Bus Stop

 

Bus Stop 1956

• Director: Joshua Logan
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Arthur O’Connell, Betty Field, Eileen Heckart, Robert Bray, Hope Lange
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:

o   Marilyn Monroe – The Misfits, Some Like It Hot, All about Eve, The Asphalt Jungle

o   Don Murray – Peggy Sue Got Married, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Happy Birthday Wanda June

o   Arthur O’Connell – The Poseidon Adventure, countless TV series

o   Eileen Heckart – First Wives’ Club, Mary Tyler Moore, The Fugitive

o   Robert Bray – various TV series

o   Hope Lange – The Ghost and Mrs Muir

• Why? A classic
• Seen: 21 February 2021.

       Amazingly, I haven’t seen this. Indeed, few Monroe films at all.

       Bo (Murray) is a young rodeo star who heads to Phoenix to win rodeos and if his mentor Virg (O’Connell) has his way, a girl. But Bo won’t settle for anything less than an angel. Even if he has to use force. He’s spoiled, obnoxious and a stupid hick.

       Enter Cherie (Monroe), an Ozark chanteuse on her way to Hollywood, working her way in rural dumps, entertaining raunchy cowboys. She longs for respect.

       Bo catches sight of her and says, ‘That’s my angel.’

       This has got to be the worst film I’ve seen since Braveheart. It has a couple of saving graces – Monroe has star quality (it’s too bad she almost never had the chance to use it in decent material) and the friendship and support between women is almost Shakespearean.

       It all depends on how it ends.

       Alas, the ending is dreadful. Monroe and the friendship aspect are worth a * each but the film itself

 

 0* of 5

 

Escape from Pretoria

 

Escape from Pretoria 2020

• Director: Ruben Fleischer
• Based on the book by Tim Jenkin
• Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Daniel Webber, Ian Hurt, Mark Leonard Winter
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:

o   Daniel Radcliffe – Imperium, Victor Frankenstein, What If?, The Woman in Black, Harry Potter x 8, December Boys, Extras, David Copperfield

o   Ian Hart – Tristram Shandy, Finding Neverland, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Born Romantic, Longitude, The Butcher Boy, Michael Collins, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain, Land and Freedom

o   Mark Leonard Winter – Top of the Lake

·       Why? Daniel Radcliffe

• Seen: 20 February 2021.

       Despite their privileged white upbringing in Apartheid South Africa, Tim (Radcliffe) and Steve (Webber) are involved in the ANC movement. They are caught spreading flyers and sentenced to ten years in Pretoria prison together with other political prisoners.

       Tim, Steve and fellow prisoner Leonard (Winter) are determined to escape though they’re told it’s impossible. They refuse to listen and spend months preparing. There are a lot of keys involved.

       It’s not your usual great escape thriller but more a slow and suspenseful film about clever carpentry, attention to the tiniest details and meticulous trial runs.

       If it became painfully exciting to watch as a film, imagine what they went through. It’s based on a true story, so we’ve got to believe it.

  5* of 5

 PS Those who gave it low ratings on IMDb seemed to either be defenders of the Apartheid system or objectors to the use of non-South African actors.

Alien Resurrection Update

 Alien Resurrection 1997 updated

• Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
• Films seen by this director: Un long Dimanche de fiancailles, Le fabuleux destin d’Amelie Pulian
• Based on Book: no
• Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Dominique Pinon, Ron Perlman
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor/actress in:
• Sigourney Weaver – Chappie, Paul, Snow Cake, Be Kind Rewind, Avatar, Holes, Galaxy Quest, Working Girl, Dave, Death and the Maiden, The Ice Storm, A Map of the World, Holes, Gorillas in the Mist, The Year of Living Dangerously, the other Alien films.
• Winona Ryder – Edward Scissorhands, Girl Interrupted, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Black Swan, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, A Scanner Darkly, The Darwin Awards, Looking for Richard, Little Women, Reality Bites, Night on Earth, Beetlejuice, Great Balls of Fire
• Dominique Pinon – My Old Lady, Un long dimanche de fiançailles, Le fabuleux destin d’Amelie Pulian
• Ron Perlman – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Pacific Rim, Happy, Texas, Romeo Is Bleeding
• Why bought: part of Alien box
• Seen: September 28, 2012 Now 20 February 2021

