Alien
Saturday, June 6, 2009 at 4:18PM 94. Watch all of the films on AFI’s “10 Top 10“ list. (38/100)
I had some free time today after proctoring an exam at work, preparing a side dish for a barbeque tonight, and actually going to the barbeque (and the hubby was working) so I decided to watch another film I had saved on the Tivo: Alien.
I was a bit worried about watching this since, while it's classified as science fiction, it's also classified as horror. However, I have to say, I did not really enjoy this movie nor was I scared by it. It seems to me that a lot of the fear has to do with scenes occurring in the dark and the alien being really ugly - oh, and it pops out at people really unexpectedly. Ugly + popping out unexpectedly = scary.
However, this film is really part of pop culture and film lore by now, so I already knew about the alien out of the gut (thank you Spaceballs) and about how ugly the alien is (thank you every "greatest sci-fi films" clip show). I found the first hour of the film to be dreadfully slow and boring (basically up until the "alien pops out of the gut" part). The design of the computers was really amusing, though. Did they really think we'd always have black screens with green DOS script? I guess Bill Gates really was/is a visionary. And the nearly-naked, nipples showing through the skimpy tank top Sigourney Weaver scene near the end was just annoying. What's more cliche than a girl or woman in her underwear running away from something scary? She does kick ass, though, so there's something to be said for that. All in all, I was disappointed in this film and don't see why there was enough interest to make sequels.
101 in 1001, movies in movies 
Reader Comments (2)
To be fair, when watching movies from 20 years ago you really have to get into the proper film mindset. 80s films have a specific feel and pace, generally speaking, and you sort of have to acknowledge that as a film-watcher.
But it is somewhat of a slow film. Aliens (or Alien II) is really a more entertaining film, because the pace is more even and there is a lot more action. That might be more up your alley.
In general, I don't like action films though so I wouldn't have high hopes for Aliens. It wasn't so much that there wasn't action, but more so that the pacing was supremely slow. Pacing can be slow and still interesting (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) or it can be slow and dreadfully boring b/c nothing is happening. That's how I felt with this one.