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Which Alien movie was your favorite?
- Thread starter Happosai
- Start date
Flying Toaster
Member
Alien is the best horror movie ever created. It had two different baddies with a crew on a small ship with nowhere to go.
Aliens comes in at the second best because it went in a completely different direction that embraced the greatness of 80's action cinema while still retaining the feel of the concept of Alien.
Aliens comes in at the second best because it went in a completely different direction that embraced the greatness of 80's action cinema while still retaining the feel of the concept of Alien.
Domisto
Member
It's not fair to make me choose between the first three films. A really unique trilogy for such a big franchise, with three quite different acts. Aliens is a perfect blend of horror and action so it tends to be my top pick. Of the other two. Alien is obviously amazing for atmosphere and style. Alien 3 may not have lived up to it's creators hopes but I have always loved it, again for it's moody atmosphere and strange characters. So I'm giving the vote to Alien 3 to show some support.
Resurrection is trash. Prometheus is dull and forgettable. Haven't bothered with Covenant. I enjoyed watching Life more.
Resurrection is trash. Prometheus is dull and forgettable. Haven't bothered with Covenant. I enjoyed watching Life more.
Sub_Level
wants to fuck an Asian grill.
3 is worth discussing. Its David Fincher's first movie, afterall.
Its just worth discussing for the wrong reasons lol
Makoto-Yuki
Gold Member
the original. the movies only get worse as they go on. seriously i'd rank them from best to worst in order of release.
Alien had a real horror feel to it. Kinda Lovecraftian. Aliens was just a beefed up action movie with guns and shit. I can't even remember what happened in the rest but I know they were awful.
this doesn't include Prometheus and Covenant. I liked Prometheus but Covenant wasn't what I was expecting the sequel to be. It felt more like the original Alien but it was just a half ass generic movie.
1. Alien
2. Prometheus
3. Covenant
4. Aliens
5. Alien 3
6. Alien Resurrection
Alien had a real horror feel to it. Kinda Lovecraftian. Aliens was just a beefed up action movie with guns and shit. I can't even remember what happened in the rest but I know they were awful.
this doesn't include Prometheus and Covenant. I liked Prometheus but Covenant wasn't what I was expecting the sequel to be. It felt more like the original Alien but it was just a half ass generic movie.
1. Alien
2. Prometheus
3. Covenant
4. Aliens
5. Alien 3
6. Alien Resurrection
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Happosai
Hold onto your panties
I was introduced to the movies in a reversed order. I first saw Alien3 and a few years later the special edition VHS of Aliens came out. I read about the first film and eventually bought the original CBS/FOX video release. It sat and collection dust for about a year. Then one rainy winter weekend, I dusted it off and put it in my VCR. I recall the condition of the battered VHS added to the thrill of watching it the first time. The soundtrack was almost inaudible and character dialogue was softer in some scenes due to damage on the tape. This made for probably one of the best build-ups to a scare. I'm a bit biased and tend to stick to 1 and 3 as favorites. I loved Aliens but it wasn't as personal to me and the action in it sorta caused me to feel that it lacked the suspense of the first. I too own nearly every printing and box set of the Alien movies. Alien Resurrection is unfortunately in those sets. I watched it when I was 14 and it sorta pissed me off. I felt them doing a super future Alien movie with clone Ripley kinda neglects how she (and every living cell of the Alien were incinerated on Fiorna Fury). They claim to.have found "DNA samples" which is crap and the or reasons for bringing back Ripley were as just 20th-Century digging in to see if they could still make money off an Alien film. Watch the movie...but...don't set your standards of holes to high.
DragoonKain
Neighbours from Hell
I will die on the hill of Prometheus. Love that film! Followed very closely by Alien.
Happosai
Hold onto your panties
I've already written a lot about 3 in this thread. My feeble defense is over the assembly cut of 3. I feel that I'll be making this into a thread soon. There's much to be discussed about what people like and hate. However, the idea of the thread was to give two that were liked the most. Expect a full thread to appear early next week.
