Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Out of this world

Last night, much to my delight, I found that Alien was available free On Demand from TCM on Comcast.
And much to my shock and horror, I found that Dan had never seen Ridley Scott's otherworldly masterpiece.
So, we watched it.
Dan said "I really don't like sci-fi movies."
To call Alien "sci-fi" is to call the Mona Lisa "a painting".
Every single shot in the movie is a work of art. They storyboard-ed the hell out of this movie. Hired H.R. Giger to design the aliens and the alien set pieces. And Scott uses the alien in the same way Spielberg used the shark in Jaws. The less the audience sees it, the more terrifying it is, and the less you notice that it's just a really tall
guy in a costume. And it borrows the same horrifying concept of Jaws:
the creature has millions of years of evolution on its side, you have only your wits and a crew that you cannot trust.
The screenplay is brilliant. Not a word is uttered that isn't completely necessary.
The pacing is perfection. Slow and steady at first, and building the tension until you're watching through your fingers and dreading the inevitable jump.
J'taime, Alien. J'taime.

-- Noel
Sent from my T-Mobile SidekickA?
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