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MrMojok posted:LOL, I just always think about the story that Weaver wasn't interested in the film because she's not into guns. Cameron got her to sign on by explaining that there is more to the film, Ripley's daughter has died while she was in hypersleep, and then comes Newt, etc. The movie novelization also contains zero profanity whatsoever. This was done by the editor, without informing the author. The author was not pleased when he found out after the fact. Let’s just say “Get away from her, you!” isn’t quite as impactful.
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Apr 25, 2022 23:21
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FunkyAl posted:Alien Covenant is messed up. I love it. It’s a wonderful movie, huge blast.
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Apr 25, 2022 23:38
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Basebf555 posted:I think there's clearly a line that's crossed where the added stuff in the Aliens Director's Cut does drag on the first act, because it's already a movie that takes it's time building suspense. Tack on three or four added scenes to that first act and you're running the risk of having people think "alright already, when are things gonna get going?", and you don't want that. The trick is knowing exactly where that line is. Better to err on the side of keeping things moving, which I think is what Cameron ultimately did, even though we all have our own personal preferences for which of those added scenes we would've liked to see make the theatrical cut. This is where I came out on it too. It's already a slow build as it is until we get to the drop ceiling/radar reveal, which is what a half hour or so? But the DC just takes loving forever to get the thing going and doesn't really add anything we need to move the story. It's semi fun in retrospect but I think that overall it was smart to cut that out.
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Apr 25, 2022 23:48
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Xenomrph posted:The movie novelization really, really plays up the motherhood angle. The one thing that Aliens does really well is giving Ripley a realistic reaction to the events of Alien. Anyone who lived through a creature horror movie would have massive amounts of PTSD and would likely never feel safe again, despite any quippy oneliners they might have at the end of the flick.
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Apr 26, 2022 00:54
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Showing the bustling colony and the dialogue about the order to check out the derelict ruin the arrival there later and Burke's ouster as a scumbag later in the film. Scenes that undermine a better delivery of that information later I don't care for. that's my core reason for not liking the opening piece at the colony. I am okay with Ripley's moment where she finds out her daughter is dead, but it also its not really missed in the theatrical cut.
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Apr 26, 2022 01:42
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We can all agree that the sentry gun bit is rad as gently caress, though, right? 
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Apr 26, 2022 02:02
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Xenomrph posted:We can all agree that the sentry gun bit is rad as gently caress, though, right? its the most important added scene
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Apr 26, 2022 02:45
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Xenomrph posted:We can all agree that the sentry gun bit is rad as gently caress, though, right? Yeah, and the “Your daughter is long dead.” scene are both great additions. I introduced Aliens to a friend, and that scene hit her the hardest. It’s a awesome hook.
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Apr 26, 2022 02:52
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The other main issue with the colony sequence is that the discovery of the aliens obviously ‘should be’ a cold-open prologue. Like, Newt screams and then we cut to the title. Since they didn’t do that, the only other place to fit that stuff into the narrative was as a quasi-dream-sequence - which didn’t work at all. Like, especially on account of all the garbage exposition. For better or worse, the reason Aliens works at all is because it’s so heavily tied to Ripley’s subjective experience. All the things that don’t really make any sense at least make sense to her.
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Apr 26, 2022 03:12
