Long Live and Prosper. RIP Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy: 1931-2015.

Alien Resurrection(Or: How We Can Keep Milking A Franchise)

Where, oh where do I begin with this?  Given how Alien 3 ended, I don't think anybody would have expected there to be a fourth outing.  Between 1994 and 1996 I had started hearing rumors on the web about a fourth Alien film.  What was even more absurd was that it was going to involve Sigourney Weaver's character again.  How?  She died at the end of the last film, which ended that trilogy perfectly, I thought.  I would assume that because of how screwed up the production was on 3, that Fox wanted another crack at the franchise.  The problem is, they wanted another movie that centered around Ripley.  So, how could they do that?

200 years after Ripley(Sigourney Weaver)sacrificed herself on Fury 161, a United Systems Military vessel has recovered blood samples from the prison planet and cloned her.  Why?  Because she was carrying a Queen Alien inside her when she died, so apparently it became a part of her DNA.  After several attempts, they finally succeed in cloning her so they can retrieve the queen.  Thing is, some of that Alien DNA got mixed in with Ripley's so she's a bit of a different creature herself.  Later, a motley crew arrives on the ship to deliver hijacked cryotubes loaded with people so they can breed the Aliens and experiment on them.  Given the unpredictable nature of the beast, things go wrong(surprise, surprise) and the creatures escape.  Oh, boy.  While Alien 3 had a very troubled production, the film still wound up being a very bleak and dark experience which worked in the movie's favor.  Alien Resurrection?  This movie is just so damn quirky and bizarre it just doesn't fit in with the others.  The tone is so different.  Instead of a bleak and grim future, we have a fairly upbeat attitude about things with jokes and other sorts of nonsense.  I think you can credit that with French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet.  There's a good amount of humor in this movie, and strangely enough, it works for this particular movie.  However, the Alien universe isn't exactly a happy-go-lucky universe.  It's supposed to be dark and terrifying.  There are some pretty disturbing elements in this movie, I must say, but the overall feel doesn't seem to feel right with the series.

Cloning in a movie isn't an original idea, it's been done for decades.  The most successful movie that featured cloning was Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park.  But that was done with a different intent.  In Alien Resurrection, it's used as a plot device to bring back a character that died for a reason.  Why?  So scientists can study her and experiment on her and blah, blah, blah.  The thing I find interesting about this movie is that it  was written by Joss Whedon, the guy who did Firefly and The Avengers.  Who knew?  You can tell the movie has his mark on it by some of the dialogue and some of the situations.  Whedon has always had a way of making things....strange enough to creep people out and still make it work.  I think that's part of where the humor comes from.  The writing isn't awful, but it definitely isn't up to Whedon's usual fare.  I mean, to get into a secure part of the ship, you have to breath on the device?  It's a really bizarre security measure.  Fingerprints and eye scanning aren't good enough, but somebody's breath?  Really?

Visually, the film has a very unusual aesthetic.  Instead of the Gothic architecture of the last movie, the ship is very military, kind of like the second movie, but also incorporates some medical stuff in it as well.  The mercenaries ship, The Betty is a run-down P.O.S. that barely functions.  There are a lot of corridors in this movie.  I guess the filmmakers were still trying for the whole claustrophobic vibe of the original Alien, but they didn't really succeed.  The creature designs are actually pretty cool.  The newborn Alien which shows up towards the end of the film is particularly disturbing because it's basically a literal half-human and half-Alien hybrid.  It's hideous.  It's still an interesting design however.  One of the more disturbing aspects of this film show up when Ripley discovers the previous attempts to clone her.  This is not a pleasant scene to watch, because of these "misfires."  It's genuinely unnerving.  This is a more action-oriented film than the previous movies, so we would expect some decent action.  We definitely get it.  We have some interesting weaponry that deals out the damage.  Christie(Gary Dourdan)has two pistols that are attached to his wrists which he can whip out at any time.  Johner(Ron Perlman)has a gun disguised as a canteen.  Vrees(Dominque Pinon)puts together a shotgun with pieces that are a part of his wheelchair.  Some of the guns fire lasers,  though.  There's an underwater section that's really intense with the survivors being chased by the Aliens.  There is a decent amount of action in this movie that surprised me.

On the acting side of things, we obviously have Sigourney Weaver.  I don't think this is Mrs. Weaver at her best.  It's played a little over-the-top.  Winona Ryder plays Call, the newest member of the mercenary band who's on a secret mission of her own.  Ron Perlman is the resident tough guy, Johner.  Michael Wincott is the leader of the mercenaries, while J.E Freeman plays Wren.  The surprising cast member is Brad Dourif as Gediman.  Brad Dourif really plays these bizarre characters very well.  Ron Perlman basically steals the show, though.  Every time he's on the screen, he's being a smart-ass.  I'd be lying if I said this movie wasn't entertaining.  It really is.  It just doesn't feel like a proper Alien film.  It's not dark enough and it's too damn goofy.  The CGI Aliens just really feel out of place as well.