Sub_Level
wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Seen the assembly cut twice. Its better of course, but I wouldn't say it salvages the film. There were too many things going wrong in pre-production for the movie to have a chance. I even listened to the audio-book of one of the original scripts. Had Michel Biehn and Lance Henrickson as voice actors too. Not bad, not good.
Looking forward to your thread but in the meantime: if you ask me Alien 3 should've been an Earth Hive story. The terrible AVP Requiem is the only movie to even resemble the subject, and thats a shame. Its pretty obvious how intense a story like that would be, and why its something that needs to be on film. The original Alien 3 teaser trailer was even hinting at it: "In Space, Nobody Can Hear You Scream; On Earth, Everybody Can Hear You Scream"
Shows you just how jumbled production was, when they made a teaser that had fuck all to do with the actual film.
Happosai
Hold onto your panties
Once again, this is why all the Alien movies need a discussion thread. I have no disagreement with the inane way production was on Aoien3 from day 1. I always watch it as an Alien universe film and try not to tie it to Alien. My own wife was pissed at Alien 3 for killing off Newt, Hicks, Bishop and then dooming everything else. Me being into movies that kill franchising and have darker nihilistic vibes...I ate it up. I cringed reading about how botched production was years ago. There are still stories being written to try to blot-it-out and others want the comic/early story Wooden Planet (early Alien3 draft to be released by Dark Horse). I think it would have stood better as a comic book but...that would not change the response. I don't blame Fincher...20th-Century settled on him but too many ideas were going around and while money was being overspent -- nothing came out of it. I kinda support fans who liked only the first film, too. I like Aliens and Alien3. Thinking back to "what if" a sequel was never made...we wouldn't have lost anything.Seen the assembly cut twice. Its better of course, but I wouldn't say it salvages the film. There were too many things going wrong in pre-production for the movie to have a chance. I even listened to the audio-book of one of the original scripts. Had Michel Biehn and Lance Henrickson as voice actors too. Not bad, not good.
Looking forward to your thread but in the meantime: if you ask me Alien 3 should've been an Earth Hive story. The terrible AVP Requiem is the only movie to even resemble the subject, and thats a shame. Its pretty obvious how intense a story like that would be, and why its something that needs to be on film. The original Alien 3 teaser trailer was even hinting at it: "In Space, Nobody Can Hear You Scream; On Earth, Everybody Can Hear You Scream"
Shows you just how jumbled production was, when they made a teaser that had fuck all to do with the actual film.
Happosai
Hold onto your panties
The poll agrees with you. I think younger generations that didn't grow up with Alien, Aliens, or at minimum Alien3 seem to adapted to the newer movies. You can't blame them entirely. No one will ever call the last three classics. Think about Resurrection. It's been on these polls since Monday and still 0 for votes. I believe Resurrection came out in 1997 and already has over 20-years on it. I have not seen or heard of anyone going back to reclaim rights to remaster it.
Domisto
Member
Your description of resurrection is spot on. Alien 3 killed any kind of recognisable franchise. At that point they needed a film like Prometheus or an Aliens set on Earth but instead some studio exec said they had to have Ripley in it to make bank and the rest was, not good.
I think I'll give Prometheus another shot one day. And may get round to Covenant out of curiosity. Ultimately I think big film series normally only have so much high quality material you can get out of them before it ends up with diminishing returns. Just look at any franchise with more than 3 entries. For whatever reasons it's rare to buck that trend. And one day the highly collaborative nature of film-making and competing ideas will bite you in the ass. That's why Alien 3 is so divisive.
xrnzaaas
Member
What about the Alien vs Predator flicks, op? 
Aliens is the best movie imo because of having tons of memorable scenes, really fun action sequences and a cool cast of characters. Alien is still very good though and it does a great job at introducing the xenomorphs. The world would be a better place if all other Alien movies didn't exist.
