Tag Aliens

Alien Romulus is the latest in the Alien franchise, this time returning to the survival horror roots that launched it!

20th Century Studios has returned to the roots of the Alien franchise with Alien Romulus, featuring the likeness of Ian Holm, who played Ash in the original film. With the exception of the original film, I have always felt that the franchise was less horror and more sci-fi action film. I have literally seen every seen every Alien film in the franchise. I’ve virtually enjoyed them all, even the Aliens Vs Predator films. Romulus truly is the return to its roots.

Taking place about twenty years after the original, Weyland-Yutani is up to their usual shenanigans and have been searching for the organism that was responsible for nearly killing the entire crew of the Nostromo. As they usually are, they were successful and began experimenting on the creature, but not before it woke up and killed a bunch of the crew. On the nearby mining planet, a group of teens learn about the space station and believe it has been decommissioned. They decide to raid it for supplies to allow them to travel to a planet that is not under the control of the company. As expected this is when things go awry.

The cast was beyond fantastic, especially the two leads that played Andy and Rain, Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson. Set designs, costumes and effects were perfect but were outshined by the brilliant use of lighting and ambient sounds to REALLY set the tone for the film. Overall this is the second best film in the franchise and that’s because you just can’t beat the original, especially on that first watch.

James Cameron and his films are known for their eyepopping scenes and massive stories. Five of them just released with updated versions in 4k!

James Cameron has been one of the biggest names in the film industry for as long as I can remember and one of my favorites. He has been responsible for some of the greatest films. For the month of December five of his best films have updated releases. The Abyss, Aliens and True Lies will be available in 4K Ultra UHD for the first time ever on December 12 at digital retailers and on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc March 12, 2024. Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water Collector’s Editions will also be available at digital retailers December 12 and on Blu-ray December 19.

True Lies

This was one of my first R rated films I saw and became a staple in our household for a solid decade at least. Still holds and just as fun but now it looks exponentially better on my tv.

Avatar Collector’s Edition

Avatar remains Cameron’s greatest achievement. The story, message, visuals, everything. Just absolutely perfect but now with two more versions of the film and nearly a dozen hours of bonus content. Let’s just say, it’s a massive amount of content that may rival the Lord of the Rings trilogy one day.

Avatar The Way of Water Collector’s Edition

Seems too soon to release a Collector’s Edition but the film remains a fantastic cinematic experience with 8 additional hours of material.

Aliens

One of the best Alien films to date, expanding more on the lore and probably any other film did aside from the original. Fantastic film made even better with the improved graphics.

The Abyss

The first time I saw this film it already looked a bit dated or the quality of our VHS tape was not great. This was the first film that really showed us how alien our own world could be and seeing it again in 4k really improved the experience.

Woe to the demon that tries to drink from the cup of both humans and demons too! Witness the warnings of the book of Mirka Andolfo’s Mercy, chapter 5, verses 1-32!

This is the gospel according to Mirka Andolfo, who both wrote and illustrated this tome. (Controlling much?)

The official plot:

“Lady Hellaine’s elaborate plan takes shape, but the dark heroine…has not yet dealt with the consequences of her actions and with the hazy memories that more and more often emerge from her conscience. Is it really possible that the only answer for all her troubles is…love?”

Image Comics

Elaborate plan? First I’ve heard of it…and there’s only one issue left. This actually felt a lot more like a hastily drafted back-up plan. I suppose I may have missed the original plan, but how good can the book be if that’s the case? As for the memories and emotions…well that’s what you get when you take over the body of a human! All the alien/demon possessors know that you damned rookie!

My Impressions:

• What works: It’s vaguely reminiscent of The Thing.
• What doesn’t work: The characters. The story just doesn’t do a good job building them up enough for the reader to care about any of them. If I can’t remember their names from one month to the next…your book is in trouble.
• But how did it look?: It tires hard and uses all the tricks. Colored speech bubbles, blurs for motion, tinted panels for flashbacks…it even tries to be risque with a post coital page.

Notable Appearances/Events:

• Lady Hellaine (alien/demon wearing someone else’s body)
• Mr. Goodwill (another alien/demon thing)
• The little girl that thinks Lady Hellaine is her mother (or maybe Hellaine’s wearing her mother?)
• No one else appears to be remotely important…and they all sort of blend together.

Bottom Line: 2 Stars!

Save your money. Better yet, go buy Batman: Three Jokers. Mercy started out quite promising, talking about the Woodsburgh Devil and mysterious killings. Lady Hellaine shows up and turns the town on it’s side, along with the tease that she’s not exactly human. It held tight until about issue 3 when it just seemed to unravel into unrelated plot lines that couldn’t hold my interest. What a wasted opportunity! Mirka Andolfo shouldn’t have been so keen to put her name all over this comic…because now I know to avoid her work.