Not all franchises need to center around a particular character.  Indiana Jones and Rambo I can understand because he IS the main character.  But franchises like Star Wars and Alien don't need to be centered around a main character.  There are a lot of directions that the Alien franchise can go.  We don't need Ripley anymore.  Her story has been told.  I understand that Sigourney Weaver would like to play her one last time to finish her story.  As far as I'm concerned, Ripley's story ended in Alien 3.  Looking at all the comic books and novels that take place in the Alien universe, there's a lot of potential for other stories.  Ridley Scott returned to that particular universe with Prometheus, but it wasn't an Alien movie.  However, there are only so many surprises that the xenomorph can provide as a movie monster, and we have seen a good deal of it already to know that it's going to take some extraordinary writing to make that creature mysterious again.  Unfortunately, with two spinoff movies, Alien Vs. Predator and AVP: Requiem, the franchise has been damaged to a certain point where only time may help it recover.  Overall, Alien Resurrection succeeds as a decent sci-fi flick, but it kind fails as an Alien movie.  I'm going to give it a  7.5/10.  It's fun, but it is the black sheep of the franchise.

See No Evil 2

I had watched and reviewed Aliens earlier today and commented on how a proper sequel can be done.  It seems to me that certain franchises can deliver solid follow-ups, while some movies don't actually end up with more than one movie.  Some movies are solid enough on their own and don't need extra movies.  This is especially true in the horror genre.  Did we need 6 or 7 sequels for Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th?  Not particularly, but they did well enough that someone green-lit a follow-up.  Nightmare and Friday actually ended up with a few decent sequels.  Movies like Wrong Turn, only had 1 decent follow-up and the rest were garbage.  Nobody was expecting a sequel to See No Evil, the first film starring WWE Superstar Glen Jacobs, otherwise known as Kane.  It was a decent enough time, with enough grue and grime to satisfy, but it was nothing groundbreaking, except for Kane.  This guy was built for the genre.  He's extremely imposing at nearly 7 feet tall.  His character, Jacob Goodnight, wasn't particularly original,  but it was Kane's presence and ability to instill fear in people that drove the movie.  However, the film ended with Jacob's rather spectacular, CGI-infused death.  Yet, 8 years later, we get a sequel to See No Evil.

This movie picks up right where the first one left off, with bodies being taken to a local morgue, including that of Jacob Goodnight(Kane).  Amy(Danielle Harris) is about to take the night off to celebrate her impending birthday with her friends, when they get the call that they are getting nine corpses that night.  Amy decides to stay and help out with her "boyfriend," Seth(Kaj-Erik Erikson).  Her friends and brother decide to surprise her.  Two of them slip away when they find out that the body of Jacob Goodnight is being held downstairs.  The two that decide to slip away, find his corpse and decide to get all creepy with it, unbeknownst to them that Jacob isn't really dead(?).  First off, this movie takes place as soon as the first one ended.  Eight years ago.  If you're going to make a sequel like this, you may actually want to do it in a reasonable time frame.  To be honest, the first movie really didn't set the box-office on fire, and wasn't particularly well-received by fans and critics.  It just came and went.  The only thing that stood out about the movie was Kane.  So I have to ask: Why?  Goodnight's death in the first movie would've killed anybody that wasn't Freddy or Jason or Pinhead.  Goodnight was nothing more than abused human being.  Where does he get the special ability to come back to life?  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the first movie, it was a decent romp, but this screams of desperation.  Secondly, if you're going to make a slasher movie, make the kills spectacular.

That's one of the more depressing things about this movie actually.  I was expecting more blood than I got.  Not even a dismemberment.  Seriously?  Goodnight's got an arsenal of medical equipment to bludgeon and dismember with and nobody loses an arm or a head?  Now, don't me wrong: I have no problems with horror movies showing restraint.  I've seen plenty that really, REALLY went overboard(I'm looking at you, Cannibal Holocaust.).  See No Evil 2 doesn't go far enough.  It doesn't even try.  Aside from one or two kills that are somewhat interesting, like watching somebody being embalmed.  Alive.  That's unique, I hadn't seen that one before.  But that's about as brutal as it gets.  As far as the characters go: Unlikable.  There's not one person here that screamed at me,"They should survive."  Everyone gets what's coming to them.  I realize that this is a slasher movie, so dumb people get killed.  But wouldn't it have taken a little more effort to make the characters a little more personable?  Katherine Issabelle's character is a borderline necrophiliac with an unhealthy obsession with serial killers, and she's irritating to boot.  There seem to be a lot of decisions behind the camera which lead to this movie being not so very good.  The directors were not particularly a good choice, I felt.  Jen and Sylvia Soska are twins and they seem to enjoy horror movies, but they don't seem to grasp the idea that for a movie like this, it needs to have a serious edge.  It can push the envelope, but it doesn't need to shred it.  You can see that they held back.

