tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1327458913671357174.post4987171101533508070..comments2023-10-05T10:05:13.010-05:00Comments on Bite Me Fanblog: ATAGM #1: Alien 3 is My Longest BlogStrange Casehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12344258247387077038noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1327458913671357174.post-19904744738413140722012-06-19T10:43:40.684-05:002012-06-19T10:43:40.684-05:00Btw I included that "This little girl..."...Btw I included that "This little girl..." quote twice by accident, not purposely as some obnoxious reminder of that major [point].sci-fi nerdnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1327458913671357174.post-90236407870306838572012-06-05T16:50:41.871-05:002012-06-05T16:50:41.871-05:00"I also can't say that it's any more ...<i>"I also can't say that it's any more absurd than the idea that a 20 ft. long alien queen could hop onto the drop ship barely twice its size at the end of "Aliens" and hitch a ride to the Sulaco without being noticed by its passengers. It's also hardly more absurd than, oh, say, a little girl surviving a hostile infestation of a small colony base for weeks to months when far better trained civilians and security forces perished."</i><br /><br />I respectfully disagree. I'd say it's more farfetched rather than absurd. But it's kind of a major of the movie:<br /><br />"This little girl survived longer than that with no weapons and no training."<br /><br />Newt survived by hiding (plus she knows the air ducts well from playing in them, according to a deleted scene restored in the director's cut, FWIW). <br /><br />"This little girl survived longer than that with no weapons and no training."<br /><br />The movie firmly establishes that. Remember what she does when Ripley begins driving the APC to rescue Marines? She ducks under the seat even after Ripley straps her in. Newt relies on her own instincts that kept her alive and doubts the ability of the Marines to keep her safe. Say what you will, but this is part of the world in which the movie operates.<br /><br />As for the queen hopping aboard, it's more of a stretch but queen is adept at problem-solving (she figures out how to operate the elevator) and even makes a "truce" with Ripley--stop torching my eggs and I'll let you leave--at least until Ripley notices the egg surreptitiously hatching. Did the queen have the foresight to lay the egg on the ship? As far as the greedy Fox Studio Execs were concerned, hells yes, and she'll even make 2 facehuggers or 1 that can make 2 implantations. Its believability is belied by its nature as a desperate act to establish the basis for a sequel.sci-fi nerdnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1327458913671357174.post-23352726137268893012012-06-05T16:19:28.712-05:002012-06-05T16:19:28.712-05:00Ripley essentially says that there is no reason to...Ripley essentially says that there is no reason to care about the prison population as a group. Then again, a movie can be about redemption or simply ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Fanboyhood aside, part of what simply makes <i>Alien 3</i> a bad movie is that we are given no reason to care about the prisoners at all. We get the doctor's sad back-story only to see an alien tongue go through his said a moment later.<br /><br />My fanboyhood comes a bit into play here, but one thing that gets to me is the nihilism of Alien 3. Gorman redeems himself a little when he finally shows courage and responsibility for his subordinates (instead of just addressing them as "grunts" or "marines" when he's not getting their names wrong) by going back to help Vasquez in the air duct. Out of bullets, they heroically detonate their grenades to take some aliens down with them in one of <i>Aliens</i>' most stirring scenes. This inadvertently causes Newt to lose hold and fall down into the sewer underneath. Sequence of events later, Ripley follows through with her promise (or was that just in the Director's Cut) and saves Newt, and Gorman and Vasquez can still die honorably after.<br /><br />Then Alien 3 comes along, says fuck that, and plants a nonsensical queen egg on the Sulaco with 2 facehuggers, if not one super-facehugger. Yes, there are numerous missteps to which you can trace the outcome of the queen getting aboard in Aliens, but the crucial turning point is the explosion in the air ducts, unless you say it's all because of Ripley's choice to rescue Newt. Strangely, the latter is more in line with the narrative of W-Y as a heartless evil corporation. But then ultimately, Ripley's arrival with the marines at LV-426 means death for all and that they basically got the lone survivor killed. I like ending of A3, but the film's overall nihilistic implications undermine the far superior first two films.<br /><br />My solution: don't make a goddamn 3rd movie and call it a day. Unfortunately yet understandably, the pursuit of the almighty buck overrides all.sci-fi nerdnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1327458913671357174.post-5326223718233086032012-02-19T19:45:52.507-05:002012-02-19T19:45:52.507-05:00All your intellectualizing neglects to acknowledge...All your intellectualizing neglects to acknowledge that film is a visceral experience and you need to be invested in the characters for the film to be effective.<br /><br />I didn't give a shit in hell for any of the prisoners. why? Because none were relatable or interesting. This wasn't Oz, it was boredom.