Nope

I was moderately excited about this film, having enjoyed director Jordan Peele's earlier film Get Out (but not seen Us). The set-up is good, a horse training family who find strange goings on at their farm. This quickly escalates into chasing UFOs.

The film is unusual in that they are not trying to prevent the aliens from destroying the Earth, or even trying to escape from them. The aim is just to get a photo to make themselves rich and famous. If this sounds rather shallow I suppose it is supposed to be, as satire. It's undermined by the fact that there are already plenty of 'photos' of aliens so one more photo isn't going to prove anything.

I'd have preferred a direct horror film, as the lack of motive made it rather confusing. I don't know if you were supposed to understand the elaborate set-up at the end with the battery powered kites, but I felt like I barely knew what was going on, and the rules weren't clear (can the alien see you if you are under a roof? does it matter if you look at it?)

Alongside the peril of trying to run away/run towards the alien, is a more interesting mystery about some unexplained phenomenon twenty years ago involving a chimp. That is linked by the Jupiter character who is now foolishly trying to tame the alien. He gets his comeuppance, much like the fools who ran Jurassic Park (though I'd say his plan is better than trying to tame the giant monster by breaking it like a horse).

Because the central character is very downbeat and grumpy it drags down the mood a bit, and requires an extremely perky sidekick (his sister) plus wacky tech guy. Those two are fine, the gravelly cameraman annoyed me though.

I liked some aspects of the mystery, and the flying alien did look good, but overall I found the storytelling jumbled and wasn't that into it. 

Top Gun 2: Maverick

Films like these are called legacy sequels, made 30 years after the original. It didn't work well for Indiana Jones, and Star Wars had some problems, but this one is a surefire hit.

It's a big powerhouse of a movie with plenty of fast planes and Tom Cruise star appeal. I don't normally like action scenes but enjoyed these ones, mostly as I was able to tell what was going on.

The story is that Maverick is forced to go back and train the next generation of cocky young pilots. This time there's two women pilots too. All the young bucks are referred to several times as 'the best of the best' but this is clearly not so, as early on Maverick mercilessly beats all of them in a simulated dogfight. Then he does a sort of plane assault-course much quicker than they can.

I have only a few gripes. There is a rather artificial plot-device that they have to fly super-fast to avoid being detected, but the only reason they are at risk of detection is because of their own bombs (which they could drop a bit later). 

There is also a reckless lack of safety gear. Not in the planes, but on motorbikes (no helmet) and sailing ships (no life jackets). I know these guys are crazy sons-of-guns but why not minimise the risk where possible? I sympathise with the Miles Teller character, Rooster, who prefers flying at a more sensible speed and getting there safely. I thought his conservative approach would come into the finale, but the ending was still very satisfying.

Director Joseph Kosinki has delivered on the promise of Oblivion (classic Cruise). This is a film to see in the cinema.