Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)

[Norah]

I've never seen any of them.

[epilogue]

Alien Aliens and Alien 3 are all totally worth your time. You should check dem effers out.

[BurtReynolds]

I fast forwarded through the first AVP. Bland forgettable characters, compromised, studio note driven direction, complete lack of a single original idea, poor lighting cinematography, etc, amateurish action, watered down for PG-13... utterly valueless.

[LoathedVermin72]

I'm leaving work soon and won't have time to type out that explanation before I do, but I'll get back to you. It is forthcoming.

I violently disagree with pretty much everything you just said about AVP, Burt, especially when it comes to the direction, lighting, and cinematography. And the unrated cut helps with the violence issue quite a bit.

[BurtReynolds]

yeah my favorite part of AVP was when the one alien thing did that thing to the other thing in the pitchblack dark that I couldn't see. I mean the camera flopped around like it was having a seizure before cutting away to protect the children from the sight of blood, but I bet it was awesome. And the predators looked like sumo wrestlers. In fat suits.

[BurtReynolds]

this is good though. I don't want to talk about fucking Star Wars anymore. Star Wars is for babies. Why are you people (by people I mean the entire world) so obsessed with these movies?! Lets talk about Predator, and why its such a spectacular film.

[VinylGuy]

Aliens and alien 3 over the first one?

1. Aliens (In my all-time top 10.)
2. Alien3
3. AVP
4. Predator
5. Alien
6. Predators
7. Alien: Resurrection
8. Predator 2
9. Prometheus
10. AVP-R

Oh, there was a mistake in your post...AVP was above Alien...haha that was funny because its impossible you can consider that right???
RIGHT?

...I may or may not be something of a Paul W.S. Anderson fan.

You know what, fuck it, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Event Horizon, AVP, and Soldier are better than anything Ridley Scott has ever made or ever will make.

Alien is a masterpiece. Even prometehus is better than those 3.

[epilogue]

Aliens and alien 3 over the first one?

1. Aliens (In my all-time top 10.)
2. Alien3
3. AVP
4. Predator
5. Alien
6. Predators
7. Alien: Resurrection
8. Predator 2
9. Prometheus
10. AVP-R

Oh, there was a mistake in your post...AVP was above Alien...haha that was funny because its impossible you can consider that right???
RIGHT?

...I may or may not be something of a Paul W.S. Anderson fan.

You know what, fuck it, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Event Horizon, AVP, and Soldier are better than anything Ridley Scott has ever made or ever will make.

Alien is a masterpiece. Even prometehus is better than those 3.

Aw huh

[epilogue]

Well, I've only seen Event Horizon out of those three he listed. But Prometheus is a shit ton better than that thing.

[nyquillyn]

And Blade Runner is better than anything Aliens, Star Wars or Star Trek.

[Kaius]

Team Apollo 13

[BurtReynolds]

Predator 2 has Bill Paxton and Gary Busey. Drop whatever pointless bullshit you are doing right now and go watch Predator 2 instead.

[BurtReynolds]

And Blade Runner is better than anything Aliens, Star Wars or Star Trek.

ya know, my fondness for that movie grows every year. You might be right.

edit: Director's cut only, of course.

[epilogue]

And Blade Runner is better than anything Aliens, Star Wars or Star Trek.

Run tell dat!

[epilogue]

Well, I probably like Star Trek: TNG more than Blade Runner. If I'm being completely honest. But still.

[BurtReynolds]

Predator 2 has Bill Paxton and Gary Busey. Drop whatever pointless bullshit you are doing right now and go watch Predator 2 instead.

oh and Morton Downey, Jr. too for some reason.

[LoathedVermin72]

I want, no demand, an in depth explanation of why you think AVP is a better movie than Alien and Predator. I want a minimum of five paragraphs.


btw, Predator 2 is fucking awesome. Dirty Harry + an Alien. "In other words you're cutting off my dick and shoving it up my ass!" Great and violent 80s movie.

Okay, make no mistake: I am not knocking Predator. I love Predator. It's an awesome movie. I just love AVP slightly more.

I totally agree that Predator is pretty much the apex of '80s machoness. It's badass as fuck. It's a lot of fun. It's lean and mean. It's brutal. I dig all that.

But what I love about AVP - and this is pretty much expected from me by now, I imagine - is the atmosphere. I totally disagree that the film suffers from any lighting, direction, or cinematography problems; I think it's a very well-made, visually pleasing movie. If there's one thing W.S. Anderson knows, it's sci-fi visuals.

I mean, AVP is basically an amalgamation of a bunch of different "atmosphere" bullseyes for me personally:
-Barren arctic? Check.
-Ominous underground? Check.
-Abandoned structure? Check.
-Mysteriously missing people? Check.
-Ominous ancient building? Check.
-People getting slowly picked off by violent creatures? Check.

I love all that shit, so the way the movie combines them all into one package is very satisfying for me. I love watching it. I also think all the predator and alien action is handled very well; both species are given their due and feel genuinely threatening. The movie has an intense energy.

On top of that, I really appreciate how multicultural, diverse, and progressive the ensemble is (Anderson is usually very good with this in general). The protagonist is a non-sexualized black woman who is neither overly tough nor overly weak - she's just a person. That is EXTREMELY rare in big genre movies like this. Conversely, I'm not too crazy about the way gender roles are treated in Predator; the one (one!) woman is basically just there to act traumatized while all the dudes are he-men. That's pretty boring and lame, especially at a time in a genre cinema when people like James Cameron had already started busting down the doors of traditional gender roles.

[LoathedVermin72]

Well, I've only seen Event Horizon out of those three he listed. But Prometheus is a shit ton better than that thing.

Prometheus is braindead horseshit.

[LoathedVermin72]

Aliens and alien 3 over the first one?

1. Aliens (In my all-time top 10.)
2. Alien3
3. AVP
4. Predator
5. Alien
6. Predators
7. Alien: Resurrection
8. Predator 2
9. Prometheus
10. AVP-R

Oh, there was a mistake in your post...AVP was above Alien...haha that was funny because its impossible you can consider that right???
RIGHT?

...I may or may not be something of a Paul W.S. Anderson fan.

You know what, fuck it, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Event Horizon, AVP, and Soldier are better than anything Ridley Scott has ever made or ever will make.

Alien is a masterpiece. Even prometehus is better than those 3.

Honestly Alien has never done much for me. Outside of the visceral shock factor of the first viewing, I don't think it has much going for it. I've really found it intense or compelling.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Guys, Event Horizon is a really good movie.