What Is The Last Film You Watched? (Older Films)

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Brónach 1,303]

I was able to follow the action at the end and I actually enjoyed that over the top sequence quite a bit.

The twist has people divided, it seems.

On one side it feels like a parody of the Nolan Batman villain. I laughed my ass off. On the other hand, it feels like there isn't enough of the character before the twist. Or that thye twist should be a bit closer to the end. But that would mean changing the structure a bit.

I wish they'd actually killed the President character!

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Sounds like it was a mess from the get-go.

- Uni

Also, didn't the producers call the shots during the shooting and the post-production? I mean, it's not really a David Fincher movie or an auteur film. It's a producers' film. Perhaps that's why he distanced himself from the film and why I was never fond of Alien3. When I saw Se7en, not too long after the third Alien movie, I couldn't believe it was made by the same director! But it was not until Fight Club that Fincher was given the freedom to excel and soar. Unique and daring as it is, Fight Club became his signature movie. Fincher at his most Fincher-esque.

Alex

Yes, Fincher was brought on late and had to film on a scene-by-scene basis without having the entire script. He left after filming was done and had nothing to do with post-production. He doesn't consider it one of his movies.

His style is instantly recognizable in Seven.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

he's responsible for Alien 3, regardless of all this extraneous crap. He directed what's on screen and his direction is lacking. whether he lacked confidence or felt strapped he still delivered a poor product. Sure he wasn't helped by the horrible script, but he didn't exactly get qualilty performances out of a fairly decent group of actors,

In a perfect world there is Alien and Aliens, nothing more. Newt, Hicks, and Ripley returned to earth and lived long and happy lives as husband, wife, and daughter. Bishop was repaired and was a life long friend of the family.

The nuclear explosion on LV-426 wiped out all the remaining xenomorphs. There are two xenomorph bodies floating in space. They are dead too.

[Brónach 1,303]

Hicks with Ripley? I don't see that. It feels fanfictiony.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Hicks with Ripley? I don't see that. It feels fanfictiony.

are you serious, oh wait, it's you

never mind that they had clear chemistry and attraction.

[Brónach 1,303]

That's why it feels fanfictiony.

I find the film too dark for such an ending. Four traumatized people, maybe.

[Jay 37,577]

Because they had chemistry and attraction on screen, it feels fanfictiony to have them get together in the next chapter?

[JoeinAR 1,949]

it's also the way Cameron envisioned it, so that should be good enough for even you. and it's 3 survivors not traumatized people, and Bishop is a synthetic.

Ripley is no victim, Newt goes with the flow, and Hick's is a soldier, he rolls with it.

[Brónach 1,303]

One of the defining characteristics of a certain kind of fan fiction is doing shippings like that (I said it that way as a joke). And Cameron is definitely not safe from screwing things up!

Bishop is a person to me. I'm proggresive in that regard.

Not traumatized? Riiight. Newt is athomatically going to be perfectly ok from then on. Ripley already had bad dreams she'll be suddenly ok. And survivor guilt doesn't exist.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

In a perfect world there is Alien and Aliens, nothing more. Newt, Hicks, and Ripley returned to earth and lived long and happy lives as husband, wife, and daughter. Bishop was repaired and was a life long friend of the family.

LOL. This is so Joe.

I can see them, all laughing, walking toward the sunset., then singing Kumbaya around a campfire. The perfect ending to the Alien series...

[Jay 37,577]

I think the best Alien 3 script would have been Ripley, New, and Hicks returning to earth... they get quarantined on a space station floating above it... everything seems fine.... until they realize the Alien Queen laid a couple eggs on their escape ship before attacking them... the eggs hatch and now they have 2 facehuggers running around the space station. There could be cool different environments in different areas of the station, and you could have one of the facehuggers impregnate a weird animal there rather than another human to make the xenomorph time around.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

In a perfect world there is Alien and Aliens, nothing more. Newt, Hicks, and Ripley returned to earth and lived long and happy lives as husband, wife, and daughter. Bishop was repaired and was a life long friend of the family.

LOL. This is so Joe.

I can see them, all laughing, walking toward the sunset., then singing Kumbaya around a campfire. The perfect ending to the Alien series...

In my universe no one ever sing Kumbaya. well maybe Hobbit geeks who pay in Euros

Chaac you do realize that bad things happen to people sometimes, the majority of them go on living their lives and are not victims.

