Disclaimer, this is a review of the edited version so that it does not receive an R rating. These thoughts are specifically from that version and the score will likely differ from uncut and cut versions.

Alien is a very popular film and it’s known as possibly being the greatest horror film of all time. This film gives Jaws a run for its money in popularity and there have been many rides and spin off media from the film. This is definitely what got aliens so popular, but does the film live up to this day?

The film starts with a crew of 7 in a spaceship. They are on their way back to earth, but they are awakened from their cryogenic sleep a little early. The ship informs them that a distress signal is being sent out from another ship. They go to investigate, but an alien latches itself onto one of the crew. Is the alien hostile!? It doesn’t look so tough, but big things tend to come in small packages. The alien is pretty nimble and there are many places to hide. Can the crew possibly stop him!?

The main cast of characters is pretty underwhelming for the most part. I can’t really say that there were any characters that stood out. Lambert is terrified of the alien creature and never gets past her fears. Her end is a pretty uncool way to go down and I doubt that she has many fans. Ash is the smart guy of the group and he doesn’t always obey orders. He definitely acts a little shady the whole time. Can they trust this guy!? Dallas is the captain of the crew, but he gets a really small role. I’m not sure what his point in the film really was in the end. Parker was the only member of the crew who seemed like he could fight with the alien, but his crew turned out to be a liability and they held him back. Ripley is the main character of the film, but it’s a little hard to guess that. While she does get most of the scenes at the end, she doesn’t get that much screen time for the first half. She ditched her cat at one point which takes points away from her.

The Cat was pretty cool and I’m glad that he didn’t end up dying. Alien must be one of the only horror films that avoided the obligatory animal death which earns the film some points. The Xenomorph is definitely deadly, but I preferred his portrayal in Aliens vs Predator. He’s still a pretty dangerous creature and was definitely the best character of the film.

Overall, Alien is a film that all horror fans will want to check out. There is a lot of tension throughout the film and it also goes into a lot of detail. The opening minutes are all for showing off the ship and the schematics. The ship is also advanced and has an A.I. named “Mother” Unfortunately it never seems to have enough data to make a decision. Alien lives up well as an alien classic, but I think we could have used some more alien action.

Overall 4/10

With the sequel nearly upon us, what better timing to watch Red than now right? Red plays out a bit like a James Bourne film and Frank Moses is constantly on the run. He knows how to handle himself so he’s usually not the one who’s in immediate danger. He has some partners who can be pretty tough as well.

Frank Moses has retired and he’s currently living the good life at home. He still does his daily workout but at least now there’s no pressure. He can do things at his own pace, but one day he is attacked by a hit squad. He dispatches them pretty easily, but now he needs to find out who is after him. Also he had been talking to Sarah Ross over the phone for a while and she was now a target as well. The two of them need to evade the hitmen long enough to find out what is going on.

Frank is a decent main character and for the most part he takes down just about everyone with ease. He’s very experienced at this sort of thing and we learn that he had a very legendary past. He’s made a lot of contacts over the years and they help him out. Some help in small ways and others play a very active role in helping him live through this.

Sarah is one of the other main characters of the film. While she doesn’t have any fighting experience to speak of, she takes it all pretty calmly towards the end. She did have one big fall that almost wrecked everyone’s chances, but I guess she had to make a mistake at some point. Cooper is the main antagonist of the film, but he’s technically not a bad guy. He’s just following orders (Which are pretty sketchy, then again..this is the government!) and he’s a pretty good fighter. He’s the only guy who actually gives Frank a decent fight. Cooper was one of the better characters in the film.

Joe Matheson is another ally, but I didn’t really like him. He never helped that much and his scenes just weren’t as good as the other guys. I think he could have been dropped from the film and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. Victoria and Ivan were also not that great. Ivan seemed to be thrown in at the last second and all of Victoria’s character development went down the drain during her final scenes.

Marvin Boggs was a pretty strong character and he’s the only one who seemed to be even more experienced than Frank. He was the only one to notice several things that saved their lives. He’s also a pretty good shot and he’s definitely not someone that you want to underestimate. His bear was also pretty intense.

