Alien

Rating:
Summary: The NEW Standard In Sci-fi Horror
Review: Seen in a theater, the film was bought as a video, then bought anew in letterbox. Ridley Scott uses his character acters well, while spending bigger bucks on the story and set designs. As in Jaws, you never see the beast that well -- ever! Their ship soon becomes claustrophobic with the few clues coming from "Jonesy" (THIRD officer) Ellen Ripley's cat. Ripley ends up as the last crewman alive to combat this Alien. The "Professional" reviews you show tell me more about the reviewers likes and dislikes, than anything about the film itself! I think it is a stunner!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent DVD
Review: This review is of Alien - 20th Anniversary Edition, which seems to have all the same doo-dahs as this version.

Audio: Excellent, Dolby 5.1

Video: Excellent

Extras: Commentary by Ridley Scott, Deleted Scenes, Photo/Art Gallery, Story boards, Isolated Score, Alternate Score, Trailers, Screensaver, Web Links, Dolby Surround, French, English and Spanish subtitles

Monster hatches out of John Hurt and eats crew in space, where "no one can hear you scream." The commentary is very interesting (though Scott is a little stilted and you feel like he's holding back), as are the deleted scenes. This is an excellent DVD.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent effort in every respect.
Review: The first,and by far,the best in the series. Outstanding scenes of tension,terror,anxiety,and chlostrophobic madness,combined with a superb,dark and atmospheric setting,make this hard to forget. The picture quality on this DVD is very good,showing high levels of detail,in particular,the scenes in which 3 crew members discover an alien craft,and decide to go inside.

Rating:
Summary: Grrreat movie + Grrreat DVD
Review: Sharp picture quality throughout. Great commentary by Ridley Scott! He explains some of his influences in making the movie and some of the tricks they used for special effects. Did you know they used oysters for the under-belly of the face-hugger? How about cow stomachs for the insides of the alien's eggs? The DVD includes deleted scenes, but you have to play them within a menu separate from the film. I like the deleted scene of the little catfight between Ripley and Lambert. The booklet inside has mini-bios on the cast. The DVD comes in a sturdy plastic snap-case.

Rating:
Summary: This one started it all!
Review: Sigourney Weaver is my personal female heroine! Without the character of Ripley women would only have Linda Hamilton's Terminator and Mrs. Peel. With the appearance of Ripley, women could be tough, thinking yet still feminine action heros! Finally a woman who does not trip when the monster chases after her! Three cheers to Ridley Scott who has always treated women with respect. Please see Gladiator and Hannibal if you think I'm kidding!

Let's hear it for Jones the cat!

Rating:
Summary: In space, no one can hear you scream.
Review: I think that is the best tag-line for a movie ever! "Alien" is visually stunning, no doubt, and at times very scary. The plot is familiar, of course, but the characters make up for it. This movie made Sigourney Weaver a star, playing one of the great screen characters Ellen Ripley. My favorite character in this movie is Parker, who has the best lines. The pacing is slow, to be sure, but it helps build up the tension and get you to care about the characters and their situations. The sometimes slow pacing is the one thing I don't like about this movie. Not that I need action to keep my attention. I like suspense as well as action. I recommend this movie to sci-fi or Alien fans, if you don't mind the slow pacing that I mentioned. The sequel "Aliens" is even better and more fast-paced, and I'll tell you that I've been having dreams about it for weeks. By the way, I also want to tell you that the theatrical trailer for "Alien" from 1979 was scary, and my favorite scene in the movie is the baby-alien/stomach-bursting scene, which is a classic!