Aliens is the best movie imo because of having tons of memorable scenes, really fun action sequences and a cool cast of characters. Alien is still very good though and it does a great job at introducing the xenomorphs. The world would be a better place if all other Alien movies didn't exist.
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Halo is Back
Member
Nothing beats the classic first film.
Halo is Back
Member
Watched it three times. Fight me
anthraticus
Banned
The original easily. 2 was a fun action movie though.
S
Shodan09
Unconfirmed Member
The original is my favourite. I really like the ideas covenant and prometheus brought to the series even though the films are both flawed.
Berserking Guts
Member
wtf happens to this poor bastard in this scene?
Spaceman292
Banned
Does watching it again make it any less shit?
Halo is Back
Member
Makes it even better.
Spaceman292
Banned
Black goo
Flying Toaster
Member
All the movies have a special place in my heart and even though some of them are more meh than others they each stand on the uniqueness of the story for each movie. Alien 3 came out the same year as Army of Darkness and Lawnmower man and still I loved it for the prison backdrop even though the other movies were more unique.
Mahadev
Member
Alien 1 & 2 of course but here's my hot take, Alien Resurrection was a MUCH better movie than the last two Aliens, it wasn't anything great but at least not an absolute clusterfuck. I hate these movies, the writing is so lazy and cheap, I felt the mystery in Prometheus was insulting my intelligence the whole time.
Happosai
Hold onto your panties
The Alien in Alien3 was demonstrated to be more powerful and would kill by more than just a skull punch with the inner jaws. It showed the power to attack with it's tail (as seen in the scene after Gregor is killed), it partially decapitated Boggs, it ate some guy while Kevin was luring it, and on to Jude. Kids had already once provoked the Alien while trying to seal off doors to get it into the lead works vat. However, toward the end of these scenes, the Alien is significantly more pissed off. The Alien managed to sever either Jude's arm, head, or ripped his body in half to prevent him from jumping through the door.
First Alien. Only due to the fact that as with most 70s science fiction it is highly conceptual.
The whole movie is about manifestation of death clashing with universe's manifestation of life rather than being a simple monster movie, Aliens is a straight up monster horror/action that does not have this metaphysical aspect to it at all.
The whole movie is about manifestation of death clashing with universe's manifestation of life rather than being a simple monster movie, Aliens is a straight up monster horror/action that does not have this metaphysical aspect to it at all.
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StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
diffusionx
Gold Member
I like Aliens over Alien and Terminator over T2
Happosai
Hold onto your panties
I don't think Aliens ever quite encompassed the feeling of isolation, desperation, narcissism, and fear that the Nostromo crew had. Aliens is great but it was made for a different kind of audience. The original comes off as something written like "Who Goes There?" by John Campbell Jr. Aliens doesn't have that novel aesthetic and seems more like it came from an action sci-fi writer ( which it did). If you compare Dan O'Bannon's writing to James Cameron's -- you can easily tell why the two movies aren't hand-in-hand. O'Bannon came from a while different generation of film study and writing. James Cameron was a Roger Corman film student who drew inspiration from low-budget action and sci-fi that he was into or even his stint with Rambo: First Blood 2.
S
slugbahr
Unconfirmed Member
Legiterally
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
What a take. T2 is by far a better crafted film. Objectively. Whether it's a better film or not is up to your preferences but Cameron grew by leaps and bounds as a filmmaker from Terminator to T2. I also like Aliens over Alien by far.
Happosai
Hold onto your panties
It would be cool to have an authograph from anyone who worked on the first Alien. Especially if it were from Kotto, Cobb, Stanton, Weaver, Skerritt, Hurt, Cartwright, Holm, Scott, O'Bannon, Giler, Hill, Shussett, Goldsmith, Giger...I could keep going. Everyone who worked on that movie was amazing.
