Encore had a sci-fi Labor Day weekend special going on, I caught Robocop 3 for the first time in forever along with the first three Alien films (watched Alien and Aliens back to back).
Don't feel like writing a whole lot, but I will say Aliens > Alien.
That doesn't make the original any less of a masterpiece, by the way.
Alien 3 -
The acting was superb. Dr. Clemens and the black guy in particular. Weaver kinda sucked, though -- she felt emotionless, really evident when first told that Newt, Hicks and Bishop were dead.
And you know what, damn, I was surprised, it was a pretty decent movie.
Unfortunately, it was not an Alien movie.
That's about all I have to say on Alien 3.
PS that trapping the alien in the corridors shit near the end confused the hell out of me.
Alien 3 is one of the worst fucking movies I've ever seen, especially considering how great the first two were. I hate that steaming pile of shit. It completely renders the entire plot of Aliens as a waste of time and surrounds you with a bunch of boring characters as a consolation prize.
I'd rather watch Spider-Man 3 twice in row than watch Alien 3 once.
I just watched 21, It was an interesting movie but all in all I found it pretty bla. Maybe a bunch of collage kids trying to rip off a casino sounds like an entertaining movie, But i just couldn't get into it.
There is one simple reason why Aliens reigns supreme over all the other Alien films: James Cameron. He's just a better filmmaker and it shows.
And, I totally agree with you on Alien 3, shish. It's a total letdown. Cameron, to his credit, absolutely HATED what they did with the characters he spent so much time developing and he wasn't shy about saying so. I quote:
"Hated it. Simple as that. I hated what they did.... I couldn't stand Alien 3 - how they could just go in there and kill off all these great characters we introduced in aliens, and the correlation between mother and daughter. It stunk."
See, Nugz? We can totally get along on movie tastes. I DO know how to hate!
Also, while I still LOVE Alien, I agree that Aliens is the best of the bunch. Between T2 and Aliens alone, James Cameron has established himself as a sci-fi god.
10,000 B.C. - Pretty much sucked, just like I expected, but the scenery was pretty good and that last city was epic and huge. The best scenery was my favorite female celeb Camilla Belle though, she looked great even covered in shite.
21 - More boring than I expected. It got better near the end for me, but the first hour was kinda boring, numbers, card counting, glitz of Vegas, it all looked more exciting in the trailer.
Finally watched Live Free or Die Hard. Loved it a lot. I loved With a Vengeance but mostly for Samuel and Bruce's interactions. The plot was pretty god, but sub par for a Die Hard movie. I liked Live Free a bit more because I love pseudo-hacker shit. They should of had the bad guys just download those 500TB onto a flash drive
I also went back and watched both Ghostbusters movies. These movies are exactly as awesome as I remember them. The first movie is just about perfect. Kudos to me not having seen the movie in 12 years yet still knows every line in the movie. AND THE FLOWERS ARE STILL STANDING!!!
Dark Rising- Canadian slasher flick starring Jay Reso (Pro Wrestler Christian Cage). Not the greatest movie but Jay Reso is pretty damn good in it, the guy needs to be in more movies, I flat out love the guy.
See, Nugz? We can totally get along on movie tastes. I DO know how to hate!
Yes!!! I love hating stuff with you. <3
Shishkabob3787 Wrote:
Also, while I still LOVE Alien, I agree that Aliens is the best of the bunch. Between T2 and Aliens alone, James Cameron has established himself as a sci-fi god.
Let's not forget The Abyss, a fantastic movie, IMO. T1 roxxors, too. And, Cameron's new film, Avatar, coming in 2009, is also sci-fi and sounds like it's gonna fucking rock.
On another note, I finally saw Pan's Labrynth yesterday and thought it was pretty sweet. Great story with good characters, acting and cinematography. I absolutely LOVED their decision to make it an R-rated movie -- it's so refreshing to see a movie like this actually made for adults.
I am SICK TO DEATH with the proliferation of PG-13 movies these days. The number of R-rated movies has been steadily declining in the last 25 years because the studios are terrified of losing the teen demographic. Sometimes, that's a legit move, but far too often movies that really should've been made R's end up being PG-13's and are watered-down as a result.
Take Die Hard 4, for example. The previous three were R's, then this piece of shit comes out with a PG-13. "Yippie-kai-yay motherfucker" turns into some idiotic phrase that I can't even remember. Actually, this movie isn't the best example primarily due to the fact that it's a schlocky piece of shit.
