It's our 200th Favorite Scene Friday! To mark the occasion, we recorded a very special audio commentary FSF! Jay and I were joined by Lindsay Street and Nick Rehak from French Toast Sunday, two veteran FSFers. We checked out the Chestburster scene from Alien, surely one of the most classic bits from any horror/sci-fi film. And Alien: Covenant is so hot right now.
Spoiler alert for Alien: Covenant! Alien: Covenant recently hugged the collective faces of the world. What was your favorite scene? I guess for me it was the David and Walter stuff? And, less interesting, the David and Walter fight? Other than that, nothing really stands out to me as a "favorite". That's obviously not a good sign. I'll tell you what was not my favorite scene (or rather, not my favorite part of an otherwise awesome scene) the Engineers that David wipes out. They really didn't look like the Engineer(s) from Prometheus. And why the f*ck were they all just standing around like idiots? Aren't they geniuses? I did like the Xenomorph stuff, of course. Or is it Protomorph?
I enjoyed the Neomorph infections when they were first starting to happen. I like when two or more separate groups of people are on walkie talkies together in a film. I think there's a term for that. Something about establishing the reality/geography of a film? Anyway, here's the trailer to refresh your memory.
Ridley Scott seems hell bent on making Alien films until he dies. But instead of producing the endless Prometheus/Covenant sequels that are apparently in the pipeline, why not adapt the phenomenal Alien: Isolation, a video game that follows Amanda Ripley*, daughter of original Alien protagonist Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). That's right, Alien: Isolation insists Ripley's daughter got into some xenomorph shenanigans of her own.
You see, when we meet Amanda at the beginning of Isolation, she's already been looking for her long-missing mother, working for the Weyland-Yutani company on the edges of fringe space. The company approaches Amanda with an offer: they've found the black box from the Nostromo, Ripley's ship from Alien, and they want Amanda on the mission. Amanda sets off to recover the flight recorder and winds up on Sevastopol, a sprawling space station. It's there that she finds trouble worthy of the Alien franchise.
And with that, here are some specific reasons a hypothetical Alien: Isolation movie is great.
It's Alien on Steroids
Star Wars: The Force Awakens was essentially a bigger, "better" remake of A New Hope, and that's okay. In fact, Alien: Isolation could do the same thing for Alien. The game is a jacked up version of Alien in that it has a plot similar to the original film (a Ripley vs. an alien), but it's on a giant space station with a larger cast of characters. There's even an android threat to deal with, but it's cranked up to 11. And speaking of androids...
Possible Michael Fassbender Connection A member of Amanda's crew is an android named Samuels. Anthony Howell portrays the 'droid in the game - and he does a fine job - but how cool would it be to feature Michael Fassbender in the role? That would connect this film not just to Alien, but to Fassbender's Prometheus and Alien: Covenant as well. This would even continue the trend of Fassbender's android characters having different names in each film.
It's Scary
The game is terrifying. One thing that connects Isolation with its Alien roots is that no one really knows about the alien. There's a terrifying quality in Alien because the creature just comes out of nowhere. Same here. All of the subsequent Alien films featured Ripley dealing with a creature she - and the audience - already knew about. This would reset that.
Another scary part of the game is hiding from the alien. Amanda has some weapons and tools, but, just like in Alien, the creature is basically unstoppable, so cowering in a locker until it goes away is a requirement. The movie can't be all hiding, so maybe include one or two hiding scenes. Perhaps even make those scenes first person, which would be sort of found-footage-ish in a cool way.
There's even the aforementioned android element. In fact, there's a ton of them, and they're more like a basic model, with creepy, featureless faces and they're not the friendliest.
Franchise Potential
Alien: Isolation definitely leaves room for more Amanda Ripley adventures. Not to bring up that other sci-fi saga again, but the Alien franchise could be Fox's new Star Wars. In fact, forget franchise, this could kick off a shared universe.** Fassbender could serve as the Sam Jackson of the series. This film would even have a Rogue One vibe going on...sort of an "inbetweenquel" about a character only briefly mentioned in another film.***
I'm really hoping Fox is already working on all this. Alien Day is coming up again on April 26, so maybe an announcement is incoming.
*Andrea Deck voices Amanda in the game. It would be awesome if she reprised the role in this film.
**Let Neill Blomkamp make his Alien 5 film with Sigourney Weaver. The film obviously wouldn't make sense considering the events of Alien 3, but this year's Logan proved you can do alternate timeline films.