 

Maybe I was extra Friday evening tired, or four Alien movies in four weeks are too much of a good thing but this one didn’t hold up with the others.  The first half was confusing and it took too long to figure out who all these people were.  The gender jokes were unfunny to the point of being offensive. The womb and baby monster’s eyes were maudlin and silly. Once again breaking a hole in the window of the spaceship then hanging on tight is just plain sloppy film making.

With all that bellyaching out of my system there was a lot I liked about the film too. Sigourney Weaver’s cloned cynicism was just right (too bad she was weepy over the baby monster).  I’ll miss Ripley.

Winona Ryder is always good and she played her robot roll well. The cloning and crossbreeding of monsters and humans was truly creepy. The end, looking out over the ruins of Paris, was an effective way to bring the saga to an end.  The aliens have been destroyed but so has Earth more or less through unknown off-the-screen events.

And it was pretty exciting. So 2 ½ * of 5 anyway.

 

Update 20 February 2021: Well, I was kind to the film last time. I agree with myself to a certain point, but the good aspects didn’t really weigh that heavily. Hal asked if there was a rating lower than 0 to which I said, ‘It isn’t that bad.’ No, but it’s not that good either. So, this time a generous

 

2*

Johnny Suede

 Johnny Suede 1991

• Director: Tom DeCillo
• Seen by this director: When You’re Strange, Living in Oblivion
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Brad Pitt, Calvin Levels, Nick Cave, Alison Moir, Peter McRobbie, Tina Louise, Catherine Keener, Samuel L Jackson (just a few seconds so I won’t list him here. If you want to know his films look at my review of Pulp Fiction)
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Brad Pitt – Ad Astra, Once upon a Time in Hollywood, World War Z, The Tree of Life, Inglourious Basterds, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading, Babel, Troy, confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Friends, The Fight Club, Being John Malkovich, Meet Joe Black, Twelve Monkeys, Seven, True Romance, Thelma and Louise
• Calvin Levels – Ragtime, M*A*S*H
• Nick Cave – not in any other films
• Peter McRobbie – Brokeback Mountain, Palookaville
• Tina Louise – Gilligan’s Island
• Catherine Keeler – Enough Said, The Soloist, Genova, Into the Wild, Full Frontal, Being John Malkovich, Living in Oblivion
• Why? Brad Pitt
• Seen: 14 February 2021.

             It’s worth it just to see the young Brad Pitt in a foot-high pompadour.

       Johnny (Pitt) lives a slummy life and dreams of being a new Rick Nelson but he is plagued by poverty, love problems, lack of recognition and, frankly, lack of talent.

       It’s all parody and kitsch. It might be cool or it might be just plain dreadful, I can’t tell for sure. It is most certainly bizarre. It has the feel of a cult classic, but does it really fulfil the requirements? Again, I can’t tell for sure. It’s mostly just meanderingly odd.

       There’s no doubt though that Brad Pitt’s budding genius as a loser who doesn’t have a clue is already there.

       I think I’ll vote for cult classic.

 4* of 5

 

x+y

 

x + y 2014

• Director: Morgan Matthews
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Asa Butterfield, Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Rafe Spall, Jo Yang, Martin McCann, Jake Davies, Alex Lawther, Orion Lee, Alexa Davies, Edward Baker-Close
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Asa Butterfield – The Space between Us, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Ender’s Game, Hugo, Merlin, Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Son of Rambow
• Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water, The Hollow Crown, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Made in Dagenham, Never Let Me Go, An Education, Happy-Go-Lucky, Little Britain, Twenty Thousand Streets under the Sky, Vera Drake
• Eddie Marsan – Their Finest, River, Filth, The World’s End, Jack the Giant Slayer, Sherlock Holmes 1&2, Tyrannosaurus, Merlin, Heartless, Happy-Go-Lucky, V for Vendetta, Vera Drake, 21 Grams, Gangs of New York
• Rafe Spall – What If, The World’s End, I Give It a Year, The Life of Pi, Prometheus, Hot Fuzz, A Good Year, Shaun of the Dead
• Martin McCann – The Fall
• Jake Lawther – The Imitation Game
• Alexa Davies – Mamma Mia Here We Go Again, Absolutely Anything
• Orion Lee – The Last Jedi, Skyfall
• Why? The cast.
• Seen: 13 February 2021.      

