thiselemental Reviews

Alien 3 (1992)

Not as bad as some would have you believe.

[27 August 2006]

It's well known that Alien 3 got unfavourable reviews when it was first released, and also well documented that their were numerous problems during production, but I think the movies unpopularity and Luke warm reception is in part due to the first two movies. Yes, you heard me right, in part due the first two movies.

Alien is commonly considered a classic, and the sequel Aliens is probably one of the greatest sequels in movie history. Now, how on earth can you top both these movies, particularly when the movie going public after being treated to such a stupendous sequel expect something of similar quality. The answer in short is....you can't. Now, I wonder how Alien 3 would have been treated if it had been the first movie in the series. Probably a lot better in my opinion. Oh, I'll grant you it's a long way from being a classic movie, but nowhere near as bad as some people make out.

Let's try a little experiment, get someone who's never seen any of the Alien movies, and get them to watch Alien 3 and comment on it, or you yourself refrain from watching any of the movies in the series for a few months, then watch Alien 3 again, perhaps try the Special Edition version. You might be pleasantly surprised, and may even reassess your opinion.

PS View the 4th one in the series, that'll make anything look good!!!

The Thing from Another World (1951)

Remake's Rule!!!..............well, in this case ; )

[5/10 · 22 August 2006]

Don't you get fed up with people telling you to go watch the original?

After seeing the brilliant remake by John Carpenter in my youth, I was tempted to watch the original and I eventually did on TV. OK, it must have been great for it's time but, come on, get real people! Those who say that it still looks great after all these years must have stopped watching other movies as soon as they left the theater after watching the original! John Carpenter's version is just so good, so unsettling, and those gross out creature effects make the original look so unscary and dated.

So my advice as you can probably guess is, go see John Carpenter's remake and give the original a miss, which as I said before was probably scary in it's time, but is now a bunch of c!#p that wouldn't scare the most nervous of people.

Aliens (1986)

Great, great movie, but.................different to the first.

[9/10 · 14 August 2006]

I agree with almost everything from Paul Kydd's comments, except one! Yes, Aliens was and still is a great movie, and with hindsight, and particularly after we've seen what dross we've been served up with parts 3 and 4 it looks even better, but and its a big but, ALIENS DOES NOT SURPASS ALIEN!!! I remember seeing Aliens for the first time and believe it or not, it did not make that great an impression on me, and the reason is ALIEN and ALIENS are two different movies. Having already seen Alien I was not expecting the adrenaline pumping action of Aliens. After seeing it countless times since I have warmed to it and come to realise what a fantastic job Cameron did in creating what is one of the best sequels in any movie series.

So there in lies the problem, 2 great, but different movies. It all depends what your taste is, but for someone to say that one is better than the other and not appreciative of this fact is short sighted and disrespectful of one or other movie.

Jack Dee Live at the Apollo (2004– )

rather tired looking............and most importantly rather unfunny!

[5/10 · 12 August 2006]

Hey, didn't Jack Dee use to be funny.

I decided to watch this because Jack Dee was in it, but if I had known it was a made for TV series of shows and not a recording of one of his performances, or how unfunny then I would never have wasted my time.

Like the other reviewer I saw the show which had Joan Rivers as a guest, and I like them can't understand why Jack didn't use this opportunity to showcase new comedy talent instead of inviting a has-been like her. Her jokes were rather awful, and she seemed to have to resort to crudity, probably for lack of good material. Perhaps it was a deliberate act of not inviting good comedians, because they would have surely overshadowed their host! One to miss.