Category: Netflix and No Chill

the solution for a claustrophobic astronaut is to give him more space

Alien: Romulus is the ninth film in the Alien series, and it’s a mixed bag. The plot lacks depth, but David Jonsson’s performance as Andy the Android was a highlight. Rain, the main character, and her gang get into trouble with aliens while trying to escape their grim mining colony. Overall, I give it a 7/10.

Review for Alien: Romulus (2024) – 7/10 – SPOILERS AHEAD!

Alien: Romulus is the ninth movie in the Alien franchise, set right between Alien and Aliens. If you need the lore, I’d recommend checking out Alien and Prometheus before seeing this movie, solely because those are my favorites.

I have to give this movie a solid 7/10, and it would be a 6/10 except for the performance of David Jonsson, who plays Andy the Android. In general, the plot was lacking substance, but I was excited to see a sci-fi with body horror and suspense elements. I think the ending could’ve been taken even further, and I’ll explain what I wish happened.

The main character is Rain (Cailee Spaeny), a girl who lives with her “brother” Andy, an android (aka synthetic human) in a sad mining colony on an unhealthy planet. Her friends, who all seem like kind of awful people with big problems due to the living situation sucking so much, convince her to break into a ship that is floating around their planet’s rings to steal cryostasis pods that they can use to ship themselves to a better planet. Plot twist, aliens are on the ship and want to kill them, and do. That’s pretty much the whole plot.

The cast of characters includes:

  • Tyler, the only semi-rational character other than Rain, played by Archie Renaux. I really loved him in Shadow and Bone so was excited to see him in this film. I love him as a love interest, though I thought his character was a little boring.
  • Tyler’s sister Kay is a mostly ineffective character who reveals she is pregnant and that the father is “some jerk.” Her actress is Isabela Merced, who was also Dora the Explorer (iconic!!!) in the live-action films. Though she’s very popular online (she has 4M Instagram followers), I’ve never seen her act before. I kind of hated this character because pregnant Hispanic woman in space was meh. As a Hispanic woman myself, I wish she was just mentally a stronger character or more capable generally.
  • Bjorn, aka “some jerk”. He’s British, unintelligible, has anger issues, and hates Andy because his parents were killed in one of the mines when an android made the decision to sacrifice some people to let more live. I wish there were subtitles when he spoke because I did not pick up on all the lines he delivered. The actor, Spike Fearn, was great at portraying the angry guy who makes poor decisions. Side note, I think this guy should play Sid Vicious if they make another biopic.
  • Navarro is either also romantically linked to Bjorn or just a friend of the squad, and she had the earliest death and probably the least amount of screen time. For those reasons, I feel neutral about her actress, Aileen Wu. She dies a true facehugger-to-chestburster death, and that’s the last of her.
  • Rook is the last character, a synthetic human engineer who works for The Company. This character is kind of Andy’s spirit guide, while also leading to the subplot of the Black Goo of Life. Alien: Romulus used AI to bring back the late great Sir Ian Holm’s likeness for this android, and although I don’t think it was necessary, I didn’t find that it distracted me or hurt the film. It was more of a huh, okay, moment.
  • The Thing that Kay gave birth to was really creepy, and cool, and this is where I wish things had been taken so much further. It goes to its mother and I wish it had done something truly awful like breastfed or started crying for her to hold it. The best part of the movie was this sickening creature, and instead, we wasted time on things like introducing and killing Navarro for 0 reasons.

There were some great suspenseful moments in this film, like when Rain and Andy find themselves in a scary, aliens-are-all-around-us-and-could-come-kill-us-at-any-moment passage and Andy is having the equivalent of an android seizure. You want him to be okay, and you’re worried about the aliens who seem to be able to just fly down from these really tall corridors at any moment.

I didn’t find that I cared that much about any of the characters’ deaths because they chopped through them so quickly. The only character I was rooting for was Rain, because you kind of just knew everyone else was meant to die.

I give it a 7/10 because it was cool and thrilling and set in space, and for Andy.

dreams never made us kings and queens, our dragons did

House of the Dragon Season 2 thoughts

I just finished House of the Dragon season 2 and although I feel a little blah about the ending, I think it was really interesting and the characters developed well throughout the season. I have read the A Song of Ice and Fire series, but I have not read Fire & Blood, so I am basing my opinions purely on the show. Spoilers below!

I love that Daemon Targaryen finally bent the knee to Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen. I really wanted them to be a power couple in this series – I imagined there would be a beautiful scene where Daemon and Rhaenyra would fly Caraxes and Syrax side by side, gazing across the sky at each other and sharing a look of trust before diving into battle. It was disappointing that he was off having bad, even gross dreams and wandering the spooky grounds of Harrenhall and lowkey (highkey?) attempting to take the crown for himself. Meanwhile, Rhaenyra had to prove she was worthy of the title to people who questioned her because she was a woman even though aside from rather recklessly tossing Targaryen bastards in front of dragons, she’s been fairly levelheaded.

