THE DOG STARS : Tuesday 1st September 2026.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'THE DOG STARS' earlier this week, and this post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi film is Co-Produced and Directed by Ridley Scott, who I'm sure needs no introduction. Suffice to say some of his more acclaimed prior feature film making credits take in the likes of 'Alien' in 1979, 'Blade Runner' in 1982, 'Thelma & Louise' in 1992, 'Gladiator' in 2000, 'Black Hawk Down' in 2002, 'American Gangster' in 2007, 'Prometheus' in 2012, 'The Martian' in 2015, 'House of Gucci' in 2021, 'Napoleon' in 2023, and 'Gladiator II' in 2024. This film is based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Peter Heller, was released last week too in the USA, has so far recovered US$21M at the Box Office from its US$70M production budget and has generated mixed or average critical reviews. 

Set in 2035 many years after a devastating flu pandemic almost wiped out all of the human race, Hig (Jacob Elordi), a former mechanic, lives in a self contained heavily fortified compound in Erie, Colorado, with his dog named Jasper, and Bangley (Josh Brolin), a hardened former Marine turned survivalist. Hig from time to time pilots a small single prop Cesna light aircraft into an abandoned and desolate Denver to gather supplies of fuel, food and medical stores. To Bangley's chagrin, Hig also supplies a nearby Mennonite community, led by Aaron (Benedict Wong) with food and occasional mechanical repairs.

When two opportunistic teenage strangers approach uninvited (referred to affectionately as 'roaches') Bangley shoots them dead in quick succession from his distance look-out point, creating a conflict with the more sympathetic Hig. They douse the bodies with petrol and burn them. 

While out flying his plane one day with Jasper, Hig picks up a distorted radio signal originating from Grand Junction, Colorado, that suggests human life there. Hig has picked up this signal on various occasions over recent years, but always quickly lost contact.

While sleeping outside one night under the stars Hig and Jasper are awakened by a larger group trying to ambush their home. The pair fight them off until Bangley appears and finishes them off. The next morning they douse the bodies with fuel and burn them. Jasper, however dies in the attack, spurring Hig to visit Denver to bury him next to his deceased wife Melissa (Sai Bennett) at their former home. 

Heartbroken and distraught, Hig decides he must find the source of the Grand Junction radio signal, believing there to be more to life out there than the confines of their compound. Bangley, who does not approve of the journey, stays behind in Erie, seemingly bringing an end to their five years partnership. After experiencing a mechanical failure, Hig lands his Cesna in a valley bringing the plane to an abrupt halt within inches of a stand of trees. Within a few minutes there is a stampede of wild buffalo that causes minor damage to the plane while Hig takes cover under the fuselage. Dusting himslef off he spies a donkey in the distance with a bell around its neck. He follows the donkey and comes to a remote farmstead where a father and daughter, Pops (Guy Pearce) and Cima (Margaret Qualley), live. The two form an uneasy alliance with Hig, as he repairs his plane and cuts down trees to make a runway, using the donkey to pull out the tree stumps. Hig starts a romantic relationship with Cima, who asks him to stay with them.

After their farm is raided in an attack by a marauding group of roaches on horseback Hig, Cima, and Pops flee on Hig's plane. They make it to Grand Junction Regional Airport, where the radio operator hesitantly allows them to land and enter their community unarmed. Upon arrival, they feel a sense of unease. Darlene (Allison Janney), a former flight attendant who is the leader of the community, orders Cima to marry a soldier, due to her previous medical education, making her a most welcome catch. Hig, Cima and Pops escape, having discovered the community's cannibalism, as evidenced by the dismembered corpses hanging in plastic bags in a walk-in freezer through which they make their escape. As they fly away, they bomb Grand Junction with grenades from the air, which Bangley had handed to Hig when he left, as a precautionary measure in the event that he ran into any trouble.

The three fly back to Erie to check on Bangley, where they discover a major attack occurred at the compound and much of it had been wiped out. There is no sign of Bangley but there are plenty of dead roaches strewn around the place, which are already being picked on by carrion birds. Bangley is found injured but alive, and welcomes the group with fresh brewed coffee, after which nurse Cima stitches up his wounds. He then reluctantly joins them at the Mennonite (which he refers to as Mormons) community in the mountains to establish a new settlement there.

