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[Chichikov]

Really? I dunno, I saw Gladiator a few weeks ago, and I still find its structure and pacing to be pretty damn tight: it never dawdles or loses focus on its plot points and themes. Same with the Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut, which, even at over 3 hours, is *still* incredibly engaging... a damned miracle given its runtime.

I guess we’re going to have to disagree then.
(yeah, yeah, I know you’re not suppose to say things like that on the interweb, imagine I called you several crude and poorly spelled euphemisms for a homosexual).
Personally, I find the one thing the Ridley Scott's films lack is focus.
He sure as hell have great command of the craft of directing movies, but as he progress in his career and gain more control of his films, I get the feeling he falls in love with his shots, and many times sacrifice conciseness for visual indulgence.
Now I don’t think that it’s necessarily a bad thing, I mean Barry Lyndon, one of my favorite movies of all time, can be pretty much described as such.
But for my money, he’s anything but lean and mean, and it’s even more pronounced in his director cuts.

 

[MassiveAttack]

My, you managed to pack quite a lot of pretense in there.

Philosophy can be a wonderful thing. Questioning what it means to live can lead you to a higher quality of life, an expanded understanding of it, deeper appreciation of it, and more intense passion for it. However, some people seem to be more in love with questions than the answers those questions search out. These types of people are so dedicated to seeking that they reject anything they happen to find and admire those who do likewise.

They throw out practicality, the qualities of experience, the elements of being, the functional truths of life, and all to try and achieve some sort of wisdom that may not exist. This doesn't make you many friends, and so these types quickly learn that subtlety is the refuge of heretics. However, a common false assumption is that they are the only ones that know how to think, and that anyone who does will naturally agree with them on what is meaningful.

The reality is that there are plenty of people who know how to think, who pick up on subtleties, search the hidden questions, and then want to carry it to something of practical worth. Any fool can doubt and question what is given him, but it takes real wisdom to resolve ones thoughts to something of true value. If a movie does the former and not the latter, there will be a good number of people who don't enjoy it because it's nothing but vapid speculation.

Well said. Unfortunately, this particular polemic was derailed many posts ago when you appeared to suggest that Minority Report was a better film than Blade Runner. Your preference contradicts your own argument and if you were to study the history of the making of Blade Runner and the reaction of the studio that backed it to its first public screening, you would come to see that most people do not go to movies to think for themselves or even to ask a question, let alone seach for an answer.

 

[DarkJediKnight]

Are you implying that Aliens is better than Alien?!?!!?!?



;b

Aliens is to Alien what T2 was to T1. So yes. Aliens is about as perfect a Sci-Fi movie as it gets.

 

[DaBargainHunta]

I only read the original post, and I agree with the OP. Blade Runner is all style, not too much substance. Plus, Harrison Ford delivers one of the worst performances of his career. The movie is visually amazing - even today. But that has never been enough for me. I demand more, and it's not delivered here. Still, Blade Runner worth viewing just because of how cool it looks. Just don't expect to find an amazing movie amidst the gorgeous, glossy visuals.

EDIT: Skimmed a bit of the third page. No, even with Blade Runner's issues, Minority Report is NOT a better movie. That's another overrated Spielberg flick that goes on too long, has shitty pacing issues, and is clearly a case of no one wanting to tell "the master" no on anything (see A.I.).

 

[jett]

Aliens is to Alien what T2 was to T1. So yes. Aliens is about as perfect a Sci-Fi movie as it gets.

Both movies aren't really comparable to me. Alien is a horror thriller and Aliens a balls-out action movie. Your analogy fails.

I like Alien better, but they both kick insane amounts of ass.

 

[Chichikov]

Aliens is about as perfect a Sci-Fi movie as it gets.

Aliens reduced what was probably the greatest mainstream sci-fi movie ever into a boobs enabled Rambo in space.
So no, not only is it not perfect (or particularly good), it’s also the weakest part of the Alien series.

Aliens is to Alien what T2 was to T1

With this part I can actually agree.

 

[Ripclawe]

Blade Runner is all style, not too much substance. Plus, Harrison Ford delivers one of the worst performances of his career.

You could tell almost right away Ford did not want to be there and put in minimal effort into the role which made the movie more style than substance, which dragged the whole pic down. The only one who seemed to be enjoying himself was Rutger Hauer.

