1 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:22,280 Hello, welcome to the Extra Credits Plus of 17 days. 2 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:25,000 Hey man, I don't want to rain on your parade, but we're not going 3 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:30,600 to last 17 hours. He has all of the great lines 4 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:33,320 and I will also be quoting him a lot today. 5 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:35,080 Yeah, I. Don't want to sound too much 6 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:38,400 like Shaggy because it is kind of like borderline action 7 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:42,640 masculine Shaggy. There is like a a kind of, it's 8 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:46,280 a similar voice work, right that that's being done here. 9 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:47,960 You're like kind of a Zoinks, right? 10 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,080 Of like, game over, man. I know you know a lot of that 11 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:52,600 today, so listeners, be ready for it. 12 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:54,720 Rest in peace to the great Bill Paxton. 13 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,320 He's probably the most underrated part of this movie. 14 00:00:57,480 --> 00:00:59,960 And Private Hudson is like one of my favorite characters of the 15 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:01,840 Alien universe. What a legend. 16 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:05,080 So today we are off on another bug hunt. 17 00:01:05,519 --> 00:01:09,360 Bug hunt with Xenomorphs, this time with James Cameron's 18 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:10,800 Aliens. I'm Trey. 19 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:14,400 And I'm Kelsey. So we're on the express elevator 20 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,320 to hell going deeper into Alien August. 21 00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:20,080 Last week. We deep dive the well made but 22 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,600 also pretty divisive, a little derivative Alien Romulus, a 23 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:27,200 movie that is performing exceptionally well at the box 24 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:30,080 office. It looks like it's at $230 25 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:33,200 million globally right now in two weeks. 26 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:34,200 Yeah. And. 27 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:37,160 Which I'm happy about. Yeah, it definitely won't reach 28 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:40,880 the high highs of $400 million with Prometheus, but it's about 29 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,400 to pass Covenant box office, which is great. 30 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,200 It's great for the brand. It's great for Ridley Scott as a 31 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,280 producer who I'm convinced is making a lot of money from this 32 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:51,760 movie. And I assume he put his name on 33 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:54,680 this film and did press for it with the hopes that if it makes 34 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:57,760 money and it does, well, maybe. David again. 35 00:01:57,760 --> 00:01:59,680 Yes, maybe Disney will be. That's why I'm happy we need 36 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:03,320 Disney's David this time around. So it might not be as dark or as 37 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,680 brutal as loving it, but I'm sure really Scott will find a 38 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,440 way to make it work. So Romulus, last week when we 39 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,680 covered that movie, we tried to take it seriously and enjoy it 40 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:17,040 for what it was. But ultimately, I think while it 41 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:21,880 was visually impressive and had some fun set pieces and Andy the 42 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:23,760 Android was a nice addition to this. 43 00:02:23,920 --> 00:02:26,000 You know, the group of androids in this franchise. 44 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:30,680 I think Romulus suffered as a mostly copy and paste version of 45 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:33,520 the previous films. And we talked about how it took 46 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:37,120 IP and molded it into something pretty unoriginal and didn't do 47 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,080 a great job with its character writing either. 48 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:41,840 And it was kind of more focused on killing its characters than 49 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:44,800 trying to understand them first, which is not exactly what you 50 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:47,760 want to do in in these movies that are so focused on teamwork 51 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:50,520 and the and the kind of workplace drama of all these 52 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:52,720 great films. Whereas something like James 53 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:56,160 Cameron's Aliens, while it probably an unfair comparison to 54 00:02:56,160 --> 00:03:00,280 the Alvarez iteration, Aliens is such a great example, probably 55 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:04,440 the most famous example of how to previous IP into something 56 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:07,720 uniquely memorable and still fairly novel. 57 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:10,440 You know, So I'm glad that we finally get to get into one of 58 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,040 the best movies of this franchise with Aliens, and then 59 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:15,600 next weekend with Prometheus and Covenant. 60 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:19,240 Yeah, and I'm excited to talk about Cameron's Aliens today in 61 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:23,440 particular because I realized that this is like the highest 62 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:26,880 I've ever been on this movie. Like we'll be in this 63 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:28,160 conversation, I guess. I think. 64 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:29,360 Me too, yeah. Yeah. 65 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:33,200 And I think that's because I've always watched Aliens in the 66 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:36,840 context of Ridley Scotts approach to this franchise, 67 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:38,680 right? Like we are big defenders of 68 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:41,520 Alien, of Prometheus, of Covenant. 69 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:44,720 We will talk more about that in the next coming episodes. 70 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:48,120 But I've always talked about aliens basically in comparison. 71 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:50,120 Xenomorphs next to the. Queen, you know the. 72 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:51,880 Queen being David, and we're there to protect. 73 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:54,400 He's like, wait, wait, wait, wait, we back up. 74 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:57,800 But but yeah, like, so I've always, while I've appreciated 75 00:03:57,800 --> 00:03:59,760 Aliens, I think it's a really fun movie. 76 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,480 This is the highest I've ever been rewatching it to talk about 77 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:07,720 it in this episode because this time I was watching it more so 78 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,720 in comparison to Romulus, which I think has like a more similar 79 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:16,680 DNA of an action movie of characters who I don't care 80 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:20,079 about so much because they're in this particular genre. 