MOFO Movie Tournament: Bracket 3

interestingly enough, i nominated both Sunset Blvd and All About Eve, though unintentionally.

Wrath's visual/narrative style is definitely bland compared to SB, you're right. Still, the differences in mode serve each story well. In other words, I have no real artistic opinion other than external deference to politics.

And yeah, I didn't notice but the parallels with All About Eve are startling! In fact, both films are actually like opposite halves of each other. In SB you have the aging actress as deluded seductress and in AAE, you have the younger actress in a similar delusion but expressed in an extremely aggressive way, also as seductress. Bette Davis's character in AAE almost comes off at first like a Norma Desmond, but we eventually discover it is the opposite way around...

Not sure how well SB works directly as critique though. It is at least slightly more veiled than AAE.

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"Loves them? They need them, like they need the air."

It must just be me then, because I still can feel the tension, dread, and claustrophobia of Alien even after all this time. And those images still stand out large in my mind: when they first enter the ship and find the alien pilot, the chestburster scene, Dallas in the vents, Ash going berserk, and the end with Ripley singing under her breath as she tries to eject the Alien.

But then, I'm not too big on musicals, and I love horror. That's just me.

I do sort of regret my vote for Citizen Kane now. I was torn on that one.

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#31 on SC's Top 100 Mofos list!!

^ I agree. No other sci-fi/horror film has reached heights attained by Alien. I mean, even Event Horizon was a joke... no other film can recreate the tension and the dread in Alien.

I'm more torn over Alien vs. Singin' in the Rain (both in my top 100) than over Kane vs. Grand Illusion (both good, but neither in my top 100).

EDIT: man, if Event Horizon was Alien's only competition that would be kind of pathetic. Cube and the Carpenter remake of The Thing are both good sci-fi/horror, though.

Eh, I really like Carpenter's The Thing, and it has some standout scenes, but it still doesn't compare to Alien in terms of atmosphere.

Yeah, somehow I feel the leap to Even Horizon is a bit premature. Part of my disillusionment with it is because of the sheer number of its imitators. The Thing is definitely a film which affected me more than Alien, but this is partly because of my unfamiliarity with the former. Simply, Alien wasn't quite alien enough for me because of the media exposure I had been given prior to seeing it. In other words, the map was drawn before exploring the territory.

I think that's a big part of why some movies don't rank for me like they do for some people, I was inundated with info on them, heard too much, seen bits and pieces, and didn't really get them raw and with full effect. Over-familiarized, I guess.

But what I'm really curious about is who nominated Good Burger...

wintertriangles, i think.

I had seen all of the sequels to Alien and I had even seen Alien in the past before I recently rediscovered it on Blu-ray and was KNOCKED OUT. So, I don't see why being so exposed to the film should be too much of a problem. Actually, I really think it all depends on other factors, but if you go into Alien just thinking, "Oh, okay. It's Sigourney Weaver and she's battling against the alien for the first time," it's not gonna wow you, because I myself didn't care for Alien in the past as well -- and I've seen The Thing beforehand and I liked it. But if you watch Alien - and you forget about the sequels - and you think about the weird idea of what the alien does and how it functions and you explore your emotions about how disturbing it would be like if there actually was a creature like that out there and you had to fight against it in order to live... without remembering the sequels and how action packed they were... I think Alien will hit you more. It is a disturbing and reverential meditation on the horror of mother nature.

personally, i like hype around a film, and i'm probably one of the few people who actually kinda likes spoilers. but i understand i'm the odd (wo)man out.

I like hype and spoilers, too. You aren't alone.

An affection like fear cannot be feigned. It is a mere mixture. I cannot open myself to fear through a willing or the intellect.

I didn't say you had to watch Alien and be afraid. I said watch Alien and think about the movie.

Oh ok.

It's hard to pinpoint the draw of horror for me. Partly, it's morbid fascination. Partly, just my love of the fantastic and weird. With pure sci-fi, it's easier to intellectualize it, but horror is so primal. It touches upon something wordless and ancient, especially when it's done well...

I'm a sucker for gore and creature effects too, but I most adore the heyday of animatronics and prosthetics and such. Carpenter's The Thing still has some of my favorite effects in any movie and it didn't need CG to do them. I think a bit of imagination and creativity is lost when it becomes too easy to do stuff. It's like, now we have computer images that can show us practically anything, but what has been done with it really?

Well, I voted for Singin' in the Rain, but Alien is great. The entire planet they land on is one crazy place and then it's crazier and crazier the more they explore it. The art direction is incredible, with the help of Giger, and that scene when John Hurt is dropped into the enormous, ribcage-looking area with blue mist which eventually ends up being the egg chamber will always be something incredible in my mind based on seeing it the first time on a enormous theatre screen.

However, I say using politics to determine your cinematic preferences is anathema to cinema appreciation. I'm sure you can explain why it works for you but I can't ever see it working for me. It's like saying that religion should be your touchstone for identifying what's good or not in the arts. Hornswoggle.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
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Yeah, Giger's art is awesome.

i could never use politics to determine my vote, either. but i'm probably way more sentimental than he is.