“Aliens” is my absolute favorite movie of all time. You’ve got space marines, hot women, super creepy monsters, big killing weapons and hardware, super action scenes and really funny throw away lines.
By the way, I HATED “Alien 3” because they killed the little girl and the last marine during the opening credits. I’d recovered enough to actually enjoy “Alien:Resurection” and the only-OK AVP.
— Dismal still thinks about the aliens when he’s home alone on a dark night
Aliens kicked ass!!! Great movie…
I loved Hudson… “Hey, maybe you haven’t been keeping up on current events, but we just got our asses kicked, pal!”
Alien 3 was sad… I just kept thinking, why did they ruin another good movie series…
I also did NOT like Alien ressurection, although, it was better then 3.
I liked AVP for a couple of reasons. They did a good job of keeping continuity between the Alien series and Predator series. I also like that there were really no big name actors, and that in the end[spoiler] everyone dies except the chick that didn’t want to go in the first place…[/spoiler].
I like Alien the more than the sequels. Never saw it in the theater, no one would go with me due to the rumors of people vomitting during the movie. Finally saw it on HBO in the 80’s. Sat down with a plate of spagetti on my lap to watch and nearly spagettied the ceiling when I jumped at the alien popped out of John Hurt’s chest.
Oh yeah! I went to the theatre with my younger brother who told me when it was okay to uncover my eyes. And he had to take my popcorn away from me. I have an active startle reflex.
The original was awesome, the second was pretty darn good, and the third was…well…I’ve honestly never made it all the way through without falling asleep. Seriously.
Resurrection WOULD have been better if I could think about anything other than “How great could this have potentially been if they didn’t crap all over Joss fantastic script??” when I watch it. That movie’s only saving grace was Ron Perlman: “I am not the man with whom to f**k!” It’s so eloquent! Like Deadwood, but in space! 
What is weird for me is that I saw the Alien trilogy in the following order:
Aliens
Alien Resurrection
Alien
Why this is so strange is the simple fact I thought Aliens was the most amazing groundbreaking movie ever. I saw Alien Resurrection and although there were some good bits, overall…not so good.
On a whim I watched the first movie and was blown away…not that it was amazing, but that it was exactly the same movie as Aliens. Seriously. Practically scene by scene. Sure, they multiplied the number of Aliens, increased the scale, put it on a planet and added a cute little girl, but in the end, same movie (before you make a counter argument ask yourself: “How did the first movie and the second movie end?”)
Was Aliens awesome? Yes. Still a great movie? Absolutely. It simply lost some of its cred in my mind when I discovered the script was pretty much a lift and polish from the original. They figured it wasn’t broke, so do it again bigger badder better.
I agree with you Solai, but ultimately, I think that was kind of the point.
The Aliens were nothing more then genetically killing machines. Their only purpose was to reproduce, gestate and destroy.
We saw it on a minor scale in the first movie, which was far more creepy/scary then violent/scary. Then in the second one, we saw what happens when the aliens are allowed to find a mass breeding ground. The aliens act identically, but thier numbers increase exponentially .
I think for me personally, I would have like to have seen the third movie take place on Earth and see a third version of Aliens on a global scale…
That would have kicked some major ASS!!
AVP had that potential, but they limited it to Antartica… whatever, I want a Hollywood director who is not afraid of wiping out all of humanity … LOL
…or as I like to call it, Alienss.
One phrase: “That’s it, man. Game OVER.”
Paxton rules.
I always thought “Aliens” was underappreciated; the first one was a monster/Horror Movie. Number two Was an action movie, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it but if memory serves me there’s a flame thrower, I mean how can you go wrong with frick’en flame thrower and aliens,
(and if I am mistaken about the flame thrower I’ll pretend it had one cause its cooler that way.)