81 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:24,360 But I think Aliens does a lot of things that are more successful 82 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:29,160 than Romulus in an action movie. Like I care about the stakes of 83 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:31,760 the set pieces. And I actually, even though I 84 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:34,960 know they're corny and kind of camp relationships between some 85 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:39,720 of the characters, I still feel that like when when one dies. 86 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:41,640 Right, there's no vast. I feel their friendship. 87 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:44,240 Relationship and anything like Romulus even though it's an 88 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:46,640 unfair comparison the two movies obviously because we've. 89 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:48,680 Had a longer. You know, relationship to the 90 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:52,320 the James Cameron film, you can just tell right away in the 91 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:54,360 writing that there's a lot more care in the character 92 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:55,120 development. Right. 93 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:59,600 And that was like my biggest, I guess criticism of Romulus is 94 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:02,880 that, you know, I know that it is doing something like a don't 95 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,000 breathe in space, like a haunted house movie. 96 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:09,160 And it, it did feel like I had those kind of B teen horror 97 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:11,960 characters that I maybe wasn't supposed to care as much. 98 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:13,680 And I it was more so a monster movie. 99 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,880 I just think that if I am going to sit through a really long 100 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:21,560 movie and really cool set pieces that are really imaginative and 101 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:24,680 I think do deserve credit, ultimately I want to care about 102 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:26,360 the characters that are going through those. 103 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:27,960 And I didn't feel that in the writing there. 104 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,840 So I, I actually am like more excited than I've ever been to 105 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:34,200 talk about aliens today. Yeah, I think you're locating 106 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:36,920 something interesting though, that it's going to be impossible 107 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,640 to talk about Aliens in a vacuum today, and we're going to be 108 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:42,520 comparing it to the original. We're going to be talking about 109 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:44,520 the lore. So if you've not seen it any of 110 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:46,920 the Alien films in this franchise, I recommend watching 111 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:49,120 those before listening to the rest of this episode. 112 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:52,760 But Alien, the original, is a very special film to both of us. 113 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:54,360 It's my favorite movie of all time. 114 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,880 And you know, Alien and Aliens might be sharing Adna with its 115 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,440 lore, but I think tonally they couldn't be more different. 116 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:07,960 Alien is a cold, detached, hard sci-fi movie featuring an an 117 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:11,800 oppressive workplace of minors in space who are all just like 118 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:14,520 really irritated by one another, but not in a loving way. 119 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:17,440 Like you have an aliens and when you see the famous Sigourney 120 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:20,680 Weaver as Ellen Ripley, she's really kind of a wallflower in 121 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:23,040 that film until about 50 minutes in right. 122 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:27,640 And she's presented as less of a badass and the trophy badass 123 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:29,960 that she has presented like in future Alien films. 124 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,480 And so she's a very fascinating kind of rational, observational 125 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:38,000 leader who might love her cat more than her Co workers. 126 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:41,160 Yeah, which is hilarious. So she is just a very hyper 127 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,720 relatable protagonist in the first film who is being beaten 128 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:47,840 down by her environment. And I think the Co worker bit of 129 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:51,680 Alien is the is the aspect of the alien movies that you have 130 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:54,400 to nail if you're going to make a successful movie in this 131 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:56,320 franchise. And I think the Co worker bit is 132 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,840 so special in the original because one, the crew is iconic, 133 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:01,120 right? The character actors are so 134 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:05,960 great in that movie, but also too there's a subversion in that 135 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:09,160 cast, which is that it's not that they necessarily dislike 136 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:11,960 each other or hate one another, it's that they dislike the 137 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:14,160 oppressive work conditions, right? 138 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:18,200 There's this like imposed class and power struggle between them. 139 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:21,800 And there is a 1984 Orwellian all seeing quote UN quote 140 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:24,920 company of it all, like tracking them constantly throughout the 141 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,120 movie. And the red herring of the film 142 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:31,400 is the xenomorph when the reality it's Wayla Nutani or Ash 143 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,880 is the representation of Waylon Utani or, you know, the mother, 144 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:37,280 the mainframe brain of the Nostromo. 145 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,760 These characters are have kind of predetermined the fates of 146 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:43,120 this crew. And so the movie's so smart when 147 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:46,760 it comes to its tense workplace. And if you're missing that, then 148 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:50,360 you know, the slasher, the the fun house horror of it all went 149 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:54,520 in Romulus or the kind of like war epic of it all in Aliens. 150 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:57,280 Those movies won't work as well if you don't care about the 151 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,160 characters that are going to get killed, right? 