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I just seem to recall that Weaver was for the longest time the only leading female actress who could carry a blockbuster film, in character as Ripley.
Valerie is just gorgeous as hell.
The actors who play Colthorpe TMWTGG and Bill Tanner FYEO also crop up in Blood from the Mummy's Tomb.
There is a great deal of heart in this documentary, It's a great culmination of why Bond is great.
Just finished off the 2nd film in my preparatory viewings prior to catching Alien: Covenant later this week. I viewed the 1990 Special Edition, which is about 16 minutes longer with more development of Ripley's backstory (including info on the daughter she left behind) as well as Newt. The film is better for it, because knowing more about both of these characters helps us to understand the bond which develops between them during the course of the film.
This was my favourite when I was younger, but these days I'm not that keen on it. Basically this is Rambo meets Alien. While the first film was more of a pure horror flick, this is all out action from the get-go. Lots of machine guns picking off creatures by the dozens.
The characters here aren't as well realized either imho. They are more stereotypical caricatures in my view, rather than fully realized beings, and it almost seems as though they are there just to become fodder for the aliens (arguably that's the case in any horror film, but it seems quite obvious here due to the lack of character development). Speaking of the squiggly things, they seem less threatening here too. While the original focused on one extremely sinister and frightening alien which picked off the crew one by one, in the sequel there are so many literally running into machine gun fire that they become almost trivial, with the exception of the big Queen which shows up for the finale.
Finally, the special effects are a bit suspect in places imho. The green screen in particular is a bit distracting. Mostly it's because the sequel is quite ambitious, especially for 1986. I'm sure they used the best technology that was available at the time but I was taken out of the film at a few critical points.
I still enjoyed it, and I do recommend this film. It's just that I much prefer the first one. I'll finish off my Alien preparation with Prometheus in a few nights.
For reasons much the same as you, @bondjames. First time seeing it again after my initial theater viewing five years ago. My overall impressions of the film remain the same: unnecessary backstory demystifying the tremendous atmosphere of the original's alien planet; impressive visual effects; largely disposable characters making astonishingly harebrained decisions; a handful of truly excellent scenes unfortunately assembled in a rather haphazard fashion. Final verdict then: just not for me. Final verdict now: still not for me.
Noomi Rapace stands out as a sort of Ripley stand-in (another of which appears to be coming with Alien: Covenant), and her scenes really are the best. The most awesome scene in the entire film is the med-pod stomach surgery bit. Truly gripping stuff. A masterfully suspenseful scene that reminds you this is actually still the guy who did the original Alien (1979). Also impressive is the scene toward the end when Mini-Stay Puft goes after Noomi and gets smothered by the world's biggest facehugger. Lovecraft, eat your heart out. I could have done with much more of that.
The film really takes its time getting going, and once it does get going we have characters we just don't really care about getting assaulted and killed and assorted mayhem going on. Theron torching Rapace's boyfriend was a whoa! moment, but as with the other bright points, ultimately feels like another odd beat within a very oddly structured film. Ultimately, the film just isn't involving enough for me to overlook many of its glaring errors, the most prominent of which has always been the sheer amount of abuse Rapace's body takes after the width of her stomach has been opened and surgically stapled shut again. Seriously, she gets hurled around and whacked in the stomach and crashes into things and sprints full-speed throughout multiple action sequences. I'm sorry, but there's no way that gal's guts are staying inside her. I just can't watch her Superwomaning her way through the final third of the film without constantly thinking of her poor stapled stomach.
Fassbender is good. Perhaps great even. Elba is good, too. Gets a nice hero's death in the end. Guy Pearce's old man makeup was terrible. Theron was all right. Her death scene was the Alien equivalent of the guy who gets steamrollered in Austin Powers though.
The film ends after two hours and four minutes. I feel like I probably don't need to see it again for a long time. Really wish the stomach surgery scene was in a film I more thoroughly enjoyed.
Love that poster!
I saw this last night and I'll say it was a good follow up to the first. There are things about the sequel that are better and things that are worse than the first movie.
Better:
1) The chemistry between all the characters
2) The character development of most of the characters
3) The special effects
Worse
1) Opening credits (I feared the popularity of Groot would be too much in the sequel and the start of the movie proved that)
2) Humor (they tried too hard at times and often put it where it didn't need to be)
3) Action (again was dragged down by humor when it wasn't necessary. Also became too over-the-top at times, reminding me of the finale fights in The Matrix Revolutions and Man of Steel)
Equal
1) The story
2) The soundtrack
Overall I enjoyed the film but had they adjusted some things here and there it would've been better than the first.
@bondjames, good thinking on revisiting the films before 'Covenant.' I'll be doing the same, though I'm not sure if it's the best idea or not. My buddy has someone never seen the first four or any of the spin-offs aside from 'Prometheus,' so we're going to double bill the first two at some point this week before catching the new one in theaters.
