365 movies in 2023: #363 – Aliens

AI image from the prompt “Aliens.”

I plan to watch 365 movies this year because it’s good to have pointless goals. And even better than them simply being pointless, are goals with stipulations. At least two movies a week should be something I’ve never seen before and it doesn’t have to be “one movie per day” as long as I hit 365.

THE MOVIE: Aliens

Seen it before? Yes. Many, many times on cable and now own the DVD for a semi-regular revisit.

Thoughts: Alien is a great movie. There is no debate there. But Aliens is better. James Cameron-ed the hell out of the original movie’s classic xenomorph threat and amped up the action to 11. Instead of one alien terrorizing a ship and picking off the crew one-by-one, we get an entire colony of aliens shredding a battalion of space marines (hoo rah-ahhhhhhh!) And it is as amazing as that sounds. Cameron thankfully brings his good luck charm Bill Paxton to the show. His Private Hudson steals every scene and he has the best freak out turned hero’s standoff ever. Sigourney Weaver levels Ripley up and goes full mama bear by strapping like four weapons together before descending into the bowels of the alien hive to confront the queen face to face to rescue Newt (“They mostly come out at night. Mostly.” Is a great line of knowing dread.) Later she straps herself into the mecha-skeleton loader and takes on the queen in hand-to-hand (to snapping jaw and sword tail) combat. Paul Reiser leaves behind his comedic persona for corporate sleaze and gives his best performance to date. I appreciate the twist on the android character’s trustworthiness with Bishop – a trope they play with until the last possible minute. Ripley’s final warning the the queen is the stuff of movie history (“Get away from her, you bitch!”), and I still remember the joy of hearing her hiss that the first time. No notes on this one.