152 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:02,320 That really, really matters and that seems like basic screen 153 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:04,320 writing. And I do think it kind of is 154 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:05,680 that. And I think if you're coming to 155 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:09,760 Alien for set pieces only, then Romulus is probably excellent to 156 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:10,720 you. And I get that. 157 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:14,120 But for me it's got to have this like multi layered screenplay. 158 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:18,160 It's got to have atmospheric set pieces and for it to be executed 159 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:22,400 in a in the sci-fi genre, I also have to care about the concepts. 160 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:25,160 And if it's missing that, then it's just like it's not going to 161 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,560 be our standards. Luckily with James Cameron's 162 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:32,919 Aliens, he takes that Ridley Scott, Dan O'bannon, Ronald 163 00:08:32,919 --> 00:08:37,400 Shusett, HR Giger nightmare and seven years later in 1986, he 164 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:39,280 does make something at least interesting. 165 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:41,080 We have a post Vietnam commentary. 166 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:44,760 There's definitely like a Reagan era libertarianism going on 167 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:46,720 throughout this movie. There's an anti establishment, 168 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:50,240 anti authority culture that is being seeped into a movie that's 169 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:53,040 supposed to be futuristic, you know, which is fascinating, 170 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:54,560 right? It feels a lot more contemporary 171 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:57,360 than any of the other Alien films and you still have the 172 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:01,800 kind of like suspenseful sci-fi action blockbuster of it all. 173 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:05,280 And I, and I think most people identify Aliens as one of the 174 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:09,560 most important spectacles ever made because it begins this like 175 00:09:09,560 --> 00:09:13,360 IP ification of movies for better and for worse, right? 176 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:16,240 Which is interesting because I think now we look at franchises 177 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:20,120 as commonplace and one of the only ways to make a movie with a 178 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:24,480 sizeable budget today is to use previous IP to get greenlit. 179 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:27,760 And so Aliens, while being this incredible example of how to do 180 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:31,560 a sequel right, is also this fascinating historical artifact 181 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:34,040 where you might have a great time in a vacuum watching the 182 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:36,280 movie or a great time in the alien universe watching the 183 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:38,280 movie. But it's also an example of like 184 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:41,680 how the studios took everything wrong about the film exactly and 185 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:43,840 then created like a formulaic escapist. 186 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:47,120 Yeah, it's like now the sequel has to be bigger and better 187 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:50,880 instead of developing the interesting ideas of the 188 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:52,760 corporation in the original movie. 189 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:55,240 Yeah, I do think there's something about James Cameron 190 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:58,680 blockbusters, while entertaining, they do lack a 191 00:09:58,680 --> 00:10:04,000 provocation that can kind of transcend the blockbuster of it 192 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,000 all. And so there is something about 193 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:09,560 his movies that do come off as formulaic, not necessarily 194 00:10:09,560 --> 00:10:12,720 stylistically, but it's really his kind of thematic 195 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:16,880 sensibilities that they all feel a little bit like they're of the 196 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:20,000 same cloth, if that makes sense. And we'll talk about what that 197 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:21,640 means specifically today in Aliens. 198 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:24,200 But let's talk about Cameron really quickly before we get too 199 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,320 deep into the movie, because he's not somebody we're going to 200 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:30,040 be exploring today in terms of their project over their 201 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:32,480 filmography. He is a fascinating director to 202 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:34,720 do that with. We'll probably do that for 203 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:38,040 Avatar three or four or five whenever those movies come out. 204 00:10:38,560 --> 00:10:41,160 But to get in his, you know, headspace in the making of 205 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:44,480 Aliens, we did watch Terminator, which came right before Aliens, 206 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:48,720 and we did rewatch T2 as well. So those were fun to check out. 207 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:52,760 As far as Cameron movies go, where do you find yourself 208 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,360 leaning? Are you in the Avatar world? 209 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,480 Are you, you know, in the Arnold Schwarzenegger world? 210 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:00,440 Are you aliens? Are you Titanic? 211 00:11:00,680 --> 00:11:03,800 Yeah, I mean, well, I I think as an adult, like I don't really 212 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:07,840 lean towards Cameron movies or find myself rewatching them, 213 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:10,080 although I can appreciate like what, you know, obviously 214 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:15,920 Terminator did for film. But I I think like as a kid, 215 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:18,800 obviously Titanic was a huge sleepover movie. 216 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,480 Like I was always the one who stayed up the latest at 217 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:23,800 sleepovers and I always finished the movie. 218 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:25,480 We'd watch it like every time, right. 219 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:28,800 And and so like I remember Titanic being this like 220 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:31,520 monumental movie growing up. What about you? 221 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:35,720 Yeah, yeah. I don't think I really had a 222 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:39,400 Titanic, you know, for the James Cameron filmography. 223 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:43,040 I think if anything, I was a pretty irritated kid by how many 224 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:45,680 people tried to explain to me how Aliens was better than 225 00:11:45,680 --> 00:11:48,080 Alien. So I found myself what you like 226 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:52,280 what you're saying, defending the original text and not liking 227 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:54,360 James Cameron because of it, even though I probably never 228 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:57,280 watched an interview or listen to a director's commentary. 