Jason your story is already way better than Alien 3's story.

[Jay 37,577]

And that's just Act 1!

[BloodBoal 7,538]

In my universe no one ever sing Kumbaya. well maybe Hobbit geeks who pay in Euros

[Quintus 5,399]

Yeah, let's instead have it end with a failed marriage, drink issues and an adopted daughter who no longer wants anything to do with her broken, violent step father after he beat her step mom while suffering from post military service stress and feeling like he has nowhere to turn, suicide the only way out.

Just for the millions of parasitic fucking emos sitting at home with their blu ray remotes.

[Brónach 1,303]

I think the best Alien 3 script would have been Ripley, New, and Hicks returning to earth... they get quarantined on a space station floating above it... everything seems fine.... until they realize the Alien Queen laid a couple eggs on their escape ship before attacking them... the eggs hatch and now they have 2 facehuggers running around the space station. There could be cool different environments in different areas of the station, and you could have one of the facehuggers impregnate a weird animal there rather than another human to make the xenomorph time around.

The space station idea could be good. You could also add some underwater scenes there.

My favourite idea for alien 3 is a cosmic space scare opera thrill ride set before alien featuring the aliens, other stuff and maybe even a wormhole.

Like Prometheus. But good. Yeah, I know.

[A24 4,374]

There isn't much you can do with the alien as the monster. We've seen Ridley's horror house angle. We've seen Cameron's 'marines shoot aliens en masse' angle. There's not much to add, really. Actually, Ridley's idea to go back all the way to the creator is a smart new angle. Too bad the writer screwed things up.

alex

[Brónach 1,303]

Yeah, let's instead have it end with a failed marriage, drink issues and an adopted daughter who no longer wants anything to do with her broken, violent step father after he beat her step mom while suffering from post military service stress and feeling like he has nowhere to turn, suicide the only way out.

Maybe that would be wrong too.

I refuse so far to see Alien 3 because I found out about how it starts and went NOOOOO!!.

[Jay 37,577]

There isn't much you can do with the alien as the monster. We've seen Ridley's horror house angle. We've seen Cameron's 'marines shoot aliens en masse' angle. There's not much to add, really. Actually, Ridley's idea to go back all the way to the creator is a smart new angle. Too bad the writer screwed things up.

alex

Great point!!

[JoeinAR 1,949]

sequels are like clones, at some point the DNA degrades.

[Brónach 1,303]

There isn't much you can do with the alien as the monster. We've seen Ridley's horror house angle. We've seen Cameron's 'marines shoot aliens en masse' angle. There's not much to add, really. Actually, Ridley's idea to go back all the way to the creator is a smart new angle. Too bad the writer screwed things up.

alex

The creator in that film is the most disappointing thing ever.

[Quintus 5,399]

I prefer the Cameron's War Movie angle (just like the tagine says) rather than Alex's aimless video game description which purposely makes it seem more simplistic and uninspired than it is.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Saturday is supposed to be a rainy day, it will be a good day for a double header of Alien and Aliens.

[A24 4,374]

sequels are like clones, at some point the DNA degrades.

Well said, Joey. And it's especially true for Alien3 which is a return to the horror house angle. Not a great idea since we've already seen the ultimate vision.

[Quintus 5,399]

Yeah, let's instead have it end with a failed marriage, drink issues and an adopted daughter who no longer wants anything to do with her broken, violent step father after he beat her step mom while suffering from post military service stress and feeling like he has nowhere to turn, suicide the only way out.

Maybe that would be wrong too.

[A24 4,374]

There isn't much you can do with the alien as the monster. We've seen Ridley's horror house angle. We've seen Cameron's 'marines shoot aliens en masse' angle. There's not much to add, really. Actually, Ridley's idea to go back all the way to the creator is a smart new angle. Too bad the writer screwed things up.

alex

The creator in that film is the most disappointing thing ever.

Are you saying the writer did a fantastic job but it isn't his fault because the creator angle is the worst angle ever? If so, I must disagree for reasons I stated before. I believe in the idea and, who knows, maybe they make a better movie out of it with Proms 2

Alex

[JoeinAR 1,949]

sequels are like clones, at some point the DNA degrades.

