well part of that is because his character is a sullen cipher and the other part is because Worthington is actually a wooden marionette
― Yeezy reupholstered my pussy (DJP), Monday, 6 December 2010 21:41 (thirteen years ago) link
i generally like worthington but i won't necessarily go to bat for him in this... it's hard to tell if the character's underwritten or if he was wrong for the part or idk what
― Princess TamTam, Monday, 6 December 2010 21:42 (thirteen years ago) link
I said it upthread but the vlog where he is all weary and sad because they are going to bulldoze his pretty pretty princess is kind of great
― Yeezy reupholstered my pussy (DJP), Monday, 6 December 2010 21:43 (thirteen years ago) link
x-post I guess it's just splitting hairs, but in "Aliens," it's not a slow *suspenseful* build-up. Both battles happen pretty suddenly. There's just an awful lot of talk, is all, by action movie standards. Nothing wrong with that. I like talk. But I bet that movie (as is) could not have been released today. For long stretches it's practically an art film, pacing-wise.
I mean, compare it to, say, Ebert's (positive) contemporaneous take:
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.
That reads like a review of "Irreversible."
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 December 2010 21:45 (thirteen years ago) link
does taking time to establish characters, relationships and setting really make something an art film
― Princess TamTam, Monday, 6 December 2010 21:47 (thirteen years ago) link
ebert's weird sometimes. i dunno, i think a palpable sense of dread is built up throughout the film and the genius of the film really is in the structure. i think some films would have a quick minor battle up front and then everyone would load up and get ready for the big one, but this one has this terrifying epic massacre of 3/4ths of the marines and then everyone else is trapped and just waiting for the other shoe to drop and not knowing how, when, or where it's going to happen.
― omar little, Monday, 6 December 2010 21:48 (thirteen years ago) link
like that art film jaws
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 21:49 (thirteen years ago) link
― omar little, Monday, December 6, 2010 4:48 PM (33 seconds ago) Bookmark
i think "alien 1" is the "battle up front" - the advantage of the sequel
yeah but even accounting for that i think most filmmakers would maybe just build the film in a more predictable manner, i think one of the strengths of aliens is that what happens to the marines at the beginning is kind of unpredictable maybe.
― omar little, Monday, 6 December 2010 21:51 (thirteen years ago) link
x-post For sure. Like I said, it's a masterpiece. But I think its deviation from form, including its (at times) leisurely pace, is what makes it so memorable/intense. It's like a classic stuck in a foxhole on the front war film. "Slow" is not a pejorative in this case. Maybe "deliberate pacing" is a better description? It's certainly in no hurry.
There's really no comparing Jaws and Aliens, other than to say both are great. But I'd argue Jaws is a perfectly, almost classically-so, structured film.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 December 2010 21:55 (thirteen years ago) link
but you said it was a NIGHTMARE isnt that pejorative
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 21:58 (thirteen years ago) link
I love nightmares
oh wait no I don't, nightmares are terrible
― Yeezy reupholstered my pussy (DJP), Monday, 6 December 2010 21:59 (thirteen years ago) link
Dude, that was hyperbole. Just on paper, and in practice, there's an awful lot of inaction for an action movie is all. Like, conspicuously so.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 December 2010 22:00 (thirteen years ago) link
But I wasn't all OMG ALIENS WAS SO SLOW IT GAVE ME NIGHTMARES!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 December 2010 22:01 (thirteen years ago) link
The pacing in Aliens is masterful. And Ripley's hallucination near the beginning is actually 10x scarier than the chest-burst in the first one.
― Davek (davek_00), Monday, 6 December 2010 22:03 (thirteen years ago) link
Aliens is a structural mess, a pacing nightmare, yet somehow successful despite it.
hard to see how anyone could take this as a face-value negative criticism of the movie
― Yeezy reupholstered my pussy (DJP), Monday, 6 December 2010 22:04 (thirteen years ago) link
i take issue with the idea that it is a mess, instead of just unconventionally structured
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 22:06 (thirteen years ago) link
Yes, mess is too strong. Subtract points from my tally.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 December 2010 22:13 (thirteen years ago) link
YES! BOOYA!!!!
