[Movie] Alien one of the best sifi movies of all time

[Rachel]

I like the second one for the action, but I lean more towards the first, since it has the original Giger designs, and because the suspense makes you so high-strung.
For those that really, really like the film I would recommend getting the book 'Giger's Alien.' It's pretty much Giger's diary of the production of the film from start to finish.

A lot of people don't notice this, but the 'alien' is simply a physical representation of the unbridled, animalistic sexuality of both females and males. Giger took a simple horror sci-fi film and, with his art, turned it into a commentary on mankind's (irrational) fear of all things sexual, from intercourse to birth.

"Giger reminds us that unless we can accept, admire, use these tentacled, lizardy, octopus ancestors from our past then we die fearful, superstitious urban robots. Giger's paintings like those of Blake and Dali are basically loving and raunchy-erotic. They tenderly, humorously confront us with the ribbed cages, the sleek struts and tendon fibres, the smooth-lube-tubes of our own beloved soft-machines. And the warm, moist, squishy carnality of our lovers." -Timothy Leary

Giger is definitely my favourite artist.

[Gallahadd]

to be honest I loved Alien 1,2 and ever Res, but three was frakkin GARBAGE

AvP was pretty terrible, I don't get why in a film with the Tagline 'Whoever wins, we lose!' we still won....
AvP2 was bearable, simple because the body count was rediculous, and all the usual cliche's where avoided 'oh look, there's the hot young couple, they'll survi.... oh nope, they're dead.'

[hardcore74]

alien 3 was still made by james cameron. As much as an artist that he is, you cant strike gold every time. I think he wanted a more mellow end to the series compared to most sequels trying to one-up the previous in action and intensity. The real question you should be asking is why does alien versus predator series have to run the saga into the dirt.

No, Cameron had nothing to do with the 3rd film. It was directed by David Fincher (His first film) and had gone through like 5 different rewrites, and was plagued with bad studio decisions butchering of Finchers vision, and was pretty much made into a mess by the studio. Shooting for the movie started without a script even. Fincher was brought in towards the end of production, and made the best with the mess he had on his hands. In retrospect the movie really should have been far far worse then it turned out.

[wildemu]

Yes, Alien 3 was a disaster straight from the beginning as hardcore discussed. Fincher has basically disowned the film in all the interviews he's asked about it, and we can see today that he is a hell of a director. I don't think there is any doubt that he would've made a sick movie if given the freedom and liberty he has today. But back then he was still a music video director and the studio treated him like shit.

Really, really disappointing how Newt and Hicks were handled and I am sure Fincher hated every minute of filming it. Alien 3 could go down as one the biggest missed opportunities in film history in terms of producing a quality trilogy. Frustrating but that's the movie business for ya.

---------- Post added 2011-02-28 at 07:06 AM ----------

I can't copy and paste because it's too long, but the link below gives you an inside peak of the turmoil and and stress that everybody on the alien 3 crew had to endure. The movie's controversial production is a fascinating read.

http://movie-list.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7415

[Deleted]

Bah, I am not sure which one is best, Alien or Aliens... I'll go with Alien since it scared me the most.

[Howard Moon]

alien 3 was still made by james cameron. ...

Nope, it wasn't. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103644/

Lol, James Cameron would have to be severely stoned and blindfolded to make such a film.

Alien 3 was not completely terrible (unlike the 4th one), but just way, way inferior to Alien and Aliens.

[Balbo]

Aliens was slightly better than Alien i think, however i haven't seen them in a while

[Howard Moon]

The reason the 3rd aliens movie wasnt as good as the rest was because James Cameron didnt direct it (he directed the first 2).

Ridley Scott directed the first Alien, not James Cameron.

Both are amazing directors, and both films are superb in their own way. Shame that the awesomeness couldnt survive longer than 2 films :P

---------- Post added 2011-02-28 at 02:12 PM ----------

"They mostly come out at night, mostly." Aww, so cute.

Ripley was fucking badass, the aliens were amazingly designed and implemented and would probably stand up to some of today's top notch CGI creatures. Alien was a masterful sci-fi, I think every family watches Alien together at some point in their lives. It's like Rocky, Terminator, fucking classic I tell you.

Indeed! The special edition comes with a long "behind the scenes" documentary and its really amazing how they can create alien puppets with such realism and smooth movement. 1000 times scarier and more realistic than today's top of the line CGI.

And in response to your quote from Newt: I was SO mad and disappointed that they decided to kill her character off in the 3rd film. Imagine her growing up to be a true badass Alien-hunter to fight beside Ripley. ^_^

[Deleted]

Ridley Scott directed the first Alien, not James Cameron.

