From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Oct 30 14:02:25 1997 From: ChadPolenz@aol.com (Chad Polenz) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Alien (1979) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 26 Oct 1997 19:12:47 GMT Organization: None Lines: 78 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <6304nf$rgm$1@nntp5.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer25.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp5.u.washington.edu 877893167 28182 (None) 140.142.64.6 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #09506 Keywords: author=polenz X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer25.u.washington.edu Path: news.ifm.liu.se!genius.dat.hk-r.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!news.algonet.se!4.1.16.34.MISMATCH!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!news-peer.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!Sprint!worldnet.att.net!news.u.washington.edu!grahams Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:8806 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1569 Alien Chad'z rating: **1/2 (out of 4 = OK) 1979, R, 117 minutes [1 hour, 57 minutes] [science fiction] starring: Sigourney Weaver (Ripley), Tom Skerrit (Dallas), Yaphet Kotto (Parker) Ian Holm (Ash); written by Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett; produced by Gordon Carroll, David Giler, Walter Hill; directed by Ridley Scott. From the title alone, "Alien" doesn't sound too appealing because it's so generic and boring. It's the epitome of a sci-fi title, and not surprisingly, this is the epitome of a sci-fi movie. It takes place in the distant future and in outer space, there's lots of advanced technology and slimy aliens, and it tries to use both intelligent reasoning and barbaric violence to solve problems - guess which method dominates? The film opens in a dark, dismal manner as it establishes its setting of a giant spaceship on its way back to Earth. Where it's coming from and what its crew's mission is we never really find out, which is the film's first major flaw. The first half hour is a tedious exercise in mood - all we get is sci-fi jargon that is nearly impossible to comprehend as nothing said nor done seems to lead to anything. However, I admired the bleak art direction - it is full of intricate detail and is just as Gothic as Medieval cathedrals. This helps to create a chilling mood, but is ultimately unable to save the film from its screenplay. We quickly meet our characters, but we're not given many clues as to who these people are or what their purpose is. They all have radically different personalities, and almost none of them seem like they should be on a such a high-tech, important ship. First there's Tom Skerrit as Dallas, the stern leader who likes to bark orders. Then there's Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, a strong-willed officer who doesn't think the crew follows procedure correctly. Two other generic characters include Yaphet Kotto as Parker, who tends to be exploited since he's the only black character, and Ian Holm as Ash, the obsessed scientist who values research over human life. The rest of the crew consists of another scientist, a frail woman who worries and screams a lot, and another guy who doesn't do much of anything. The crew has been awoken from "hibernation" (the same technique used in "2001") to investigate a signal coming from a nearby planet. Of course they check it out and end up coming back on board the ship with an alien larvae attached to one of the crew members. Ripley had warned them this could happen, and since she's the main character who's never wrong, it creates a somewhat suspenseful atmosphere due to the fear of the unknown. The problem is, it takes almost 45 minutes for the film to raise this kind of interest. And just as the film becomes thrilling and intriguing, it essentially turns into a horror flick as an alien creature runs amok throughout the ship. One by one the characters are killed off in the most predictable of ways. It's a dark ship with lots of hiding places and no one is smart enough to hunt the alien with a partner? There is a fair attempt to balance the mindless cat-and-mouse game with a subplot when we learn one of the crew is actually a robot and it would willingly sacrifice the others to study the alien. There's some dialogue like, "How do we kill it?"/ "You can't, it's a perfect organism." For such a superior being, this alien never shows signs of intelligence. Its size and composition certainly isn't any kind of advantage. And why must it hiss, drip slime, and eat people? I would say the film goes downhill from the mid-point on, but it never really goes uphill enough to come down. Everything stays on the same level, which isn't terribly low, but never gets very high. It does a satisfactory job in terms of general storytelling, but falls short with its specific attempts at characterization, suspense, and shock (the last act proves this). "Alien" is rich with atmosphere in all respects, but takes the easy way out by becoming another thriller. What's most disappointing is the fact it never really had to. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Apr 27 15:51:08 1998 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!newspump.monmouth.com!newspeer.monmouth.com!netnews.com!news-peer.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!worldnet.att.net!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: "Matthew K. Gold" Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Alien (1979) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 26 Apr 1998 18:18:24 GMT Organization: CampusMCI Lines: 81 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <6hvtpg$9sn$1@nntp5.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer22.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp5.u.washington.edu 893614704 10135 (None) 140.142.64.4 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #12184 Keywords: author=gold X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer22.