Last Movie You Watched? 6.0

j7wild wrote:

Did you see the rape (analogy) scene?

Didn't really affect me.

ALIENS (1986)

This feels as much a James Cameron film as Alien felt a Ridley Scott film ... I suppose. It's louder and more brash and with Marines and mech suits and planes.

That's not to say I didn't like it. Quite the opposite. It's got great entertainment value, even if it makes Alien feel a bit more cramped and tense than it actually was by comparison. I think having hundreds of Xenomorphs compared to just one might have also cheapened it a bit.

The mech suit battle at the end was almost really cool. The first shot was great. Too bad the rest of the bit was just ... wonky.

Sigourney did a bit more for me here. She actually seemed like more of an action hero, even though she had that damned annoying kid tied to her the whole time.

I don't really have any great wisdom to offer about Aliens. I think that's just because it's good popcorn entertainment ... nothing more, nothing less. However, after watching this and its predecessor, Prometheus seems all the more out of place. I'm only assuming I'll keep thinking that after the next two.

ALIEN-O-METER

1. Alien (A-)
2. Aliens (B)
3. Prometheus (B-)

On to Alien3 ...

Alien was a haunted house horror movie set in space.

Aliens was a war movie set in space.

Actual words from Ridley Scott and James Cameron.

Very insightful j7. I never knew that.

ALIEN3 (1992)

The fuck?

After seeing this, I can understand why it feels as garbled as it does with all of the trouble that surrounded the film's production. It's really just a mess in every conceivable form. Why kill off ... everyone?

It's almost as if the writers looked at everything that worked about the first two and just said, "Fuck it."

I'm glad David Fincher recovered after this because he doesn't really deserve such a stain on his resume that doesn't even really seem to be his fault.

And why couldn't they stick with either the model or CG Xenomorph? The switching between the two was distracting, especially since the CG was so bad.

Sigourney Weaver was good here. That's about all I can say.

Just yuck.

ALIEN-O-METER

1. Alien (A-)
2. Aliens (B)
3. Prometheus (B-)
4. Alien3 (D)

Now on to Resurrection ...

Which version did you see?

For what it counts, I really like ALIEN CUBED in spite of it's flaws. I just think it could have had a little more menace from the actual alien. That alone would improve the film considerably IMHO. I think the setting, characters, and mood are different enough to keep it from being too much like the first film. And I prefer it's cast, music, many of it's sets, atmosphere, etc. to ALIENS by a huge margin. These days ALIENS puts me to sleep.

Strange note: ALIEN 3 for some reason makes me think of MYST, which I haven't played since the 90's... and didn't actually understand back then.

Hell, I still don't get it.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Which version did you see?

The 2003 Special Edition that was part of the Blu-ray anthology. I guess it's called the Assembly Cut?

Quote :

For what it counts, I really like ALIEN CUBED in spite of it's flaws. I just think it could have had a little more menace from the actual alien. That alone would improve the film considerably IMHO. I think the setting, characters, and mood are different enough to keep it from being too much like the first film. And I prefer it's cast, music, many of it's sets, atmosphere, etc. to ALIENS by a huge margin. These days ALIENS puts me to sleep.

Agreed on the alien, but apart from Ripley, I just didn't really care about any of the characters, except the black guy at the end. The direction just didn't really feel very cohesive, for lack of a better word, either.

As for the music, the scores of this and Aliens have just kind of blended together to me. Both scores just seemed like pastiches of the typical horror film score with a late '80s, early '90s twist. Granted, I don't pay attention to score as much as I used to, so Sharky can cut me down if I'm off track on this.

It's hard for me to pinpoint what I dislike about Alien3. There's not really one horrible thing, but rather a bunch of small things, and those small things irked me a lot. The premise on the whole just didn't really work for me, as did the notion of killing off everyone who survived from Aliens, and then Ripley at the end. I guess those things are pretty big, but nothing else, for me at least, ever really made up for them.

Alien 3 turned out the way it did because 20th Century Fox executives kept interfering with the production and asking for script rewrites;

they had no faith in the young director David Fincher.