Both are amazing directors, and both films are superb in their own way. Shame that the awesomeness couldnt survive longer than 2 films :P

---------- Post added 2011-02-28 at 02:12 PM ----------



Indeed! The special edition comes with a long "behind the scenes" documentary and its really amazing how they can create alien puppets with such realism and smooth movement. 1000 times scarier and more realistic than today's top of the line CGI.

And in response to your quote from Newt: I was SO mad and disappointed that they decided to kill her character off in the 3rd film. Imagine her growing up to be a true badass Alien-hunter to fight beside Ripley. ^_^

Tbh, modern CGI could be much better if used properly. The succes of the first one was a lot about what they did not show, which is of course doable with CGI. Its just that people in Hollywood dont seem to get that you dont have to show it all to make it scary ^^

I must admit though, i enjoyed AvP. Sort of a guilty, geeky pleasure

[groundation]

Now might be a good time to point out that the entire Alienfranchise is based on rape. Dont take my word for it though, ask Alien screenwriter Dan O'Bannon,

"One thing that people are all disturbed about is sex... I said 'That's how I'm going to attack the audience; I'm going to attack them sexually. And I'm not going to go after the women in the audience, I'm going to attack the men. I am going to put in every image I can think of to make the men in the audience cross their legs. Homosexual oral rape, birth. The thing lays its eggs down your throat, the whole number.'"

Of course then there is also the imagery in the movie. Did you ever notice how just about everything in the movie looks like a penis? This is also intentional. The artist hired for most of the design was a man known for his new age art laced with sexual imagery.

"Giger's biomechanical, sexually explicit art had stuck with O'Bannon after the movie fell through, and the dark imagery helped fuel his revenge-writing when conceiving the story of Alien. Once the movie was greenlit, O'Bannon suggested Giger to director Ridley Scott, and after seeing Giger's Necronomicon -- a collection of art laced with sexual imagery -- Scott decided that he had to have Giger design the titular Alien"

Does any of the change your opinion on the movie?


NOTE: While all this is common knowledge, I did not compile the actual quotes myself, but have lost the original source, since I saved the quotes themselves. Cracked.com I *think*.

[Deleted]

I'd have to agree Alien is the best of the lot. That being said Aliens is still excellent. Bill Paxton is a legend. "They're coming out of the damn walls!" and "Game over man! That's it game over!"

I do have a soft spot for Alien 3 to be honest. It's the weakest of the trilogy but still entertaining enough.

Don't get me started on Alien Resurection. Honestly what where they thinking? I hated it then and I still hate it now.

THe new ALien prequel has potential.

[Muttz]

I have to admit I loved 'Aliens' when it came out (and still do). I'd put it in the same league as Predator & Die Hard for sheer action. Memorable performances from Weaver (Ripley), Biehn (Hicks), Reiser (that swine Burke LOL), Henriksen (Bishop) and ofc Paxton (Hudson).

Hell, Hudson's classic phrase "How do I get out of this chickensh!t outfit?" is something I'm sure we've felt like saying on bad Pug / Raid night.

However for sheer suspense I don't think you can beat the original 'Alien'.

The classic "Chestburster" scene is epic, the fact that Ridley Scott didn't tell the cast what was going to happen is Legend, and to see the looks on the faces of the cast is something you couldn't replicate via acting. That scene (for me anyway) just makes it one of the most memorable pieces of cinema in the modern age.

[Callace]

Now might be a good time to point out that the entire Alienfranchise is based on rape. Dont take my word for it though, ask Alien screenwriter Dan O'Bannon,


Of course then there is also the imagery in the movie. Did you ever notice how just about everything in the movie looks like a penis? This is also intentional. The artist hired for most of the design was a man known for his new age art laced with sexual imagery.


Does any of the change your opinion on the movie?


NOTE: While all this is common knowledge, I did not compile the actual quotes myself, but have lost the original source, since I saved the quotes themselves. Cracked.com I *think*.

Using our sexual instincts against us is a craft. You're posing the art as immorality argument. You can tell there are implications of rape just by watching the movie, it's no secret. People get literally raped in fiction all the time. Why would my opinion change?

[Deleted]

AVP and AVPR are a disgrace to both the Alien and Predator franchise and nearly brought it to its downfall.

I like Alien more then Aliens in Alien you truly see a horrifying creature that has a very disturbing way of reproducing and is nearly invincible. Aliens despite still being a good movie and I do like it. Took some of that away it turned the Aliens a little more into Cannon Fodder then the nearly invincible being we saw in the Alien movie. The Queen also made it look like they were some kind of insects what seems a tad unoriginal to me. They should have sticked to the original reproduction cycle. (In the deleted scenes of Alien you can see the Alien cocooning some of the dead crew members and slowsly turning them into eggs)

I also dont really like the idea of an Alien prequel. This will take some of the mystery of the Alien away by explaining its home world and if it is created or naturally evolved. However since Ridley Scott is directing it I still have some hope for it and will check it out.

