Here, use cream
October 21, 2011 7:34 PM   Subscribe

 
The last one is the best.
posted by Artw at 7:39 PM on October 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


Alien is underrated as an actor's movie, the big gaps of silence and Moood setting allowed them to create really interesting characters in a few broad strokes, it's a good example of using pure actory stuff like expression, tone, and pacing, to flesh out characters rather than more writerly things. The crew of the Nostrormo doesn't say a lot, but they are really defined and, and this is what makes Alien work for me, very comfortable with each other.

You know, aside from the one crew member they are totally not comfortable with.
posted by The Whelk at 7:40 PM on October 21, 2011 [10 favorites]


Ash?
posted by nathancaswell at 7:41 PM on October 21, 2011


Wow, Sigourney Weaver was so, so young... and the comment about the great costumes was spot on. I loved the differences in footwear revealing a little bit of personality.
posted by porpoise at 7:43 PM on October 21, 2011


How in the hell is it possible for a sci-fi movie filmed in the '70s to be more realistic than any science fiction movies shown in 2011? How?

It is, look at it! It is! You're there in the ship, breathing recycled atmosphere that smells of human sweat and alien acid, and you're stuck in there with them, trying to figure this out, and failing...

It's scary and intense and so real you could live in it... for a very brief while.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:43 PM on October 21, 2011 [28 favorites]


Cause they really built the ship.

You ask the actors on HBO's Rome about anything and they mention the set, the huge expansive, seamless set they built for them. It comes through in asking the actors of Firefly, the set was a complete whole from the cockpit to the common room, they're all flabbergasted that they built all this for them.

I think it's a lot easier to play make believe when you've got a complete physical setting to do so in.
posted by The Whelk at 7:45 PM on October 21, 2011 [16 favorites]


Well, it would be a space future very dedicated to retro UI-design.
posted by Artw at 7:46 PM on October 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


Nice.

Everyone was so young. It had completely passed over me that Ian Holm was in this movie. I really must see this one again. These photographs are excellent.
posted by chemoboy at 7:47 PM on October 21, 2011


And one of princess leia?
posted by Jibuzaemon at 7:47 PM on October 21, 2011 [5 favorites]


It's an industrial mining space future, so all bets are off.

Also, the importance of having a costume dept who is aware and on target, smart costume people think about stuff like footwear wear and tear and specialization all the time.
posted by The Whelk at 7:47 PM on October 21, 2011


Well, it would be a space future very dedicated to retro UI-design.

We frakking went over this with BSG...
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:48 PM on October 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


just watched this again the other night. so superb. I defy these young hollywood bimbos to look half so good as young Sigourney with not a stitch of makeup....fantastic cast, utterly sublime and SCARY movie of which I never tire...that gritty, REAL, immediate sense of them all, no BS no glamor...
posted by supermedusa at 7:48 PM on October 21, 2011


Wait...Some of these don't belong in here:

Isn't this from a later Alien/s movie?

C'mon, this is from SW: Ep 6 - Return of the Jedi.
posted by fijiwriter at 7:48 PM on October 21, 2011 [3 favorites]


Wait, when the hell did Boushh show up on the Nostromo? (That thermal detonator would've come in handy)
posted by blueberry at 7:53 PM on October 21, 2011


Yeah, what's with Boushh in the middle of everything there?
posted by carsonb at 7:53 PM on October 21, 2011


C'mon, this is from SW: Ep 6 - Return of the Jedi.

How did that get by me (us?) I think seeing these pictures just triggered some nostalgia neurochemical in mah brain and as I scrolled through the pictures I just kept thinking "Ash's head, awesome ... Segourney Weaver in her underwear, awesome ... He's holding a thermal detonator, awesome ..."
posted by chemoboy at 7:53 PM on October 21, 2011 [3 favorites]


Nerds.
posted by carsonb at 7:54 PM on October 21, 2011 [2 favorites]


... and Weaver/Ripley's wristwatch is seriously badass. Seems like it was a (highly modified) Seiko 7A28-7000 Speedmaster. Actually, searching some forums, the Speedmaster was what she wore in AlienS.

Anyone know what watch it is that she wears in the first Alien movie? Some kind of calculator watch?
posted by porpoise at 7:54 PM on October 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


Second to last one is the best. That guy should just wear that around.
posted by SharkParty at 7:59 PM on October 21, 2011


Every time I think to myself, hey, this is the coolest fucking MetaFilter post ever, it's Artw.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:00 PM on October 21, 2011 [5 favorites]


Yay, I love 'Alien' (they're so young!).
posted by marimeko at 8:10 PM on October 21, 2011


Wait...Some of these don't belong in here:

Isn't this from a later Alien/s movie?


