Open Thread Monday

Yes, it is a horror movie. I just don't enjoy them much unless I see some serious butt-kicking action back at the horror. I guess I just don't want to feel like a victim.

I enjoyed the first Alien, but never really got into the later ones, don't know why. On an open thread, three cheers for the apparent death of "public option" but stay vigilant, these guys will keep trying and will be all to happy to use the back door.

Watched season premiere of "Mad Men" and was a little disappointed. I missed season two, and although this is skillfully acted and stylishly shot and well written, there is something vaguely disconcerting about it. I think they go after w.a.s.p.s. so hard that people who misbehave this badly are actually no more realistic than Ozzie & Harriet or Father Knows Best were in terms of how real peopled lived in the early 1960's.

My wife seems to think that it is sooooo cooooool that Suki is now hooked with Erik. Drek!!!

The visual effects in Alien are great though I personally think Star Trek: The Motion Picture deserved the Oscar that year. (The other nominees were 1941, Moonraker, and The Black Hole).

I think Fincher disowns the film because it was a terrible experience for him and he was treated like dirt by the studio.

@ Tennessee Jed — agreed on staying vigilant with the Community Organizer in Chief and Co. Chicago thugs always have other tricks up their sleeves.

Nice to enjoy round one, though — http://www.popmodal.com/video/3247/

In Space….No One Can Hear You Cough Up That Damn Chicken Bone That Has Been Stuck In MY Windpipe Since Last Night and That's The Last Time I Let The Ball 'N Chain Cook Cuz She Spends All My Money And Never Lifts A Goddamn Finger To……..

The official public option may officially be dead, but all they will do is go back to chipping away at it till essentially every one is on the dole anyway. They will never stop.

They want to get their hands on every single facet of American life. Health care is the way to do it. They will never stop their quest for that holy grail.

Loved Alien. The feeling of isolation and desparation were oozing from every facet of this movie. The scenes on the planet with the marooned alien ship and the fossilized alien with it's chest burst outward made me want to know more about how it all started.

But one movie did it better. John Carpenter's The Thing. I've must've seen that movie 20 times and it still gives me the creeps.

My own opinion, the best horror movie ever made was the original Night of the Living Dead. The black and white version. Still sends chills up my spine. It just pushes all my wrong buttons.

My 16 year old daughter watched it on the internet a couple of months ago on the internet and she said she was laughing through out it. Talk about an ego hit.

Be nice to me. I had to endure Julie/Julia this weekend. The "if I were a Republican, I would have fired you" and the whole BS McCarthy stuff totally pissed me off. It's a harmless and boring piece of froth where nothing happens except revealing that Julia Child had sex and not revealing that the Julie character fooled around on her husband in real life. It's made even more unbearable by Efron's complete lack of directorial talent and insistence to put her own whackass political stamp on a movie that didn't need it. Thanks for nothing Nora.

Anyway, ALIEN kicks ass!!!!!!

Don't let if get you down Ed; its hard to get kids nowadays to enjoy anything they concider "old". But the payoff is great when you do – all three of my kids (ages 22, 13 and 11, the younger two both with Asperger's Syndrome) are now fans of both the Marx Brothers and W.C. Fields!

One of the things I liked best about The Thing were all the great character actors they cast. These days, they'd probably cast a bunch of vapid, untalented pretty boys. Paging Ashton Kutcher!

She's been properly raised on good movies, and the Beatles. She's got a good solid foundation!

Have you seen the trailer for "The Fourth Kind"? Is the documentary style entirely fictional, or is there any truth to some of the footage they use? Is it based on a supposedly true story, in other words?

The remake of THE THING may be the best remake in film history. I saw at at the show and was 'prejudiciously' ready to walk out, even before the film began, but it hooked me from the very beginning.

Showed it to a friend of mine once who had proclaimed that the original could not be topped, but after 2 hours of jumping out of his skin, he said that, ya, the remake had it over the original.

I was so ready for a sequel, but it never happened….and it may be too late now….unless those poor bastards are still up there 27 years later.

Carpenter's best film and on of Kurt Russel's best, too.

One of the things I loved about the Alien series as a whole (though I thought that the original did it best) was its artistic direction. I really thought the entire blue-collar, worn out, beat up space-future image was cool given the rest of the sci-fi that was being released at the time. The spaceships that were made to resemble 70's factories, compare that with say Star Trek or 2001. I thought this worked best in Aliens where you had soldiers wearing flak-jackets with assault rifles with junk written on it, and compare that with the stormtroopers from Star Wars.