229 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:00,760 But I did see all, all of his movies, you know, really young. 230 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:02,560 I mean, he hasn't made that many movies, so it's not that 231 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:04,680 difficult to see them. But I remember watching The 232 00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:06,680 Abyss really young or True Lies really young. 233 00:12:06,680 --> 00:12:09,440 So I've seen all the films except Piranha 2. 234 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:11,240 That's the original that he kind of disowns. 235 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:14,360 I've never seen that one. But, you know, with Titanic, for 236 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:17,160 example, I think it's a massive spectacle. 237 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:20,040 I don't really click with it emotionally outside of Jack 238 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:22,560 jumping back onto the ship. Sure, when he's, you know, 239 00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:24,760 getting off and he's going to be rescued in a lifeboat and he's 240 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:27,080 like, I can't leave Rose. That's awesome. 241 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:29,640 That's just good stuff, you know, character work, good 242 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:33,640 storytelling and the acting power of Kate Winslet and and 243 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:35,840 Leo, obviously in the music and the tone. 244 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:38,200 That's all great. The pace for that movie is a lot 245 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:39,920 for me. It's like 3 hours, you know? 246 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:43,200 That's just a lot, yeah. Also, I don't really love either 247 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:46,840 Terminator film. I I appreciate the atmosphere. 248 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:50,000 I think of the first Terminator, which is more my lane of sci-fi. 249 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:52,760 It's more hard sci-fi, but then there's a romance in the third 250 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:55,920 act that really drags. I think what I like most about 251 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:57,640 Cameron is when he's really angry. 252 00:12:57,800 --> 00:13:01,040 I think there there is an individual vision there that I 253 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:03,720 find to be kind of mean. And I admire him when he's 254 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:07,360 swinging and he's making something original, like the 255 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:10,480 first act of Terminator. And then you watch T2 and it 256 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:14,080 just feels a lot more commercially universal. 257 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:17,040 There's a lot of awesome set pieces that are pretty long, but 258 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:20,120 there's also this, like, sappy sentimentality that feels 259 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:24,320 inspired by the Spielbergian, you know, world that was already 260 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:27,680 created by the time, you know, T2 came out in theaters about 261 00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:30,240 broken families. A lot of that stuff doesn't work 262 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:31,640 for me. Maybe it's just that generation 263 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:33,760 of directors. But then we get to something 264 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:36,400 like Avatar, which is visually iconic. 265 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:40,320 But I think both of those movies are pretty bad. 266 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:41,560 I couldn't think of a nice way to say it. 267 00:13:41,560 --> 00:13:44,920 They are pretty forgettable multi billion dollar movies, you 268 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:46,600 know. Yeah, and we also talked about 269 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:50,840 like the Jake Sully of it all within that movie and. 270 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:54,320 Yeah, the sympathetic lens of a colonizer that is kind of missed 271 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:56,600 by some criticism that loves Alien. 272 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:58,680 Yeah, yeah. Which is very confusing. 273 00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:01,800 He's doing like a Fern goalie slash Pocahontas thing that some 274 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:05,640 people have called as like an ecological epic that's actually 275 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:07,280 smarter than most people give it credit for. 276 00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:09,320 I don't see that in those two movies. 277 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:11,040 You know, I'll rewatch them again in the future. 278 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:14,040 I don't think I'll ever revisit them with that kind of lens that 279 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:16,640 is looking into them as thematically dense in that way. 280 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:20,800 But they are just like like that water scene, that water scene in 281 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:24,400 Way of Water at in the night time on the boat when the the 282 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:26,440 two main characters are being chased down, there's a fight 283 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:27,920 scene, right? Like that's epic. 284 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:31,000 That's good film making. And obviously he has a crew 285 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,200 that's inventing new technology every time he makes a movie. 286 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:35,360 So that's cool. He's going to be stuck in this 287 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:37,040 Avatar universe for quite a while. 288 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:40,200 I think he's in contract with Disney for the next decade or 289 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:42,440 so. So that's pretty interesting. 290 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:43,400 We'll see what. Happens there. 291 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:46,160 And I think like, you know, people often talk about how 292 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:51,520 James Cameron is doing something that is with technology 293 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:56,440 advancing film with like the motion capture, sure, aspects of 294 00:14:56,440 --> 00:15:00,040 Avatar, but I just can't like connect to the universe. 295 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:03,520 And I think that, you know, the, the white savior trope of Jake 296 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:08,920 Sully is so like weirdly not talked about when it's something 297 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:13,080 that I, I think like our like the culture are so aware of as a 298 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:16,440 trope now in movies to just like kind of forgive it in this major 299 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:19,000 blockbuster. So I, yeah, I mean, I, I don't 300 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,160 really like the Avatar movies, but also I think something 301 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:25,400 interesting about like T2 in particular that we'll talk about 302 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:28,600 with aliens today, which I think are like the weakest points of 303 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:34,240 those movies is having a, a child actor at the the center of 304 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:36,880 them. When I, if you really are not 305 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:39,680 like into that performance, right, or you don't believe that 306 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:42,320 performance, then it takes away a lot of the mistakes from some 307 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:43,920 really cool things that he's doing. 