Cold space, soulless corporations and biomechanical nightmares.
[CAREFUL WITH SPOILERS!]
ALIEN is a 46-years-old transmedia franchise, spanning a gigantic number of films, shorts, books, graphic novels, tours, video games, goodies, and now a TV series that just launched last week, Alien: Earthe.
It all starts with an unique masterpiece: the movie Alien, released in 1979. Born from improbable encounters and extreme passion, the movie was directed by Ridley Scott from a Dan O'Bannon story reworked by Ronald Shusett, David Giler and Walter Hill, designed by a dream team of artists of international magnitude - amongst them Ron Cobb, Jean "Moebius" Giraud and, last but not least, the Swiss painter and sculptor Hans Ruedi Giger -, and inhabited by a stellar cast of actresses and actors of Shakespearian formation, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto and the star of the show, Sigourney Weaver. Additionally, the artist Bolaji Badejo wore the costume of the title creature.
The result was STELLAR. Alien is fantastic, still efficient after so many years, after all of its codes, all of its language spread and contaminated pop culture. Excellent structure, fantastic soundtrack, impeccable art direction, and a disgusting, dirty look that will haunt people's minds until the end of times.
It was only the beginning of the adventure, though...
What is your experience with Alien? Do you want to see more of it? Is Alien: Isolation the best horror game of all times? What do you think about the Alien books by the great nonbinary writer Alex White? Did you like Prometheus? What about Alien: Romulus? Did you start watching Alien: Earth?
Read Alabaster here: https://mspfa.com/?s=236
I've seen the first 2 in the wrong order, played 2 hours of Isolation before i got too scared, and picked up a bunch of the ttrpg.
The ttrpg is pretty cool and a new edition is coming out in a couple months.
If two girls were on the moon how long would it take for them to kiss?
https://www.twitch.tv/arcsharkdx
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the tabletop roleplaying game!
The TTRPG is an incredible work, vastly and logically expanding on the world of the franchise, and full of mechanics guaranteed to make all of your games with friends go WRONG. Amazing!
Read Alabaster here: https://mspfa.com/?s=236
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.