Are there good things about See No Evil 2?  Yes, there are.  One, the stunts are actually pretty decent.  Most of the blood is practical, which is always a plus.  The embalming death was actually pretty cool.  Kane is simply a presence.  By giving him a mask, that allows Kane to really become monstrous.  Considering that Kane wore a mask throughout most of his WWE career, Kane really got into it and was very threatening and intense.  Danielle Harris is drop-dead gorgeous.  It's too bad that she ends up picking some really bad movies to be in.  This girl's got talent, but it's absolutely wasted here.  She was great in the last two Hatchet movies, but aside from Rob Zombie's Halloween(the first one), she really hasn't had a decent flick.  Everybody else?  I don't care.  The first film was pretty generic, but it had some decent visuals and felt really grimy.  See No Evil 2?  Just plain.....plain.  Aside from Glen Jacobs, there's nothing particularly memorable about this movie.  I haven't seen any other movies directed by the Soska Sisters, but if this movie is any indication, I don't want to.  It's not dreadful; I have seen worse.  But it does NOTHING to stand out from the rest. 6/10 is all this one's getting.  I guess somebody needs to tell the WWE that some sequels just don't need to be made.

Aliens

In 1979, movie audiences were delivered a science fiction film like no other.  Instead of the uplifting "what happens when we meet aliens" theme of Close Encounters of The Third Kind and the fantasy world of Star Wars, the world got a terrifying look at the unknown.  Alien, directed by Ridley Scott, introduced the world to a new kind of monster: The xenomorph.  Taking place on the claustrophobic ship, The Nostromo, the crew battled for survival against an unseen creature that picked them off one by one until only one remained.  Alien was a major box office hit.  It was enough of a hit that 20th Century Fox commissioned a sequel.  Not wanting to tread down the same path that Alien did, they decided to take the franchise into a different direction.

As the film opens, we see a lone ship floating through space when it is picked up by a salvaging vessel.  The salvage people discover a lone survivor: Ripley(Sigourney Weaver).  Waking up on a strange space station, Ripley is greeted by Weyland-Yutani exec, Carter Burke(Paul Reiser), who informs Ripley that she's been in hypersleep for 57 years.  Later, at a hearing, Ripley's report of what happened on the Nostromo are met with criticism.  She also finds out that there is a colony on the planet LV-426, the same planet on which the Nostromo encountered the vicious creature.  When they lose contact with the colony, Burke and Lt. Gorman(William Hope)of the Colonial Marine Corps convince Ripley to join to find out what happened.  Accompanied by marines such as Corporal Hicks(Michael Beihn), Private Hudson(Bill Paxton), Private Vasquez(Jenette Goldstein), and an android: Bishop(Lance Henriksen), they arrive at the colony to find it deserted, save one little girl, Newt(Carrie Henn).

As far as movie sequels go, it's rare to find one that almost outdoes the original film.  James Cameron's Aliens does almost exactly that.  Fox Studios wanted a sequel, but they didn't want a rehash of the original film, so James Cameron was brought to direct a more action-oriented picture.  Hot off the success of the original Terminator, Cameron was given the opportunity to create a worthy follow-up to one of the most iconic movies ever made.  He was also given license to redesign the creature as long as it remained true to the essence of the original monster.  Adding different life-cycles to the xenomorph, made the species more of a threat, especially when the Queen Alien is introduced.  Having the film take place 57 years after the original film, also helped reduce the temptation to do another "haunted house in space" kind of movie.  Where Alien was a psychological thriller/monster movie, Aliens is more of an action movie.  That doesn't mean it doesn't have its fair share of surprises, however.  The performances in the film are outstanding.  Everyone brings their A-game.  Carrie Henn, who plays Newt, had no prior acting experience or training, does remarkably well among her more seasoned co-workers.  Bill Paxton plays the smart-ass Hudson, while seemingly a coward at times, steps up to the plate when the going gets rough.  Jenette Goldstein plays the tough chick marine, Vasquez.  She's as bad-ass as they come, armed with a powerful smart-gun, which is the future-equivalent of a mini-gun.  Paul Reiser is fantastic as the corporate weasel, Burke.  The two real standouts in the supporting cast are Michael Beihn and Lance Henriksen, both of whom appeared in The Terminator.  Beihn plays the loyal and confident Hicks who packs a shotgun, "for close encounters."  Henriksen brings a surprisingly human quality to his role of the android, Bishop.  We learn right from the get-go that he's an android, so that sets up some tension between him and Ripley.  The REAL star of this film franchise is Sigourney Weaver.

