Film Reviews by JD

Ive heard a lot has been made of this film by those who get wood over expressing there liberalism and are desperate for political racial drama to feed on.

But take this film where race is just a vessel (lets face this film could of been made with age, gender, race, religion etc etc and looked exactly the same) and it is very entertaining.

I was set to be de-entertained with cringe worthy dialogue around white people being evil. Instead i was entertained with white people being really creepy with cringe worthy dialogue! There is a lot more to the film than that tho and It all moves at a good pace, getting creepier and creepier.

Good stuff.

Aliens is an epic win by Cameron. I could leave it at that.

Its a film that wreaks of his skill and attention to detail. God, that detail. Unlike 90% of Sci Fi's Cameron makes everything and everyone something real. The way the pulse rifle is explained, the auto turrets - even Paxmans excellent comic book style scene during the drop where he details the weapon systems.. It makes it all feel so real.

And talking comic book, the marines are comically over played and almost annoying but, but it brings them to life and you quickly want everyone of them to survive. And Check out there armour. Standerd Marine issue but custom decorated, another awesome detail.

And the Marines and the weapons are just 1 small part of this film, yet that alone puts Aliens amongst the very best action films of all time. Yes, this film can trade blows with the best of horror, sci fi and action independently its that good.

A lot is said about Aliens being relentless action. It isnt. It takes almost an hour to spin up and does have the odd break through the remaining 90 minutes.

I just put it down to how the film sucks you in, then once your in its pummels you senseless. One pro writer explained it well, saying he didnt know how to rate the film as he came out dazed. He was entertained, he was exhausted.

And has any film left behind so many quotes re-used in daily life or so instantly recognizable?

Its an utter masterpeice of sci fi which only has one flaw. It set a bar with a carrot dangling from it that the film industry cant help trying to reach. Needless to say, nobody has even got close.

I just wrote a review on Aliens, probably the best of all sci-fi films.

But as with everything there are big buts making such claims and the Matrix is one mighty big but.

The Matrix blew us all away when we watched it the first time and today it remains one of the best films ever made.

No shakey cam here, just very well drilled actors doing there stuff to one of the most original plots ever devised and bringing special effects to bare of the like never seen before. And on top of that, its also pretty good...

I envy my kids being able to watch something like this for the first time.

And it has to be said, they really dont make films like this anymore!

Quality stuff this one.

Hanks is brilliant as youd expect, and Clint gets his mugshot on screen briefly, +1 for that!

As someone else said, the crash investigators are out of order - but fortunately that gives us this film.. One of the best pilots on the planet having his judgment questioned.

Thoroughly entertaining.

I was going to give this 3 stars, but then i watched Dunkirk and Cloverfeild 3 shortly after, and realised this is actually really, really good compared to them!

Its a harmless monster romp thats not doing anything special. Everything is acceptable.

One thing im grateful for is the film doesnt exploit any sentimentality, thats taste of course.

What the film did do very well is sound. The first third of the film really did have some enjoyable and big sounds (DTS)

Had I not enjoyed the sound (particulary the helicopter parts) and watched some real steamers close to it, this would be a 3/5

I wasnt expecting much of this to be honest.

The british army running away and getting stuck on a beach isnt our finest hour (funny how we are always told what a brilliant leader Churchill was when most of his calls lead to massive loss of life and defeat by a better calculated axis response). But this just film was just poor.

The film seams desperate show the navy and the army in the worst light possible. An infantryman discarding his rifle to be saved by the 'brave' french at the start is pretty much how the film continues.

Yes there were no doubt scenes of panic amongst brits - hard not to given the terrible, unprepared deployment to europe (lets not forget the French army were as strong and capable as the Germans at this point of the war - they were just poorly led and unprepared, much like the british) but to show the army and navy in this way isnt very respectful imo.

The film itself was a bit rubbish. I couldnt follow it with everyone looking the same and the occasional time warp!

how can a film with a British ninja robot butler be bad?