Overall, Red was better than I had expected. The action was pretty good and the soundtrack was also solid. One negative was that the romance lasted a little longer than necessary. I think that they could have cut out all of those subplots and the film would have been even more epic. Still, Red is a pretty solid action film and I’d recommend it to the average moviegoer.

Overall 6/10

Godzilla is easily one of the most popular franchises of all time. Just about everyone knows about Godzilla and he has spawned countless parodies. (The latest one being PacZilla) Godzilla has been around since the 50’s and he’s adapted to the different ages. Back in the old days, he was a cheerful monster, but by the 90’s he grew darker to fit the culture. This is the final Godzilla movie (At the time of this article anyway) so let’s see if they did justice to his name.

Well, the film starts out with the army defeating Godzilla in the opening minutes. (I’m sure that many Godzilla fans wanted to leave the theater at that very moment) While that is a very edge way to start off the film, at least it shows that the movie is willing to take some risks. Years later, some hum-mutants are sparring in a dojo. They seem slightly stronger and a bit quicker than an average human, but that’s about it. One character almost goes too far during the training exercise and the other one seems to be the main character since he held back at the end. We learn that Kaijus are now hunted by the EDF to protect the world from their threat. They quickly take down Ebirah and we are reminded that some of the Kaiju have not aged well. If the Kaiju are unable to defend themselves from the army, they definitely live in a dangerous world.

Out of nowhere, A large array of Kaiju attack the earth. They manage to hit just about every corner of the globe and it makes you wonder when the Kaiju all learned how to work as a team….The Earth is saved by a friendly alien race. Aliens have been a very frequent plot point in Godzilla, so it was good to see them. The main characters also find out that aliens currently live among them as undercover agents. They uncover the plot, which leads to the aliens sending out all of the Kaiju. Earth counters with the Mighty Godzilla! That’s basically the story for the film. Can Godzilla take down every last kaiju!?

All right, let’s go over the human side of things first. I didn’t really care for any of the heroes. The main character had one decent moment where he attempted to punch one of the top ranked aliens, but after his attempt was effortlessly blocked, (And he didn’t attempt to continue fighting) the scene went to waste. Technically the human scenes were a lot more explosive and action packed than most Godzilla films, but I found myself missing some of the old Showa plots. The humans there knew how to have a good time even when they were in peril. The voice acting was also a lot more intense. Still, I am glad that Final Wars attempted to have some very epic human scenes. I think that the scenes are a lot better the first time around, but they’re still all right. At the very least, it’s still a fight.

The Aliens make for interesting villain. The initial leader is pretty generic and I doubt that he would have been the best choice. The guy who replaces him is pretty cool for the most part and his fight scene is the best (human one) in the film. Also, the main character looks a bit like Goku (DB Evolution) so when he fights with Kumasaka (The villain) it feels a bit like a DB Evolution sequel.

Of course, the meat of the movie is the Kaiju scenes! Not literally since they don’t get an abundance of screen time, but the monster scenes are the best part of the film. Once Godzilla is freed, the movie picks up tremendously. His opening fight with Gigan is a great way to start the monster battles. This is also my favorite incarnation of Godzilla (GMK being a close second) since he’s always ready to fight. He also doesn’t forget that the army tried to put him on ice and the movie doesn’t forget this. Godzilla seems to have gotten more skilled with his Atomic Breath and he uses it pretty frequently. It also has a lot more power than usual and the blast looks very impressive. It’s definitely the best shot that he’s ever taken. (The Meteorite shot)

Gigan got a very cool design upgrade and it made him seem that much cooler. He got several different fights in the film and he even took on the mighty Godzilla. His attack power is about average and his defense is very low, but he makes up for that with his ability to fly. Gigan’s first battle against Godzilla was definitely his highlight. Kumonga makes an appearance and I thought that it was a pretty accurate one. The outcome was how I had originally pictured his first fight against Godzilla to end up. Kamacuras gets a brief cameo, but he doesn’t look so good. At least they remembered to add him.

Zilla easily got one of the best roles in the film and I gained a lot of respect for him as a fighter. For those of you who are unaware, Zilla is the American monster who appeared in the 98 film. His intro is dynamic and he’s sent from the ship to attack Godzilla right off the bat. A great song by the name of “We Are All To Blame” plays during their battle and it still ranks as one of the best Godzilla battles of all time. Zilla’s speed is truly immense.