       Nathan (Butterfield) is autistic which makes his childhood problematic. It’s made worse by an early tragedy. He’s a maths genius and as a teen-ager he meets up with Martin (Spall), a grouchy teacher with advancing multiple sclerosis. He trains Nathan for the International Maths Olympiad.

       Nathan’s mother Julie (Hawkins) has trouble coping with his autistic characteristics and her own loneliness. She’s hurt when Nathan heads off to Taiwan for a maths camp without so much as a good-bye, much less a hug.

       To Nathan’s horror he’s teamed up with a girl, Zhang Mei (Yang). But she teaches him a thing or two.

       It’s a sweet film about struggling with being a complete outsider on several levels, trying desperately to be a little normal, or even recognise what normal is.

       How did it end though? I’m not sure…

  4* of 5

 

Alien 3 updated

 

Alien 3 1992 - updated

• Director: David Fincher
• Seen by this director: Gone Girl, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Zodiac, Panic Room, Fight Club, many music videos
• Based on Book: no
• Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Paul McGann, Brian Glover, Ralph Brown, Danny Webb, Lance Henriksen, Pete Postlewaite, Phil Davis
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor/actress in:
• Sigourney Weaver – Chappie, Paul, Snow Cake, Be Kind Rewind, Avatar, Holes, Galaxy Quest, Working Girl, Dave, Death and the Maiden, The Ice Storm, A Map of the World, Holes, Gorillas in the Mist, The Year of Living Dangerously, the other Alien films.
• Charles S. Dutton – American Violet, Honeydripper, Secret Window, Homicide Life on the Street, Mississippi Masala
• Charles Dance – Victor Frankenstein, Woman in Gold, The Imitation Game, Merlin, Starter for Ten, Black and White, Gosford Park, Hilary and Jackie
• Paul McGann – Bletchley Circle, Our Mutual Friend, Withnail and I
• Brian Glover – Prince of Jutland, O Lucky Man, Kes
• Ralph Brown – Jack the Giant Slayer, The Kid, The Boat that Rocked, Star Wars, Amistad, Cold Lazarus, Karaoke, The Crying Game, Impromptu, Withnail and I, The Merry Wives of Windsor
• Danny Webb – Humans, Endeavour, Hustle, Valkyrie, Shackleton, Still Crazy, Henry V, Twelfth Night
• Lance Henriksen – Aliens
• Pete Postlethwaite – Brassed Off, The Constant Gardener, The Shipping News, Amistad, Romeo and Juliet, The Last Mohican, In the Name of the Father, Hamlet
• Phil Davis – Merlin, Case Histories, Brighton Rock, Another Year, Doctor Who, Notes on a Scandal, Bleak House, Rose and Maloney, Twenty Thousand Streets under the Sky, Vera Drake, White Teeth, Still Crazy, Photographing Fairies, Secrets and Lies, In the Name of the Father, Underworld, Quadrophenia
• Why bought: classic sci fi, recommended by friend ÖB.
• Seen: once – September 21, 2012. Updated 12 February 2021 

Cool. Almost more philosophical than the first one with lots of gender issues.  Ripley ends up on as maximum security planet with a couple of dozen real baddies – murderers, rapists and whatnot.  They don’t like having a woman in their macho, neo-Christian midst.  Does that bother her? Not Ripley.  She’s a toughie.

The religious aspect is quite interesting. It seems reasonable that these guys without hope would create hope for themselves by believing – recently starting to believe – in the apocalypse. The good guy Clemons (Dance) stands apart and observes this phenomenon as do others. It is not a religious movie. The message is that religion doesn’t help against aliens. It would be ridiculous if it did.

