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Reviews

'Life': Wait, Haven't We Seen This Before?

Life disregards its genre predecessor, Alien to the detriment of the film.

Film

Is A.I. the New Other?

Aliens and robots are swapping seats as filmic sci-fi reformulates its visions of the foreign and the familiar.

Film

Deconstructing the Star Beast: How the 'Alien' Saga Went Wrong

Alien was a planned B-Movie that transcended its genre and spawned the rare sequel that is neither imitation nor complete deviation. Then the saga went to hell.

Film

10 Terrific Films With Alternate Endings

With the birth of home video, filmmakers have been able to tinker with their vision. Here are ten examples, however, of where their original endings were changed before said movies were released.

Film

Celluloid Androids: The Big Screen's Fascination with Robots

Robots and Replicants... Between utilitarian tools and far too human replacements lies the Uncanny Valley. The Next Reel explores Cinema's love/ hate relationship with the automaton.

Games

Creatures of Appetite: The Virtues of Covetousness in Video Games

In games like Diablo, Infinity Blade, or Rogue Legacy, winning is merely a vehicle to more effective acquisition. And that makes me a little leery about myself as a gamer.

Games

A Stranger in His Own Land, or 'Assassin's Creed III' and the Alien

The worst thing about Connor as a character seems to me to have less to do with him possibly serving as an ethnic stereotype and more to do with the fact that he often just doesn't seem human at all.

Film

Building the Perfect Star Beast: The Antecedents of 'Alien'

The impact of Alien is undeniable, and with Prometheus breathing new, terrifying and artistic life into the saga, Alien's legacy could go anywhere. However, Alien didn't spring, fully-formed onto movie screens as the near-perfect Star Beast that it is.

Books

Enter the Posthuman: 'Alien Phenomenology'

In a world overrun by objects, everything's a 'thing' from another world.

Film

Explaining the 'Prometheus' Love/Hate

Ridley Scott abandoned Alien after the first film, allowing James Cameron, David Fincher, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet to run wild with it. As a result, his return was bound to be polarizing.

Film

An 'Alien' (Prequel) Primer

So what do you need to know about the Alien films before lining up for 8 June's Prometheus? Well, not much, actually.

Film

The Thing (2011): Bringing Quiet Tones and Space Vaginas Back from the '80s

Matthijs van Heinjningen Jr.'s prequel to John Carpenter's The Thing summons the chilly vibe and the cinema-sexual psychoanalytic undertone of the best of '80s genre cinema. It's only the generic modern "female empowerment" story that seems dated.

Comics

The Death and More Still of the Malignant Man

At its heart, Malignant Man is not a horror comic. Nor does it try to be. It’s a dark thriller that combines action, suspense and a bit of fun into a tale that ends up reminding as a combination of The Matrix and Alien. But…

Charles Moss

Comics

The Story of a Woman on the Morning of a War

Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising is a rich and complex work teasing out the personal price paid by soldiers set on the stage of grand ideological battles for liberty and against the backdrop of deep drama of military tactics. There couldn't be a better choice than Hilary Swank for the just-announced upcoming movie.

Reviews

'Riverworld' Suffers From a Slow-moving Current

This Riverworld reboot improves on the 2003 version, but that's no grand achievement.

Film

Blue World: James Cameron's 'Avatar'

Cameron's evocations of everything from Blackwater's Iraq massacres to the Trail of Tears gives his story an uncommon resonance.

Music

Strapping Young Lad: Alien

As is always the case, the latest opus from Canada's metal mastermind is not for the faint of heart.

Adrien Begrand

Reviews

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Features

England's Postwar Paranoia Creeps in the Shadows of Three Film-Noirs

29 Black Music Documentaries for Black History Month 2020: #4 'My Mic Sounds Nice: The Truth About Women and Hip Hop'

Perfect Harmony: An Interview with Legendary Vocal Group the Waters

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PM Picks

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Pop Ten

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 1: 100 - 81

The 25 Best Classic Progressive Rock Albums

20 Films That Went From Bombs to Beloved

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 2: 80 - 61

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 5: 20 - 1

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '90s - Part 1 (100 - 81)

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 3: 60 - 41

Jackie Chan's 10 Best Films

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 4: 40 - 21

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Life disregards its genre predecessor, Alien to the detriment of the film.

Aliens and robots are swapping seats as filmic sci-fi reformulates its visions of the foreign and the familiar.

Flops, superheroes, monsters and noir in The Next Reel.

Alien was a planned B-Movie that transcended its genre and spawned the rare sequel that is neither imitation nor complete deviation. Then the saga went to hell.

With the birth of home video, filmmakers have been able to tinker with their vision. Here are ten examples, however, of where their original endings were changed before said movies were released.

Robots and Replicants... Between utilitarian tools and far too human replacements lies the Uncanny Valley. The Next Reel explores Cinema's love/ hate relationship with the automaton.

In games like Diablo, Infinity Blade, or Rogue Legacy, winning is merely a vehicle to more effective acquisition. And that makes me a little leery about myself as a gamer.

The worst thing about Connor as a character seems to me to have less to do with him possibly serving as an ethnic stereotype and more to do with the fact that he often just doesn't seem human at all.

The impact of Alien is undeniable, and with Prometheus breathing new, terrifying and artistic life into the saga, Alien's legacy could go anywhere. However, Alien didn't spring, fully-formed onto movie screens as the near-perfect Star Beast that it is.

In a world overrun by objects, everything's a 'thing' from another world.

Ridley Scott abandoned Alien after the first film, allowing James Cameron, David Fincher, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet to run wild with it. As a result, his return was bound to be polarizing.

So what do you need to know about the Alien films before lining up for 8 June's Prometheus? Well, not much, actually.

Matthijs van Heinjningen Jr.'s prequel to John Carpenter's The Thing summons the chilly vibe and the cinema-sexual psychoanalytic undertone of the best of '80s genre cinema. It's only the generic modern "female empowerment" story that seems dated.

At its heart, Malignant Man is not a horror comic. Nor does it try to be. It’s a dark thriller that combines action, suspense and a bit of fun into a tale that ends up reminding as a combination of The Matrix and Alien. But…

This Riverworld reboot improves on the 2003 version, but that's no grand achievement.

Cameron's evocations of everything from Blackwater's Iraq massacres to the Trail of Tears gives his story an uncommon resonance.

As is always the case, the latest opus from Canada's metal mastermind is not for the faint of heart.