Another Alien thread

[Tyler]

I made a bunch of AVP threads when the new forum started, but with the prequel/whatever Prometheus out I figured we could talk exclusively about the first four Alien films.

I viewed them again (theatrical versions only) for the first time a in a while (probably around Predators came out), so here are my brief, brief reviews...

Alien - a timeless masterpiece
Aliens - an action-sequel classic
Alien³ - interesting ideas but ultimately frustrating bullshit
Resurrection - unnecessary and corny but fun popcorn entertainment

I still don't know what to think about Prometheus. Maybe it would have been better if it were its own 'thing', not connected to the Alienverse at all. I don't know. I'll probably have to see it again, but on DVD.

[Mitchal]

Alien-Great Sci/fi. Scott's second best movie next to Blade Runner IMO. Creepy, Mysterious, great atmosphere and many memorable scenes. A 9/10 film. I'm gonna nitpick here and say that it wasn't scary at all, but I still love it.

Aliens- Great follow-up to the original. Boost in action worked well for the film. Wonderful characters and many unforgettable scenes. IMO Cameron’s best aside from Terminator 2. 8/10.

Alien3- A lot of folks can't stand this one, but it's my favorite. Sure the effects can be ugly, and behind the scenes it was a friggin' disaster, but the characters, atmosphere and most certainly the score save this one for me. 7/10 movie, again it's my favorite, not the best.

Resurrection- What the hell dude? I know it was supposed to be an action movie, but at least Aliens has some class when it came to action. This whole movie is like a bloody fourteen year old's fanficion. I guess some stuff would be cool, like the idea of the newborn, and being part alien, but they went about presenting it in the wrong way. 5/10

Prometheus- Scott had real opportunity with this, but it just didn't come together like it should have. Such spoiled opportunity. It had no clear direction, it was neither scary, nor had any impressive action. Suffered from Spiderman 3 syndrome, with too many antagonists, none of which were very impressionable. Though Fassbender's performance as David is esily the best part of the film. I suppose as a standalone it's not too bad, and I was entertained by it at times, but when compared to Alien (which is unavoidable), it lacks nearly every quality that made it right. 6/10.

[Hellspawn28]

Alien > Aliens> Prometheus > Alien 3 > Alien Res > AVP > AVPR. That's how I rank up the Alien films and I'm putting the AVP films just because they are crossovers.

[Sydney Aradi]

Aliens for me. While Aliens isn't an art house/scifi/horror film but it does have plenty of good characters, great action & a kick ass Alien creature

[Tyler]

Alien³ and Resurrection are far from perfect but they do have some damn good scores.

[wataru]

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1069&hilit=alien

Look what I found An Alien and Predator thread to discuss this It's so amazing how the search function totally found this.

Critically:
Alien
Aliens
Prometheus
Alien3
Alien Ressurection

Personally:
Aliens
Alien
Prometheus
Alien Ressurection
Alien3

Prometheus didnt have the same dark thriller feel Alien had. I blame the use of CGI. Alien did so amazing with matte backdrops and models. I just like Aliens better. The characters were more colorful and I had more of an OMG run this shit is bad! feeling the whole film. Alien had those jump moments. Not a single element of Prometheus made me scared. Alien3 is boring dry garbage and Alien Ressurection, while a gulty please movie, has zero scarey parts, no grit, no real seriousness... but it has Ron Perlman.

[Tyler]

http://tohokingdom.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1069&hilit=alien

Look what I found An Alien and Predator thread to discuss this It's so amazing how the search function totally found this.

I figured we could talk exclusively about the first four Alien films.

[GojiFan]

For me, I would personally rank them like this:

1.Aliens- It had more memorable characters, more memorable scenes, better acting, etc, etc. While I think the original is very good, and is quite easily one of the top 100 movies ever (just like this one), I find the sequel achieved what it set out to do better than the original did. Easily one of my favorite movies of all time.

2. Alien- Just slightly behind Aliens. I think the phrase "Jaws in Space" associated with the original is somewhat wrong. Jaws, when it was released, scared the hell out of people. It was a scary movie. Alien was different. I agree with what someone had originally said in the thread Wataru linked to- Alien really isn't a scary movie. It sure as hell is a disturbing movie though. You weren't scared by the Xenomorph popping up at certain times. You were disturbed and left feeling very uncomfortable by the very nature of the Xenomorph. It was disturbing to look at, it breeds in a disturbing fashion, and its movements and animation were disturbing. Every scene it was in was just plain disturbing.

3. Alien³- I am probably in the minority, but I enjoyed this movie. Yes it was not as great as the first two, but given all the crap that was happening behind the scenes, it turned out rather well. I was upset that Hicks and Newt were killed off, but the movie introduced several characters that I found rather enjoyable. I personally think Dillon's preaching during the funeral mixed in with the birth of the Xenomorph was one of the more memorable scenes in the series.

