Enter the next two films of the Alien universe with myself, Jack, and Moreno as we watch Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection. The last two films (for now?) of the Sigourney Weaver Quadrilogy, they are certainly not looked back fondly by most. But will one of more of us enjoy them, especially the Mexican asshole on the podcast who hadn’t seen either before this week?
Listen below to find out, and be sure to tune in next week when we do two, well, non existent Vs films.
There are film series. And then there is the Alien series.
There may never be a more different set of films than the Alien films. A series where the first four entries only similarity is Sigourney Weaver’s character of Ellen Ripley. The second set is looked at by many as a wasted opportunity, and the original’s director comes back over thirty years later to tell the philosophy filled backstory. Moods contained in the films change, as do directors behind the scenes. But will we adapt to them all the further we go along?
I have been looking for an excuse to do a retrospective on for the almost two years I have been injecting this format into the Binge Aftertaste. And with Alien Covenant rolling right around the corner (a review of which will end this series of podcasts), could there be a bigger reason?
Actually yes, as Johnny/Alyx Moreno has not seen the majority of the films. What will he think? How is Aliens to him after being told to watch it at least twice a year since him and Jim Law have been on the air? Will the hype get to him?
I am really looking forward to this series. So download the first episode below and listen to me, Jack Valley, and Johnny/Alyx Moreno journey through space. And beer.
I guess I can officially be classified as ‘the list man’ around the Binge offices. If you listened to that five hour barrage of drunken stupidity known as the Binge Cast from about a month ago -yyeeeppp, THAT one- then you are well aware of my love for The Witch. While giving my verbal review of the film, I proclaimed it to contain one of the most satisfying endings I have ever seen on film.
This proclamation got me thinking. Not only about why I hadn’t paced myself in the beer department, as my final beer was on its final legs at that point-but also this: If The Witch is going to one day make my list of ten most satisfying endings -and after another viewing or two, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did- it will have to go up against these ten bad boys of cinema. The below list contains a little bit of everything genre wise. But after so many times of walking out of a movie theater cursing out writers due to a thrown together ending -hello The Call– I thought I would put the best parts of those final reels to the test.
Warning: All of the titles I mention below have either pictures of their finales or detailed descriptions of them. Proceed with caution.
10) Heat (1995)
Michael Mann has certainly been getting a ton of references in both my podcast appearances and articles of late. But how can he not? The, uhhh, man, has put together some great films, and an argument could be made that 70% of his filmography could have been sitting comfortably in this spot. But in the end, I decided on Heat for two reasons. One, it is one of his most accomplished works in terms of action and dialogue he has ever done. Also, the synergy that came with having both Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino in the same film, at this exact point in their careers, was satisfying in of itself. The way they came together for a cup of coffee right after Vincent Hanna (Pacino) pulls Neil McCauley (DeNiro) over is far from by the numbers. Why didn’t he take him in? Because Vincent wanted to see where he was coming from, and realized in many instances, they were one of the same. That’s what makes the film’s final moments satisfying. Vincent has won. But he knows in a lot of ways, he lost, because he destroyed a part of himself.
9) Seven (1995)
Along with The Blair Witch Project, this film will forever live atop my list of favorite film going experiences (another list?). One, it has one of the most startling -yet brilliantly set-up- jump scares I have ever seen involving a shackled to his bed drug dealer. But David Fincher’s up front, nihilistic film moves along at a leisurely pace for a good while, as Mills (Brad Pitt) and Summerset (Morgan Freeman) investigate a series of vicious murders, with ‘John Doe’ always having the upper hand. That pace changes as soon as Doe turns himself in. We are then on the end journey with the two detectives, as they take Doe to where his final piece of the puzzle will inevitably be put in place. Wrecked with suspense when a van pulls up -perhaps my favorite single moment of the entire movie- the audience is on the edge of their seat as the driver gets out — and leaves a box. I will not say anymore, other than the fact that going to the movies and seeing the ‘bad guy’ win was a very rare thing in the 90s. Yet Fincher’s insistence -at the expense of a defiantly against it studio- of his film’s final few frames put a permanent stamp on our minds. It made us think about not only how fucked up Doe was, but also just what we would do if put in the exact same situation as Mills. And if he had a choice about whether or not to do what he did.
8) Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1988)
Yeah, I went a little against the grain with this pick. But I feel I do have a pretty good reason why. As was outlined on a recent Bingecast Movie Homework, Steve Martin’s Neil Page spends almost the entire film trying his damndest to get away from John Candy’s shower curtain ring selling Del Griffith. It gets so demanding on Neil, that writer/director John Hughes plays a bit of short hand, as he at one point shows Page standing in his cozy motel room, gazing at Griffith, who was unable to afford a room. Griffith is trying to make the best of the situation, talking to himself, while also trying to stay warm in his car as snow falls around him. Finally, we hear Martin’s voice. ‘What did I do to get hooked up with this guy?’ We ask along with him, but are also thankful they did indeed find each other, as it had resulted in some of the funniest comedy bits from the entire 80s.
By the end of the film, Page finally is able to separate himself from Griffith, saying in closing, ‘tell (his wife) I said hi. I feel like I know her.’ ‘Will do,’ Griffith replies, so softly that it is almost cryptic. After a train ride which sees Page waving goodbye and sighing a deep sigh of relief, Griffith meets him at the next station (whoa, he travels FAST!) and proceeds to tell an inquiring Page that his wife has been dead for eight years, and he in fact doesn’t have a home. The moment in of itself is a heart tugger, and the above image is the perfect metaphor for where and how, after all their travelling, they eventually ended up going to Thanksgiving dinner in tandem. Because they worked together in order to do so.
7) Carrie (1976)
I was fortunate enough to grow up with a mother who was not a psychotic, God fearing zealot. Yay me. Sissy Spacek’s Carrie White, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky. In the first film adaptation of Stephen King’s very first published novel, White literally has nowhere to turn. If she doesn’t have kids at school tormenting her about her first period, she was coming home to a mom who was angry about her daughter growing breasts. It is very rare seeing a movie that cultivates in a mother getting killed and then have me deem it ‘satisfying.’ But that is indeed what Carrie amounts to. Living a young life of torment, Carrie finally unleashes her powers and crucifies her mom on the wall with a series of flying kitchen knives.
Margaret White portrayer (and Oscar nominee) Piper Laurie famously declared that she spent the entire filming of Carrie thinking director Brian DePalma was making a comedy. While I have always taken this admission with the tiniest gran of salt, everyone knows the death by knives conclusion wasn’t the REAL ending of the film. But it’s the one that will always live in my memories as its finest moment.
6) The Descendants (2011)
The Descendants, like the majority of Alexander Payne movies, is a film that brings with it a barrel of emotions. One moment, you laugh at George Clooney running -with flip flops on- through a Hawaiian street. The next, you cringe as he meets his wife’s infidelity partner (Matthew Lillard). And finally, you are crying as the two daughters of the film are told -through a heart wrenching montage- that their mother will not make it out of intensive care alive. All the while, older daughter Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) fights with her father, and younger daughter Scottie (Amara Miller) just wants to see her mom.
So, after ALL this, how does Payne leave this family as an audience’s final image? Is it in torment? In constant self-doubt? No to both. We see them curled up on the couch, enjoying bowls of ice cream and watching movies. Together. It’s one of those moments that gets more beautiful the more you think about it, as opposed to seeing as it happens. Yet, I feel it is Payne’s best bit of storytelling of his entire career. Even after everything these three have experienced, they are still a family. And most importantly, they still have each other.
5) The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Perhaps the movie that has come up on the most of these lists of mine, I would be remiss if I didn’t include it here. The entire length of The Shawshank Redemption was spent with Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) in a living hell, being sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. Yet, he finds refuge in fellow inmate Ellis Redding (Morgan Freeman), until eventually letting him know of his dream to end up on a Hawaiian beach, free from it all.
With dank smelling and stone solid walls, along with some real asshole prison guards, the possibility of this happening looks bleak for Dufresne. But thanks to the Rita Hayworth poster in his cell, he is able to concoct a plan that gets him out, and the shot of him looking into the rain and spellings of freedom upon him could have passed for an ending which was indeed satisfying. But that wasn’t all Darabont had up his sleeve. As Dufresne sets up shop on his little island, Darabont swings his camera around to a barefoot Redding, who himself has also finally tasted the sweet taste of freedom. The film may be wrapped a little too tight for its own good. But after being in such a dark and dirty place for so long, I think everyone -from the two characters all the way to their audience- deserved this moment.
