Nina Dobrev gets defibrillated incorrectly.

Flatliners (2017): adapted by Ben Ripley from the previous film written by Peter Filardi; directed by Niels Arden Oplev; starring Ellen Page (Courtney), Diego Luna (Ray), Nina Dobrev (Marlo), James Norton (Jamie), Kiersey Clemons (Sophia), and Kiefer Sutherland (Dr. Wolfson): 

The original Flatliners wasn't very good, and is perhaps remembered best for its confluence of Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, and Julia Roberts unconvincingly playing three Med School Interns who start killing themselves and reviving themselves so as to explore the world of Near-Death Experiences (NDE) up-close and personal.

Same thing here, slightly different characters and results. Ellen Page is semi-believable as an intern. I guess. Everybody spouts a lot of silly medicobabble. The ladies keep getting defibrillated through their clothing, which I have it on good authority wouldn't be reliable and might actually set someone's clothing on fire. OK, there's a scene I'd like to see.

Kiefer Sutherland plays the interns' supervisor while wearing a white fright wig and limping around on a cane to denote great age. He's not the same character as the original movie, which is too bad. I'd have liked to have heard Sutherland yell about flatlining. Alas, no.

Everyone's really casual about dying and coming back, even as the revivals take longer and longer. By the time someone utters the line, "if they find out we've been flatlining, we'll be expelled!", I assume brain damage has set in. This isn't a terrible movie. It's not scary and it's dumb, but so was the first movie, regardless of what your nostalgic memories tell you. Grantchester's hunky Anglican priest James Norton does a pretty good generic American accent -- certainly better than Benedict Cumberbatch has ever mustered. Good for him. Not recommended.