Thursday, June 30, 2005
When Aliens Attack
In honour of the forthcoming release of 'War Of The Worlds', which seems to be going down alright, 'Dr Feelgood' is going all extra-terrestrial for a couple of days.
Spielberg cut the 'Aliens Take Over A Small Software Company's Offices' scene for fear it looked ridiculous.
Tomorrow, or maybe Friday, we shall hopefully have a review of 'Bad Taste.' Only trouble is, there are a couple of details of my review I need to check, and to do this I need to watch the film again. This wouldn't be a problem, except my DVD player keeps turning films green. If anyone knows what might be causing this problem, I'd be delighted if you could tell me.
In the meantime, however, following this article, I want to know your favourite and least favourite films with aliens in 'em.
My least favourite would undoubtedly be the awful 'Mars Attacks!', which is a deeply, deeply annoying film. Even if you haven't seen it, you can tell it'll be awful since 'IMDb-idiot-in-residence' 'bob the moo' likes it. PJ O'Rourke once said about the French that 'every moral compass needs a butt end.' Well, bob the moo is the butt end of my movie compass, because I don't know if I've ever agreed with a single one of his seemingly ubiquitous reviews (and there are currently 332 pages of them).
My favourite, I suppose, would be '2001: A Space Odyssey', just because it's wonderfully original and daring for its time, positing, as the BBC article rightly points out, the novel suggestion that were there forces 'out there', they wouldn't necessarily be complete arseholes looking to kill us all.
Your thoughts welcome (as always).
Spielberg cut the 'Aliens Take Over A Small Software Company's Offices' scene for fear it looked ridiculous.
Tomorrow, or maybe Friday, we shall hopefully have a review of 'Bad Taste.' Only trouble is, there are a couple of details of my review I need to check, and to do this I need to watch the film again. This wouldn't be a problem, except my DVD player keeps turning films green. If anyone knows what might be causing this problem, I'd be delighted if you could tell me.
In the meantime, however, following this article, I want to know your favourite and least favourite films with aliens in 'em.
My least favourite would undoubtedly be the awful 'Mars Attacks!', which is a deeply, deeply annoying film. Even if you haven't seen it, you can tell it'll be awful since 'IMDb-idiot-in-residence' 'bob the moo' likes it. PJ O'Rourke once said about the French that 'every moral compass needs a butt end.' Well, bob the moo is the butt end of my movie compass, because I don't know if I've ever agreed with a single one of his seemingly ubiquitous reviews (and there are currently 332 pages of them).
My favourite, I suppose, would be '2001: A Space Odyssey', just because it's wonderfully original and daring for its time, positing, as the BBC article rightly points out, the novel suggestion that were there forces 'out there', they wouldn't necessarily be complete arseholes looking to kill us all.
Your thoughts welcome (as always).
Comments:
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Favourites: Alien, Aliens, Silent Running, Dark Star, Planet of the Apes, Dark City, Predator, 2001, Quatermass and the Pit, The Thing is a ball-tearer and even has it's own site - Outpost 31.
Unfavourites: Although they have the odd good moments, The Star Wars and The Matrixes stand out as wickedly over-rated, but I always find it hard to remember films I don't like. Probably because I don't take any notice and, as a result, the film doesn't stick in my memory.
Unfavourites: Although they have the odd good moments, The Star Wars and The Matrixes stand out as wickedly over-rated, but I always find it hard to remember films I don't like. Probably because I don't take any notice and, as a result, the film doesn't stick in my memory.
That's a tough one. I hated Independence Day, and whichever Alien film starred Winona Ryder (even though she's a shoplifting goddess). Favourites are trickier: Close Encounters, for sentimental reasons. Men In Black was good. HR Giger's creatures are the scariest, though, so I go for Aliens. "Get away from her you BITCH!" is still one of the greatest lines in any movie.
I have to agree with the ones you hate - I can't stand 'The Matrix', which is pseudo-philosophical twaddle throughout its length, and I've gone to great lengths to avoid its sequels.
'Independence Day' was hateful, yes. How anyone could make a film quite so jingoistic and flag-waving and not feel even faintly embarassed by its tone I just do not know.
On the plus side of the ledger, I enjoyed all the Alien films, and I'm definitely in agreement about 'Men In Black' - the first time I saw that, I was blown away, to be honest. The sequel sucked butt, though.
How come I forgot 'It Came From Outer Space'? Now, that's a film!
'Independence Day' was hateful, yes. How anyone could make a film quite so jingoistic and flag-waving and not feel even faintly embarassed by its tone I just do not know.
On the plus side of the ledger, I enjoyed all the Alien films, and I'm definitely in agreement about 'Men In Black' - the first time I saw that, I was blown away, to be honest. The sequel sucked butt, though.
How come I forgot 'It Came From Outer Space'? Now, that's a film!
The Thing is a remake of It Came From Outer Space. In my opinion the remake is better than the original, but I suppose the remake doesn't contain those McCarthy era undertones.
PS: The Undertones = Great band.
PS: The Undertones = Great band.
I've not seen it - I'll have to check it out.
I do quite like The Undertones - not so much my sort of music, but they do it well. I have an album somewhere, though it may be in a safety deposit box in Manchester.
Have to give it a listen next time I'm up there.
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I do quite like The Undertones - not so much my sort of music, but they do it well. I have an album somewhere, though it may be in a safety deposit box in Manchester.
Have to give it a listen next time I'm up there.
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