Movie Battle - Alien (1979) VS Aliens (1986)

Alien scared me as a kid. I've never liked suspense since. But it is one of my favorite films.

I had a bad trip after eating an eighth of shrooms and then watching Aliens. The bad trip started when the Marines had to give up their guns and stuff and then they encountered the xenomorphs.

I picked Aliens though, because it's a slammin' movie and just barely beats Alien in my opinion.
 
Loiosh said:
Two excellent films that are too different to compare.

I think Alien is by far the better film so it has my vote, but it's suspense as opposed to action so it has no chance of winning this poll on Sherdog.
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pretty much this.
 
I saw Aliens in the theater when I was a kid and it was one of my favorite movie going experiences. Alien is awesome but it never had a chance with me.
 
Aliens holds up a lot better IMO. One of my all time favorites despite being older than I am.
 
Damn, its exactly 50/50 right now, literally haha



Just how it should be imo
 
GearSolidMetal said:
You're joking right?

Nearly every other sequel in Hollywood did what James Cameron didn't do for sequels, copy the original and hopefully duplicate the box office returns.

Cameron pushed for a longer playtime than the original, wrote the screenplay himself, worked as an executive producer for the film, and rather than just do another horror movie he made it a Vietnam-esque war movie in space.

If you want to see what any other Hollywood director would have done for the sequel to Alien, watch Alien3 and see how a franchise can be truly fucked by a horrible sequel.
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I quite liked Alien 3 ...
 
GearSolidMetal said:
You're joking right?

Nearly every other sequel in Hollywood did what James Cameron didn't do for sequels, copy the original and hopefully duplicate the box office returns.

Cameron pushed for a longer playtime than the original, wrote the screenplay himself, worked as an executive producer for the film, and rather than just do another horror movie he made it a Vietnam-esque war movie in space.

If you want to see what any other Hollywood director would have done for the sequel to Alien, watch Alien3 and see how a franchise can be truly fucked by a horrible sequel.
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That isn't really a fair example as Fincher was asked to take over on that film last second, and was dragged down by time constraints and other complications to go along with being his 1st feature film (if I am not mistaken)


He basically had to use someone elses work and was only able to change certain aspects -on the fly- if I am not mistaken.
 
AGGAMEMNON66 said:
That isn't really a fair example as Fincher was asked to take over on that film last second, and was dragged down by time constraints and other complications to go along with being his 1st feature film (if I am not mistaken)


He basically had to use someone elses work and was only able to change certain aspects -on the fly- if I am not mistaken.
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I didn't mean to blame Fincher for Alien3, he's one of my favorite directors. But the production of that monstrosity was screwed from the beginning, when they decided they were going to kill Newt and Hicks off, the setting was to be a prison world with no guns, and that somehow the Queen in Aliens somehow laid one last egg on the ship.... aug... I don't have Alien3 on my Worst Sequels Ever list, but I should.

And yes, some people liked Alien3. I'm sure some people liked Mortal Kombat Annihilation as well.

Anyway, you know the saying 'Success has many fathers, failure has none'? Well, Cameron on Aliens took sole responsibility for the most important developmental positions in Aliens (Director, scriptwriter, and executive producer). And Alien3 is such a clusterfuck that blame could be spread to a dozen people, not just one.
 
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GearSolidMetal said:
I didn't mean to blame Fincher for Alien3, he's one of my favorite directors. But the production of that monstrosity was screwed from the beginning, when they decided they were going to kill Newt and Hicks off, the setting was to be a prison world with no guns, and that somehow the Queen in Aliens somehow laid one last egg on the ship.... aug... I don't have Alien3 on my Worst Sequels Ever list, but I should.

And yes, some people liked Alien3. I'm sure some people liked Mortal Kombat Annihilation as well.
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I don't know about that. I do know that production isn't helped when you ask a 1st time directer to slide into the chair at the last minute tho.


Count me among those who liked Alien 3. I will never put it in the same relm as the 1st two films, but I don't think its terrible by any stretch. Its a solid sci-fi horror film with some action thrown in for good measure. It isn't a good example imo of a sequel fucking up a franchise (imo anyways)


All the Alien films since then? Well, you'd be onto to something there
 
GearSolidMetal said:
when they decided they were going to kill Newt and Hicks off
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That was the moment I fell in love with Alien3. Conceptually that film was way better than Aliens. Course the execution wasn't exactly flawless. Still, I'll watch Alien3 over Aliens any day of the week.
 
AGGAMEMNON66 said:
I don't know about that. I do know that production isn't helped when you ask a 1st time directer to slide into the chair at the last minute tho.

All the Alien films since then? Well, you'd be onto to something there
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Think about it: How fucked does a movie production have to be to warrant a first time director stepping in for a sequel with a fanbase as large as Alien? To follow in the shadow of Ridley Scott and James Cameron? And this was back when sequels weren't churned out every two or three years for every franchise that still made profit.

I wish the Alien3 special edition from a decade ago had a documentary about exactly what went wrong in the production.
 
GearSolidMetal said:
Think about it: How fucked does a movie production have to be to warrant a first time director stepping in for a sequel with a fanbase as large as Alien? To follow in the shadow of Ridley Scott and James Cameron? And this was back when sequels weren't churned out every two or three years for every franchise that still made profit.

I wish the Alien3 special edition from a decade ago had a documentary about exactly what went wrong in the production.
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True. But knowing what we now know about Fincher, I'd say that the films ball was dropped a while before production imo.
 
Fincher got stuck with the trilogy curse, the third movie in a trilogy almost always sucks.
 
AGGAMEMNON66 said:
True. But knowing what we now know about Fincher, I'd say that the films ball was dropped a while before production imo.
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True, I was including preproduction in that. If I went into every specific detail, my posts would be so long that no one would read them.

Fincher did pretty well for the card he was dealt. And if all the complaints I have of Alien3, directing style is not among them.
 
Absolutely Aliens. Although cliche'd it has a much less dated feel than Alien.
 
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