308 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:47,880 And unfortunately like that happens with Newt and aliens and 309 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:50,560 that happens in in Terminator two as well. 310 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:53,800 Yeah, there is something just commercially, again, like he's 311 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:56,760 trying to speak to all audiences through his screenplays. 312 00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:59,240 And I think he uses kids in that way with his, you know, early 313 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:01,280 films. But there's also something sort 314 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:04,800 of almost off putting about there's like an artificial 315 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:07,720 design to the character studies. There's a self-awareness that 316 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:10,000 feels smart on the surface. And then when you interrogate 317 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:11,920 it, it doesn't feel like there's a lot there. 318 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:15,000 And then you're kind of taken over by the CGI sets and the 319 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,000 practical filmmaking. And depending on the movie 320 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,760 you're talking about and you kind of forgive it like what 321 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:21,880 you're saying. But I think that the those 322 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:25,960 calculated artificial choices in the character development or the 323 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:31,320 the kind of thematic nuances of his movies, he goes for more so 324 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:34,000 like pleasing all audiences first and foremost, which I 325 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:37,040 think there's, you know, there's something to be said about that. 326 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:39,760 But it also sort of throws me off because of the way he's 327 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,560 talked about as like a humanistic, progressive, you 328 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:45,680 know, feminist filmmaker, as you were saying before, when I think 329 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:48,400 he's very clearly like a cash grab. 330 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:51,040 I'm making escapist rides. Like he says that kind of stuff. 331 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:52,520 Like I'm making roller coaster rides. 332 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:55,280 Like he said that he loved Ridley Scott's original Alien 333 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:58,560 because it was a fun house nightmare and he wanted to make 334 00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:00,560 something that was like a roller coaster ride in Aliens. 335 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:03,240 And you can feel that that kind of sensibility in most of his 336 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:04,880 movies. Yeah, which is just like not 337 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:07,000 movies that we're normally interested in, you know? 338 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:11,119 Yeah, I, I think that especially like what we'll talk about today 339 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:17,280 in Aliens is that I, I think that he is often mistaked as a 340 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:22,160 feminist action like filmmaker. And just because he has women, 341 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:25,520 like as the protagonists of a lot of his movies, in these 342 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:28,680 action movies where we have normally historically seen men 343 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:31,640 in those roles, doesn't necessarily mean that they are 344 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:34,760 like progressive. And also I think that especially 345 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:39,080 with Ripley's character arc and like the kind of like maternal, 346 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:43,320 you know, aspect of her arc, just because, you know, there 347 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:47,800 are certain qualities that we haven't seen in a hero character 348 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:50,760 doesn't necessarily mean that it's that interesting. 349 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:53,320 And so like, I want to talk about that too today. 350 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:56,800 I do think though, like, well, we will be talking about how 351 00:17:56,800 --> 00:18:00,400 like Cameron is good at creating that roller coaster aspect. 352 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:04,280 It's just not what we come to movies for and so. 353 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:05,960 We're just that. I mean, yeah, that's what I 354 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:07,760 mean. Yeah, it's like Prometheus is an 355 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:10,880 epic, visually and sonically, but it's got ideas that are 356 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:14,200 crazy and ambitious. Some could say stupid for sure. 357 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:18,720 Am I during the scene of Covenant when an alien takes out 358 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:22,800 someone's jaw with their tail? Like, Oh my God, that was sick. 359 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:24,680 Yes. Like I'm not above that. 360 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:28,680 So I don't want to sound like, you know, a movie snob or 361 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:32,040 whatever, but I guess I, I think like we'll talk more about today 362 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:35,040 how we just like, you know, I don't think Cameron's our guy. 363 00:18:35,360 --> 00:18:37,720 Yeah, I but I do want to, you know, touch on really quickly 364 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:40,080 before we get into this. Like what you said, I do think 365 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:43,240 Cameron deserves a little credit for platforming strong woman in 366 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:46,640 a time or industries said that that was impossible and to make 367 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:48,720 blockbuster starring woman was not possible. 368 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:52,040 And I do think he, you know, continuously throughout his 369 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:54,520 movies is like, here's a strong woman as a lead character. 370 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:57,960 Here's all these fragile and weak men and then he does 371 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:01,320 something that I think is interesting and also something 372 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:05,680 that I bump on, which is he replaces the survivor trope of a 373 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:10,360 woman lead with a kind of more like savior trope of what you 374 00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:13,360 stereotypically see with a male hero journeys lead. 375 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:17,000 And I think some of have identified that choice as noble 376 00:19:17,120 --> 00:19:18,880 or feminist, you know, quote UN quote. 