Space Invaders

Aliens (1986)

Rating: R

Runtime: 154 minutes

Box Office (in today’s dollars): 181 million (approximately)

Characters: Ellen Ripley, Rebecca “Newt” Jorden, Carter Burke, Bishop, Sergeant Apone, Private Crowe, Corporal Dietrich, Private Drake, Corporal Ferro, Private Frost, Lieutenant Gorman, Corporal Hicks, Private Hudson, Private Spunkmeyer, Private Vasquez, Private Wierzbowski, Jonesy the cat

Cool Stuff: Power loader

Cool Music: If by cool you mean really quiet, only to set you up to be scared, then all of it

Cool Quote: “Get away from her, you bitch!”

Wow. This movie is scary. Wow. Ellen Ripley is awesome. There are several characters in this movie to choose from to either love or hate, but Ripley is by far the easiest to love. Newt is a cute kid with a sweet catchphrase, and Jonesy is (I think) the first cat to play a major role that I have encountered on my list of movies. Burke is a jerk, Bishop is an android, Hudson is a baby, Vasquez is a bad-ass, and Spunkmeyer is just fun to say. As far as the aliens are concerned ... well, they are terrifying and gross. Good thing Ripley is there to take care of them for good ...?

The movie takes place in space, so there are lots of ships and vehicles that are cool, but the power loader is the coolest. Without giving anything away, I’ll let you in on a little secret about the power loader: it was made for a man, but easily operated by a woman. There was not any memorable music from the movie, but that is what made it great. It was there quietly hanging out in the background and then an alien would jump out to scare you!

The coolest quote is probably one you don’t want to say in front of the kids. Most of the “cool quotes” from my list of ’80s movies have been pretty harmless ... ”We came. We saw. We kicked its ass” is the only one so far that has had any bad language ... until now. Ripley’s “Get away from her, you bitch!” is a classic and is delivered during Ripley’s finest moment.

Again, this was a movie that I did not see until I was much older. Sadly, the first of the Alien movies I saw was Alien Resurrection. Don’t judge me! I love me some Winona Ryder. My girlfriend says she prefers Aliens to Alien. I say watch this movie mostly with the lights on ... mostly.

Next movie to review: An American Tail