Aliens

Year of Release:  1986

Director:  James Cameron

Screenplay:  James Cameron, from a story by James Cameron, David Giler and Walter Hill

Starring:  Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein

Running Time:  137 minutes (theatrical cut); 157 minutes (director's cut)

Genre:  Science-fiction, action, horror

Following the events of Alien (1979), Ripley (Weaver) is found in suspended animation in an escape pod.  Recuperating on a space station orbiting Earth, she learns that she has been drifting through space in stasis for 57 years.   Traumatised by her experiences, her situation is only made worse by the fact that no-one believes her story.  It turns out that the planet where the Alien was found, Planet LV-426, has been home to a human colony for the past twenty years.  That is until Earth loses contact with the LV-426 colony, and Ripley is persuaded to join a platoon of Colonial Marines on a mission to investigate.  

Aliens is one of the great sequels in film history.  While Alien is a horror film in space, Aliens takes a completely different approach and is a war film in space, in fact writer/director James Cameron described it as being a Vietnam film in space, with it's depiction of a technologically superior invading force being repelled by an enemy which they have completely underestimated.  The film takes it's time building up the characters and suspense, but when the Aliens do appear in all their slimy, toothy, insectoid glory the film immediately kicks into high gear and doesn't let up until the end credits roll.  The Aliens are a largely unseen enemy, usually attacking en masse or hidden in shadow, or moving so fast that you can barely get a good look at them, this was partly practical because the production couldn't get many Alien costumes.  The action scenes are well staged and exciting, and the special effects still hold up today, with the Alien Nest, where their luckless victims are gruesomely cocooned to be impregnated by the facehuggers, memorable and disturbing.  The lengthy set up means that we get to spend time with the characters, they are not just there to be eaten by the monsters.  There is a theme of motherhood in the movie, Ripley is a mother, and there is a scene which is in the extended director's cut, but not in the theatrical cut,  where she is informed that he daughter had died during her absence.  The sole survivor of the colony is a young girl called Newt (played by Carrie Henn) and she becomes a surrogate daughter to Ripley.  In the film's climax however, Ripley has to battle the vast Alien Queen, which lays the Alien eggs.  It's the battle between two mothers: one seeking to protect her daughter, the other seeking vengeance for her slaughtered children.  The heart of the film really belongs to Newt and Ripley, the scenes between them have real emotional heft, and the male characters with a couple of notable exceptions, by and large take a back seat.  Sigourney Weaver gives one of her best performances as Ripley, who is one of the great characters in action movies, tough, compassionate and ruthlessly practical where necessary

The film continues and expands the anti-corporate theme of the original, with the treacherous weasel Carter Burke (played by Paul Reiser), an oily space yuppie and Eighties Guy par excellance who unfortunately feels all too contemporary, whose actions lead Ripley to contemplate whether the humans are any better than the Aliens.  Also in the supporting cast is Michael Biehn as likeable Marine Hicks, and provides the closest thing that the film has to a love interest for Ripley; Lance Henriksen as the soft spoken but slightly sinister android (although "artificial person" is the preferred term) Bishop; and Bill Paxton as Hudson, the most arrogant of the Marines, but the one who quickly falls apart.  

The 1980s were the era of flamboyant, excessive action spectacles, where living action figures routinely blasted enough firepower to wipe out a small country, as well as throwing up endless sequels to anything even slightly popular (which, to be fair, is something that for better or worse shows no sign of ever going away).  Aliens is a high point, expanding and developing the story of it's predecessor, as well as taking it in a completely new direction, igniting the screen with spectacular carnage, and nightmarish visions, but with added intelligence and heart, putting it ahead of it's contemporaries.  The best of the Alien franchise, and one of the highpoint of action cinema.

Sigourney Weaver hunts Aliens

      

Alien

Year of Release: 1979

Director:  Ridley Scott

Screenplay:  Dan O'Bannon, story by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett

Starring:  Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Yaphet Kotto, John Hurt, Harry Dean Stanton, Ian Holm

Running Time:  117 minutes

Genre:  Science-fiction, horror

Sometime in the future, commercial space tug Nostromo is returning to Earth, with it's seven person crew in suspended animation.  Receiving a signal from an unexplored planet, the ship's computer revives the crew to investigate.  Reluctantly, they set down on the planet and three of the crew set out to explore, and discover a bizarre alien spaceship, where the Nostromo picks up a particularly unpleasant hitchhiker.

