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Alright, so I couldn't resist going to see this, despite all my fears and objections. It broke down to the idea that I didn't feel as bad about Fox making this blantantly profit motivated decision as I did about their whole we-must-own-the-name-I-Robot profit motivated decision. For now, I'll skip the spoilers although I don't think it's likely to matter much.
First impression about the movie, well it certainly wasn't as bad as it could have been. Second impression was that both franchises peaked on their second film, and this one didn't break that trend. Once the movie actually got moving, and the premise behind the "war" they mention in the trailers got ironed out, I thought it was a very fitting and intruiging premise for the whole movie. That as well as some of the fight scenes were strong pluses for me, and about the only reason I went to see the film. Thankfully, the rest of the movie avoided falling flat on its face, despite a few stumbles involving some filler *ahemhumansahem*.
I didn't read any reviews before taking off to see this, and IGN had a review I quite agreed with, particularly two bits along the lines of "Fine, they needed the humans as a device to get to this situation. Alright, dandy, we got there, now off with their heads!" and "AVP works in those few shining moments when the monsters are allowed to do their own thing."
I suppose the biggest problem I had with the movie is that they forced it into the present. I'd always liked that humanity didn't encounter the whole Alien race until we went out and stumbled blindly into them. Before any of the trailers came out, I was expecting some kind of lead in into Alien, but that was sadly missing. I'm guessing Fox either is ignoring it, or keeping it frozen until they can figure out a way to make some money off of it.
Oh well, post your reviews here if you like. trash the film, or praise it (I expect more of the former).
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You're saying that Predator 2 is better than 1? I'd have to disagree, friend. I love Danny Glover as much as the next guy, but that movie was just BAD.
Now, if it were Terminator vs. Aliens, then I'd agree that both films peaked in their second film.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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I remember during the production stage, how the directer kept bragging about the intense buildup in the first part of the movie. It wasn't a mindless action movie, he said - there was a plot. Build up! Character development before the fighting!
Bollocks, the movie was painfully boring and stupid, right up to the moment when a Predator goes hand to hand with an Alien.
And even then... it was kind of like watching a WWF match.
The people who made this movie had no imagination, no love for these alien creatures. The Predator just kind of stalked about, though he did get some good slicing and dicing in.
The portrayal of the Aliens continued to evolve in this movie, thankfully. Now, they scamper about like insects. It was strange to watch them move in groups - it was like watching ants, maybe.
Remember the animatronic Alien Queen from Aliens? Well, she's back, she's CGI, and she's an Olympic Track star.
The humans were stupid, just stupid. The buildup didn't generate worthwhile characters or suspense, it was just made for a useless first act that could have been filled with Predators going Samurai on a pack of Aliens.
There were really only two scenes that I was actually excited in, and both, the Predator was showing off excellent fighting ability. The rest was very workmanlike, with no imagination at all.
I've been waiting for this movie since I saw the Alien skull in the Predator ship in Predator 2... was the wait worth it?
Sure, I guess. Predators still fought Aliens, and... well, now I want to see Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash. Bring it!
Posts: 1515 | Registered: Feb 2002
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You're going to have to give Freddy and Jason some kind of special advantage if you want them to believably survive for most of a feature-length film against Ash.
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Honestly no one could stand up against the almight Ash. Army of darkness was the best of that series BTW.
Posts: 1900 | Registered: Oct 2003
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This movie had it so bad, they even cancelled the midnight showing we were going to attend...it would mean maybe a review would be posted by Friday morning if that happened! Wow...I didn't check reviews on purpose but one clue that I should have checked that would have warned me...PG-13. There have been 6 movies between these two powerhouse characters and they were all rated R. I am not saying that a movie has to be R to be good, but a horror franchise like Alien/Predator one deserves a bit more respect for its roots.
The comparison to the WWF is really apt. In fact, I used the same thing to describe it to a friend the day after I saw it. Like the WWF, there is a lot of boring talk and posturing leading up to the contest and by the time the contest happens, it is almost a let down.