***So, you're right, Amanda is only mentioned in the director's cut of Aliens. But while we're on that topic, it's interesting to note that that film would have you believe that Amanda lived a humdrum life on Earth while her mom drifted in space between Alien and Aliens. Or, at least, Carter Burke (Paul Reiser) chose not to mention Amanda's adventures. In reality, the folks behind Isolation were probably just taking some liberties with the character. When Amanda's information was mentioned in Aliens in 1986, that was probably true at the time. It makes Ripley's story that more tragic and sets up her mother/daughter relationship with Newt. On the other hand, we could now take it to mean that Weyland-Yutani was totally lying to Ripley's face about Amanda. It wouldn't have been the first time they did something sinister. Ret-conning Weyland-Yutani into covering up the Amanda/Sevastopol disaster makes perfect sense, and makes the franchise even more interesting.
We have left 2016 behind. 2016, a figurative dumpster fire, but almost as if it were some alternate reality where the Grand Canyon was turned into a giant landfill through some sort of federal legislation. That big of a dumpster fire. 2017 is upon us. Let us look ahead and dream. Like last year, superhero films have been excluded and I've only gone "in depth" on my Top 5. Without further ado, here are the 10 upcoming films I'm most looking forward to.
10. Dunkirk (July 21)
'Nuff said: Christopher Nolan's first feature-length film since 2014's Interstellar.
9. War for the Planet of the Apes (July 14)
'Nuff said: Ape shenanigans are always great.
8. The Masterpiece (?)
'Nuff said: Adaptation of "The Disaster Artist", which is a behind the scenes look at The Room.
7. The Girl with All the Gifts (?)
'Nuff said: Fresh zombie flick.
6. Kong: Skull Island (March 10)
'Nuff said: Ape shenanigans are always great.
5. Alien: Covenant (May 19)
Let me get this out of the way: Prometheus sucked. Here's my review. Covenant could be the proper Alien prequel we've been wanting. Plus, while Prometheus did fall short of expectations, it at least left off on an interesting note, and I'm wondering what's become of David the android (Michael Fassbender) and Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace). Oh, and I recently completed the video game Alien: Isolation, and it's seriously renewed my interest in the Alien mythos and franchise.
4. Ghost in the Shell (March 31)
I haven't seen the original but I'm hoping to fix that. Despite the uproar surrounding ScarJo's casting (and that whole weird digital yellow face controversy) I'm definitely excited for this. It looks amazing.
3. Blade Runner 2049 (October 6)
I'm a huge fan of the original Blade Runner. Here's hoping they can recapture that film's look and tone. Harrison Ford's last two revival projects were a miss (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) and a hit (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) respectively, so it'll be in interesting to see what this turns out to be.
2. Baby Driver (August 11)
Edgar Wright is one of my favorite directors. It's always hard waiting for one of his projects, and we've been waiting oh so long after he pulled out of Marvel's Ant-Man. But we don't have to wait much longer for Baby Driver, which will be more of a thriller compared to his other films, from what I've heard. Sounds like the trailer and the movie are gonna be awesome.
1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (December 15)
I'm surprised this is my #1 but there ya go. The Star Wars renaissance has been going great and I'm not immune to its spell. That said, The Force Awakens was basically a remake of A New Hope, so I'm hoping this is a truly original film with some unexpected surprises.
Greetings, Hatchlings!
Every month we round up all the stories we can find about fun movie events like marathons, special screenings, and conventions and miscellaneous film-life stuff like food and games. Let’s see what went down in the world of escapism and pop culture shenanigans in November and December of 2014!
Hooh boy! This is very late again. Apologies. Would you believe that I had a massive problem at my house that required me to move into a hotel for two weeks? And then I went on a cruise for my 30th birthday where I got a really bad sinus infection and was bed-ridden for a few days? Yeah, it's been a weird couple months. And then the holidays happened!
Anyway, here's a new installment of Escape Artists, complete with an Escapist of the Month(s) which is...
...the Reservoir Geeks! Back in July they held their annual "Lovely Soiree at the Bottlerocket Motel", an event at the hotel featured in Wes Anderson's Bottlerocket that celebrates the director and his films. I finally got a look at the festivities after they recently posted a recap of the event. It looks like it was a blast, complete with a "Wes Dressed" costume contest and a screening of the movie. Check out their site to see photos from the event.