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:11277 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1882 ALIEN (1979) A Review by Matthew K. Gold from the Book-Lover's Guide to Cinema http://www.panix.com/~mgold/meter.htm Copyright 1998 Matthew K. Gold Smoke Without Mirrors The first third of Ridley Scott's Alien contains a brilliant reworking of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. In the opening scenes of the movie, Scott appropriates Kubrick's modernistic set design and lighting, and finds a similar, patient sense of rhythm and pace. Where 2001 is theoretical and abstract, however, Ridley adds a dimension of gritty realism. He photographs a crew of space travelers emerging from cryogenic sleep like butterflies unfolding from their chrysalises, but when these characters come to life, the first thing they do is gather around the breakfast table, slurp coffee, smoke cigarettes, and argue about the wages they're receiving on the trip. On board a commercial towing vehicle, they're like a bunch of space-age mechanics tooling around in a run-down jalopy. At one point early in the film, we see the crew trying to land their vessel. Scott shows this as a difficult, stressful task, which is unusual for the sci-fi genre: usually directors cut from shots of a tractor-beam-pull-in to shots of mechanics walking up to a safely landed ship. In ALIEN, by contrast, we see the characters sweat and grimace, and we come to know that grit is an indelible aspect of the human spirit. As exhilarating as the first third of this movie is--with Scott's long, snake-like continuous shots, which mirror the motions of the aliens who appear later in the film--the movie takes a downward turn exactly when the alien kills its first victim. Scott replaces the deliberately slow pace of the opening scenes with the dull rhythms of generic conventions. Suddenly, instead of watching a great movie, we're watching a great sci-fi/horror flick. The eccentric cast of characters, who are set up so well at the beginning of the movie, are transformed into shallow, murder-by-numbers victims by the end. Plot contrivances begin to build up and annoy the viewer: why, for instance, when she has only seven minutes to meet up with her companions, does Ripley suddenly obsess so much about her cat? Yes, it shows that she has an execeptional understanding of species other than her own, but it feels forced. Earlier in the movie, she had an iron will, and was willing to sacrifice two humans; near the end of the film, she turns unexpectedly sentimental. For many people, the ALIEN series is valuable because it places a woman (Ripley/Sigourney Weaver) in the role of the action hero. Weaver does a great job, and the battle-of-the-sexes scenes at the beginning of the movie have an extremely realistic feel. However, near the end of the film, Scott's camera resorts to the familiar male gaze as it watches Weaver get out of her uniform. Although this scene is undeniably sexy, it's also completely gratuitous--I'm simply not convinced by explanations such as "her nakedness is symbolic--she has to fight her last battle with the alien when she is at her most vulnerable." After all, she gets out of one uniform in order to get into another. It feels like a step backward to me. If I could split a movie in two, I'd take the first third of ALIEN and put it in the shrine, and take the last two-thirds and give it a 3.5. Overall, it's a fine film, but in the end it doesn't live up to its own promise. Rating (1-5): 4.0 12/24/97 © Matthew K. Gold 1997 Directed by Ridley Scott. Cinematography by Derek Vanlint. Production design by Roger Christian, Leslie Dilley, Anton Furst, and Michael Seymour. Written by Dan O'Bannon and Thilo Newman. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerrit, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto, Bolaji Badejo, and Helen Horton. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Nov 2 16:28:07 1998 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!news.solace.mh.se!news.ecn.ou.edu!skywalker.ecn.ou.edu!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!newsfeed.direct.ca!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: "Dragan Antulov" Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Alien (1979) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 24 Oct 1998 05:21:00 GMT Organization: Croatian Post & Telecommunications Lines: 156 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <70ro3s$1iro$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer12.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 909206460 52088 (None) 140.142.17.38 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #14960 Keywords: author=antulov X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer12.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14192 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2143 ALIEN A Film Review Copyright Dragan Antulov 1998 When science fiction becomes topic of discussions among people who aren't fans or even superficial connoisseurs of the genre, they usually have very narrow definition of what science fiction film is or what it should be. Thanks to the influence of people like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg or Gene Roddenberry, science fiction is considered escapist genre about fantastic worlds almost always better than our own. However, in the late 1970s, after debilitating fuel crisis, unprecedented political turmoil, and unstoppable decline of world economy, future didn't seem bright anymore. Filmmakers suddenly began using the media of science fiction films to express their anxiety and scepticism towards things to come. ALIEN, second feature film by Ridley Scott, also joined the trend, this time by using big budget resources to resurrect almost forgotten sub-genre of SF horror, until then strictly in the B-movie domain. The plot of ALIEN is set in a future that might look far, yet in the same time share many elements with the world of today. Interstellar flight isn't some breathtaking scientific achievement anymore and private companies use spaceships to bring precious ore to Earth. One of such ships is "Nostromo", whose seven-member crew spends most of the time hibernated. After they are awaken by ship's computer, they realise that they are still far away from Earth. "Nostromo" received a distress signal from an unknown planet and the crew, led by Captain Dallas (Tom Skeritt) is ordered to investigate. They land on the planet and small expedition finds huge alien derelict. Inside the derelict, second officer Kane (John Hurt) finds thousands of eggs, but one of them explodes and alien organism gets attached for his face. Comatose Kane is brought back to the ship, but first officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) don't want to let him out of quarantine. Her decision is overridden by science officer Ash (Holm) who breaks security procedure in order to study the organism. The entire concept of ALIEN - concept that can explain its great success as horror film - is just another story of human beings confronted with their inherent limitations. Technology can make human life longer or easier, yet it can't remove human imperfection, brilliantly demonstrated in this film both on physical and emotional level. Space, which could create sense of wonders with its inconceivable beauty, can in the same time be the source of horrors beyond imagination, horrors that leave puny humans as helpless