'The Dog Stars' is hardly going to go down as Ridley Scott's finest film in his fifty or so year long film making career, or his best entry into the Sci-Fi canon for that matter too, but there are some moments nonetheless when the Ridley Scott magic shines through. Such as the sweeping vistas of river valleys and looming mountain terrain, the snow capped peaks, the desolate cityscape that once was Denver, and the Grand Junction airport terminal that looks as though it was lifted straight out of 'Blade Runner'. That said there's nothing new here in the story that we haven't seen before in other post apocalyptic dystopian thrillers such as '28 Days Later', 'The Last of Us', 'I Am Legend' and countless others. The performances of Josh Brolin and Allison Janney (as brief as her screen time is) are on point, but I found Jacob Elordi and Margaret Qualley's undercooked and too sugar coated. And to cap it off there are a couple of glaring plot holes that I will not expand on here, but see if you can spot them for yourselves.

'The Dog Stars' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

ALIEN : COVENANT : Tuesday 16th May 2017.

'ALIEN : COVENANT' which I saw last week is a franchise that was launched 38 years ago by an up & coming Director, Ridley Scott. Here, he is back with his Science Fiction horror touchstone that began with only his second feature film Directorial outing, 'Alien' back in 1979 that has so far seen six films under the 'Alien' banner and two spin offs with the 'Alien vs. Predator' franchise. This highly anticipated prequel to the events leading up to that seminal 1979 film, is the second in the prequel series that Scott relaunched in his 2012 film 'Prometheus', and the third film out of the six that he has Directed. Scott has confirmed already that the Screenplay for the third prequel is written and he hopes to begin shooting what is currently reported as being 'Alien : Awakening' sometime in 2018. The Director has no intention it seems of letting go of the franchise he created having stated that 'Alien : Covenant' would be the first of three more films before linking up with original 'Alien', starting a new trilogy of Sci-Fi films. Made for US$97M the film has so far grossed US$118M, and went on release in the US only a few days ago on 19th May.

The film opens up with a prologue set in the past with Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) the trillionaire founder and CEO of Weyland Corporation that funded the earlier Prometheus expedition, in discussion with David (Michael Fassbender) the new synthetic prototype android created by Weyland who was a crew member aboard the ill fated Prometheus. They discuss the meaning of existence and creation from an expansive pristine room overlooking mountain terrain in the distance. Weyland tells David that's one day they will explore the Universe together in search of mankind's creator.

We then fast forward to 2104 where the crew of the colony ship 'Covenant' containing terraforming expert Daniels (Katherine Waterston); her husband Jacob Branson (James Franco) the Captain of the ship; Christopher Oram (Billy Crudup) the First Mate; Tennessee Faris (Danny McBride) the Chief Pilot; Sergeant Lope (Damien Bachir) the Head of Security; and Walter (Michael Fassbender) a synthetic android and an identical yet upgraded version of his David android from the previous film, are en route to remote planet Origae-6. The crew are all in stasis sleep, being overseen by Walter, who is also the guardian of two thousand or so sleeping colonists and a thousand embryo's all destined to kick start the population once they reach their Origae-6 destination, still a number of years in travel time away. When a seismic burst from a passing planet hits the ship causing damage to its retractable solar panels and hence its power source, Walter gives the onboard computer the order to wake the crew. In the confusion that ensues the pod containing Captain Jacob Branson malfunctions and he dies, with his wife looking on. As the crew set about repairing the damage and normality is resumed, the crew congregate over a moment of much needed levity as First Mate Oram steps up to take charge following the Captains death.

Whilst repairs are ongoing to the damaged solar panel, a human radio transmission message is intercepted  from a nearby hitherto unknown planet. Oram decides that they need to investigate as their early investigations seem to indicate that the uncharted planet might be capable of sustaining human life and may be a better option than Origae-6. Daniels disagrees, and has a private conversation with her new Captain expressing her reservations about exploring this alternative world, fearing the unknown and despite the first impressions of its attractiveness.