While Alien put Weaver on the map, it was Aliens that really cemented her as the action heroine of the decade.  The first movie had Ripley trying to survive, Aliens has her going on the war-path and it works very well.  The character's relationship with Newt is initially one of kinship, as both are orphans and survivors in a way.  But their relationship gets stronger as events continue to spiral out of control.  Mrs. Weaver was nominated for an Academy Award for best actress for her portrayal of Ripley in Aliens.  Getting nominated for a science fiction movie is extraordinarily rare when it comes to the Academy.  But it's easy to see why Sigourney was nominated.  Her performance anchors the whole film, and while her character is beaten down by tragedy, her relationship with Newt gives her new reason to keep going.

The differences between this movie and its predecessor are night and day.  As I said before, this is an action movie and the action is absolutely intense.  From the marines first encounter with the xenomorphs in the atmosphere processor to the final battle on the Sulaco, the tension and the excitement ramp up with each encounter.  The movie gives us some very iconic sci-fi weaponry: The M41A pulse rifle with a pump-action grenade launcher(I SOOOOOO want one.), the smartgun, which automatically goes after moving targets, and the flamethrower.  The sound that the pulse rifle makes is just plain awesome:


Like the previous film, Aliens has many iconic elements.  One of which is important in a movie like this: The music.  Composed by James Horner, the music of Aliens goes from the quiet emotional moments to the highly action-packed militaristic pieces that really amp up the film.  The sequence in which Ripley rescues the marines has you on the edge of your seat.  The music during that sequence really pulls you in.  During production, James Horner's relationship with James Cameron became pretty rough, because Cameron was demanding Horner do some things in a specific time frame which Horner wasn't particularly keen on.  I have the soundtrack to the film, and a lot of what you hear on the soundtrack isn't in the movie itself.  What is in the movie is incredible.  In fact, one of the pieces became so iconic that it was used in action movie trailers after Aliens was released.  Even if you haven't seen Aliens, you have heard this before, I guarantee it:


Like the original, there really isn't a whole lot wrong with Aliens.  In fact, this possibly one the best examples of how to make a good sequel: Acknowledge what came before, while giving the audience something new.  There is a reason why James Cameron is a damn good filmmaker, and Aliens is one of the prime examples why.  He gets compelling performances out of his lead actors and gives the audience one hell of an action movie.  Aliens was released to really great reviews back in 1986.  4 years later, James Cameron reintroduced 15 minutes of new footage into the film and re-released the film on home video as a Special Edition.  A lot of that new footage actually fleshes out characters a bit more, especially Ripley.  We find out in the extended version that Ripley was a mother, and that her daughter died while Ripley was still floating around out there somewhere.  That actually gives Ripley's relationship to Newt more emotional depth and cements the bond between the two.  We also get more of Hudson's goofiness during the drop.  While there are extended cuts, there are several that truly stand out.  After Ripley's hearing, the film actually cuts to the colony on LV-426 before it was overrun.  We also get to see the ship from the first movie.  But this also shows where everything starts going to hell in a hand-basket.  The other memorable sequence involves robot sentries, which are automated machine guns.  Which version is better?  I prefer the extended version as it feels like a more complete experience.  Overall, I consider Aliens to be one of the best science fiction movies out there.  As a sequel, it is definitely a cut above the rest.  It's just as compelling as the original film, but it has more action.  Whether you choose the theatrical version or the Special Edition, Aliens gets a 10/10.

Disney's Sleeping Beauty

Before acquiring companies like Marvel and LucasArts and producing comic book movies, Walt Disney Studios was known for it's animated features.  These films would often feature amazing animation, stories and music.  One of their first actual movies, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, was released in 1937.  In the decades that followed, the world saw the release of some of the most iconic and memorable films in cinema: Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Alice in Wonderland.  Featuring state of the art animation, these films became a part of our daily culture, featuring stories that were funny, smart, dramatic and thrilling.  Walt Disney himself, accomplished more in 20 years, then most filmmakers could ever hope to achieve in a life-time.  One of the most memorable films that Disney has released, and one that I had watched many times as a youngster, was Sleeping Beauty.

