I’m sure this has been brought up before – but I really kinda hate the “opening credits at the end” bit that they do now. In some cases, like Jurassic Park, I love the cold open and the booming, triumphant music over the actor’s names, the “Directed by…” etc…. But more often than not we’re treated to some horrible music video/video game-style nonsense like the end credits of Doom or GI Joe or The Mummy.

And I really don’t like the “put the title at the end of the movie” bit. I know which movie I just bought a ticket for, thanks for reminding me. It sorta seems smug and self-congratulatory, and as much as I liked Avatar, it was really unnecessary. Can you imagine Aliens (or T2) ending with the title in big fucking words at the end instead of Ripley or the shot of the highway?

Btw, totally dug your story of when you learned about Ace of Spades getting a hole in the head.

similarly I would say Blade Runner is the origin of about 80% percent of anime

And now, 25 years later, this helmet-cam business is the next big thing in the coverage of Operation: Shoot Ace of Spades in the Face.

I think I’ve only been on one raid in which the ODA chief rocked a helmet cam. And that footage he got was garbage. I have, however, filmed some exciting SSE, post-firefight action of HVTs & criminals crying & pissing themselves while we put on the flexicuffs and turn their hideouts upside down. Wait, no, better than that, I have a decent story about helo-mounted cameras and a pair of pilots who are true American badasses. I’ma go consult my notes and see if I’m allowed to relate the story. Shit would put James Cameron’s ex-wife’s “realistic” filmatism to shame.

Sound familiar? Well, when Electronic Arts contracted the developers (Games Workshop) to translate it to a computer game, they proceeded to make it even _more_ like “Aliens” by putting the player in the position of the lieutenant back safe directing the operations by watching multiple first-person-video screens. (The player could at any time jump to control a marine in his movements and firing, like in a first-person shooter, but couldn’t overwatch the rest of the marines then–who went about their orders without you anyway.) The pinging motion detector was now included, too.

To appreciate how awesome this was, you’d have to keep in mind that this was one of the very first games to feature digitized speech and sound (the stereo sound effects alone added immensely to the tension of the game), and if I recall correctly was actually released _before_ Doom 2. (Thus before any of the Quake games, and a long time before most other 1st-person shooters.)

And “Aliens” was all done _before_ this game.

It really is almost impossible to overestimate how influential James Cameron has been on pop culture I guess. {g} (Less so than Lucas, I suppose, but maybe even moreso than Spielberg.)

1. Alien – masterpiece, classic, brilliantly conceived and superbly executed from script to production design to acting to score. I watch it at least once a year. Still the scariest movie I’ve ever seen.

Close No. 2. Aliens – one of the best sequels ever made, done with a true respect for the original and yet with a lot of vision of its own. It does everything a great sequel does – expand on the universe and the characters, creating new situations and jeopardies without mindlessly parroting its predecessor. One of the only times that my high anticipation for something was truly rewarded. This movie didn’t let me down one bit and I will always love it for that.

Distant 3. Alien 3 – at best, an interesting failure. Some really good ideas, but ultimately pointless. While Aliens does everything a good sequel should do, this does not. Plus it completely devalues Ripley’s struggle and victory in Aliens, almost to the point that I’d prefer it didn’t exist at all. The director’s cut is moderately better than the theatrical version, but doesn’t come close to saving it, sorry.

Way, way, way back No 4. Alien Resurrection – a mess almost from frame one. The only redeeming quality is Sigourney Weaver’s performance. All over the place, illogical, hard to follow, goofy at the wrong times, practically campy in spots, unscary, poorly paced, a jarring departure in tone and even more pointless than 3.

– No ranking: those Alien / Predator movies. They’re dead to me.

i agree with everything in vern’s review, and i too could go on all day talking about ALIENS and all the different ways in which it is a masterpiece, but i wouldn’t say anything that hasn’t already been said.

so i will just leave you with this: on the japanese VHS of ALIENS that i own, the subtitle for the line “getaway frome her you bitch!” which i consider to be one of the all-time greatest – if not THE greatest – badass lines of all-time, not to mention that as vern points out it occurrs in a scene perfectly constructed to emphasize its badass impact, the japanese subtitle for the line translates to “don’t worry about the child.” -_-

But I actually thought III wasn’t that bad. Maybe the ending was little too pat but I didn’t hate it. I think it got sort of unfairly caught up in all of the hubbub about Cruise’s couch-jumping and Scientifictionologicalism.

(just to make a potentially meaningless aside, the couch-jumping was always way overblown to me. I’m no Cruise apologist, even though I do generally like him as an actor, but I watched that Oprah bit after all of the backlash and it just really felt mostly self-deprecating, like he was goofing on himself after a bit. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me)

*Cough* DePalma’s is definitely the class of the series, though.

And of course, MacReady in “The Thing” is a great everyman. I haven’t seen more than a few minutes of Kaufman’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” in quite a few years, I should check that out again.

Just to elaborate on my earlier point about Sigourney Weaver in “Aliens,” I don’t think that facial tic she has when seeing the rifle out there is a conscious thing at all; I think it just shows how closely she identifies with the character and how invested in the performance she is. In that moment, she IS Ripley in those circumstances, not just playing her. And that’s how Ripley would react in that moment. It may not be conscious, but it shows her ability to get inside her characters and that’s a rare thing. Weaver is actually outstanding in all of the Alien movies, even “Resurrection” although that had a junkyard of a plot.