4. Alien:Resurrection - This movie sucked. I don't think I really need to explain why, as nearly everyone knows exactly why it was so bad. The series should have just ended after Alien³.

[wataru]

http://tohokingdom.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1069&hilit=alien

Look what I found An Alien and Predator thread to discuss this It's so amazing how the search function totally found this.

I figured we could talk exclusively about the first four Alien films.

I thought the same thing about my Avengers threads but alas.... Im sure yours wont be edited or merged.

What did everything think of the suit to CGI from Aliens to Alien3? One of my gripes about Prometheus is TOO MUCH CGI from a man (Scott) who did an amazing job with models, suits and matte drops.

[GojiFan]

What did everything think of the suit to CGI from Aliens to Alien3? One of my gripes about Prometheus is TOO MUCH CGI from a man (Scott) who did an amazing job with models, suits and matte drops.

I think it was a little overdone. The suits and animatronics in the Alien series were always very well done, so I was kind of surprised that they went that route a majority of the movie. The CGI was quite good for its time though. I think it would have been harder to show off the relatively quicker and more active Xenomorph with suits though.

[Goji]

I wish I could vote for both ALIEN and ALIENS..

Does anyone think for a moment 20th Century Fox would have let Scott use as much model work as he did over 30 years ago? I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want to anyway. IIRC, he mentions "these days, we could have done it a lot easier" multiple times during the 2003 audio commentary on ALIEN, in regards to a lot of the traditional SPX work.

There was still a great deal of traditional SPX seen in PROMETHEUS...not to mention actual sets for a lot of the locations. The balance of the two (CGI/analog SPX) was good enough..I don't see how anyone could complain.

[Legionmaster]

I wish I could vote for both ALIEN and ALIENS..

Lol, I know right. It really depends on the mood I'm in. Both are fantastic.

But my favorite Alien movie is probably Metroid Prime.

[Flygon King]

I wish I could vote for both ALIEN and ALIENS..

Lol, I know right. It really depends on the mood I'm in. Both are fantastic.

But my favorite Alien movie is probably Metroid Prime.

If only, if only...

Aliens if probably my favorite. It helped keep the series fresh and avoided Sequaltitis, unlike 3 and Ressurection...

and lol at whoever voted Ressurection as being their favorite...

[Kaiju-King42]

What did everything think of the suit to CGI from Aliens to Alien3? One of my gripes about Prometheus is TOO MUCH CGI from a man (Scott) who did an amazing job with models, suits and matte drops.

I think it was a little overdone. The suits and animatronics in the Alien series were always very well done, so I was kind of surprised that they went that route a majority of the movie. The CGI was quite good for its time though. I think it would have been harder to show off the relatively quicker and more active Xenomorph with suits though.

They did try realizing the dog-Xenomorph with a dog in a suit technique. The result... wasn't all that convincing.

[Kiryu2012]

What did everything think of the suit to CGI from Aliens to Alien3? One of my gripes about Prometheus is TOO MUCH CGI from a man (Scott) who did an amazing job with models, suits and matte drops.

I think it was a little overdone. The suits and animatronics in the Alien series were always very well done, so I was kind of surprised that they went that route a majority of the movie. The CGI was quite good for its time though. I think it would have been harder to show off the relatively quicker and more active Xenomorph with suits though.

They did try realizing the dog-Xenomorph with a dog in a suit technique. The result... wasn't all that convincing.

They tried using a dog with an Alien costume? Is there any source that says that?

[NSZ]

They tried using a dog with an Alien costume? Is there any source that says that?

I think there's actually footage of it somewhere, perhaps even in the Assembly Cut of the film.

[Tyler]

I wish I could vote for both ALIEN and ALIENS..

Lol, I know right. It really depends on the mood I'm in. Both are fantastic.

There ya go.

They did try using a dog in a suit for the initial 'bambiburster', but it looked dumb so they didn't use it. For the Assembly Cut they went back and added a little CG Alien running away.

As for CG Aliens, the first were in Resurrection. It was used in Jurassic Park-type shots where you saw their legs, and when they were swimming and other things that a guy in a suit couldn't do.

A lot of people think the Alien was partially CG in 3, but it was actually a rod puppet. I love practical effects but it looked kind of crummy.

[Kaiju-King42]

They tried using a dog with an Alien costume? Is there any source that says that?

I think there's actually footage of it somewhere, perhaps even in the Assembly Cut of the film.

There is footage. I saw it somewhere... I can't remember if it was Cracked.com or what, but I've seen it. I tried to find it again before I made my post, but no such luck.

It was the cutest Xenomorph ever, I'll give you that.


EDIT: Ahah! Found it! http://www.cracked.com/article_19697_6- ... sters.html

It's number four.

[Legionmaster]

The Newborn is way more disturbing.

[Goji]

But my favorite Alien movie is probably Metroid Prime.

The funny part about that is, Metroid Prime is a lot more immersive than mos of the movies that I've seen since it's release.