If he had supported her sooner, I don’t think she would have kissed Mysaria aka the White Worm aka MISS DO NOT TRUST. I really hate that since Daemon was off on his vision quest, Rhaenyra put a lot of trust into this questionable whisperer. I don’t think she will end up being a good character but we’ll see. Her nickname worm is foreshadowing to me, no one good was ever called a worm. Also, she banged Daemon and Rhaenyra is just like let’s be besties hehe let’s kiss too?!? Are we just going to let that slide? You’re telling me no one in that whole castle doesn’t think this is weird? I just know looksmaxxed Prince Jacaerys Velaryon would have some things to say to his mom and jut that sharp little chin out while he says it. I can hear him saying, “My uncle Daemon’s dragon is called Blood Wyrm, then he bedded the White Worm, can’t we let worms/wyrms be his thing? Why must you, my Queen, also be into worms?”

I feel like we needed some more episodes to truly feel some of the more emotional parts of the season like the loss of Princess Rhaenys. She really is my Queen Who Never Was and she died fighting like a true dragonrider, but I didn’t feel the impact as much as I might have if we got to see her relationship with Rhaenyra develop more. I would have liked to have seen more screen time between the two (ideally less wormy, more Rhaenys). Only 8 episodes really didn’t feel like enough, I think it should have been 12 episodes and I hope they make future seasons longer.

I liked the way the golden dragons looked, especially Sunfyre (RIP?). When I watch fantasy shows or read fantasy books, I think this is how every dragon should look. Sunfyre is so beautiful and magnificent to watch. Syrax is a close second for me, her deeper gold scales and the intelligent look in her eyes complement Rhaenyra’s aesthetic well. This season, I particularly liked seeing how the dragons’ personalities mirror their riders’ personalities and I’m looking forward to seeing those interactions more in season 3.

I, like everyone else, am waiting patiently for Ser Criston Cole to be killed but I like that his character got quieter so he was less annoying the second half of the season. No new remarks from me that can’t be found in any other comment section.

I am ready for Queen Alicent Hightower to be punished for marrying Rhaenyra’s dad, having his kids, deciding last minute to develop a serious comprehension issue and not questioning that Viserys Targaryen would suddenly not want his beloved daughter to be queen, royally fucking over her childhood friend and starting this whole war. For being such a misogynist, I think she’s a bad mom, and really that should be the only thing going for her at this point. I didn’t like when she forced sweet, witchy weird Helaena Targaryen to march behind her dead son and get overstimulated and mobbed, especially after forcing her to marry her degenerate himbo brother Aegon Targaryen. I super didn’t like that Alicent neglected Aemond Targaryen for years and contributed to him becoming a rizzy asshole with mommy issues. She doesn’t really support Aegon, kind of leaving him on a deathbed after he was burned, so it just feels like I’m wondering who does she support, besides herself? I will caveat that even with all her faults, it’s creepy and wrong that she was abused by Larys Strong and that she has to live in the same castle with him hanging around. That probably means that she just never really feels safe anywhere, since she doesn’t really have anywhere else to go in the middle of the war and that is sad. I feel like the final scene in the season finale between her and Rhaenyra was a bit of a waste, since there wasn’t anything new or redeemable for Alicent. She isn’t good for her family, isn’t good for the realm, and everyone is rejecting her as her opinions hold little to no power now so let Syrax eat her, and let’s move on.

I like that Helaena seemingly has some supernatural or otherworldliness to her. I wasn’t sure where they were taking her character, though she did always seem dreamy and trancelike in a Luna Lovegood type of way. I hope she has some powers like Bran the Broken or the character Alys Rivers who helped Daemon see that he needed to chill out and take a knee. I loved seeing her speak up to Aemond and am excited to see more of her in season 3.

Let me know what you think! Maybe I’m wrong and some of these characters are totally redeemable.

Netflix and No Chill – Ragnarok Recap: S1: E1 “New Boy”

A recap and review of the series premiere of the new Netflix show Ragnarok.

Ragnarok – In Norse mythology, the definition of the end of the world. Ragnarok begins with natural disasters and culminates in the great battle between the gods and giants.

Epic opening scene of the first episode.

After this quote I’m like oh, it’s a show about a guy with god powers, so who did they cast to play him? And then BAM!, Midnight City by M83 starts playing while our show’s lead character Magne (played by David Stakston), AKA the most Norse looking dude on the gods’ green gables, is introduced in a scene where he gazes out of a car window. I’d say it’s well casted because he looks Norse as fuck.

His mom Turid got a job in a town called Edda, where it seems she has some history. They are traveling to his grandmother’s house with his aunt and his brother Laurits. Laurits looks like the Loki to Magne’s Thor. His hair is black and he looks like he hasn’t seen the sun in years.