377 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:21,280 But I'm not sure that's true like what you're saying. 378 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:25,560 It's just that he's really good at emasculating fragile, toxic 379 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:27,560 men. And I don't know if he's as good 380 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:30,360 at giving nuances to women as people. 381 00:19:30,360 --> 00:19:32,800 Yeah, more as an idea, if that makes sense. 382 00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:36,400 Like a woman as a concept. And he does, you know, I'm not 383 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:37,840 going to psychoanalyze him right now. 384 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:40,840 You can look into his personal life on Wikipedia if you'd like. 385 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:42,720 There's a lot there. And I think a lot to be said. 386 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:43,720 We're not going to do that right now. 387 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:49,000 But he he reminds me more of like a George Lucas, you know, B 388 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,240 plus Steven Spielberg, B plus Peter Jackson. 389 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:55,640 And there are film makers that wish they could do something, 390 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:56,920 you know, something like Cameron can do. 391 00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:58,760 And there are film makers that have come close, like AJJ 392 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:01,120 Abrams. Somebody like Christopher Nolan 393 00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:04,240 comes to mind as somebody who is doing what Cameron's attempted 394 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:05,960 to do, but in much more interesting ways. 395 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:07,120 Yeah, To me. Yeah. 396 00:20:07,120 --> 00:20:10,560 Even though, you know, he might not ever put woman as leads in 397 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:11,480 his movie. Right. 398 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:13,760 Which is, again, a whole other conversation. 399 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:16,440 So. I'll continue to see his movies. 400 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:18,600 Obviously it's James Cameron. This is an historically 401 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:21,160 important figure. I'm just not sure I've ever 402 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:23,760 vibed with his sensibilities. Right. 403 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:24,960 Yeah. It's always interesting to see, 404 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:27,800 like, what he does technically, right, with like the art form. 405 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:30,400 But yeah, yeah, we'll talk about that more today. 406 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:32,960 I mean, we'll have, again, we'll have a decade of Avatar movies 407 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:33,560 to go. Through. 408 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:36,480 Fortunately and unfortunately, to a certain extent. 409 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:40,240 All right, so our episode today is exclusively on Patreon. 410 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:43,040 If you are not a member on Patreon, you could become a free 411 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:46,160 member right now in the description of this episode and 412 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,800 four free members specifically, we're running a free series to 413 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:52,840 have access to four deep dives on our Patreon channel. 414 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:57,080 Those 4 deep dives are one movie that is my favorite film of all 415 00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:58,880 time and very important to this episode today. 416 00:20:59,120 --> 00:21:01,880 Really, Scott's Alien, You have access to that right now. 417 00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:05,560 Also, Ari Astor's Midsummer, Jonathan Demme's Silence of the 418 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:09,160 Lambs, and then The last movie is what else? 419 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:11,200 When am I missing Alex Garland's Ex Machina? 420 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:14,560 Thank you guys. You did it, my eye contact. 421 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:17,720 So as always, our Patreon episodes are deep dives, but 422 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:20,920 they're also live commentary, so we will be discussing aliens 423 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:22,720 while watching it. So if you're on the main feed, 424 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:24,520 you're listening to a sample of this episode. 425 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:26,640 If you go into the show notes, you'll find our Patreon, the 426 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:29,440 Extra Credits Plus, where you can get access to the full 427 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:31,360 episode as well as the rest of our catalogue. 428 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:34,360 It's all organized in our collections tab by Film Maker 429 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:37,280 with some funny jokes underneath every title of the filmmaker. 430 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:38,520 You do a great job. Thank you. 431 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:41,320 Somebody, somebody's got to tell me for me to keep doing it. 432 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:43,960 After taking a look at those episodes, it's really simple. 433 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,320 To sign up again, you just click our Patreon link in the 434 00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:48,320 description. You'll be taken to our homepage 435 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:51,680 and you'll see that we only have a single tier called Living 436 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:54,000 Plus, which is a succession reference for you. 437 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,440 Succession heads, the Conor Roy heads out there. 438 00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:59,480 The Living Plus tier is only $5.00 a month, and those members 439 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:03,120 Get full access to our library of over 30 episodes. 440 00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:06,080 Now, as a patron, we'll receive all those episodes and also 441 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:07,640 voting access to future episodes. 442 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:10,880 We're going to be having a Halloween spooky season vote 443 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:13,040 very soon on the channel, so look out for that. 444 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:15,520 And we also put out monthly newsletters to keep up with our 445 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:17,480 programming. I'm very proud of our most 446 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:19,360 recent one. The alien one looks pretty sick 447 00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:20,440 to me. Yeah. 448 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:21,600 All right. So for anyone who wants to 449 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:24,160 listen and watch along James Cameron's Aliens with us, you 450 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:28,480 can stream all of the Canon alien films right now on Hulu or 451 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:30,720 Disney Plus. If you're overseas, I believe 452 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:34,880 it's still on Disney Plus or you can purchase the new 4K edition, 453 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:38,440 which I recommend. It's a divisive edition, but I 454 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:40,320 think it looks great. I think it looks incredible. 