Aliens

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/

I was recently told that I focus too much on my 'experience' in my reviews and not enough on the film. I personally don't agree with this as this is first and foremost a blog, and as such I feel a certain amount of personal experience is necessary. But I always welcome your views on the subject and point out that my comments box is always open.

Having said that, I will now advise the person who felt my ramblings were too much, to look away now, as this one is going to be very personal indeed! I have been very lucky to see Aliens this week, at the same cinema I saw The Terminator at last week, The Duke Of York's Picturehouse in Brighton. Aliens puts my total number of visits to this cinema at four. A paltry amount when you consider what a champion I am of the independent cinema in London, The Prince Charles Cinema. You will probably have noticed that my Terminator review didn't exactly go into detail about the cinema itself, the way I do when I visit The PCC. This is because I don't particularly rate The Duke Of York's. Each time I have been I have had a less than perfect cinematic experience. Rude and unhelpful staff on the first two visits and then a poor quality film and lack of attention to detail for The Terminator. Aliens is the first film I have REALLY enjoyed there. And it may be enough for me to start championing them too.

For those unfamiliar with James Cameron's 1986 follow up to Ridley Scott's Alien, allow me to enlighten you. In Alien, the crew of the mining ship The Nostromo, land on unchartered planet LV-426 after receiving what they presume is an SOS. One crewman is attacked on the planet's surface and brought back aboard with an organism attached to his face. We later learn this was implanting him with an alien life that later bursts out of him, killing him instantly. The alien created soon grows into a creature that wipes out the crew within 24 hours, leaving Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) as the only survivor. She sets The Nostromo to self destruct and escapes on the ships shuttle. In Aliens, Ripley's shuttle is picked up by a passing salvage team. She wakes from hypersleep to discover she had been floating in space for 57 years. She is brought before the company board who need answers as to what happened to The Nostromo and it's crew. Despite Ripley's detailed reports, they do not believe what happened on LV-426 and inform Ripley that the planet has since been colonised by terraformers. The company soon eats their words however, when they lose contact with the colony.  Ripley is asked to go back to LV-426 to aid an investigation into what happened to the colonists. At first reluctant to go, Ripley's frequent nightmares about the alien encourage her to face her demons. She agrees to accompany the group of marines sent down to the planet to find the colonists. There they discover an army of aliens that have been bred using more than 100 colonists as human hosts. And one little girl who has managed to survive to tell the tale. 

The showing of Aliens was sold out and the atmosphere was electric. Fans cheered at the start of the grainy original reel of the film. Favourite lines (mostly by Hudson "No way man!") were met with an auditorium of laughter and those less familiar with the film jumped at all the scary moments. I could not have asked for a better way to experience one of my all time favourite horrors.

The film shown was the theatrical cut, and although the reel was not in perfect condition (understandably, due to age), the grainy picture quality and intermittent sound just added to the tension already imbued in the film. Cameron's Aliens is a very different beast to the first Alien film, with hundreds more alien creatures and a higher human body count than before. But it also has more heart. The relationship between Newt and Ripley adding another dimension to the out and out horror of the first film. It's also a lot faster paced and funnier.

I recently watched the first Alien at home and was again forced to admit that although it has it's merits, I just don't love it. But while watching Aliens all I could think was that there is literally nothing I would change about it. This leaves me with the conclusion that Aliens has to receive my third perfect 10 of the year. 10 out of 10.

Interesting fact: Each marine's first name is the same as the actor who played them. The only exception is Cpl. Dwayne Hicks. We see "Frost R." who was played by Ricco Ross, so the character's full name is Pvt. Ricco Frost. The other characters are: Pvt. William Hudson, Pvt. Jenette Vasquez, Lt. William Gorman, Sgt. Al Apone, Pvt. Mark Drake, Cpl. Collette Ferro, Pvt. Daniel Spunkmeyer, Cpl. Cynthia Dietrich, Pvt. Tip/Tim Crowe, and Pvt. Trevor Wierzbowski.

Viewing Date - 29th September 2011

Original UK Release Date - 29th August 1986

Cast Overview:

Sigourney Weaver ~ Ellen Ripley

Michael Biehn ~ Cpl Dwayne Hicks

Carrie Henn ~ Rebecca 'Newt' Jorden

Paul Reiser ~ Carter Burke

Lance Henriksen ~ Bishop

Bill Paxton ~ Pvt Hudson

Jenette Goldstein ~ Pvt Vasquez

William Hope ~ Lt Gorman

Al Matthews ~ Sgt Apone

Mark Rolston ~ Pvt Drake

Director ~ James Cameron

Writer(s) ~ James Cameron (Screenplay and Story), David Giler (Story), Walter Hill (Story), Dan O'Bannon (Characters) and Ronald Shusett (Characters).

The Terminator

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/

I was recently looking at upcoming film listings for independent cinema's in the south. I was looking for film that hasn't been released yet but which I hope one of the smaller cinema's might get soon. In doing so I came across two classic films being shown at my local independent picture house, the Duke of Yorks. The first was The Terminator. The second, well you'll find out what that is when I review it next week! 

Having never seen The Terminator on the big screen, and after recently re-watching Terminator Salvation and wanting to see the first Terminator again, it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up.

For those not familiar with the film, it's about Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), an ordinary 80s waitress with an unspectacular life. That is until a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent back from the future to kill her before she can give birth to a baby not yet conceived. A son that will one day become the future leader of a resistance movement against the machines that have taken over. Unbeknown to The Terminator, or to Sarah, her future son has sent back a soldier, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), to protect her.

As I mentioned above, I recently re-watched Terminator Salvation and doing so gave me a real hankering to watch the original Terminator film, just to see if it worked as well when you watched them back to back. It also occurred to me that unlike other films which have had several sequels, you can watch the Terminator films in a loop, owing to the element of Kyle Reese being sent back in time. Now that I've done this I would recommend it to others as it does put an interesting spin on the whole Terminator series. It also shows how much homework the people involved in Terminator Salvation did to blend it with the first film. 

Right, now that I've jabbered on about Salvation I will get on with talking about the film that started the whole series off, The Terminator. It's an undisputed classic in my eyes. I want to say Arnie's best role, is that going too far? He barely has any dialogue but he is so imposing and genuinely frightening in his portrayal of a killing machine who will not stop. Michael Biehn was perfectly cast as the lovestruck soldier sent back in time to protect a woman he admires deeply, but has never met. And finally Linda Hamilton in the role that has defined her career. 

It's true that some of the effects have not stood the test of time but overall the film has. The performances have, and that's what draws you in and keeps you there. Having said that, some of the Terminator effects at the end, although given away by the green screen, were revolutionary at the time and still look great. The direction is slick and the story, which continues through spin off shows and sequels more than 20 years later, still feels unique and appealing.

For anyone who's not seen it, and indeed to anyone who has but maybe not watched it for a while, get on LoveFilm, borrow it off a friend or dig it out of your DVD collection and get watching. Remember what all the fuss was about. You won't regret it. 9 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 23rd September 2011

Original UK Release Date - 11th January 1985

Cast Overview:

Arnold Schwarzenegger ~ The Terminator

Michael Biehn ~ Kyle Reese

Linda Hamilton ~ Sarah Connor

Paul Winfield ~ Lieutenant Ed Traxler

Lance Henriksen ~ Detective Hal Vukovich

Rick Rossovich ~ Matt Buchanan

Bess Motta ~ Ginger Ventura

Earl Boen ~ Dr Peter Silberman

Director ~ James Cameron

Writer(s) ~ James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd

Acknowledgement to the works of Harlan Ellison and Additional Dialogue by William Wisher Jnr