victims, despite all their superior technology and intelligence. To illustrate that point, director Scott hired the talents of a Swiss artist H.R. Giger, who had created the most notorious monster in history of cinema. Like nobody else before and after him, Giger succeeded in making a creature that is completely alien from anything in human experience, yet in the same time with shapes and forms that bring back the worst fears from our collective subconscious. Whether it is its a huge head, encroaching tail, clawed hand or double set of constantly salivating mouth with sharp teeth - even the glimpses are enough to make people anxious. Scott very cleverly decided never to show the monster in full shot, leaving to the viewer to draw complete picture in his mind, most probably consumed by irrational fear. Excellent contrast to all-powerful, invincible and unstoppable monster are imperfect humans that reluctantly become its enemy and prey. The screenwriter Dan O'Bannon, who had already explored those themes in his low-budget classic DARK STAR few years earlier, created very human and believable characters to illustrate such flaws. They aren't scientists or astronauts, they are simple working men more interested in simple pay check than all the wonders of universe, more likely to use four letter words than esoteric scientific terms. Scene immediately after their awakening brilliantly illustrates their disenchantment with space technology - after spending months in hypersleep and travelling tens of light years, the first thing they do is to gather around table, smoke cigarettes and bicker about low wages. Those characters are also enhanced through superb acting by one of the strongest ensemble cast in history of cinema. Most notable is Sigourney Weaver in her debut role, who would prove that women can carry action movie in the sequel; here, in the first film, she is just very capable space officer, with strong will and more sense than anybody else, yet also consumed by terror when she must face the deadly foe. She managed to steal the top spot from nominally lead actor, Tom Skeritt, who plays Captain like a man who can establish authority without raising voice, yet in the same time burdened by indecision and lack of courage. John Hurt is also good, although he has the least of screen time. Ian Holm is wonderful as antipathetic bureaucrat that values scientific results more than human life; small hints about his character only later reveal the even more disturbing truth. Veronica Cartwright, originally cast to play Ripley, is also more than impressive in a quite different role of navigation officer Lambert; at first only bickering, her character turns into incarnation of frailty and panic. Finally, O'Bannon's script manages to create some kind of social stratification even in the such little universe like "Nostromo" - two of the characters are low paid blue-collar types that dwell in the dark and greasy lower decks. Yaphet Kotto is excellent as Parker, bickering giant that has a great heart; and, finally, Harry Dean Stanton gives another subtle performance of his quiet and dim-witted, yet very sympathetic assistant Brett. With strong cast and good script, ALIEN also benefited from very good director. Ridley Scott, who was at his prime in late 1970s and early 1980s, showed great skill in creating very distinctive visual images. ALIEN perhaps doesn't look as spectacular as his next masterpiece, BLADE RUNNER, but the thick atmosphere is here, with elaborate and extremely detailed production and costume design. Special effects are still impressive and very convincing, even after two decades of science fiction movies that used superior techniques. The disturbing feel of the movie is also enhanced by haunting score written by veteran film composer Jerry Goldsmith, one of his best. Scott is also good in editing, when he manages to create some of the most shocking scenes in the history of cinema. But, ALIEN functions wonderfully as whole, not just like a mechanical sum of all those good elements. The film has a relatively slow pace in the first half, when Scott allows us to meet and study characters and claustrophobic environment they inhabit. Then the plot thickens and second half is a frightening thrill-ride. Unlike many less talented horror directors of that era, Scott doesn't put emphasis on gore (although the legendary dining scene has a plenty of it) and tries to scare the viewers by creating haunting atmosphere and implying terrible events instead. The fear and anxiety that viewers share with the movie protagonists made ALIEN one of the most successful horror films, if not the best horror film of all times. Fact that it created numerous imitations and spawned three sequels so far speaks enough of its quality and importance. Yet the best recommendation for this film is the multitude of fans that watch this movie time and time again, re-experiencing same, often not so pleasant emotions, yet enjoying the rarely good work of art when they see one. RATING: 10/10 (+++++) Review written on October 23rd 1998 Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax Fido: 2:381/100 E-Mail: dragan.antulov@st.tel.hr dragan.antulov@altbbs.fido.hr From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Nov 4 16:29:39 2002 From: Ram Samudrala Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Alien (1979) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 18:48:16 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 32924 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 786243 X-RT-TitleID: 1000604 X-RT-SourceID: 302 X-RT-AuthorID: 29 Summary: r.a.m.r. #32924 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 40 Path: news.island.liu.se!news.Update.UU.SE!puffinus.its.uu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news.kth.se!uio.no!newsfeed.news2me.com!newsfeed-west.nntpserver.com!hub1.meganetnews.com!nntpserver.com!telocity-west!TELOCITY!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-06!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:4764 rec.arts.sf.reviews:385 Alien http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies/alien.html /Alien/ is classic sci-fi/horror film that has not been diluted with age. The crew of a mining transport vessel, carrying cargo from a distant planet back to earth, are in cryostasis. They are woken by their ship's computer, Mother, to what seems like a distress beacon. The crew land on a desolated to investigate, but bring back a strange and extremely aggressive creature who only cares about its survival. Like with any classic horror film, the alien picks off the crew members one by one, until Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is the only crewmember left. The futuristic visuals, set design, as well as the creepiness of the alien creatures are still as effective as ever. Even though the ship's computer seems a bit dated, the way it is presented (as an extremely intelligent AI being) is clever. The pacing seemed a bit slow to me, but it certainly gives one enough time to enjoy the cinematography. This is a classic film that's worth watching on the big screen. As an aside, It is not clear to me if there is indeed a survival advantage to a predator like the one showcased in /Alien/. While a creature may certainly be willing to kill all humans, killing off all its food sources will only result in its starvation and eventual extinction. Most species learn to exist in an equilibrium with their environment in this regard. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- email@urls || http://www.ram.org || http://www.twisted-helices.com/th Movie ram-blings: http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies.html ========== X-RAMR-ID: 32924 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 786243 X-RT-TitleID: 1000604 X-RT-SourceID: 302 X-RT-AuthorID: 29 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 1 18:00:15 2003 Path: news.island.liu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!uninett.no!feed.news.nacamar.de!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Harvey S. Karten Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Alien (1979) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 19:52:48 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 36087 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1209616 X-RT-TitleID: 1000604 X-RT-SourceID: 570 X-RT-AuthorID: 1123 X-RT-RatingText: B+ Summary: r.a.m.r. #36087 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 127 Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7870 rec.arts.sf.reviews:666 ALIEN: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT Reviewed by: Harvey S. Karten Grade: B+ 20th Century Fox Directed by: Ridley Scott Written by: Dan O'Bannon, Story by Ronald Shusett & Dan O'Bannon Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Screened at: AMC, NYC, 10/22/03 Space ships are so complicated that notwithstanding the two million year history and prehistory of humankind, the ability to ascend to the heavens was gained in only the last forty years or so. Take a look at the ship trotted out by Ridley Scott in his 1979 film "Alien," today considered a classic which boasts special effects as its principal star. There are buttons all over the place, even a series of some twenty different levers and gadgets if you should want the vessel to self-destruct. While traveling beyond the ionosphere, you could be hit by a meteor and one wonders whether there's any way the crew can steer clear of shooting stars, particularly considering the hours they take to sleep and the banter that passes for conversation at meal time. The last thing anyone need to go wrong is to have some alien aboard: Some creature reflexively hostile to moving objects that do not resemble its massive hulk. When this title figure does appear, we wonder why the command center on earth, known as Mother, did not anticipate with a contingency. Then again, given the increase tense conversations engaged in by the diverse crew, especially by a guy who seems to have barely recognizable emotions, we begin to think that there's something that the command center on Earth knows about the real meaning of the mission that six out of the seven crew members do not. This intriguing idea which is mirrored in the many American movies that fantasy about special, evil, operatives in the CIA and FBI, is just one of the subtexts of Ridley Scott's film, today considered a classic and a breakthrough event during the 1970's an era said by some to be the golden age of both American and European cinema. During the seventies the sci-fi genre gained new momentum after the public tired of the corny black-and-white features of the fifties: The "Star War" series was born. An audience of people below the age of thirty, though impressed by the special effects in "Alien," at the same time may wonder why the creepy monster that springs from the chest of one of the crew and grows larger, stronger and fiercer with each of its murders, should have been awarded an Oscar. Remember, though, that we're talking 1979, part of a decade that saw few if any computers in the homes of Americans and the Internet was strictly a tool of specialists in university. research. What Ridley Scott has successfully created in his second feature, two years after "The Duellists," was atmosphere. The film starts slowly, like Stanley Kubrick's "2001," introducing its largest character, the ship "Nostromo," before honing in on the crew. We learn that the ship is headed back to Earth, an uneventful journey that finds its astronauts joking about whether or not they're entitled to a bonus. The captain, Dallas (Tom Skerritt), is the most relaxed, with Lambert (Veronica Carthwright) in the navigator's seat. Ash (Ian Holm) is the principal scientist, Kane (John Hurt), excels in dry humor, Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) is famous for tersely saying "right" in response to others, Parker (Yaphet Kotto) just wants to party, while Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), will prove the heavy when the ship hits the fan. Sticklers for following the contract signed with Mother back on Earth, they are mandated to check out the source of a bizarre communication not emanating from natural channels. Landing on an seemingly barren planet, they discover what appears to be a large jellyfish. Kane looks too closely: the small, octopus- like creature attaches itself to his face. Director Scott drives the tension as though pushing his foot slowly on an accelerator. From a quiet look at the Nostromo, he carefully distinguishes each character from the other, pushing the ante ever so slowly to bring the audience to frenzied excitement. In so doing, he repudiates the tendency of action- adventure movies nowadays that begin with a bang (think of how each James Bond work opens with fireworks before slowing down). The frights are calibrated, first by showing the small creature leaping out an attaching to Kane's face, later by the growing figure of this bizarre entity which picks off the crew one by one. Among other attributes, "Alien" punctuates a strong role for a woman, played by Sigourney Weaver as a take-charge type who antagonizes the others in the crew by refusing to override a rule mandating a quarantine for Kane. By the final twenty or thirty minutes of "Alien," the tension has grown measurably. To put together digitally re-mastered version, a team of film archeologists fetched boxes of original negatives in London, including outtakes and original sound recordings. Ridley Scott then chose the footage he wanted included in this new, director's cut while at the same time he trimmed increments of 10 or 15 seconds from various scenes to add to the film's energy. Jerry Goldsmith's music, influenced perhaps by Holst's "The Planets," adds to the atmosphere, tones which some consider among the scariest because of their very minimalism. I somehow missed the first showing of the movie when it opened in May 1979 but can imagine the greater impact the effects had on an audience not accustomed to the likes of H.R. Giger's design of the creature. Michael Seymour production design is responsible for a good deal of atmosphere, keeping the action flowing through the types of mysterious corridors that appeared in, say, "The Shining." The picture was followed six years later by James Cameron's "Aliens," also featuring Sigourney Weaver, as the sole human survivor of "Alien" returns to the planet with a the U.S. Marines, prepared to liquidate the creatures. Rated R. 117 minutes.