Movies you've just watched

[BIL]

I can actually accept that line in its context, given some dramatic license. More referring to human experience than objective chronology - the creature's invasion and ruining of Ripley's past, present and future, despite them technically only interacting in sparse bursts.

But eh. I could see Rich's point too. :/ Oh well. edit: great story about how that scene made it in!

[iconoclast]

I've never heard anything from RLM, I just saw people quoting that line when I read some reviews and I thought, yeah, that was dumb as hell. It could be set 2000 years after Alien, but it doesn't matter if Ripley was in cryogenic sleep the entire time. The last time she was conscious was at the end of the original film, so in her reality, only a couple weeks had passed before she said that line. It just shows a lack of thought and care from the scriptwriter, imo.

[BIL]

Haha, was just wondering. Their Alien commentary track is pretty cool, it's more of a series retrospective interspersed with ruminations on Ash's heaving up of suspicious milky substances.

[JBC]

Ripley does have enough time aboard Gateway Station to develop some semblance of a life before Burke contacts her about the loss of contact with Hadley's Hope. Can't remember how long, but it's long enough for that line to make sense in an emotional context. Not to mention all the events that came in between!

[Mischief Maker]

Agreed that "From Russia with Love" was the best bond film. It actually felt like spies doing spy stuff in the environment of the cold war, and it features a bond who has not yet turned into an insufferable ubermensch. There was one of the Brosnan movies where Q gives him a touch-remote-controlled car and bond instantly can drive it perfectly. Contrast with FRwL, where Q gives Bond a simple suitcase with a can of tear gas inside and demonstrates how to open it safely, and Bond is visibly nervous as he attempts to open it!

It also goes to the effort of developing a character who is neither a Bond Girl nor a Bond Villain!

Great flick, can stand alone as a good movie by itself outside the franchise.

[Skykid]

Agreed that "From Russia with Love" was the best bond film. It actually felt like spies doing spy stuff in the environment of the cold war, and it features a bond who has not yet turned into an insufferable ubermensch. There was one of the Brosnan movies where Q gives him a touch-remote-controlled car and bond instantly can drive it perfectly. Contrast with FRwL, where Q gives Bond a simple suitcase with a can of tear gas inside and demonstrates how to open it safely, and Bond is visibly nervous as he attempts to open it!

It also goes to the effort of developing a character who is neither a Bond Girl nor a Bond Villain!

Great flick, can stand alone as a good movie by itself outside the franchise.

Not sure who you're agreeing with but I agree with both you and whoever it was with you're concurring: From Russia With Love is the best Bond film. It's got a genuine espionage tone and a dark edge, particularly the ruthlessly brutal man on man combat scene in a train carriage.

[boagman]

Isn't it the sign of a truly wretched movie the fact that you actively avoid it for so long? I think it is.

Depends on the person's ability to accurately identify a "truly wretched" movie. Most people lack such abilities, hence they keep making them.

But again, that's a poor argument and you haven't stated a case in any meaningful terms. If you want to explain to everyone why it's wretched, instead of just stating that it is, that would form a better basis for discussion.

Okay, in this case, I fully cop to the fact that it's been so stinking long since I've watched it that I cannot actually quantify my reasons in any real satisfactory way.

Skykid, sometimes things are just wretched, and it's been, what, 20 years since this thing came out? I watched it...it was terrible. I haven't watched it since, as it was bad enough the first time. I'm absolutely not going to waste my time or effort in watching it again just to have a satisfactory debate with you on its merits or lack thereof. That's a no-win situation for me.

If you want to believe that it's the best thing since sliced bread, go right on ahead and think/say that. I'll maintain what I've said since I first saw it, and you can maintain that it's awesome.

Feel free.

[Squire Grooktook]

^^^He never said it was awesome, just that there wasn't much wrong with it. That's like "average" or "decent". "solid", etc..

Also if you're just going to take the attitude "I don't remember it, I can't discuss it, but I'm right and you're wrong", why even bring it up? TBH it feels like you're just salty at Skykid's movie talk and are taking any chance (however small) to lash out at his opinions.

For the record I never watched 3 so I have no opinion one way or the other.