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

Yup - Alien > Aliens, T1 > T2

 

[DaBargainHunta]

You could tell almost right away Ford did not want to be there and put in minimal effort into the role which made the movie more style than substance, which dragged the whole pic down. The only one who seemed to be enjoying himself was Rutger Hauer.

Agreed on Rutger. I liked his work in the movie.

Harrison should've been fired and replaced. There's no excuse for dogging it.

Wesley Snipes did the same thing in Blade: Trinity. Granted, that movie would've been shit regardless, but it was still unprofessional and wrong of him to phone in his role the way he did. I'm glad he's a straight-to-video bum now. I used to like Snipes and I always thought he deserved a better position in the Hollywood hierarchy than what he got, but now he's exactly where he deserves to be.

 

[White Man]

You talk about bad taste, but like that propaganda garbage (leave no man behind!)? I like the simplicity binary oppositions offer as much as the next guy, but when they come in the form of US army commercials... not so much.

Yes, that US army commercial made by a british director. It's a well made war movie, which makes it something of a rarity in this day and age.

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

Aliens reduced what was probably the greatest mainstream sci-fi movie ever into a boobs enabled Rambo in space.
So no, not only is it not perfect (or particularly good), it’s also the weakest part of the Alien series.

:lol Oh my.

 

[Chichikov]

You could tell almost right away Ford did not want to be there and put in minimal effort into the role which made the movie more style than substance, which dragged the whole pic down. The only one who seemed to be enjoying himself was Rutger Hauer.

I think you give too much credit to Ford as an actor.
What role in his career makes you think that he’s capable of anything more than he presented in Blade Runner?
Personally I don’t think it’s that detrimental to the movie. Although in the director’s cut, with the removal of the voice over, it is much more noticeable since he need to convey emotions instead of narrating them.

 

[DarkJediKnight]

it’s (Aliens) also the weakest part of the Alien series.

Are you saying garbage like A3 and A Ressurection is better than Aliens?

 

[Chichikov]

Are you saying garbage like A3 and A Ressurection is better than Aliens?

Yes I do.
I don’t think that Alien 3 or Resurrection are particularly good films.
But at least they tried to do something interesting with the franchise.
Aliens tried to blow a bunch of stuff.

 

[nitewulf]

-Princess Bride: 6.5/10

what

 

[Dice]

Well said. Unfortunately, this particular polemic was derailed many posts ago when you appeared to suggest that Minority Report was a better film than Blade Runner. Your preference contradicts your own argument and if you were to study the history of the making of Blade Runner and the reaction of the studio that backed it to its first public screening, you would come to see that most people do not go to movies to think for themselves or even to ask a question, let alone seach for an answer.

My enjoyment of media is similar to fashion in that it's not as much about being the best as it is about succeeding at what you're going for. Minority Report didn't try to be more than it was.

My comment about there being people who know how to think for themselves was more a defense of JB1981 (or at least the validity of his critique) from what Jack Random seemed to be inferring. I know the masses tend not to enjoy thinking.

 

[EverSoTrendy]

Minority Report is the shit.

 

[Slurpy]

You have pretty awful taste so it doesn't surprise me that you only found it competent.

Worth quoting.

 

[PhoenixDark]

I love Alien and Aliens. Aliens is definitely more entertaining, but Alien had me on the edge of my seat the entire way. And of course both movies are VERY different; it sort of reminds me of how the second Hellraiser is nothing like the first.

 

[krypt0nian]

Minority Report is the shit.

Your sentence is soo close to the truth.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Alien-- have watched many times, and will again.

Aliens-- a fun action movie I haven't bothered with since. Shallow, overblown, like its director.

Blade Runner-- fabulous movie which is only after turning 20 years old startign to show its age, which is amazing for a visually-oriented sci-fi film. Even with some cracks showing, still a great movie and essential viewing.

Plus,

Spoiler

it Edward James Olmos forshadows his Adama-is-a-Cylon surprise 25 years before it's revealed.

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

Aliens-- a fun action movie I haven't bothered with since. Shallow, overblown, like its director.

Oh no you didn't.

 

[NotWii]

Man, I played a game recently called Lode Runner, is this like a Blade Runner spinoff or something? :O

 

[Gaia Theory]

That whole Deckard is a replicant shit pisses me off. Even though a few years ago Ridley Scott said yes Deckard is a replicant, I still don't accept that statement.

Ridley Scott does not get to decide if Deckard is a replicant (read - android). Philip K. Dick does, and if you've read 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' (the book Blade Runner is based on), it is fairly clear that Deckard is not an android.

