A few films recently watched.

i just think the dynamic of the cast in Alien was unsurpassed in following alien movies. Besides the single scene in Aliens when Weaver wakes up from the cryro chamber with the rest of the marines, the acting interactions are kind of too Camerony and not organic feeling like in the original Alien. Also I would argue the whole 'going to get the queen' part in Aliens really slows down the movie and brings what was a very amped up suspenseful action film to a grinding hault almost. I never understood why that scene seemed to have the most mone yspent on it when it is the most boring scene in the film (until it sneaks on the ship)

It's also interesting how much stuff was cut out of Alien (the original) that to people who haven't seen the alien directors cut might think those conventions were started first in Aliens.

ie: the cocoon part with the flame thrower, the digital tracking dot coming towards tom skerrit

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my favorite lines in the movie were cut

"HOW COME YOU GUYS DONT FREEZE HIM?"

  On 5/27/2012 at 12:12 AM, zaphod said:

the first part of the movie a lot creepier than anything actually involving the alien, which is cheap looking and pretty cheesy.

the intro with the music and the forming alien "logo"

the ship

the silence

the eggs

alien stuck on the face

the acid

the idea of baby alien inside human

the last supper

i'll agree with that, but let's be fair both Alien and Aliens have a stronger start than ending, besides Aliens final battle where Bishop gets his shit torn in half, the whole 30 minutes leading up to it is sloooooooww as fuck.

  On 5/27/2012 at 12:33 AM, Awepittance said:

besides Aliens final battle where Bishop gets his shit torn in half

Wow, I didn't know Alien had a deleted flamethrower scene! That does kind of steal a bit of Cameron's thunder. Wonder why they deleted it, maybe because the flamethrower seems wimpy and doesn't actually catch anything on fire?

Completely agree with Zaphod's comment about rewatching Alien. But then, very little actually holds up well over time. I rewatched The Shining the other day with my gf (who had never seen it), and it's not as perfect as it is in my memory, either. The part where Shelley Duvall is running around and sees the "room full of skeletons" is laughable, the whole sequence with Scatman calling the Overlook and finally getting off his ass is too drawn out and dull (not to mention his death which I thought was the definition of anticlimax even the first time I saw the film at 15 or so), the music while generally superb was a bit too over the top in some scenes, etc.

its interesting which movies hold up best for meover time. I remember loving Clockwork Orange when i first saw it but for some reason it's extremely hard to take how early 70s the aesthetics are (when i watch it now). But at the same time a movie like Logan's Run or Andromeda Strain has a very appealing 70s quality that i find extremely charming at this point in my life.

  On 5/27/2012 at 12:33 AM, Awepittance said:

i'll agree with that, but let's be fair both Alien and Aliens have a stronger start than ending, besides Aliens final battle where Bishop gets his shit torn in half, the whole 30 minutes leading up to it is sloooooooww as fuck.

hmmm. i rewatched the alien trilogy with someone who had never seen the films before. she thought aliens was incredibly intense basically from the moment they start running out of ammo for the automated guns outside the blast doors. it really doesn't let up. so i don't really agree with that half hour being slow. we watched director's cuts of all three films, and all three are stronger for it. although the thing with dallas in the cocoon in alien doesn't really work for me. it might be the knowledge i have from growing up on the second film but it doesn't make much sense to me that the alien is building a hive on the ship, although obviously the mythology is created in that first film. i think all three are great movies in their own ways. it's one of the few trilogies where every film is strong, even alien 3 is admirable for what it attempts to do. killing hicks and newt right of the bat is a pretty ballsy move. kind of solidifies the bleakness of the film and the fact that ripley is really alone with these things in her life...

i'm just not sure i can honestly say that alien is an effective film anymore, for me. doesn't mean it isn't important, influential or a great film.

true romance 3/3

Alien 3 is great, i dont know how David Fincher managed to pull off something so atmospheric and gritty fighting the studio the entire way, especially for his first movie. The only thing i really dislike about the Aliens directors cut, is that by showing NEwt's family at the beginning discovering the derelict ship and showing the people who lived on the colony originally zaps the movie completely of its mysterious vibe. That's a scene that makes A LOT of sense why they cut it out. Kind of like the scene in Back to the future part one where Marty choloforms his dad and breaks into his apartment. When just showing him waking up to Marty in a yellow hazmat suit was much cooler

  On 5/27/2012 at 1:25 AM, lumpenprol said:

Wow, I didn't know Alien had a deleted flamethrower scene! That does kind of steal a bit of Cameron's thunder. Wonder why they deleted it, maybe because the flamethrower seems wimpy and doesn't actually catch anything on fire?

 

Completely agree with Zaphod's comment about rewatching Alien. But then, very little actually holds up well over time. I rewatched The Shining the other day with my gf (who had never seen it), and it's not as perfect as it is in my memory, either. The part where Shelley Duvall is running around and sees the "room full of skeletons" is laughable, the whole sequence with Scatman calling the Overlook and finally getting off his ass is too drawn out and dull (not to mention his death which I thought was the definition of anticlimax even the first time I saw the film at 15 or so), the music while generally superb was a bit too over the top in some scenes, etc.

i'm going to see the shining in a theater in a week or so and i'm wondering if i'll feel this way. i'm finding most older movies simply don't have an effect on me. i find clockwork orange pretty laughable. the aesthetic is so rooted in the 70's and late 60's that the whole movie just seems dated and cheesy. i feel like the shining is a strong film, at least from my memory of it, but i'm willing to bet i won't find it scary at all. i've been spoiled by modern horror films.

awepittance: totally agree on that newt family thing. i forgot that was in the director's cut and was kind of ready to skip the scene. it robs the movie of a lot of the tension of knowing what happened in the colony. much more effective to just see aftermath.

