I found Weaver's preformance so dull and boring that I could barely concentrate on the film itself- every time she appeared on the screen with her NULL expression and spoke like a fifth grader that's reading an apology letter after putting glue on the teacher's chair, I was just mesmerized by her lack of acting skills (or acting, period). If you look at her eyes, she never really expresses any kind of emotion- when she's 'happy' she smiles (lips only) and when she's mad she shouts- her expression stays the same.
The only positive thing about the character is that she's a competent flight officer with considerable technical skills and probably a degree or two in engineering. Also she usually makes the right decisions, as opposed to 100% of the other characters in the series (except maybe Bishop who's cool).

Another thing that I found annoying is the 'marines'- they're mercenaries at best, and quite amateurish ones as well. The mission was carried out so half-assly that it would make any person with military experience cringe. No briefings were carried out, no protocols were followed, no tactics were used until all of the chain of command was out and Ripley took charge.

Also some serious physical discrepancies annoyed me: for example, during the sentry guns scene- if you consider the amount of aliens chopped up in the two hallways, there should be a fucking crater there!
And when they cut a hole in the pipe so that Bishop can crawl to the control tower, the piece they cut out falls into the pipe - but after he goes inside, they place the piece back onto the hole as if it were a lid.

Some recents: Stick (1985) great film adaptation of a classic book. 4/5. Hostel 2 First one of these kind of films ive seen. pretty cool concept, and i loved the badass businessman who won the bidding 3/5

Now Aliens sucks?

I don't like people anymore.

We all grew up!

I always found the sense of unrelenting terror in Aliens more engrossing than the come as you go horror of the first film. And I know most would agree that the most frightening scene in the first film (obviously the chest-burster) was scarier than whatever the agreed-upon corresponding scene in the sequel was, but I was more frightened of the first nest scene than any other in either film (or any film, for that matter). I continue to find it more tense as well. Of course, the first one was much more original.



Full disclosure: "THAT'S IT MAN, GAME OVER" is my alarm tone on my cellphone and has been what I wake up to every morning for years.

All you people talking shit about Aliens are crazy. Yes, it's not like the first film, but it's not supposed to be. They weren't going for the sense of isolation and claustrophobia, it's an enjoyable, endlessly quotable action film with memorable moments.

That's not enough for folk around here. It needs to exude pretentious key tones and not actually be about the Aliens. There should be overly complex dialogue, scenes should extend for way too long and every encounter and occurrence should crawl at a snail's pace like (probably a favourite here) 'Lord of the Rings', but while also somehow retaining suspense and action. The movie can't have any additional bad guys or extra layers, there can be no accidental goofs because this is apparently fair ground to dismiss a film and everything that involves the marines has to be 100% accurate to actual marines serving today, even though this is set in the year 2179.

^
Uh, ok, you're talking out of your ass.

I love Aliens but the first one probably is my favourite of the series. I even loved Prometheus, despite the admittedly stupid characterization.

Yeah, he kind of is. Thanks for backing me up...I guess
Alien is my favourite too, I just think the criticism of Aliens from the last page is unfair.

It's not as good as what it is trying to be, as the first one was with what that film was trying to be.

John Coffey
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Oh well RIP

Edit: it appears one cannot delete an accidental double post?

Micheal Clarke Duncan's death will only serve to make the Green Mile more crushing. As if it wasn't heart wrenching enough already. Only movie to make me cry, largely due to his performance. The world has lost another great talent. 2012 has been a bad year for deaths.

So I just watched Anthropophagus again for the first time in ages. Not much to say about it except that it's pretty damn awesome if you like gory, low-budget horror movies. Apparently the special effects in one scene was so convincing that the film makers were accused of making a snuff film. It's amazing that I enjoy gory movies considering how squeamish I am. Just feeling my own heart beat makes me faint. >.<

Should be another classic of the drama genre just like Hillcoat's The Proposition and The Road. Soundtrack will be great too.

Man nobody was saying it should've been like Alien, or at least I wasn't. I said it was trying to be a cheesy 80s action movie, but ended up not being very good at that. Predator, Robocop, Mad Max 1 & 2, Terminator 2, etc. were all way better. Actually the Terminator series provides a perfect example of James Cameron doing it right; the first one was much more serious, slow-paced, darker in tone, brooding, etc., while the second was over-the-top, with explosions galore, cheesy one-liners, etc., yet still managed to preserve a lot of the ominous tone of the original. Hell, the T-1000 is arguably more intimidating than the original T-800 was from the first movie. Point is, tons of movies from the 80s did what Aliens did but a lot better. It just didn't stand the test of time for me at all.

Necroticism174 wrote:

Hahaha! Which year was your favorite?

It's all about opinions. For me: Aliens > T2. I thought Pax doing the comedy relief was pure genius, the action was relentless and very well done. Weaver was amazing -- she improved on her performance considerably from the original. Aliens was where she became the female action hero. In Alien, it wasn't fully fleshed out.