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 22:20 (thirteen years ago) link
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6Hb1xxSjffs/S6mSj3eXZiI/AAAAAAAAQxs/hPpkSIsoBR8/s400/NBA-Boomshakalaka.png
― Princess TamTam, Monday, 6 December 2010 22:21 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdCrZfTkG1c
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 22:22 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www9l.incredimail.com/scache/im//gallery/collections/200902031023/content_13086_prev.gif
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 22:24 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.horrordvds.com/reviews/a-m/aliens/aliens_shot5l.jpg
(l-r: josh in chicago, me)
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 22:25 (thirteen years ago) link
Ha, doesn't that make me Ripley?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 December 2010 22:29 (thirteen years ago) link
(Gloating made you sloppy!)
aliens is just so good, it's basically the most ideal sequel i can think of in terms of being a standalone film while also playing off familiarity with first film in some awesome ways.
omar and I are the Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Bacon of ILX film crits.
― look at it, pwn3d, made u look at my peen/vadge (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 6 December 2010 22:31 (thirteen years ago) link
Is that a JFK reference??
― Princess TamTam, Monday, 6 December 2010 22:35 (thirteen years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, December 6, 2010 5:29 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, December 6, 2010 5:29 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark
uh... um.... i was taking the long view, what with the whole events in alien 3
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 22:37 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.jfk-online.com/jones.jpg
― omar little, Monday, 6 December 2010 22:47 (thirteen years ago) link
so has anyone here seen the new Aliens blu-ray? supposedly it looks great!
― latebloomer, Monday, 6 December 2010 22:48 (thirteen years ago) link
i haveit does
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 22:52 (thirteen years ago) link
and you're our aliens checkin cuz
― omar little, Monday, 6 December 2010 22:54 (thirteen years ago) link
nice.
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 22:56 (thirteen years ago) link
anyway i watched the avatar blu the same night as the last airbender and despite my mixed-to-negative feelings about this movie, holy shit does every single moment of it blow that stinker out of the water, not even teh same league
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 22:57 (thirteen years ago) link
at the time were you thinking "goddammit i will watch something called avatar: the last airbender even if i have to put it together myself!!"
― literally the worst thing that ever happened on this planet (reddening), Monday, 6 December 2010 23:04 (thirteen years ago) link
haha i actually used that as the peg for my column that week
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 23:05 (thirteen years ago) link
shymalan just seems incapable of making a film with any forward momentum whatsoever
― omar little, Monday, 6 December 2010 23:06 (thirteen years ago) link
cameron works better when his villains are not people
― goole, Monday, 6 December 2010 23:07 (thirteen years ago) link
stunning insight i know
that's a true lie
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 23:07 (thirteen years ago) link
i never saw that! the villain was an old telephone, right?
― goole, Monday, 6 December 2010 23:08 (thirteen years ago) link
this movie and the Lost finale are my two "never forgive, never forget" media experiences of recent memory. hype hype hype and then soul-crushingly bad writing.
― literally the worst thing that ever happened on this planet (reddening), Monday, 6 December 2010 23:08 (thirteen years ago) link
but still, robot knife fight.
― literally the worst thing that ever happened on this planet (reddening), Monday, 6 December 2010 23:10 (thirteen years ago) link
― goole, Monday, December 6, 2010 6:08 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark
it was a plane
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 23:15 (thirteen years ago) link
you're fired
― kanellos (gbx), Monday, 6 December 2010 23:17 (thirteen years ago) link
i distinctly remember a telephone hitting arnold in the face
― goole, Monday, 6 December 2010 23:17 (thirteen years ago) link
the plane commanded it
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 23:23 (thirteen years ago) link
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51N99F2W3DL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
are you sure it was a plane
― goole, Monday, 6 December 2010 23:24 (thirteen years ago) link
avatar didn't totally work for me for various reasons but i gotta say i'm glad cameron is making these types of films, though when i say "making" and "films" i guess it should be noted that he's only made two in 16 years but still...
― omar little, Monday, 6 December 2010 23:24 (thirteen years ago) link
i think the word 'still' should have been in quotes too
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 23:25 (thirteen years ago) link