I did this before SP and it only served to show up the faults of the film. I'm only watching Alien, Aliens and Prometheus. I was never a fan of Alien3 and I've seen Resurrection many times before (I really like that one) so don't want to OD on it.
I've not seen The Insider either. I'm going to pick that up shortly.
Just saw 'Logan,' thought it was pretty damn good. Wouldn't go as far as deeming it "perfect" like some have, but it's brutal and character-centric and hits you right in the feelings at times. Infinitely better than the stuff I've seen from Marvel and DC in the past few years, and if more of them were like this, I'd manage to enjoy the genre once again.
Finally got round to watching my recently purchased remastered blu ray copy of this Michael Mann classic. It was everything I remember it being. The newly restored version is certainly sharper, but I don't remember the original blu ray being all that bad either. Images are crisp, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is sharp (especially during that killer street shootout), and colours are fresh, with night scenes bathed in a cool blue hue and the few daytime scenes bright & bold.
Dante Spinotti's shot framing is quite superb. From the opening scene of De Niro stealing an ambulance, everything is beautifully composed. The film clocks in at 170 mins, but nearly everything here is essential. There's very little, if any bloat. Mann uses every minute to develop the myriad characters on either side of the law, their family lives, motivations, aspirations & their struggles. The two superstars anchoring this piece are of course Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, and they are both brilliant in their respective roles. Lt. Vincent Hanna is a motivated (even obsessive) cop who won't stop until he gets his man. Neil McCauley is a master thief who lives by a strict code, not letting anybody get close to him who he can't walk out on in 30 seconds flat. There is a legendary scene at a diner where these two come face to face, and it's one for the ages. It was their first scene together, and was awaited at least since The Godfather. It is a brief sequence, but says so much about both the characters and the esteemed actors who play them. It makes the final scene all the more poignant.
There are some exemplary supporting performances from a top notch cast, including Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd, Diane Venora, Mykelti Williamson, William Fitchner, Natalie Portman, Tom Noonan, Hank Azaria, Kevin Gage, Danny Trejo & Dennis Haysbert. One sympathizes with nearly all of them, which is quite an achievement by Mann. I wasn't all that keen on Amy Brenneman's character though, finding it difficult to understand what McCauley saw in her, but I guess love is blind.
There are also several memorable sequences in the film, not least the fantastic bank heist and subsequent shootout, but also the scenes where the LAPD is surveilling McCauley's team (including where he suspects them being there, and when he turns the tables on them). The scene near the end where Charlene lets Chris get away with a small swipe of her hand gets me every time. So does the scene where Hanna comforts a mother whose daughter has just been killed by Waingro. It's the little touches like this which make this a special film worthy of its lofty reputation. Mann deserves credit for crafting one of the great American crime thrillers of the late 20th century.
Good to hear you find it "way better than Prometheus." That's a step in the right direction for me.
I don't normally like Patrick Wilson but this was a good drama,which surprised me.
These movies are so over-the-top and stupid that they're actually fun. I don't think I'd ever buy them but they're fun to rent every great once and awhile. I'd say I had the most fun with this entry than the other two, so it's probably my favorite of the trilogy. Donnie Yen has a pretty cool fight scene towards the end. Plus, Ruby Rose is in it and she's the only woman covered in tattoos to make me melt every time I see her.
XXX: Return of Xander Cage
XXX
XXX: State of the Union
2 hours of pure, total, mindless entertainment from Guy Ritchie. I never thought I'd enjoy seeing a medieval movie in the more modern style of Snatch, but Ritchie really aced it. Fantastic cast - Charlie Hunnam, Djimoun Hounsou, Jude Law, Aidan Gillen and Eric Bana were all very charistmatic, the action films were hugely impressive (the intro battle is just insane, and several other very energetic sequences were featured in this film), the special effects looked very good, there was a huge dose of humour, and Daniel Pemberton delivered another properly fantastic soundtrack. I really had a lot of fun watching this film, the 2 hours of runtime flew by.
The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift
I don't have an interest in drift racing, so I wasn't looking forward to this one, especially with #'s 4, 5, & 6 being like heist films on wheels. That said... it turned out better than I expected.
1. Fast Five (2011)
2. Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
3. Fast & Furious (2009)
4. 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
5. The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
6. The Fast And The Furious (2001)
They have never appealed to me,Major...never had any desire to watch them.
I watched the first one way back when it first came out on DVD, and saw little snippets of the sequels, assuming that they were just like the first film (which I didn't really care much for). So many people told me that the series evolves once you get past the first few films, eventually curiosity got the better of me and I bought the 7 film collection to see for myself, and they were right. It all depends on whether you like action films with crazily ott set pieces.
I might be tempted to watch the ones with Jason Statham in (whichever ones they are !) but not any other ones.