4) Jaws (1975)
Speaking of well deserved moments. But this was one that almost wasn’t. Readers of Jaws the book know the ending from the page consisted of the shark getting rammed, thereby sinking to its death. But a 27 year old, ambitious in his on the fly decision-making director named Steven Spielberg would have none of it. After Spielberg concocting the film’s literally explosive climax, author Peter Benchley vehemently opposed, saying there was no way the audience would believe such a ridiculous ending. ‘Peter,’ Spielberg said, ‘if I have them this long, then the unbelievability factor won’t be a problem.’ Benchley still furiously fought for it to be omitted, objecting so much that Spielberg eventually had enough and threw him off the set.
When watching the film now, there is absolutely no doubt about the fact that Spielberg’s inclinations were indeed correct. Jaws had moved at a sort of horror film pace for its first two acts, and after turning on the adrenaline for its final one, a simple ramming of the shark (think Jaws The Revenge‘s ending. Then again, don’t) would simply not do for an audience’s pay off. By having Brody shoot the oxygen tank in the shark’s mouth, Spielberg accomplished two things. One, a final thrill for an audience which was already on the edge of their seats. Two, a sort of arc for Brody in that he has one less reason to be afraid of the water. Whether Benchley liked it or not, Spielberg did in fact have the audience in the palm of his hand. And that audience has rarely left it since.
3) Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Kathryn Bigelow’s follow-up to her Oscar winning war film The Hurt Locker is, in my mind, the far superior of the two. The film focuses on the true life set of circumstances which led black ops to the location of Osama bin Laden. All of this is built on the intelligence gathering of mostly fictional intelligence officer Maya (Jessica Chastain) as after many false pretenses, she finally nails the location down pat. I say Maya is ‘mostly fictional’ because screenwriter Mark Boal has said while she is indeed based on a real person, she is actually the algorithm of ‘many other hard working women.’
Indeed, the film is an at times frustrating watch, as two hours goes by with nary a hint of success on her part. However, it is Zero Dark Thirty‘s final half hour, complete with a brilliantly mapped out onscreen raid -told mostly from their POV- that keeps you white knuckled. And while the ending is obvious from the start, it is still a terrifically gratifying moment seeing that -after so much doubt being brought upon Maya from both outside and inside sources for almost the entire film- she can finally crack a smile in the film’s final moments.
2) Aliens (1986)
Speaking of strong, hard working women (okay, I’ll stop with this column’s natural/unnatural transitions), James Cameron has been known to write a few of his own. Take the two pictured here. In Aliens, Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley goes through hell to protect herself and the little girl we know only as Newt (after saying she didn’t like her name, which was Rebecca). Now in the director’s cut, Ripley is given an even bigger incentive, as she learns her daughter had died from the time she floated off into space until she was discovered by a random space sweep. Supposedly, this plot point was the only reason (well, along with 13 million other ones) why Weaver decided to come back in the first place, and she was none too happy when she discovered the scene of her finding out about her daughter’s fate was cut from the final theatrical cut.
To me, the scene’s exclusion doesn’t take away from the film’s final shot, shown above. After again narrowly defeating and escaping the Queen xenomorph’s clutches, Ripley has a few moments of zen. Curled up with her inherited daughter in front, and wounded but safe father Hicks in back, Ripley is finally free again. Until that damn nihilist David Fincher came along. But that’s another story for another day.
1) Rocky (1976)
Anyone who heard me dissect this puppy with Binge’s very own Luke Norris on our previous series of Aftertaste podcasts knows the exact reason why the ending of Rocky sits comfortably at the top of this list. Nevermind the fact that up until this point, Rocky was already a perfect movie. That a series of moments in the film’s final frames all but sealed itself up as the quintessential Hollywood ending only makes itself that much more powerful. Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa spent almost the entire film self doubting himself in this moment of a lifetime, while also courting what he sees as the woman of his dreams. After proving his worth to the world, and most importantly himself, going the entire 15 rounds while still standing, Rocky had other things on his mind other than the final decision. He wanted what he fought for. Not the belt. But the heart of the woman he loves.