455 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:44,120 Even the Cameron of it all is him just wanting to kind of like 456 00:22:44,360 --> 00:22:46,640 increase the brightness, make the colour pop a little bit 457 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:48,440 more. You can see a little bit more of 458 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:50,480 the artifice of the movie when you kind of see some kind of 459 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:52,600 matte paintings in the background sometimes, but I 460 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:56,360 think it's worth it the the humans in the movie specifically 461 00:22:56,360 --> 00:22:58,520 look amazing in the space of it all. 462 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:00,600 Yeah, yeah. And also, we should say that 463 00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:04,520 we're watching the theatrical version for this podcast as we 464 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:06,240 talk about. It thank you for saying that we 465 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,960 will be discussing the special edition director's cut scenes 466 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,320 that James Cameron wanted to keep in the movie but the studio 467 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:14,680 did not want right. Specifically Sigourney Weaver, 468 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:17,920 who only signed on to this film, you know, alongside her $1 469 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:21,000 million paycheck and the back end of of making some box office 470 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,560 returns, which she deserved because she only made like 30 K 471 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:27,080 off the original Alien. She wanted her whole kind of 472 00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:30,160 like arc with her daughter, which we'll get to, to be 473 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,160 included in this movie. So when it was cut, that pissed 474 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:35,400 her off, which made her want to make more Alien films, even 475 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:37,120 though she never wanted to come back in the 1st place. 476 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:40,320 All right, on play, we'll start the theatrical cut of this 477 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:46,880 movie, 321 play. So James Camerons Aliens, this 478 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:50,040 came out in 1986. Lots of Oscar nominations, a 479 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:54,520 couple wins, big box office, almost 150 million, two $100 480 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:56,880 million return on a $20 million budget. 481 00:23:57,160 --> 00:23:59,760 Similar returns to the original Alien. 482 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:02,600 There's a lot of behind the scenes studio shit going on in 483 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:04,880 the seven years between the original Alien. 484 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:07,120 In this film. We don't have to get into that. 485 00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:08,720 Listeners can look into it if you're interested. 486 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:11,160 It's kind of a mess. But basically the studio 487 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:14,960 eventually, around 1984, loved Cameron's pitch for a bigger, 488 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:17,400 louder, more exciting Aliens film. 489 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:20,840 He came from the Rodger Corman, you know, exploitation side of 490 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:24,320 filmmaking, knew how to set up, you know, sets, was an art 491 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:26,440 designer. It basically means that he knew 492 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,200 how to work within budget and he knew how to make B features feel 493 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:31,840 like A features. And after the success of 494 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:36,120 Terminator in 84, I believe Fox was like, you got this, this is 495 00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:38,720 your baby. And the infamous story is James 496 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:42,520 Cameron made the crew's lives in Britain a living hell. 497 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:45,760 And apparently he got worse and worse as days went on as this 498 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:49,040 autocratic figure who him and his wife at the time said that 499 00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:51,120 they were really disrespected as artists. 500 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,800 While the the crew member said that James Cameron was 501 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:58,760 exploiting their union rules, which I sort of believe what's 502 00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:01,160 what's fascinating about James Cameron is a figure is he's 503 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,320 often talked about having all these like American 504 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:05,040 sensibilities. He's Canadian. 505 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:06,400 Yeah, you know, which is interesting. 506 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,960 He's not like somebody who went in and is like an American was 507 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:11,520 like rugged individualism, even even if those are his 508 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:13,640 sensibilities or libertarianism, whatever. 509 00:25:14,360 --> 00:25:17,880 He he just feels like somebody who is anti authority in his 510 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:21,120 movies but is constantly throughout his early work talked 511 00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:23,760 about onset as being this authoritarian figure, which is 512 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:27,040 really interesting. Yeah, yeah, I like, it was 513 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:31,000 really weird to listen to the director's commentary also 514 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:35,000 because they were trying to talk about like the how there was 515 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:39,360 basically a rebellion on set and the crew left and they had to 516 00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:43,120 like come back from that. And I was like, it's definitely 517 00:25:43,120 --> 00:25:47,760 reframing, I think what other crews have said also on other 518 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:50,840 Cameron projects. So that was really interesting. 519 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:55,240 But also just in how he talks about like, Sigourney Weaver's, 520 00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:57,760 like, politics and what she he wanted in this movie from the 521 00:25:57,760 --> 00:25:59,880 character that was at odds with what he wanted. 522 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:03,520 And just just, I guess we'll talk more about, like, the way 523 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:07,040 that he was communicating that I was like, like, yeah, this feels 524 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:08,840 strange. Odd for sure. 525 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:10,200 Yeah. So this movie again came out in 526 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:13,080 1986. I just want to say we will come 527 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:16,560 back to this year because 1986 has a few of my favorite coming 528 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:20,920 of age movies. 1, John Hughes's Ferris Bueller's Day Off, one of 529 00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:24,440 the greats, which stars one of our patrons, Conor Roy himself. 