Sleeping Beauty features a classic fairy-tale opening sequence with a book opening it's pages introducing us to a kingdom in a far-away land.  It is a kingdom that is celebrating the birth of King Stefan's daughter, Princess Aurora.  Among the many guests, are three wise fairies who come to bestow their blessings on the child, when they are interrupted by an evil and menacing fairy, Maleficent.  Maleficent curses the young princess to die when she pricks her finger on a spinning wheel when she turns 16.  Fearing for her life, King Stefan and his queen send her away with the fairies known as Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.  This story is as classic as they come.  A tale about young love and the battle between good and evil, Sleeping Beauty has something for everyone.  It's a very charming story with some very unique characters.  Maleficent ended up becoming the most recognized villain in Disney's history.  This is not a character that is really over-the-top.  On the contrary, she's very well-restrained.  That makes her pretty intimidating, actually.  She doesn't really let loose until towards the end of the film.  Voiced by the late Eleanor Audley, Maleficent is not only evil, but strangely alluring at the same time.  The three fairies each have their own unique personalities and quirks.  Merryweather, being the short and stumpy fairy who is also the funniest of the bunch.

There are many things about this movie that still make it work, even 55 years after its initial release.  One: The artwork is very unique.  The backgrounds have a very straight-line theme, and the characters look like something out of a medieval painting.  It's appropriate since the film takes place in the 14th century.  While today's animated movies are slick and very-well done, they lack the personality that the older films had.  Sleeping Beauty is one of the most visually spectacular films that Disney has ever released, in my opinion.  The music is also a character in and of itself.  A lot of the music was based on Tchaikovsky's ballet of the same name, which gives the movie an epic feel, and it permeates the whole affair with a sense of humor and adventure.  Is there anything that really brings this movie down?  Not really, to tell you the truth.  I've said this about several movies, but when it comes to standing the test of time, Sleeping Beauty is among the finest.

With a story that's appropriate for audiences of all ages, Sleeping Beauty manages to both captivate and thrill at the same time, with a villain unlike any other.  Sometimes you can tell how interesting a Disney movie can be by how compelling it's villain is.  Maleficent is extraordinary and ranks among my favorite villains in general.  In fact, there was a recent film starring Angelina Jolie, Maleficent that is specifically about that character and how she becomes so evil.  I haven't had the chance to see that film yet, so I can't comment on how the film is.  Getting back to Sleeping Beauty, this film is classic Walt Disney in every way.  This is a film that I can EASILY recommend to everyone, both children and grown-ups alike.  Having watched this film a lot when I was younger, I still find myself enchanted by how well it tells its story.  Sleeping Beauty is a film we can pass on to our children and grandchildren, and I would certainly hope that everybody who hasn't seen it, gets to see it.  Disney releases certain movies for certain amount of time on home video before taking them off store shelves several months down the line, so I would recommend you just buy this one outright.  At 75 minutes long, it doesn't take up too much time and yet is a very compelling experience.  I don't think 10/10 says enough about this movie.  If you're a fan of animation and Disney movies in general, this is a no-brainer.  Go get it, you'll be glad you did.

Alien: Isolation(Video Game)

What is this?  Have I gone mad?  Have I lost all sense of reality?  I imagine it's possible.  I mentioned in my review of Alien, that there was a video game based on that movie: Alien Isolation.  It's unusual for me to review a video game on a movie blog, but I feel that this game certainly deserves some attention.  For those who are not in the know, Alien is a sci-fi/horror movie released back in 1979.  The film followed a group of space "truckers" as they are sent to investigate a mysterious signal on a nearby planet.  They discover not just an alien ship, but a very violent and destructive organism that begins to pick off the crew one-by-one.  Hailed as one of the greatest science fiction movies ever made, Alien succeeded in terrifying audiences world-wide.  Utilizing claustrophobia and the fear of the dark, Alien featured one of the most iconic movie monsters ever conceived.  The film featured top-notch performances from Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm, John Hurt, Yaphet Kotto, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, and the woman who would usher in a new generation of bad-ass female heroes: Sigourney Weaver.

Alien: Isolation takes place 15 years after the events of the original movie.  The game begins as Ellen Ripley's daughter, Amanda is offered a chance to find out why her mother hasn't been seen in 15 years.  It seems that the flight recorder from the Nostromo has been found.  It's been taken to a space station to be examined and collected by Weyland-Yutani, the company that Ripley's mother worked for.  As soon as we board the space station, we begin to see that something terrible has happened and the space station is falling apart.  People are scarce and there appears to be something lurking in the shadows.  The developers at Creative Assembly sought to replicate the atmosphere and tension of the movie, and to that extent they succeeded.  Right from the get-go, the work that went in to bringing this world to life is apparent as many of the designs of the corridors and technology are lifted directly from Alien.