It is a scene that I still get chills typing about to this day. Rocky‘s final moments dictated that the 70s weren’t all about falling for the wrong crowd’s bad intentions. What makes it even more powerful is the film contains an ending that could be looked at as unsatisfying if it had revolved around the fight itself. Yet, the film’s climax manages to propagate that more than anything, winning the heart of your true love is worth much more than winning a fight. Wait, wasn’t this a boxing movie?
So where does The Witch‘s ending fall? It is far too early to tell. But I do have an in depth column of what it could all mean coming up, which I will release as soon as other people have a chance to see it for themselves. Until then, let us marvel at ten times Hollywood actually got their endings RIGHT. Or, did they?
After months of speculation, it is finally set in stone: Neill Blomkamp is directing a new entry in the Alien franchise, which is currently going by the title of Alien 5. With Sigourney Weaver all but confirmed to return as Ellen Ripley and speculation circulating that Michael Biehn has been contacted about reprising his role of Corporal Hicks, it would seem that Alien 5 is moving on the fast end of the tracks. But is this a good thing or bad thing?
Don’t get me wrong. I have no inclination that the movie is going to suck. What I am saying is how Blomkamp got the gig, and what propelled him to this spot, leads a lot to be desired.
Let me backtrack and explain how I came to this position. A few months ago, Blomkamp, who was perhaps sensing his film Chappie -which ironically co-stars Ripley herself Sigourney Weaver- wasn’t getting the buzz he was expecting, posted pictures on his Instagram showing concepts he has had for quite awhile as pertains to a brand new Alien film. As you can see, the concepts are…interesting. But there have been a million concepts which are fantastic in early stages only to crumble by the end. Hell, director Wes Craven has made an entire career out of them. I guess what I am saying is the concepts here did not impress me in the least, and it would take a hell of a lot more than these pictures to get me excited for a brand new film in a franchise which I make no bones about holding near and dear to my heart. Not to mention, how many of these concepts are posted over the years with the headline ‘what might have been?’ It is a tired part of film journalism, and one which I quite frankly wish would go away.
The pictures created buzz, and a couple months later -two weeks before the release of Chappie– the studio announced that Blomkamp had indeed been tapped to write and direct the next entry in the Alien franchise, with Weaver voicing her approval. And quite possibly holding out announcing her involvement until the higher brass can put some more money on the table for her to return.
It cannot be said more that I hate how I feel about this. But Blomkamp would seem to have gotten this job by creating an uproar and getting the studio to cave in to his wishes. With concepts I have no real confidence in to begin with, I have a hard time standing by this decision. Though now that he has the job he so begged for, I am hoping the guy has something magnanimous for us to sink our teeth into.
Please do not get me wrong. I am in no shape or form saying I don’t like and respect the man. District 9, while I felt a tad overrated, did a fantastic job of making low budget science fiction look more expensive than it was. And as much hate that Elysium gets, I happen to like it even more than District 9, with some great action and commentary which makes you think. But how these two films in any shape or form can make anyone think Blomkamp could make a good Alien film is far beyond me. His social commentaries are right in your face at all times, and the strength in the best Alien films is that the imagery works in the onscreen fury’s favor, while at the same time making you uncomfortable about what it is trying to say. The latter part Blomkamp covered with Chappie, a movie which is a mess of bad plot holes and contains a worse ending battle than that of Iron Man 2.
When thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that where Blomkamp is right now could in a few ways be compared to where David Fincher was when he took on Alien 3. Both have done good work up until they nabbed the Alien gigs (Fincher had done Madonna’s most popular music videos as well as Aerosmith’s Janie’s Got A Gun), and I would say both their views of the world are pretty much on the exact same level.
Speaking of Fincher, this would lead me to the most controversial part of Blomkamp’s hiring. Blomkamp himself has said he wants the film to be the ‘genetic sibling of Aliens.’ He added he wants the Alien universe to read as so: Alien, Aliens, and his film. Which in essence means that Blomkamp was looking to Superman Returns his film into the franchise. I feel ignoring all that was done in the third -and yes, even the fourth- films in the franchise would be a terrible way to go. It discounts all Ripley had to go through in Alien 3 as not only did she lose Hicks, but once again the little girl she was supposed to keep safe died and she had to live with that fact. It makes the way the Alien got inside her mean that much more, as she was going to, in one way or another, be a mom again (the Director’s Cut of Aliens reveals that Ripley did in fact have a daughter who died while she was out in space). Blomkamp has since retracted those statements saying that no film in the franchise is going to be ignored, maybe as a result of the backlash his comments caused.
