New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Alien Quadrilogy - Page 2

post #51 of 85
6/12/08 at 7:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Matchstick View Post
You can rip on Whedon all you want, but his scripts (multiple) were much better than the movie.

I also like Weaver's performance in it. And it looks real pretty. But it just doesn't work.
There are parts of the script I liked that were missing from the film...like the introduction of Ripley to the 'space pirate/mercs' via a mano-a-mano showdown with an alien warrior (which was replaced in the film by something much weaker; but still ended with the interior jaw being tossed to Call)...or something lesser like Ripley laughing insanely as the aliens were busy ripping up humans around the ship while she was stuck in her cell.

Shit like that.
Reply
post #52 of 85
6/12/08 at 7:12pm
I think the problems with Alien Resurrection are numerous enough to spread the blame around. But Whedon deserves some shit for that script, which is - especially viewed in context of his body of work, terribly him, but - to be fair -on that mileage varies.
Reply
post #53 of 85
6/12/08 at 7:19pm
Oh yeah I think Jeunet was wrong to just say 'fuck it' and shoot the script but I think Whedon has tried to publicly excise himself from the film far more than anyone involved.

I mean one of the dumbest moments in the film is when Wincott's girlfriend walks down a deserted corridor simply to pick up a pistol when she is already armed to the teeth, this situation thus leads to her death. But it is something that is right there in the script too, and Jeunet decided instead to focus on stylisation than attempt to fix the scripting errors.
Reply
post #54 of 85
6/12/08 at 7:23pm
I can see that script working better between the covers of a DarkHorse publication, rather than on celluloid...but I HAVE to admit, I was intrigued to see what Jeunet would do with it, after 'Delicatessen' and 'City of Lost Children'...which are both comicbooks-on-film.

Bummer with what we got.
Reply
post #55 of 85
6/12/08 at 7:27pm
The thing is that Delicatessen and Lost Children weren't just Jeunet films, they were collaborations with Marc Caro. I'm a little hazy but I think the two had a falling out about three weeks into Resurrection's pre-production and have never really reconciled and you can see the lack of Caro's input in Amelie and Engagement. I hate using the term darkness, but I think Caro kind of offered a counterpoint to Jeunet's more fitful imagination and I think that's why the two worked so well together.
Reply
post #56 of 85
6/12/08 at 7:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike Marshall View Post
The thing is that Delicatessen and Lost Children weren't just Jeunet films, they were collaborations with Marc Caro. I'm a little hazy but I think the two had a falling out about three weeks into Resurrection's pre-production and have never really reconciled and you can see the lack of Caro's input in Amelie and Engagement. I hate using the term darkness, but I think Caro kind of offered a counterpoint to Jeunet's more fitful imagination and I think that's why the two worked so well together.
Kind of a French Herzog/Kinski-thing going on then (without the bullets or death-threats)?

Might have to check this out!
Reply
post #57 of 85
6/12/08 at 11:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike Marshall View Post
I mean one of the dumbest moments in the film is when Wincott's girlfriend walks down a deserted corridor simply to pick up a pistol when she is already armed to the teeth, this situation thus leads to her death. But it is something that is right there in the script too, and Jeunet decided instead to focus on stylisation than attempt to fix the scripting errors.
You mean when Wincott himself walks down the corridor to fetch a gun and gets killed, right? His gal gets grabbed underwater later, I think. And that's the exact scene that Whedon always complains about. In the script (or the draft I read), Wincott's character gets out-of-the-blue murdered.

I will admit that I'm a Whedon apologist, by the way.
Reply
post #58 of 85
6/13/08 at 7:00am
Shit yeah. I haven't seen the film in fucking ages, I knew it was either him or his girl and assumed that Wincott had gone out like more of a badass.
Reply
post #59 of 85
6/13/08 at 9:07am
I remember reading a draft that involved a 4x4 in some kind of eco-dome thing... on board the ship.

Was that Whedon?
Reply
post #60 of 85
6/13/08 at 9:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mastronikolas View Post
Whedon's script was bad and contrary to what he proclaimed, all the crap in the movie originated in the script. As for the stuff that was altered or excised, if he really believes that a Chinese super-mercenary, a buggy chase through a geodome and an albino, flying, vampire alien would make the movie better, he's an idiot.
heh. oh right there it is.

Whedon's an aquired taste.
Reply
post #61 of 85
6/13/08 at 3:47pm
Yeah the 4 x 4 section is essentially that scene in The Lost World where Raptors take out the mercenaries in long grass transplanted to Alien Resurrection.
Reply
post #62 of 85
6/13/08 at 3:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Matchstick View Post
I will admit that I'm a Whedon apologist, by the way.
No need to apologize for Gods Matchstick

Resurrection's script was never great, but you can definitely tell that Whedon's heart was not in it, and he doesn't put as much effort into studio hire work. He's just one of those people.
Reply
post #63 of 85
6/13/08 at 4:06pm
Michael Biehn is damn bitter and sullen on the Aliens commentary!

"I'm Michael Biehn, and I played HICKS... or (angrily) DWWWAYYYYNNNEEEE HICKS if you're watching the DVDEEEEEEEEEEEE special edition"
Reply
post #64 of 85
6/13/08 at 4:08pm
I would call this AR, on the Onion scale, a Fiasco, and both AVP's failures, while Alien3 is a secret success.
Reply
post #65 of 85
6/13/08 at 4:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike Marshall View Post
Yeah the 4 x 4 section is essentially that scene in The Lost World where Raptors take out the mercenaries in long grass transplanted to Alien Resurrection.
Kind of sounds like you are accusing him of a lift, but both movies came out the same year. I think it's rumored (or has been said) that the reason they didn't include the scene is because the production caught wind that the scene was similar to a scene they were shooting/had shot for The Lost World. However, it sounds like a budgetary decision to me.