Hedorah gets a small cameo as well and he gets tied up with Ebirah. His fight scene wasn’t as fun as Godzilla’s and I think that he was pretty under powered. Ebirah looked pretty bad for most of the film and he actually lost to the army. Manda appears pretty early on in the film, but blink and you’ll miss him. Minya also returns, but his scenes are very boring. No cool Kaiju fights for him I’m afraid.

Godzilla’s old friends Rodan, Anguirus, and King Caesar team up to take him on. It was good to see some of the monsters try and team up to take the King down, but Godzilla was definitely far too strong for them. They’re nowhere near his level of power, so even teaming up it wouldn’t work. Anguirus can roll, but overall he’s one of the weaker monsters out there. Rodan has some pretty good flying abilities, but his attack power isn’t the best. King Caesar is pretty nimble, but his attacks seem to have no power behind them.

Mothra is the only monster to help Godzilla in this film. Once again she outshines his other friends and actually manages to take on Gigan. It’s a pretty epic scene, even if it’s a little tough to buy. A mysterious challenger attacks Godzilla as well. While I won’t say who it is, I will say that he’s pretty powerful and one of the coolest Kaiju out there.

Final Wars is definitely a film that all G fans should check out. The soundtrack for the film is pretty great and it’s easily the best Godzilla soundtrack to date. While the film missed out on four key monsters, Mecha Godzilla, Orga, Destoroyah, and Space Godzilla; They did a pretty good job making sure that most of the monsters came back. It was a great way to end the Godzilla movie series and I highly recommend it.

Overall 9/10

Achievements
Own It

The Messengers is an intriguing title, but nobody really gets to carry the message. After Roy Solomon loses his job and the family is pretty low on cash, they decide to go live on a farm. There’s not much to do around there, but the place looks all right. It’s not my type of place since there are way too many insects and bees around the flowers, but it could be worse. Jess starts to see ghosts and human/zombie hybrids around the house, but only her kid brother seems to notice them. The ghosts start to get more and more destructive, but how can she deliver the message to her parents?

Well, this movie deals with supernatural creatures who possess reality warping abilities. It wasn’t stated, but that power seems to make the most sense based on their feats. They can wreck the place and then bring it back together, Summon Crows, and even turn the very ground into mud. Of course, while the ghosts may be super powerful…they never show it. Sure, they can attack kids, but they seem to be afraid of showing themselves to the parents. So, for all of their power, they can’t win the big battles and they tend to need some help. They were incapable of overpowering the main character (Jess) and even once someone had thrown the main villain into the mud…they couldn’t keep him in. These guys were hardly the strongest ghosts out there.

I never really liked any of the cast, but they were all right. Jess was your average teen protagonist who can see the ghosts, but can’t convince anyone. Her kid brother lost his ability to talk after a car crash. Her parents are trying to live life to its fullest on the farm, but it’s tough work since the stains on the wall never go away. A stranger whose name is John (Suspicious eh?) comes along and says something about how this would be a good opportunity for him. He decides to work for sunflowers until the main characters get enough money to pay him.

I don’t think that I would let a total stranger live on the farm, but to each his own. I think I would have been satisfied with the ghosts, but at the end there is a plot twist which makes them a little irrelevant. Or at least it makes them less frightening. I didn’t like the plot twist and it brought the film down a couple of notches along with the obligatory animal death. If you’re a fan of horror movies, then maybe you’ll enjoy this one. (I’ve never been a horror fan myself)

Overall 2/10

The Hitch Hiker is a movie that had a unique idea, but it wasn’t handled the best way possible. Two guys are heading out to go fishing, but they pick up a hitch hiker on the road. He turns out to be evil and he’s got a gun. None of the two are brave enough to try anything and they must do everything that he says. Can they get enough nerve to do something or will they die!?