The gender thing works out pretty well too. Ripley manages fine except when being attacked by three thugs at once – she is saved by a forth sort-of hero but not in a damsel in distress way. And she ends up leading the fight against the aliens.

Which is in the second half after the rather contemplative first half and it becomes the mad running, chasing, flame-throwing battle of the first two films.  Confusing, as this kind of scene often is, but exciting enough. And in the end Ripley, in another interesting parallel to the Christian legend, sacrifices herself in a falling Christ-on-the-cross image to save humanity.

Maltin wrote that this was a same-old same-old film just repeating the first two. He must have slept through everything but the chase scenes. It’s better than the second and as good as the first and it gets

 

4* of 5.

Update: I agree with myself.

 

Zombieland

 

Zombieland 2009

• Director: Ruben Fleischer
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Amber Heard, Bill Murray
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jesse Eisenberg – Night Moves, The Squid and the Whale
• Woody Harrelson – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, The Glass Castle, The Hunger Games x 4, 2012, Battle in Seattle, No Country for Old Men, A Scanner Darkly, A Prairie Home Companion, North Country, EdTV, The Thin Red Line, White Men Can’t Jump
• Emma Stone – The Favourite, La-La Land, The Help
• Abigail Breslin – Ender’s Game, August Osage County, Little Miss Sunshine
• Amber Heard – The Rum Diary, North Country
• Bill Murray – Moonrise Kingdom, Darjeeling Ltd, Broken Flowers, Lost in Translation, The Royal Tenenbaums, Hamlet, Cradle Will Rock, Rushmore, Ed Wood, Groundhog Day, What about Bob?, Ghostbusters, Tootsie
• Why? I like zombie films and I remember liking this one.
• Seen: Once before. Now 7 February 2021.

             Welcome to the United States of Zombieland. A virus (Covid 20???????) has transformed everybody into bloodthirsty zombies. Well, almost everybody. Survivors include:

1. Columbus (Eisenberg): a nerdy, multi-phobic, virginal loser
2. Tallahassee (Harrelson): a macho, ass-kicking, gun-toting, Twinkie-loving zombie killer
3. Wichita (Stone): a sharp, gutsy, fiercely protective, hustler big sister
4. Little Rock (Breslin): a streetwise, fast-talking, amusement park loving, hustler little sister.

        Their paths cross and off they go.

       Yes, it’s bloody, gory, funny, absurd, scary. And kind of sweet.

 4* of 5

 

 

 

The Sound of Music

 

The Sound of Music 1965

• Director: Robert Wise
• Seen by this director: The Haunting of Hill House, West Side Story, I Want to Live
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Richard Haydn, Peggy Wood,
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Julie Andrews – Victor/Victoria, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hawaii, Torn Curtain, Mary Poppins
• Christopher Plummer – Knives Out, The Last Station, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Emotional Arithmetic, The Lake House, A Beautiful Mind, The Twelve Monkeys, Dolores Claiborne, Malcolm X, Star Trek the Undiscovered Country, Eyewitness, The Man Who Would Be King, Inside Daisy Clover
• Richard Haydn – Five Weeks in a Balloon, many series from the 60s
• Why? Need you ask?
• Seen: Many times. Now 6 February 2021 in memory of Christopher Plummer.      

       How is it possible that I haven’t yet written a review of this classic? It seems that the last time I saw it was before starting the blog. Now is a good moment to watch it again.

       I’m not even going to write a review. It’s just a film one must simply see and love - despite the moments of cloying sweetness, religious claptrap and hammy acting – again and again.