And so an exploratory mission is launched onto the planet from whence the radio signal originated. The Covenant stays in orbit, while the expedition team descend to the surface in a landing vehicle. Biologist Karine Oram (Carmen Ejogo), wife of the newly appointed Captain, and Ledward (Benjamin Rigby) head off to collect ecological samples, while the others go off in search of the suspected crashed Engineer ship which Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and David piloted ten years before following the doomed Prometheus mission.

As the two parties head off in different directions, two security team members in each group become infected by microscopic alien spores. Within no time, Ledward starts convulsing and contorting in pain. Karine Oram senses that something is not quite right and helps him back to the landing vehicle and radios ahead to Maggie Faris (Amy Seimetz) to prepare the medical bay for quarantine. Once inside Ledward's condition worsens, and then a Neomorph erupts from his back, killing him. It grows quickly and attacks Karine, killing her too. Faris meanwhile sends out a distress warning to the others, which is overheard by the crew left on the Covenant who all start to panic about the events unfolding on the landing vehicle. Faris tries to shoot the alien creature, and in her panic hits a number of gas cylinders causing them to explode in a ball of flame which destroys the landing vehicle. As the party returning from tracking the signal approach the carnage, so the second security team member, Hallett (Nathaniel Dean) who was also infected by alien spores has another Neomorph burst from his throat, killing him too.

As the remaining on ground crew attempt to contact the Covenant, they are attacked by two Neomorph's under cover of darkness killing Ankor (Alexander England) another from the security detail. The crew manage to kill one of the Neomorph's and Walter comes to the rescue of Daniel's by punching at an advancing Neomorph but sacrificing his hand in the process. David then emerges out of the darkness and leads the surviving crew members to a place of safety - a deserted alien city full of petrified corpses. David explains this away by stating that the Engineer ship released inadvertently a bioweapon wiping out the native populace, and then crashed killing Elizabeth Shaw. Meanwhile inside their supposed safe haven, the surviving Neomorph kills and decapitates another crew member, Rosenthal (Tess Haubrich).

Captain Oram searching for the missing Rosenthal, comes across David who is attempting to communicate with the Neomorph. Because David is synthetic, he is safe from attack by the alien creature. As Oram has the alien in his laser sights David asks him not to shoot, but Oram does killing the Neomorph. David is outraged, and upon Oram's demands reveals his activities that have been keeping him busy these past ten years. He has been experimenting and creating early Neomorph's that have evolved over time. He leads Oram into a chamber and reveals several eggs that have continued his experimentation process, urging Oram to take a closer look - for the contents therein are harmless enough! At which points a facehugger erupts from the egg and secures itself firmly on Oram's head implanting an embryo inside. Sometime later Oram comes round as a Xenomorph bursts from his chest, so killing him.

Walter then confronts David having discovered the truth behind his experiments. David wiped out the Engineers population by deliberately releasing the bioweapons, and murdered Shaw as a means of advancing his experiments - as evidenced in graphic pencil drawings made by David as a means of his record keeping. A fight breaks out between the two synthetic androids and David overpowers and disables Walter, who then captures Daniels who has also discovered the grisly secrets of David's past ten years. Walter regenerates himself and the two androids fight once more, allowing Daniels to escape to the approaching Covenant rescue vehicle. The Xenomorph that burst from Oram's chest is by now fully grown and goes in pursuit of the escaping Daniels and Lope. As Tennessee arrives in a rescue landing vehicle, so Daniels, Lope and the victorious Walter make it abroad just as the attacking Xenomorph jumps onto the lander as it takes off.  Mayhem ensues as Daniels tethers herself onto the outside of the lander, which by now is in flight, and goes head to head with the alien eventually capturing it and dispensing with it overboard with the aid of a crane.

Lope meanwhile became implanted with an embryo which burst forth after the rescue lander docked with the Covenant, and in growing mature quickly dispenses with Ricks and Upworth (Jussie Smollett and Callie Hernandez respectively). With Tennessee, Daniels and Walter being the only surviving crew members and an unidentified lifeform on board, its up to the two humans to flush out the marauding alien and kill it, or be killed. They successfully do flush it out, corner it and launch it into space impaled on the jaws of mega truck.