It's all subjective of course, but at the end of the day, Ridley Scott certainly isn't any sort of authority on a character he didn't create himself - just sayin'.

 

[ratcliffja]

It's funny. My film lecture professor actually said that Ford's work in Blade Runner was the best of his career. I just couldn't see it. Great movie, but hardly the best sci-fi I've seen. In other news, anyone who rates Princess Bride a 6.5/10 has no soul. No soul at all.

 

[RerunD]

How the fk do you give Princess Bride a 6.5 out of 10?

 

[Shogun]

All my friends who watch the directors version of it first have the same thing to say, beautiful imagery, but so confusing. There should be an amalgamated version where they keep the narration but take out the stupid ass ending of the studio version, and put in the bit with the origami animals. Of all the movies I watched director and studio cut this seems to need that the most.

 

[Adagio]

I like certain aspects of Blade Runner, but I do think it's a bit overhyped...

 

[Fallout-NL]

/edit: double post.

 

[Fallout-NL]

Aliens reduced what was probably the greatest mainstream sci-fi movie ever into a boobs enabled Rambo in space.
So no, not only is it not perfect (or particularly good), it’s also the weakest part of the Alien series.

Heh, so much for your credibility.

Yes, that US army commercial made by a british director. It's a well made war movie, which makes it something of a rarity in this day and age.

Like I said, he probably had to change the script in order to get acces to some of the military equipment he needed for the movie. But it's a decent movie, it's 'action' scenes are entertaining and that's the only reason why I'd ever watch it again.

 

[EviLore]

I'm pretty far away from being a war-loving blind patriot of the states, but what's the prob with BHD exactly? It's not trying to be a well-balanced documentary, but a war movie from the perspective of the americans who were there. In that it succeeds brilliantly. The politics of the situation are touched upon briefly, but just like what Josh Hartnett's character is told, (para) "once the shooting starts, politics go out the window." And they do in the film.

 

[Solo]

'Cept for Munich.

I wanted to like Munich, I really did. But I found almost nothing worked for me. It wasnt the usual Spielberg problem of a crappy ending, just the whole picture left me cold. On the other hand, despite his sentimentality/ending issues, Spielberg's technical wizardry is only getting better with age.

 

[bud]

Why aren't more people talking about Matchstick Men?

Sure, if you know before watching the film that

Spoiler

the girl who plays nic's daughter is no really that young, then the movie *might* suck

but I found it to be a very enjoyable movie with a great Nic Cage in the lead and the art-direction in it, too, was great. The use of colours etc. was great and set the mood for the film which all in all gave the film its finishing touch.

 

[Brak]

How the fk do you give Princess Bride a 6.5 out of 10?

This is certainly much more disturbing than the Blade Runner score.

 

[AniHawk]

I saw Blade Runner for the first time and thought it was kinda dull.

It was also the Director's Cut, which I'm told is vastly inferior to the theatrical version. There just seemed to me that there should've been Ford talking over some scenes like a classic detective movie... and apparently he did, but not in the one I saw.

Rutger Hauer was really pretty damn cool though.

 

[Jack Random]

the masses tend not to enjoy thinking.

And thus, this whole subtopic has been distilled

 

[Solo]

It was also the Director's Cut, which I'm told is vastly inferior to the theatrical version. There just seemed to me that there should've been Ford talking over some scenes like a classic detective movie... and apparently he did, but not in the one I saw.

You were told wrong. The director's cut is vastly superior to the theatrical cut and it's awful voice-overs.

 

[Jack Random]

You were told wrong. The director's cut is vastly superior to the theatrical cut and it's awful voice-overs.

Not to mention its tacked on bullshit ending

 

[Lakedaimon]

I know this is gonna probably start more arguing, but I dont think Alien and Aliens are really sci-fi movies in the traditional sense.

Sci-fi is all about how technology changes the human experience and what it means to be human.

So yes Blade Runner, Total Recall, Gattaca, Minority Report, AI these are sci fi movies.

As much as I love Alien and Aliens (I like them better than all the movies I just listed in the previous sentence), really Alien is a horror movie and Aliens an action movie.
Star Wars isnt really a "sci-fi" movie either despite the presence of space ships and aliens.

 

[teruterubozu]

I know this is gonna probably start more arguing, but I dont think Alien and Aliens are really sci-fi movies in the traditional sense.

Sci-fi is all about how technology changes the human experience and what it means to be human.

So yes Blade Runner, Total Recall, Gattaca, Minority Report, AI these are sci fi movies.