       It doesn’t really deserve 5 but it’s getting

  5* of 5

 

 

 

Aliens update

 

Aliens 1986

Update 5 February 2021

• Director: James Cameron
• Seen by this director: Avatar, Titanic, Terminator 1&2
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor/actress in:
• Sigourney Weaver: Chappie, Paul, Snow Cake, Be Kind Rewind, Avatar, Holes, Galaxy Quest, Working Girl, Dave, Death and the Maiden, The Ice Storm, A Map of the World, Holes, Gorillas in the Mist, The Year of Living Dangerously, the other Alien films.
• Michael Biehn – The Rock, Hill Street Blues, The Terminator
• Bill Paxton – Edge of Tomorrow, A Simple Plan, Titanic, Terminator, Streets of Fire
• Why bought: classic sci fi, recommended by friend ÖB.
• Seen: once – September 14, 2012 now again 5 February 2021 

Well, that was exciting. Lots of flamethrowers and super machine guns and yucky monsters. In other words, more of the same. Not nearly as creepy as the first Alien movie because now we know what kind of critters these aliens are but of course adding a kid makes the suspense more acute.  The little girl Newt (Henn) is a toughie but it’s hard to believe that she can really recover psychologically from all the horrible things that happen to her. Nevertheless, I thought her shrill screaming got to be a little tiresome.  I’m also allergic to the extremely obnoxiously macho marines, both male and female, and couldn’t help but feel a little satisfaction as one after another they were proven less indestructible than they thought they were.  Not anywhere as likeable a crew as in the first film.  Although the fake human Bishop (Henriksen) was much nicer than nasty Ian Holm.

One more complaint. Unless I really got mixed up studying Physics 1 at university, I learned that if you open the door of your spaceship, hanging on tight really doesn’t help much.

But did I sit clutching the arms of my chair throughout the whole film? Oh yes. It’s exciting enough to curl your toes. 

 

3 * of 5.

 

Update 2021: Yes, the complaints still stand but maybe because I knew about them from the first time, I liked the film more. It’s promoted to 4* of 5, Hal even says 5* (I won’t go that far).

Lady Bird

 

Lady Bird 2017

• Director: Greta Gerwig
• Based on a book: no
• Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Lois Smith, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Odeya Rush, Jordan Rodriguez, Marielle Scott
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn, Hanna, Atonement
• Laurie Metcalf – The Big Bang Theory, The Norm Show, Third Rock from the Sun, JFK, Desperately Seeking Susan
• Lucas Hedges – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Manchester by the Sea, The Zero Theorem, Moonrise Kingdom, Dan in Real Life
• Timothée Chalamet – Interstellar
• Stephen McKinley Henderson – Fences, Manchester by the Sea
• Why? Curious.
• Seen: 31 January 2021      

       Lady Bird (Ronan) is seventeen years old, hates her Sacramento high school and longs to go to college out east. She has a love-hate relationship with her mother Marion (Metcalf) who struggles working double shifts to keep the family finances going since her husband (Letts) has lost his job.

       Family life mixes with school life, first love, awkward sex, friendship and identity seeking.

       I don’t know what I was expecting but it was more than this. Ronan and Metcalf are terrific, and it’s better and deeper than many in its genre, but it’s still essentially a story about senior year in an American high school with complicated family relationships, and I really don’t much like the genre.

 3* of 5 (Hal liked it and gave it 4 ½*)

 

Lion

 

Lion 2016

• Director: Garth Davis
• Also seen by this director: Top of the Lake
• Based on a book by Saroo Brierley
• Cast: Dev Patel, Sunny Pawar, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara, Divian Ladwa, David Wenham, Deepti Naval, Priyanka Bose, Abhishek Bharati
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Deval Patel – Hotel Mumbai, The Man Who Knew Infinity, Chappie, Hotel Marigold 1&2, Slumdog Millionaire
• Nicole Kidman – Destroyer, Top of the Lake, Genius, Queen of the Desert, Strangerland, Before I Go to Sleep, The Railway Man, Rabbit Hole, Nine, Moulin Rouge, Australia, Margot at the Wedding, Fur, The Interpreter, Cold Mountain, The Human Stain, Dogville, The Hours, Birthday Girl, The Others, Eyes Wide Shut, Practical Magic, Billy Bathgate
• David Wenham – Top of the Lake, Pirates of the Caribbean, Public Enemies, Australia, Lord of the Rings etc, Moulin Rouge
• Why? Dev Patel.
• Seen: 30 January 2021.      

