Alien Film Invasion: The Ten Best Alien Movies of All Time

We love extraterrestrials! Check out our freaky and fantastic picks for the greatest alien movies ever...

Alien movies have been a staple of the science fiction film genre since it began. From the cute and cuddly, to the gruesome and grotesque, outer space aliens have captured our imaginations, filled us with fear, and made us re-contemplate our place in the cosmos. Here are our picks for the 10 best alien flicks ever:

1) Our first pick is the original Ridley Scott "Alien." If the title of this film isn't imaginative, then the film itself makes up for it with originality, groundbreaking effects, and an H. R. Giger-designed monster. A young Sigourney Weaver heads up the brilliant cast, which also includes Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm, and John Hurt. While visiting a distant planet, the crew of the Nostromo picks up an extraterrestrial killing machine that begins terrorizing the people on board. It's as much a suspense/horror thriller as it is a science-fiction film.

2) Next is Steven Spielberg's touching alien drama, "E.T." Has anyone not seen this movie?

3) A new addition to our favorite alien movies list is the Peter Jackson produced "District 9." Shot documentary-style, this movie chronicles the arrival of an alien spacecraft, the extraction of its inhabitants, and their incarceration at a detention facility full of dilapidated shacks and shanties. It's a unique alien invasion scenario; malnourished prawn-like aliens travel many light-years across the galaxy to become oppressed by the human race.

4) Also making the list is James Cameron's "Aliens," a follow-up to the Ridley Scott film. This time Ripley finds herself in the company of a rough and tumble unit of space marines, armed to the teeth with cool weapons and tech gadgets, ready to fight their way through not just one alien this time, but a whole swarm of the vicious creatures. Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, and Paul Reiser join the cast for this critically-acclaimed sequel.

5) Although this film has hardly stood the test of time, we're going to have to drop another Cameron film into this list: "Avatar." Recently smashing box office records, employing brand new 3D technology, and introducing audiences to a new breed of blue extraterrestrials, this Golden Globe winner has already made its share of waves in the ocean of science-fiction filmmaking. Greedy humans begin mining operations on a distant planet, inhabited by a troublesome native population, the Na'vi. Military forces are deployed to "relocate" these aliens. Military scientists combine the DNA of human soldiers with that of the Na'vi, thus creating big, blue super-soldiers; or avatars, controlled remotely by the thought patterns of their human counterparts, of course. The avatars, bringing with them the cruel agenda of the human mining operation, intermingle with the natives. Big budget action ensues as Sam Worthington's avatar leads a rebellion against the well-armed human oppressors.

6) "Contact." Robert Zemeckis helms an adaptation of the Carl Sagan novel by the same name. The astronomy community is all aflutter after receiving a mysterious message from deep space. Jodie Foster's character, Ellie Arroway, is an astronomer at the center of all the commotion. Her foil, Palmer Joss, played by Matthew McConaughey, is a man of faith. They face-off in thought-provoking philosophical debate about God, science, and life on other planets. Pay close attention to the character named S. R. Hadden...Is he an alien?...Or is he an angel?...Or perhaps both?

7) "The Day the Earth Stood Still"(1951). Robert Wise directs. An humanoid alien, Klaatu, does his homework on planet earth to make the ultimate decision: whether it should be destroyed or not. Meanwhile, his giant robot buddy, Gort, intimidates the U.S. Army with fancy lasers that melt tanks.

8) The original "War of the Worlds"(1953) makes our list. This Oscar-winning sci-fi flick, directed by Byron Haskin, is as classic as they get. The first film adaptation of H.G. Wells' terrifying alien invasion tale is still worth a watch today. **SPOILER ALERT: Wells surmised that alien intruders would die from our common cold. Imagine how safe Earth is now we have H1N1.

9) Next up, "Lilo and Stitch." That's right, we put a Disney cartoon on this list. Full of off-beat humor and plenty of heart, it's a tale of a misfit Hawaiian girl adopting an intergalactic fugitive as a pet. The two title characters are sophisticatedly strange for a children's movie. Artfully drawn figures and beautiful renditions of Hawaiian scenery add depth and style to this quirky, Oscar-nominated film.