530 00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:27,200 Himself, Yeah. And then a darker coming of age 531 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:30,080 film and also a found father film being Martin Scorsese, 532 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:32,440 Color of Money. Big year for Tom Cruise. 533 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:34,200 His Top Gun also came out this year. 534 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:37,880 And then to top off 1986, before we jump into Aliens, I just want 535 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:41,280 to shout out my boy Feifel Bifle for life. 536 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:43,240 There are no cats in America. Just kidding. 537 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:45,520 There were in fact cats in America. 538 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:49,520 An American tale, a masterpiece of animation and storytelling. 539 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:51,480 Kelsey's checking out. So are the listeners. 540 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:53,680 Just wanted to shout that out. A beautiful movie. 541 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:56,480 Thank you to my, you know, one or two listeners who who see me 542 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:57,000 right now. I. 543 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:58,760 Appreciate it. I was just thinking about when 544 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:01,200 you were talking about Tom Cruise, like Tom Cruise in an 545 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:03,120 Alien movie. I'm here for it. 546 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:05,320 Yeah, he sort of did that in Edge of Tomorrow, but I would 547 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:06,800 love to see him in the alien universe. 548 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:08,600 All right, so aliens, we. I want to see. 549 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:10,880 Him say mother, you know. I'm so down. 550 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:12,680 I think you'd be a great Android. 551 00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:13,880 I don't know if you take that though. 552 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:15,560 God. Yeah, that'd be great. 553 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:18,080 We should do a fan casting idea on Covenant. 554 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:21,880 So Aliens. We open to a bluish purple hazy 555 00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:25,720 space and right away Cameron establishes his own color 556 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:27,960 palette. Something brighter as we see a 557 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:32,280 large gun looking machine enter into Ripley's ship on the screen 558 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:35,240 right now and the movie immediately looks a little bit 559 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:38,520 shinier right than Scott's vision of the Alien universe. 560 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:42,600 And we get a new composer, James Horner's Oscar nominated music 561 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:44,240 here. There's also a back story with 562 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:46,200 him that's really complicated. Again, listeners, you can look 563 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:50,000 into it, but basically they they butted heads so much that James 564 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:54,360 Horner famously used his Star Trek 2 score, I believe on the 565 00:27:54,360 --> 00:27:56,720 Aliens score because he just didn't want to make music for 566 00:27:56,960 --> 00:27:59,360 James Cameron anymore. The score is good. 567 00:27:59,360 --> 00:28:01,920 It's a bit ominous at the beginning, but also sort of 568 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:04,120 elegant. Has this violin I think that's 569 00:28:04,120 --> 00:28:06,320 playing. It's almost like an evil Disney 570 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:10,520 score, sort of. It's like Majestic but dark and 571 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:13,480 one of many edits we get in this movie. 572 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:16,080 We start off at the beginning here with a dissolve edit and we 573 00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:19,160 fade into the ship. It's maybe it's like the kind of 574 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:22,520 like 4K version we have, but it just looks so good. 575 00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:26,480 Like everything in this movie visually to me looks so good as 576 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:28,920 we watch. Like this astronaut figure touch 577 00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:33,200 the cryo space chamber and these wiping the water and the 578 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:36,160 condensation off of it. It just looks incredible for a 579 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:38,480 movie that was made in the 80s. Yeah, Yeah. 580 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,080 It's a really great sequence to like open up with, right, 581 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:44,960 Because we are told like technically that we are in a 582 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:47,280 different world, right. But we're returning to the same 583 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,360 story. I think like having that laser 584 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:53,720 arm cut into the spaceship and then very quickly we understand 585 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:57,720 that Ripley is here, right? And we have that kind of gun, I 586 00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:02,320 guess, you know, looking laser come in and scan the room with 587 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:06,840 that blue a light, right that then highlights the smoke in the 588 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:08,760 room. And smoke and fog effect. 589 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:12,160 Yeah, yeah. And just it, it does have like 590 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:15,240 elements that Cameron did want to stay true to in terms of like 591 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:19,040 making the frame feel very forced with all the machinery in 592 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:23,440 it as well and having everything feel like tactile and practical. 593 00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:26,320 So I, I love that opening. And then especially as like you 594 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:29,600 were talking about that kind of glitter that is supposed to be 595 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:34,680 the frozen aspect over Ripley that is revealed to be her, then 596 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:41,280 we have that kind of. Hi, hello there, sorry for 597 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:42,680 interrupting. Yeah. 598 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:46,600 Thank you for listening so far and hopefully you are enjoying 599 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:49,760 yeah, the episode so far. I feel like maybe if you made it 600 00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:51,320 this far. They got it this far, you're. 601 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:52,840 Having a good time? I mean, let's hope. 602 00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:56,960 But to access our full conversation, you can go to the 603 00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:01,360 description of this episode to join our Patreon community, the 604 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:04,400 Extra Credits Plus. Yes, and for only $5.00 a month 605 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:07,400 you can get access to our full catalogue of Patreon exclusive 606 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:08,960 episodes. Hope to see you there.