(c) 2003 by Harvey Karten at Harveycritic@cs.com ========== X-RAMR-ID: 36087 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1209616 X-RT-TitleID: 1000604 X-RT-SourceID: 570 X-RT-AuthorID: 1123 X-RT-RatingText: B+ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 1 18:00:15 2003 Path: news.island.liu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!uninett.no!ntnu.no!uio.no!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-01!sn-post-02!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: John Ulmer Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Alien (1979) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2003 02:14:12 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 36171 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1149720 X-RT-TitleID: 1000604 X-RT-SourceID: 1382 X-RT-AuthorID: 6769 X-RT-RatingText: 5/5 Summary: r.a.m.r. #36171 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 110 Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7955 rec.arts.sf.reviews:673 ALIEN: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT Verdict: 5/5 stars Alien is part of John Ulmer's Favorite Movies Series (http://www.wiredonmovies.com/favorites). Alien: The Director's Cut is equally recommended. REVIEW BY JOHN ULMER I attended a screening of "Alien: The Director's Cut" not four hours ago, and not four hours ago I was thrilled. I knew that I was going to get a chance to witness one of the most atmospheric and thrilling films of all time--with added footage. Fans who picked up the DVD (now out of print to make way for the new "Alien Quadrilogy") may have already seen a few of the deleted segments, while other fans who didn't, and are waiting on the promised quadrilogy to be released next year, will be enthralled. This film doesn't feature a wealth of new footage such as "Apocalypse Now Redux," scenes that could damage its flow, but instead gives us scenes that click together a bit more. One of these is when Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) finds Dallas (Tom Skerritt) attached to the wall with alien mucus seen later in "Aliens." It doesn't make sense to feature it in the original cut, and director Ridley Scott was smart for deleting it when the film hit theaters back in 1979. It doesn't really make much sense, and stops the gripping flow of the ending when Ripley is racing to get to the escape shuttle. It causes people to think, What? and then they start letting their minds wander. But now that we have seen "Aliens," and understand the significance of the mucus (sounds funny, huh?), it makes complete sense. This is the fan's version. Plus, it's fun to get to see the movie on the big screen for those who didn't twenty-four years ago. The plot (as if you didn't know it by now): A mining ship in the future named the Nostromo, carrying seven passengers back to earth, stops in its course to locate an SOS beacon on a distant planet, which may, or may not, actually be a warning signal as opposed to a distress beacon--too late to find out, since they land on the planet and one of the investigating crew members, Kane (John Hurt), gets attacked by a strange alien creature that attaches itself to his face and doesn't let go. The ship's captain, Dallas, hauls him into the ship's lab, where he is looked over by the ship's scientist, Ash (Ian Holm), who takes an odd affection to the creature that bothers Ripley, the second in command. The technician, Parker (Yaphet Kotto), doesn't like any of this either, and their suspicions reach a maximum when Kane wakes up from his sleep, the alien unattached from his face, and proceeds to eat irregularly. Later that night, back in their course to earth, a small alien bursts from Kane's stomach at dinner. The alien escapes into the depths of the ship. Search parties commence but the alien starts to grow more fierce and terrifying as the film treads on--soon it's a man-eating set of teeth bent on killing the lot of them. Atmosphere is part of what makes "Alien" the terrifying nail-biter it is. This isn't a routine horror flick that jumps through all the hoops--it's original to a certain degree. Its inspiration comes from earlier films but it improves upon them all for the most part. From its opening shots to its final, it is eerie, moody, and scary. To show millions of aliens abounding from hidden crevices would be typical--the fear of "Alien" lies in the anticipation of the jump, or the startle. We wait, and wait, and suddenly something leaps at the screen. It's not the alien. The alien is in front of the thing that jumped. Our heart stops and then jolts again. Forget pumping volts of electricity through dead people--place them in front of this and their hearts will pound once again. James Cameron's sequel "Aliens" (1986) is often considered the better of the series, in terms of excitement and aliens themselves. But "Alien," like the movie "Signs" (2002), isn't really about aliens. The film "Aliens" is terrific--but so is "Alien," as its central idea is too unnerve the audience through bumps and jolts. Not through blood and guts. Depends on what your personal preferences are--startles or explosions? I appreciate and enjoy both. Ridley Scott knows how to evoke wonder and magnificence from his shots. The opening sequence that shows the exterior of the Nostromo and then dissolves to the interior, crawling along the shafts as we wait for something scary to happen and then forget as we are wowed by the movement and visuals, is a fine example of the art of filmmaking and not the filmmaking itself. Cameron is one of my favorite directors. Scott, when given the right material, can turn out wonders. "Alien" is his crowning achievement alongside the dark 1982 classic "Bladerunner," another sci-fi feast for the eyes