  On 5/27/2012 at 1:28 AM, zaphod said:

  On 5/27/2012 at 12:33 AM, Awepittance said:

i'll agree with that, but let's be fair both Alien and Aliens have a stronger start than ending, besides Aliens final battle where Bishop gets his shit torn in half, the whole 30 minutes leading up to it is sloooooooww as fuck.

 

hmmm. i rewatched the alien trilogy with someone who had never seen the films before. she thought aliens was incredibly intense basically from the moment they start running out of ammo for the automated guns outside the blast doors. it really doesn't let up. so i don't really agree with that half hour being slow. we watched director's cuts of all three films, and all three are stronger for it. although the thing with dallas in the cocoon in alien doesn't really work for me. it might be the knowledge i have from growing up on the second film but it doesn't make much sense to me that the alien is building a hive on the ship, although obviously the mythology is created in that first film. i think all three are great movies in their own ways. it's one of the few trilogies where every film is strong, even alien 3 is admirable for what it attempts to do. killing hicks and newt right of the bat is a pretty ballsy move. kind of solidifies the bleakness of the film and the fact that ripley is really alone with these things in her life...

i'm just not sure i can honestly say that alien is an effective film anymore, for me. doesn't mean it isn't important, influential or a great film.

If your director's cut of Aliens is the one that ruins the suspense by showing them finding the crashed ship on LV426 and the first facehugger attack, then I gotta disagree with the "stronger" statement. I thought everything the director's cut of Aliens added back in was better left on the cutting room floor (as far as I can recall...the auto turrets was ok maybe, but the scene where Ripley finds out her (daughter?) is dead is ruined by the bad tree projection on the wall, etc...). Cameron needs his editor.

edit: Lol, awepittance already said it. I was outraged by that director's cut, actually. Especially since for a while in my hometown, it was the only one I could find on video...

ok, actually alien 3 is a lot stronger. i didn't mind the daughter thing but the lv426 sequence is lame, and the auto turret scenes are kind of awkward. so maybe just the third movie is stronger. i tend to forget which scenes are added in for the first two since i've seen them so many times.

  On 5/27/2012 at 1:28 AM, tauboo said:

true romance 3/3

true romance has really improved in hindsight hasn't it? Alabama's torture scene is still the most shocking torture scene committed to film, probably. One of Tarantino's best scenes too, even though he didn't direct.

Men in Black III - I know hating on a movie like MIB is hip, i know that people in this forum will look down at it and pass judgment it before they even see it because its not a 1970's Czechoslovakian film but in my opinion MIB 3 was fucking awesome, it was funny, it had good action and it made me cry manly tears. Will Smith, Tommy Lee and Josh Brolin were likable and i cared about their characters. 9/10

iron sky

naahh

a couple of semi lols/10

  On 5/27/2012 at 5:48 AM, data said:

iron sky

 

naahh

 

a couple of semi lols/10

Yep. Iron Sky was a huge disappointment, but you know what.. we are at fault for hyping a movie about nazis in space that was made in a guy's basement.

  On 5/27/2012 at 4:16 AM, YO303 said:

i know that people in this forum will look down at it and pass judgment it before they even see it because its not a 1970's Czechoslovakian film but

  On 5/27/2012 at 1:44 AM, Awepittance said:

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oh wow.

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It was good, more heavy handed and depressing than i'd expected though

sad face cake/10

elena - 7/10

polisse - 7/10

the social network - 8/10 - yes, a lot of dialogue is facepalm but it's still a fascinating story and basically a very well-made film.

Videodrome

First viewing. I've seen the fly as a youngster and found it very scary so as a teen I didn't look out any other cronenberg. Finally got around to watching this and whilst fun, it was pretty tame stuff. The special effects are great, reminded me of early peter jackson films. The guy who gets shot amd explodes was hilarous. The guy who breaks open was brilliant but not realistic enough to be disgusting. The gut hole was nicely done too and I liked blondie's tits. Scanners next and it may be time to face the fly again. Help me.

Melancholia. Ended up with a lot of conflicted feelings about this, seemed to me like the whole film is about that final scene and the sensation it leaves you with, also leaves you wondering about a lot of details in the movie and that is always OK...

but

the movie seems to be all about that final scene and I don't get if all the prelude to it was really necessary for the effect or was it really meant to say something at all, everyone has very different 'deep' interpretations into the details which are always fun to hear, but I'm left feeling that no possible interpretation could really add anything to the whole, interpretations will be meaningless. I also feel that all the interpretations end up being about the film and director's intentions and not about the film's theme, which I don't like.

So

totally.worth.it.and.amazing.in.a.weird.way/10.

Specially worth watching in theater.

definetly agree alien gets more dull after the alien appears, but still think all the stuff leading up to that is cool. also like the bit where tha android goes nuts + they plug his head in or whatever, that was good. also whats with people who were upset newt + micheal biehn didnt make it in alien 3 ? newt was annoying as fuck + biehn is cheesy.so basically those characters sucked + deserved to die !

american psycho ==== 4 stars out of a possible 10 stars .

robocop = 7.5 robocops out of 10

robocop 2 = fuck watching robocop 2