Oh and something else I loved about Alien. If you see any horror movie like The Funhouse, you can't help but wonder "Well why don't they just get out of the house?" well Alien was almost like a remake of the classic killer-in-the-house-slasher film but now there is no house to escape from.

Death panels – on sale at Home Depot this weekend – $6.99 each. Re-do your Mother-in-laws living room.

Amen to that. Everyone of those actors was perfect. They couldn't do a remake nowadays because the hair product budget would crush the movie….

If I remember correctly, Faster Than Light travel in the Alien Universe requires people to be in suspended animation for safety. SubLight Travel doesn't require people to be in suspended animation but it is available. In the small ship Ripley was found, she and her cat were in suspended animation under SLT.

The larger transports and ships had FTL drives. Which allowed people to travel in weeks or months.

I know it sounds odd, but I have been a fan of science fiction and this is best way to explain it.

From the "Not So Pleasant in Pleasantville" department:

Reader's Digest plans to file for bankruptcy!
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUST...

This is cultural shock. Who would have ever thought that Reader;s Digest might vanish? A nice little magazine, though I have not read it in ages. And all those incredible multi-LP box sets of records and CDs they have been issuing since the 1960s….with real music.

Yet why does that gentle little magazine seem somewhat out-of-date?

Troublesome times when the Reader's Digest has seen it's day. Sad, too.

http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/83508/

August 15, 2009

SCENES FROM A NEW AMERICA: So I dropped the girls off at a movie, and — since the Insta-wife was lunching with her mom — stopped at a Sonny’s Barbecue for lunch. A man — late 40s, big, with a wife and a daughter — came in with an empty holster on his belt. As he sat down at the booth next to mine, the manager came by and asked him if he’d left his gun in the car. Yes, said the man, who had a permit but thought he wasn’t allowed to carry in restaurants in Tennessee.. Well, they’ve changed the law, said the manager, and if you want to go get it that’s fine with us. It’s legal now, and I’m happy to have you carrying — if somebody tries to rob me, it’s two against one.

The man stepped outside and returned with a Springfield XD in the holster, chatted with the manager for a bit about guns, and then sat down and had lunch with his family.

Aliens!!!
mmmm Michael Biehn!!

I hear you there! I'm waiting one more year and will then spring Three Stooges on my son (much to my wife's dismay of course).

I prescribe an evening of Coronas and watching Alien.

SPOILER ALERT: I never noticed the point about the steam on their breath. What I noticed was that Keith David's character wasn't wearing the same coat that he had on the last time Kurt saw him.

Appropriate that Kurt hands Keith a bottle of J&B to drink from. It's the same J&B he poured into the computer to kill it after it beat him at chess. I think there's a hint in there somewhere.

Your wife is a wise woman. Bill is getting kind of whiny.

I love Alien. IMO the best of this series. and forget the good idea bad execution of the Alient vs. Predator films.
This whole movie just kept me scared and nervous the entire time when I first saw it, and I relive that when I see it as an adult.

the design of the different stages of the aliens, Geiger's artwork… brillant

<a href=”http://the2minshate.blogspot.com/” target=”_blank”>http://the2minshate.blogspot.com/

Let me guess…Mad Men is somehow supporting Hamas because someone wore a white head scarf? She condemns a female for the sin of being less than attractive? The Brits seem very stiff, and, well, British…still, it's only ep #1. I think Sal is going to be living in terror of being outed, which one must admit, would have some severe repercussions at the time. Re: stewardesses…well…sometimes you have to settle, I suppose. Looked gorgeous as always & whetted me for more.

I'm gonna say this right now… I enjoy all the Alien films except for the last one (Resurrection). Yes, that includes Alien 3, at least in its Special Edition "Assembly Cut" form with 30 minutes added back into it.

The film was cursed from the beginning. Multiple scripts, multiple directors, constant disagreements, and a first-time director battling the studio bureaucracy every step of the way. Alien 3 was the feature directorial debut of David Fincher, former ILM employee and music video wunderkind. To this day, he disowns the movie and despite being approached, refused to have anything to do with the new cut and declined to be interviewed for the Quadrilogy set.

Basically, I think it's a conceptually-flawed, visually-stunning film. It also features some great acting (Paul McGann's role is quite expanded in the longer version) and I think it's the best looking of all four films (shot by the late Alex Thomson and the only Fincher film shot using the anamorphic process). I love the foreboding atmosphere and Elliot Goldenthal's haunting score. Sadly, the alien effects leave much to be desired. The creature suit work is fine but the full-size shots were accomplished using rod puppets composted via blue screen and they stick out like a sore thumb.