There were a cool concept or two (the flashback scene was kind of cool) but beyond that, it was ponderous, lacking in any creepiness or scares, lacking in any characters worth caring about (except Spud from "Trainspotting") and missing all the visceral excitment from any of the other movies.
Oh well. At least we have the game...which was honest-to-god scary and fun.
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I had little hope for this movie after I heard that Paul W.S. Anderson was writing and directing. That man couldn't direct a brick to fall convincingly, and would give it bad dialogue to boot. Soldier was bad enough (I actually laughed out loud when he blew up a planet with a tin-foil covered basketball), but there is and never will be an excuse for Event Horizon. If you truly wish to see the film equivalent of the Eye of Argon without the funnyness, by all means, rent it.
Just don't blame me if you stab your eyes out with the nearest available blunt instrument.
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This is showing my age (in a strange, roundabout way)
Freddy vs. Jason vs. Alien vs. Predator vs. Terminator vs. Ash
Ash?
As in "PIKACHU, I CHOOSE YOU!"?
Please, let us all take a moment to picture this in our minds, and then write down here what we have all imagined.
I imagine this: Pikachu, seeing the battle looming before him, sprays the wall behind him with a high-velocity torrent of yellow gerbil shit, punches Ash in the head, and goes back to the ball.
Or is there another "Ash" that I'm just not familiar with?
The first one, Evil Dead, is a low budget horror move considered to be one of the best by many horror fans. It had a nice element of macabre humor in it. The sequel, Evil Dead II, is actually a remake plus another day of horror. It spiced up the comic aspects and made Bruce quite the bad-ass.
By the time Army of Darkness rolls around, it's an entirely different series, with Bruce the savior from the future slaying evil.
Well worth watching. If you liked Bubba Ho Tep, you'll like them, but I think it's quite possible to like the Evil Dead/AoD series even if you were only lukewarm on BHT.
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He was Autolicus, King of Thieves, in Xena and in Hercules - he was in about 2-3 episodes of each each season. He was also the ring announcer in Spider-Man, and the snooty usher in Spider-Man 2. And he was Smitty in the Hudsucker Proxy and Brisco County, Jr.
quote: Sequel to FREDDY VS. JASON in the works Dateline: Tuesday, August 17, 2004
By: PATRICK SAURIOL By: News Editor Source: The Hollywood Reporter
The rumors about FREDDY VS. JASON VS. ASH are true. Today's Hollywood Reporter confirms that New Line Cinema has entered discussions with director Sam Raimi, the fellow who helmed the three EVIL DEAD pictures and who owns the copyright to Ash, the sarcastic hero of the DEAD trilogy. If a deal can be reached, Ash will go up against the two horror slasher icons in the sequel to last summer's FREDDY VS. JASON. In that case, it's expected that Bruce Campbell will strike a deal to play Ash for the fourth time. It's unlikely that Raimi would direct the film; he's got plans to helm SPIDER-MAN 3 (set for release in May 2007), but Raimi would likely take a producing credit on the VERSUS film.
Last seen on-screen in 1993's ARMY OF DARKNESS, Campbell's Ash has remained a popular cult hero amongst the horror fandom. The rumors about Ash being added to the fray first popped up at Creature Corner a year ago this month and were then revisited by Fangoria in October 2003.
Reporter adds a new item by stating that if a deal cannot be worked out with Raimi, New Line will still continue to develop FREDDY VS. JASON 2, possibly by introducing a new antagonist for the two killers to face off against.
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Sounds possible. Why not? The whole "Alien vs. Predator" thing was a fanboy dream/idea (about 15 years too late, though) since they probably jokingly added an Alien skull to the set of Predator 2. It could be a fun movie...unless Paul W. S. Anderson is in charge of it. In which case, god help us all. Or at least help fans of all three properties. The biggger question is who OWNS those characters. We know Freddy and Jason have the same owner but is Ash a part of that crew? It is the whole reason they never were able to do the X-Files on the series Picket Fences because they had different networks and one didn't want to advertise the show for the other. Potentially cool concept that got hung up, not for creative differences, but for greedier ones. Oh well.