Kev Kev
Member
agreed!
i really loved prometheus, and was so excited for covenant. but then they did the s=time skip at the beginning of covenant and ruined any of the excitement i had for the film. watched the rest of it totally salty and couldnt even enjoy. wtf, that time skip was so fucking retarded... it was th one thing i was looking forward to about covenant and they just skipped it lmao... smh
Late Stage Marxist
Member
Y'all are Mad About Aliens for some reason.
Maybe It's Medicine?
Member
Working my way through them. Just finished alien and aliens back to back. Gotta say I prefer Alien for its visuals and direction. It's masterclass let down by a poorly aged Alien that looks very obviously like a guy in a suit now. . Aliens on the other hand not nearly as memorable or visually interesting. Feels more like a cheesy action movie but held together by a stellar cast. Both are good but for very different reasons. Aliens wouldn't be nearly as interesting without the first movie propping it up.
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Happosai
Hold onto your panties
Let me put it this way. Alien is for fans of masterpiece cinematography. Aliens is more of a go-to 80's nostalgia trip but historically doesn't define 20th film-making like Alien.
Liu Kang filing his 1040
Banned
Blessings to you all.
Even you wrongheaded people who chose a cornball action movie or a tense sci-fi thriller.
ALIEN is right.
Even you wrongheaded people who chose a cornball action movie or a tense sci-fi thriller.
ALIEN is right.
Grand Theft Scratchy
Banned
That's funny because I actually like Alien more than Aliens but I also like Terminator 2: Judgment Day more than than the original Terminator.
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Tschumi
Member
Closed poll nande
Actually resurrection. Not because I'm a hipster, but because it's the first one i saw of my own volition and so i perhaps forced myself to take the characters more seriously.
Also
This scene educated me as to what i should look for in a booty and directly influenced my ultimate choice in wife.
Actually resurrection. Not because I'm a hipster, but because it's the first one i saw of my own volition and so i perhaps forced myself to take the characters more seriously.
Also
This scene educated me as to what i should look for in a booty and directly influenced my ultimate choice in wife.
Happosai
Hold onto your panties
Sorry, mate - but Resurrection was a desperate plight by 20th-Century to no lose the franchise in making Alien movies after Ripley dies in Alien3. The story and production are a mess. The way the aliens were handled were in three ways which detract from the original 1979 concept:Closed poll nande
Actually resurrection. Not because I'm a hipster, but because it's the first one i saw of my own volition and so i perhaps forced myself to take the characters more seriously.
Also
This scene educated me as to what i should look for in a booty and directly influenced my ultimate choice in wife.
1. They can be trained like dogs by Gediman (Brad Dourif)
2. We need this action movie of 97' to be better than Aliens! Director randomly writes numerous Aliens to attack in swarms after an "oops" escape (pretty cheap writing)
3. Aliens procreate with Ripley and a hybrid "meowing" alien-thing is born
Production was not as bad as Alien3 but at least Alien3 came with a Dark Horse comic-style of characters and a final conclusion to end the franchise. Writers and actors had trouble communicating with the French director who either didn't speak English...or didn't want to. It caused fans to lose respect and any hope that there would ever be another great prequel or sequel beyond Aliens (or Alien3 in my opinion).
But...if you liked it...cheers!
Mitsuda Maniac
Member
Exactly, Alien is a top 50 movie of all time and an example of a movie with groundbreaking horror themes and cinematography. Aliens is a good 80's action flick with that doesn't quite hold up due to poor special effects. Also the power-loader fight at the end was friggin stupid.
Aliens and Alien are both equally some of my favorite movies ever made. I think the argument that its purely a matter of taste is true. Alien is one of the greatest horror-thriller movies ever made, and Aliens is one of the best action movies ever made (and the BEST horror-action movie; I wish more movies were made like this). I find it interesting though that some posters here are saying Aliens did not age very well effects wise while praising Alien. I kinda highly disagree with that; Aliens aged really really well, theres not any scenes that look fake. Meanwhile, Alien has multiple times where the effects really do not hold up at all (the entire ending with the Alien flying out of the ship is the most obvious one; its just a guy in a suit and it looks fake as hell lol). Not to mention the "jumpscare hug" the Alien does in the ventilation shaft.