Is that doc for Alien 4 in the box set worth watching, by the way?

I think Whedon's heart was in it. Because of his M.O., you know he had to love writing for Ripley. And tasked with returning her from the grave, I thought he came up with a satisfying (and certainly silly) solution.
Reply
post #66 of 85
6/13/08 at 4:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre Dellamorte View Post
I would call this AR, on the Onion scale, a Fiasco, and both AVP's failures, while Alien3 is a secret success.
But you cheat, sir! None of those movies were flops.

Well, maybe AVP2 was.
Reply
post #67 of 85
6/13/08 at 4:20pm
Late to the party. Interesting points. My problem with ALIEN 3 is not being able to get past what the movie couldve/shouldve been. I can't take it on it's own terms. Hate the supporting characters & even the ending felt like a retread of the previous year's T2.
The one shining light for me is Weaver's performance. It's mildly fascinating to watch the quadrilogy back to back, just concentrating on the evolution of her performances/character arc.
Reply
post #68 of 85
6/13/08 at 4:21pm
Actually the most successful fiscally were the AVP films. Both 3 and 4 were disapointments, but not flops. Resurrection is really watchable because it's a fascinating sort of bad. There's no commitment to the ideas, and it's a hodgepodge throughout, which makes it immenently watchable in its failure. Almost every ten minutes I wish they had settled on the film they were making at that point.
Reply
post #69 of 85
6/15/08 at 5:38pm
Thread Starter 
Going through the ALIENS documentaries now.

It's really funny to see how everybody thought James Cameron was an asshole and the battle they americans vs the british crew were having. Tea time!
Reply
post #70 of 85
6/15/08 at 6:09pm
This thread has made me really want to watch the hell out of the whole box set again now. Thanks!

Just read a book of interviews with Ridley Scott, and in one from back in the day, he mentioned how Sigourney Weaver had a definite idea of Ripley being sexually attracted to the Alien (and vice versa), which is interesting in light of where Alien: Resurrection went with that idea. I forget if this point is mentioned at all in the various docs, but did her increasingly large role in the direction of the franchise have anything to do with the bizarre turns of the film?
Reply
post #71 of 85
6/15/08 at 6:31pm
Cameron mentions Sigourney Weaver's xeno-fuck fetish in his ALIENS commentary.
Reply
post #72 of 85
6/16/08 at 10:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tati View Post
Going through the ALIENS documentaries now.

It's really funny to see how everybody thought James Cameron was an asshole and the battle they americans vs the british crew were having. Tea time!
The tea time thing is fantastic.

Also, what a fucking awesome place to shoot - in that deactivated power plant or whatever it was.
Reply
post #73 of 85
6/18/08 at 1:34pm
For everyone that is interested, Amazon.uk has this sucker for 15 pound = 20 Euro. I just ordered mine.
Reply
post #74 of 85
6/18/08 at 1:36pm
Thread Starter 
Good call there. I spent all weekend watching the features. Astounding. And i haven't even touched the movies yet.
Reply
post #75 of 85
6/18/08 at 2:03pm
Nobody else sees it or agrees with me, but when revisiting ALIENS a couple of weeks ago noticed how Cameron shot Weaver in close-up. I was reminded of the WWII era propaganda posters (women fighting at home,etc) I'm pretty sure he was intentionally lifting the look.
Reply
post #76 of 85
6/18/08 at 2:03pm
I must admit I felt a certain sense of pride in the British Film Crew being such unilateral dicks to James Cameron.
Reply
post #77 of 85
6/20/08 at 1:49pm
Sigourney Weaver's performances in each Alein movie can never be out-weighed.
Reply
post #78 of 85
6/20/08 at 2:00pm
go away!
Reply
post #79 of 85
6/20/08 at 2:19pm
I had the Alien commentary on last night while I was falling asleep and I could've sworn I heard Harry Dean Stanton say "I was always looking for pussy" or something to that effect. Was I just hearing things?
Reply
post #80 of 85
6/20/08 at 6:52pm
"I was thinkin' about pussy" was the line (I think), but yea, you heard correctly.
Reply
post #81 of 85
6/20/08 at 11:26pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike Marshall View Post
I must admit I felt a certain sense of pride in the British Film Crew being such unilateral dicks to James Cameron.
I love this.
Reply
post #82 of 85
6/20/08 at 11:29pm
Yeah Spike, what the fuck up is with your country's lethargic working pace?
Reply
post #83 of 85
6/23/08 at 8:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll View Post
Yeah Spike, what the fuck up is with your country's lethargic working pace?
How else are they gonna fit in Breakfast, 2nd Breakfast, Elevensies, Luncheon, Afternoon Tea, Dinner, Supper, etc?
Reply
post #84 of 85
6/24/08 at 1:23am
Weaver's obsession with Alien/Ripley intercourse makes me wonder if she writes Alien fan fic. It's downright creepy if you ask me.
Reply
post #85 of 85
6/25/08 at 6:58pm
Watched Alien 3 again last night, I think for the first time all the way through since the theater, and I liked it. There was a LOT more gore than I remembered, more than any of the other entries in the series. For example, when the dog-xeno turns Postlethwaite's head into a brains-and-windowglass smoothie (Spoiler!).

The CGI shots of the xeno (and the overuse of alien POV shots) show the budget limits and there are spots that feel rushed (Brian Glover's ascension, the ill-conceived first trap attempt/flash fire) but I really like the bleakness and the characters were better differentiated than I remembered.

They added the chestburster-as-Ripley-falls scene in response to test-audience comments, am I remembering that right?
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: DVD General Discussion