Tuan Jim

Just finished watching "Aliens" at the AFI Silver Springs. Lots of fun. - should be playing again Sat and Sunday and I think sometime next week as well.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed with the print quality - I guess all those SE DVDs have spoiled me a bit - but the audio was great and the audience "participation" was pretty fun too (even if it seemed surprisingly empty).

Kinda funny too, I've only ever watched it on DVD before so I kept waiting for the part with the and couldn't figure out why it wasn't in there. Wracking my brain to remember if it was this specific movie (certain it was) or a different one - till I finally made it home and looked it up.

RTisBetter

That's awesome. I usually check out a film at the AFI about once a month, but for their "Awesome 80's Revival" this month I've been going a couple of times each week checking out movies I've never seen on the big screen. Seeing the sold-out midnight screening of The Thing a few weeks ago was pure bliss

Tuan Jim

I wanted to hit a lot more of those, but it takes me an hour by metro to get there, and it just doesn't work too well on a weeknight when I have to get up at 5 the next day.

Zen Peckinpah

Damn, I'd kill to see Aliens on a big screen. Have you (or anyone else) checked out They Live? Was the audience going apeshit during the fight scene?

Supermallet

I saw Alien and Aliens as a double feature at the Egyptian theater in Hollywood. I'd seen Aliens on film before (in 70mm, actually), but never Alien. Between the two, the audience definitely preferred Aliens.

RTisBetter

Aliens is definitely more of an "audience participation film". Doesn't mean they like it better, though, as a film.

Zen Peckinpah

Aliens is superior IMO. James Cameron is a master at making sequels.

I think Alien and Aliens are very comparable to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight in the sense of (A) how different they are and (B) the fact that the sequel devours the already great original.

Supermallet

Well, they were laughing at all the scary scenes in Alien, except when the facehugger launches onto Kane's face. The atmosphere held up well, but I think people are too jaded. I personally think the effects still look fantastic in both films.

And I wouldn't compare Aliens to The Dark Knight in that I think Alien is on par with Aliens, they're both at the top of their respective genres. Batman Begins is a great film, but TDK clearly smokes it. The same cannot be said for Alien and Aliens.

RTisBetter

And your opinion, in this case, would be wrong.



True. True.



I disagree. I'd say most cinephiles prefer Ridley Scott's original 1979 masterwork to the almost equally great Cameron action flick. Aliens doesn't "devour" Alien in any way, shape, or form.