[the films of] Ridley Scott

My greatest apologies that I cannot give you another edition of TOP 10 SHOTS this week, though it's not from neglect or lack of trying. As a matter of fact, I've tried desperately all week to find a film by Ridley Scott to get deeply into for TOP 10 SHOTS. I've already stated some mild disappointments for "Alien", a frankly overrated and simple sci-fi horror flick. Generally, Ridley Scott isn't an absolute master director, but he is by no degree a bad one. He simply doesn't try to make any statements with his filmmaking. He is strictly a storyteller, which isn't a bad way to be. It just means that he'll never make a film that give more than three stars to. Still, a career built on solid work is nothing to scoff at, and so to give him proper recognition for that, here's a rather expertly constructed tribute to what Ridley Scott does best.

Quick Takes: "Alien", "Elena", "Mulan", "Minority Report"

"Alien" (**1/2)

Directed by Ridley Scott

This could very well cause to enrage people, and it already has if you follow my actions on twitter, but the moment I sat down to take on "Alien" for this week's TOP 10 SHOTS column, I realized it couldn't possibly work. Why not? Because there is so desperately little going on in this film. Ridley Scott is devoted to creating an intense horror aesthetic, and there's some truly honest effort there. But it only works, in this case, if we care about why this is happening, and who it is happening to. The characters are etched so thin as to offer nothing distinct about them. Them being there is a product of happenstance, like any other horror flick. There's just not that much cinematically to dig into. Don't worry, though, since you'll still have your share of Ridley Scott in this Friday's TOP 10 SHOTS column. It just won't be in the same vein as what Ridley's up to this year.

"Elena" (****)

Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev

Russia seems to carry with a heap of apocalyptic baggage that it just cannot seem to get rid of. Even in a film that holds absolutely no apocalyptic subject matter, the grim specter of massive and inescapable death looms heavy over. That's the definitive stroke that makes Andrey Zvyagintsev's third feature, "Elena", so much more than the chilling character study that it already is. Though the first ten minutes lull you into the belief that you're in for a contained story comparable to that of Chantal Akerman's "Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles", it really expands to being something rather more maniacal. It's Zvyagintsev's analysis of family boundaries that truly piques the interest.