How about Lord of the Rings. Here we go. As good as these films were (and they were fantasticly good) I still have always strongly felt that they would have been that much better had they been R-rated. The battle scenes would've been much more realistic, and some of the moments in the films could've been strengthened quite a bit. Take the battle of Helm's Deep, for example. Don't you think it would've felt a lot more real and meaningful if a few of the good guys (other than that one single elf) actually got bloodied and killed, too? That whole scene, while awesome, sometimes reminds me of old GI Joe cartoons where there would be a huge battle with thousands of fighters yet not one casualty is seen.
The Dark Knight is another example for exactly the same reasons. It was great, but would've been even greater and more impactful with an R-rating. A movie with subject material that dark and sinister should have a few F-bombs and more violence. Not because one necessarily wants to see that, but simply because it's what one expects to see when watching a movie about those subjects. Modern criminals swear, and they swear a lot.
I still haven't managed to see The Abyss, but I love T1, I just think T2 is superior in every way. I can't wait for Avatar.
I completely agree on the PG-13 rant, though Dark Knight and Lord of the Rings are amazing for PG-13 I can't imagine how much better they would've been if they had gone R. "Yippie kai yay, mother*BLAM*" was one of the greatest cinematic tragedies of this millennium. That said, I really dig the R rated ("Unrated") version on DVD. It's pretty silly, but it's fun.
rent the special edition/director's cut whatever this weekend and thank me later. make a party out of it.
just, just watch the damn thing
anyways, saw Predator 2, bit of a guilty pleasure, but I just fastforward thru all the lame shit and get to the part where, for some reason, the Predator is in some meat factory and Gary Busey goes in with insulated heat suits because off of some wild hunch he guesses (correctly!) that the predator sees in thermal vision or whatever. and then they get slaughtered because the predator can change his vision and GARY BUSEY gets sliced in half.
anyways danny glover saves the day but goddamn do I love me some Busey
the first predator is a classic, though.
there is substance and thought in there, unlike 2.
I'm just going to jump in on the Alien 3 talk here because I never get tired of that debate.
OK, first of all I want to say to all those who don't know that Alien 3 was NOT, I repeat NOT, David Fincher's fault. He walked out of the editing room and subsequently tried to disown the movie. If anybody should be blamed it's the writers, 2 of whom wrote Aliens but decided to completely bastardize the third installment.
That said, truthfully I don't really even care for Aliens, it completely went against the grain of the first movie and put it into a shoot-em-up action thriller whereas the first was more of a cerebreal survival horror type of film. Also, it arguably also made the horrendous Alien Resurrection possible, which pretty much followed the same formula as Aliens, and was probably just made as a response to people who hated Alien 3. Even though Alien 3 was more in the same style of Alien, it still did suck. It reminds me of the relationship of Terminator 2 and 3 which are basically the same movie...except one sucks.
P.S. Shisk, don't get the director's cut, The theatrical ending is much much better, watch that first then if you're still interested watch the director's cut ending.
I don't hold Fincher responsible for Alien 3 at all. Fox fucked him in that ass on that one.
I actually enjoyed the documentary disc of Alien 3 a million times more than the movie itself (I have the 9-disc Alien Quadrilogy set and I've watched every second of it). Everyone working on it was bizarrely honest about how Fox ruined the whole thing. I'm surprised Fox allowed it to be on the DVD, and I respect them a little more for at least admitting their mistake in the matter.
As for the Alien vs. Aliens matter, I think Alien did a fantastic job of setting up the entire mythology of the aliens in a survival story and I love how Aliens took advantage of that to make a balls-out action movie. I think both movies are top examples of their individual genres and it's just a matter of preference for which one people like more. I love the action, but I have an endless respect for the suspense.
P.S. Shisk, don't get the director's cut, The theatrical ending is much much better, watch that first then if you're still interested watch the director's cut ending.
As for the Alien vs. Aliens matter, I think Alien did a fantastic job of setting up the entire mythology of the aliens in a survival story and I love how Aliens took advantage of that to make a balls-out action movie. I think both movies are top examples of their individual genres and it's just a matter of preference for which one people like more. I love the action, but I have an endless respect for the suspense.
Well said. (Wow, how can we be agreeing this much lately? lolz) One is a horror film, the other is a sci-fi action film. They're BOTH very well done. But, overall, I get much more entertainment value out of Aliens. The main difference is the characters: Aliens just has a far larger and more interesting cast of characters to me. Alien can't be faulted for having less, it's just the way the story in that movie is set up. But regardless of the reason, for me more is better so Aliens wins.
Semper Wrote:
Shisk, don't get the director's cut, The theatrical ending is much much better, watch that first then if you're still interested watch the director's cut ending.
SHISH LISTEN TO THIS MAN. That is sage advice. Most of the scenes in the director's cut of The Abyss were cut for a reason: they're inferior and don't add anything to the movie. The theatrical release is much better.
Incidentally, how in the HELL have you not seen The Abyss yet? Get on it, boy!