As much as I love Alien and Aliens (I like them better than all the movies I just listed in the previous sentence), really Alien is a horror movie and Aliens an action movie.
Star Wars isnt really a "sci-fi" movie either despite the presence of space ships and aliens.

And there should be plenty of ****ing in a Romantic Comedy. I mean who gives a shit really.

 

[demon]

Thelma and Louise is one of my favorite movies.

Thelma and Louise is one of my favorite movies.

Thelma and Louise is one of my favorite movies.

Thelma and Louise is one of my favorite movies.

Thelma and Louise is one of my favorite movies.

Thelma and Louise is one of my favorite movies.

Thelma and Louise is one of my favorite movies.

-Princess Bride: 6.5/10

 

[teepo]

Sci-fi is all about how technology changes the human experience and what it means to be human

you know what was actually cooler then the whole alien thing alien had going on was ash turning out to be a

Spoiler

android

. think about it.

 

[demon]

Yes I do.
I don’t think that Alien 3 or Resurrection are particularly good films.
But at least they tried to do something interesting with the franchise.
Aliens tried to blow a bunch of stuff.

You blow a bunch of stuff.





And by stuff, I mean dicks.

 

[TheWolf]

is that dvd boxset ever coming out or what?

 

[Great Rumbler]

is that dvd boxset ever coming out or what?

Some time next year, supposedly.

 

[JB1981]

I'm pretty far away from being a war-loving blind patriot of the states, but what's the prob with BHD exactly? It's not trying to be a well-balanced documentary, but a war movie from the perspective of the americans who were there. In that it succeeds brilliantly. The politics of the situation are touched upon briefly, but just like what Josh Hartnett's character is told, (para) "once the shooting starts, politics go out the window." And they do in the film.

Apparently the slogan "Leave no man behind" is just more American propaganda.

 

[Willco]

I did this thread before and a lot better too...

Quit stealing my schtick just because I'm no longer active here!

 

[Chichikov]

Heh, so much for your credibility.

You blow a bunch of stuff.
And by stuff, I mean dicks.

I may not have credibility.
I may blow dicks.
But at least I can fall back on my superior taste in movies –

Stupid little girl: My mommy always said there were no monsters - no real ones - but there are, aren't there?
Ripley: Yes, there are.

Riveting stuff.


It’s a stupid action movie.
There is nothing wrong with stupid action movies, some of my best friends are stupid action movies.
But unfortunately it’s a bad stupid action movie.
And to add insult to injury, it crapped all over its predecessor legacy.

 

[demon]

I may not have credibility.
I may blow dicks.
But at least I can fall back on my superior taste in movies –

Stupid little girl: My mommy always said there were no monsters - no real ones - but there are, aren't there?
Ripley: Yes, there are.

Riveting stuff.


It’s a stupid action movie.
There is nothing wrong with stupid action movies, some of my best friends are stupid action movies.
But unfortunately it’s a bad stupid action movie.
And to add insult to injury, it crapped all over its predecessor legacy.

Whatever. Aliens 3 and 4 are still total shit compared to either of the first two movies. Talk about shitty dialogue and crapping over their predecessors' legacy..

 

[Fallout-NL]

I may not have credibility.
I may blow dicks.
But at least I can fall back on my superior taste in movies –

Stupid little girl: My mommy always said there were no monsters - no real ones - but there are, aren't there?
Ripley: Yes, there are.

Riveting stuff.


It’s a stupid action movie.
There is nothing wrong with stupid action movies, some of my best friends are stupid action movies.
But unfortunately it’s a bad stupid action movie.
And to add insult to injury, it crapped all over its predecessor legacy.

That's a line from a kid, so obviously it's not going to be as interesting as Bishop's character for instance. I do agree that it's quite a departure from the first Alien movie, but to call it a 'stupid action movie'? That's taking it way too far, yes it's more of a military film. But the atmosphere, sense of urgency, threat and menace, it's all there. Essentially it's the second part of the first Alien on a bigger scale. And it's exceptionally well done. Alien 3 is too big of a mess to be considered better. David Fincher had to make a movie with an expensive set already done, so there wasnt really any room for him to really do something original. And while Alien 4 is an entertaining film, I didnt feel the Alien vibe at all. That and the ending was terrible, with that Alien son thing. Terrible choice to make that link between her and the Aliens. It's like Halo 2 and the arbiter situation. You take the spike out of the Covenant superiority.