As you can see from the screenshots, the detail is almost immaculate.  What you can also see, is that the game takes place from a first-person perspective.  This is not an action game, even though it has elements of action in it.  No, this a first-person survival horror experience.  The moment you enter the station, you feel a real sense of foreboding, as if something really bad is about to happen.  There is definitely a palpable sense of dread the further you get into the station and begin to find out what happened.  The first hour of the game is basically a setup for what happens next.  After an hour, you finally encounter the creature itself, and let me tell you, it takes your breath away.  While some of the other enemies in the station can be killed, the Alien itself can't be.  You're limited in the kind of weapons you have, so taking on the monster is suicide.  The best thing you can do is hide and hope it doesn't see you.  If it does, it's game over.  This is where the real tension of the game reveals itself.  Like in the movie, it's not necessarily what you see that scares you, it's the sound of that thing stomping around, either in the corridors or in the air vents above your head.  One of the few things that can help you avoid being seen by the Alien is a motion tracker.  It's not always accurate however.  One of the worst things you can do when staying hidden, is not moving after the Alien leaves.  It could come back and rip you out of the locker you're hiding in, because it could hear you breathing.  Sound plays an integral part of this game.  Any sound you make could alert the creature to your presence.  It's very intense, almost to the point of being unbearable.  You have no idea where this thing is going to pop out, save for that little motion tracker you've got.  I'll be honest, there were a couple of times where I had to quit the game, because it got to be too crazy.  One other thing I should mention: This game is unforgiving.  I couldn't make it anywhere on the hard difficulty before quitting in frustration, so I knocked it down to easy.  Is it easier?  You have a little more wiggle-room to make mistakes, but it's still pretty hard.

That's not to say it's all hopeless.  You do have a few interesting tools that you get throughout the game that will help you either fight off the Alien or distract it.  You have a noisemaker that can throw the creature of your trail for a little bit, giving you time to escape.  Or you can use a molotov cocktail to injure the monster and drive it off that way, but you won't kill it.  The Alien isn't your only enemy on board the station.  No, you've got security forces, scavengers and droids.  With the human forces, you can take them down easily enough, or you can use the noisemaker and basically get the Alien to go after them instead of you.  But it won't go after the droids.  The droids are one of the downsides to this game.  They suck.  They take a lot of hits before they go down and if they get a hold of you, they deal quite a bit of damage.  Luckily, they're slower than molasses, so you can outrun them.  However, if you do run, there is the added risk of attracting the monster.  You have to be very careful how you approach certain situations.  There are long stretches of gameplay where you don't encounter the Alien at all.  The second half of the game starts to become more of an action game.  The first half of the game is basically survival horror and the second half the game is run-and-gun.  Almost.  You do get a flamethrower to help ward off the creature, but this section of the game relies on too much gun-play.  Your character isn't a soldier, she's an engineer.  That leads me to another interesting point about the game: It's crafting mechanic.  You pick up schematics for molotovs, EMP grenades, pipebombs and medkits throughout the station, so if you have enough scrap, you can build stuff that'll help you.  Visually speaking, this game is a stunner.  It all comes down to details and this game has it in spades.  The corridors are appropriately spooky.  Hell, the game even retains the whole future-retro technology from the movie.  For example, the computers that you sometimes need access to, remind me of the computers from the late 70's and early 80's.  The human characters are exceptionally well-detailed, particularly during cut-scenes.  There will be times when you have to space-walk and the scenery is exceptional.  You can even see the clouds moving on the nearby planet.  The station itself is a marvel to behold.  It's HUGE.  You thought the ship in the movie was big.  That has nothing on the space depot.  That also leads to ANOTHER problem with this game: Backtracking.  There's a lot of it.  You have trains that will take you to different parts of the station, but some of the locations start looking a little too familiar.

The creature itself is remarkably well-designed.  While some of its walking animations seem stiff, the rest of it is fantastic to watch.  It's surprisingly graceful for a perfectly-evolved killing machine.  Although, if you watch the creature too much, it'll kill ya.  So, don't get hypnotized by it.  It's a thing to be feared.  What really makes this game so damned effective is the sound.  It really sends chills up and down your spine.  When the creature is stalking the halls or the vents, you can hear and you have no idea when it's going to make an appearance.  Atmosphere is everything in a game like this, and the sound really amps it up.  The voice-acting definitely helps draw you into the game.  Some of the characters sounded familiar, so I had to look them up.  I'm surprised at what I found.  One of the main characters, Marshall Waits, is played by none other than William Hope, the guy who played Lt. Gorman from the second Alien movie.  Returning from the original film are not just one, but several of the main actors: Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Yaphet Kotto, Harry Dean Stanton and Ellen Ripley herself, Sigourney Weaver.  They all came back to record some stuff for audio logs from the Nostromo.  I think having Sigourney Weaver reprise her iconic role after nearly 20 years, lends a credibility and authenticity that I don't think this game would have had otherwise.  In fact, there are two DLC(Downloadable Content)which allow you to play AS Ellen Ripley herself or as some of the other members of the Nostromo crew.  I think it's fantastic that you can explore the Nostromo a little bit.  Of course, you have to contend with the Alien, so it's not all warm fuzzies.  But the details on the original Nostromo crew are fantastically detailed.  The ship itself is replicated in nearly every detail.  So, it's kind of an interesting trip back.