Safe from any further alien activity the Covenant returns to complete its original mission. Tennessee is put into cryosleep, leaving Walter to put Daniels into stasis, but in doing so a terrible secret is revealed that Daniels only discovers as her cryosleep pod is closed, and she is put to sleep.

'Alien : Covenant' is a worthy follow up that answers many of the questions left wanting after the end of 'Prometheus', but still leaves plenty of room for manoeuvre in upcoming instalments to keep this prequel franchise alive and fresh . . . hopefully! The film moves along at a good pace once the necessary first introductory scenes are dealt with and we get to the know the characters, their traits, their reason for being and we get down and dirty on the alien planet. That's when the thrills, the tension and the blood and gore come into their own and Scott knows when to turn it on and show some restraint too. The story here too begins to make a lot more sense than its predecessor, which when coupled with our man eating facehugging chestbusting alien crustaceans will please fans of the series. But, for me what the film picked up in Michael Fassbender's dual performances as Walter and David, was let down by the less noteworthy relatable crew members who for the most part are just alien fodder. Even Waterstone as the kick-ass Ripley wannabe, looks the part but just failed to reach her mark as Sigourney Weaver did so well in the first two most noteworthy films. Despite that, and the final action set piece where the alien succumbs to the wrath of Daniels and Tennessee which is a little lame by Scott's and Cameron's earlier climatic endings, the film is a return to form for the franchise and well worth the price of your ticket.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

PROMETHEUS - archive from 8th June 2012.

Saw 'PROMETHEUS' last night on opening night, and then about a week later had to go and see it again, because I liked it that much! From the breathtaking opening sequence to the 'reveal' in the closing seconds this movie delivers in spades! Sir Ridley Scott's first return to the genre he made his own thirty years ago with 'Blade Runner' and 'Alien' this sees Scott back to form and once again establishes the great man as a master storyteller and moviemaker.




Set 35 years before the ill fated story of the 'Nostromo' in 'Alien', this tells the story leading up to the events of that film towards the end of the 21st Century. The spaceship 'Prometheus' follows a star map uncovered buried deep within the rocks off some remote Scottish island, that also resembles various other similar ancient inscriptions discovered from other unconnected civilisations and cultures. Believing these to be an 'invitation' to discover the origins of humanity a very wealthy industrialist funds an expedition to a distant moon that the inscriptions seem to be leading to. In 2093 the 'Prometheus' lands on the distant moon - its crew awakens from stasis, and soon afterwards discover an artificial structure that once seemed to support life, but now appears extinct, and in the process discover too the proof positive origins of mankind on Earth.

Or is everything quite what it seems? Of course not! What follows is right out of Scott's 'Alien' playbook as he ramps up the tension, the crew gradually get killed off by something that cannot be seen at first and before confronting the real terror, manifested in grand scale, of what they have uncovered. As the film progresses you will see links to the follow-on film , 'Alien' remembering that this is a 'prequel' and set 30 or so years before Sigourney Weaver did battle in outer space where no one can hear you scream! Naturally the up to date CGI and on-screen graphics make this a visual treat not seen in the previous 'Alien' instalments that relied on tension, scare tactics, shock and awe . . . but did it convincingly nonetheless (at least in 'Alien' and 'Aliens' before the franchise started to go off the rails!)

A great cast, that stars Noomi Rapace (archaeologist Elizabeth Shaw), Charlize Theron (as Meredith Vickers monitoring the expedition on behalf of the Weyland Corporation who are funding it), Michael Fassbender (as David the android, butler and maintenance man of the ship - almost unrecognisable as non-human and highly intelligent), Guy Pearce (almost unrecognisable in his make-up as the billionaire founder of Weyland Corporation, Peter Weyland, and playing both the younger and much older character), and Idris Elba (as Janek, the Captain of the Prometheus).

