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  #391  
Old 18th September 2022, 12:16 AM
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Sounds like a plan for you
You have to admit it must sound cosy on a cold evening.

If it's chilly here it must be ****ing freezing up in Dundee.

No wonder Treb's watching Night of the Big Heat.
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  #392  
Old 18th September 2022, 12:19 AM
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You have to admit it must sound cosy on a cold evening.

If it's chilly here it must be ****ing freezing up in Dundee.

No wonder Treb's watching Night of the Big Heat.
For the first time in a while i have had to put heating on tonight I think I'm just tired that I'm feeling the cold
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  #393  
Old 18th September 2022, 12:23 AM
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For the first time in a while i have had to put heating on tonight I think I'm just tired that I'm feeling the cold
I would have put the heating on but blankets are comfortable and warm. Like you it's tiredness with me. However Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell must be finished so snuggling down it is.
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  #394  
Old 18th September 2022, 10:25 PM
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Aliens. 1986.

One of the best Science-Fiction, action and horror films to out do it's predecessor, James Cameron took on the project and had problems behind the scenes but was able to fight through the problems and create this film.

57 years after the Nostromo took on a little extra hitch-hiker that caused problems. Ripley now goes back to the planet with Colonial Marines after colonists have lost contact with Earth, instead of fighting one alien, there is a mass horde of them.

Right after the first 20-25 mins we meet the marines who seem ready to kick ass except Bill Paxton's Hudson who seems to crack easily but then we begin to like him. Paul Reiser's Burke who is the company man seems likeable but then some company men turn out to be a real prick in which he becomes. There is plenty of action, suspense, laughs and a nice score by James Horner mixed in.

MV5BZGU2OGY5ZTYtMWNhYy00NjZiLWI0NjUtZmNhY2JhNDRmODU3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzkwMjQ5NzM@._V1_.jpg
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  #395  
Old 19th September 2022, 07:13 AM
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Alien Nation. 1988.

ok James Caan doesn't like talking about it
Desktop Screenshot 2022.09.19 - 16.07.22.69.jpg
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  #396  
Old 19th September 2022, 07:51 AM
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Originally Posted by MrBarlow View Post
Aliens. 1986.

One of the best Science-Fiction, action and horror films to out do it's predecessor, James Cameron took on the project and had problems behind the scenes but was able to fight through the problems and create this film.

57 years after the Nostromo took on a little extra hitch-hiker that caused problems. Ripley now goes back to the planet with Colonial Marines after colonists have lost contact with Earth, instead of fighting one alien, there is a mass horde of them.

Right after the first 20-25 mins we meet the marines who seem ready to kick ass except Bill Paxton's Hudson who seems to crack easily but then we begin to like him. Paul Reiser's Burke who is the company man seems likeable but then some company men turn out to be a real prick in which he becomes. There is plenty of action, suspense, laughs and a nice score by James Horner mixed in.

Attachment 242216
Also watching this yesterday along with alien. Will watch the rest of the films this week.
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  #397  
Old 19th September 2022, 09:09 AM
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THE TERMINATOR

Andrei Tarkovsky had very critical views of the sci-fi genre, even going as far as label 2001 as “cold and sterile,” and his own Solaris as “an artistic failure” due to its focus on dialogue and special effects. Tarkovsky said the genre was an expensive one, and thus was a slave to commercial needs and unable to explore humanity. There was one film that he felt stood out. One that satisfied his intellectual curiosity. In his book, Tarkovsky’s World and Films, Tarkovsky states, “The brutality and low acting skills are unfortunate, but as a vision of the future and the relation between man and his destiny, the film is pushing the frontier of cinema as an art.” The film was James Cameron’s The Terminator.

The Terminator opens with a vision from our future, although it could easily be mistaken for Hell. A future ravaged by nuclear winter. Night is permanent. The cold wind howls through the ruins of Los Angeles. Survivors crawl through debris, hiding while lights seek them out. Collapsed skyscrapers are dwarfed by mechanical monstrosities that prowl the landscape, destroying anything that breathes.