10) Another Spielberg movie, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" rounds out our top ten list. Featuring special-effects that still hold up to modern standards, this film, starring Richard Dreyfuss as Roy Neary, takes place in remote parts of New Mexico. Neary and others spot UFO's in the skies. Visions of a mountain and mysterious music run through Neary's head, eventually leading him to the rendezvous point where he'll meet advanced interstellar visitors.

If you love aliens as much as we do, then you've probably seen most of the movies on this list. But these are essentials, so if there's one you haven't seen, then you're missing out. Check it out today!

Animals may or may not have souls...


But this pug definitely does have some style...

And out here in Hollywoodland, that's way more important.

Adam

I wrote this review not thinking about which of my two blog pages to post it on, and realizing that it deals a little bit with southern California and a little bit with space-geekiness, I decided to post it on both. Here in Blog Mummies, I post-dated it for Valentine's Day since this is one of the best romantic films I've ever seen.

Max Mayer's Adam combines the sweet and the real, yielding a subtle, but successful romantic comedy. Hugh Dancy stars as the Asperger's-stricken Adam, an awkward electronics engineer with few friends and even fewer romantic prospects. Rose Byrne plays opposite him, as his intimidatingly pretty, but kind-hearted neighbor, Beth.

This movie's ability to portray the fumbling nervousness associated with young infatuation between two slightly socially-awkward human beings is this movie's heart. Adam's social ills are obvious. Asperger's syndrome causes glaring obsessive-compulsive-like behavior in the title character. He rambles and rattles on about "nerdy" subjects that his audience seldom cares about and almost never comprehends. He is obsessed with space, the cosmos, and the origins of the universe. His fascination with scientific discovery and knowledge of astronomy and quantum mechanics gets balanced out by an equally obsessive love of the theater.

Beth, though not as blatantly challenged socially, reveals her own insecurities throughout the film. As an only child, she shares with her father in one scene that she feels "emotionally retarded" and inter-personally underdeveloped. (As an only child myself, I can certainly relate.) Adam's innocent fondness for Beth intrigues her, as her previous relationships have ended in heartbreak. The film opens with Beth reminiscing about a children's story she had read when she was little. It's about a prince from outer space. His weirdness, his awkwardness, and his love of the stars suggest that Adam is indeed that prince from outer space.

What sets this film apart from other romantic comedies is its adherence to the dying notion that a relationship isn't about being loved, but is about loving. Through their brief, but life-changing relationship, both Adam and Beth are deeply moved. Beth, as the slightly more advanced counterpart in the relationship finally realizes that central truth; that Love (yes, Love with a capital "L") isn't about receiving love for herself. It's about loving the other. It's about meeting a prince from another planet and finding a way, not only to appreciate him in spite of his weirdness and faults and flaws, but to truly sacrificially care for and cherish his whole being.

**WARNING: The following paragraphs may contain SPOILERS**

In the movie, Beth's mother, bearing the brunt of an adulterous affair, chooses to continue loving her husband in spite of his unworthiness. She chooses to love him in the middle of a world that promotes the idea that love must be earned. Likewise, Beth chooses to love Adam, despite his unworthiness.

At the end of the film, she readies herself to sacrifice all for him. Adam, not fully grasping this sacrificial concept of love, insists she must follow him to California because he "needs her." He can't tell her he loves her. He can't ask her to come with him on the basis that he is ready to sacrifice for her -- because he isn't. But in the closing scene, Adam receives a children's book from Beth -- the book tells a children's version of their own romance. Adam realizes how deeply he impacted Beth's heart, and he finally realizes that he is truly loved by her. For one reason or another, whether he deserves it or not, he knows he is loved. We know from earlier in the film that Adam's mother died early on in his childhood. This moment is probably the first time in his life that Adam feels loved by a woman. And although they don't wind up together at the end of the film, Adam takes a giant step toward being able to love someone else, now that he understands that he himself is loved, despite his many flaws.

The end of the film takes place at the Mt. Wilson observatory, a famous southern California haven for stargazers, astronomy buffs, and researchers of the heavens. Adam found himself in the land of Receiving Love. He didn't belong there. But there he was. (As a Christian, blessed with a myriad of things I don't deserve, I can certainly relate.)