Visually stunning, suspense, action, attention to detail (check out David's fingerprint) and a solid story of survival moves this along at a great pace. Watch it on the big screen . . . and then see it again! Could be the best movie of the year so far, and proving almost conclusively that Ridley Scott is the master of big screen epic Sci-Fi . . . sharing the crown perhaps with James Cameron!

This film cost about US$130M to make and brought in a very respectable US$404M at the global Box Office making it a bonafide success, with talk of a sequel, which has been muted several times by both Scott and Fox Studio's, with a script well in the works, but as yet no production schedule or release date announced.The film picked up five award wins and 32 other nominations around the world including an Academy Award and BAFTA nomination for Best Visual Effects. A worthy entry to the 'Alien' canon!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE ROVER - Tuesday 17th June 2014.

I ventured out to my favourite Northern Beaches cinema - The Cremorne Orpheum Picture Palace, last night to see David Michod's 'THE ROVER'. This film is bleak, dark, brutal and grim and it sucks you in every step of the way as we trace the steps of 'The Rover' (played chillingly by Guy Pearce) and his captive Rey (played brilliantly and convincingly by Robert Pattinson).

After the opening credits have rolled we are told on screen that this is 'Australia - ten years after The Collapse'. Quite what 'The Collapse' is or was exactly we are never told, but as the story unfolds we learn quickly enough that The Collapse related to social and economic collapse across the globe it would seem, although this action takes place firmly in our own back yard - that of South Australia to be more precise. We are immediately transplanted to some remote almost forgotten almost derelict outback one horse town and in drives The Rover to refresh himself at some local dive bar. Approaching this one horse town in a pick-up truck at speed are three arguing dudes - one shot in the leg and clenching the wound holding a pistol, all of different nationalities, and clearly their latest crime caper has gone awry. As they argue and become distracted the pick-up truck flips and sails past on its roof outside the window of the bar where The Rover is seated. He is oblivious to this until two other patrons run outside having witnessed the whole thing. Up stands The Rover and strolls outside only to see the three dudes recover from their car wreck and drive off down the road in his car! This then sets the tone of the film as The Rover seeks to recover his vehicle.

What follows is essentially a road movie where The Rover are hell bent of retrieving his car, but for reasons that are unclear to us until the closing frames of the film. In the meantime, he captures the badly injured brother of the dude shot in the leg who was left for dead in the street in their earlier crime caper gone awry. This is Rey - he's American and has come to Australia to work in the mines with his brother. Rey is two cans short of a six pack - described as a 'dim wit' by The Rover who can't see that his precious brother left him for dead on the street with a shot to the gut. Rey is The Rover's ticket to finding his car.

Remembering that society and the economy has collapsed ten years ago, there is no law in the outback. Money and death are the only currencies that hold any value - the money of preference is now the US Dollar, and those surviving will shoot first and ask questions later! We learn that The Rover killed his wife and her lover ten years ago when The Collapse first occurred and he just walked away, no one came after him then, nobody cared and so we know this has been the status quo for a decade now.

Spending the best part of a week together on the road driving to their final destination where brother and fellow cohorts are holed up in another shit-box town, Rey and The Rover strike up an unlikely friendship and camaraderie despite the obvious emotional and intellectual differences. Along the way we learn a little more of each man (but not much) and various others get killed all for the sake of the car!

Pearce plays The Rover chillingly and in a very calculated way and does so with aplomb - eight men die by his hand, and another four indirectly during the course of the film, all clinically and all with a single gun shot - all for his car, and still we don't know why? Pattinson plays the mentally challenged half-witted downtrodden younger brother Rey expertly and convincingly - his voice, his mannerism, his expressions are first rate and believable.

When the end comes and the killings have stopped and The Rover has retrieved his car, the big reveal comes and we learn why it was so important to him to get it back. This will leave you thinking WTF? 12 dead for that! But to one man this was the most important thing, all consuming, his absolute focus no matter what the cost.

This film will not be for everyone, but it shows imagination in the subject matter and its rendition on screen played out expertly by two very different actors playing against type, and delivering in spades. This is an original must see Australian film featuring fine performances from the two principle leads and the supporting cast, solid direction, the barren unforgiving backdrop of the South Australian outback, a haunting soundtrack and a great story.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-