Ultimate 70s Blogathon Kick-Off: Alien (1979)

Ultimate 70s Blogathon officially kicks off today.

To get things started, my lovely cohost Drew from Drew’s Movie Reviews and I will be starting things off at both of our blogs today. To kick off the blogathon, I am reviewing Alien, a movie released nearly 40 years ago and started off a franchise that has been getting a revivial in the last few years. For that, it deserves its spot in this blogathon! For myself, this movie holds a significant spot as one of the first 70s film that I ever saw.

Lets check it out!

Alien (1979)

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto

After a space merchant vessel perceives an unknown transmission as a distress call, its landing on the source moon finds one of the crew attacked by a mysterious lifeform, and they soon realize that its life cycle has merely begun. – IMDB

Alien is a 1979 sci fi horror thriller directed by Ridley Scott. Everyone knows that but I honestly had no idea how to start off this review about such a popular movie. As much as it kicks off a franchise, the debate of whether this film or its sequel Aliens is better is almost inevitable. However, while both are very good in their own respects, Alien is one that has always got my heart. It really is quite iconic from both the perspective of its story, the atmosphere, the iconic female protagonist and its impeccably brutal alien Xenomorph, it hits a lot of elements perfectly.  Alien can sometimes feel slightly slower in its pacing but this also is where its tense thriller and horror-esque atmosphere is built so well.The darker environment and the mysterious mists here and there along with the foreign space they investigate create some rather creepy imagery right down to the epic face hugger scene and can only send chills down your spine.

The predatory abilities of the Xenomorph is an unknown and as we follow the different characters and their different encounters, we learn a little more. Xenomorph is one of the outstanding parts of this film. Its a speciman to gain knowledge about and as it develops and transforms throughout the film, making a speechless villain have an incredible amount of presence both psychologically and physically.

A great villain needs to be met with someone worthy to fight them off amd here we have the femme fatale Ellen Ripley who really is the standout character in the movie. Everyone else just fills a spot but Sigourney Weaver’s role portrayal of Ellen Ripley is done so well. She’s tough and smart. The encounters are tense but she also knows how to feel quite real. You can almost say that she breaks the mold of the leading men and their badass role but taking on this tough lady role who fights for survival against this monster alien. As much as Ellen Ripley is a great character and the other supporting roles here as the other six crew members feel dispensable, there are still some decent performances delivered. Ellen Ripley played a voice of reason and the consequences of not listening to her eventually was what caused the disaster on the spaceship.

Revisiting older movies are tough to review. On one hand, its inevitable that some will not carry well over time especially sci-fi films because technology has changed so much over the years. Somehow, as much as technology changed and the tech here seems out of date along with some of the effects, Alien still carries itself really well. The horror moments with the face hugger and the Xenomorph are still creepy and believable. The ship feels real enough to be immersed in the events happening on the spaceship. Overall, Alien as a rewatch delivers itself really well and is still an immersive and thrilling watch and shows how before its times it was when it was released in 1979 with a bunch of unique elements that fit so well together.

Head over to Drew’s Movie Reviews to check out his review to kick off the Ultimate 70s Blogathon some time today!
For the rest of the blogathon, posts will be showing up alternate days between our blogs.
Remember to follow us to not miss out on any of the fantastic entries!

The Ten Most Iconic Female Movie Characters Blogathon

Thanks to Natasha at Life of This City Girl for this blogathon relay: The Ten Most Iconic Female Movie Characters Blogathon.

I’ve been ridiculously behind on going through all the posts in my email inbox so I didn’t even realize she had passed it to me.  I’m painfully behind with the one week deadline so I’m extremely sorry. I hope I didn’t get kicked out because I’m making it up by getting it up within 12 hours since I knew about it. Hopefully that makes up for it?

This blogathon is started by Dell on Movies.  I just started following this blog and its absolutely awesome! You should drop by to check out the Horror marathon for October and all the other reviews.  I’ve only had time to check out a bit but I’ve enjoyed a lot of it. This blogathon relay was passed on to the following bloggers:

Dell on Movies
My Filmviews
Time Well Spent
Flixchatter
The Warning Sign
Public Transportation Snob
Martin Teller’s Movie Reviews
Film Grimoire
Alex Raphael
Silver Screen Serenade
Screenkicker
Cinema Parrot Disco
The Sporadic Chronicle of a Beginner Blogger
Life of This City Girl

 So here’s the deal as Dell on Movies explains:

A list of 10 iconic female movie characters has been made. That list will be assigned to another blogger who can then change it by removing one character (describing why they think she should not be on the list) and replacing it with another one (also with motivation) and hand over the baton to another blogger. Once assigned, that blogger will have to put his/her post up within a week. If this is not the case the blogger who assigned it has to reassign it to another blogger.

Here is the current list after Natasha has removed M and replaced her with Maria Von Trapp:

 

This is a super hard list to choose because for one, I haven’t seen a few of these characters and the ones that I’ve seen, I believe they belong exactly where they are. So, who to remove? The choice goes taking out Shosanna Dreyfus.  There is really one reason.  And that’s because all the other girls, regardless if I’ve seen the movie or not, I’ve heard of them and know of who they are. However, for Shosanna Dreyfus, I had to search up who she is.

I’ll replace her with:

I struggled with choosing a replacement mostly because I was choosing between Laurie Strode, returning Mary Poppins but then Hermione Granger has been in our lives for 8 years with the Harry Potter series.  If anything, its always a joy to watch the smart and talented Hermione Granger.  She begins as just a clever geeky girl who wants to excel in magic especially since her parents are ordinary folks.  Although all she wants to do is focus on her own studies, we watch her grow as she grows brave and courageous for her best friends.  She isn’t afraid to eventually break a rules if it means that she could help out. Her amazing magic talent with a wand or potions or spells makes her an even more important to the whole Harry Potter situation. She didn’t just grow up as Hermione Granger but she also introduced us to an amazing young actress, Emma Watson.  That’s why she deserves to be here.

Thanks to Natasha again for giving me the opportunity to participate  in blogathon relay! Even if I’m late, it really wasn’t deliberate.  I don’t know if she passed it on to someone since I passed the week deadline but if she did, then this is just something extra, I guess 😉 I’d completely understand.  And thanks to Dell on Movies for starting this awesome idea.  Remember to go check out these two lovely blogs.  I promise lots of fun! 🙂

I now pass this on to Ryan at Ten Stars or Less. You have a week! Good luck! 🙂