"Aliens" : Some nice effects, but actually kind've a crap film.

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i just watched like every special feature on the aliens double-disc as well as the long version of the movie as well as the commentary this week and it is all thanks to alex!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 26 August 2004 01:17 (twenty-one years ago)

You're welcome.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 August 2004 02:04 (twenty-one years ago)

god, i tried to watch two different dvd commentaries last weekend and failed each time. on "the rules of the game" peter bogdanovich talks sooo fast, like the micromachines guy, such that there is no emphasis anywhere and you can't follow it at all without getting a splitting headache. then i tried to watch a donald ritchie commentary on some kurosawa film but after about 10 minutes you can tell he was just winging it, "uh, here kurosawa is filming a house, er, houses were very common in the japan of the edo era, er."

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Thursday, 26 August 2004 03:52 (twenty-one years ago)

see? welder, i told you.

― g--ff (gcannon), Thursday, 26 August 2004 04:03 (twenty-one years ago)

i was thinking about watching that bogdanovich commentary! his citizen kane one is notoriously bad though

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 26 August 2004 14:22 (twenty-one years ago)

That's for damned sure.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 26 August 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

he didn't write the "rules of the game" commentary but he reads it, at about 150 words per minute.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Thursday, 26 August 2004 15:22 (twenty-one years ago)

you know, objectively, peter bogdanovich seems like a decent guy, but my gut reaction is one of disgust. maybe it's the ascots?

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Thursday, 26 August 2004 15:23 (twenty-one years ago)

his ascent to 'film expert' or whatever he is was pretty sneaky

― jones (actual), Thursday, 26 August 2004 15:27 (twenty-one years ago)

he was always a self-proclaimed film expert! even before he was a filmmaker!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:21 (twenty-one years ago)

it's kinda weird that he's just reading another person's commentary tho. i don't like non-scene-specific commentaries

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:21 (twenty-one years ago)

things that are good about this film: check out burke's suit jacket when they're still aboard the nostromo (the lapels are down, but the collar up!); the marine names, we used to play 'soldiers' and pretend to be them (vasquez, drake, crowe, wiersbowski, hudson, hicks, apone, frost, gorman); the sounds (the tracker's bleep, the elephant-noise alien death, the pulse rifle fire wow); everything is so well designed (ok yeah the alien architecture but the guns are soo cool, everyone wanted one as a kid, the apc, even the dropship); the hudson & hicks (alliterative-associative?) relationship; 'game over, man! game over!'; 'stop your grinnin' an' drop your linen!'; the bit where ripley's all protestant work ethic puritan abt hanging around so asks fr work, does some flashy stuff in the loader and apone, chewing his cigar, the way he says it, says 'bay 12, please.'

― cºzen (Cozen), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

also: all the other stuff.

― cºzen (Cozen), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:31 (twenty-one years ago)

bay 12 please is the best line in the movie.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:32 (twenty-one years ago)

it's cool that you mention the design though--cameron says one of the main things that appealed to him about the movie was all the cool designing he'd get to do. (they had a couple of prod designers but he did a lot of the initial sketches, for the apc lander and a bunch of other stuff)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)

it's not badly written at all, btw.

― cºzen (Cozen), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:35 (twenty-one years ago)

i totally agree

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, you're both wrong. So celebrate.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:39 (twenty-one years ago)

alex i'm sorry dude but you missed the boat on this one.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:39 (twenty-one years ago)

i still think you should see it properly (ie letterboxed w/good sound, proper theatrical cut etc etc) before passing final judgment.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahahahahahaha. That's a boat I have no interest in boarding. Bon voyage!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

also on the infamous day when you watched it you started in the middle right?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

you're being a bit ripley.

― cºzen (Cozen), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw it when it came out, youngster. I've seen it in its proper entirety probably more times than I'd prefer. In retrospect, it's simply not as great a film as it is credited as being. It's not awful, but it's not especially good. It's predecessor was vastly superior.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

you know what else is cool (and has to do with burke's collars)? they decided to follow ridley scott's lead and not give everyone futuristic outfits, which i like, very few sci-fi films ever did that before alien & aliens. (james cameron talks about how he liked how they wore hawaiian shirts in the first one... "they're basically truck drivers, there's no one aroudn to tell them how to dress")

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

i know i'll never win you over, alex, but i've had my enthusiasm for this film so rekindled i can't help but try!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

alex, I'd share a grenade with you. x x

― cºzen (Cozen), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I do like the point about the upturned collars, though. That was a nice little flourish.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:46 (twenty-one years ago)

tht kinda makes me gorman though : /

― cºzen (Cozen), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:48 (twenty-one years ago)

you always were an asshole, gorman

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)

anytime, anywhere.

