James has written 192 reviews for films during 2024.
1979
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Rewatching this movie from Ash's perspective is so unbelievably cool. Seeing the chessmaster observe his pawns as they venture out to find the eggs, catching all his intense glances at Kane during the dinner scene, hearing every last manipulative tactic to keep the alien alive, all of which sound reasonable enough and seem to be in the best interests of everyone. Between his single-minded focus, callous disregard for human life, and iration for the creature, it truly feels like he was born to finish what David started.
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1992
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
I knew all about the Newt and Hicks thing that happens in this movie, which is precisely why I decided that it probably wasn't for me and I should just let my fondness for the original duology stand untarnished. Ultimately however, I figured "What's the harm in taking a peek at what the rest of this series has to offer?" the third film can't possibly be as bad as everyone says, right?
Well...
I figured it would be reductive to…
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2017
And the award for most predictable movie twist goes to...
As a certified Prometheus (2012) enjoyer, I felt as if this one was too cowardly to follow through on its predecessor's general tone and ideas in a lot of ways. The sole vast improvement this one offers over the previous film is David; an already great character who in this film becomes far and away the greatest non-Xenomorph antagonist to ever grace the series. Fassbender brings such fantastical and disturbing…
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1997
One of the dumbest franchise sequels I've ever seen in my life, completely betraying the tone of the original films. I had a fucking blast with it.
It really helps that Alien 3 single-handedly destroyed my investment in anything post-Aliens that happens in this universe. So sure, why not? Why shouldn't every person 200 years in the future act like a ridiculous cartoon character? Why shouldn't a Ripley clone be ballin? At this point all I really wanted was something…
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2024
Stupidly well directed and tense for what is ultimately a pretty standard legacy sequel. Multiple sequences had me gripped and temporarily paralyzed with fear (shout out to the anti-gravity acid scene for being particularly unique) before I ed "Oh yeah, I don't need to speculate about anyone's survival since I've seen the original Alien." It feels like a crime to waste Fede Álvarez, Cailee Spaeny, and David Jonsson's immense talents on something so predictable and unambitious, but I'd be lying…
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1986
Sacrilege to say, I think I may slightly prefer this over the original Alien. I'm undoubtedly a sucker for emotional cores, which this movie provides in spades, while also being arguably Ripley's most compelling outing as a protagonist. (Despite my disdain for it, Alien 3 is a contender for that honor, though I think the equal measure of Ripley grappling with PTSD and stepping into a surrogate mother role for Newt puts her role in this movie over the top.)…
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2023
Compelling social satire plotline forced to fight for screentime with entirely disconnected, rather uninteresting family drama. Many of the ideas in the main plot come out half-baked and unexplored as a result (the musical A Strange Loop covers a lot of similar ground in a more engaging way imo). Still, strong Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown performances, and genuinely very funny. The RBG posters in the publisher lady's office was a great bit
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2023
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Never seen a prosecutor whip out a book report before
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