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The original is in another league, tense, well acted, brilliantly paced and without doubt the best performance Arnie has ever given. Acting like a robot comes naturally to him and he's never been more effective on screen. Making him the good guy in 2 was a mistake because they try and make him human but he's wooden as they come and it feels extremely awkward throughout. "I know now why you cry" and that thumb.
T1 in comparison doesn't have any cheese isn't over long and is relentless from the moment it starts, for me hands down Cameron's best film.
As for Aliens, it's great thrilling ride but Alien is a masterpiece and in another league.
I'll go with GF Part 2 over Part 1 but it's close.
I think Linda Hamilton is the one who drives the (first two) Terminator films - not Arnie.
Arnie's fun to watch but he needs decent actors around him to do most of the hard work.
This film is near-perfection and quite possibly my favorite work of Tarantino's. Never gets old and is filled with so many amazing qualities in every section of the film. Wonderful. One of those rare films that I'm beyond excited for, and it manages to exceed those expectations, surprisingly.
Hamilton and Biehn are what gives T1 the human element without a doubt but Arnold is so brilliant as the relentless cyborg. I've never been able to take him seriously in anything else and don't understand the worship of him as an actor but T1, not even De Niro in his prime could have played that role better, he's perfect.
Watched Alien last night funnily enough, still one of my all time favourite films a masterpiece no doubt.
I don't think many people are saying that he's a gifted actor, more that he has a guilty pleasure appeal about him. He's a larger than life hero.
And none of 'em are as good as On The Waterfront.
I just don't get the worship of him full stop, the fact he's so bad an actor yet gets all this universal love, I don't find him charismatic or particularly watchable, I actually prefer Predator 2 to 1. Arnie's appeal passed me by I'm afraid and all this excitement about a 60 plus old man doing action films is beyond me.
Great film. The dentist carriage gave me the biggest laugh.
I always treat Alien in the same way I treat 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner. These are very clever films that require a bit of cerebral labour to be fully enjoyed. They feature a distinct style of story telling and marvellous, unique sets.
Aliens, however, cannot be ignored. This is the film that spawned an entire genre of space marine action movies and none of those ever bettered Cameron's take on it IMO. Furthermore, Aliens does more for Ripley, story-wise, than Alien.
Remember, for the longest time Alien makes it unclear who will be the eventual hero of the story. Ripley is but one of the crew members and it isn't until late into the second act that, as a pure consequence of suddenly holding the highest rank aboard ship, she is necessitated into making the calls and suggestions for survival. Even then, she does what she does not knowing if it'll help their case and also out of fear, hoping for the best, hoping that any of it may actually amount to something. Chance and some random outbursts of audacity - and little else - push her to victory, albeit one with a very uncertain future for her and the cat.
But in Aliens, Ripley is a woman full of guilt, a woman who never made it to her daughter's birthday party. Her motherly caring for Newt is more than just a grown-up's sympathy for this orphaned child. Ripley tries to make amends, which is why her mother-versus-mother fight with the queen is all the more poetic. She agrees to come aboard the Sulaco in the first place for the sake of purging her fears. She stands up against marines and company people who make bad calls. She quickly toughens up, raises her voice when necessary, plans ahead, ... In more than one sense, Ripley goes through more character development in Aliens than she ever did in Alien. She started the film as a tormented and guilt-ridden mother, afraid and without ambition. But she ends the film staring another mother in the face, incinerating her children as a way of getting even, taking control of an almost lost military expedition, and negotiating a more promising future for her and the child amidst certain death and inescapable destruction.
I am a fan of both films and I treat them with equal respect. Alien is a masterpiece, both visually and narratively, the kind of hard sci-fi that I could watch and contemplate over and over again. But Aliens makes yours truly pleasantly excited as a fanboy. This is the film that spawned those great Dark Horse comic books I can't seem to grow tired of, and those cool video games I continue to play. And Aliens does more than that. Underneath the layers of action and excitement there is a deeper character study of Ripley. While O'Bannon used his characters as vessels for our fear, Cameron did with Ripley what IMO Cameron did best in his earlier films: he took a female character who at the start of things is quite unstable, and turned her into an unexpected hero. Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor went through the same process in TT and T2. It is a general misconception that Ripley was already this strong, female Rambo at the end of Alien. She wasn't. She was a lucky survivor at best. That same Ellen Ripley would never have geared up and descended an unstable nuclear installation to track down one human, possibly dead, amidst an army of hostile aliens. When Ripley went back for Jones, she was freaking out; left or right, she practically went where the steam lead her. But when she went back for Newt, she was determined, in control of things, mentally very stable and ready to go fifty rounds against whichever alien bitch was coming her way.
