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

I would argue that it's a great deal more difficult to make an effectively scary, suspenseful horror film than an action movie (wherein all you really need to please certain folks, as noted, are "cool guns").

I would argue that that's bollocks. While we're being reductive, we could just as easily boil horror movies down to "sexual guilt." Formulas are formulas, and they exist because they work on a base level. Your base level may be different than mine, but I wouldn't hold horror movies up as a higher art then action movies. In fact, just typing that seemed silly to me. Really... come on.

Then there's this:

Seems to me, at least, the first one was genuinely suspenseful and NOT FOR EVERYONE , whereas this one went for the wider audience buck. That seems kinda crass to me.

Alien was the third highest-grossing movie of 1979, right between Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Muppet Movie. Don't argue that the second movie sold out. DON'T TRY IT.

http://www.fact-index.com/1/19/1979_in_film.html#Top%20Grossing%20Films%20of%201979

My point remains the same.

Aliens = Flimsy, cliche-ridden, poorly patched together whizz-bang blam-o action pic designed to sell popcorn. Bring the kids, hey, it'll be fun!

I remember sitting infront of a father who brought his FIVE YEAR OLD SON to "Natural Born Killers". WHAT PART OF THE TITLE, "NATURAL BORN KILLERS", MADE YOU THINK THIS FILM WAS SUITABLE FOR YOUR FIVE-YEAR OLD?

The ads for "Aliens" claim that this movie will frighten you as few movies have, and, for once, the ads don't lie. The movie is so intense that it creates a problem for me as a reviewer: Do I praise its craftsmanship, or do I tell you it left me feeling wrung out and unhappy?

It has been a week since I saw it, so the emotions have faded a little, leaving with me an appreciation of the movie's technical qualities. But when I walked out of the theater, there were knots in my stomach from the film's roller-coaster ride of violence. This is not the kind of movie where it means anything to say you "enjoyed" it. ..

I don't know how else to describe this: The movie made me feel bad. It filled me with feelings of unease and disquiet and anxiety. I walked outside and I didn't want to talk to anyone. I was drained. I'm not sure "Aliens" is what we mean by entertainment. Yet I have to be accurate about this movie: It is a superb example of filmmaking craft.

If it does this to a man who has seen 20,000 movies, what will it do to the average filmgoer? Or to CHILDREN?

Which made these (released prior to the second film) even more mysterious:

ihttp://www.toyzine.com/magazine/articles/alien/alien+box_lg.jpg

I'm sorry, but I'm a little confused. You still seem to be saying that the first Alien movie was "not for everyone," because... it's horror by genre? And the second one was more for... fun? The second movie is scarier and more traumatizing in many ways.

The first film was more of a classic horror film written with a degree of sophistication and unflinching, realistic gore (relatively speaking) that was inarguably not child friendly. The second one, though still violent and gorey, reads more like a western shoot'em up. It's not exactly Spongbob Squarepants but it's easier on the sense than the first one.

http://www.filmfodder.com/movies/reviews/alien/images/alien.jpg

I don't think this is a particularly good argument, but I must pause to say that I like the first film better, easily. I like the pacing and the dialogue better. I like the tone better. I just don't think that that's a good jumping-off point to argue that the second film is bad.

If it does this to a man who has seen 20,000 movies, what will it do to the average filmgoer?

Answer: thrill the shit out of them.

(also, Newt was traumatised,FFS. What were you expecting, Alex, some nice, likeable, well-adjusted kid? Of course she wasn't fucking likeable...)

The actress who plays vasquez, I forget what she's called, she was in "near dark" and IIRC terminator 2 as well? K-ROWR!!!

foolish elvens.

you can't say that thats a cliche can you?

The trouble is films since Aliens have robbed it to fuck and now admittedly watching it again it some parts seem cliched but you have to realise it was unique at the time and was, and remains to be, an absoloute classic

Anyway:
Alien: claustrophobic atmosphere, good script, suspense, nasty shocks, superb design

Aliens: Suspense, nasty shocks, superb design and GUNS GUNS GUNS! LOTSA GUNS!

I declare a tie.

Alien 3 is underrated, by the way.

haha xpost

Alien: haven't seen it! wtf
Aliens: That's the clumsiest exoskeleton I've ever seen, HOMO SNAPIES U HAVE NO CHANCE 2 SURVIVE MAKE UR TIME, also kind of an injustice to the Aliens that they keep getting killed so easily, yes I understand the guns are big but seriously people, this is the most dangerous species in the galaxy, they don't need numbers to win
Alien 3: I have tried to watch this like 5 times and have been unable to figure out what is going on enough to bother sitting through the giger cave bukkake
Alien Resurrection: Am I the only person who thinks this would have been better standalone, without trying to tie in to the Alien franchise? Ron Perlman!!! Whoop

Heavens! This is the best of the lot.