[boagman]

^^^He never said it was awesome, just that there wasn't much wrong with it. That's like "average" or "decent". "solid", etc..

Also if you're just going to take the attitude "I don't remember it, I can't discuss it, but I'm right and you're wrong", why even bring it up? TBH it feels like you're just salty at Skykid's movie talk and are taking any chance (however small) to lash out at his opinions.

For the record I never watched 3 so I have no opinion one way or the other.

What I said was that it was so awful when I first saw it lo these many years ago, that I don't have the recall necessary after 20 years to exactly quantify why it was so. Doesn't make me wrong, nor him right, but it just means that I'm smart enough not to put myself through Garbageland in order to make a satisfactory, piece-by-piece argument.

EDITED TO ADD: I'll spot you that, in rereading the thread/discussion, it does seem like I went a bit out of my way to say what I did. I'll back off.

[boagman]

"The Martian"

Pretty darned good. Didn't change my life, but I really did have fun and enjoyed it. I think that the comments that it runs a bit too long are probably correct, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless. Great cast that don't all get used to their full potential (and I'm sorry, but Kristen Wiig is just not very plausible...sorry), but are pretty helpful anyway. Chiwetel Ejiofor (hope I spelled that somewhat correctly) is really good and believable, continuing to cement his place as a more-than-just-solid actor. Damon's in full-on Rock Star mode, and he's pretty fun to watch.

Story's kinda schmaltzy, but I knew that going in, too. It's never going to trump, say, "Apollo 13", but it's a very solid effort. Bonus points for all the pop culture references the movie throws against the wall, including A13.

I think Scott still does a pretty good job, more often than not. I find many of his movies to be solidly entertaining, and this is no exception.

[iconoclast]

Almost missed Skykid's reply. There isn't much I'd argue with, although I must say that excusing something for being bad just because other stuff is worse is not a good defense. The premise could not be any more contrived, and it's made (much) worse by the fact that it doesn't even make sense. I didn't have as big a problem with the body of the film, I just didn't like it much.

The corridor run is actually the exact sequence I had in mind when I said I didn't like the action scenes. It felt like it went on forever, and by that point I really wanted the movie to end. Not because it was particularly bad, it was just too long and I didn't think it was enjoyable enough to justify the nearly 2.5 hour runtime (the director's cut is the only version I've seen).

[Skykid]

^^^He never said it was awesome, just that there wasn't much wrong with it. That's like "average" or "decent". "solid", etc..

Also if you're just going to take the attitude "I don't remember it, I can't discuss it, but I'm right and you're wrong", why even bring it up? TBH it feels like you're just salty at Skykid's movie talk and are taking any chance (however small) to lash out at his opinions.

For the record I never watched 3 so I have no opinion one way or the other.

What I said was that it was so awful when I first saw it lo these many years ago, that I don't have the recall necessary after 20 years to exactly quantify why it was so. Doesn't make me wrong, nor him right, but it just means that I'm smart enough not to put myself through Garbageland in order to make a satisfactory, piece-by-piece argument.

It doesn't take much to make a satisfactory breakdown, I do it all the time and get dead air on request for a similar response. If you were so offended on first watch I'm surprised you can't remember why.

Anyway, you should be aware that there are times, depending on mood, expectation and circumstance that you can have an initially disappointing experience with a movie and completely change your mind on a repeat viewing. In fact, that was my experience with Alien 3.

And on that note, constantly citing awfulness and "garbageland" certainly doesn't make you smarter than everyone else in the room 'just because'.

With the utmost respect, after many months of you chiming in about various movies and the levels of acting ability of certain individuals, I'm of the opinion you're no way near as expert in criticism as you think you are.

So, Alien 3 Directors Cut. That's my recommendation as a closer to this particular non-debate. If you watch that I'd like to hear what you thought of it in detail.

[Skykid]

Almost missed Skykid's reply. There isn't much I'd argue with, although I must say that excusing something for being bad just because other stuff is worse is not a good defense. The premise could not be any more contrived, and it's made (much) worse by the fact that it doesn't even make sense. I didn't have as big a problem with the body of the film, I just didn't like it much.