As they’re pulling into the town, an old man in an electric scooter stalls in the middle of the road in front of their car. Magne chivalrously hops out to help the man cross the street, and an old woman watching goes up to him. He makes some electric eye contact with her, and can suddenly tell that it’s going to rain and rips the hand-crank window lever off of the door of the car. Lit.

In his new high school, he’s introduced with his brother to the class. The teacher, a nice man named Erik, is talking about the old Norse gods. It turns out Edda was the last town in Norway to become Christian and give up faith in the Norse gods. Erik explains that in the old Norse mythology, Ragnarok happened when the gods were betrayed by the giants and died, but nobody knows where the giants went. Definitely some foreshadowing happening here.

Magne gets seated next to his new friend Isolde, a dip tobacco chewing environmentalist that has a YouTube channel, a septum piercing, and blue highlights. She isn’t exactly Miss Popular, and someone sends her a nasty message by bending her bike, which Magne fixes easily with his super strength.

Magne has a hard time in school, he’s dyslexic and wears glasses. He plays with a Tangle and doesn’t concentrate well. However, in the past two school days he discovers that he no longer needs his glasses. He comments on how pretty a girl named Gry in his class project group is, but so far we don’t have any details about her.

It’s the boiz, from left to right: Fjor, Isolde, Saxa, Gry, Laurits, and Magne.

Magne’s mother Turid’s new job is in accounting, for a corporation that seems to own the town. The owners of the corporation are the Jutul family.

Something is definitely off about the family, comprised of the tycoon father Vidar, the teenage son Fjor and daughter Saxa, and the seemingly cold mother Ran. Ran is also the principal of the high school, and very gorgeous with her high cheekbones and platinum blonde hair.

“How old is she, 50? She looks like she’s 30. Whatever, she’s definitely had some work done,” Turid says on the phone.

Daddy Vidar asks his kids to keep an eye on Magne, but only after he pees right in front of them in the bathroom while Fjor is lamenting that he doesn’t really look like a senior in high school and flexing his six pack in the mirror. There’s a weird Joneses Family vibe coming off of them.

Isolde’s invites Magne over to eat at her house, and we learn that teacher Erik is her dad.

Isolde is trying to save the town’s polluted tap water because she thinks it has something to do with her mother’s untimely death to cancer. Magne reveals to her that his father also died young. As he’s leaving her house, Isolde’s book bag falls and reveals a very teenager-y lovey dovey page in her notebook with Saxa written in big red letters, two pictures probably from her Instagram, and a sketch of them holding hands. She makes Magne swear not to tell anyone about her crush.

It’s probably not that big of a secret because at family dinner time, Turid questions Magne about Isolde and asks if maybe they’re dating. Laurits quickly interjects there’s no way because she’s a lesbian. “My gaydar never fails,” he says convincingly.

In another scene, Magnes’ mom is using a hammer to fix something and he takes it from her to try and help. The hilt of the hammer has an insignia on it that is his father’s family crest, and he gets that weird electric reaction when he touches it.

Isolde and Magne are hiking to the top of a mountain owned by the Jutuls, and what’s most important in this scene is to pay attention to how Isolde’s blue jacket matches her blue eyes and blue hair tips perfectly. They almost reach the top of the mountain, and Magne does a weird jig jump over a metal chain with a “restricted” sign that really didn’t sell me on how this guy is supposed to be the most powerful guy? Isolde stepped over it much more gracefully.

I mean?? She deserved better.

Magne gets a text right before his phone dies that something is wrong with his mother so he leaves Isolde alone while he runs back down the mountain, but it turns out that Laurits was just messing with him. Loki? Laurits? I’m not fooled here.

Meanwhile, Daddy Vidar gets nakey on top of his mountain and goes full Norse exorcism to hunt some wild sheep. Seriously. His eyes go weird yellow and he starts to hear a deep voice speaking with a lot of gutteral Nordic j’s. He breaks the neck of one of the sheep and rips out the heart and proceeds to walk his lil birthday suit butt to a peak overlooking the valley to roar while he eats the heart.

Isolde is exploring the mountain by herself and finds a strange door that says “Property of Jutul, LETHAL DANGER” when Vidar’s roar pulls her away. Magne, traveling back up in that direction after getting pranked by his brother, sees her literally paraglide back down the mountain and get struck by a power line. Vidar (now clothed in his sleek black tuxedo because he’s rich baby) jumps out of his car to help resuscitate her.

Magnes is sad about the loss of his new friend and runs into the street, in the rain, to go scream it out. Thunder breaks out across the sky in sympathy, and the episode ends.

~

I have some questions here, like what happened to Magnes’ dad?

Is the water supply really contaminated and is that really what made Isolde’s mother sick?

Who are the Jutul family, really?

Let me know what you think about this new series! I think it started off pretty predictable with the whole new kid in town premise, but I really like Isolde’s character and I’m interested in seeing more.