They're Remaking 'Alien' -- the 'Prometheus' thread

haha yes

yeah and also, i think i said this already somewhere on this thread, but it was soooo 90s to be like "what the gritty, industrial, magnificently-realized alien universe needs is... a dose of gallic whimsy!"

and four years before quake (a year before doom, even)

the only good part of that movie was the chick that drowned

it was soooo 90s to be like "what the gritty, industrial, magnificently-realized alien universe needs is... a dose of gallic whimsy!"

tbh, i think the heavy presence of the gritty and industrial in the 90s pop visual imagination owes a lot to david fincher

Most interesting thing about Alien Resurrection now is it basically being a very early version of Whedon's "Firefly," pretty much.

That and Brad Dourif getting his head eaten.

https://www.weylandindustries.com/6EQUJ5/6EQUJ5.jpg

so psyched for prometheus: the fifth element

the fountainmetheus

Alien 3 was before Doom. 4 had the Jeunet crew and rusted, crusted brown metal and hit in 97, between Quake 2 & 3, I think.

Yeah. The original Quake was 96 but it was kind of a medieval deal

speaking of continuity, ownership, all that: does anyone know what scott thinks of cameron/aliens? or any of the stuff after? i wonder. if it's even knowable. or the writers?

― goole, Monday, March 19, 2012 2:07 PM (49 minutes ago) Bookmark

he initially didnt like aliens but i think he came around on it. ridley can be a bit of a crank. iirc that thing about where cameron talks about teaming up with him on an alien movie was sort of a thing he put out there to try and get them to not make AvP - 'hey dont do that and we'll do this for you instead' - its hilarious to imagine those two hardasses getting along on a set though. that'd be the most torrid production ever probably

"What's my motivation?"

"Go talk to the older aggro white bearded guy."

"Uh."

tbh, i think the heavy presence of the gritty and industrial in the 90s pop visual imagination owes a lot to david fincher

― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Monday, March 19, 2012 7:16 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you do know ppl are talking about "alien resurrection" not "alien3" right

yeah and also, i think i said this already somewhere on this thread, but it was soooo 90s to be like "what the gritty, industrial, magnificently-realized alien universe needs is... a dose of gallic whimsy!"

― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Monday, March 19, 2012 7:12 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^^^^^^^^LOL yes.

I h8 that movie so much.

I should check but is the Walter Hill listed as a coproducer THE Walter Hill? Kinda random if so.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, March 19, 2012 6:03 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah he co-wrote/produced the original Alien with David Giler and Gordon Carroll. They were responsible for the android Ash, a lot of the space trucker
aesthetic and some other things. They also infamously tried to lock out the original writer, Dan O'Bannon, from getting credit.

They have had producing credit on every Alien movie since, even Alien vs Predator.

And they also came up with the "soldiers in space" scenario for Aliens and after reading Cameron's Terminator script asked him to write it.

I've watched the hell out of the Alien series in the last six months after remembering I got the blu-ray set for Christmas over a year ago. I can enjoy all of them, but I'd rank Alien over Aliens any day. I'm really bad at elaborating, but I feel like Cameron definitely created some of the strongest stock characters and battles, but Alien somehow feels better as a film. It's kind of survival horror versus straight up action movie, though.

Meanwhile, Jeunet/Whedon's take was pretty much "Whedon meets French science fiction" which means it either needs to have fart jokes, take itself way too seriously, or both.

Fincher was pretty much screwed from the start

when did jeunet become a stand-in for all french sci-fi?

I was kind of generalizing to the few I've seen? Not necessarily just Jeunet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:French_science_fiction_films

I've seen more than I thought! I think there are a few Quebec films in here, but French language regardless

the only good part of that movie was the chick that drowned

― the late great, Monday, March 19, 2012 3:14 PM (1 hour ago)

whiney?

Alien Resurrection is pretty funny if you imagine that the Winona android was based on Amelie

nah, i said the chick, not the drowning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZtlBkGfig4

I had a Hollywood insider friend in college, and I remember him leaking the Alien 4 script to me. I read it over, and I was like, no fucking way. Same thing happened when he showed me the script to "A Life Less Ordinary," and I thought, no one way is this the follow-up to "Trainspotting."

ironic, because danny boyle was attached to direct Alien Resurrection at one point

Had a shot at being better with him attached, imo.

yeah, it was kinda funny seeing how he grafted on a horror subplot to Sunshine. Total "damn I should've taken Alien IV" syndrome

The horror plot is kind of ehhh but Sunshine was pretty awesome cast and visual-wise

yeah, it was a beautiful not-very-good movie.

Alien Resurrection can't even say that for itself. It's just ugly and stupid all the way through.

I'm not very trustworthy though, I watched Pandorum a couple times when it was on starz.

I've waxed about Sunshine elsewhere on ilx, but to sum up: I've made my peace with the third act and I'm glad it's the way it is.

Best parts of Alien Resurrection:

- Ripley clones, including the one who is a main character being "born" and the creepy botched ones
- When Ripley seems especially non-human/cold at the beginning, bleeds acid, and Weaver has a way with motion that really projects something creepy, that she's not human
- The aliens killing one of their own to unleash enough acid to escape, after they've learned about the punishment button from creepy scientist dude
- Total horror of the people revived from stasis only to have the first thing they see be a facehugger

The army, Dan Hedaya, mercenary bits are all... not so hot. The "sheeee's giving birth for YOU, Ripley!" part is trying too hard for body horror and it's not quite there

um now I'm back to thinking about Prometheus

i love brad dourif

is alien 4 the one where they play basketball?

yup

The basketball scene is... some of the best and worst elements of the movie meeting

I really hated how dumbed down the aliens were in that movie. They look like slimy velociraptors. And the movie's so brown that in some shots they look like piles of shit with teeth. There's some really ugly cinematography in that movie.

I mean, it's a space monster movie, this shit's important

I caught a bit of alien 4 when it was on TV - breaks the rule of not showing the monster too much, right?

They also infamously tried to lock out the original writer, Dan O'Bannon, from getting credit.

Ah, well, fuck them, then.

The only shitty thing about the Alien series as far as I'm concerned is a coke-addled James Cameron going on a "they killed Newt / I will never forgive them" tirade. A1 is awesome, A2-4 are almost all equally watchable.

Oh, the part in A4 when the baby hybrid shows up was bad. xp

A2-4 are almost all equally watchable.

no

Although when I saw the movie in the theatre, the projector cinched up right at the moment of the big (crap) reveal, the light burnt the film and the movie ended. We got free passes to the next showing. It was a way better ending than Jeunet's xp

Wm Gibson did a draft of the Alien3 screenplay, iirc

The aliens killing one of their own to unleash enough acid to escape, after they've learned about the punishment button from creepy scientist dude

that part is awesome

the alien baby hybrid getting killed by mama ripley was ... sad :-(

Yeah that's crazy. A2>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>A3>>>>>>>>>>>insert vastness of space where no one can you scream>>>>>>>>>>>A4

was there anybody NOT involved with A3 iirc

tila tequila