The corridor run is actually the exact sequence I had in mind when I said I didn't like the action scenes. It felt like it went on forever, and by that point I really wanted the movie to end. Not because it was particularly bad, it was just too long and I didn't think it was enjoyable enough to justify the nearly 2.5 hour runtime (the director's cut is the only version I've seen).

The DC is long, although again, the pace didn't affect me personally because there are so many more subplots than the original cut. Ripley's love affair actually exists, Paul McGann's madness actually exists, the warden and idiot sidekick's characters are a lot more satisfying, and the religious subtext from the initial script draft is in everything. Simply there's a lot more to chew on.

That said, and as I mentioned earlier, it's not perfect. The DC is an assembly cut really, and there are holes present because of it. But I'm not certainly not saying that it's passable because other stuff is worse - like Resurrection or the atrocities that are the AVP entries - but that in a vacuum it's actually fairly artistic, creative, and well put together as a piece of sci-fi. It's certainly Fincher's Alien, as much as he likes to dismiss it as too badly fouled by the studio, and I think that's why it has so many intriguing and commendable aspects.

[Ixmucane2]

The Martian
In the future, NASA is doing manned missions to Mars. The Ares III mission scrambles away in their "Mars Ascent Vehicle" to escape a sandstorm, leaving behind the presumed dead Mark Watney (botanist and engineer). But he survives, plants a potato crop, travels to recover the Pathfinder lander in order to use its radio to communicate with Earth, travels to the future Ares IV landing site, and uses the Ares IV MAV to reach orbit and be rescued by his companions, who have returned for him thanks to emergency supplies brought by generously offered Chinese rocket.

Not believing Ridley Scott could direct a decent film with a nice and meaningful story, I read the novel and I found the trick: it's a bad adaptation, far worse than can be inferred from the film alone, but the book is so good that Team Hollywood would have needed to work too hard and too smart to really damage the story and its tone and themes; incompetence at ruining a film is actually a good thing.

Worst offenses:

• Drastic simplification of Mark's rover modifications and rover travels, which are a substantial part of his work and much more than a long and boring drive.
• Little "presence" of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, water and life support systems in general.
• The astronaut's final recovery in space is "upgraded" from a challenging but normal EVA (picking him up in his capsule and reeling him in using the rescuer's tether) to a mess of frighteningly dangerous and physically suspect improvised maneuvers, just for the thrills.
• A fairly pointless epilogue showing the Ares III crew back on Earth, devaluing everything that came before: it's a story about humanity, not about a bunch of astronauts and NASA staff. The book correctly ends as soon as Mark, barely rescued, stops to think how epic it has been.

[emphatic]

^^Way to spoil the whole movie. :/

[neorichieb1971]

Alien 3 was bad for me. Not because its a bad movie, but because it made coincidental storylines to tie up with the disappearance of all the supporting actors and actresses that survived Aliens.

I remember it well, and I remember Sigourney getting a shit ton of wages for shaving her head and her going off on one about how guns are violent. Therefore making the movie one about pitch forks and torches.

Had it been called Xenomorph or something like that with totally different characters I would welcome watching it, but as an Alien;s movie I don't like it.

[Obiwanshinobi]

3 was the first Alien movie I watched and I wasn't impressed. Aliens a bit later on didn't do much for me either (Cameron films hardly ever do). 1 and Resurrection were both right up my street.

[Skykid]

3 was the first Alien movie I watched and I wasn't impressed. Aliens a bit later on didn't do much for me either (Cameron films hardly ever do). 1 and Resurrection were both right up my street.

You preferred Resurrection to Aliens? What the fuck?

[jonny5]

I think most peoples problem with Alien 3 is it isn't Aliens.

Also, fun tidbit, William Gibson was actually brought in to write the screenplay, but they didn't end up using his version, which was vastly different from what was eventually made. It's available online for those that want to check it out.

[Mischief Maker]

The biggest problem with Alien Resurrection is it replaced the Alien series' undercurrent of dread with an undercurrent of whimsy.

[GaijinPunch]

There's really very little wrong with Alien 3, but the director's cut is the best possible version IMO.

