[Closed] Recent Viewing Part III

Less scary? I was more terrified by Aliens than Alien.

-Erik-

From the moment the troops land on the planet to after Ripley's Rescue is, IMO, just as terrifying as anything from he first film. And it still holds up today. The sound of the motion detector creeps me out to this day as does Horner's brilliant score.

-Erik-

I agree with you, Erik. People often seem to say that Alien is a horror movie, and Aliens is an action movie, but I've always found Aliens to be at least as scary as Alien, if not scarier. The atmosphere is just done so well, and any time that motion detector starts beeping, I find it very disturbing, even though I've seen it at least 10 times and know exactly what's going to happen.

Peter

Interesting to see people rate ALIENS higher on the scare-o-meter. I don't remember how I reacted the first time I saw the film which was a couple years after 1986, if I was terrified or not, but I do remember the action sequences and the score (my god the score) leaving me breathless and thinking that was the awesomest thing I had ever watched or heard. That's when that crazy hobby of mine started.

I'm a pretty bad judge of scary in movies...I love horror movies, but I haven't found any of them to be scary since I was 10. That said, I always felt the tension in Aliens (of which there is a ton) does have more in common with action movie tension than horror movie tension. That said, it's definitely fair to say that it's as scary as the first, just in a different style.

The third could have been a good film, but sadly missed the boat. I'm in the extreme minority of those who love the fourth. But what I loved most about the Alien series is how stylistically different they all ended up!

I like the third and fourth film too, Fincher's entry basically because it's so dark, moody and ends in such spiralling down fashion I can't help but admire this film for doing just that. It's exactly how Ripley's journey should have ended.

The fourth for the visual look overall (Jeunet's doing) and some rather intense action packed moments, and the whole 'new Ripley' feeling of her character.

This sums up my feeling towards Alien Resurrection perfectly!

-Erik-

I want to address a few points that have been raised in the last few days:

* PROMETHEUS is a marvelous film, a near-masterpiece (although not entirely flawless)! This was cemented further after my second viewing recently.

* ALIEN is arguably the most important movie in my life. It made me a film buff for a variety of reasons. I've seen it more than 20 times, and it continues to give. The same goes for ALIENS (which I've seen a similar amount of times), and also -- to a degree -- ALIEN 3. ALIEN 4 I've come to appreciate more and more over the years, after approaching it more as a traditional sci fi horror sprinkled with Jeunet trademarks rather than as an ALIEN installment proper. The A vs. P spin-offs are entertaining horror films (esp. the first, which actually has some qualities), but watered out the last scary remnants of the poor xenomorph.

* THE EXPENDABLES almost made my Top 20 list of that year. Great fun, totally unpretentious, succeeding in everything it set out for. Can't wait for the sequel!

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I'm all for 'The less you see, the more you feel'.

It is that, but it is also so much more -- a piece of art that communicates some pretty hefty ideas (Freudian/psychoanalytical) through pure audiovisuals. It was probably the first film that made me realize that film is -- or can be -- so much more than just storytelling.

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The Amazing Spider-Man

This is a film that doesn't seem to be necessary, but I really enjoyed it. Much more focused on character than Raimi's first one, and requiring less suspension of disbelief. The action is refreshing (the viewer is always given time to know what's going on). Cast is excellent. It's let down by a couple of clunky plot devices when it needs to move the narrative from A to B but doesn't really know how, but there's a lot more good than bad in it. Love or hate the score, you certainly notice it - it must be the most favourable sound mix James Horner has ever had - in most of the key "heroic" sequences you hear the score and little else. I think he really got inside this film in a way others haven't managed on similar films - the music isn't just a commentary on what is there on screen, it makes an effort to delve a bit deeper, and I always admire that. I heard someone come out of the cinema whistling the main theme which made me feel a little warm inside. Overall, I suspect a lot of people will go into the film not really seeing the point of it, but come out having had a good time.

want

I enjoyed reading the talk about Alien and Aliens. Still have to see Aliens though... we watched some other movies first.

The Hulk
The Incredible Hulk
Well, Edward Norton was better than I thought for this movie.
And I haven't made my mind up yet about Ang Lee's Hulk... it was a bit dark.

Nacho Libre - Cute movie. Love the colours. Funny and heartwarming.

And this week, hopefully this afternoon, we will go see The Amazing Spiderman. So thanks for your post as well Southall! I read some more good things about the movie.