and mind. I wasn't a fan of "Gladiator," but let's not bring that up, shall we? "Alien" may seem tame by today's standards. But this isn't a film that wants to be another mindless blood and guts extravaganza. This is a smart horror film, one that is as involving as it visually magnificent, one that is as amazing as it is terrifying. This is horror at its finest. And if you didn't get to see it on the big screen last time around, now is your chance to get a glance at what you've been missing all these years. Notes: The new "Alien: Director's Cut" version features over three minutes of never-before-seen sequences, as well as restored prints and a newly remixed surround-sound track. Attached to the director's release of the film is also the first teaser trailer for next year's "Alien vs. Predator." - John Ulmer Webmaster of The Movie Portal http://www.wiredonmovies.com/ Updated daily, offers over one thousand free movie scripts and hundreds of free reviews, plus posters, sounds, quotes, and more. ========== X-RAMR-ID: 36171 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1149720 X-RT-TitleID: 1000604 X-RT-SourceID: 1382 X-RT-AuthorID: 6769 X-RT-RatingText: 5/5 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 1 18:00:16 2003 Path: news.island.liu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!uninett.no!news.net.uni-c.dk!in.100proofnews.com!in.100proofnews.com!pd7cy1no!pd7cy2so!shaw.ca!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-01!sn-post-02!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Steve Rhodes Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Alien (1979) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2003 20:41:55 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 36198 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1213664 X-RT-TitleID: 1000604 X-RT-SourceID: 703 X-RT-AuthorID: 1271 X-RT-RatingText: 4/4 Summary: r.a.m.r. #36198 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 96 Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7982 rec.arts.sf.reviews:675 ALIEN: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2003 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): **** Ridley Scott's ALIEN, from 1979, has been called "the scariest movie ever made." While I wouldn't go that far, I do think it is one of the finest examples of the scary sci-fi genre, with its sequel, ALIENS, being the absolute best. The two subsequent sequels in the series are pretty worthless. Now in the theaters is a director's cut version of ALIEN that is actually one minute shorter, since Scott is that rare director who realizes that his film might be improved by a combination of small additions and subtractions rather than a wholesale stuffing back of previously deleted scenes. For moviegoers like me, who haven't seen the movie in a couple of decades, the director's cut issue is unimportant. What is fun is seeing an old favorite on the big screen again. And for those viewers, like me, blessed with limited memory, watching ALIEN is almost like seeing a great movie for the first time. As the story starts, Ripley (a very young and cute Sigourney Weaver) is one of seven members of a commercial spaceship. The third officer of the crew, she is far from being in charge, but events will conspire to make her into the movie's central character for this and all subsequent episodes. Reportedly, Weaver said recently that she wants to do a fifth film so that Ripley can finally bite the dust forever. The crew has been awakened early by "Mother" from a blissful state of suspended animation in order to investigate a strange transmission which might be either an S O S or a warning. Mother is the name of the ship's all-knowing, on-board computer. Think of it as a more polite version of H.A.L. and one with less sinister motives. The crew, Ripley, Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Brett (Harry Dean Stanton), Kane (John Hurt), Ash (Ian Holm) and Parker (Yaphet Kotto) are not happy campers. They want to return home to earth as planned and aren't the least bit interested in any dangerous missions. To be more precise, they all feel that way except Ash, who increasingly seems to be harboring some kind of hidden agenda. "Swell!" Lambert sarcastically tells Dallas, their captain, who orders her to be in the first group to venture to the tiny planet where the radio message is being sent from. She smells trouble from the get-go and is the first to remark, "Let's get the hell out of here!" when something seriously strange happens in their mission on the ground. For most of the movie, it falls to Cartwright's Lambert to express the intensity of the fear that they must all be feeling. Only in the end does Ripley breakdown. The rest of the crew approach their chores with a relatively calm mixture of foolish bravado and resignation to their calamity. As is obvious from the title, the villain of the piece is an alien, not some cuddly E.T. type but a fearsome foe that Ash describes best. With his usual cold, clinical approach, he says of the alien that "its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility." One of these vicious killing machines manages to get on-board their vessel, and, after that, the story becomes TEN LITTLE INDIANS, with the crew being slaughtered, one by one. Most horror movies have cats to give the audience false frights. The cat will stir about, making a noise that makes us jump, thinking that it is the monster. And after a few such bogus frights, when we start assuming that any strange sound is just the cat, the monster hops out to scare us to death. In order to pull those same tricks on us in ALIEN, a cat is conveniently kept on ice with the rest of the crew. The technique is a little hokey, but it works. Actually everything about ALIEN works. It is more of a think piece than the high action pictures that sci-fi buffs are used to today, but, for those with at least a modicum of patience, ALIEN provides great entertainment. It really makes me eager for the director's cut of ALIENS, which is supposed to come to the theaters next year. (That loud sound I just heard was merely one of my cats -- wasn't it?) ALIEN: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT runs 1:56. It is rated R for "sci-fi violence/gore and language" and would be acceptable for most teenagers. My son Jeffrey, age 14, seeing ALIEN for the first time, gave it ***, having nothing but praise for it. He said, somewhat relieved, that it wasn't as scary as he feared. He thought the sci-fi aspects were quite good, and he thought the big alien was very well done. The film is playing in nationwide release now in the United States. In the Silicon Valley, it is showing at the AMC and the Century theaters. Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com *********************************************************************** Want free reviews and weekly movie and video recommendations via Email? Just send me a letter with the word "subscribe" in the subject line. ========== X-RAMR-ID: 36198 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1213664 X-RT-TitleID: 1000604 X-RT-SourceID: 703 X-RT-AuthorID: 1271 X-RT-RatingText: 4/4 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 1 18:00:16 2003 From: Marshall Garvey Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Alien (1979) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2003 01:59:00 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 36218 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1214721 X-RT-TitleID: 1000604 X-RT-AuthorID: 8934 X-RT-RatingText: 5/5 Summary: r.a.m.r. #36218 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 220 Path: news.island.liu.se!news.Update.UU.SE!puffinus.its.uu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-06!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:8003 rec.arts.sf.reviews:681 "Alien" (1979) Review by Marshall Garvey Rating (0 to 5): ***** Grade: A+ (Director's Cut) Original rating: ****1/2 Original Grade: A Starring Tom Skerritt (Dallas), Sigourney Weaver (Ripley), John Hurt (Kane), Ian Holm (Ash), Harry Dean Stanton (Brett), Yaphet Kotto (Parker), Veronica Cartwright (Lambert) Directed by Ridley Scott Produced by Gordon Carroll, David Giler, Walter Hill Written by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett Original music by Jerry Goldsmith 20th Century Fox 116 minutes (Director's Cut) Rated R for sci-fi violence/gore and language When directors cut one of their films for a theatrical re-release or DVD, chances are they might not only fine tune it: they might also heighten its impact. "Alien", the 1979 horror classic that's been reissued with restored print, sound, and new footage, is a prime example. When I first watched it on home video, I loved it, but thought it could have been a little better. That time around, I gave "Alien" a 4.5 rating. Now seeing it in the theater in pristine condition, it's a definite 5. For this, one may ask: Is it better than the second now? The answer: No. But even if there was no "Aliens", "Alien" would still remain a classic in its own right, and with this director's cut, Ridley Scott has instilled brand new life into every frame. Some people may find the setup for "Alien" to be simple or perhaps boring. Surely enough, those with a lack of an attention span will scorn it because it doesn't throw shredded intestines at the screen the minute it begins, and in all actuality it's the simplicity of the first thirty minutes that magnifies the film's overall effect. After the credit sequence ends, we simply see a four-tower spaceship drifting through space. The craft, called Nostromo, is making its way back to earth with a heavy cargo and a crew of seven aboard. These people aren't quite like the Enterprise crew of "Star Trek" or the space explorers in "2001"; they're working class employees in space, unaware of the terror yet to come. There's Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), a slightly lazy, laid back pilot, and Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), who commands her authority when it comes to hand. There's also the sleepy eyed Kane (John Hurt), Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) and Parker (Yaphet Kotto), two grunt engineers who incessantly complain about their bonus payment, science officer Ash (Ian Holm), and the quiet Lambert (Veronica Cartwright). When the crew awakens from cryosleep, they learn that Nostromo's main computer, Mother, has intercepted what seems to be an SOS call. When played, the message is garbled and indistinct, but the policy, as Dallas explains, requires them to respond to any call they receive. Parker advises against it, claiming that they're not a rescue crew, but the company heads down to the planet where the signal seems to be coming from. Once there, Dallas, Kane, and Lambert don spacesuits and set out to explore the terrain and at one point come across a bizarre looking ship with curving tails jutting out from the ground. Inside, the ship is even more grotesque. The walls look giant bones lined together with greasy slime, and deeper within lies a strange organism that looks like an elephant's skull with a ribcage covering its body. Upon seeing such a thing, Lambert proposes that they leave, but the insistent Kane discovers a dark opening and explores. Down under, he encounters a nest, with "leathery objects of some sort, like eggs". When he approaches one, a spider-like creature leaps out and grabs his face. Once they return to the ship, Dallas and Lambert argue with Ripley to let them bring Kane in. Ripley refuses, claiming it's against quarantine, but Ash opens the lock and Kane is taken to an examination room. When the helmet around his face is broken, one of the most horrifying sights is revealed: a yellow, eights-legged object grasping Kane's face with its tail coiling around his sweaty neck. Dallas and Ash scan his body and find that the thing, whatever it is, hasn't killed poor Kane: it's actually giving him oxygen to keep him alive while simultaneously keeping him unconscious. Prying it loose or hurting it is useless, for it bleeds acid that eats right through the ship's hull, and it won't die without tearing off Kane's face first. It eventually does come off and die, and Kane recovers from his coma, but Ash only further infuriates Ripley when he decides to keep it for further examination despite the concern it has caused. With the ship heading back on its way home and Kane alive and well, things seem back to normal again, but as the crew joyfully eats their dinner, Kane suddenly starts gasping and choking. Parker assumes he's joking about the terrible food, but he isn't. He starts shaking and screaming, and as everyone else tries to hold him down, an alien erupts from his chest. The blood-covered creature surveys its surroundings, lets out a shriek, and runs off into the ship. The rest of the crew sets off to try and catch it with a net, but by that time the creature has grown into an enormous beast. Even more, it manages to pick off two crew members and disappear without a trace. Ripley proposes that they blow the creature out of the airlock, but Ash has other plans, and so does the alien as Ripley tries to escape while the ship counts down to self-destruct. I won't elaborate on the details if you haven't seen this ending, but for your sake I hope you make it. I'm sure you will, just so as long as your nerves haven't given away because of anxiety. Mine almost did. I can imagine how difficult it must be for most horror films to hold up with a second