Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageAlien Nation (1988)
Director: Graham Baker
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Patinkin plays a member of an alien community which, having crash-landed in the Mojave Desert some years earlier, has now established itself in California. The aliens are called 'newcomers' by those who like them, 'slags' by those who don't. Hard-nosed cop Caan is one who does not, since his partner got blown away by a newcomer robbery gang; he nevertheless volunteers to take on the inexperienced Patinkin as his partner, figuring to use the alien's inside knowledge to find the killer. Their investigations lead to ruthless businessman Stamp, another newcomer who seems to be the brains behind a drugs operation. Played hard and fast, the film might just have worked, but the decision to soft-pedal the violence merely emphasises the obviousness of the liberal point-scoring (parallels with Vietnamese or Nicaraguan refugees are so facile as to be crass). Worthy, predictable, and dull.Author: NF
Cast & crew
Director: Graham Baker
Producer: Gale Anne Hurd, Richard Kobritz
Cast: James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, Terence Stamp, Kevin Major Howard, Leslie Bevis, Peter Jason full cast
Genre(s): Science Fiction
Duration: 90 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
A Bond a day: No.7 'Diamonds Are Forever'
Join Time Out as we revisit the 21 official James Bond movies to celebrate the release of 'Quantum of Solace'
Steve McQueen on 'Hunger'
Dave Calhoun meets artist Steve McQueen’s whose debut feature film, ‘Hunger’, is the story of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands
Producer Stephen Woolley on ‘How to Lose Friends and Alienate People’
Stephen Woolley, recalls the near catastrophes he had to contend with in bringing Toby Young’s memoir to the screen
Paul Newman: 1925 – 2008
Paul Newman died at his Connecticut home this weekend, at the age of 83. We look back at one of the great movie careers of the twentieth century
Richard Attenborough: interview
‘Entirely Up to You, Darling’ is the long-awaited autobiography from Sir Richard Attenborough. David Jenkins meets him in his Richmond home
Hard hacks to follow
To celebrate the release of 'How To Lose Friends and Alienate People', Time Out pick some of the toughest journalistic gigs in cinema
What do you think?
Post your review now