Alien Movies

The number one question I always get when I tell people I write this blog is, ‘What’s your favorite alien movie?’ No question, it’s got to be District 9. The only movie that grabbed my attention and so beautifully told a great story in the first 10 minutes was Pixar’s ‘Up’. From there the story never lets go and is a constant adventure through a set of circumstances that everyone can identify with. How they incorporate the aliens, and their obvious symbolic nature with Africa’s immigration issues, deserves the award alone. The acting, special effects and direction allow this to really set the standard unlike any movie since Alien. My favorite hands down.

Simply one of my top three favorite movies ever made. You can love this movie on so many levels, and being an alien movie fan is certainly one of them, but this is one of the few movies I’ve reviewed that anyone can enjoy. Old, young, conservative, liberal, male, female, I just can’t see a demographic that wouldn’t like this movie. There are so many great aspects, from the acting, the writing, and the way the film addresses so many topics in such a great way. Overall I honestly recommend watching this and keeping an open mind; the film is a journey to end of the universe.

Let me first state that I am not usually an old movie fan. In fact, anything pre-1995 usually seems so outdated and lacking modern storytelling we take for granted. This movie is not one of those. I had seen parts of 2001 over a decade ago but after watching Interstellar I was blown away by one of Kubrick's best work. The story is well done, soundtrack of course iconic, and the integration of how extraterrestrials brought the human race along is so engaging and thought provoking I wanted to watch it again. Can't recommend enough, no matter how old it gets.

Considering this movie was made in 1979, and I didn’t see it until 2011, there are some pretty big draw backs. “Old movies” are laden with long silent patches, strange audio that makes it hard to understand the dialog and generally over the top “baaad doop ooop” sound effects. Compare the audio work in Alien vs “Cowboys and Aliens" for example.

Despite how old this movie was, I did generally enjoy it. There were two or three parts that it dragged on a bit, and some of the plot lines, especially around the first kills, were incredibly obvious. Screaming out “O man, this guy is so dead. Turn around!!!” can be fun though. Alien was also generally scary, and I usually hate scary movies, but this was a more suspenseful entertaining scary. Good thing I had my wife to hold on to! (yes I am aware I’m a big baby and it’s her that should be holding on to me) With long drawn out scenes, walking in to dark alleys and lots of steam coming out of seemingly nowhere, you’re on the edge of the seat just waiting for something to happen.

The other problem I had with the movie was the stupid damn cat. I’m not a huge cat person in general, and maybe I would have been more attached to the pet if it was a dog, but no offense fluffy, if its my life on the line you’re getting left.

Overall, the movie is a worth a watch, again considering how old it is, and I recommend it. It’s the first alien contact movie that happens in space and was very creative for 1979. Now time to watch to Aliens…

The thing that’s so amazing about E.T. is the depth of character development Spielberg was able to build with such limited technology. It’s almost as if some sci-fi movies have to be re-made every 20-35 years because watching the special effects scenes become so dated, so quickly, and are a distraction to the story.

Sure, there are a few choppy/pixelated shots, but the beauty of E.T. is the friendship that develops with a child who feels picked on and an outcast, something everyone can relate to. The story requires no technology and instead a good storyline and a great performance, which Henry Thomas (Elllliiiiiooooottt) did a superb job delivering.

After not watching E.T. for over 20 years, I was amazed how well the story held up over time, thinking it was merely a kid’s story and I highly recommend another viewing if you haven’t seen it in awhile. Truly inspiring and heartfelt.

Considering I write this blog, it’s not a surprise I was super pumped for this movie. An initial trailer was released last August and I was all in. I dove into the short story this was based on, reading it twice, back to back. Ted’s use of time and pronouns was so unique and I recommend his other short stories as well.

But…it’s one thing to have a 40 page short story, another thing completely to have a 2 hour major motion picture. The screenplay work took over a year and I commend Eric Heisserer for his patience and delivering a great script.

In my opinion, most reviews give too much away, and I have always tried to steer away from that. What I can say is this is the best alien movie in almost a decade. Not since District 9 I have I felt a story communicate what I find so intriguing about this genre. It is easy to have action (lately invasion/war movies), suspense (Alien series), but what I love is the thought provoking question of what does it mean to be human.

