The rare instance of a 'legacy sequel' actually being better than the original. Yes, I said it. Beetlejuice X2 builds on its predecessor in some outright satisfying ways, taking these characters and progressing their lives as such that genuinely works in providing both dramatic and comedic stakes. Jenna Ortega delivers a banger depiction of the perennially disappointed daughter role filled by Winona Ryder in the first one, with Ortega's world-weariness fitting nicely into the film's themes. If I had to complain about something, it's that Monica Bellucci's character is a bit of a nonentity in comparison.

Lacking a real comparison point, this is as good a John Williams documentary might get, I suppose. In any case, it had me simply by dousing itself in Williams' own scores for every second of runtime. I'm really that much of a simp for his work. Still, I'd known that he'd done TV work before his films, but was unaware of the utter breadth of it. Incredible, too, how articulate the man is at 93 years old. A singular talent in music, and we won't see his like again.

It's a crushing shame that a movie with a premise as absurd and ambitious as this one's ultimately ends up a trashy affair, filled with moments that betray an underwritten script that even a cast of A-listers can't salvage. This, in addition to a reliance on action film cliches (particularly in regards to the climax). What works, at least, is the overall look of the film, which nails the absolute desolation of a post-apocalyptic wasteland ruled by dragons.

Alien strikes a Star-Wars-esque balance between its sci-fi setting and a grounded aesthetic present in everything from the set design to the actors' performances. Here, though, instead of striving for an archetypal fantasy plot, Alien steadily delves into a multi-faceted horror narrative that tests its characters from within and without. It's an exceptional film for its time, and remains so, even today.