Even with that though, both are fantastic movies. Everything after them is either mediocre or bad. Alien 3 does have a great soundtrack though.
Even with that though, both are fantastic movies. Everything after them is either mediocre or bad. Alien 3 does have a great soundtrack though.
Maybe It's Medicine?
Member
Finished prometheus last night. It's a good movie if you don't ask any questions.
Why are you taking your helmets off? (actually very believable now that I see how much people refuse to wear face asks and take them off immediately as if they can't breathe with them on.)
Why does the robot poison scientist boyfriend? Does he know what he is doing, just seeing what happens, being a dick? Was everybody in on impregnation of the girl? Why doesn't she bring up to the captain that she just had a squid baby? Does he already know? Why was it a deal that the machine couldn't perform a c section when it was literally just a couple button presses to have it done? Why can't they just watch the recordings of the feeds from the two guys who get killed by worms? Why are the two most cowardly individuals trying to pet this unknown creature? Why aren't they out of the space ship yet and lost while everyone who stayed immediately knows the way out? Don't they know the full layout of the donut ship? Where are they keeping their helmets when they take them off? Is it really that much of an inconvenience? Why is the engineer intent on killing everyone when the engineers decided against killing everyone? Why even hide that Weyland is alive and on the ship at all? It's not shocking and no one cares. Why does the captain open the cargo bay when infected scientist man's visor comes on? , he was just burnt to death, and he is not allowed on the ship. Why does the captain immediately trust the scientist girlfriend, and commit suicide by crashing his ship into the alien ship with barely a moment of hesitation? Why are his copilots also just instantly okay with killing themselves when we only need one person to collide the ship? Why doesnt blonde corporate lady just run left or right to avoid being crushed by the ship with the doctor girlfriend only rolled left a little to avoid being crushed?
Eugh. Other than the myriad of nonsense, it's actually beautifully shot and fun to watch. Just don't think about it for too long.
Why are you taking your helmets off? (actually very believable now that I see how much people refuse to wear face asks and take them off immediately as if they can't breathe with them on.)
Why does the robot poison scientist boyfriend? Does he know what he is doing, just seeing what happens, being a dick? Was everybody in on impregnation of the girl? Why doesn't she bring up to the captain that she just had a squid baby? Does he already know? Why was it a deal that the machine couldn't perform a c section when it was literally just a couple button presses to have it done? Why can't they just watch the recordings of the feeds from the two guys who get killed by worms? Why are the two most cowardly individuals trying to pet this unknown creature? Why aren't they out of the space ship yet and lost while everyone who stayed immediately knows the way out? Don't they know the full layout of the donut ship? Where are they keeping their helmets when they take them off? Is it really that much of an inconvenience? Why is the engineer intent on killing everyone when the engineers decided against killing everyone? Why even hide that Weyland is alive and on the ship at all? It's not shocking and no one cares. Why does the captain open the cargo bay when infected scientist man's visor comes on? , he was just burnt to death, and he is not allowed on the ship. Why does the captain immediately trust the scientist girlfriend, and commit suicide by crashing his ship into the alien ship with barely a moment of hesitation? Why are his copilots also just instantly okay with killing themselves when we only need one person to collide the ship? Why doesnt blonde corporate lady just run left or right to avoid being crushed by the ship with the doctor girlfriend only rolled left a little to avoid being crushed?
Eugh. Other than the myriad of nonsense, it's actually beautifully shot and fun to watch. Just don't think about it for too long.
Happosai
Hold onto your panties
Screenwriting should be delivered clearly to the staff before pre-production. Without talent like we had from all original 4 writers of Alien; you can't set expectations high on anything Alien related in this century.