Many of the screenshots I've just posted were from the XBOX ONE and PlayStation 4 versions, but I'm playing this game on my PC.  My specs(for those who actually care):

AMD-FX6300 Six-Core Processor at 3.8ghz

8GIGs of DDR1300 RAM

AMD RADEON 7770 4gig video card

1 Terabyte harddrive

Windows 8.1

Overall, this is a fantastic game, but if you're a gamer and you're reading this, be prepared to die.  A lot.  It is a difficult game, but one that I feel is worth every penny.  Is it perfect?  No.  Some of the issues I've noticed I described already.  One of the issues that I didn't mention, was that while the lighting effects are incredible, they also make it hard to discern friendly human from enemy human, and if you accidentally shoot an innocent person, it's game over.  The game's difficulty is also a double-edged sword.  While it can be satisfying to escape the alien, it gets really frustrating every time you fail.  Even on the easy level.  Some of the puzzles are kind of ridiculous, though.  The solutions to those puzzles are almost always in the same room.  If you frighten easily, or have a weak heart, stay away.  This IS a stressful game.  There are also too many sections where nothing actually happens.  But it's the atmosphere, the sound, and the tension that help drive this game forward.  There have been multiple games based on the Alien franchise, but most of them have failed on nearly every level, especially last year's Aliens: Colonial Marines.  The less said about that....thing, the better.  Alien Isolation definitely captures the essence of what made Alien such an incredible movie in the first place.  At least the first half of the game.  But it's still more than what most companies would have been able to pull off.  The folks at Creative Assembly have crafted a very memorable experience that is both challenging and satisfying.  It took me a little over 15 hours to complete the game.  Half that time I think, was spent cowering in a locker.  No other survival horror game has given me the creeps the way this game did, so that's definitely an achievement.  If you're a gamer, and a fan of the Alien franchise I think you owe it to yourself to try this game out.  Just be aware that it requires a lot of patience.  Despite some of the game's glaring issues, I'm giving this baby a solid 9/10.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go scare myself silly again.

*Credit for screenshots go to their respective sources.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

For many comic book fans, the X-Men are some of the most well-known characters.  Wolverine, Storm, Cyclop, Professor X, Magneto and Mystique are all part of a universe that is both diverse, amusing and thrilling.  During the 80's, there was a story-line in The Uncanny X-Men which garnered praise from many comic-book fans: Days of Future Past.  Taking place in both the future and the past, Days of Future Past showed a dark future with mutants and humans like on the brink of extinction.  They're only hope is for someone to go back in time to prevent a war with mutant-hunting Sentinels from ever happening.  When the live-action films started coming out, people were wondering if we would ever see the Days of Future Past story-line put on the screen.  With Bryan Singer returning to the director's chair for the latest X-Men film, the live-action version of Days of Future Past is now a reality.

In the not-too-distant future, we witness a world that has been ravaged by nuclear war, and we see people both human and mutant alike being forced into concentration camps by large robots known as Sentinels.  Most of the mutants and mutant-sympathizers have been eradicated, and it's up to a small band of mutants to try and turn the tide.  Leading the X-Men are Professor Charles Xavier(Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy), Magneto(Ian McKellan and Michael Fassbender), Wolverine(Hugh Jackman), and Storm(Halle Berry).  Magneto and Xavier have put aside their differences to combat this world-ending threat and their last hope is to send Wolverine's consciousness into the past to prevent Mystique(Jennifer Lawrence)from assassinating Dr. Bolivar Trask(Peter Dinklage), the very man who created the Sentinel program during the 70's.