Too often, we as a civilization are divided between class, culture, country, race, religion, the list goes on and on. I truly believe that Extraterrestrials exist and my answer to the Fermi Paradox is that they are waiting for us to unite on our own, aka the “Zoology” answer. The must know that once their presence is known, everything changes. This is seen in science experiments from the Stanford Prison Experiment to any war conflict; the US banded together like never before at the onset of WWI, and especially WWII.

Once First Contact happens (or before on our own account), my hope is that there will be a real, unbreakable uniting of the human race. For some reason we agree there is a bond of people between neighbors on any street in America, what college you went to, what city you live in, what state, and especially lately, what country. But for some reason, finding the similarities and shared experiences with someone in Egypt or Japan is not the norm. That is what I hope changes in my lifetime, whether from Alien Contact or from our own actions, that we begin to understand we have more in common than apart.

Our usual readers are probably wondering, wait, wtf? That’s not an alien movie!

I recently came across the Imaginary Worlds podcast, and specifically the First Contact episode, and it completely changed my view of aliens and our storytelling about them. Highly recommend you give that a listen first.

The overall gist is that the foundation of the modern day alien movie comes from the cowboy and indian stories that have been told for hundreds of years. The difference is that today we are all the native american and the “white european explorer” is the alien from another world. And guess what? It doesn’t end well for the natives.

I re-watched a bunch of westerns and cowboy/indian films (and totally changed my view on the film Cowboys and Aliens), but the film that most stuck out in my head was ‘The New World’. First off, the cinematography and directing is great, no surprise being Terrence Malick film. More than that though, the connection the two characters develop despite a lack of language or cultural assumptions was inspirational. One of my favorite alien movies I’ve seen in a long time and continued the challenge that the Imaginary Worlds podcasts put forth to me about what an Alien movie is and what they can mean.

Finally, a fantastic Alien movie in 2018. I’m not even sure where to begin except that this is 90 minutes of well edited, well directed storytelling that has elements of lots of different monsters/alien movies (yes, those are different), but puts them together in a concise package that is just so well done. A full day later and I still have the heebie-jeebies, but yet want to watch it again. One thing I love about alien films is the ability to use the medium in the form of symbolism for something else (hence District 9 being my #1). This movie does it brilliantly, pairing down so much of our human experience, and not just in sound, but in complexity, texture and human connection. There’s a really raw, primordial nature to the family life and nearby community that I just absolutely loved. The acting was great, and not just husband/wife combo John Krasinski & Emily Blunt, but even the children and side characters. Story was succinct and I’m a sucker for editing that tells the story as quickly as possible with little wasted time. I highly recommend this movie, even if you don’t believe in Aliens.

Wow, two amazing alien movies in one year. Thank you 2022! Nope was very good, but I actually liked Prey more. The action scenes were incredible, but even more so I loved how they set the stage for where so much of alien content comes from (indigenous contact with european settlers, see The New World). I thought it was creative how the story blended languages, where the white man is foreign and therefore the strange unknown spoken words, French, where as the main character spoke naturally. The script was great, the acting superb, Amber Midthunder a breakout star. I find a hard time finding faults beyond the suspicious of disbelief that the predator wouldn’t win in a fair fight, but hey, if Arnold can do it, by not Amber right?

The movie opens from the view point of one of main characters filming interviews of attendees at his friend’s going-away party, purposely erratic, low angles and kind of crappy quality. That said, it worked well for the intro as you get a good sense of the story and build a connection, but I wish they had ditched the jumpy handheld direction later in the movie. The dark, running away from monsters scenes got a little bit much for me, and when the crazy *beep* happens later, I would have preferred high end, Michael Bay production levels. Speaking of which, why hasn’t Bay ever done an alien movie (and don’t you dare say Transformers).

Overall, the movie was very entertaining. If you like alien movies, and was able to watch ‘The Blair With Project’, you’re going to love this movie. If all that running and shaking made you a bit queasy, there’s still a lot to see here. Very watchable and a well written story. Lots for alien movie fans to like here and I’m surprised 3 years later there still isn’t a sequel, although it sounds like they are working on it.

I saw this movie a week ago and needed time, no, I needed a lot of time, to digest what the *beep* happened. Prometheus is unlike any other alien movie I’ve reviewed and deserves kudos for being original, beautifully shot and well-acted. What it does not get high marks for is leaving the audience without any sense of a message or meaning. I haven’t left a movie this frustrated with questions since I saw Inception for the first time. I’m already planning on watching it again next week.