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The computer game was far more nerve-racking and enjoyable. I mean, really, you'd think in a film with those two bad guy groups could be made scary as hell.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Well, that article says the Sam Raimi has the rights to the Ash character, so if he decides to let them use it I think it's really possible.
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All they needed to do was turn the Predators and Aliens loose. We really didn't need humans at all.
I mean, when you play AvP or AvP2 multiplayer, only a fool would choose the Marine. Running around on the ceilings and walls as the Alien or hunting Aliens as the invisible Predator is much more fun. I just wanted to see Predators and Aliens stalking each other in some sort of nifty environment. Instead I got a bunch of bumbling humans I didn't care about slowly getting killed. And what the heck was up with the Predators dying as easily as the humans? Puh-leeze.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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The Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash article isn't a gag. It got reported by AICN as well, which tends to have its sources sorted out. The really exciting thing is that a FvJvA movie might pave the way toward more Ash/Evil Dead movies.
Also, go see Bubba Ho-Tep if you want to see an extremely good redemptive movie about how Elvis and an old black man who thinks he's JFK kill a mummy in Texas. It's a good kind of mixed up.
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My family (and I, of course) went to see Bourne Supremacy and Manchurian Candidate last night at the local Drive-In. AVP was playing on the adjacent screen, so my son brought an extra FM radio, and watched that instead.
He liked it. He's 12, though. We asked him mfor his review on the ride home:
"Well, you know. You have the aliens and the little worm things, and that hand-like thing, and then you have the Predators. And the pretty much just attack each other. You know, that old chestnut."
Yes, at 12, saying things like "that old chestnut"! And about AVP. I'd far more expect my father to say that about Erich Segal's "Love Story."
Posts: 1862 | Registered: Mar 2000
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What? Has NO ONE seen the MOST EXCELLENT Dark Horse Comics (tm) "Aliens Vs Predator" series? There are more than one of them, and the "original" was quite engaging -- I have the graphic novel even, and one can still find it relatively easily at most bookstores. Then there were a few others.
One that stands out in my mind particularly was a 12-issue set with some amazing artwork. I only actually read the 1st few, since I wasn't in a position at the time to buy them, plus it seemed that the art was so high quality they weren't coming out very quickly. I wish I could find that in a graphic novel format -- I'd love to have the whole story and all that art in 1 volume.
Still -- the AvP "original" was quite engaging -- and the human actually were the main characters. The aliens were just bug-eyed monsters, and the Predators were interesting, though they only really had 1 "character" and the rest were also bug-eyed monsters. Still, it worked quite well, IMO. I still break it out and read it every couple of months. Just plain fun.
Posts: 1323 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Actually, Magson, I think I read a novelization of the Dark Horse AvP series. It was quite good. I really wish they'd tapped that instead of making their own up.
Posts: 753 | Registered: Mar 2001
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If I still had that game, I'd take you up on that offer . The Marines pack the best firepower, and their motion trackers-if used in tandem-mean that the Aliens won't get close, and Predators can be bagged via the Smartgun.
Of course, this changes depending on the map and if you're a sole Marine you're gonna be sucking face with a face-hugger in no time.
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The problem marines have though, is that things get exponentially worse for them as they lose team mates.
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... on a related note: I saw the movie "Open Water" being billed in a St. Louis theater as "Sharks vs. Yuppies" Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Wow...I didn't check reviews on purpose but one clue that I should have checked that would have warned me...PG-13. There have been 6 movies between these two powerhouse characters and they were all rated R. I am not saying that a movie has to be R to be good, but a horror franchise like Alien/Predator one deserves a bit more respect for its roots. ![[Cry]](graemlins/cry.gif)
for our country...
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. The Marines pack the best firepower, and their motion trackers-if used in tandem-mean that the Aliens won't get close, and Predators can be bagged via the Smartgun.