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Open Marriage Night posted:Yeah, and the “Your daughter is long dead.” scene are both great additions. I introduced Aliens to a friend, and that scene hit her the hardest. It’s a awesome hook. Oh hey about that whole "daughter being dead" thing. I was reading some spoilers for a new Aliens novel that's coming out on Alien Day called 'Colony War', and apparently it retcons Amanda Ripley's "death" to reveal that she's actually in hypersleep or something. I cannot verify this spoiler and I have no other context other than what I just wrote, and a page number for the book. I don't know who I'm spoiler-tagging this for but whatever. Okay so I'm a pretty big Alien nerd/shill and I was a completionist for a long time and would buy any officially licensed Alien media product on principle. Well while I do still spend my money on questionable poo poo sometimes, my bookshelf has filled up with a shitload of books (including a ton of non-Alien books! Some of it is even real literature, honest!) that I'm starting to doubt if I'll ever get around to reading, and I'm not getting any younger. Add that to the movies I'm not sure I'll ever get around to watching, or the TV series, or the video games I don't know if I'll ever play, or comic books I don't know if I'll ever read, I'm starting to put a moratorium on buying stuff I'm pretty sure I won't like. And this "Colony War" book sure sounds like one of them. There's other stuff out there that I have read fairly recently that ended up being not great; the 'Aliens: Resistance' comics (2 volumes) start out great and introduce a neat recurring character named Zula, but volume 2 nosedives hard. It doesn't help that the author, Brian Wood, got outed as a sex pest and got all of his books canceled. He did some sequel series called 'Aliens: Rescue' that even the die-hard completionists on an AvP forum I frequent didn't like, so I steered clear. He was supposed to do a series called "Aliens: Colonial Marines" (unrelated to the video game, or the totally wacky prior Colonial Marines comic series from the 90s), but that got canned when Wood got outed as a sex pest. The title "Colonial Marines" is truly cursed. Also don't read the recent Marvel Aliens series; the artist is poo poo, don't support his work. I haven't even read the series myself, I only buy comics as trade paperbacks so by the time that one was getting collected, I had seen a lot of negative reviews and steered clear of that one too. There's also a Vasquez origin story novel in the works (no, seriously) that I'm not enthusiastic about. Did you know that Vasquez was actually a mother of two and left her kids to join the USCM after she went to jail as part of an early release program? Who knew! And wouldn't you know it, the kids decide to investigate what happened to their mom, and (likely) encounter Aliens themselves. Sidebar the "join the Corps to avoid jail time" thing was part of her old backstory, but the whole kids thing is totally new. A lot of the Alien and Predator books have come out in hardback initially and I don't like buying hardback books, so I've been waiting for paperback editions and it gives me an opportunity to gauge reviews before I buy it. One of these days I'll get off my rear end and finally finish 'Aliens: Cold Forge', which was a huge hit with the fandom, and its sequel recently got released in paperback. The recent 'Aliens: Phalanx' was well received, too. That's another one sitting on the shelf, waiting to be read. Right now I'm making my way through Peter Watts' Rifters Trilogy (2/3 of the way through book 1), maybe when I need a break from that I'll pick up an Aliens book off the shelf. Xenomrph fucked around with this message at 03:33 on Apr 26, 2022 |
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Apr 26, 2022 03:26
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What do you guys think about Alien Isolation? I replayed that game recently and it threads the needle between Alien and Aliens really well while giving oodles of the "in space no one can hear you scream" feeling that the first movie had.
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Apr 26, 2022 10:58
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Tankbuster posted:What do you guys think about Alien Isolation? I replayed that game recently and it threads the needle between Alien and Aliens really well while giving oodles of the "in space no one can hear you scream" feeling that the first movie had. It's really well made, nails the atmosphere, and I think makes the right choices with regards to pacing. Maybe a little bit too long. It has the problem inherent to being a video game that once you work out the logic of the Alien's AI then it is a lot less scary (but once you do that the game goes 'okay have a flamethrower' and knows it has to up the pace a bit). e: you could feel the plot being a bit constrained by 'nobody can live to tell the tale' and that being a bit of a straightjacket for the story.
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Apr 26, 2022 11:14
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Splicer posted:Here's my probably incredibly controversial opinion: Starting the film with a fake-out dream jump scare is bad. Its good for pacing and setting tone. It's also why horror films often do an introductory kill before introducing the real main characters and building the plot.
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Apr 26, 2022 14:07
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Darko posted:Its good for pacing and setting tone. It's also why horror films often do an introductory kill before introducing the real main characters and building the plot. I've grudgingly accepted that I appear to be a minority on this preference though. Xenomrph posted:We can all agree that the sentry gun bit is rad as gently caress, though, right? As an aside, is it ever established if HH had any animals in it or just humans?