― cºzen (Cozen), Thursday, 26 August 2004 16:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I liked how that dopey lieutenant(?) got bonked on the head.

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Thursday, 26 August 2004 20:59 (twenty-one years ago)

"it's cool that you mention the design though--cameron says one of the main things that appealed to him about the movie was all the cool designing he'd get to do. (they had a couple of prod designers but he did a lot of the initial sketches, for the apc lander and a bunch of other stuff)"

he also designed the alien queen himself (h.r. giger wasn't involved)!

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 27 August 2004 01:20 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah he says he maybe regrets not involving giger but that it was kind of an ego thing for him!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 27 August 2004 01:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I LIKE ALIENS, GUYS!!!!!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 27 August 2004 02:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Doesn't "you didn't see it properly, big screen, nice sound" = bad film? Presumably the attraction of the film cannot be dialigue, characters etc? Of course, if you are fine with that, good. Pleas don't vote for it in best movie polls though.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Friday, 27 August 2004 02:58 (twenty-one years ago)

whatev

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 27 August 2004 04:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't know if this has been said enough on this thread but sigourney weaver is awesome in this film with her almost asymptotal acting - always to the edge of things ('out of breath, unmade up &c.') - earning the film its dramatic danger. thomson says she is 'lofty, droll, ready for surprise, smart, attractive, and plainly desperate comedy, sigourney weaver has a robust reasonableness worth bearing in mind when other actresses kill themselves, ascend the olympus of vanity, or disgrace the human race' (haha woah tiger!). this film ws always weaver vs. 'the bitch' and never about the marines anyway. she's an underrated actress with a careful (?), short filmography full of understated (trans: aggresively reasonable) but liminally dangerous ('like something underwater turning ten fathoms deep, and swimming after you and me...') performances.

― cºzen (Cozen), Monday, 30 August 2004 18:48 (twenty-one years ago)

that formatting error is going to bug me sooo much.

― cºzen (Cozen), Monday, 30 August 2004 18:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I LIKE ALIENS, GUYS!!!!!!

― cºzen (Cozen), Monday, 30 August 2004 18:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw both Alien and Aliens in the theater recently and I like both movies less than I did originally - Alien much more so.

Alex NYC was critical of Aliens dialogue, well Alien is just as dopey, cartoonish, and two-dimensional as Aliens only instead of war movie cliches, it's full of horror movie cliches. Alien's suspense is really just shock-value: the alien goes "boo" and chows down on a crew member. Once you know the story, Alien has very little repeat-viewing worth except as a filmed H.R. Giger sketchbook. The new director's cut does flow better, but I could have done without the infamous "Dallas cocoon scene". On the plus side, the new digital sound is just amazing and worth it alone to see in a decent theater.

The original cut of Aliens was great, I wish that Cameron had just left it alone - really the only thing that needed to be included was the scene with the massed alien attack on the remote guns. Couple of scenes in here are just spectacular - the initial drop ship scene is amazingly well done and everything from "looks like they're having a goddamn town meeting" to "ease down - you've blown the transaxle. you're just grinding metal".

Thin writing or not, I defy anyone to repeat dialog from the original Alien without looking.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 00:09 (twenty-one years ago)

One thing in Aliens that will bug me forever - the horrible blue screen backdrop during the drop ship crash.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 00:11 (twenty-one years ago)

rear projection.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 00:24 (twenty-one years ago)

actually i thought that always looked rather good myself.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 00:25 (twenty-one years ago)

anyway, different strokes for different folks, different xenomorphs for different...well you get the point.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 00:28 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah "aliens" as reconfigured WWII combat movie is a big part of what i think is interesting about it.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 01:25 (twenty-one years ago)

cameron insists it's a reconfigured nam movie! (actually, how many nam movies were there to reconfigure then? maybe it's wwii-as-nam-as-outerspace)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:10 (twenty-one years ago)

My family's not religious at all but the dialogue from Aliens might be the closest thing we have to a Bible or prayer at dinner. Certain lines have been used in everyday conversation since I was in grade school.

"Is this going to be a stand-up fight, sir, or another bug hunt?"

"It was a bad call, Ripley--a bad call."

"One express elevator to Hell .. Going down!"

"Hey maybe you haven't been keeping up on current events but we just got our asses kicked, pal!"

I could go on...

― Richard K (Richard K), Monday, 6 September 2004 08:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Jesus. Like the alien in the first (and vastly superior) film, this thread SIMPLY WILL NOT DIE.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 6 September 2004 13:20 (twenty-one years ago)

YOU STARTED IT!

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 6 September 2004 13:25 (twenty-one years ago)

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