Over the last few days I have watched all the films in the Alien series: Alien 1-4 and Aliens vs Predator 1 and 2.
In my opinion the firm film Alien remains the best in the series, with Alien Resurrection (Alien 4) a close second. Though, despite the mixed reviews, I quite enjoyed the first Aliens VS Predator. It was certainly better than average at best Aliens, the poor Alien 3 and the absolutely awful Aliens VS Predator Requiem.
The second Aliens VS Predator had a smaller budget though I think the main reason it sucked was the combination of a poor screenplay and being directed by two guys who were essentially special effects artists rather than directors.
The new Predator film is called Predators. Unlike the AVP films, the new Predator has a decent cast including Lawrence Fishburne and Adrien Brody. More importantly, it was written and produced by Desperado and Sin City Director Robert Rodriguez, so it should be a much better film.
The original Predator remains one of my favourite films so I hope they don't mess this up. Arnold Schwarzenegger was supposed to be in Aliens VS Predator but couldn't do it because of his Governing duties but apparently they are writing a cameo in for him in this one too, but nothing has been confirmed.
Here's an outline of the plot from Wikipedia:
According to an early script review by LatinoReview.com, the plot of the film follows a man named Royce who is abducted by alien creatures known as the Predators. He is released onto the Predators home planet—which acts as a game reserve—along with seven other humans, where they are hunted by creatures known as “Black Super Predators”. While battling to survive against these creatures, they also stumble across an American soldier known as Noland who was brought to the planet years ago as game, but has managed to survive by hiding from the Predators in a cave. Noland reveals that the Predators have been hunting humans by dropping them on this planet for many years.
Apparently they want to go back and recreate the atmosphere from the first film so I'm really looking forward to this one. It's due to be released near the start of July this year (07/07/2010).
Here's the trailer from the original 1987 film. It's got 80s cheesiness ripping out of it!