It cant.

Ive given this film 4 stars as i clearly forgot to put my brain back in after watching it. All i remember is lots of explosions, robots fighting, arguing, dancing, more explosions, some man on robot fights, robot on robot, man on man, woman on robot. Oh, nice dress. Woman robot on robot, tank on robot, Hannibal lector on robot, robot on car, car on man, sea on man, robot on sea - the action is endless.

Yes it rubbish, but it never takes itself to seriously (through the middle it almost turns 100% comedy). Unplug the brain, turn up the 7.1 kit and enjoy.

um, utter rubbish.

Its just really, really bad.

Im trying hard to think of something good about it. Oh yes, there was one scene i enjoyed the sound effects.

Seriously, avoid this one.

Rather than rip of alien, something so often attempted and failed at Life takes its own spin on an alien menace.

Its set close to earth which brings it own tension, we see the alien develop in detail - something i feel Ridley scott is attempting and failing miserably at.

And when people say the film is predictable and the crew useless - my take on it is the alien creature develops and learns incredibly fast. Quickly growing more lethal than the unarmed, civilian ISS crew.

It seems im largely alone in liking this film, im not sure what everyone was expecting, this film is a far superior 'Alien' experience than the pretty rubbish Alien Covenant.

This film is a class act, one of the very best sci-fi OR action films ive ever seen.

Everything about the film feels right, right from the opening scenes. Its superbly directed and the main cast, an unbound team of soldiers (the film avoids any cheese and as such Arnies squad never gets named) are brilliant. There is no shakey cam here, its all proper action by proper action actors.

Indeed, if this film was just them mooching around the jungle it would still of been an excellent film.

But they run into something they dont expect.

Unlike other films where its pretty obvious the generic cast of monster fodder soldiers are all going to die, and probably quite quickly and with a lot of wimpering, here it has you thinking its the monster who is in trouble. And again, unlike modern films this is well cast as an equal fight. Arnies team are the 'best' as is there oppenent. Its an epic fight.

They really dont make films like this anymore.

Probably not really worthy of an 80% 4 stars, for one i feel the direction wasnt actually that good. However, in an age of films carrying political undertones, playing to the broadest demographic for the highest return or a director/contributing actor simply laying it on thick for an oscar this comes as a welcome change of pace. It just pure fun around the story of a crazy - but incredibly determined Olympian.

He only had 1 year with obstacles and no backing to learn his art. Even tho he came last everytime, he had the heart of a champion (nicely portrayed with a conversation with the champion near the end).

Ill admit to always seeing him as a joke, but this film humbles us all by, despite the likely made up bits, telling us the story of a kid with a humble background, a gammy leg and dodgy eye sight doing things few would dare - let alone do competitively. 7/10 for the film. 10/10 for the hero.

The opening scene summed this film up for me. Its all about David and a story of creation.

Like many of the Alien films taken in isolation its an ok watch. Infact pretty its good, there is a nice mix of horror and sci fi, if a bit silly (lots of silly moments that I thought had been left in the 90’s)

But where this film really fails is its inclusion of the legendry xenomorph. Its almost as if scott has no interest in it, at one point he even appears to mock it – ‘look in here, its safe, honestly’.

drm prevents viewing on a pc.

visual effects are awesome but 1 star due to publishers attempt to stop me watching something ive paid for

I dont think there was a huge amount to this film. Its certainly no classic. And such a weird group of characters... but its never serious.

I didnt really care where the plot was going or came from, it was just hugely good fun to watch.

And then enhanced with the presence of one of the coolest guys in the universe... who happens to be playing the coolest guy in the universe

because of the silly drm im giving this 1 star.

wanted an internet connection to play, but was to lame to notice there was one. So expects me to call a number to get a code.

To play a disc ive rented on a player i purchased running software i purchased.

If this continues im going streaming and giving up on discs.