Series: Alien

Director Paul W.S. Anderson is a hack. Through the numerous films that he has directed, which include such drudgery as Soldier and Resident Evil, he has proven time and again that listening to an elderly relative blather on about… well, really almost anything, would be a far more entertaining way to spend ninety minutes than trapped in a theater with one of his boring, big-budget piles of cinematic refuse. Alien vs. Predator is no different. I hope Hollywood bucks up and admits that Anderson-helmed projects are always, without doubt, complete disasters. If he were employed in any other industry, his undeniably low level of craftsmanship would have found him living in a cardboard box at the curb of Paris Hilton's driveway years ago.(read more...)

Alien Resurrection doesn't have any profound subtexts like Alien³. Like Aliens, it's more "Hollywoodish" than Alien or Alien³, but it's not quite as bombastic, or as successful as Aliens. But, it's not that far removed from Aliens as a prime cut of Hollywood action cum sci-fi horror, and unlike Aliens, Alien Resurrection retains much of Alien's atmosphere, making Sigourney Weaver right in her claim that it plays a bit like a genetic splicing of the first two films, which is appropriate. (By the way, I recommend a scorecard to keep all the "Alien" titles straight.)(read more...)

Not quite as good overall as Aliens, the second film in the series, but still a cut above Alien, in my opinion. Alien³ has a different flavor than its predecessors, and despite claims made for them, this one actually has a subtext. Unfortunately it also has flaws that knock a couple points off its rating.(read more...)

I'm not in with the in crowd who thinks that, almost by definition, sequels are inferior to their precursors, partially because I didn't pick up my ideas about criticism from the Scream films. But I think it's worth commenting how much more I liked Aliens than their mother Alien. While I don't think the sequelitis syndrome has merit, I also don't routinely find sequels an improvement by more than a couple points. In this case I did, and only a few surface flaws-a touch of stereotype here, a bit of a hammy performance there (mainly Private Vasquez and the cigar-chomping Marine squadron leader)-disabled me from giving Aliens a perfect score, which I felt it should have earned.(read more...)

Here's another film, like The Exorcist, that I have to rate highly because of its historical status more than its value in isolation. In isolation, or, at least seen outside of its particular place in history - say, if it had come out a year or so, instead of 20, after precursors like It! The Terror from Beyond Space, so that It! appeared to be the groundbreaker and template instead, then I would give Alien a lower rating.(read more...)