Alien: Covenant

Sometime in the 22nd century, the crew of a deep-space colony ship is diverted to an uncannily Earth-like planet—and this being a part of the universe created by director Ridley Scott’s Alien in 1979, most of them will not live to regret it. The present movie is actually a sequel to a prequel, namely Scott’s 2012 Prometheus; if you’ve spent the last five years wondering where that was headed, here’s the movie for you. If not, John Logan, Dante Harper, Jack Paglen and Michael Green’s oblique script may leave you wondering what the hell’s going on. Anyhow, it’s Alien, so we know going in that none of this is going to end well. It’s stylish enough, and Michael Fassbender, Billy Crudup and various others give it their best efforts, but if you don’t see it—well, unlike most of the characters, you’ll survive. J.L.