Aliens (1986)

One of the evolutionary films of the 20TH Century was 1979's Alien which was one of the first films to feature a woman as the main hero of the film. That was a huge move back in the day considering that most films featured men as the heroes and women were always rescued. That is why I decided to check out the sequel in 1986's Aliens which was written and directed James Cameron (Terminator: Dark Fate). The film once again stars Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters) as Ripley who has been frozen for over 57 years on her ship when she is found after the events of the first film. Since that time, as colony had already set up shop on the moon, but the problem is that they've lost contact and now Ripley is on her way back with Colonial Marines, but do they have the firepower to handle what is happening? The film also stars Carrie Henn (Alien³) as Newt, Michael Biehn (The Terminator) as Corporal Hicks, Paul Reiser (The Little Hours) as Burke, Lance Henriksen (Alien Vs Predator) as Bishop, Bill Paxton (Weird Science) as Hudson, William Hope (Captain America: First Avenger) as Lt. Gorman, Jenette Goldstein (Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas) as Private Vasquez, Mark Rolston (Rush Hour) as Drake, Al Matthews (Superman III) as Sgt. Apone, and Ricco Ross (Mission: Impossible) as Frost.

Prior to viewing this film, I had only seen Alien and Alien: Covenant so I didn't really know what to expect going into this one. I will say that the original had a certain magic to it thanks to Ridley Scott who gave it that horror element whereas James Cameron was going for the more big budget blockbuster style we had seen in plenty of his films. Now I am not taking anything away from his version because it was really good and it had me glued, but I liked that he added a more corporate element to it. The addition of Burke (Reiser) added a different element naturally because he looks at things in a dollars and sense kind of way and he would naturally have conflict with everyone else. Up until now, we never really had that element in the previous film so you need a more human villain and he was perfect. The Aliens themselves were absolutely awesome including the introduction of the very pissed off mama alien who does not appreciate what Ripley and Co. are doing. The element of suspense wasn't as great as the first film, but there were some really good intense moments in this one. I absolutely loved the cast of the film and I thought the choices were great especially the late Bill Paxton. Some of the special effects were a little noticeable at times, but overall it was actually pretty good and it has to be for a film like this. I think I am definitely looking forward to continue the journey towards having seen every film in the series, but I fear they are not as good as this one. I am going to go ahead and give this film an A- for a final grade.

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

In 2018, the Halloween franchise did something no other franchise has been able to successfully do and that was to forget every single sequel film or reboot ever made and just start over. They basically said that only the first film was cannon, brought back the original director in a producing capacity, brought back some actors, and knocked it out of the park. So, Hollywood natural follows in those footsteps because they look at numbers, So, here comes Terminator: Dark Fate which tells you to ignore everything that has happened after Terminator 2: Judgement Day and they did what I said in bringing back James Cameron as a producer and originally lead actress Linda Hamilton. It seems that the future has been changed thanks to Sarah Connor and skynet is no more, but there is just one question. Why is a terminator being brought back to the past and what does he want with Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes)? That is for Grace (Mackenzie Davis), an enhanced human from the future to answer as she tries to protect Dani from this fierce Terminator. The film also stars Gabriel Luna (Bernie) as Gabriel/Rev-9, Diego Boneta (Rock Of Ages) as Diego, Arnold Schwarzenegger (T2: Judgement Day) as Carl/T-800, Edward Furlong (T2: Judgement Day) as John Connor Reference, and the film was directed by Tim Miller (Deadpool).

Spoiler Alert: Do not read on if you do not want to know any details about the film because some information will be spoiled. One thing is for certain and that is I didn't really like the film, but there are elements that I did like about it. So, they had to explain why there was a new Terminator coming to the past if Skynet was no more and that was because if it didn't happen then how can we learn from it? They basically tell you that society was doomed to create the problem anyways because we are obsessed with AI and technology. So while Skynet is no more, there is just another company waiting in the wings to become the leaders in technology and the earth is doomed. Now, what I didn't like about the film is that for a while it felt too nostalgic and it felt like a pissing contest that hey I am way cooler because I am the original savior. The other problem is that Grace's story which in turn is also Dani's story is just so uninteresting to begin with. Why are we supposed to care about someone who becomes a super soldier? It was one of those moments when I was like OK let's move on. The other thing was Arnold Schwarzenegger appearance in this film because if we are ignoring all the sequels then he shouldn't exist. Well what made sense is that Skynet had dispatched multiple Terminators and this one caught up to Sarah Connor in the past, but what he becomes is a little lame. You're meaning to tell me that after almost 30 years, you wife can't tell that you are a robot? There was just too much wrong with the story to care about the action making up for it. I know the film did well in the box office (it at least made it's money back and then a little some), but hopefully this is the last of the franchise. I am going to give the film an C- for a final grade.