Alien Resurrection, and Firefly

[easwaran]

I haven't posted anything on here in a while, but for some reason this one feels a little too long to post on Facebook, so I'm putting it here. Matt convinced me to watch the Alien series of movies over the past few weeks. It's interesting how different they each are. Alien and Aliens were both pretty good, in somewhat different ways. Alien in

Comments

[shaktool]

1 and 2 are certainly classics and among my favorite movies.

But I really really liked Resurrection... For largely aesthetic reasons. :P

[vaelynphi]

You're a beautiful butterfly!

[vaelynphi]

I find it interested how there is a progression of Ripley through stages of womanhood through all the films, ending essentially with an apotheosis of sorts in which she's become coeval with her former nemesis, eventually usurping her place (insofar as she becomes the infant's "Mother").

Then there was that weird French commentary on abortion...

[easwaran]

It is interesting, but the alien queen's love for the baby (which kills her), and the baby's love for Ripley (does she kill the baby?) are just some of those treacly movie emotion moments that sicken me. The second one already had enough of the mother parallels going on for me.

[krasnoludek]

I love Alien, for exactly the reasons you state -- the characters are all treated fairly equally, regardless of gender, etc. You just really don't know what's going to happen. The lack of music (especially screeching horror violins) is also very unsettling and maybe not something you notice on the first watching.

Aliens was good too. Alien 3 always gets a reaction, usually a negative one. Many people expect a bigger spectacle than even Aliens. I actually really like Alien 3 -- it's so barebones: they have no weapons, they're very vulnerable (again the gender flip: the strong woman is among many vulnerable men), and I felt like many of the side characters get developed so it's disheartening when they die (as in Alien and not as much in Aliens).

Alien Resurrection really rubbed me the wrong way with its comedic elements. It took the whole series and turned it into some jokey thrill.

oh, and FYI you closed an on Jeunet with an .s

[krasnoludek]

(and I just did it too). You closed an with an

[krasnoludek]

Actually, thinking about it more, Alien Resurrection was similar to Batman Forever and Batman & Robin in its thematic departure. Suddenly there was all this comedy and campiness, and the color schemes changed to involve this sickly green, flashing lights and brighter colors altogether.

[easwaran]

That's an interesting comparison - unfortunately, I'm not actually familiar with those Batman movies, but I'd definitely believe it. Certainly, the series had taken a turn for the dark in a very different way by at least The Dark Knight.