Movies in 2026 101

 

Alien, (Ridley Scott, 1979)

I took a break from Czech New Wave last night and we watched Ridley Scott's 1979 film Alien, the one that began a never-ending franchise (one in which even Scott revisited decades later). The inspiration was an odd one. After a gym trip yesterday I popped into Shaw's and saw the ABC book A is for Alien in the grocery store's tiny magazine/book section. Of course, I had to purchase it (I think this has belated birthday gift for my son written all over it). Anyway, Janet and I read it and it inspired her to go back and watch the original, which led to me digging out my massive Alien boxed set (I think I also have a copy of Alien vs Predator somewhere). I suspect we'll be watching all of them. I think the original Alien holds up really well, certainly better than Star Wars. A couple of the special effects now look a little clumsy, but I also had to remind myself that the film is almost fifty years old (which made me feel even older than I already feel).

This is really the sort of writing that I should devote myself to during my retirement. The fact that this exists is both pretty funny but also subversive and more than a little perverse, but at least it's not that woman reading "children's books" that are thinly veiled and cringe-worthy wink-wink porn that YouTube thinks I should watch.