Alien

From the film’s ominous beginning to its iconic, adrenaline-filled end, Alien is a masterpiece. Perfectly paced, this classic leaves people of all ages gripping their seats in excitement. The Alien creature is fear and terror incarnate, and is an amazing creation. Unlike Predator, the film spends time developing its human characters and pays incredible attention to visual detail. Alien is the finest of director Ridley Scott’s films, and that is saying something.
Once again, I have to recognize the incredible work of the creature designers. Scott’s Alien is one of science fiction’s most terrifying icons, a creation that’s second to none. And no, not even the Predator can really compare. The most memorably original traits of the Alien are probably the second mouth and the acid blood. In the words of a Nostromo crew member, it is “a perfect organism. It’s structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. It is a survivor, unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.” This spine-tingling monologue is high praise for a fancy movie prop, but upon seeing the murderous Alien onscreen, one really believes it.
In many respects, Alien is quite similar to Predator. Similar enough to spawn a disastrous crossover cash cow known as Alien vs. Predator, but that’s not the point. The elements that set this film apart from its younger, B-grade cousin lie chiefly in the human characters and the special effects. The cast of this film is significantly better developed than in Predator, and doesn’t set up a predictable, Austrian hero. Instead, the seven characters are given chances to act, utilizing lots of interaction, drama and back-story, as well as some occasional humor to keep it all going. This allows you to  care for the humans of the story, and grow to hate the dreaded Alien all the more.
In the realm of special effects, this film really shines. In over thirty years since its release, it hasn’t aged a day. The giant mining vessel in which the movie primarily takes place is tediously and realistically designed, and closely mirrors the actual look and feel of a present-day space shuttle. There are no absurd beeping noises or control panels with big buttons and flashing lights; this is not the starship Enterprise. Rather, it reminds me more of the design of a ship from Star Wars. The intricate sets along with the Alien creature make for a timelessly breathtaking visual ride.
Bearing all of this in mind, it’s hard to believe that Alien could ever have produced a worthy sequel. There is an innate mastery of filmmaking and dramatic exposition in Alien that can seldom be rivaled, particularly in the same franchise. But I digress. This film is an American masterpiece, and deserves ten out of ten stars.

Monsters vs. Aliens

After a hesitant but overall rewarding trip to the theater, I have arrived at the conclusion that “Monsters vs. Aliens” is quite a breath of fresh air from DreamWorks’s usual drivel. After their pathetic recent attempts to make good movies, I wondered about just boycotting all of their garbage. While it has its share of flaws, this film has nevertheless made me think again. With an excellent cast of comedians, great 3D special effects, and highly entertaining modern humor, this movie really breaks through the ordinary boundaries of animated films, producing a good-quality flick for kids and adults to enjoy.

The use of famous comedians in the star roles was a great move on the filmmakers’ parts. Stephen Colbert, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, and other great comedians as the other assorted characters made everything almost believable and quite funny. They all performed their roles enthusiastically, and it was obvious that they enjoyed themselves and were allowed free reign in the improv department. I was also quite impressed at the actors’ easy chemistry with each other, and their abilities to seamlessly cooperate in their roles.

The comedy constantly spewed by the cast was very well integrated with dazzling special effects that did a wonderful job of distracting from some of the film’s lesser elements. It was quite obvious that the scenes were specially designed for 3D viewing, as they took quite a few liberties with throwing things into your face in an overly invasive attempt to showcase the power of 3-dimensional gimmick. While I quickly tired of the quick 3D zoom-ins that made me cringe backward in my seat, I was still able to appreciate the incredible CG effects and the quality 3D scenes that were obviously so labored on. They were, quite frankly, incredible.

Now even in all this film’s glory, it still had several weak points. One problem was with the story elements. Seeing as the entire movie exists solely to parody monster and alien genres of film, I am fairly forgiving of its problems, but still it became quite irksome when so many plot points were left unexplained and so many plot holes left wide open. Because of the story defects, the film also skips out on any character development, except with the main character, 49 ½ foot tall Ginormica. It holds itself up alright in the end, however.

Overall, “Monsters vs. Aliens” gets seven out of ten stars, for some good laughs, a great cast, and terrific special effects, but little in the way of a good story and any form of character development. I would hope for a sequel, but at the same time, I’m not sure I trust DreamWorks to make a good movie twice in a row. It is worth packing up the kids and checking out this amusing bit of eye candy.