Well, the two main characters are very frustrating to watch. They let slip over 100 chances that they could have used to escape. Sure, seeing a gun can be unnerving, but there are two of them and one of him. If they both rushed him, they would have done just fine. Not to mention that if they quickly tackled him when he wasn’t expecting him, he’d only be able to get off one shot. It’s a risk that they definitely should have taken. It’s better to die on your feet than to die on your knees after all. Now some would argue that it was better to just go along with the guy and hope that he doesn’t destroy you, but not in this case. He tells them multiple times that he is going to destroy them when he’s good and ready. So, either way they’re going to die. Might as well put up a fight before you go down right?

The film is pretty short and it’s barely over an hour, but it drags on a bit. It’s really just them in the car and making little stops for the whole time. The police get involved and show why they’re the best in the biz, but I would have liked to see them appear a little more. There’s also a very unneeded scene where a dog dies and that definitely took some points away from the film. Animal violence in any film is pretty sad and always unneeded. That’s why real films like (The Avengers and Man of Steel) don’t resort to such things.

Overall, if you want to watch a movie about the good ole times before cell phones, then maybe give this one a shot, but to be honest, I wouldn’t recommend it. You’d be better off checking out the legendary Twilight Zone series. This film may not have been the best, but at least the cops finally got their due respect.

Overall 3/10

After the record breaking film that was The Avengers, there was definitely a lot of pressure on Iron Man 3. It would be the first film in the next wave of Marvel films that would come out before Avengers 2. Not to mention that the 2nd Iron Man film’s reception hadn’t been quite as good as the 1st.

The plot for the Iron Man 3 film was loosely based off of the Extremis storyline from the comics. The movie is drastically different from the comics with the only similarities being the Extremis serum and some of the character names. Dr. Aldrich Killian gets a decently large role in this film and we can’t forget about the Mandarin. One thing about the plot is that it does drag on for a while. The intro featured Tony Stark in the past, but was pretty boring and a whole third of the film had almost no point (Snow scenes where he meets a kid) If the film had cut out a good 30-40 minutes, it probably would have helped the pacing a lot. The interaction between the characters is definitely the weakest in the trilogy and you’re going to find yourself waiting for an action scene to pop up. Not to mention that there isn’t really a character that you can find yourself rooting for. Tony Stark is fun to watch during certain scenes, but others make you dislike him.

Pepper Potts and Rhodey get to appear in the film with very different roles. Rhodey looks pretty awful the whole time and his scenes definitely keep up the whole “War Machine always loses” trend. The way he lost made him look like a complete amateur and while they attempt to cover it up by giving him great aim with a gun, it just wasn’t enough. Pepper Potts is mostly just there for most of the film, but her role gets better during the climax. Definitely the best that she’s looked in the trilogy. Happy Hogan gets a bit of a role, but he’s pretty outmatched the entire time and he was only okay. He definitely could have handled things a bit better, but he was a lot better than in the first two films.

Tony Stark is portrayed as an inexperienced hero in this film. He’s technically a genius, but he doesn’t show it that much as he underestimates his opponents. He threatens the Mandarin on live TV and even tells the guy where he lives. It was Definitely a good thing to do and I’m glad that Stark made the right move, but the rest of his plan was pretty awful. Not only did he fail to evacuate his home, but he took the time to test out a suit that didn’t have any combat capabilities at the time. His home also didn’t have any security around it, so it was a walk in the park for enemies to come in and wreck the place.

The plot hits its low point when Iron Man goes to a snowy area and meets up with a kid. You don’t need to remember his name because the actual character doesn’t have much of a purpose in the film. Tony Stark keeps having stress attacks and it makes for a very bad subplot. Tony is not the kind of character who would let the near death experience (In the end of the Avengers movie) traumatize him like that. I really don’t think it would happen and he later gets over it for pretty much no reason. Stark also upgrades his tech so that it will respond to him whenever he needs it. Now he doesn’t have to even carry the armor with him as long as he can move to activate them from afar. It’s a decent improvement, but the film doesn’t exploit it this fact that much. He uses it plenty of times, but we never get to see it used that well for combat situations.

