Damn, I’d never seen that scene before. It’s good, too, I’m surprised they cut it.
I was just watching this with Cameron’s commentary track last week, and apparently it was an English bodybuilder in a suit with Suigourny Weaver essentially standing on his feet and walking with him, with a wire rig to handle the weight.
No shit? That’s brilliant.
H.
They mostly come out at night… Mostly.
I’ve always found it a little odd that you didn’t need to wait for a director’s cut to see this. For some reason this did make the final cut… in the broadcast TV version.
The local paper had an interview with her some years ago. She’d been working as a school teacher in New Hampshire. No idea what she’s up to now.
At least she didn’t get the kind of crazy cult following Heather O’Rourke did. Some of those people are nuts.
Am I the only person who actually likes seeing real products depicted in film? It would always bother me when a character would be sipping some Pop Cola™ or whatever in lieu of simply enjoying an actual Dr. Pepper, but I guess I should’ve instead been focussed on the director’s integrity or something.
I LIKE that Reebok made it into whatever century where they are sold in adjusted dollars, for all we know they’re the only corporate entity besides Weyland-Yutani that even exists in the future.
Not just corporate logo placement, but wasn’t Aliens also when the whole “velcro sneaker” thing started? There’s a scene where Ripley very noticeably fastens her shoes on by tightening up the velcro strap… I recall that being tied in to commercials for the shoes at the time. Velcro! We’re living the future now!
Aliens was the first rated R movie I saw in the theater. I was 13, it was a warm summer night, and my big brother took me. The fact that it is actually easily one of the best action/sci-fi movies ever made is just icing on the cake. It would probably be my favorite anyway. I also had it on VHS taped off of HBO or something throughout high school, and had an old VCR hooked up to the TV in my room (monitor for my C-64). I also probably watched that movie about 60-70 times, easily 3-4 times more than any other movie.
I thought LV426 was among the better of the additions for all of its “plausibility” issues. In the grand scheme of things, it’s no worse than Newt somehow surviving on her own with a massive alien infestation. I liked having the context for the ongoing evolution of Weyland Yutani, the contrast between the “traditional future” posh space station and the dire reality of what fuels it.
On the other hand, the family stuff with Ripley was much better when it was just something you inferred, some sense of loss from Weaver’s performance and her concern over Newt. The turret scene is phenomenal.
I am very happy with the Blu ray 4 pack, as being able to compare and contrast the theatrical with the director’s cuts in HD is a real treat, even when it comes to my least favorite of them (3). Also, 4 was the only one I got to see in theaters, and while there’s certainly nostalgia in there, it does not deserve anywhere near the degree of hate it gets from fans. Might actually be an unpopular opinions moment, because while I can certainly understand the loathing most everyone (including Fincher) has for 3, the biggest crime 4 committed was not being 1 or 2 at the exact place and time that fans first fell in love with it.
Actually, that sort of is the problem. 4 tries to Aliens without adding anything new. Aliens is so loved because it wasn’t a re-hash of Alien. That said, Alien 4 is a decent action flick, just not particularly inspired in any way. If it existed in a vacuum without the prior movies for comparison, it’d be well liked.
3 on the other hand, is one long downer which trashes the ending of 2. I suspect that bit is the part that pisses most Aliens fans off, because it renders the whole queen vs. cargo lifter sequence pointless, kills Newt offscreen, and has Bishop reappear just to request suicide. Unlike 4, it’s original, but it’s so negative it’s hard to see it being popular even if it didn’t say to fans “remember those characters you liked from Aliens? They’re all dead, and rather pointlessly dead at that.”
Great movie, I even like Alien 3.
Perhaps I should post in the unpopular movie opinion thread…
Aliens: most quotable movie ever?
“Anyone ever mistake you for a man, Vasquez?”
“No. You?”
Wow, thats uncanny. I wanted to quote that in the post before yours but I wasn’t sure about the correct english wording so I dismissed it.
It’s still one of the better portrayals of a gender-blind military as well.
Contrast with Starship Troopers, where men and women shower together and studiously avoid admitting that they are turned on, for no other reason than to have some gratuitous nudity.
These days you just have Michelle Rodriguez trying too hard to look tough.
Also, for me the fact that they felt like they had to introduce a new creature was a problem. The alien-baby-thing stole thunder from the actual creatures. The two stars of the series are (1) Weaver and (2) the Xenomorphs. A new reveal can be terrific - see the Queen in Aliens. But this felt like new for new’s sake.
Right. But the thing is, we do have 3 for comparison, which is what it looks like when a good new idea collides with the requirements of a hyper-regulated product like Alien. 4 successfully adds well done CGI aliens, a Jeunet twist to a very Joss Whedon script (at times), and even deals with the now mandatory Ripley integration in an acceptable way. That’s no mean feat, and I think it serves its place nicely in the dungsroman theory of Alien films. Except I’ve come around to viewing it as much more than a simple filler and a good movie in its own right, as I’ve since developed a taste for what Jeunet and Whedon do in their own better efforts.
3 on the other hand, is one long downer which trashes the ending of 2. I suspect that bit is the part that pisses most Aliens fans off, because it renders the whole queen vs. cargo lifter sequence pointless, kills Newt offscreen, and has Bishop reappear just to request suicide. Unlike 4, it’s original, but it’s so negative it’s hard to see it being popular even if it didn’t say to fans “remember those characters you liked from Aliens? They’re all dead, and rather pointlessly dead at that.”
Oh, and that’s just the start of it. The whole prison planet setting ends up being an excuse for second-rate version of Alien with undeveloped characters you don’t care about doing stupid things (things not to keep secret: presence of xenomorphs on planet). The CGI is appalling. In the whole movie, I think there’s one good sequence in the tunnel chase at the end, if you can shelve your reservations about the many jackass twists it took to get there.
This is key. I think the reveal in Aliens worked so well because it made so much sense for the story. Not only is there the shared theme of motherhood, but it actually evolves from natural questions that arise from the first movie; where do these Aliens come from?
It’s such a great script.
Aliens was awesome.
Alien 4 was pretty awful. A rehash, with crazy plotholes. We’re on a far away space station, oh wait, now we’re going to crash into earth, and in like the next ten minutes? WTF? The alien hybrid baby thing just looked awful, and bringing your lead back from the dead and giving her superpowers is just bad. Alien(s) is about being vulnerable and having your technology fail you to expose your vulnerability.
Right. Where the Thing in Alien 4 just feels like an attempt to one-up the queen. Sure, they planted all the background stuff for it to make sense in the movie - Rippley the clone, the Queen having some human DNA - but it still just felt like an attempt to one-up the queen. You can almost see the conversation “hey, that queen reveal worked. Let’s do something like that. . . only scarier!”.