Well said, Joey. And it's especially true for Alien3 which is a return to the horror house angle. Not a great idea since we've already seen the ultimate vision.

it didn't help that it stole directly from Terminator 2 as well. I think this is my line up for Saturday, I'll start with The Thing from Another World, War of the Worlds (53), It Came from Outer Space, Alien, and Aliens.

[Wojo 2,453]

Aliens was a brilliant action movie that just happened to have aliens in it. It was a tremendously difficult act to follow.

[A24 4,374]

Cameron was well aware of that. He's a huge Alien fan and was smart enough to do something different with the material.

Having said that, forget about Alien and Aliens for a second and you'll have fun with Resurrection, even though it's not good sequel either.

Alex

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,270]

Alien vs Predator isn't really a good sequel either, but it's fun.

AvP Requiem is one of the most boring films I've ever seen.

[A24 4,374]

AvP is not a sequel but a sidequel.

Alex

[Brónach 1,303]

There isn't much you can do with the alien as the monster. We've seen Ridley's horror house angle. We've seen Cameron's 'marines shoot aliens en masse' angle. There's not much to add, really. Actually, Ridley's idea to go back all the way to the creator is a smart new angle. Too bad the writer screwed things up.

alex

The creator in that film is the most disappointing thing ever.

Are you saying the writer did a fantastic job but it isn't his fault because the creator angle is the worst angle ever? If so, I must disagree for reasons I stated before. I believe in the idea and, who knows, maybe they make a better movie out of it with Proms 2

Alex

No, I'm saying that was a good idea and (I had the same idea as well, that's why I was excited when they announced the film: "oh they're actually doing THAT!"). But these Engineers fucking suck. There wasn't anything interesting in their appearance or whatever they were doing, or even the way they contacted them. The whole thing just sucked.

I basically like human aliens in fantasy settings and completely non-human aliens in any setting. Middle grounds (Spock, The Engineers, whatever) tend to annoy me.

I'm thinking now how we "heard" the aliens in 2001 instead of seeing them. That was badass.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,270]

It's basically Chariots Of The Gods.

Why isn't sci-fi original anymore?

[Brónach 1,303]

In Prometheus the creationist angle should have been dropped, for a start. It'd be fresher. Some of the most stupid stuff would be gone.

Then, they should have added more environments and a sense of journey. We were going from a relatively boring ship to some place undergound in an under-despicted planet that barely mattered. I'd put several interesting environments in the same planet or several places, that affected the story.

Then, they shouldn't have made the creators of the alien look like us in big. and also, they shouldn't have made the human characters so stupid.

Finally, they shouldn't have necesarily hidden Pierce's character or made him look old by make up if they wanted him to search for inmortality*.

(*Note that the current sci-fi convention is that it'd be easier to achieve that by ourselves for ourselves with advanced medical technology developed through this century and the next, rather than going somewhere far away to look for something even though you don't know what's there.)

[Uni 306]

he's responsible for Alien 3, regardless of all this extraneous crap. He directed what's on screen and his direction is lacking. whether he lacked confidence or felt strapped he still delivered a poor product. Sure he wasn't helped by the horrible script, but he didn't exactly get qualilty performances out of a fairly decent group of actors,

That's easily said, from the point of view of an outsider to the process. To create good material, a director has to be the center of the film's universe pretty much from beginning to end—the last word on design, casting, script revisions, performances, editing, mixing, everything. Once any element is taken out of his/her hands, they can't guarantee the quality of the result. If the studio ties their hands and tells them to recreate the Mona Lisa with their toes using fingerpaint, the results won't be good . . . and that can't be laid at the "director's" feet.

In a perfect world there is Alien and Aliens, nothing more. Newt, Hicks, and Ripley returned to earth and lived long and happy lives as husband, wife, and daughter. Bishop was repaired and was a life long friend of the family.

The nuclear explosion on LV-426 wiped out all the remaining xenomorphs. There are two xenomorph bodies floating in space. They are dead too.

I could live with this, especially knowing what followed instead.

I think the best Alien 3 script would have been Ripley, New, and Hicks returning to earth... they get quarantined on a space station floating above it... everything seems fine.... until they realize the Alien Queen laid a couple eggs on their escape ship before attacking them... the eggs hatch and now they have 2 facehuggers running around the space station. There could be cool different environments in different areas of the station, and you could have one of the facehuggers impregnate a weird animal there rather than another human to make the xenomorph time around.