I still enjoyed T2, but Aliens sticks out more for me.

Past night I saw with my wife Where the Wild Things Are. I get the psychologic 'analysis' of the child and how the monsters are a part of himself, but it did nothing for me.

Also saw Rec 3. I wasn't bored watching it but I can't recommend it by any means. It lacks total sense and maybe if you have nothing, NOTHING else to do, you could give it a try just for killing time.

Saw again Batman's TDKR. Now I can safely say it fucking sucks. Batman retired at 30's? a 'no one' as Robin (being able to introduce any of the 3 robins?) the relationship with Catwoman? (Batman didn't give a single fuck about her in the whole movie and then he retires to live a quiet life with her?), the bomb? A terrible excuse to introduce Ras Al Ghul and her daughter for the last time, where Gotham was already a chaos and Bane did the job pretty well. The fight where Bane wins it's the movie, that's all.

Failsafeman, fair enough. But I think it did succeed in it's goals, though Terminator 2 WAS superior. Speaking of Robocop, I watched it for the first time in years yesterday, didn't remember it being that gory. That movie goes by so fast, you barely know what hit you.

Really now? I had no idea.

Yeah I rewatched Robocop recently too, and I was equally surprised with how gory it was. That's definitely a cheesy action movie done right, so many hilarious bits. I'd buy that for a dollar!! Not to mention it featured the TV Dad Team as villains: the dad from That 70s Show plus the dad from Twin Peaks.

haha yeah, one of my favourite parts is that giant machine being unable to go down stairs and falling on it's back.

RoboCop is awesome. Pure slam bang 80's B-action greatness. They don't make them like that anymore.

No, they really don't. They tried with the Expendables (minus the sci-fi angle) but it's just not the same. The aesthetics and sensibilities are just very different. Things were much uglier, effects weren't so slick, low rent kung fu didn't get crammed in everywhere, violence seemed much more visceral, and they weren't afraid of some good old corniness. It's not just nostalgia talking either, I've watched cheesy action movies I never saw in the 80s and loved them, while I find shit like The Transporter series practically unwatchable. They try way too hard to be serious these days, while in the 80s there was more self-aware silliness that simultaneously didn't stray too far into pretentious irony. I mean, Robocop itself was a parody of 80s action movie excesses, while at the same time being a genuinely good example of an excessive 80s action movie!

Now, I think something like the newest Rambo movie was a fine modern action movie, so it's not all doom and gloom these days, but it's definitely something very different from the older ones. I have yet to see a retro action movie actually do a good job of capturing the 80s aesthetic.

Yes, definitely worth watching.





What the... what... I don't even --
What in the seven fucking hells is wrong with you people?


Oh I'd agree with this, but then just a few posts earlier you bashed the very finest action movie of that period (hell, I dare say, possibly the greatest action movie of all time), so go figure. I see this as someone going on about how 80's thrash was better than this newfangled retro-thrash, and then saying "Bonded by Blood is really quite mediocre and not very good, y'know?".

Eh, I'd put Terminator 2 and Die Hard way above Aliens personally.

And Predator. Predator's basically a combination of Alien and Aliens, come to think of it. Suspenseful and eerie, yet also hokey and hilarious. Love that movie so much.

Huh? I'm fairly sure he did care about her. He's in his 40's in TDKR. There's a scene in the film where Bruce Wayne visits a doctor and the doctor tells him his body is basically fucked, so with that add another 20 years to his age. Plus I'd imagine I can't really understand the rest of what you said.

The greatest action movie of all time? You're funny.

I could see where Morrigan comes from if we were praising the Transformers movie, or Terminator Salvation or something, but really it just comes down to which big 80s action flick you like better at this point.

I loved the original British version. Was like a big Fawlty Towers episode. One of the best comedies in recent years.

The American remake was a word for word copy.

In which case I'll choose The Running Man. That is the most flawless mixture of silliness and baddassery I've ever witnessed.

^
Yes!!!

"One of us is in deep trouble."

The Gamer with Gerard Butler and Percy Jackson is a fucking stupid rip off of The Running Man.
Luda!

This conversation inspired me to go back and rewatch Robocop for the first time in ages, and yes, it's a goddamn awesome movie. I'm ashamed to admit that I've never seen Aliens, so I shan't compare the two, but I really should get on it considering how much I love the brand of action movies that the 80s churned out with alarming regularity.

So I was going down on my girlfriend right, and I told her "your pussys as big as a house house"

Speaking of ridiculous over the top 80s action flicks, has anyone else seen Stallone - Lock Up (1989)? Stallone really is one of the worst actors, huh? Anyways, that movie kinda has it all. So ridiculous. The highlight is the always awesome Donald Sutherland as literally the most evil prison warden of all time, it's insane. John Amos (Coming to America) is in that bitch too. This is a drama/prison film action extravaganza with all the cliches jammed in.