viewing, let alone retain the impact of the first viewing. As I walked into "Alien", I pondered this, and let me say that the film doesn't retain the impact in theaters: it multiplies it. Watching it this time, the atmosphere was even more grating and haunting, and the suspense is killer. Kane's encounter with the facehugger egg alone was enough to bring the film's suspense to an unendurable level, making each other tight moment harder to bear. Jerry Goldsmith's score also gives viewers the creeps in a resounding way, even just as the credits slowly appear. With the most obvious parts excepted, the two keys to the movie's overall effectiveness are the aforementioned setup and the mystery and minimal detail that surround the presentation of the alien species. When Dallas, Kane, and Lambert explore the ship, we wonder just how it got there and how the elephant like structure (aka the "space jockey" according to fans) and the eggs came to be. Having already seen the rest of the series and observed and considered several different theories about the aliens, it's amazing that this film could still weave an unknowing sense around me no matter how much consideration I could put into the origins of these mysterious objects. One other staple in the classic sense of "Alien" is its strangely unique cast, which while small is also one that is entirely likeable. Most casts in horror films are populated by teen icons with pretty faces and trimmed bodies, but the actors here are far more dimensional and believable. Their characters are also easy to relate to, and as you watch them you feel a sense of hopelessness and fear as the alien picks them off one by one. There's also a feeling of loss when they die, which is far more important for a film such as this than spraying as much blood as possible onscreen. There are elements of "Alien" that evoke memories of other films of its two kinds-horror and science fiction-as well as elements of suspense, mystery, and originality. While watching the opening shots of the ship's interior, I was instantly reminded of "Star Wars", and the long, vast exterior shots of the Nostromo and the drop shuttle were one of two things that reminded me of "2001". The other was Ash's mutiny, namely when he closes the doors to trap Ripley and she orders, "Open the door Ash." I also thought of "The Shining" when Dallas makes his way through the tunnel, not because of the scene itself, but because of the music in the background. As it played, I was suddenly reminded of the chilling scene in Stanley Kubrick's horror classic in which Danny Torrance stands outside room 237 ("Alien" was released a year before that film, but both are hard to erase from your memory). The director's cut for "Alien", like that of the other Ridley Scott classic "Blade Runner", doesn't just have footage added; it also has some removed. In fact, Scott actually cut about seven minutes out and added six. While I can't fill you in on what's gone, there are some excellent new scenes that help improve the film, such as Lambert confronting Ripley after she tried to keep Kane off the ship, some new exterior shots of the Nostromo, Kane pulling out a gun before approaching the egg, longer shots of the alien when it kills Brett, Parker and Lambert, and the crew gathering to hear the transmission. The most notable and hyped, though, is the "cocoon" scene towards the end where Ripley finds Dallas and Brett encrusted in some kind of slimy, crusty substance the alien has produced. Brett has almost entirely transformed into an egg, but Dallas weakly orders Ripley to kill him with the flamethrower she's carrying. Although this scene spoils one of the film's best mysteries, it's still effective and harrowing, albeit equally miserable to watch. The most towering of all the brilliant aspects of "Alien" is its influence, which still shows even after 24 years and three sequels. While James Cameron broadened the series' horizon with "Aliens" (still the best film in the series), the establishment of "Alien" is monumental. The designs of the alien, courtesy of the famous Swiss artist H.R. Giger, rank among the most effective and creative monster designs in all of movie history. Best of all, though, is the establishment of Sigourney Weaver's famous Ripley character, who shows little sign of playing the hero at first but rises to the occasion as the crew grows smaller. It's fairly typical for the main hero in a horror film to be female, but the way in which Ripley fights back and survives is similar to Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor of the "Terminator" films: she's a regular woman whose life is suddenly changed when she finds herself the target of an unknown, seemingly indestructible species (or, in Connor's case, a muscular cyborg). Through the first two films, Ripley always seems to be shouldered out, first by the rest of the crew of the Nostromo and in the second by a group of macho marines. In the end, however, she rises as the hero, and quite fittingly. Moreover, she's so great that even when you struggle to find characters to care for in the last two, she's still the easiest one to root for. I have constantly searched for the first two films on DVD, and have found that they are out of print. A new quadrilogy set containing all four films and plenty of extra goodies is scheduled for release in December, but the former individual discs have seemed to disappear from major retailers. I was disappointed that I couldn't find fresh copies of "Alien" and "Aliens", but now after seeing the director's cut of this film, I'll definitely want to wait for it to come out. Even though it is a minute shorter, the new edition is a definite improvement, but this isn't a guarantee for all. If I were you, I'd get off the couch, get in the car, and go see just how much better "Alien" is after its new treatment. You just might fall in love with it all over again, and if you didn't like it the first time (which is unlikely) or haven't seen the original, you're in for more than a treat: you're in for a full course meal. This review is purely of my doing, and I do not copy off other reviewers. So, what does this rating system mean anyway? *****-A masterpiece of filmmaking that should be seen at all costs ****1/2-A fabulous movie. An absolute must catch. ****-An excellent show. Be sure to see it. ***1/2-A good film. Recommended. ***-Decent movie that could be a lot better. **1/2-Average movie with a number of flaws. **-Pretty bad with a few saving graces. *1/2-Bad. Don’t see it. *-As much fun as having your seat kicked for two hours. 1/2-Just plain awful. 0-Death may come ========== X-RAMR-ID: 36218 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1214721 X-RT-TitleID: 1000604 X-RT-AuthorID: 8934 X-RT-RatingText: 5/5