Be the coolest dog owner on LV-426 with an Alien facehugger inspired leash. - Storenvy via Bloody Disgusting
Burgers that taste like human flesh? What is The Walking Dead doing to us??? - the A.V. Club
Make Worf proud and buy some Klingon Bloodwine! - Time
Some LARPers have made their own wizardry school in Poland and it doesn't look like it's infringing on any copyrights or anything. - Rollespils Fabrikken via Popsugar
Watch Tony Hawk goof around on a hoverboard (for real this time). - Kickstarter via GeekTyrant
So, while we're on the subject of Back to the Future, I have a very important mission for all you Escape Artists and Hatchlings out there. There's a petition on whitehouse.gov (via Nerdist) calling for October 21, 2015 to be made National Back to the Future Day! This must happen! Please visit the petition and sign your name. The future is in your hands. In the words of Doc Brown: "Your future is whatever you make it." So make it a good one by making October 21, 205 Back to the Future Day!
Do you go to fun escapist events like movie marathons, festivals, movie-themed parties, or concerts? Are you planning on checking out any fun movie fan destinations? Have you seen any cool pop culture themed games or food anywhere? Let us know in the comments or by emailing us at totheescapehatch(at)gmail(dot)com.
E.T., the 1982 movie about a boy and his alien, is classic early Spielberg. It's been reconfigured, ripped off, and emulated over the years, but it's still the one and only. One of my favorite tidbits about E.T. is that it complements Poltergeist, another classic Spielberg flick. "Poltergeist is what I fear and E.T. is what I love," Spielberg is quoted as saying. “One is about suburban evil, and the other is about suburban good". But even though E.T. is one side of a larger coin for Spielberg, it still stands on its own.
This week's scene focuses on a bit towards the end of the film, when Elliot (Henry Thomas) believes his alien buddy to be dead. Spoiler alert - it's pretty sad. "He must be dead...'cause I don't know how to feel. I can't feel anything anymore." HOLY SHIT, ELLIOT. That's the saddest thing I've ever heard.
No sooner does Elliot close the lid to E.T.'s icebox/coffin than some nearby dead flowers perk back up, and Elliot realizes that his friend may still be alive. He opens the glowing box and, sure enough, E.T. is ALIVE and he's very quick to remind Elliott that he phoned his alien pals for help. Elliot's reaction is one of pure, unfiltered joy and excitement. Just try not to get goosebumps as Elliot yells for joy and that John Williams score cranks up.
Robert MacNaughton as Elliot's big brother Michael is an unsung hero of the film if you ask me. One of my favorite parts of this scene is his reaction to Elliot's good news towards the end and the resulting head bump. Hey if you want more Spielberg, tune into French Toast Sunday. They're spotlighting The Beard throughout the entire month of July!
I want to judge Prometheus as a prequel to Alien,
but that wouldn’t really be fair. As best as I can tell, Director Ridley
Scott’s new film is a prequel to Alien only in that it takes place
before the events of that classic 1979 horror flick, not because it ties
into or leads up to it. But even when only comparing the films as distant
cousins and not two parts of the same story, it’s hard not to be a little
disappointed.
Alien was wonderfully simple and straightforward: a crew of working
stiffs in outer space are picked off one-by-one by a vicious alien. Prometheus’
story is scattered and a little convoluted. First we’re on a mysterious planet
(Earth, right?) where we see a giant alien (later revealed to be a Space
Jockey, similar to the creature found in the craft in Alien)
break down on a molecular level after consuming a strange substance. Then we
cut to two researchers in Scotland, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Halloway
(Logan Marshall-Green) as they discover another in a series of ancient cave
paintings that reveal a far-flung moon capable of supporting life. Then we’re
on the Prometheus four years later as the crew reaches the moon. And so forth.
I found myself nitpicking small differences between the two films, so I decided
to focus on a scene from Alien and another, similar scene from Prometheus:
the destruction of the ships.
In Alien, the scene where Ripley engages the self-destruct sequence on
the Nostromo and then frantically tries to stop it is incredibly tense. It’s
bleak, dark, and nail-bitingly good. Some of that is due to Sigourney Weaver -
the viewer cares about her character, Ripley.
In Prometheus, the sequence where Captain Janek (Idris Elba) and his two
remaining crew members fly the ship into the Space Jockey’s craft isn’t just
different in tone, it feels hollow. We didn’t get any insight into Janek other
than the fact that he’s a fan of the music of Stephen Stills. And we definitely
didn’t get any insight into the other two crewmen, other than the fact that
they like to bet on stuff and they wanna bang Charlize Theron’s character.
While it’s made clear that Prometheus takes place on LV-223 and not
LV-426, the planet from Alien and Aliens, it still felt like the
new flick was leading up to the events of the original ‘79 movie. In Alien,
we only see a Space Jockey once, but it was a very interesting scene. The
Jockey is sitting in a control chair of some kind, destroyed by a chestburster.