[Deleted]

No, aliens 3 was dircted by James Fincher. James did the first 2.

David Fincher. Also, Alien3 was incredible, just in a different way to the first two movies. To me, skin-headed Ripley is more iconic than with a head full of hair. Anything after Alien3 is nonsense, irrelevant and broken.

[Rachel]

Now might be a good time to point out that the entire Alienfranchise is based on rape. Dont take my word for it though, ask Alien screenwriter Dan O'Bannon,

Of course then there is also the imagery in the movie. Did you ever notice how just about everything in the movie looks like a penis? This is also intentional. The artist hired for most of the design was a man known for his new age art laced with sexual imagery.

I wouldn't say that it was based on rape, though rape was a way of getting the message to the audience (for lack of better wording), but more about those animalistic sexual desires that humans feel, but are afraid to express, because society says we must be civilized, polite creatures that should keep fun to the bedroom, and even limit how much fun we are having while in the bedroom.

Even though the West is saturated with sex and everyone thinks that the West is liberal, it's far from it. This is because the sexual imagery in the West is clean and plastic. It's the fake, boring stuff. Plastic breasts and (grossly) enlarged penises. No stretch marks, no hair, no wrinkles. Nothing natural.

No matter how sexually saturated the media and society is, the West is still afraid of real sex. Sex has become something you just do when you're bored, or because everyone is doing it. Not too many of my peers do it because they have the urge to please themselves or their partners. It's just an order of operations to them.

Society has also convinced the modern world that the other things that come with sex are gross, mysterious, and even dangerous. If I had a dollar for every time someone said that pregnant women are gross and should stay in the house, or that all women must go to a hospital to have their babies because they're weak and delicate creatures (even though human females have been doing this for thousands of years), I'd be set for life.

Underneath all those layers, 'Alien' dealt with silly, irrational fears caused by religion/superstition, and general misinformation about sexuality.

Did you ever notice how just about everything in the movie looks like a penis?

Yes, there was indeed penile imagery in the film, but if you look closer and payed more attention you'd notice the female imagery as well. The derelict spacecraft was 'womb-like,' and many of the entrances looked almost vaginal. The tops of the original eggs were actually going to look like a vulva:
"I had lovingly endowed this egg with an inner and outer vulva...Scott thinks it's too good, and Carroll too specific. He's afraid we'll get into trouble, especially with the Catholic countries."- Giger, Pg. 46 of 'Giger's Alien'

The shape of the alien's body was feminine even. It was sleek and sinuous. I know that everyone says that the head is a giant penis, but people often forget about the other organ that looks like a penis; the clitoris. So the alien itself is both a feminine and masculine image.


PS: For goodness' sake, the DIRECTOR of Alien was RIDLEY SCOTT, not Cameron. Cameron directed 'Aliens.'

[Zanter]

Alien 3 can't compare to the worst sequel of all times though... Green Street Hooligans 2.

[Andunae]

Mantooth - Alien3 I agree, the Ripley in it IS more iconic, if I think of Ripley through the films there's :

ALIEN - the Spacesuit, with the helmet off breathing heavilly,
ALIENS : in her overalls, with the Pulserifle / Flamethrower gaffer-tape bodge of win pointing towards you. Then
Alien3 : Ripley shaved head, greasy pants and vest falling backwards towards the molten slag whilst still holding newly born Alien Queen. Just seems more iconic to me.

But that doesn't save the movie from it's inferiority compared to ALIEN and ALIENS, I enjoy Alien3, sure. But I can't rate it anywhere near 1 or 2.
ALIEN - Ripley starts the transformation from "everyday" American gal into something harder and less naive. As ALIENS continued she became harder still, becoming the hunter and protector. Alien3 .. nothing to protect, she and the Alien are linked so there's no fear she will ever even get scratched and a cast of 'almost' nobodies (in terms of American cinema at the time) on whom you can basically see the sign hanging around their neck saying "Freeeeeeeesh Meat".

I voted ALIENS, simply because I've had the most fun watching it multiple times, but for true watch once and reflect value, ALIEN wins hands down. As mentioned the original "Chest burster" scene. Epic.

[Peepjynx]

A lot of people didn't like Resurrection.... until you said "btw - it was directed by Joss Whedon....."
"really?! DUDE THAT MOVIE WAS AWESOME."

I liked it.

[Fooliecoolie]

alien 3 was still made by james cameron. As much as an artist that he is, you cant strike gold every time. I think he wanted a more mellow end to the series compared to most sequels trying to one-up the previous in action and intensity. The real question you should be asking is why does alien versus predator series have to run the saga into the dirt.

David Fincher did Alien 3