Alright, let’s finally start talking about some of the film’s positives! The villains in this film are a huge step up from the first two. The Iron Monger and Whiplash weren’t much of a threat and could barely hold their own. The Extremis meta humans provided Iron Man with a much better fight and they could do some fatal damage. The thing is, they were possibly too powerful. Iron Man couldn’t keep up with them at all and spent most of the film getting knocked around. If he had kept his traditional armor (From the first two films and Avengers) I think that the battle would have gone very differently. As it was, his new armors seemed to be far weaker and are not durable at all. One good shot would end just about any of his armors. Iron Man has to defeat most of them with good ole fashioned ingenuity, but most of his wins are a bit far fetched in the film. Either way, it’s better to have a villain that’s too powerful than one that’s extremely weak. The extremis villains made for epic fights and I wouldn’t mind seeing some of them in Avengers 2.

I haven’t mentioned the Mandarin much, but there isn’t much to say about him. At first he’s one of the most generic villains of all time and he’s basically a carbon copy of Bane. After his “epic” plot twist, you’ll either see him in a new light or just facepalm at the movie. I can’t say that I minded the twist, but if they had done it to a character that I actually had liked, I would have doomed the movie at that very moment. Killian gets the biggest role as far as villains go and he was alright. He was definitely a powerful opponent, but I can’t say much for his personality.

The climax is the best part of the film and it’s what saved Iron Man 3 from getting a mediocre score. Stark and his army of Iron Men team up to take on the Extremis super humans. The armors put up a brave fight and we get to see a lot of cameos that will make fans smile. Unfortunately they’re all pretty weak defense wise and one good attack will shatter them. They make up for this in sheer numbers and Iron Man has to go through many of them in his big battle against Killian. The climax is definitely pretty fun and it beats the climaxes of most of Marvel’s other big films. There are countless explosions and there are plenty of fights happening at once. Make sure that you keep your eyes peeled so that you see everything that’s happening.

Unfortunately the film ends on a really negative note. Stark makes a really bad move involving the “Clean Slate” protocol and also gets rid of an ally’s superpowers that would have come in handy for the future. The film also has a really underwhelming after credits scene that I didn’t find funny or epic. I would still recommend this film, but it is one that you can wait until DVD to watch. It’s a good addition to the marvel franchise, but nothing awe inspiring.

Overall 6/10

Superman has gotten quite a few films over the years. I have enjoyed all of them (Excluding Superman Returns) but none of them had the explosive fight scenes that today’s films contain. This film was a good opportunity to show that Superman can have a dynamic action sequence. Plus after the big disappointment that was Superman Returns, we needed a real Superman film!

Before we get into the action segments, let’s go over the plot. Right off the bat you know that it won’t be your average Superman origin story. Krypton looks like something out of Star Wars and it’s definitely a good way to start off the film. General Zod and his minions come into play almost immediately and take on the Council. Jor El takes them on while Superman heads to earth. It was a solid beginning and I liked Jor El’s robot assistants. I could have done without Superman being born into the world scene (It definitely dragged on) but it’s a little thing that won’t hurt the experience. After that we get to see Superman as a fisherman and save people from drowning, but it’s only once Kal El dons the legendary costume that the film picks up again. (On a side note, the new Superman costume is definitely pretty cool. I wouldn’t say that it beats the traditional one, but I have no problems with it. It beats the costumes that most superheroes have)

Now, you won’t want to go into this film comparing everyone to how their DCAU counterparts would act. The characters are definitely different and while they aren’t awful…they aren’t that great either. Lois Lane wasn’t quite the brave reporter that she usually is and her (very brief) romance with Superman comes out of left field. Their scene together definitely wasn’t necessary and I could have done without it. Perry White seemed off during the whole film and the rest of the Daily Planet staff never got to do anything important. Jor El was a pretty good character and he was a good fighter. (Although he let his guard down at a critical time) Jonathon Kent was one of the worst characters in the film. Not only does he tell Superman that he should have let a bus full of innocent kids die so that he could hide his super abilities, but also risks his dog’s life for the “greater good”. Almost every line that Pa Kent said made me cringe a little deep inside. This definitely wasn’t the character that I grew up with and unlike Superman, it wasn’t a good new version. While I wouldn’t say that Superman’s new attitude is better than the classic personality, it’s not a negative change. Jonathon Kent is no longer a character that can be looked up too or admired. Superman’s a good character as always and I didn’t mind his new personality. He doesn’t tend to mock his opponents or brag as much as he used too, but he gets the job done.

