The Quartermass films are continuously something I come across in my reading but I've yet to experience them, are they on netflix?

I just saw 'Alien' the other night. On one hand, I feel my viewing experience has been partially spoiled by kinda knowing how the story plays out beforehand, knowing how the alien evolves from facehugger to chestburster etc., how the crew gets picked off one by one... so some of the suspense was broken.
On the other hand, I also attempted to view it on its artistic merits, and boy was I not disappointed. EVEN knowing how the story would play out, I was on the edge of my seat through many of the scenes, had a good couple of jump scares here and there; I was fond of the script and acting-- to me, it felt very realistic, almost as though some of it was ad-libbed. Sigourney Weaver was brilliant throughout.

The effects didn't look dated to me, I did get something of a laugh out of the chestburster, but that may be a combination of its grinning, the way it moved around, and the phallic shape of its head.

Also, I can't get over how many later stories in pop culture took cues from this movie. From the Brood in X-men, to that episode of Cowboy Bebop with the fridge mutant. It's great to finally see the source of all those references. So yeah, great film. Horror isn't my genre but I can get behind this one.

Well, wht, I just watched Alien 3 after seeing Aliens yesterday.
'Aliens', while having quite a different feel from the first movie, was still highly entertaining and very suspenseful. I cared for the characters, including the hoo-rah marines especially Hicks, Hudson, and Vasquez.

But 'Alien 3' did very little for me. Initially, the setting of the prison seemed interesting, as did some of the characters introduced. But after the scene with Ripley, Clemens, and Golic in sick bay about halfway through the film, I quickly lost interest. What surprised me was how little suspense there was in the battle between the alien and Ripley+inmates. It goes a bit by the numbers, it's never truly scary.

Maybe this is a weird parallel for me to draw, but I'm reminded of the Rambo films. 'First Blood' was the story of a traumatized Vietnam vet who gets in trouble with the local authorities in a backwater town, which triggers his war memories. It's a very poignant character study. The second Rambo movie is more of a standard action film, but pulls that off adequately enough. The third movie just felt kinda tacked on to milk the success of the previous entries into the series.

Alien 3 is my second favorite of the franchise. You describing your watching Alien again reminds me of what it is about Alien 3, I so enjoy, even if the story is a bit thin. Or as some say, they didn't care much for the characters. I did. I think the best part of it was that they weren't Marines. They weren't necessarily good people but they still come together to do what's best. Some even sacrificing their lives in the initial attempt to trap the alien. The fascination (in about as a creepy way as the film of the same name) of the "beast" as Golic calls it, was a recurring plot in the comics and novels before it. Something that, to me, gave the species more than just a creature of pure instinct. (Though I agree with Ash's assessment of the aliens in Alien.) To me if focused and fleshed out the creatures far better than Aliens, despite Aliens introducing the queen and their reproductive traits. It focuses on the real star of the films, the creature itself. Something, despite all the revelations in Aliens, failed to do. It focused too on the human characters in an attempt to make us care for them, so their deaths would mean more. But the aliens are indiscriminate, and the development of the characters aren't any interest to the creature itself. It's only focus is to continue the propagation of it's species. It's something only Alien managed to balance perfectly. There was so little to we knew about the crew of the Nostromo but somehow when the $hit went down, you were hoping they would survive. I didn't really feel that in Aliens. I was pretty much just waiting for Hicks, Ripley and Newt to fly off into the sunset. Everything Cameron did with those three characters was a flag that they would see it to the end. Alien 3 didn't fall for that tired trope, and while it certainly has it's faults, and I do apparently seem to be biased :-) it entertains me far more than Aliens. But I know I am in the minority with this opinion.

@shaxper .... I can't remember the last time I watched the theatrical release, I always watch the director's cut on the DVD I have, so I can't remember all what was not in the former that's in the latter. But I do at least remember it flows a little bit better, as most of the changes weren't anything major like being left out of the theatrical release. And I don't think that the version I have has a deleted scene marker when you watch the director's cut to make a comparison without watching the theatrical.

One thing that is also interesting to watch is the storyboards and concept art. I have the Quadrilogy version. The landscape and prison of the Fury was far different from what finally made it to the screen. I think it's sited that the desired sets were too expensive and too impractical with what they had at the time to do. But it would have been amazing to see if it had come to fruition.

^Nice. Coincidentally, I borrowed 'Temple of Doom' at the library yesterday (due to circumstance, I'm dependent on the library for watching movies these days).

Well, this month is a wrap. Hard to tell, but it looks like this months's winner is Mormel, having watched (at least) three films. Chime in with your monthly total if you have more than that!

Prometheus would be too new to count, but you probably still won with four.