If you noticed, there were sets in the films that were half finished.

Furthermore, the original script before it was rewritten over and over per the direction of Fox's meddling executives, called for the story to set place on Earth;

hence why the teaser trailer said

Quote :

In 1992, we will discover on earth, everyone can hear you scream.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk_x9W1xKng

I liked the original script better:

set on Earth,

Bishop and Hicks and Newt returning,

battling a new species of Aliens that were the result of Weyland's bio weapons division.

That sounds a bit gimmicky, but I probably would have liked that more than what we got.

Of course, I like the whole "everybody dies" thing with the Alien series. It's a very pessimistic series, but I find the act of Ripley sacrificing herself and taking the last (presumably) alien with her to be quite moving and even uplifting, and it sorta makes the first three films take on a mythic quality.

Okay, so it's a stretch that there was an egg right near the cryobeds. That little fact could have been handled better by having it be deep within the landing assembly of the craft they escaped the planet in at the end of ALIENS. Of course, one would assume that Ripley would have gone over that MF with a fine-toothed comb before going night-night. I can overlook that whole bit.

And I don't mind that Newt and Hicks die off screen. I'm glad we didn't get a Cameron-esque TRUE LIES IN SPACE for the third movie. ALIENS is the odd duck for me in the trilogy (I say trilogy as RESURRECTION is just a bizarre spin-off). ALIENS is the film I'd want to change. It's the film that doesn't hold up as well for me, especially visually, but also I find the marines down right obnoxious. Especially in the extended cut.

Anyway.

Weaver made the demand on killing Hicks and Newt off because she felt Ripley needed to be alone when she arrived on the prison planet and have no shoulder to cry on. Also, CGI was used in only one shot.

Anyway, I liked ALIEN 3 (extended version) and despite its flaws I actually enjoy it more than Cameron's. I think it works better as an ending to Ripley's story.

ATM (2012)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1603257/

Who wrote this script?

Retarded 3 years old working in a sweat shop in China?

There are so many plot holes I can make swiss cheese out of it!!

0/5

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Of course, I like the whole "everybody dies" thing with the Alien series. It's a very pessimistic series, but I find the act of Ripley sacrificing herself and taking the last (presumably) alien with her to be quite moving and even uplifting, and it sorta makes the first three films take on a mythic quality.

Yep. Her last act is sticking it to the man, which underlines the anti-coporation theme running through these films.

I like ALIEN 3, as I've said. Much more than PROMETHEUS, anyway.

My current ranking:

ALIEN
ALIEN RESURRECTION
ALIENS
ALIEN 3
ALIEN VS. PREDATOR
PROMETHEUS
ALIENS VS. PREDATOR: REQUIEM

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (2011)

This is quickly becoming a favorite of mine, if you couldn't tell. It's such a great mix of talent, from the filmmaker to the cast, the writers to the set designers, and right down to the composer. It's an engaging spy thriller that doesn't baby the audience and really takes a few viewings for everything to set in. The non-linear approach to the story was a great move, too. Most of all, you're left thinking at the end about the vivid characters Alfredson and his cast painted for the audiences.

A success in every sense of the word. Bring on THE HONORABLE SCHOOLBOY or SMILEY'S PEOPLE.

Totally agree on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, definitely a film you appreciate more over time.

I intended to continue my revisitiation of the Star Wars prequels but got distracted (after TPM maybe my heart wasn't in it).

Billion Dollar Brain (1968)

Terrifically stylish, beautifully scored, and one of the few films that shows you an ice covered landscape and make you feel suitably chilled. Great performances too from Caine, Marlden, Homolka, Dorlech and most particularly Ed Begley - the latter's General Midwinter is completely OTT (I hope) yet delivered with such absolute conviction it should really go down as one of the all time great villains of the cinema. A few 'happy conicidences' tend to undermine the otherwise quite smart plot and if I was honest the way the USSR is depicted is rather overly PC compesatory.