I’ve scoured the internet and found dozens of posts, theories and even an entire fan-site. If you just want some answers, this post is amazing. It’s very long, so I’ll give you my short version. SPOILER ALERT, although I wish I had known this before going into the movie and I hate spoilers. Brace yourself, *beep* about to get cray:

Prometheus is a story about our ancestors, or engineers as they are known in the movie, who gave life to earth by sacrificing one of their own. Sacrificing yourself so others can live in the single most important idea to this ancient civilization. Sacrificing other’s ability to live for your own gain is bad. That’s why when they sent one of their own kind to check up on us humans, Jesus Christ (yes really), we killed him and that pissed them off so the engineers wanted to eradicate us. Problem is, their tool to spread life, a primordial black goo, changes when those around it are descructive, so it turned on them and destroyed them. Then we show up 2000 years later and drama unfolds. That should be enough for you to actually enjoy this beautiful movie, and the cinematography really is exceptional, without being bogged down with the story’s meaning that goes sideways in dozens of ways.

Side note: In preparation for the movie’s release, the team behind the movie created a video for their vision of a TED talk in 2023, presented by one of the movies characters in his youth, and was actually shown at this year’s TED. Worth a watch.

Jordan Peele has had an incredible rise from the sketch comedy show Key and Peele, to Get Out (winner of best screenplay), Us, and now Nope. One thing I have always tried to do with these reviews is avoid spoilers, and focus more on the “why” I rated a movie from great (#NoNeedToBelieve), to horrible (#WeComeInBoredom). This can be tricky for a mind bending, “what did I just watch” film like Nope is.

First off, I loved it. And now that I have dissected a few scenes on YouTube I think it get the premise a bit more, but it took a few days to really sink in. I love that about it, and to be honest if you’re ok with spoilers, this reddit comment, which is the best review I’ve read so far. The NYTimes review is good too, featuring this gem: The main target of its critique is also the principal object of its affection, which we might call — using a name that has lately become something of a fighting word — cinema. The history of westerns and “the other” dates back since the dawn of film itself. For awhile, the “other” were the indigenous people throughout the Americas, see The New World. Then came Cowboys & Aliens and the symbolic relationship continues with Nope. Hollywood loves a movie about itself (LaLa Land anyone?) so I will be surprised if Nope isn’t nominated for Best Picture, if not win it. I personally have never liked this trope, it gets in the way of the suspension of disbelief, which ironically in someways is the whole point of the movie. To break those barriers and awaken you to the cost of your entertainment.

I’m an ardent fan of not reading reviews or watching trailers when possible. For a movie from Ridley Scott and back to the Alien genre this holds especially true.

The last movie in the saga was Prometheus, which I really did enjoy, despite some frustrations. I do my best to not write too many spoilers in these, so I’ll just say this movie was a whole lotta fun; entertaining, high quality production, with a slight tinge of mental thought provoking story. In fact, I’d dare to say that I liked it even more than Prometheus.

In order to convince my wife to go on a date night to see an alien film it better include some suspense, good acting and a story that doesn’t have too many holes. I found this film less over reaching than Prometheus, but also less ambitious. The whole film is pretty solid though, especially Fassbender who delivered an incredible performance. Highly recommend this one, great movie from start to finish.

The original book by Orson Scott Card had an incredible impact on me growing up and is still the only book I've ready more than twice. I would even say had a hand in me creating this blog in the first place. The story is captivating and relatable. The challenge to making this a movie was not just the need for creative visuals for things that have never been done before, but also the choices of what to cut from a 400+ page book. Where the Hunger Games movie fell, trying to jam the entire book into a two hour movie, Ender's Game did well to focus on specific parts of the story. I was disappointed to lose the beginning ~100 or so pages, but I understand why they did it. The movie was also visually beautiful and creative, and cap it off with the sublime acting of Asa Butterfield. Can't say the same for Harrison Ford though, as well as Moises Arias' portrayal of Bonzo was pretty bad too. Overall I enjoyed the movie and full well knowing I am very biased, fully recommend this one. Now go read the book!

