May 20, 2015 You can boil any story down into the seven basic plots. That's film 101. You are now that guy who reads Kanye's liner notes for the first time.
May 20, 2015 smh. i'm not talking about boiling down things to joseph campbell levels. i'm saying alien is literally the last four haunted house movies lifetime plays in their halloween marathon transposed to space.
May 20, 2015 No doubt it is a haunted house movie. As well as a monster movie and a sci-fi. Calling it boilerplate implies it's hackneyed, when it's literally the opposite.
May 20, 2015 The whole crux of the argument was about you writing it off as boilerplate. I have no problem with characterizing it as a haunted house movie. Your post sounded like you were writing it off as a cheap trick.
May 20, 2015 "alien is genius because it's a boilerplate haunted house movie that takes place in space." I can't be the only one who thought this was a sarcastic, underhanded compliment. Yeah, it's a semantic argument because you used "boilerplate" wrong.
May 20, 2015 you're trying to be pedantic and you're doing it wrong. i wasn't being underhanded. the plot points are boilerplate, but the movie is a masterpiece, even groundbreaking, as an exercise in style, and for weaver's performance. (and the sound design, of course.)
May 21, 2015 Just a reminder that discussion will conclude Sunday, so hopefully everybody gets to watch it by then. At that time, I'll use a randomizer to choose another member (who has contributed this week) to choose next week's film. Posted this yesterday, but I'm not sure the tags worked so I'm trying again. Like this if you were alerted pls. Spoiler @Youngshady @Zep @Flacko @Old_Parr @Narsh @Koolo @Sheriff Skippy @FilmAndWhisky @Five Star @KingDrizz @j94ose @Nuredin B @ Solder @Raziel
May 21, 2015 The intensity of this film>>>> I don't know if I'm just too uneducated on films to know any better, but this film gives off a real Kubrickian space odyssey vibe . Real slow paced yet still intense
May 21, 2015 Ridley Scott has stated that Star Wars and A Space Odyssey were influences he drew from. Close Encounters of the Third Kind is another film that critics liken it to.
May 22, 2015 Probably gonna wind up watching it on Friday, as long as I don't forget. I've been busy all week.
May 23, 2015 Watching this right now and II'm all, "this sure feels and looks a lot like Prometheus" but then I remember that Prometheus is basically the prequel to Alien, so it's obviously gonna look like it. This is my first time actually watching this whole movie, btw.
May 23, 2015 maybe I'll watch it tonight, but I've actually been holding off because it's playing here in Vancouver at the Cinematheque next week, and If I have to choose between an awesome viewing experience and contributing first week I'm going awesome viewing experience.
May 24, 2015 I actually wrote about this for a film class last semester, I kinda rushed through the paper but here: Alien (Ridley Scott) Ridley Scott’s iconic sci-fi thriller, Alien, has withstood the test of time and continues to intrigue and frighten audiences new and old. The film has birthed a long-standing franchise that has seen several sequels and spin-offs come to fruition since its 1979 release; however, the original remains a unique and groundbreaking piece within the series, as it seems that its successors failed to recognize what made it so special and chose to pursue a more action oriented route rather than attempting to recreate the chillingly eerie atmosphere that defined the first. For the B*** of its run-time, Alien bypasses the gore and jump scares that dominate typical horror thrillers in favor of building its suspense through long silences and effective use of sound design and a haunting score. This approach pays off tenfold as it makes those brief moments of action all the more terrifying and memorable. The film not only challenges the conventions of the horror film but of the sci-fi genre as well, as it focuses its story on a group of blue collar workers rather than the highly intellectual types that usually lead such films. The film immediately sets its unsettling atmosphere with the opening shots as the camera slowly makes its way into the Nostromo ship and through its empty corridors toward the crew. The Nostromo is a mining ship carrying several tons of mineral ore as the crew was sent out on a mission to acquire energy sources from other planets to be brought back to Earth. The crew is in a state of cryostasis as they are on course to return to Earth until they are awoken by a distress signal coming from a nearby planet and so they are commanded by Mother, the ship’s motherboard, to explore the disturbance. Before they disembark on the planet, we are properly introduced to the crew over a dinner table setting where we see them interact with one another and get a taste of their personalities. The most apparent thing is how diverse and relatable the crew is with crew members of different gender, race and age that give the audience different perspectives and opportunities to find a connection to the characters. The crew consists of Captain Dallas (Tom Skerrit), executive officer Kane (John Hurt), science officer Ash (Ian Holm), two female warrant officers Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), and goofball engineers Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) and Parker (Yaphet Kotto). The ship lands on the planet and suffers some minor damages which forces the crew to split up; Dallas, Kane and Lambert go out and explore the planet while the rest stay back and work on repairing the damages to ensure that the ship can properly lift off when the time comes. While on the planet, the crew finds that the signal came from a giant U-shaped ship so they make their way inside to explore further. Once inside, they come across a deceased alien body; as they make their way forward, Kane decides to venture into the lower levels on his own where he comes across a room full of eggs that seem to be carrying alien creatures. As he approaches one and touches it, an alien jumps out and attaches to his face. Dallas and Lambert rush to his rescue and carry him back to the ship where Ripley is hesitant of granting them access as she is skeptical about bringing the creature onto the vessel. Ash goes against Ripley’s wishes and allows them in and lays Kane out on a table to examine the specimen. The crew struggles with different methods of detaching the alien from Kane’s face but to no luck as they soon figure out that the alien’s blood is made of acid that can quickly through several decks of the ship. The alien eventually detaches on its own, allowing Kane to regain consciousness. Relieved, the crew sits around the dinner table once again, except this time, their meal is interrupted by the film’s most gruesome and infamous scene consisting of an alien viciously bursting out of Kane’s stomach. Now free to roam the shuttle, the creature slowly terrorizes the crew, picking them off one by one and psychologically affecting them to the point where they question each other. Scott’s handling of suspense is masterful as he refuses to display the alien in its full form, only bits and pieces, leaving the rest to the audience’s imagination. Furthermore, instead of focusing on the act of the k--- during the murder scenes, we are mostly shown the before and after, rather than the usual indulgence of gore that typically comes with such scenes. Even when the film picks up the pace in its final act, it doesn’t cross over into mindless action and remains an intelligent and calculated thriller that does not rely on cheap scares. Perhaps the most daring aspect of the film is the fact that in the end, it is led by a female. Out of all the crew members, Ripley shows the most will and determination to k--- the alien by all means necessary. A character of this sort during that age in Hollywood would normally go to a male but Scott made the inspired decision to go with Sigourney Weaver and his decision turned out to be the most admirable thing the film has to offer. Ripley’s character paved the way for more female-led thrillers where the main character is a strong-willed woman rather than a scared and hopeless caricature that actresses were typically confined to within the Hollywood studio system. Scott took a risk by crafting a film that didn’t play by the rules of the genres he was working in and it paid off greatly as the film would not have had nearly as much lasting power had it succumbed to clichés of the day. Ultimately, Alien is not a film that attempts to answer big philosophical questions of life but it successfully does what it sets out to do, and that is to induce terror in its viewer. The fact that it can scare the audiences of today, even with its outdated technology, speaks levels for its craftsmanship and one can only imagine how terrifying of an experience it must have been for those attending an opening night screening of this proclaimed haunted horror house in space.
May 24, 2015 is the alien franchise one of the more interesting from a development standpoint? the difference between the first two is staggering, and they're both great films. giving different directors the same universe has never worked that well, has it?