<br /><br />You can absolutely kill off Newt, Hicks, and Bishop, now about doing it in a dramatically satisfying way? And how about replacing them with people we're as an audience invested in?<br /><br />Each previous film was a successful chapter in a different genre. Alien? Haunted House movie. aliens? War movie. Alien 3. Shity prison movie, not even a GOOD prison movie.<br /><br />All your rhetorical diarrhea can't make it a beloved film, because it starts with a fuck you to the audience, then saddles some great character actors with tedious, uncompelling characters, and abandons the escalation of the previous two films with a movie that comes off as a ponderous, boring side trip in the Alien Saga.<br /><br />A moody, well lit turd is still a turd. A movie that refuses to be a crowd pleaser at every turn will never be a crowd pleaser.<br /><br />In short, your article is rubbish.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1327458913671357174.post-63708902250201979402011-07-16T07:45:20.319-05:002011-07-16T07:45:20.319-05:00I just rewatched this movie, and for the most part...I just rewatched this movie, and for the most part, I agree with the review. There were a few issues I had with Alien 3, though:<br /><br />1. Confusion over whether Ripley was a lieutenant or a warrant officer starts in this movie<br />2. Somewhat unclear as to how eggs got on the ship, and even more unclear on why the ship didn't wake the crew up when there was a malfunction instead of just jettisoning their stasis pods<br />3. Ripley has the expertise to reactivate Bishop and interface him with the flight recorder, and also knows what alien queens look like while gestating, but there's nothing in previous movies to suggest that she can do this<br />4. Ripley comments that this alien is different from the ones she's seen before--how? Why?<br /><br />In terms of the larger narrative, though, I generally agree that this works to close the trilogy, it just seemed there were a lot of lingering questions and some discontinuity with previous films.ceclausonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1327458913671357174.post-24353939286923521102011-03-10T17:02:22.128-05:002011-03-10T17:02:22.128-05:00Hey Anonymous,
I'll choose to focus on your i...Hey Anonymous,<br /><br />I'll choose to focus on your inclusion of the word "finest" and accept you comment as backhanded compliment. So, er... thanks. As for the existence of the nonsensical egg: well, I can't say you're wrong. Though, I also can't say that it's any more absurd than the idea that a 20 ft. long alien queen could hop onto the drop ship barely twice its size at the end of "Aliens" and hitch a ride to the Sulaco without being noticed by its passengers. It's also hardly more absurd than, oh, say, a little girl surviving a hostile infestation of a small colony base for weeks to months when far better trained civilians and security forces perished.<br /><br />Yeah, it's absurd, but what I love about the opening of "Alien 3" is the clean slate. Are you a comic book fan? Ever read Alan Moore's run on "Swamp Thing?" He inherited a preposterous character on a poorly-circulating book. His first issue, he kills the character off and starts from scratch. Absurd? Yes, but no more so than the stories which precede it, and it gave him license then to tell the stories he wanted to tell. "Alien 3" is similarly liberating. Don't you wish more franchises today had the cojones to do that, rather than predictably recycle or reboot ad nauseum?Strange Casehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12344258247387077038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1327458913671357174.post-53414197725269103232010-12-06T21:44:08.989-05:002010-12-06T21:44:08.989-05:00I came...I came...-JYM-https://www.blogger.com/profile/00672267606885998808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1327458913671357174.post-64779558016599363052010-10-21T11:32:10.757-05:002010-10-21T11:32:10.757-05:00Blah blah blah. Funny how you neglect to address ...Blah blah blah. Funny how you neglect to address the biggest complaint that critics of Alien 3 have- the existence of that nonsensical egg, which steers the film and the franchise right over a cliff.<br /><br />Killing off characters is one thing, obliterating them in the opening credits is ridiculous.<br /><br />This is fanboy drivel at its finest.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1327458913671357174.post-12850830051523560062009-02-02T13:06:00.000-05:002009-02-02T13:06:00.000-05:00"Do you still trust me with a needllllle?" Best in..."Do you still trust me with a needllllle?" Best insinuated sex scene EVAH.Yeagershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16172678567449518079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1327458913671357174.post-1138621859236238342009-02-01T19:45:00.000-05:002009-02-01T19:45:00.000-05:00nerd alertnerd alertzak forresthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01578502839090780372noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1327458913671357174.post-5441309428545152932009-01-23T22:52:00.000-05:002009-01-23T22:52:00.000-05:00Amen.Amen.Ann Horwitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09234790455099554606noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1327458913671357174.post-84917167488019581492009-01-23T14:24:00.000-05:002009-01-23T14:24:00.000-05:00THAT WAS AWESOME.Am I incorrect in remembering som...THAT WAS AWESOME.<BR/><BR/>Am I incorrect in remembering some discussion of AIDS metaphor at the time of Alien 3's release? Any thoughts on that, SC?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com