However the most enduring thought after it finished was the manner in which mystery and tension is derived from moments of 'bewilderment' 'near discovery' or 'anticipated threat' it is something modern Bond and indeed action films in general need to rediscover and was such a delight to move away from the invulnerable/invincible slab of muscle resolving everything via some testosterone fuelled ott stunt.

7/10

My current Harry Palmer rankings

1. Ipcress File 8/10
2. Funeral in Berlin 8/10
3. Billion Dollar Brain 7/10
4. Bullet to Beijing 4/10
5. Midnight in St Petersberg 4/10

I've always found FUNEREAL BERLIN very drab, it's score too.

Largo's Shark wrote:

I've always found FUNEREAL BERLIN very drab, it's score too.

In many ways I agree, though given the story and environment drab seems appropriate, everyone is in it for themselves and somehow Harry has to negotiate a number of conflicting agenda's on the hoof, few films are more literally a case of trust no one. As to the score I actually enjoy the ironically jovial main theme, but the incidental music is rather admittedly rather innocuous.

ALIEN RESURRECTION (1997)

I liked this a bit more than Alien3. It had a different sense of style to it.

Wasn't sure what to think at the start. Cloning Ripley seemed like a pretty big gimmick. I guess it turned out OK.

On the whole, I think the characters here were probably the best in the series, even if they were over-the-top. Beats being totally cardboard.

I like that what they did with the queen and its offspring. Giving it a human womb almost kinda sorta brings things full-circle in Prometheus ... I guess.

Still, it all felt a bit too silly and never really had a palpable sense of tension that I want in an Alien film.

ALIEN-O-METER

1. Alien (A-)
2. Aliens (B)
3. Prometheus (B-)
4. Alien Resurrection (C)
5. Alien3 (D)

I don't think I'm even going to bother with the AvP films.

Best not.

I don't think RESURRECTION is too polished (except for the labs, though that goes without saying), compared to PROMETHEUS. It's got a grit and sliminess to it that feels palpable, and the sepia pallet helps a long way, giving a everything a rusty, lived-in look that echoes ALIEN.

I enjoyed the lesbian subtext too.

Yeah, don't bother with AVP. I couldn't even make it through the first one.

AR is a fun cartoon for me.

Sharky take comfort, Whedon hates it.

It's better than a cartoon.

lachesis wrote:

My current Harry Palmer rankings

1. Ipcress File 8/10
2. Funeral in Berlin 8/10
3. Billion Dollar Brain 7/10
4. Bullet to Beijing 4/10
5. Midnight in St Petersberg 4/10

I think my list would look the same. Can't beat IPCRESS.

I'm surprised they haven't tried to remake/reboot Harry Palmer. I'd hate to have that happen, though.

Brain loses it's way after Palmer reaches Texas. It becomes almost too ridiculous, but I think everything up to that point was masterfully directed.

Control wrote:

lachesis wrote:

My current Harry Palmer rankings

1. Ipcress File 8/10
2. Funeral in Berlin 8/10
3. Billion Dollar Brain 7/10
4. Bullet to Beijing 4/10
5. Midnight in St Petersberg 4/10

I think my list would look the same. Can't beat IPCRESS.

I'm surprised they haven't tried to remake/reboot Harry Palmer. I'd hate to have that happen, though.

Caine has spoken of a sixth Palmer film in the works, set almost exclusively in London. I suppose there might be a market for it after the moderate success of Harry Brown.

I haven't seen any of them, but shall soon.

Airport (1970)

I find it highly entertaining for it's cast, camp value, and peppy score. It's also pretty well put together in terms of direction, photography, and editing. All in all, sorta high class camp. I guess it was taken seriously in 1970. It's made without a shred of irony, which makes it even better.

Largo's Shark wrote:

I don't think RESURRECTION is too polished (except for the labs, though that goes without saying), compared to PROMETHEUS.

Yeah. I wouldn't necessary say it's polished, but rather that is a bit more stylish than the other films.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

AR is a fun cartoon for me.

I can see that. Interested to know how this film was intended to be, at least based on Joss Whedon's remarks on how the final product didn't really honor his script at all.