Rating:
Summary: Classic Creepy Movie. Period
Review: This was the very first DVD I bought when I got my new DVD player. The THX remastering is very well done and worth the price of the DVD alone. Ridley Scott's commentary is another great feature, as well as the deleted scenes. What I love about this movie is the mood and the atmosphere, it just permeates everything in the movie. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: No One Can Hear You Scream
Review: When I first saw Alien in 1979 it was a genuinely scary movie. There was an air of tension and a sense of foreboding that was palpable in the darkened theater. It's not scary the next time around, of course, but it's always enjoyable. It's only the second movie that I've ever paid admission price to see twice. Star Wars was the first. When Alien showed up on pay TV (the old ON-TV service) I saw it all six times they showed it. Later, I saw it again on cable TV premium channels. When it came out on videotape, I rented it and later bought a copy of it. I bought several illustrated books about it, too. So I like this movie!

I liked the sequel, Aliens, too. The crew of the Nostromo in the original were just average working Joe's, untrained and ill-equipped to deal with a hostile, alien creature, and they came to grief. In the sequel, the Marines were well-trained and well-equipped, and they still came to grief. Aliens was not as scary as the first film, but it was an action-packed roller-coaster ride. Alien 3 and 4 were also interesting, but my favorite remains Alien, which had the greatest tag-line of all time: In space, no one can hear you scream!

The plot was certainly not original, as has been noted by other critics. It bears some strong resemblance to It! The Terror from Beyond Space and Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires, to name just two. Some have called it a Jaws in outer space, too, so it isn't just the plot that makes Alien so watchable time and time again. It's the production values--the sets, props, lighting, editing, directing, music, and the special effects, so shocking at first, the cast and characters and the alien design, so copied in other films, the overall visual quality--that make this movie a classic of the genre.

But until I saw the 20th anniversary DVD version of Alien, I had never seen the whole movie! This DVD contains many deleted scenes and outtakes that make the plot more logical and consistent, as well as many other special features, such as a commentary by director Ridley Scott, storyboards, photos, trailers, etc. And even the menus have some really nice special effects! This is an outstanding DVD and it belongs in the collection of every Alien fan and every science-fiction/horror fan in general!

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece..
Review: I love this movie. It has my complete respect and admiration - especially now since I was able to see it on DVD with THX sound. First of all, the acting is great. Tom Skerrit as the ship's captain is superb. He is, quite simply, a *real* person. He adds a level of depth and humanity to the whole proceedings. Sigourney Weaver's acting turn is also tremendous. The dynamics between the crew are also something to behold. As a plot, it's simple enough. Perhaps it is too simple - just an alien killing the crew one by one. Yet the action is fast paced enough to get around this problem. Also it adds variation by bringing in the andriod subplot, which I found horribly, wonderfully disturbing! I think if they were able to add the cut embryo scene somewhere (perhaps drastically shortened it, without the corny part where Riply starts crying), then this would have added a final, nasty shock to the scenses. I think if Alien used this scene properly, it would have been seen as even more a masterpiece than it is today. What I like so much is that the movie actually succeeds in being disturbing, not only once or twice, but consistantly, within a general aura of unease/tension. I did not really find Aliens disturbing for a moment. (Though I found Bill Paxton's freaking-out character hilarious, he was wonderful!!). The visuals in this movie are awesome, particularly when the budget is considered (it was constrained). None of the Alien movies, despite having much higher budgets, were able to suprass the visuals of Alien. Sometimes they're a bit clunky, like when the ship lands, etc. But generally they are incredible. Another thing I really liked about Alien was the score. I think Jerry Goldsmith did a far better job than James Horner. I have the feeling that Alien is a piece of art, and Aliens is often a shallow crowd-pleaser. As an example, do you think Cameron would have had the nerve or creative insight to do THAT opening we see in Alien?

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Blend of Sci-Fi and Horror
Review: A futuristic cargo ship accidentally brings aboard an unlikely and unwanted passenger. Excellent visual designs - one of the best in the history of cinema, and an appropriately somber, but yet spooky musical score by Jerry Goldsmith ("Planet of the Apes", "Chinatown", "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"). An excellent blend of sci-fi and horror with Sigourney Weaver turning in a star making performance. Features the classic - and the overly spoofed - scene of a baby alien bursting out through a crewman's chest