YOU CAN NEVER HAVE JUST ONE, (OR) WHY ALIENS MAY BE THE BEST HORROR FILM OF ALL TIME

It's a lofty statement, it really is. To first even suggest that a horror film can be good by any standard other than makeup and effects is difficult to utter other than in jest. Only a few in my viewing life (perhaps 10 I can think of off the top of my head) have accomplished this-Alien being one of them.

But then to suggest a sequel is-BETTER than the film of origin?! I'm surprised the film sacrilege police haven't busted down my door.

But if anyone can do it, I suppose it's that darn James Cameron. After all, many believe his second effort in the Terminator franchise eclipsed the first. I guess you (you being me) have to weigh out all the pro's and con's.

James Cameron cannot (again all in my opinion, informed as it is, by several thousand movies) and I mean CANNOT write to save his life. One of the glaring shortcomings of every film I've ever seen by him is a stereotypical ancillary character that just distracts and detracts from the overall presentation. Cases in point: Titanic--Billy Zane's Cal was so melodramatic both in performance and script and the magnanimity of Victor Gerber's character, heck even of the two main protagonists is so sickeningly sweet, I nearly got a toothache. Then there's The Abyss-another solid, solid and stunning-effects driven film ahead of it's time, downgraded from an A+ to B+, A- because of the hillbilly character "Catfish", and others, though at least the two leads were able to act the pants off an otherwise silly exchange of dialogues. Don't even get me started on Avatar. It is so self-righteous, (and the extended version of the Abyss straddles that line also) that it's suffocating on it's own self-importance. Thankfully, again, the visual element leaves one breathless anyway. And if you really want to have some fun at Avatar and Cameron's expense, watch Aliens and Avatar back to back and keep a log of how much he ripped off his own story.

So, back we circle to Aliens. Bill Paxton's character of Hudson is so distracting that I nearly have to mute the film whenever he gets panicked. (SIDE NOTE: Bill Paxton's directorial debut is a thriller/supernatural horror gem of a film called Frailty. I would include it in the short list of "good" horror films) Thus, one might say of James Cameron, "Joel, if he's that bad of a writer, how can he get all this attention, critical acclaim, and have Aliens be considered one of the best horror flicks of all time?"

I'll tell you simply in my opinion. He can direct the crap out of a film, and is one of the best innovators/new idea makers and video technology advancers that I can recall. His fault is in his writing, not his vision or direction. It's like that magic bullet blender. Sure it looks like the thing can be launched into space, but there's no getting around the fact that you just paid five times the price for a smaller, slightly faster, blender. There's always a trade-off. The trade-off between Ridley Scott's first installment of Alien to Cameron's Aliens sequel? Cameron's dialogue is clunky, and expects everyone to believe that all Marines are dumb jarheads that just wanna blow stuff up, while all corporate managers are slimy and as evil as the aliens the Marines encounter.

But he took the elements of suspense that are now naturally present with multiple aliens and keeps the audience perched on the edge of their seats with precise advancement and initiation of screen time and off screen elements regarding the otherworldly antagonists. His treatment of effects-driven work gives it a stunning upgrade to the franchise. The attention to visual details and continuity as well as set design as impeccable. Everything looks more industrial, more slimy, more gritty, just....more.

Ridley Scott's pace in the 1979 film is deliberate also, but lulls too much because we're learning about each character and ultimately kind of liking each of them for what and who they are. He establishes Ripley's importance, and the integrity of her never waivers. She will always do what is best, what is right. Cameron's characters you don't have a lot invested in, except Ripley, who as I just noted, was already established. His supporting cast is more flippant and ultimately kind of silly. This is not, however, a total loss-because it gives Weaver a chance to shine once again. She was even nominated for an Oscar in the role-forever giving a new credence to the genre as a whole. Pay attention that early scenes with her are an anecdote for a woman's struggles in a man's world. See also Bishop (Lance Henriksen) the android: he is historically noted as one AI that follows Issac Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics. So here's that lack of character development/poor writing vs. great directing tradeoff again. Since you care so little about some of the Aliens characters, and in fact dislike them strongly, you actually look forward to their demise, creatively and lovingly crafted by a visionary who has capitalized on our fear of the unknown and ALSO our fascination with that fear. The problem being that the end is somewhat telegraphed in regarding the two most attention-holding characters, Ripley and Bishop. I won't mention much about Newt at this point; on any given particular viewing, I vacillate on her character's effectiveness. She's there to point out a kink in Ripley's armor; the rest is a near total suspension of disbelief.

Still, since you get what you pay for--(i.e. every horror movie I've ever seen there's always a character you love to hate, either because they're pesky, whiny, incompetent or evil) one will tolerate this lack of character depth, and appreciate that Cameron has played by the rules. The hero must be willing to give all. The hero possesses an innocence that is either challenged or tainted. The hero has a character flaw that nearly causes them to fail; they ultimately overcome it. The hero is one of the only survivors, and gets to go home. Straight out of The Odyssey and the Bible.

But don't expect Ripley to be resurrected in white robes. Her journey is far from over, sadly. This is the point where going out on a high note would have been wise, call it a day. When the scene faded to black, the first time I saw it, I was nearly panting. Scott's Alien equals the ride that drops you straight down ten stories in two seconds and bounces you up and down once or twice. Cameron's Aliens is like a roller coaster ride that you love every second of except for the weird soundtrack.

The last two films to conclude this thread soon.