       Five-year-old Saroo (Pawar) and his big brother Guddu (Bharati) do everything together. Misfortune separates them and Saroo is trapped on a train that brings him to Calcutta, hundreds of kilometres away. Nobody understands him when he tells them the name of his village and he only knows his mother as ‘Mamma’.  Through channels he doesn’t understand he is adopted by a Tasmanian couple, Sue (Kidman) and John (Wenham). They’re loving, kind, and wealthy and the little boy grows up (Patel).

       And suffers a severe identity crisis. He becomes haunted by the need to find his biological family.

       It could have verged into Hallmark sentimentality, but it doesn’t. It’s very gripping and Patel is, as always, very strong in the role. It’s a true story, based on Saroo’s book.

 

4 ½* of 5

 

Alien - update

 

Alien 1979

Update 29 January 2021

• Director: Ridley Scott
• Films seen directed by Scott: The Martian, Prometheus, Robin Hood, A Good Year, Kingdom of Heaven, Gladiator, G.I. Jane, Thelma and Louise, Blade Runner
• Based on Book: no
• Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, Ian Holm, John Hurt, Yaphet Kotto
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor/actress in:
• Sigourney Weaver – lots, for example Working Girl, Dave, Death and the Maiden, The Ice Storm, A Map of the World, Holes, Snow Cake, Be Kind Rewind, Avatar, and of course the other Alien movies.
• Tom Skerritt – Smoke Signals (if you’ve never seen it, see it!), Contact, Steel Magnolias
• Veronica Cartwright – Six Feet Under, The X Files, A Slipping Down Life, Witches of Eastwick, The Mod Squad (the ‘60’s)
• Harry Dean Stanton – practically every movie ever made, notably Paris, Texas, The Rose, Mannix, The Andy Griffth Show (that one is old!).
• Ian Holm –Lord of the Rings, Day After Tomorrow, From Hell, eXistenZ, A Life Less Odinary, The Fifth Element, The Madness of King George, Frankenstein, Kafka, Hamlet, Henry V, Dance with a Stranger, Brazil, O What a Lovely War
• John Hurt – Doctor Who, Snow Piercer, Only Lovers Left Alive, Merlin, The Hollow Crown, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Melancholia, Harry Potter, Brighton Rock, V for Vendetta, Contact, Dead Man, Rob Roy, King Lear, Elephant Man, I Claudius, A Man for All Seasons
• Yaphet Kotto – Homicide, Life on the Streets
• Why bought: classic sci fi, recommended by friend ÖB.
• Seen: once – September 7, 2012 Now 29 January 2021

          To paraphrase the Chief Engineer, Parker, this movie creeps me out.

It took me about a quarter of a century to actually see it. It was worth the wait, and it deserves its status as a classic.  This is one scary movie!  As in all scary movies the characters – stupid people – are always wandering off alone (although the absolute plan is to stick together) to get grabbed and eaten (sort of) by the really icky monster.  This alien is definitely not E.T.!

      In case you yourself have lived on another planet for the last twenty-three years here’s the story: a commercial spaceship is carrying a cargo back to earth when the ship gets a strange signal.  The crew is woken up to deal with it. That’s when the fun begins.

      It’s not the scary stuff that makes this movie good.  What makes it a classic are the characters. Top notch actors, developed individuals, class conflict.  Yapha Kotto and Harry Dean Staunton are great as the working-class

mechanics who semi-jovially, semi-seriously threaten to go on strike if they don’t get a greater share of the take.  Ian Holm starts out normal but gets creepier and creepier.  Sigourney Weaver of course carries the second half of the movie as she rescues the cat and battles the alien all by herself.

      And throughout the whole movie, the lurking mining company who owns the ship makes it very clear that profit and military power have priority over human life.  Capitalism goes cosmic!

      I have a feeling that there are some logical glitches in the story but right now I’m not going to worry about them. It was exciting, scary, profound (at least a little) and masterfully done by all. It’s an advantage not having seen this in 1979. Now I have the box and don’t have to wait years and years for the rest.  I can watch them all this weekend if I want to.

      This one gets 4* of 5.