No, that was the original design. They lost the translucent head and human like skull in Aliens, and then there was whatever happened in that fourth movie I refuse to acknowledge the existence of.
posted by calamari kid at 8:11 PM on October 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


Wow. Clicked the link expecting a very different Nostromo.
posted by auto-correct at 8:12 PM on October 21, 2011


Ok, this one is just AMAZING.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 8:15 PM on October 21, 2011


That 4th movie is pretty good if you accept it as a dreamy exploration of freakish alien imagery and Sex Problems and robots. If nothing else, it's got at least four great set pieces strung together.

It is light years ahead of the muddy mess of three, which did nothing.
posted by The Whelk at 8:18 PM on October 21, 2011


I never watched this movie (because I've always had an aversion to dark scary movies where slimy things jump out and kill you) but I felt compelled to read the plot synopsis after looking at the pictures. It seems to me that every time I learn about any science fiction franchise I learn something new about Futurama.
posted by bleep at 8:19 PM on October 21, 2011 [2 favorites]


from wikipedia:

Bolaji Badejo as The Alien. A Nigerian design student, Badejo was discovered in a bar by a member of the casting team, who put him in touch with Ridley Scott.[35][36] Scott believed that Badejo, at 7 feet 2 inches (218 cm) and with a slender frame, could portray the Alien and look as if his arms and legs were too long to be real, creating the illusion that there could not possibly be a human being inside the costume.

This just tweaks my scifi theory nips, hard. AN OTHER IN AN OTHER SUIT
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 8:19 PM on October 21, 2011 [12 favorites]


That 4th movie is pretty good if you accept it as a dreamy exploration of freakish alien imagery and Sex Problems and robots.

Dark Horse Comics - The Movie!
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:20 PM on October 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


THAT IS WHY I LIKE IT
posted by The Whelk at 8:22 PM on October 21, 2011 [3 favorites]


Now I want a Grendel movie. Made in the '70s. Starring Al Pacino, before the mob movies got a hold of him.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:24 PM on October 21, 2011


AN OTHER IN AN OTHER SUIT

Stuntmen Eddie Powell and Roy Scammell also portrayed the Alien in some scenes.


And others in the Other's Other suit.
posted by bleep at 8:26 PM on October 21, 2011 [2 favorites]


So Ripley's enemy was a black dude?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:26 PM on October 21, 2011 [2 favorites]


Those shots of Sigourney Weaver are causing me to regress to the fifteen year old that I was in 1979.
posted by octothorpe at 8:29 PM on October 21, 2011 [5 favorites]


Love the Princess Leia as bounty hunter thrown in there...
posted by Chuffy at 8:48 PM on October 21, 2011


Hmm, only three showing the alien. Barely triggers my gigercounter.
posted by benito.strauss at 8:53 PM on October 21, 2011 [7 favorites]


It is light years ahead of the muddy mess of three, which did nothing.

You're on the verge of "INSERT COIN FOR LENGTHY RANT," but you ought to watch the not-a-director's-cut of Alien3. It's brutal, but really good. All about what happens when you finally conquer your nightmare demons but, fuck you, they're back again anyway and stole your entire life all over again.

(ROT13 spoiler for Use of Weapons: Abj gung V guvax bs vg, vg'f yvxr gur ovg arne gur ortvaavat bs Hfr bs Jrncbaf jurer gur zna pnyyrq Purenqvavar Mnxnyjr oernxf vagb gur ebbz bs fbzr zhpxl-zhpx jub'f fhccbfrq gb unir orra jbexvat sbe gur Phygher, znxrf uvz guvaxf ur'f tbvat gb xvyy uvz, gura znxrf uvz guvax gung orpnhfr vg'f gur Phygher ur'yy whfg or chg bhg gb cnfgher, naq gura gryyf uvz ur'f tbvat gb xvyy uvz naljnl.)
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:18 PM on October 21, 2011


The Whelk: "...I think it's a lot easier to play make believe when you've got a complete physical setting to do so in."

Yeah, and it seems real for the viewer too, because there are no shots where the camera is mysteriously located past the spot where a wall should be. The camera has to be positioned in the same physical space as the action, which gives the movie more of a documentary feel.
posted by Kevin Street at 9:18 PM on October 21, 2011 [3 favorites]


The Dark Horse comics were good. At that time those (and a few Comico titles) were the only comics I was reading, because they were churning out quality stuff on stagnating franchises like Alien, Predator and Terminator.

You ask the actors on HBO's Rome about anything and they mention the set, the huge expansive, seamless set they built for them.

What I wouldn't give for George Lucas to have had someone explain this post to him 10 years ago.
posted by chemoboy at 9:43 PM on October 21, 2011 [2 favorites]


AWESOME
posted by New England Cultist at 10:05 PM on October 21, 2011


This was the very first R-rated movie that I saw. Not only that, it was the first movie I went to see without a clue what it was about.

All I knew was John Hurt was in it! Yay! I love John Hurt! I bet he's awesome (so I thought).

