Unpacking the lore of "Alien: Earth" in the Paper of Record

Timothy Olyphant plays a synthetic named Kirsh in Alien: Earth. (FX)

That advanced degree in xenobiology I’ll be paying off for the rest of my life was an adolescence well spent. My Washington Post essay unpacking the lore of Noah Hawley’s FX spinoff series Alien: Earth is here.

Resistance is Futile: "Ne Zha II," reviewed.

Ne Zha is part boy, part demon, all movie star. (CMC/A24)

 I’m well aware that many an enthusiastic plus-one has endured a similar cycle of befuddlement / intermittent exhilaration / ultimate exhaustion during a quarter-century where in the entire American industry has remade itself in the service of lore-dense, 2.5-hour-plus “Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter” and superhero sagas. No one who can easily tell Mr. Terrific from Mr. Fantastic should complain that a film that has brought so much delight to so many people is too confusing. And yet, I must confess I spent most of the very bright Ne Zha II in the figurative dark.

My Washington Post review of what is currently the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time is here.

Ed McBain, Akiria Kurosawa, and Spike: "Highest 2 Lowest," reviewed.

The great Jeffrey Wright in Highest 2 Lowest. (Apple/A24)

My Washington City Paper review of Highest 2 Lowest, Spike Lee’s loose present-day adaptation of the 1959 Ed McBain novel King’s Ransom, which was previously the basis for Akira Kursoawa’s 1963 High and Low, is here.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "Alien: Earth"

Babou Ceesay as Morrow, the cybernetic Inspector Javert figure of Alien: Earth. (F/X)

On today’s Pop Culture Happy Hour I had a gay old time (double) jawin’ with Glen Weldon and Joelle Monique about Alien: Earth, an attempt by Legion and Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley to implant a feature-film embryo into a prestige-TV host body.

Who asked for "Nobody 2"? The answer is right in front of you.

Bob Odenkirk, a Very Good Boy, and Connie Nielsen in Nobody 2. (Universal Pictures)

Bob Odenkirk is be the only guy headline an action franchise more than 30 years after being an off-camera writer on Saturday Night Live, and the only guy to headline an action sequel the same year he was nominated for a Tony. Nobody director Ilya Naishuller moved on to the not-bad John Cena / Idris Elba buddy comedy Heads of State (which inspired this list of asskickin’ screen presidents), but we’ve got Nobody 2 anyway. My Washington Post review is here.

"The Naked Gun," denuded.

Liam Neeson has a very particular set of briefs in The Naked Gun. (Paramount)

Funny is back, baby. My Washington City Paper review of The Naked Gun ‘25 is here.

Supermen Return

Lex Capacitor: Nicholas Hoult and David Corenswet are archenemies. (Jessica Miglio)

I have a piece in the Paper of Record today running down the sordid history of the first Superman movie franchise, the one that started with Richard Donner’s iiimperfect masterpiece. Is that a contradiction? Let us agree to disagree.

And here’s a deleted scene, of sorts, from the piece, addressing the 2006 “Donner cut” of Superman II, which was released on home video only once the rights issues around Marlon Brando’s footage were resolved so his voice and likeness as Jor-El could be used in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns that same year:

When the contractual issues regarding Brando’s participation were settled so that director Bryan Singer could use the Brando footage from 1977 in 2006’s Superman Returns, film editor Michael Thau took the opportunity the assemble “The Donner Cut” of Superman II, a curio that draws upon unseen footage from the late-seventies production — and even, in one instance, a screen test of Kidder and a scrawny Reeve, who’d not yet bulked up into Kryptonian shape — to offer a rough approximation of what Donner had intended some 25 years earlier.

Fourth Time's the Charm: "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," reviewed.

When it comes to putting First Family of Marvel Comics in the movies, the fourth time’s the charm. My Washington Post review of Fantastic Four: First Steps is here.