I hate when I agree with you

Also, don't get why Resurrection gets such a bad name - well watchable, really nothing wrong with it.

Loved 3. It's got the best filming/direction/soundtrack. It has some flaws, but it was going up against titans.

For starters, the premise of Alien 3 is flawed because it makes no sense whatsoever for there to be an egg on the ship.

Then complain to James Cameron.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Der Fluch der shwarzen Schwestern (1973, a.k.a. Vampire Ecstasy) by Joseph W. Sarno, starring Marie Forså.



That sort of thing.



Mostly awesome, pretty lousy action scenes notwithstanding. Most admirably, it looks like majority of the cast was into it, to an extent rarely seen in the movies. Hell Comes to Frogtown once gave me this impression, but not much else.

One thing bugs me, however: first they make witchcraft seem like such a fun way of living, all tits-out rituals and orgies, only so

Spoiler

the brave woman who resists all carnal temptation

can bust the party. Who hasn't wished her getting some too? What triumph is that?

[Skykid]

Loved 3. It's got the best filming/direction/soundtrack.

Ah, there's definitely some play in that argument. I know what you're thinking: from a pure artistic perspective there are audio visual elements in 3 that are simply beautiful - but the same can be said of Alien. Ridley Scott just has a different style to Fincher, but his directorial strength is still mighty in that movie, as is obvious from the opening shot of the computer waking up reflected in the space helmet visor, or the water pouring down between the hanging chains in the vapour room.

Both Alien and Aliens are unique to the director's strengths, and while Cameron isn't as smart in cinematography or audio as the guys preceding and proceeding his movie, he has an iron grip on breakneck pacing and mad hype - a skill in itself.

There are clunky elements in 3, offset by spectacularly atmospheric elements, but in my opinion it never achieves the tension or suspense of 1 or the raw adventure elements of 2. That said, I'm happy that it's a work handled completely as its own without succumbing to the influence of its predecessors.

[GaijinPunch]

from a pure artistic perspective there are audio visual elements in 3 that are simply beautiful - but the same can be said of Alien. Ridley Scott just has a different style to Fincher, but his directorial strength is still mighty in that movie, as is obvious from the opening shot of the computer waking up reflected in the space helmet visor, or the water pouring down between the hanging chains in the vapour room.

Touche'. I just thought Fincher did it in a time it wasn't quite as expected. It was the early 90's. Lots of cheese. The opening track of Alien is excellent, but the Alien 3 one (Agnus Dei) moved me.

There are clunky elements in 3, offset by spectacularly atmospheric elements, but in my opinion it never achieves the tension or suspense of 1 or the raw adventure elements of 2. That said, I'm happy that it's a work handled completely as its own without succumbing to the influence of its predecessors.

I thought it was creepier than the other 2. Maybe not as suspenseful and definitely not as action packed. You forgot to mention Pete Postlethwaite when you listed the cast.

[Skykid]

The opening track of Alien is excellent, but the Alien 3 one (Agnus Dei) moved me.

Yeah it's amazing. Perfectly married to the opening titles (also amazing).

You forgot to mention Pete Postlethwaite when you listed the cast.

I was thinking the exact same thing in the shower this morning. For shame, such a great actor.

[Strider77]

I'll have to pop in the bluray of the third this weekend. It's been awhile.

[emphatic]

I'll have to pop in the bluray of the third this weekend. It's been awhile.

I need to watch the DC of it.

[Kaiser]

Worth remembering that Alien 3 HAD lots of directorial/script issues so when Fincher picked it up, it was a completely unfinished mess, so you gotta give him credit for trying his best to NOT make a bad movie.

[GaijinPunch]

]You forgot to mention Pete Postlethwaite when you listed the cast.

I was thinking the exact same thing in the shower this morning. For shame, such a great actor.

Glad to see I'm still in your shower thoughts.

[Skykid]

]You forgot to mention Pete Postlethwaite when you listed the cast.

I was thinking the exact same thing in the shower this morning. For shame, such a great actor.

Glad to see I'm still in your shower thoughts.

Jesus man, like, every day.