Ranking the Alien Franchise, from Classic to Calamity

by Cláudio Alves

They call it a perfect organism. The beast brings forth destruction like nothing else in the universe, designed for maximum lethality and single-minded bloodlust. It slays and reproduces, only ever caring about the perpetuity of its kind over other living creatures. There are many ways for it to come into the world, whether through a mysterious black liquid or intelligent spores, an infection, or insemination by a violating face hugger. It is the product of mutation, ravaging existing beings as incubators or raw material for a further step in monstrous evolution. So, is it perfect or just good at killing and hard to kill? Is it perfect or an abomination? Am I talking about the xenomorph or the franchise that birthed it?

Through transforming genres and crossbreeding with other movie legacies, through artistic inspiration and corporative rot, through thick and thin, masterpieces and mediocrities, the Alien movies have persisted across decades. With its ninth installment now in theatres, it's a good time to take a look back at the saga and rank its nine films...

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Weekend Box Office: Repeats and "Missing"

By Ben Miller

Hollywood is becoming exceedingly lazy in getting out new films these days.  Maybe it's the hangover from the pandemic, or maybe economics are finally starting to catch up with studios.  Regardless, Avatar: The Way of Water stayed comfortably at the top box office spot for the sixth week.  James Cameron's film is now the 13th-highest grossing domestic hit and the sixth film (and third Cameron film) to gross $2 billion worldwide.  The only new release of note was Missing, the psuedo-sequel to 2019's Searching.  Budgeted at a reasonable $7 million, it made back its money in one week.  Good reviews (82% on Rotten Tomatoes) could help its legs in the coming weeks...

Weekend Box Office (actuals) Jan 20th-22nd 🔺 = new or expanding /  ★ = Recommended
WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS)	LIMITED / PLATFORM
THE WAY OF WATER	THE SON
1 ★ AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER $20 (cum. $598.2) 3790 screens	1 🔺★   WOMEN TALKING $380k (cum. $1.1) 153 screens
2 ★ PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH  $11.5 (cum. $126.4) 3,611 screens	2 🔺 THE SON $239k *NEW* 554 screens

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Split Decision: “Avatar: The Way of Water”

No two people feel the exact same way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of each of the awards movies this year. Here’s Glenn Dunks and Cláudio Alves on James Cameron’s latest.

GLENN: Hi Cláudio! Welcome to Pandora... the whales are majestic, the grass gets you stones (mmhmmm) and the eyewear are Ray-Bans. An awful lot of ink has been spilled across the 13 years between Avatar movies. Ink about how nobody remembers Avatar. Ink about how it has no cultural imprint. Ink about how nobody knows the characters' names. Ink about how nobody actually even liked the 2009 original and it was purely a hit because of the 3D. And yet here we are with a James Cameron movie already having become (yet again) the highest grossing movie of the year and also potentially (yet again) the leader of the nomination board on Oscar morning 2023…

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Oscar Volley: Which five will be named "Best Director"?

Team Experience will be discussing each Oscar category as we head into the precursors. Here's Eric Blume and Glenn Dunks...  

THE FABELMANS

ERIC:  Glenn, before we get to this year's nominees, I just want to celebrate the Academy's relative great taste in this category compared to most others.  It's phenomenal that only once in the last 14 years has this award gone to a straight white American man (Damien Chazelle, deservedly in my opinion).  In those years, we've had three women, two Asian men, two Brits, and a French guy who have won, plus three great Latin filmmakers (including double wins for Iñárritu and Cuarón).  It's the category where they now have diversity and true talent.  I might have chosen differently in any given year, but none of the filmmakers are bad or untalented.  Tom Hooper beating David Fincher didn't land back then and certainly hasn't aged well, but regardless it's a great category filled with remarkable work.

This year, it seems our one lock is Steven Spielberg?  He wouldn't be in my top five, but he's received the reviews and the industry is in his back pocket...

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Linky Chatterley

• Cartoon Brew the long awaited animated feature adaptation Nimona is back on. Now at Netflix since Disney shuttered it mid production. It was first announced way back in 2017.
• Out Pedro Almodóvar's gay western short Strange Way of Life will premiere at Cannes in May
• AV Club RIP documentarian Julia Reichert (American Factory)

NIMONA

More after the jump including Paul Mescal's taste buds, Amazon Prime numbers, Lady Chatterley's Lover sex scenes, and a tribute to a movie poster giant...

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