My plan to marathon all the movies in one go was foiled by the realities of timing, and I had to catch up on Alien: Earth, but I have finally seen all of the Alien franchise(other than books, comics, games, and the other things that actually make up the majority of the media in the franchise). I have gathered the information necessary to say: it is pretty good.

I apologize in advance, but the first two movies were my favorite. Alien is kind of a perfect movie. It has some of the best tension I've ever seen in a film, and the themes are really interesting and well delivered without feeling like it's beating you over the head. Also some incredible set design and effects. I like Aliens a lot because it manages to also be great in a completely different way, and not just because it switches the genre from horror to action. James Cameron has a very clear style that comes through to make a really entertaining movie. I kind of feel like he didn't even really understand the first one thematically at all, taking a film drenched in themes of sexual violence and strong female character's and making the sequel about how motherhood is good, but it's just so well made that it gets away with it.

I didn't really care for the third or fourth, but I do respect both of them for also being completely different than their predecessors. I actually like the decision to open Alien^3 by [SPOILER FOR ALIEN^3] killing of the supporting cast of Aliens and doing immediately doing an autopsy on the 10 year old girl just to make it clear what the movie is going for, but it really starts to drag and I don't like a lot of the choices they made with Ripley. Alien Resurrection was my least favorite even though it really had a lot going for it. I like the performances, I like the direction, and I like the all of the weird directions it goes. But I just can't stand Joss Whedon's writing.

I don't have much to say about the AVP movies. The first one was fun, the second one was boring and way too dark.

I thought both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant were both pretty good. I liked all the weird genetic engineering sci-fi stuff and the philosophical angle it took(even if the ideas do sometimes seem a little hollow). Micheal Fassbender was also fantastic in both.

I have mixed feelings on Romulus. It started out great, but it took a pretty noticeable dip in quality for me. Even aside from the obvious controversial element, it just started to become too clear that the movie was basically just the previous Alien movies shoved into a blender with very few original ideas. That said, a lot of the effects were great and David Jonsson was really good as Andy.

Obviously Alien: Earth is still releasing, but so far I like that it really feels like a new take on the franchise again. I was worried going into it that they would overuse the Xenomorph, but so far that has very much not been the case. I'm really excited to see how it continues.