Let’s check in with the villains. General Zod made for a good opponent, but was a pretty two dimensional character. I wouldn’t call it a negative thing and I’d still take him over (Sorry folks) the Joker and Loki. General Zod talked a big game, but he could back it up and trade blows with one of the strongest superheroes on the planet. His two main minions, Faora and the power hitter of the group (No idea what his name was though) were also pretty interesting characters. Faora stole the show in hand to hand combat and definitely put up an excellent fight against Superman. (Faora taking on Wonder Woman would make for a great fight) Faora got more screen time than the 3rd minion and even rivals General Zod. Zod may have gotten the final fight scene against Superman, but Faora fought Superman as well as terminated many of the army grunts. The 3rd minion didn’t get much of a role, but had a pretty good fight with Superman and I thought that he was a pretty good fighter.

Now, would the villains have been as cool without the epic fight scenes? I highly doubt it! The fight scenes in Man of Steel are definitely top notch and definitely the best fight scenes in any live action film. There is no film that can even compare with Man of Steel’s action scenes. Avengers, Godzilla, even Spiderman, none of them had the speed and power that the Man of Steel’s battle scenes brought to the table. The soundtrack also gave the battle scenes an extra boost as the music complemented the scenes perfectly. They definitely reminded the audience that these fight scenes had high stakes. As for General Zod’s ending…I can definitely see how it would be controversial. I don’t think that it absolutely needed to happen and I’m maybe a bit skeptical that such a thing would be done to Zod, but hey…it happened in the comics (Albeit in a similar way) didn’t it? So, it wasn’t an extremely shocking thing to me.

The one problem about being a great film is that it puts more pressure on the sequel. We’re going to need more than Lex Luthor if the next film is to match up against this one. Doomsday or Darkseid would make for a pretty great villain, but there aren’t many other Superman villains who could help the sequel surpass this one. General Zod and his men were the perfect adversaries for Superman since they could (almost) match him blow for blow. Still, I will hold out hope for the sequel, after all I hadn’t thought that this film had much potential after seeing the first trailer.

Overall, the Man of Steel is a film that you’ll definitely want to check out. It’s easily the greatest film in a looooong time. Definitely top 5 material and excluding a certain Kaiju series…it is the greatest (live action) film of all time. I highly recommend checking out this film while it’s still in theaters. You won’t regret it!

Overall 9/10

The Beast From (the) Haunted Cave is an old horror (It doesn’t feel like one) film that involves a group of criminals who plan to rob a town and then escape by tricking the skiing instructor into letting them stay at his cabin. After that they would make a quick getaway in their Helicopter (Or Plane, I forget at the moment, but it was definitely an aerial vehicle!) Once the monster comes in…will their plan succeed!?

Alright, let’s start off with the characters. This film had a pretty awful cast and you’ll finish the film without remembering a single name. Now the film was only a little over an hour so you didn’t get to see that characters for a very long amount of time, but it was definitely enough. If you can’t make a character interesting within the first 30 minutes of his screen time, then he’ll never get cool. Also, the film moves at a really slow pace. The first 30+ minutes is spent developing the romance between the two main characters and having the villains make small talk. The film would have been better if they could have cut out most of the romance, made the characters more likable, and also show the police taking on the monster.

That being said, let’s talk about the monster. He is easily one of the weakest monsters in movie history. This isn’t even an exaggeration folks, he can barely overpower a human. When the main monster can barely beat a human, then what can he do!? He seemed to be a of a spider-human hybrid, but he’s far too slow to be a real threat. Even when he does capture his victims, he doesn’t actually finish them off for a while. One human managed to stay alive for almost 2 days until he finally finished her off. The monster doesn’t have much of a presence in the film because he tends to stick to the shadows, but even when he steps out it’s usually not for the best.

The Beast From (The) Haunted Cave is definitely not a film that I recommend. Even if you are a big monster fan, then I recommend checking out Godzilla, Gamera, or the Beast from 20000 Fathoms. Those movies know how to show off a monster and make him a threat. This monster was no such thing and even though the film is short, you’ll find that it feels like a never ending summer blockbuster.

Overall 3/10