Which brings up the most obvious question of all: just what is Blomkamp thinking he can do with the two characters in his concepts? Hicks is dead, and Ripley not only died right onscreen in 3, she was cloned with the Alien Queen still growing inside her in Alien Resurrection. While it is true that science fiction allows more leniency than any genre, there are only so many liberties which can be taken. And don’t even get me started on how much I dread his social commentaries showing up in all scenes involving Weyland Yutani.
There is one more thing to think about when it comes to Alien 5, and that is the fact that Ridley Scott is still prepping Prometheus 2. So where does this lead that project, and how will they all fit together? It is conceivable that there will be a year when we see twoAlien films in one year. And even as a huge fan of the series, I think that would be too much.
I know what you are thinking right now: I sound like any and all of those pesky people who all but revolted when they learned JJ Abrams got the gig to direct Episode VII. With how recent this announcement is, it is foolish to speculate just what we can expect from Alien 5. But Blomkamp seemed to be so dead set on getting the gig that he took all sorts of roads to get there. It almost reminded me of the stories about Sean Young dressing up as Catwoman and trying to stalk Tim Burton into hiring her for the role in Batman Returns. Ok, maybe not that extreme, but you get my drift. Now that he has his way, let’s see what the big shot has up his sleeve.
I figured for my very first official column with Binge Media, I would talk about an off shoot of a film franchise that is near and dear to my heart. That film franchise is the Alien franchise. Of course, like all franchises, some films are better than others. But as a series, I feel it lends itself to many interpretations as to what the horror going on in each installment really means, and what each creature from each film wants to accomplish. Well, I guess the xenomorphs in Aliens are pretty straight forward. But the biology and HR Giger implemented sexuality that the first film’s xenomorph contains has always fascinated horror and science fiction purists alike.
Semantics of the films aside, let me get to the forefront of this column. On top of the creature that Alien introduced, its at first in the background star who eventually became the heroine of the series also introduced a new element to Hollywood. The role of Ellen Ripley not only helped cement Sigourney Weaver’s established status as a great actress – she is a three time Academy Award nominee- it quite unusually combined the respect she earned in her field with the ass kicking of an action heroine. Ellen Ripley is a character that the series spent four films layering and by the time that fourth film ended, we were left looking at her (or was it her clone? I try to put Resurrection as far in the back of my mind as possible) standing with Winona Ryder wondering what was going to happen next.
Well, if 20th Century Fox had their way, she’d be teaming up with the Predator to kick more xenomorph ass in the ill-fated Alien vs Predator. While being interviewed for the Alien Quadrilogy DvD set, Weaver said that when approached with the idea of being involved with Alien vs Predator, she turned it down because she thought it was one of the most ridiculous ideas she ever heard. Now it is easy to look back at the two steaming piles of shit which were assembled off the Hollywood Assembly Line and applaud her for those very words. But let’s take a minute to think about a new scenario. What if Weaver was not in the position of power that she was, and no one else in Hollywood was calling? In other words, what if her career wasn’t going the way she expected and she decided to take a huge Fox paycheck in order to play Ripley at least one more time? Would the franchise have played out better?
Weaver is an individual who many directors would dream to have in their corner. When British film technicians were given the task of having to work with James Cameron on Aliens instead of the more ‘British-y’ Ridley Scott, they fought him every step of the way, and Weaver was the one statue that they would not budge. The infamous Alien 3 set was notoriously nasty, with executives putting one pressure after another on new director David Fincher’s still green shoulders. He has said in recent interviews that Weaver was a saint in these situations, and whether it was someone coming in with yet more new script pages or Charles Dutton once again disagreeing with his character’s motivations, she always fought alongside him, and he never felt better on that film set than when she did.
