Recent Viewing Part IV

Aliens

I think I'll stop here and revisit Prometheus instead. I only remember fragments of Alien III and IV. I do remember that they dispose of the girl Newt in III and that that pissed me off. After all the "lost and found daughter" story ark was the whole point of Aliens. The first two films are every bit as good as I remembered them to be.

Unwise. The third is a masterpiece and David Fincher's best film (in its extended cut, in particular). The fourth is good for what it is -- a burlesque Jeunet film (with some pretty intense moments).

There's a lot to agree to here.

Alien & Aliens are the heart of the story; without a doubt the two best movies in the franchise.

I consider everything that came after as "fan"stories that somehow got lucky to end up as movies, especially the Alien vs. Predator stuff. Some of them had brilliant ideas, characters, or settings; most were beautifully fcreated and filmed, but I still consider all of them non-canon in my head, just because they were so different, surreal, or downright wrong about how to handle everything.

Yeah, I can get with that.
Perfect description, Ralph.

Going into detail...

Alien³ is a damn well done exercise in bleakness in every department. Including what happens if you let too many cooks into the kitchen with each of them thinking they are the boss.

Alien Resurrection has a lot of things going for it. The megacreepy Ripley mutations in the lab winning 1st place.

Alien vs Predator is an amusement park ride. Lots of fun while you're on it. Giggling when you leave it.
Forgotten minutes later.

Aliens vs Predator is one of a handful of films I actually detest on almost every level. You know how easy I am when it comes to movies. This one didn't do a single thing for me. The score is the best thing to come out of it.

Prometheus.
Well. Can I wait on my judgement until I've seen its sequels? ^^

Could someone please rank Alien: Isolation for me? I hear it's the best Alien game ever. I still have to try it out.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Took us a year and a couple of days, but we finally saw it. A good first hour and a half, and an honest to god boring final half hour. Made me think, is this really the film everybody was raving about? Okay, Fin and Rey were good. They had some on screen chemistry. It was even funny there was more chemistry between Rey and Han Solo than Solo and Leia, but then again I felt the original characters weren't propperly used. I missed the fighting between Solo and Leia, it was like they were dosed by some kind of drugs, so lame they were together. And don't get me started on the finale. While the first flight with the Millennium Falcon was so much fun, where was that fun at the end? A boring villain, a dramatic twist that didn't deliver (thanks to the boring acting at that moment) and a final lightsaber fight that was freaking dull.

People might hate The Phantom Menace, but at least that film was fun. That film delivered a finale worth of the name Star Wars. This one here was so dull. Perhaps understandable considering it had one truly dull villain. This supposedly invincible character couldn't even win against a couple of youngsters who (at that point) never held a lightsaber before.

It gets its rating for its first part, and BB-8s fun R2D2 robot charm. Hell, BB-8 had even better character development than Kylo Ren.

7 out of 10, battling alongside Attack of the Clones for weakest Star Wars movie.

I hated things of it. Things that kept it from being one of the best. The reason i'm so disappointed is because its far weaker than I imagined it would be. For me an ending can make or break a film. This is one that broke a great rating. So it got a good rating instead.

At least you recognise that Attack of the Clones is the worst Star Wars movie, even if I suspect you still like it. Weirdo.

Hey Thomas, we are in total sync here!

I have perused your list, and have come to the inescapable conclusion that I do completely agree with you that it is indeed a list.

Truth

I enjoy films like this and I enjoyed this one, about a scandal that brought down a long-serving US news anchor. It felt like a very one-sided view but still, slickly done. It could have been much better - there's one line in it about why President Bush (the second) might have undue influence over the reporting of a major US tv network given various relationships - and that film would be a great one, but I guess no studio would be brave enough to do it.

Rogue One

I thought this was very well done. It gives me hope that they're not just going to churn stuff out - you could tell a lot of love and care went into it.

Thank you. I'd probably agree with your assessment.

You're very welcome.
I DO try and accentuate the positive wherever I find it.
However minute.

RV: Peaky Blinders - season 3

The ongoing -and mostly fictionalised- account of the 1920s Birmingham gangster family.
This is where the Shelby gang finally and quite possibly irrevocably bite off more than they can chew when they actually get entangled in international politics....and start to find out who the real global players are.

Again very violent -sometimes disturbingly so- with a host of incredibly unlikable characters.
But the scripts -and dialogues- are just getting better and better, and the photography is nothing short of stunning.

I read the series has already been prolonged for two more seasons at least.
As this series ends on a major cliffhanger, the only downside is having to wait for another year before being able to sink my teeth into this again.