Actually, I once read an early script submission for Alien 3 that followed this pretty closely (only it sucked worse than the real Alien3 ever did). But if you wrote a good story and put it together the right way, this would've been a much more interesting concept than The Shawshank Massacre we got instead. If nothing else, there's a plentiful supply of tension to be had in the idea that they're so close to Earth. As Ripley so sagely pointed out to the board of inquiry, if just one of those f***ers got down here, you could kiss all this goodbye. . . .

No, I'm saying that was a good idea and (I had the same idea as well, that's why I was excited when they announced the film: "oh they're actually doing THAT!"). But these Engineers fucking suck. There wasn't anything interesting in their appearance or whatever they were doing, or even the way they contacted them. The whole thing just sucked.

One of these days, I'm going to take a deep breath, watch Prometheus again (for the last time), and unload a HUGE post here about everything that made it the terrible film it is. (I need to be cleansed.)

- Uni

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Cameron was well aware of that. He's a huge Alien fan and was smart enough to do something different with the material.

Having said that, forget about Alien and Aliens for a second and you'll have fun with Resurrection, even though it's not good sequel either.

Alex

Alex you're scaring me when you speak my thoughts, we're not supposed to think alike.

I enjoyed Resurrection for the clone discovery and the Ripley deformity saying Kill Me, Kill Meeeee, later brilliantly parodied in South Park.

[Brónach 1,303]

No, I'm saying that was a good idea and (I had the same idea as well, that's why I was excited when they announced the film: "oh they're actually doing THAT!"). But these Engineers fucking suck. There wasn't anything interesting in their appearance or whatever they were doing, or even the way they contacted them. The whole thing just sucked.

One of these days, I'm going to take a deep breath, watch Prometheus again (for the last time), and unload a HUGE post here about everything that made it the terrible film it is. (I need to be cleansed.

I started that and concluded it hadn't earned that kind of attention or commitment on my part.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

In Prometheus the creationist angle should have been dropped, for a start. It'd be fresher. Some of the most stupid stuff would be gone.

Then, they should have added more environments and a sense of journey. We were going from a relatively boring ship to some place undergound in an under-despicted planet that barely mattered. I'd put several interesting environments in the same planet or several places, that affected the story.

Then, they shouldn't have made the creators of the alien look like us in big. and also, they shouldn't have made the human characters so stupid.

Finally, they shouldn't have necesarily hidden Pierce's character or made him look old by make up if they wanted him to search for inmortality*.

Basically, what you're saying is that they shouldn't have made this film. Can't say I disagree.

[Uni 306]

It's a little more important to me because of my background with the original movie. Actually, Prometheus was a fascinating dichotomy for me—both full of wonder and excitement, and complete terror (not because the story was scary, but because I was horrified at what Ridley was doing with it).

Actually, I'll probably split it into two posts, the first explaining my history with the franchise—similar to that Empire Strikes Back post I put up a while back—and the elements that made Prometheus fun, and the second to vivisect its many flaws.

- Uni

[Wojo 2,453]

Cameron was well aware of that. He's a huge Alien fan and was smart enough to do something different with the material.

I think you misread my post.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Karol just inspired me.

ripley, newt, and Hicks, all settle down in the small Maine town of Derry. Unknown to Ripley there is a tag along face hugger in their gear, It teams up with Pennywise, another Alien entity to terrorize the town of Derry in a bigger badder, and more CGI horror fest.

Ripley...we all float down here.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,270]

Alien vs It?

[JoeinAR 1,949]

ripley believes It or not?

booo bad pun there joe

[Uni 306]

In space, no one can hear you groan. . . .

- Uni

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Hysterical

[JoeinAR 1,949]

today I came across a review of Iron Man 3 by Leonard Maltin. I haven't encountered his name much lately. At one time he was the film critic that I admired most next to Roger Ebert.

As usual his review was succient and to the point. He avoided the films plot but gave enough criticism to establish if he enjoy the film and to give a recommendation.

We're seeing it at 7:30. Non 3D tickets are up to 8.25 a ticket.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,270]

Let me know what you thought of it!

[Uni 306]

Yeah. I'm getting more and more curious about this one.

- Uni

[BloodBoal 7,538]

It's not that good, really.