I get that not everyone is as big of an alien movie fan as yours truly, but I finally watched this movie and had no idea it was even an alien movie! Why is that? Probably because it is based on a book called “All You Need is Kill”, the movie was originally called “Edge of Tomorrow” and then marketed, and then eventually renamed again, as “Live Die Repeat”. The billboards focused on it starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, but the creativity and surprisingly good story were totally lost in the marketing. Compare this to the ad campaign around Battle: LA and they both seem like enteratining shoot ‘em ups, with one being about an alien invasion and one with futuristic Tom Cruise battling Emily Blunt on a beach. So frustrating, I would have loved to see this opening weekend! I was pleasantly surprised how well done not just the special effects were, but the acting and storyline too. Definitely recommend, very entertaining.

Independence Day is an all-american classic about freedom, love, the strength of the human spirit…and aliens of course. The movie takes considerably longer to get started than most modern day alien movies, which seem to jump into first contact right away. It’s done very well though, building plot lines and characters in an entertaining way. One of my favorite lines in the whole movie is when Will Smith partner stares at him, and asks “you scared?” He answers, “nope, you?” and then gives him a big hug. Not sure why, but it’s always stuck with me. There’s also a scene with a dog jumping off a car with the most hilarious fire background that makes me lol every time I watch this movie.

The horribly forced comic lines and worldwide symbolic structures being decimated get old pretty quick. Also, I’m all for cheesy lines, but how did Jeff Goldblum get away with having the line “must go faster” in two consecutive movies?

The ending made me blush in embarrassment more than warming my heart, but the movie was entertaining enough, doing a good job tying up enough loose ends so that you weren’t wondering what the hell happened. ID4 is definitely worth a second look if you passed the first time around and mandatory if you like aliens at all.

2011 was a fantastic year for alien movie fans with several high profile movies coming out including Battle: LA in March and then two alien movies in the middle of the height of the summer movie season within six weeks of each other, one being in 1800s Wild West and the other in 1979 Ohio.

Since this was produced by Spielberg and directed by JJ Abrams, I had fairly big expectations for Super 8. You knew it was going to be a wild ride and it sure delivers. A slow beginning explodes into a whirlwind adventure following a set of kids throughout their small rural town. A decent story, although a bit cheesy at times, was well thought out and includes some classic coming-of-age moments.

The biggest thing about this movie was the fact that you could easily watch this was your 12 or 13 year old nephew (it is PG-13). It’s graphic and loud, but not overly violent and never inappropriate. It’s not one of the best alien movies I’ve ever seen, but it is surely #DecentContact.

Although being an older movie from the 70s, I still had high expectations for Close Encounters of the 3rd kind has it’s considered such a classic in the genre. I could appreciate that there were some original themes and ideas that have been copied over the last 3 decades, but I left the movie feeling just MEH.

So many open questions for me after the movie…so the aliens chose this guy and made him crazy to the point where he left his family and destroyed his life, losing his job and everything he had? Why not pick someone without a family to leave behind?

This movie is prime for a remake in the next 10 years, with a larger focus on the science and algorithms around the iconic sounds and visual displays that everyone remembers about this movie. Instead the original spends too much time developing the characters, having them hike around some random mountain and generally being *beep* crazy. Could have spent more of the time as Contact did with how and why they are communicating in this way. Loved the addition of visual dynamics to the initial contact and could give a new director the ability to do something truly amazing with today’s special effects.

This original original is watchable, not great by any means, but entertaining enough.

I was tempted to put this into #NoNeedToBelieve as one of the greats, but after sleeping on it, it’s just short of that level. Don’t get me wrong, this is a fantastic movie that has it all: well directed, absolutely beautiful cinematography, creative set design, good story and well acted (besides Jennifer Leigh’s character who drove me crazy). I’m not that into horror in general, but Annihilation combined the shock horror with meaningful character development, which I respect. Similar to the director Alex Garland’s “Ex Machina” the ending leaves you questioning what is it you just watched. What is the message the director is trying to portray? How am I meant to feel after watching this? Without giving too much away, I can say watching this at the same time of my life that I am reading books by Richard Dawkins (River out of Eden my favorite) was remarkable. Evolution is such a big theme to this movie and is quite well done. I can see why Paramount second guessed international release and ended up selling it to Netflix. It’s a complicated movie that some just won’t enjoy, but also polarizing in that some, like myself, really enjoyed it.

I am biased because this was shot in my wife's hometown, and everyone still talks about how nice everyone was, including Tom Cruise. This is a pretty decent remake from the 1953 original, which many argue was even better. The story follows a very standard intro, aliens invade, and then lots great action. Dakota Fanning was really great and the suspenseful moments worth a watch, even for those that aren't that into alien movies.

