One of the Most Pivotal Movies of My Life

[matthiasrat]

I just finished watching one of the most pivotal movies of my youth, 1979's Alien. Alien is IMO the single best Sci-Fi/Horror film ever made. Period. Sure, Aliens was awesome too, but it was for entirely different reasons

Comments

[uguardian]

TV Tropes has a hint about the "Alien is a Disney movie" thing. It seems that Kenner had rights to make toys based on the next Fox Sci-Fi movie. Add in a little mistargeted marketing and parents got the wrong idea.

[matthiasrat]

Ah, thanks for the info there. We never were able to figure out how anybody could make that mistake.

Dominus tecum

[thrashbear]

"I still think it's really ironic that Ian Holm who played Ash also played Bilbo Baggins"

*slaps my knee* THAT'S why he looked so damn familiar! I remember watching Lord Of The Rings years ago and thinking to myself "Why does this cat look so familiar?"

[matthiasrat]

Yup! He was also the priest from "The Fifth Element". He's a very versatile actor. But I think his role as Ash is one of his most iconic. It may also be his only villainous role. And dang was he nasty.

Dominus tecum

[viqsi]

Heh. My gold standard for "holy crap, that's the same actor/actress?" has always been Jenette Goldstein. Two particularly recognizable roles: John Connor's mild-mannered foster mother in Terminator 2... and Pvt. Vasquez in Aliens.

I'm frankly amazed that she's not any better known.

[matthiasrat]

Very true. Of course the whole "Illegal Alien" line was a reference to what she thought the movie was going to be about when she showed up for casting. ;-)

She was also in Lethal Weapon 2 as one of the other cops, but that wasn't much of a role. I can't think of anything else she was in.

Dominus tecum

[kamau_d_lyon]

Of all the Alien movies I've always thought that the second was the one that rang truest. It is also the one where Sigourney Weaver's character came alive, at least for me. In the first one Ripley seemed too feminine for my taste. In the second one she was the strong female willing to go toe to toe with Marines and certainly able to take care of herself. I love the scene where she gets in the loader and goes cour de cour with the Alien to protect the girl.

That movie and scene has made me a Sigourney Weaver fan for years. I can't think of a movie where she's been given that type of a role that I didn't like.

"Get away from her, you B****!"

[hallan]

I agree absolutely. :)

I think what I found the most fun about those movies, though, was listening to the commentary and finding out how they got Sigourney Weaver, who Does Not Like Guns, to play Ellen Ripley the machine-gun-flamethrower-grenade-launcher-wielding heroine: they gave her a Tommy gun and took her down to the range. BRRRRRRRRRRT!! "This is kinda fun..." ;)

Re: "Get away from her, you B****!"

[kamau_d_lyon]

Interesting, I didn't know that.

Re: "Get away from her, you B****!"

[matthiasrat]

Awesome!!!!

That is really awesome. :-)

Dominus tecum

Re: It's no fun, being an illegal alien...

[kamau_d_lyon]

I'm still more about the science in my science fiction movies.

I agree. I like to see the logical extension of what we now know or a creative use of a current theory to make things happen. A good plot of course is important but I'm still willing to do some suspension of disbelief.

Re: It's no fun, being an illegal alien...

[matthiasrat]

The science is good but without a good story and good characters it can be just dry and academic, and thus, it doesn't connect as well. Alien and Aliens had real human characters and a good story-line that I thought was quite good about not having plotholes, or at least, not having any you could drive a truck through like many SciFi movies (or movies in general).

Dominus tecum