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Apr 26, 2022 14:55
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Splicer posted:As an aside, is it ever established if HH had any animals in it or just humans? They had hamsters though.  Edit— happy Alien Day everyone Edit again— did some research, yes the colony had cattle Xenomrph fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Apr 26, 2022 |
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Apr 26, 2022 15:19
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PeterCat posted:This weekend I read the novelisation of Predator. It's obviously based on an earlier version of the script, but it basically has the same beats as what ended up in the movie. Major changes are the Predator is much more like the Thing, it literally mimics the jungle turning itself into foliage, eagles, etc.. before deciding on a humanoid to better confront man with. I remember reading this and thinking "WTF?!" for all the reasons you said. I also seem to remember that Dutch basically kick's the Predator's rear end outright, then throws a spear through it's back while it's trying to get back to it's ship and run away? Also, the described design of the creature was terrible. If you watch the special edition DVD you see them talking about getting the original suit design delivered to set and saying "this is NOT going to work" which lead to Stand Winston redesigning the creature himself. There's also a couple of clips on the DVD that show the red camo suit effects being tested with the old design suit (stumpy body, tall neck, jawbone head). I'm sure that when Jean Claude Van Damme briefly played the Predator it was THAT suit he was wearing before he quit. Xenomrph posted:We can all agree that the sentry gun bit is rad as gently caress, though, right? Agreed. And it's not just extra pew-pew - it's an important scene because it shows the xenos retreating before the guns run dry and changing their strategy. It make's Hudson's panic when he realises they're smart have more impact. I agree with Cameron's cuts for the most part though. A lot of them are cool to see AFTER you know the story (like having the marine manual, etc), but it flows better in the theatrical cut. I also prefer not seeing the colony because finding out that there's a settlement there AFTER the boardroom meeting is a "holy gently caress!" moment. Funnily enough - I saw Aliens when I was about 9 and I'd never seen Alien. I watched the film almost from the point of view of the marines. Ripley was telling me what had happened but I didn't know what the creature looked like or if she was just crazy, I'd never seen the ship, etc. So as the tension built up and I'm watching the bad-rear end marines tool up and drop to a dark, foreboding planet I had no idea what to expect. Then there's a creepy as gently caress empty base and little by little I'm seeing Face-huggers in jars, acid burns in the floor and all the bits of her story coming together and being confirmed until HOLY gently caress! I loved watching the director's cut later on and thought it was really cool, but watching the film cold like that was the kind of experience you can't replicate and I wouldn't change it Dog_Meat fucked around with this message at 18:02 on Apr 26, 2022 |
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Apr 26, 2022 17:25
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CelticPredator posted:It’s a wonderful movie, huge blast. The bonus disc has all of David's sketches, which really adds a great dimension. Does Elizabeth's consciousness manifest on the planet? It is at least fulfilling her desire for kids. The trees also seem especially windy when David is talking about her in the garden. Also rewatching prometheus, both Elizabeth's dream hologram and weylands breifing include a little puppy dog. Will see how this develops
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Apr 26, 2022 22:18
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Trip report: 'Prometheus' rewatch I rewatched Prometheus for Alien Day, first time seeing it in 4K. I can't recall the last time I watched it but it's been a good while. Feels weird that the movie's a decade old (or that Alien Covenant is half a decade old). I actually liked it more this go around than I have in prior viewings. I think I stand by a lot of my initial assessments of it, if anything some of them have gotten stronger with time and the re-watch. On the whole I like it as an intellectual science-fiction horror flick, I think the idea of meeting our makers (and learning that they hate us) and finding some crazy space-bioweapon that fucks people up and does all kinds of crazy unpredictable poo poo is a compelling premise. I just don't like it much as an Alien flick. All of the Alien-related stuff feels tacked-on and unnecessary, you could strip all of it away and still have a really solid sci-fi/horror movie with a great premise, lots of great effects, some interesting characters, and essentially the same story beats. "Explaining" the Space Jockey and tying it into 'Alien' or including "Weyland" doesn't really do 'Prometheus' OR 'Alien' any favors; if anything it drags Prometheus down with distracting "franchise" baggage while demystifying some of the most compelling and interesting parts of 'Alien' in the process. I picked up on some interesting ideas and symbolism this time around - David eavesdropping on Shaw's dreams is a pretty hosed up invasion of privacy, it's crazy that the stasis pods even allow that function but whatever haha. That said, I think Shaw's "dream" would have been more visually interesting if it had been shown strictly from first-person; I don't know about anyone else, but I don't really dream in third-person with an omniscient camera picking out all the best cinematic angles for the moment. In the wake of the last 7 years of American politics and the (lackluster) global response to a worldwide pandemic, a lot of the "dumb" poo poo the characters did is a lot less dumb. Frankly I'm not bothered by Milburn and Fifeld getting "lost" in the Engineer structure - they're a geologist and a biologist, not cartographers, and neither of them have access to the overview holographic map that's onboard the Prometheus ship, and I guess I can buy into the two of them getting turned around in the structure. Granted the other characters come and go as they please repeatedly without issue, but I can live with it. Milburn, the biologist, not understanding aggressive behavior from a snake-creature is a little dumb, but it's not as egregious as I remembered it being. I think the scene would have worked better if the Hammerpede had appeared really docile and coy before striking out of nowhere and loving Milburn up, I think that would have made it