TV/Movies Megathread

[dps]

One of the Cinemax channels is doing an Alien marathon;  just wrapped up Alien 3;  still don't know why it gets no love--other than fanbois hate the ending--but it's a very cool flick.

If I were a black man, I'd want to be Charles S. Dutton.

It's a good movie on its own, but slaughtering Newt and Hicks wasn't cool.

Not to mention Bishop. 

If they had left those 3 characters and Ripley out of it, and just gone with an alien attacking a prison colony, it would have been an OK, if derivative SF/horror film.  But to me, a sequel always sucks when it pisses on the ending of the previous film.

[Admiral Yi]

??  Bishop got disassembled at the end of 2.

Saw The Company Men last night.  Overpaid yuppies get laid off.  Have to sell McMansion.  Have to sell Porsche.  Have to give up golf club membership.  Boo hoo hoo.

Kevin Costner is done with leading man roles.  Too bald.

[Neil]

One of the Cinemax channels is doing an Alien marathon;  just wrapped up Alien 3;  still don't know why it gets no love--other than fanbois hate the ending--but it's a very cool flick.

If I were a black man, I'd want to be Charles S. Dutton.

It's a good movie on its own, but slaughtering Newt and Hicks wasn't cool.

Not to mention Bishop. 

If they had left those 3 characters and Ripley out of it, and just gone with an alien attacking a prison colony, it would have been an OK, if derivative SF/horror film.  But to me, a sequel always sucks when it pisses on the ending of the previous film.

At least Bishop appeared.

[dps]

??  Bishop got disassembled at the end of 2.

He was still "alive" (not really sure if "artificial persons" in the Aliens franchise are strictly speaking alive or not) after the alien queen cut him in half, and repairable.  He got smashed up more in the crash at the start of the 3rd movie, but his head at least was still sort of functional.  Ripley consulted with him, and then melted what was left of him down with a flamethrower after he begged her to put him out of his misery.  Which, BTW, she was stupid to do without having him confirm her story to the people in the prison colony first.

[The Brain]

The problem with Alien 3 isn't the way it treats Aliens. The problem with Alien 3 is that it's a poor movie.

[CountDeMoney]

But to me, a sequel always sucks when it pisses on the ending of the previous film.

You mean, like Star Trek Eye Eye Eye: The Search for Spock?

[Josephus]

The problem with Alien 3, in addition to it being not-so-good was that Sigourney Weaver was all "I don't want to be in a movie that has guns in it." So they had to come up with a plot where there were no guns.
And she didn't get out of her suit at the end like she did in Alien.
The fourth Aliens was just sort of stupid.
Aliens itself was OK, but there wasn't much difference between that and the first one, other than a lot more aliens and a girl named Newt instead of a cat.

[garbon]

Aliens itself was OK, but there wasn't much difference between that and the first one, other than a lot more aliens and a girl named Newt instead of a cat.

???

Excepting the whole switch from horror to action flick.

[Admiral Yi]

Agree with the Purple Headed One.  1 was all about mood and atmosphere.  2 was about blowing shit up.  Rock and roll!  Buddabuddabuddabudda.

[Ed Anger]

But to me, a sequel always sucks when it pisses on the ending of the previous film.

You mean, like Star Trek Eye Eye Eye: The Search for Spock?

Reverend Jim as a Klingon was hilarious.

[Neil]

The problem with Alien 3 isn't the way it treats Aliens. The problem with Alien 3 is that it's a poor movie.

Not at all.

[mongers]

I watch a cold war spy thriller with Martin Sheen entitled 'Enigma'; just about passable, nothing especially memorable, not a patch on the original 'Thinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' of about the same time.

[Syt]

I've started watching "Vietnam - The 10,000 Day War" (1980). Watched first episode, liked it.

[CountDeMoney]

I've started watching "Vietnam - The 10,000 Day War" (1980). Watched first episode, liked it.

I remember when that first came out;  it was a really big deal then, as it was the first real documentary for audiences in explaining the history of the Vietnam War.

As I was in 5th grade at the time, my parents let me stay up to watch it, as they never seemed to be able to properly explain the war to me themselves at the time, other than "It was complicated" from Dad and "It was bullshit" from Mom. 

[Syt]

It should be interesting to watch. The series was made less than a decade after the war, so it's also an interesting insight into minds of the decision makers relatively shortly thereafter, even though now a lot more facts will be public. (Similar to the BBC World at War series as, though probably outdated in some respects, has the advantage of still having many eye witnesses in front of the camera.)

I think Westmoreland has a good point btw when he says that the public probably would have lost the appetite for WW2, too, if there had been daily uncensored TV coverage of Anzio, Okinawa or Guadalcanal.

My Vietnam history was growing up with the TV show Tour of Duty and a monthly print magazine that piggy backed on the popularity of the show and movies like Platoon or Full Metal Jacket and ran for 2 years or so covering the conflict.