There is so much awesomeness to this film, but I can't quite give it a #NoNeedToBelieve rating, as it is an action film at its core. An amazing action film, but doesn't have much more to offer. Decent contact, worth watching, especially if you're into alien movies, this should be on your list for sure.

Amazingly the only alien summer movie of 2013, Pacific Rim was pretty decent. Visual and well done artistically, there was very little to the rest of the movie. In fact, it reminded me of Up, which features one of the best openings ever. If I owned the rights I would already be working on the Prequel, because the first 5 minutes are fantastic.

The rest of the movie is fun entertainment but don’t expect any uniqueness to the alien movie paradigm. Why they are here and how we fought back follows pretty old plot lines, but take yourself to your dealer and enjoy the show.

EDIT: It’s been a few weeks, I have seen the movie again, and I have to say this is one of the best movie of the summer. As I mentioned before, some of the acting isn’t Oscar winning, but we’ve become so reliant on sequels and reboots that it is refreshing to see a new story story. I really hope to see a prequel.

You have to hand it to Sony for making the movie Battle: LA. With a fairly large budget (estimated at $100MM) they have already grossed over $200MM and it hasn’t even been released on blue-ray yet. Between a great marketing campaign involving the cool re-entry circles seen above that have become almost iconic, and big names like Aaron Eckhart (so hot right now) and Michelle Rodriguez, who is now the default Hollywood actress for a women in a military role, the studio did it’s job creating a product that sells.

The movie starts off well and maintains a high energy throughout the first hour. It’s truly entertaining and for an alien invasion movie, it does all the right things. Signs of something approaching the world, general disbelief that anything could go wrong, and then complete domination. I’ve dragged my wife into a lot of these movies and she would like to see aliens that don’t move around like us. The whole two legs, two arms thing is a bit old no?

The military story lines are all too predictable: one guy on his last day before retirement, one guy about to get married and one guy with a baby on the way. Sigh. If I have to fault the movie it’s the last 30 minutes. Really wanes a bit and doesn’t quite have that feel good ending that Independence Day had. Remember that first time you had a GIANT banana split? You’re about 8 years old and you order the jumbo version because why not? You bite into it and think it’s incredible. Best dessert you’ve ever had. Then you get half way through, you’ve eaten a pint of ice cream, a cup of whipped cream and a whole banana…and you’re only half way there. By the time you’re done you think the whole thing was good of course, but you don’t exactly want another one.

Overall, this movie entertains to the max, especially the first hour. Have a few cocktails, sit back and enjoy a great action packed alien movie. As I always say, Explosions and Aliens. What else do you need?

I watched this when I was pretty young and it is part of why I am so excited about alien movies. Without this movie I doubt I would be writing this blog. Also reminds a bit of Ender's Game, one of my favorite books of all time.

The movie is creative, uses some of the best technology at the time, and has a few twists that are unique to the genre. The acting wasn't exactly academy level, but it's a movie that is fun to watch and enjoyable for years to come.

Let’s get this out of the way, no this sequel is not as good as the original. BUT! The original is rated “#NoNeedToBelieve” which is a very high bar. The first Quite Place movie is in great company including Alien, Contact and District 9. That said, this sequel still a good movie and well worth your time. John Krasinski’s directing and writing is really well done, similar to part one there are no major gaps or plot holes, the flow of the movie keeps you on the edge of your seat and the acting is superb. Never a dull moment and definitely recommend! Only change I would make was that some of the multiple storylines happening at the same time was a bit rushed. Can’t wait to see where they take part three which was just officially announced.

My ideas about what “contact” would look like continue to evolve, moving more toward small, AI drones and satellites. I watched this movie when it first came out in 2001 and really loved it. I was 19 and afterword my dad and I went out for milkshakes to talk about it. This was an interesting take on first contact, moving beyond the sense of information, delivered to common form. Not some grand scale invasion but instead a singular visitor. Just learning. On their own. Enjoying themselves. What a great way to view contact, as a tourist on a vacation, taking notes to report back of course, but a singular seemingly human looking form, easy to go undetected. Reminds me a lot of the movie “Crazy People” playing off the psych ward idea, and would love a sequel where K-PAX is out in the world interacting with people. Defintely enjoyed it again 20 years later.