It then cuts to the then present day, 1984. Electrical currents spawns the T-800, a cyborg from the future that resembles Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s mission: kill the mother of the future resistance leader, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). There is something rather interesting to how the cyborg looks like the Teutonic powerhouse that is Arnie. His model was designed to look human, but Arnie doesn’t look like the everyman. Cameron had already intended to have someone like Lance Henriksen as the machine, but a meeting with Arnie changed his mind. That a computer system would see Arnie as the ideal human, gives it an unsettling parallel to the Third Reich, wiping out inferior humans and replacing them with “perfection.”

Even without the subtext, Arnie is perfect as the Terminator. Cameron stated that the film was born from a nightmare of a chrome skeleton rising from flames. Arnie never betrays any emotion. No smirking. No winking. No sideway glances. Arnie plays the part as a true machine. He reads the situation, and responds in the most logical manner. Even the “funny” dialogue is delivered with a cool bluntness that lacks the self-awareness of his later films. His hulking frame is menacing, and his cold stare is bound to give anybody the willies.

While I’m sure Tarkovsky wasn’t referring to Arnie, I do strongly disagree with his labelling the acting as “unfortunate.” The performances are specific to its genre trappings, but they are tremendous. One of the strongest aspects of Cameron’s screenplay is that almost every character is likable. Paul Winfield and Henriksen are some of the most compassionate police officers ever. Dick Miller has a small appearance as a garrulous gun salesman. Bess Motta is a darling as Sarah’s flatmate, Ginger. Even her boyfriend, Matt (Rick Rossovich), is a sweetheart. That these characters are all defined helps sells the ugly atmosphere of The Terminator. They are not bullet fodder, but conscious lives ripped from the world by an uncaring, violent machine.

Hamilton is a gem. I must admit that I’m not exactly a fan of her work. She’s definitely not a bad actor, but she always struck me as one who could say her lines while sounding sad, happy, or angry, but could never fill her characters out. Maybe that is due to her directors, because with Cameron, she is wonderful. She effectively plays Sarah as a confused, scared woman that has many (reasonable) questions, but is never annoying. She and Cameron give Sarah a proper arc – from hopeless in love, to fighting for life with determined grit.

The film’s secret weapon is Michael Biehn as Kyle Reece. Reece is a lost prophet – someone who has witnessed the horrors of the future, but cannot do anything to prevent it. Biehn’s scrawny frame is someone who fights for survival, not justice. He also plays Reece as someone that isn’t without a sense of humour, but incapable of understanding humour. In many scenes, Biehn looks like he has finished crying, whether it being from seeing humanity experience true freedom and taking it for granted, actual greenery in the sunshine, or being next to a woman he has loved for what may have been years, but cannot define it. It’s a stunning, tragic performance, one of the finest of the genre, or even the decade.

I strongly believe Biehn’s acting and “brutality” that propels The Terminator into a film as “a vision of the future and the relation between man and his destiny.” The Terminator is a vicious, cruel film. It is as much a horror film as it is a sci-fi thriller. The action scenes are extremely well staged, but the violence is blunt and without sentiment. The iconic scene in which Arnie shoots up the police station is similar to a tsunami. It cannot be stopped, and it obliterates all before it without any rational thought.

Despite the low budget, Cameron and his effect artists convincingly create the apocalypse. Bones and concrete are crushed together indiscriminately under the tracks of killing machines. Stan Winston's work effectively recreates the chrome skeleton from Cameron's nightmare. That low-frame shot of it chasing Reece and Sarah is enough to ruin my underwear. Cinematographer Adam Greenberg gives the film a grotty, grainy aesthetic – one that oozes evil. Whether it be the towering Hunter Killers, of the future, or the claustrophobic alleyways of present day Los Angeles, Reece is never fully free. Brad Fiedel’s pounding score constantly breathes in the background, refusing to give the audience any escape. The scenes from the future look like footage of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the blasts, and editor Matt Goldblatt wisely only shows snippets. They’re not just Reece’s nightmares, not just Cameron’s, but ours.