The X-Men comics, at their very core, was their message about racism and fearing/hating those that are different from the rest of us.  It's that message that tends to resonate with audiences world-wide.  The first two films did an admirable job of bringing the characters and their fight against prejudice to the screen, the third film: The Last Stand, threw all that out the window in favor of spectacle.  What Days of Future Past does, is that it addresses a lot of the issues in some of the past X-Men films and comes to a conclusion that not only advances the story, but wipes out previous mistakes.  In many respects, this film is both a sequel AND a reboot.  D.O.F.P(Days of Future Past) brings back many of the original cast members from the previous films including, Shawn Ashmore, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, and Patrick Stewart in their respective roles.  We're also introduced to new mutants, such as Bishop(Omar Sy), Quicksilver(Evan Peters), Blink(Fan Bingbing) and Sunspot(Adan Canto).  The main villain at the core of the picture is Dr. Bolivar Trask, played by Game of Thrones star, Peter Dinklage.  His short stature masks an impressive ability to deliver a very compelling and, at times, sympathetic performance.  You don't truly hate him the way you hate Brian Cox's William Stryker from the second film.  Throughout the film, we get to see Wolverine try to convince the younger Professor X of the coming war and subsequent end of the world.  Hugh Jackman IS Wolverine.  His character has evolved over the years.  From a wandering loner to reluctant leader, he is now forced to try to convince and guide Professor Xavier to becoming the Professor X that the world needs him to be.  All the performances in this movie are fantastic.  Jennifer Lawrence really inhabits the role of Mystique, while Michael Fassbender has his own agenda as the younger Magneto.  Unlike many of the previous X-Men films, this one isn't about Wolverine.  Oh, no.  This movie centers on Professor X, Mystique and Magneto.  James McAvoy portrays Prof. X as a man who has been broken by the departure of not only his best friend, Magneto, but by the mutant he grew up with, Mystique.

When X-Men: The Last Stand hit theaters, we were given a brief glimpse into the Days of Future Past story-line in a Danger Room session.  One of the things that really stood out about this sequence as the appearance of a Sentinel.  Just his head, actually, but it really got people wanting more Sentinel action, and D.O.F.P delivers.  The movie opens with a bang in the future as mutants are fighting a losing battle and the fearsome machines.  The design of the Sentinels underwent a kind of change for D.O.F.P.  Here are some comparisons:

1.

This is the Sentinel that first appeared in the comics and subsequent TV series that aired during the 90's.

2.

This is the initial prototype Sentinel that Trask built during the 70's.  As you can see, while it still retains some of the design of the comic book version, it has a more sleek and plastic look as befits a product from the 70's.  Note that this is a behind-the-scenes photo with director Bryan Singer.

3.

This is the Sentinel that appears in the future scenes of the film.  This is a far more threatening look, as these suckers have the ability to adapt to defend themselves against mutant powers.  These are more sleek, scary, and unstoppable.

For fans of the comic book story, there are some changes that were made, even though the majority of the story-line is intact.  The biggest change, is that instead of Kitty Pryde going back in time, it's Wolverine, because he's the only mutant that can physically survive the trip.  That's the biggest change.  Another one, is that the target of assassination was Senator Kelly.  But in the first X-Men film, Kelly was killed, so to maintain some kind of continuity with the other movies, they had to find another target, Peter Dinklage's character, Trask.  Honestly, the changes actually make sense when you watch the other movies.  The action sequences are stellar.  One of the highlights is Quicksilver's moment in the Pentagon, when they're trying to free Magneto.  Because the character moves so fast, it seems like time slows down, and it's both exciting and funny.  The scenes that take place in the future are dark, bleak and absolutely stunning when the X-Men make their final stand against the Sentinels.

Composer/editor John Ottman returns to give X-Men: Days of Future Past an exciting score with some very familiar themes.  It gives the action sequences a very frenetic pace, and the character-development moments an intimate and sympathetic feel that draws you in.  In a film like this, music is extremely important and ends up becoming a character itself.  So, how does this entry stack up to the others?  It's better than Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, for one.  Honestly, it's one of the best ones.  X2 is still number one on my list, and Days of Future Past comes in at number 2, with First Class taking the number 3 spot.  Days of Future Past has been designated the second film in the First Class trilogy.  So, we've got one more movie on the way, tentatively titled: X-Men Apocalypse.

Overall, X-Men: Days of Future Past is probably one of the best action movies this year and offers up some extremely compelling performances from it's lead actors.  With outstanding direction by Bryan Singer and some of the most visually striking action sequences I've seen in years, we have a movie that actually lives up to it's name-sake.  It's a great story with an extremely satisfying conclusion.  It's not a perfect movie, though.  One of the actors from the previous movies, Anna Paquin doesn't even make an appearance in this version of the movie, even though her name is on the list.  Apparently, they are releasing another version of the film next year that has Paquin's character, Rogue.  That seems like a pretty silly decision.  However, those little tidbits don't really detract from the experience as a whole.  It's an amazing experience.  It comes highly recommended at 9.5/10.  On a side note: As of this writing, the film is currently available on Blu-Ray and DVD.  My suggestion: Pick up the Wal-Mart version because it comes with an exclusive edition of the original Days of Future Past comic.  That's definitely worth 20 bucks.