Monster Movie Month-Alien Invasion Part 1

If you are not familiar with 21st century television, and pop culture in general, (and believe me, I'm not an expert by any means)--then you may have missed the memo that the month of October now sees a large portion of all 31 days dedicated to an obsessive phenomemon with ghouls, ghosts, monsters, tricks and treats. People plan their costumes months in advance for the 31st and adorn their yards as opulently as many do for Christmastime. And on TV? SyFy runs month-long monster mayhem (at least one horror movie a day for the entire month); AMC does two+ weeks of Frightfest, a similar format, but incrementally increasing the feature fright films as All Hallow's Eve approaches.

Since I'm not sure where to begin concerning a discussion or review of horror movies--it seems best to consider these two provisions and present what it is I've watched so far this season.

I will try to tackle the Alien franchise. TRY. The reason I emphasize this--is because it could go in a variety of directions; such as franchises in general, the rare occasion when a sequel surpasses the initial film in the series, the argument of "quitting while you are ahead" and if necessary "quitting while you are behind" (AKA Let sleeping dogs lie), debate of sci-fi thriller vs. horror film, traditional horror film formula (does it follow the rules? See Scream for a perfect, albeit tongue-in-cheek explanation), or blazing a new path, and certainly the career launching for directors and performers alike. Possibilities abound.

As noted in an earlier blog post, I will stick to what I saw/see and what I thought/think about it.

Therefore, plan on moments of brevity, levity, long-windedness, existentialism, and just about all the "space" in between.

Speaking of space--it has long been the "final frontier" of imagination. And long has mankind been obsessed with it. Galileo, Copernicus, all the way to modern day reference of the space race, Spock, Stephen Hawking and Arthur C. Clarke, Close Encounters, and of course, all of the things that happened A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

In 1979, young director Ridley Scott was seeing the disappointing reception of his first feature film, The Duellists, and the critical and widespread acceptance of Star Wars--a big budget, Oscar-garnering space epic-and sniffed out the possibilities. The end result is his groundbreaking cinematic feature, Alien--a vehicle that jump-started Sigourney Weaver's career and must have made 90% of the world second-guess every stomach cramp anyone would ever have from that point on.

While in hypersleep, a crew of seven aboard the commerical space freighter Nostromo, is awakened by a signal from a nearby planet, which appears to be an SOS. The reality by Weaver's character Ellen Ripley that it was not an SOS, but a warning to stay away, comes just a little too late. By now, the crew is discovering strange pod-like installations, bizarre, biomechanic instruments, and of course, "the face-sucker", "the chest-buster" and "acid blood". Awesome.

If you haven't seen Alien yet, but are planning to, please consider that although some of the effects, make-up, and cinematic wizardry pale in comparison to what studios are now capable of, this film, catapulted what George Lucas had initialized in Star Wars and took it to a whole new, creepy, gory, otherworldly level. No one was making movies quite like this. Horror films, splatter flicks, yeah had their gag-inducing bloodshed scenes, but you got what you paid for. The combination of well-thought out dramatic plot and characterization, with sci-fi setting,

creepy thrills, and gross-out villains just wasn't being done. Anywhere. Not in 1979. And I have to, have to, give more than a nod to Scott for this achievement. He was developing his wheelhouse with this movie and he knocked it out of the park, in my opinion. Oscar was kind, too. It won for Best Visual Effects (H.R. Giger spearheading the design of the creepy creatures) and was nominated for all Art Direction, also taking a slew of other awards, such as the Saturn and Hugos.

If you watch it with fresh eyes--either on a return viewing or truly for the first time, consider these notes, if you would, because the movie laid a groundwork for storytelling across multiple films and developing a heroine like had not been attempted before. Bravo, says I.

It's a film I watch every year, the same as so many of us watch It's a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Story, A Christmas Carol, etc every December. I suppose that's sufficient for now.

Aliens (the sequel) post to follow soon.

Moving Pictures

I really don't know how to ever begin these things-mostly because I think it's absurdly narcissistic and presumptous to believe anyone wants me to just spout out bits of information so assimiliation by anyone else; though I suppose that facebook (which I am fairly active on) isn't really all that different-so I guess I should approach it similarly.

My status update is this: I have seen a lot of movies in my time--in excess of 20,000 at last atttempted tally), and in an effort to not consider those hours a total loss, I'd like to shift the purpose of this blog to one that discusses what I've seen in those hours, not just random stuff that happens to me that I find interesting that I'm hopeful someone else will (click) "like".

Let me clarify. Some of this will be a synopsis of film, some a review, some an analysis. None of it is emperical. All of it is anecdotal. None of it is done with the intent to sway any given reader to certain viewpoint. All of it is to inform other viewpoints from the viewpoint of my own. I will account for only what I have seen, and how I reacted to it, thought of it. This is not to impel others to see movies that I discuss here. I simply am a movie junkie. No two ways about it. I love the creativity of it, the escapism of it, reality of it, historical accuracies, discrepancies, the performances, the artisanship--and I've seen movies that have truly changed my life positively, and others that have changed me because of a deep resentment for having spent the time and money to see them.

It really won't bother me if no one reads this. It won't bother me if someone thinks I'm a lunatic for doing this or because of my opinion on a given film. I won't be distraught if everyone ignores the link to this, or comments negatively and it will not bother me if "everyone" is like, four people.

I am doing this because I can recall what I've seen, and what it meant to me. If another player on this stage can benefit from my work, then on with the show. I will probably do an official kickoff blog-likely to do with horror movies, since they're a favorite, and since it's the month for such things to be more available, so stay tuned today, I guess. Or don't. I really don't care either way. Just happy to put my ideas, even of matters so trivial, somewhere other than the backburner.