scarier for the audience that the creature's behavior turns on a dime while still maintaining Milburn's characterization for the scene and not made him look quite as dumb. Shaw and Vickers running in a straight line to escape the tumbling Engineer ship is still a little silly and contrived, but it kind of feels like it's trying to coast on the Rule of Cool - the tumbling ship is a cool visual. I think if I were to change that scene I'd have more debris coming down alongside the Engineer ship that basically keeps the two characters bottlenecked underneath it; have them try to go laterally, but the raining debris forces them back in the path of the rolling ship. Same end result, but more tension and apparent agency and intelligence for the characters. I definitely don't regret re-watching it, and it definitely looked great in 4K. If anything though it made me like Alien Covenant less for utterly squandering the interesting route Prometheus angles towards in favor of killing its protagonist offscreen and then saddling itself with more franchise baggage and doubling down on "demystifying" stuff that didn't need to be explained. Covenant has its moments, and sure David (and Walter) are great, but Prometheus' ending had so much potential for really wild and interesting non-Alien stuff and Covenant just kind of squandered it. Like if you watch the two movies back to back, 'Prometheus' ends with this really fascinating "where is Shaw going? What will she find? Will she get her answers, or find even crazier poo poo?" and then it's immediately followed up with "nope, David murders her offscreen, her journey goes nowhere" and it's kind of a waste. The Pathogen doing all kinds of unpredictable poo poo is really cool and scary, and then 'Alien Covenant' instead tries to "codify" what it does so it's predictable, controllable (via David), and has set outcomes. I think that's an unfortunate change. Interestingly, the "Fire & Stone" spin-off comics that came out after Prometheus came out went more in-line with 'Prometheus's unpredictable pathogen, with all kinds of crazy poo poo showing up as a result. Rewatching Prometheus also gave me a better appreciation of the 'Aliens: Fireteam Elite' level design, seeing how they adapted the Engineer architecture and setpieces and remained faithful to 'Prometheus' is pretty cool. Xenomrph fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Apr 27, 2022 |
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Apr 27, 2022 05:45
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Splicer posted:Here's my probably incredibly controversial opinion: Starting the film with a fake-out dream jump scare is bad. The part with the really terrible looking Chestbuster stretching like a condom under her skin? Yeah, it's pretty bad. SuperMechagodzilla posted:The other main issue with the colony sequence is that the discovery of the aliens obviously ‘should be’ a cold-open prologue. Like, Newt screams and then we cut to the title. This is a much better editing of the film to be honest, and the pacing would be better. Wasn't all of the colony stuff removed from the theatrical cut? I don't think I ever watch Aliens in anything but the Director's Cut.
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Apr 27, 2022 10:38
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sigher posted:The part with the really terrible looking Chestbuster stretching like a condom under her skin? Yeah, it's pretty bad. Yeah, from memory the things that I can remember that were only in the directors cut - Ripley recovering by a video wall of a woodland scene in the orbital hospital - Burke bringing her the details of her dead daughter - Hadley's Hope (with the Captain from Red Dwarf) talking about prospectors wanting to know their share options if they find anything - Newt and family in the crawler thing finding the ship (and coming back face-hugged) - Hudson extended rant in the APC ("Me and my squad of ultimate bad asses will protect you") - Sentry guns - An awkward exchange as Ripley is leaving to go and find Newt where Hicks tells her his name is Dwayne There's probably a few little tweaks, but they're what I remember.
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Apr 27, 2022 11:44
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Tankbuster posted:What do you guys think about Alien Isolation? I replayed that game recently and it threads the needle between Alien and Aliens really well while giving oodles of the "in space no one can hear you scream" feeling that the first movie had. It's one of my favorite horror games of all time. Only thing I'd nick it for is that it doesn't really call out for a replay once you beat it.
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Apr 27, 2022 12:19
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sigher posted:This is a much better editing of the film to be honest, and the pacing would be better. Wasn't all of the colony stuff removed from the theatrical cut? I don't think I ever watch Aliens in anything but the Director's Cut.
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Apr 27, 2022 14:34
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Dog_Meat posted:Yeah, from memory the things that I can remember that were only in the directors cut There’s also a bit where Ripley, Hudson, and the others speculate on the existence of the Alien Queen, and Hudson talks about termite hives with (comparatively) huge Queens. Other than that you listed off the major ones.
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Apr 27, 2022 15:49
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You would think at some point he would learn to use Blender and trace bespoke poses. I've done that poo poo before, and surely it takes less time than finding a photo that happens to have the right pose.
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Apr 27, 2022 16:10
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feedmyleg posted:You would think at some point he would learn to use Blender and trace bespoke poses. I've done that poo poo before, and surely it takes less time than finding a photo that happens to have the right pose. I think you meant to reply to a different thread, and I think I know what thread it was
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Apr 27, 2022 16:40
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Probably the Penders thread in comics.
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Apr 27, 2022 16:52
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Azubah posted:Probably the Penders thread in comics.
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Apr 27, 2022 16:55
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lol whoops. I blame you for being the most recent post in both!