Cameron resolves his film in a satisfying manner, he doesn’t provide mankind with a happy conclusion. The Cold War was still rife at the time, and the recent war between Russia and Ukraine shows we still fear nuclear annihilation. The final lines are “There’s a storm coming in.” “I know.” We are hurtling towards our own destruction. Cameron grimly suggests that it is our destiny. The Terminator just doesn’t push the frontiers of cinema as an art. It pushes us to act now, lest we prove Cameron as a lost prophet too.
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  #398  
Old 19th September 2022, 11:06 AM
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Predator films...

I recently went on a bit of a sci fi binge, when the new Predator film Prey came out, it got me thinking about all the old classic 80's films and their franchises.

Watched Predator 2 and Predators, which I really enjoyed even though they weren't thought of as highly as the original at the time, they are both easy watches and very entertaining. Then caught the new Prey film which I thought was very good, especially after the pretty dodgy last installment.

Also caught Alien vs Predator on TV and although I don't think it was as good as the others I watched, I did enjoy it more than when I first saw it.

MV5BNThjZjI4NTgtZDk4Mi00ZjI1LWExZGUtNTRkOWY1ZTY3M2FlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_.jpg 7/10

1-172410212.jpg 7/10

Prey_2022_poster.jpg 8/10

Avpmovie.jpeg 5/10
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  #399  
Old 19th September 2022, 11:44 AM
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Another couple of Aliens...

Alien_Resurrection-257654592-large.jpeg

After Predator got me in the mood, I also decided to watch a few Alien films in the same week.
I've seen the first few so many times, so decided to rewatch a couple of the films in the franchise that people don't seem too hot on.

Alien Resurrection is one i've always liked since I first saw it, of the original 4 films it's admittedly not as good as the first 2, but I prefer it to 3 which I think is still good in the extended cut.

I like the playfulness of the film, twisting the dynamics of an Alien film, What with Ripley resurrected having Alien DNA that makes her more ruthless, but also plays with her in the role of a mother to them in a way, which is pretty messed up after her failed attempts in Aliens.

Also it seemed to me the creatures draw some intelligence from their new mother in the way they use reason to kill a fellow creature to escape from their confinement.

Anyway I still thoroughly enjoyed it, love the water scene and even the human/ alien doesn't bother me. 7.5 /10

image_f9126949.jpg

This gets a lot of flack but I don't actually mind it, I think the demise of the survivor from Prometheus was a bit harsh considering i thought she was one of the standout parts of that film.

But I like the fact that David is a vicious bastard who basically genetically breeds the Alien into the creature we know, therefore like Frankenstein taking on the "modern Prometheus" role.

THe thing that lets this down is the rest of the crew, who aren't particularly likeable, but for a bit of Alien style carnage I find it watchable enough.

6/10

1lwdD7WmmXt4D9e1r3agI9ExeG7k4nZO.jpg

Also played through the Alien Isolation game at the same time, which i'd only got halfway through before as I got freaked out and hid in a cupboard and didn't bother coming out again.
Finished it this time and it was a brilliant recreation of the Alien aesthetic and bloody terrifying.

8/10
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  #400  
Old 19th September 2022, 12:11 PM
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Terminators...

After my alien dalliance and being in the mood for classic Sci-fi i ended up rewatching Terminator 2 for the first time in about 10 years.

It's still an absolute classic although I still slightly prefer the original for it's stripped back bleakness and tension.

MV5BMGU2NzRmZjUtOGUxYS00ZjdjLWEwZWItY2NlM2JhNjkxNTFmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjU0OTQ0OTY@._V1_.jpg 9/10

Then watched that Terminator- Dark Fate modern continuation which I enjoyed as well, up to a point.
Liked all the action scenes featuring Sarah Connor at the beginning of the film and enjoyed the Arnie stuff, but once we get to the airplane scene it lost me and became just another modern CGI fest that goes to far and ends up feeling like an extended cut scene in a video game.
Shame as I was enjoying it.

Terminator+-+Dark+Fate.jpeg 6/10
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