This classic blend of horror and science-fiction is one of the classic suspense films.  Even after all this time, the special effects and production values stand up surprisingly well, even where it looks dated, such as the computer readouts, it still feels like an authentic depiction of a tatty, ragged, old banger of a spaceship where pieces haven't been replaced for years because there wasn't the money or no-one could be bothered.  It's a future which looks authentic and lived in, a million miles from the polished spotless spacecraft and heroic crews of Star Trek (1966-1969), the Nostromo crew really couldn't care less about exploring strange new worlds or seeking out new life and new civilisations.  They don't want to boldly go anywhere, except home to get paid.  They are not conventionally glamorous and the dialogue is deliberately banal.  It makes the alien sequences stand out all the more.  The alien spacecraft, designed by Swiss surrealist artist H. R. Giger,  is genuinely striking with it's mix of the organic and mechanical, and the Alien itself (played by dancer Bolaji Badejo) with it's biomechanical look and weirdly sexual elements manages to be both horrific and beautiful at the same time.  It's effect is heightened by the fact that the creature is kept off screen for most of the film and even when it appears, it's so shadowy that the details are barely glimpsed, making the monster almost impressionistic.  The film moves slowly and deliberately accruing the details of the world of the Nostromo, making the horror scenes such as John Hurt's notorious "chestburster" sequence all the more jolting.  Even more frightening than the Alien itself is the concept that, introduced in this film, runs through the franchise,  of the ruthless "Company" that want to keep the creature alive to use as a biological weapon, at the expense of all other considerations.   The fact is that the characters feel real, and you do sympathise with them as the film goes on.  It needs to be seen on the biggest screen and in the best quality possible, because a lot of the suspense depends on the way the image is composed, the cramped claustrophobic corridors, or the cavernous chambers where the threat could be lurking anywhere.  This is a very primal film, it's like a haunted house where you can't escape from.  I've seen this film many times, and I still find it exciting and suspenseful.  It's sequel Aliens (1986) is also a masterpiece, and Alien 3 (1992) is deeply flawed but has it's moments, Alien Resurrection (1997) isn't very good but it's quite fun.  The less said about the others the better.  Ridley Scott returned to the franchise with two sort-of prequels Prometheus (2012) and Alien Covenant (2017) which create this complex backstory which while interesting enough in it's own right, detracts from the mystery and unexplained fear of Alien.  In it's own right, this is a genuinely suspenseful science-fiction thriller which works it's dark magic time after time.

Sigourney Weaver and Alien
   

Ghostbusters

Year of Release:  1984
Director:  Ivan Reitman
Screenplay:  Harold Ramis and Dan Ackroyd
Starring:  Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Harold Ramis, Annie Potts, Ernie Hudson, William Atherton
Running Time:  107 minutes   
Genre:  Comedy, fantasy, horror

Scientists Peter Venkman (Murray), Ray Stantz (Ackroyd) and Egon Spengler (Ramis) are fired from their position at Columbia University, due to their dubious research and conclusions.  The trio decide to go into business for themselves as professional ghost-catchers.  Initially dismissed largely as a joke, the Ghostbusters soon find themselves fighting to save the world.

This hugely successful blend of comedy, fantasy and supernatural horror is one of the most beloved film of the 1980s.  It's funny throughout, with some still enjoyable, albeit dated, special effects.  It's also just scary enough to avoid upsetting children.  Much of the humour depends on the juxtaposing the cynical, workaday realities of 1980s New York, with the supernatural.  Bill Murray dominates the film with his delightfully deadpan performance as the slightly disreputable, cynical, wisecracking Venkman, although he gets sterling support from the rest of the cast, particularly William Atherton as the film's main human antagonist, an oily EPA representative.  The film was followed by a sequel in 1989, several animated TV series (most notably The Real Ghostbusters (1986-1991)), and a remake in 2016.   

Dan Ackroyd, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis in Ghostbusters.

Paul

Year: 2011
Director: Greg Mottola
Screenplay: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Jane Lynch, Sigourney Weaver, Blythe Danner
Running Time: 104 minutes
Genre: Comedy, science-fiction

Summary: Two British science-fiction fans, aspiring artist Graeme Willy (Pegg) and unsuccessful author Clive Gollings (Frost), visit the San Diego Comic-Con and go on a road trip to visit famous UFO crash sites. On their way they encounter foul-mouthed alien, Paul (voiced by Rogen), who crash-landed on Earth in 1947 and is currently on the run from the US Government. Graeme and Clive decide to help Paul, and so they set off across the US, along with devoutly religious Ruth (Wiig), who they are forced to take with them when she sees Paul. However, they are pursued by a trio of "Men in Black" type Government agents, headed by Agent Lorenzo Zoyle (Bateman), and controlled by the mysterious 'Big Guy' (Weaver). As well as Ruth's angry, shotgun-toting father (John Carroll Lynch).

Opinions: Actors and writers Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have previously worked together on the television series Spaced (1999-2001) and on the films Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). This film has a slightly different flavour to their previous collaborations due to them working without their regular collaborator, writer and director Edgar Wright. It is slightly more commercial and sweet-natured then their previous work. Very few writers/actors have such a strong connection with their audience as Pegg and Frost. They portray the "nerd" world with genuine affection, because they are part of that world themselves. Fans of science-fiction movies and comics will love the multiple references to movies, TV shows, books and comics, in particular Steven Spielberg movies such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).
The film is aimed squarely at the kind of audience who know about Comic-Con, and are avid viewers of science-fiction movies and TV shows, but there is enough genuinely funny knockabout humour to appeal to non-fans. The humour in the film is very broad and bad-taste, but it's also leavened with a lot of sweetness. The friendship between Nick Frost and Simon Pegg provides a lot of the film's charm, Seth Rogen has a lot of the film's best lines as the wise-cracking alien, and Kristen Wiig is engaging as the repressed fundamentalist who finds herself liberated through her travels with Paul and co.
The film is a must-see for science-fiction fans, but there is also enough to appeal to general comedy fans as well. For an evening's entertainment it is definitely recommended.


Nick Frost and Simon Pegg have a close encounter in Paul