I did notice the "costume change", but in fairness that could be written off as the character getting another coat against the freezing temps. The steam, though…..THAT can't be explained. And that is a very good point on the J&B, too!

I still find imagery and subtle hints throughout the movie.

Uh, TWICE!!

Gag…

OPEN THREAD MADNESS… great photo….

<A href="http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/tchristemac/securedownload.jpg[/IMG]" target=_blank>http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/tchristema...

and a booster shot of Magnificent Seven

Indeed, always choose the opposite of what a lib loves and you cant go wrong. Too bad we cant get Vegas odds the same way.

I don't know….. "Seven Samurai" has more blade action

Right now, they're in Florida. I saw this this morning, and am now thoroughly annoyed.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/14/crimi...

I have never quite understood the 'gun fear' that some people who don;t seem to ever had any contact with a gun sometimes exhibit. I never owned a gun until after the LA Riots during which time I realized that the only weapon I had to protect myself and my business was a broom.

I owned the gun for a decade, enjoyed firing it on the shooting range and never had an unreasonable fear of it. I knew a few gun owners – one friend has quite a few handguns and rifles and lives out in the hinterlands. Another friend owned 2 or 3 hand guns and always handled them with great profession – when sober.

I'm not uncomfortable in the presence of guns. I think it is an irrational fear.

As SHANE said – "A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that."

Simple and simplified, but true.

Indeed, but only if John Carpenter makes it.

that one would be a preventative vaccine, taken before being subjected to such a weekend in question.

I've seen "IT" 2 or 3 times in recent years. Naturally, it could have been better, but upon looking at it last week, it could have been SO much worse…especially considering it is from….oh…just looked – from 1958. Thought "IT" was early 50s. Still could have been worse, but it should have been better for 1958.

I don't recall a space ship with so many 90 degree angles inside.

Oh, well….Dabbs Greer and Ann Doran in space. That's a once in a lifetime occurrence!

PS – Best space film parody ever – AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON". Brutally funny!

No, I think 'Bollywood' goes back to the 40's or so. But it probably depends on the age of the person you're speaking to. These kids today got no sense of history!

Terror from beyond space? Oh no, you don't mean Washington D.C. do you?

Plant that eats rats
The giant pitcher plant – believed to be the largest meat-eating shrub – lures rodents into its slipper-shaped mouth and dissolves them with acid-like enzymes.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/weird/2...
/The Dems and RINO's better watch out

My uncle tried to show this to me when I was like 12 (on video – that's videoTAPE for you younger folk! LOL!). Anyway, it scared the ever-lovin poop out of me! I barely watched and spent most of the time running from the room! LOL! LOVED Aliens though. Of course, my husband, the military guy, loves the second one the best. And I liked it as well. Thought it was still horror, but mixed in some action and humor as well. The rest I could skip personally.

I love Amazon Women on the Moon.

"I know what you want! LICORICE WHIPS!"
"NO! I WANT A TITAN CONDOM!"

I love OPEN THREADS…………………………..

I want more of this……. he is going to have move back into the middle…. like Clinton….

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090817/ap_on_go_co/u...

Carpenter stuck more to the original story Who Goes There? The Thing captured the essence of horror. There were no distractions like a pointless romantic storyline. No political messages. None of that stuff. Just a group of individuals trapped in a hostile place with something none of them could completely comprehend.

The pacing was perfect, the attacks merciless, the acting superb. I hear they are making a prequel about the Norwegian camp that first discovered the alien. Hope Carpenter has input.

When I saw "Aliens" in '86, I didn't realize it was the sequel to "Alien"…which I never saw. Then I rented it, and freaked out.

Holy cow! That's a scary movie!

Fantastic character-development, intelligent script-writing, mental horror versus visual-gore…Ridley Scott rules!

PS: there's only one sequel to the "Alien" franchise. One. Although if "A V. P" had stuck to the Dark Horse comics rather than adding humans to the script, that would've been one kick-butt "sequel!"

Hank Scorpio,
The thing that seems to be overlooked among all the posts here is the fact the Sigourney Weaver was the first (Box Office Hit) female action hero. Though her character was not a prototypical hero (more of a reluctant one than anything else) up to that point a leading womans role was largely to scream until the man came and saved her. This makes it so completely different from anything else out there that it will always remain my number one pick. Just look back at all the female hero movies that came out after Alien hit the big screen. It started a whole new genre…..besides that the tag line was outstanding, "In space no one can hear you scream"…………….

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