Either way Bill Paxton kicks butt in this movie. 
and the fourth, crappiest installment, penned by none other than Joss Whedon (but don’t ask him to admit it), contains characters that I believe contain the seeds of several we see in Firefly. Ron Perlman as neanderthal Jayne, Michael Wincott a less scrupulous Mal, Both Winona Ryder and Sigourney Weaver’s not-Ripley contain elements of River.
yeah, I’ve seen this movie more times than it deserves. and no, I don’t particularly care for it.
edited because this comment belongs in another thread
Duh
You know, I think that is the perfect way of thinking about it. Combine that thought with Darthweef’s observation regarding the first versus the second, I am with you. I agree with everyone that Bill Paxton rules, bringing enough comedy without being “the funny guy”. Bishop will always be one of my favorite characters.
But for frak’s sake…did they have to blow the alien out of the airlock? Again? Seriously? Couldn’t think of another way to take care of it? Stick a firehouse down the gullet? Freeze it? Machine gun could work too…
That’s my favorite of the series. The Marines, the corperate agenda, Ripley’s protective mom-moment (wonderfully copied by Mrs. Weasley in HP#7) and the great fight scenes. I did enjoy AVP more than I expected too. The sad thing is we still don’t see many women in film with Ripley’s strength or complexity. Maybe that’s why I’m so drawn to BSG.
First off I always said the third movie should have had a different name…
1st - Alien
2nd - Aliens
3rd - Even More F*cking Aliens
but they screwed it up by making #3 a single moster movie again…
I agree that the basic format of the first movie was repeated in the second, but with a lot more action, drama, characters to cheer for and MONEY… the second movie had a decent budget that allowed them to do a lot more stuff, especially in the special effects department. It was just bigger in every way… and overlooked so far is the part played by Paul Riser as the evil corporate guy who screws everybody over. He was great.
— Dismal who still thinks he might find one of the aliens hiding under the car when he goes into the garage on a dark and spooky night
No, no, NO!
The brilliance of Aliens/z is that they did NOT remake the first movie. The first one was a bogey-monster movie, and well done. The second one was a action-adventure, with a bit of horror-suspense thrown in to keep you off-balance.
Yeah, the others sucked. Not “Star Wars Prequels”-sucked, but still…
Even though it is kind of expensive the huge DVD collection Alien Quadrilogy is worth it. Each movie has 2 cuts the theatrical and extended directors cut. While thats nice the really great part is that each movie comes with an extra making of dvd. And they pull no punches on the making, casting, production and post production. They interview everyone.
There are some great stories like the entire crew going on strike during Aliens because they all hated James Cameron. Or Micheal Beihn being so pissed that he wasn’t in Alien 3 that he refused to allow his likeness to be seen so they had to pay him almost as much to use his picture as they did for him to star in Aliens. There is a ton of cool stuff on those documentary discs and if you are even a little bit of an Alien fan your in for a treat.
There’s a scene in T2 when Miles Dyson is first introduced and he goes into the vault that is absolutely identical to a scene in Aliens when we first see the colonists before the aliens come.
1st movie - Horror
2nd movie - great action adventure
3rd movie - extreme suckfestaramma on a craaaaaaap sandwich
4th movie - very nice attempt at repeating the magic of #2, but missed by that much (Dismal holds his fingers very close together).
5th movie - hey, where’s my imagionary girlfriend?
I love these movies so much I’ve purcheased them on VHS, DVD, DVD special edition collection and then again when the Quadrilogy came out (thank god for ebay).
— Dismal the Alien lover (well, maybe if I could figure out which ones are female)
4th movie missed by more than a little bit, dismal.
OMG, I never thought of that! Awesome!
I too, own the Quadrilogy, and I found on repeated viewings that I didn’t hate A3 that much. Still could’ve been so much more, though, especially when you watch the extra features about how it started out. Like a lot of sci-fi properties though, I think the studio just saw it as a quick, sure way to make cash no matter what they did with it, so they put pressure on to make it quick and fast instead of good.