So how would Alien vs Predator director Paul WS Anderson have fared in this game? Would Weaver have turned Alien vs Predator on its heels by making someone with more credentials rewrite the script, and turn Anderson into a director one could respect, instead of the one who bangs Milla Jovavich and makes a hundred Resident Evil films? Then again, that doesn’t sound so bad.
One thing is for sure. In the two Alien vs Predator films, Anderson and the Strauss Brothers tried to place females in the same kick ass situations that Weaver was in and it just did not work. Reiko Aylesworth and Sanaa Lathan were nowhere close to the ass kicking and/or acting talent one-two punch that Weaver was, and it was a contribution to why those two films did not work. Well, one of MANY. In several ways, I feel having Weaver in the film and wanting to be there would have benefited the franchise greatly. But in the long run, I do not think it would have benefited her. I always thought the films in of themselves were poorly conceived to begin with, and having Ripley stand back to back with a Predator while Aliens attack just doesn’t scream good idea to me. One wonders what would have happened if she had said yes. But thankfully for us, she didn’t.
John Carpenter is Back!
Well, kind of. As someone who grew up in the 80s, there were only two names in the movie scoring field I knew. They were John Williams and John Carpenter. What made Carpenter an idol to me was not only did he create iconic characters like Jack Burton and Michael Myers. He also scored almost all of his films himself because, as he put it, he ‘was the fastest and cheapest composer’ he knew. All of us have heard his heavy on drum beats and synthesizer themes, humming them days & weeks after doing so.
This week, it was announced that on February 3rd,Sacred Bones Records, the same company which released David Lynch’s album last year, is going to release an album of unused Carpenter composed themes which were supposedly dreamed up for the album and not left over from previous films (as was previously rumored).
This is FANTASTIC! My big question when it comes to this news is why anyone didn’t think of it sooner. Carpenter has always had a different sound. But his themes resonate with you, and unlike Williams, he never relied on heavy crescendos to catch your ear. And to anyone who feels that maybe Carpenter has lost a stride in the music department with his advancing age, I point you to the sample track released, which is located here. In my mind, the man still has it.
The album comes out February 3rd 2015, making it three months before this ‘son of a bitch must pay’…..for music once again.
The Lowdown: An intergalactic freighter gets terrorized by an alien presence, seemingly incubating itself in human bodies and bleeding acid, making it a very hard to kill adversary. Shit goes down.
The Breakdown: What can you say about Alien that hasn’t already been said? It’s a bonafide classic, launched Sigourney Weaver into the forefront of Hollywood stardom and helped make Ridley Scott a household name. From the opening title sequence to the spectacular finale, Alien remains one of the best examples of sci-fi/horror out there. From the tense atmosphere to the claustrophobic cinematography, Alien creates a mood and tone of unknown fear that permeates every frame of the film. By elevating the sci-fi genre into something of high-art, Alien continues to be a staple of the Halloween season for me because of its’ effective score, fantastic direction and superb acting.
Alien, at its’ core, is a story about survival. Despite being in outer space, the characters in the film are put at odds with everything surrounding them. From moments where the alien appears out of the darkness to scenes where Ripley must expose herself to the coldness of space to blast the creature away for good, the film does an adequate job reminding you of the struggles of a situation where there really is no escape. In a post-Gravity world, it’s easy to call Alien cheesy, but it is important to remember that this type of situation hadn’t been explored before Scott made this film, which gives me a lot of adoration for the film.
The creature effects, coupled with the casting, are probably my two favorite elements of the film. The entire cast is a group of true heavy-hitters, from Sigourney Weaver all the way down to the amazing Harry Dean Stanton. Everyone here is on their A-game and it shows. The creature effects, designed by H.R. Giger, are just as impressive. By employing a highly sexualized approach to the alien’s design, it comes across as something darkly compelling, with certain lines in its’ “genetic” makeup that give it a look of perpetual motion and momentum.
The Comedown: Alien is revered amongst film fans for a reason. While it doesn’t scream “Halloween film”, it is one of the very best films the sci-fi/horror genre has to offer, and fits right in with other films to watch in October. While I, personally, am not a fan of the sequels/spinoffs beyond Aliens, the original film’s legacy can still be felt with films as recent as the aforementioned Gravity taking cues from it. Plus, any film where the cat lives in the end is alright by me.