A sequence near the end of Prometheus, where a Space Jockey sits in a
similar control seat, results in imagery much like that mysterious scene from
1979. The sequence is a dead-end however, as the Space Jockey doesn’t die in
the seat from a burst chest.
The acting in Prometheus is top-notch (more on that later), but one of
my main problems with the film has to do with the characters.
Why was everyone on Prometheus an idiot? Charlie seemed to be more of a douchey
Abercrombie and Fitch model than a scientist. Biologist Millburn (hey, played
by Edgar Wright collaborator Rafe Spall!) tries to treat a hostile, snake-like
alien like a puppy and pays the price. The guy responsible for mapping the alien
structure gets lost in it for God’s sake!
Why the hell did Weyland pretend to be dead the whole time? What purpose did it
serve? David the android (Michael Fassbender) seemingly flip flopped from good
to evil back to good. Charlize Theron’s character Meredith Vickers is so cold
and clinical at times that Captain Janek suspected her of being an android. But
then they flirt and have sex. When we first see Vickers she’s doing angry
pushups. Doing a pushup at the end of the film literally would have saved her
life.
And finally, Noomi Rapace’s character, Dr. Shaw. When Shaw and the remaining
members of the Prometheus crew finally find a Space Jockey, he tries to kill
all of them and destroy their planet. And after Shaw’s squid baby finally kills
the Jockey, Shaw leaves the planet...to find the Space Jockey homeworld.
Seriously? You want to travel to the planet that the murderous space giants
call home?
As its own film - while still scattered - Prometheus is pretty great.
It’s a beautiful movie filled with gifted actors, especially Fassbender and
Rapace. Especially Rapace. The scene where she cuts the squid baby out
of her stomach in the surgery pod is truly a call-back to some of the more
tense and stomach-churning scenes in Alien.
I appreciated that the film touched on life and death, creation and
destruction, and creators wanting to dispose of their creations (and vice
versa). Dr. Shaw wanted a baby until she realized what the creature inside her
would become. Maybe that’s why the Jockeys wanted to destroy mankind.
I’ve been reassured that I need to watch Prometheus again, and I think
that’s true. There’s sure to be a lot that can be gained from subsequent
viewings. I really liked how the TED talk viral video featuring Guy Pearce
that was released prior to Prometheus tied in with the film. There’s
undoubtedly more of that to discover.
So Prometheus gets an Open Hatch rating, since I’m grading it as its own
film and not compared to Alien. Like many folks, that film is too
ingrained in my head and heart. And like Stephen Stills said, if you can’t be
with the one you love...
Hey, folks. Watch this clip, a viral video that popped up on
JoBlo.com and other sites around the web this past week. It's promoting Prometheus,Ridley Scott's pseudo-prequel to Alien due later this year:
Now who the hell is Peter Weyland? Because Lance Henriksen
already portrayed a character named Charles Bishop Weyland in Alien Vs. Predator. Check him out at the
beginning of this trailer.
So who’s the Weyland of the evil Weyland-Yutani Corporation
from the original Alien, Peter or
Charles Bishop?
Perhaps these are two separate yet related characters? AVP is set in 2004 and Prometheus supposedly takes place in
2023 (or at least that TED video does), so maybe Peter Weyland is Charles
Bishop Weyland’s son or something? But Peter Weyland is obviously very British OWMYBRAIN.
Maybe Ridley Scott and company have simply retconned the
Charles Bishop Weyland character out of existence and replaced him with Peter? The
former character’s IMDb page
lists Pearce and Henriksen as essentially playing the same part. Seems like
kind of a strange move by the Prometheus
crew.
Don’t get me wrong – I know AVP (and its sequel) – sucks hard. It shows you what people who
want to piss on two great franchises at the same time can accomplish when they
really put their minds to it. Lance Henricksen as Weyland was one of the few –
if only – things the film got right, however. It was a cool bit of connective
tissue between the original Alien films
and AVP plus it made sense that
Bishop, the android character Henricksen portrayed in Aliens and Alien3,was modeled after one of the founders of the company that created him.
Scott and company have most likely just ignored the AVP character. I guess the director can do whatever he wants, since he did start
the franchise all the way back in '79. And Guy Pearce always turns in a great
performance, even in a brief viral video.
So what do you guys think? Who's the real Weyland? Are Peter
and Charles Bishop two separate characters in the same story or is one of them
bogus?