And then -- after a very brief period, not only is he no longer in the movie, he is no longer in the movie because of one of the MOST DISGUSTING THINGS I HAD EVER SEEN.

Did I mention I hate scary movies? You would think the tagline -- "In space, no one can hear you scream" -- would have alerted me. But noooooooooooooo....

So I watch the rest of my John Hurt-less movie with my eyes squeezed shut, thinking it wouldn't be as scary.

WRONG.

So in addition to the casting, the set design, and the costumes, one must give big ups to the sound direction, because MY LORD WAS THAT DISGUSTING SCARY SHIT.

Signed,

Still Has Alien Nightmares
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 10:23 PM on October 21, 2011 [17 favorites]


When I was a kid, I dunno, about 10 or so, and was obsessed with spaceships, naturally, I had this book of production design artwork for Alien. I stared at that for hours. Hours. There are pages of it burned in to my memory, all long before I ever saw the movie.
posted by Artw at 10:29 PM on October 21, 2011 [3 favorites]


*gives ROU_Xenophobe a quarter *
posted by murphy slaw at 10:29 PM on October 21, 2011


Ah, here we go.
posted by Artw at 10:33 PM on October 21, 2011


What a great gallery. Also, the set design on Alien has yet to be surpassed, or in my opinion even equalled, by any movie made before or since. It's just a masterpiece on every level. Oh god I love this movie so much, Imma go out and buy the bitch on Blu-Ray RIGHT NOW!
posted by tumid dahlia at 11:05 PM on October 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


This movie was a milestone in human culture as far as I`m concerned. The fact that most movies currently rely on digital means as a structure for for projecting storytelling raises an interesting aesthetic question.
posted by Meatafoecure at 3:29 AM on October 22, 2011


Wow, Sigourney Weaver was so, so young…

Ms. Weaver was born in October 1949 and Alien was filmed during July-October 1978, so she was 28. Tom Skerritt was 45, Veronica Cartwright was 29, Harry Dean Stanton was 52, John Hurt was 38, Ian Holm was 47, and Yaphet Kotto was 40.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:44 AM on October 22, 2011 [2 favorites]


I was 3 when this came out. Which probably makes it the second R rated movie I've seen. I remember realizing what was happening as the chest bursting scene started, and remember shaking with OH GOD WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS (a sense memory that may not be real of my popcorn container shaking in my hands) and ended up leaving the movie after that. It was years until I finally saw the rest of it.
posted by rmd1023 at 9:03 AM on October 22, 2011 [2 favorites]


AH, NOT 3. THIRTEEN. 13.
fucking typos.
posted by rmd1023 at 9:03 AM on October 22, 2011 [1 favorite]




♪♫One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong.♫♪
posted by Splunge at 11:40 AM on October 22, 2011


When I was a little kid the poster for this movie creeped me the hell out, never mind the movie (which I didn't watch until I was in university).
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:35 PM on October 22, 2011


Still Has Alien Nightmares

What you said. Don't think I've been to see anything like that since.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 2:35 PM on October 22, 2011


Sigourney, Sigourney, Sigourney. *sigh* In the shots where she's wearing the headset, she looks about sixteen.

Also, WRT "the one crew member they are totally not comfortable with", I think that was Weaver--she was in the lead role, but had a lot less film experience than the rest of the cast.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:36 PM on October 22, 2011


Tangentially related: a (fake) interview with HR Giger. From the always excellent superego podcast
posted by billyfleetwood at 3:43 PM on October 22, 2011 [1 favorite]


I need to know Artw opinion on the new Alien game for the DS.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 3:55 PM on October 22, 2011


So Ripley's enemy was a black dude?!

Brother from another planet.

posted by chavenet at 4:08 PM on October 22, 2011


I need to know Artw opinion on the new Alien game for the DS.

It'll never match this.
posted by Artw at 4:31 PM on October 22, 2011


AH, NOT 3. THIRTEEN. 13.

Phew. I was going to have a word with your parents.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 4:57 PM on October 22, 2011 [1 favorite]


I need to know Artw opinion on Rambo II, First Blood Boogaloo.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:16 PM on October 22, 2011


So, here's the thing. I'm a huge Alien fan. Huge. I have a Nostromo ball-cap. I quote the film. I have been known to compare and contrast scenes from the film with scenes from submarine films to back up my argument that classic horror and films like Das Boot are actually quite similar.

But the first thing I thought of when I saw the title of this post was Conrad's novel.

I'm going to count this as a win.
posted by clvrmnky at 6:41 PM on October 23, 2011 [1 favorite]


Best poster evah

Best trailer evah

Best film evah (well in the alternate weeks when it's not Bladerunner)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:25 PM on October 26, 2011


Wife gave me this book yesterday; I do love her.
posted by octothorpe at 8:51 AM on October 27, 2011


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