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Apr 27, 2022 18:59
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Watched Alien and Aliens last night for my Alien Day. I definitely noticed that Aliens felt a bit cheap and the production design was not on the same level as Alien, it's much easier to notice when you watch them back to back like that. It may also be that the blu ray doesn't do the sets any favors, it all has a somewhat flat appearance, whereas I watch Alien on UHD so there's a lot more detail and texture to everything. Anyway, there's a few shots during the Alien Queen sequence that don't seem to get mentioned a lot, but they're some of my favorite in the movie. It's the shots where Ripley is going apeshit, blowing everything up and it's a composite of her in the foreground and the Alien Queen in the background. I couldn't find them anywhere to post them but I just love the look of those shots, last night it occurred to me that they remind me of that boss on the classic NES came Contra(obviously that boss was inspired by the xeno).
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Apr 27, 2022 19:13
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Tankbuster posted:What do you guys think about Alien Isolation? I replayed that game recently and it threads the needle between Alien and Aliens really well while giving oodles of the "in space no one can hear you scream" feeling that the first movie had. It's great. Loading times are horrible unless you have a solid state drive of some kind on whatever you're playing it on. It had the most amazing Kinect integration of any game I've ever played. It doesn't really tell you but it reads your body language, and that factors in when you're hiding and peeking around corners and stuff.
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Apr 27, 2022 21:48
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Basebf555 posted:Watched Alien and Aliens last night for my Alien Day. I definitely noticed that Aliens felt a bit cheap and the production design was not on the same level as Alien, it's much easier to notice when you watch them back to back like that. It may also be that the blu ray doesn't do the sets any favors, it all has a somewhat flat appearance, whereas I watch Alien on UHD so there's a lot more detail and texture to everything. Contra is great because it's Rambo and Dutch fighting Xenomorphs. 
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Apr 27, 2022 22:03
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alien 3 on the SNES is pretty good imo
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Apr 27, 2022 22:11
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so is Aliens Infestation on the Nintendo DS
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Apr 27, 2022 22:27
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Xenomrph posted:Oh hey about that whole "daughter being dead" thing. Where is Amanda at now following on from Isolation? I always figured that after Isolation her fate was up the air and the Aliens scene was no longer accurate.
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Apr 27, 2022 23:20
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PriorMarcus posted:Where is Amanda at now following on from Isolation? I always figured that after Isolation her fate was up the air and the Aliens scene was no longer accurate. she was in the alien game that ripped off five nights at freddy that was released exclusively on mobile devices three years ago
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Apr 27, 2022 23:23
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I’m thinking that Starship Troopers: Hero of the Federation is a more interesting Aliens movie than Aliens itself.
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Apr 27, 2022 23:32
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16-bit Butt-Head posted:so is Aliens Infestation on the Nintendo DS Yes, and it’s awesome. PriorMarcus posted:Where is Amanda at now following on from Isolation? I always figured that after Isolation her fate was up the air and the Aliens scene was no longer accurate. I’ll do some digging.
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Apr 27, 2022 23:32
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:I’m thinking that Starship Troopers: Hero of the Federation is a more interesting Aliens movie than Aliens itself. Hey what was that EGG movie you posted recently? I haven’t gotten a chance to watch it yet, is it an alien movie?
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Apr 27, 2022 23:33
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:I’m thinking that Starship Troopers: Hero of the Federation is a more interesting Aliens movie than Aliens itself. Aliens feels so restricted by its sets and budget when you watch it against things like Platoon or Black Hawk Down.
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Apr 27, 2022 23:53
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ruddiger posted:Aliens feels so restricted by its sets and budget when you watch it against things like Platoon or Black Hawk Down. I think the set restriction in ‘Aliens’ is partly intentional, it’s supposed to feel claustrophobic. That said Platoon is awesome and does have a good sense of place and scope even with the “claustrophobia” of the jungle, but it’s got a different vibe from Aliens’ claustrophobia. I think it’s the natural jungle vs a very utilitarian prefab setting in Aliens. For its budget and for the “unnatural” vibe it’s trying to convey (both the prefab colony stuff, and the “alien hive” stuff) I think Aliens is very effective even if it’s a visually different style. It’s no ‘Alien’ claustrophobia, but the set design in Alien is kind of phenomenal. The ship-bound setting goes from “this makes sense, a utilitarian space ship is going to be cramped” to “oh poo poo the Alien could be anywhere and there’s a lot of blind corners and smoke and sirens” real fast. It’s been a while since I rewatched Platoon, I should fix that It’s been a long time since I watched Black Hawk Down, I think I saw it once when it came out on DVD when I was working for Blockbuster Video? Xenomrph fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Apr 28, 2022 |
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Apr 28, 2022 00:10
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