For years now I have noticed that Aliens has lost some respect. I know that many people think of it as a no-brainer of a marine action movie, exploiting the great xenomorph creation of O'Bannon, Giler, Hill and Giger for the sake of cheap entertainment. But I think Aliens deserves a lot more credit. It's a technical marvel with a fantastical imagination, and one in which Cameron doesn't simply redo what was done previously, but expands on that, both in terms of "bigger and bolder" and also in terms of characterisation of Ripley. People tell me that Alien takes its time to show the alien whereas Aliens is just a lot faster to show the goods. Wrong. Actual alien attacks happen about at the same mark in both films, roughly an hour in.
So for me, Alien and Aliens are both great films, even if they are nothing alike. They are set in the same universe and that's as far as the comparison goes. But Dimi loves them both. If Alien is my wife, Aliens is definitely my lover.
I'm just a big fan of both films. I have most of the Aliens comics ever published and each time I finish a story, I'm reminded of how much I love this world. :-)
This film is a big disappointment with all the talent and money they have, but a terrible script.
Well...that was one of the most disturbing, yet interesting films I've ever seen!
Yeah it is pretty brutal
I felt less of a man at the end of that film.
:-S
I can handle almost anything in a film, so it takes a lot for me to cringe and get shivers from one. Lars von Trier made me experience both a few times, all thanks to the:
Is it wrong that I liked it? :D
Seriously though, I laughed my brains out in the theatre. Sure, it's comedy for 16 years olds but then there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. I felt like the jokes worked, the timing and delivery of the jokes was spot-on and they stayed fresh till the end. Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne really gave me a good night out. :-)
I really want to see this movie and have only heard near-perfect things, but I feel like this is one of those heavily opinionated reviews that might hit the mark. Saw another so-so review of GOTG that was the same way: a few pros, more cons, and they gave it a 6 or 7 out of 10. I might have to dial down my excitement, as reviews like this tend to be spot-on as opposed to the fanboy reviews that praise every nanosecond of the film.
'Videodrome' (1983) (Criterion)
Ashamed to say that this is one of the only Cronenberg classics that I've seen. I really want to finish 'Scanners' someday soon and I need to get around to seeing 'The Fly.' I have seen 'A History of Violence' and 'Eastern Promises,' though, both being great films. I loved 'Videodrome.' Gave a nice brainwashing spin of technology in the 80's, which still stands true today. The effects work was brilliant, it was great seeing James Woods (severely underrated) in a leading role, and the cinematography and pacing was spot-on.
The Philadelphia Story (1940), directed by George Cukor, starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart (who received his only Oscar for this role), based on the play by the same name.
Now that's more like it. A great movie, great direction and cinematography, great screenplay and acting - all the way down to the smaller roles.
(This movie is much better, IMO, than the 1956 musical High Society based on the same story, starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong - that one had some great music, though.)
Seraphim Falls (2006), starring Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson. A fascinating film, I liked it a lot, and Pierce was excellent. The other 3 films listed here I had seen before (a long time ago, maybe last century), but this one I saw for the first time.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), directed by John Ford, starring James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles and Lee Marvin. Classic, and ultimately sad tale, stylishly done. I enjoyed this one a lot, too.
Only my second time seeing this, and I loved it just as much as the first. One of the best films out there, such a fantastic courtroom (or is that jury room? ;)) drama, and I never would've thought such a compelling, intense film could be made out of 12 men debating a court case in one room for 97% of the film. Very beautiful looking film, too, the details are highly crisp and really stand out on Criterion blu-ray. I'm going through the Criterions I own now, so I see me being blown away by the quality a lot over the next few days.
What a feel good reunion movie, but at the same time, the events that have led to said reunion are very emotional, so the film delivers plenty of smiles and laughter, yet tears and sorrow at the same time. This film has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard in a movie, and the connection between all of the actors was so well displayed on screen, I truly felt like they had been friends for a very long time. Great film.
Eh, I didn't really like this one. I didn't find any of the characters remotely likable, even Brosnan. It just felt like this big buildup to nothing.
For me yes. I like a character I can relate too. I don't want to watch a movie where people act like people I wouldn't want to be around. I didn't find the story particular fascinating as it's been done before better.
I enjoy when Hollywood turns a formula upside down and delivers an ending that rips your heart out and stomps it into the ground, such as 'The Mist.'
@Murdock, sorry to hear you didn't like it, but the characters aren't supposed to be 'likable,' they're all schemers. Andy, Harry, Braithwaite, they were all bad people and liars. I still rooted for them, though. I loved Brosnan's foul-mouthed, cigarette/alcohol/sex addicted spy who was willing to use anyone around him to get what he wanted. Geoffrey Rush's Harry got himself deeper and deeper into trouble with every lie he told. That's what the whole concept of the film was.
Plus, it didn't buildup to nothing. The lies they told got stretched further and further, with the finale taking place during riots and a massive lockdown. People are killed and it's a race-against-time sort of thing.