Alien at the Movies

It's "The Room" meets "The Fifth Wave" meets "War of the Worlds" when Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up chained in an underground bunker after an automobile accident. John Goodman is superb as the suspected wacko extreme survivalist Howard who believes the world is under attack by possibly Martians who have poisoned the air so his bunker is the only safe place to be. Michelle is an intelligent girl running away from her life & boyfriend. She fears & doubts Howard. Together with a not so bright under achiever Emit (John Gallagher Jr,), Howard's hired hand, they form the trio of main characters in this slow burn psychological thriller. Brady Cooper has an unusual cameo that producer JJ Abrams has used before. Find out whether it is more dangerous inside or outside as suspicions grow, claustrophobia sets in, and the plot thickens. Although they share a title word in common, this is not a true sequel to "Cloverfield" (thank goodness, no shaky cam found footage), just a blood relative connected by DNA. This well acted & well told movie was adapted from a book called "The Cellar". What would you do to survive?

Alien gives it 3 "living life in a bunker" stars out of 4.