Loving the Alien (A rambling appreciation of Alien)

With Prometheus coming out this week, it seems now would be a good time to review where the germs of the film started, in what is definitely not a shameless attempt at ratcheting up my blog's traffic several notches. I know there are countless other reviewers out there who broke out their copies in time for a retrospective, but this doesn't apply to me. I'm not a horror film fan - I'm ridiculously easy to startle, and just a casual glance of the horror shelves at HMV reveals countless direct-to-video schlock where gore is spilt and beautiful women are disfigured.

So when I sat down to watch Alien on Blu-Ray (£6 for a new copy, no less), this really was virgin territory for me. Considering that sci-fi and horror media don't usually occupy large spaces of pop culture, the impact this film has had is impressive - it made names of Ridley Scott, Sigourney Weaver and arguably H.R. Giger. It birthed a truly iconic movie monster, one that would still captivate and horrify even to this day. It is the Little Film That Could - what started as a humble B-movie became one of the most influential films of all time.

Let's see if it holds up after the jump. (Warning - one of the images here may be NSFW. You'll know it when you see it.)

Normally there'd be an alternative poster, but why bother when the official poster is this damn good?

Long Live the King

This has been on my to-do pile for a while now, ever since I started covering the films leading up to Avengers. It's an issue that's been ripe for discussion in the comic book community, both because it relates directly to Marvel's big blockbuster trump card for 2012, and because it ties into the very thorny issue of comic creator rights. It's been addressed elsewhere on many other blogs and websites, but I suspect my readership (yes, all five of you) have never heard of this, so I think it's fair to bring it to your attention.

The gentleman in the middle there with the cigar is Jack Kirby. Most of you probably don't know who he is, but he was one of the most influential and innovative comic creators the industry has ever seen. He is also the man responsible, along with Stan Lee, for the Avengers.