Every Friday night is Pizza and a Movie night in our household with our two young boys. We try not to repeat movies and as I was scrolling through IMDB kid friendly movies I came across Galaxy Quest, embarrassed that I hadn’t written a review yet. I watched it when it came out on DVD in 1999 and loved it. It was really fun to watch with my boys and see them not quite get the idea of an actor playing an actor, but the concept of aliens coming to earth and needing our help, no problem! As with many films, Alan Rickman (RIP) stole the show offering a deep emotional character we can all relate to. There was something very unique about the movie where it wasn’t quite slap stick comedy, but also clearly wasn’t trying to be too serious either. A family comedy with not-so-hidden adult themes, it really feels like a film unlike any other in this space. For it’s originality and thoroughness (seriously, it all just kind of made sense!) I give it a #DecentMovie tag instead of #AverageMovie. Queue it up for your next family movie night!

It’s frustrating to have a movie with so much going for it, fall so hard on its face. The movie has a great soundtrack, beautiful cinematography and creative special effects. Similar to Pacific Rim, Oblivion starts with an engaging and quick introduction that grabs your attention, but the good writing ends there. Sad because there are so many things that are unique and well thought out including the technology and the world in general, but the story so quickly falls apart your mind is questioning the writing from 30 minutes in and you can’t enjoy the show. Then there’s the ending which makes you wish you didn’t even try to watch the movie in the first place. Watch it for the graphics and artistic creativity and little else.

The first new major motion alien picture in almost two years! Let’s just say I was very excited to watch this one and of course, watched it opening night. I held off writing a review because I was torn about it. On one side, it’s got decent graphics and a somewhat interesting take on the alien “where did they come from?” question. On the other hand, Pratt has several real acting moments that fell horribly flat. His sarcastic comedy featured in Guardians of the Galaxy (and Parks & Rec) are a good fit, but big dramatic moments not so much. There is a scene with his dad where he slams his hand down on a table that was way over acted, things went downhill from there. Too bad that was at the 20th minute. :/ There’s also just so many plot holes I gave up trying to write them down. Why this timeframe? Why 30 years? Why only 7 days? Can they communicate between the time outside of the transporting of people? If they can only teleport people who would have died before the Aliens arrive, why not transport people back from 100 years ago when everyone is dead anyway? It’s not all bad, it has a real star ship troopers vibe which of course I loved. It felt like it tried too hard and should have just been a fun summer film and instead attempted to be a serious film where it clearly was not. The main reason I held off on writing this review though was that something had been eating at me about how this concept could have been amazing. Somewhat similar to Stargate this has a great TV show potential. What if they lean into the concept of a time travel device like the Manhattan Project, only one or two available at first, but building more over time. Each episode would be a new device coming online and bringing a group of soliders back from a different time period and region. 12th century Mongolian horse archers, 1st century Spartans, etc. Lean into the historical differences and strengths of each period. Get Dan Carlin from Hardcore History fame to write it. Man I’d love this show, history and aliens, sign me up!

Extraterrestrial is a spanish independent film that I genuinely enjoyed. Decent contact for a unique plot and not trying to over complicate things.

As I am getting older I am finding the thing I really enjoy about alien movies is less about the graphics, explosions and creepy sound effects, and more about the connection that we all share when there is a common enemy. This movie twists that inside out and shows us that anyone could be an enemy or your lover.

It’s been a long few months as we continue to shelter in place as a result of the COVID epidemic. My wife and I watched “The Last Dance”, which was fantastic, and there was a scene where Michael Jordan was filming Space Jam. I had an epiphany that I couldn’t believe I hadn’t reviewed it! I loved this film when it came out in 1996.

Friday night is family movie night in our household so we added Space Jam to the list. Once we started Space Jam we realized that our kids had never watched looney toons and they didn’t know any of these iconic characters. It’s amazing how much content they have been watching since COVID started and yet, they had never seen roadrunner, bugs bunny, daffy duck and the rest of the gang. We also typically watch a good amount of sports so watching some basketball in the movie was fun too.

Space Jam is to date the only family friendly alien movie I would recommend. Avatar is close, but still too graphic for those under 10, Valerian and Pixels are both terrible, and don’t get me started on Escape from Planet Earth. It well encapsulates so much of the mid-90’s culture and sensibilities, while providing a fun, easy to watch movie with some of the biggest icons of the time, all packaged in a surprisingly pretty solid movie!

I recommend Space Jam for a Friday night on the couch with the whole family.