What Emmanuelle Movie Did You Just Watch?

[Lisa]

Next thing you know, she'll gain 400 pounds, grow a beard, and harass people over the internet...

Haaah! You read my mind:

1. I'm already chubby.

2. If it weren't for the blessing of ladies' facial wax strips, I'd have a moustache.

3. Have you not BEEN in the ladies' forum, where I regularly harass people on what products to use, and hassle the guys on how to behave?

I'm inching my way closer...

[V]

Well, whatever you do... do not, in Vishnu's name, put the word 'badass' on your blog.

If you do, I shall be disappoint.

[Timothy225]

So, what's your opinion on Crocs, Lisa? And will we now have to talk more about movies?

[Ed Hocken]

She's already Italian *does shifty eyes*

[Bobby Bear]

Alien 3

Hadn't seen it in about a decade, if not longer. It's alright. Some cool moments and ideas (the dining hall snatch, the design of "Fury", Charles Dance) but there's more to gripe about than praise overall. It lacks the masterful dread and technical exuberance of the first two, resulting in kills that feel largely inconsequential. It doesn't help that they're all staged so obviously that there's nary a "jump" moment to compete with what's gone before it. The script's saggy and Ripley doesn't behave or sound like herself at all on a few occasions, which sucked me right out of the movie.

Looks nice on Blu, though. Pity about the Alien CG (I'm willing to overlook that which can't be helped more than most, but boy is that shimmery alien distracting.)

By the way, Adam Baldwin has a serious case of the Jared Padalecki's in that Full Metal Jacket pic above.

[Matt]

My complaints on 'Alien 3' (theatrical and workprint versions):
1. Clemens is killed off too early. He was the most sympathetic character in the entire film and HE should have been the sole survivor, not Golic.
2. Overly dark. At times, it's hard to fully understand what it is that you're watching.
3. Everyone looks alike. You've got a bunch of bald guys running around wearing similar clothes, screaming. You've gotten to know a couple of them, but most of them are pretty nameless and characterless. There isn't a Vasquez, Hudson, or Apone in the supporting crew, just Inmate #1, Inmate #2, etc...
4. Dillon and 85 don't have enough to do, and they are poor replacements for Clemens.
5. FUCK. FUCK FUCK FUCK. FUCK. The word is overused to almost 'Scarface' absurdities.

What works:
1. Great atmosphere and sense of dread.
2. Great soundtrack.
3. Great acting from everyone involved. I'd even say that Weaver delivers a better performance HERE than in 'Aliens'.

[Bobby Bear]

Killing off Dance early on was definitely a misstep. People complain about Day of the Dead ('85) having an excessively foul-mouthed script but it doesn't feel nearly as contrived as it does in Alien 3. It's ridiculously overused.

Really, man? I found Weaver's performance to be a massive step down from the first two. Most of the charisma felt absent. Mind you, she was saddled with some pretty bland dialog.

EDIT: I was watching the theatrical cut.

[Matt]

The worprint version handles the 'capture the alien' sequence much better. Instead of accidentally triggering a fire and failing in the attempt, they actually manage to capture it as intended. Golic, who was spared earlier, sees the alien as GOD and lets it go. It works better than it sounds.

[Anderson]

A couple of people really missed the point on FMJ, while Lisa is close to getting it.

[Abraham Smashington]

The worprint version handles the 'capture the alien' sequence much better. Instead of accidentally triggering a fire and failing in the attempt, they actually manage to capture it as intended. Golic, who was spared earlier, sees the alien as GOD and lets it go. It works better than it sounds.

The workprint is fucking aces.

[Nathan]

A couple of people really missed the point on FMJ, while Lisa is close to getting it.

Would you care to elaborate or point me in the right direction - website, articles, etc?

[Anderson]

Would you care to elaborate or point me in the right direction - website, articles, etc?

The film is an exercise in the duality of man.

When you leave the opening where everyone is placed on the same level, they're all faced against Ermey.

Our focus shifts to Joker and Pyle. One can cut it and the other can't. When they're both pushed to their limits, Pyle snaps. Joker moves on.

When the film hits its story shift to Vietnam, we experience the flipside. Joker was cool and calm in the real world where he didn't have to be nuts. In Vietnam, everyone benefits from not being level-headed.

There Joker meets Animal Mother and gets to see what Pyle would've turned into if he had lived. A vicious psychopath who is using the countryside as a shooting gallery.

Joker's logic, his role as a reporter and general demeanor don't mean shit in the savage world of Vietnam.

When he first arrives and gets his camera stolen, he handles a possible attacker with comedic chop-suey. When he finds his first squad of dead Vietcong, he gets to see that what he believes doesn't mean shit.

Then, the worst is when he's faced with a downed VC sniper that just aced one of his friends. He has to stand over this wounded woman and make a decision. Will he turn and experience both sides of living or can he only stay sane not becoming a killer.

There's a lot of mirroring in both parts of the flick. Baldwin and D'Onfrio were hired because they looked alike. Anthony Michael Hall was fired from the Matthew Modine role because he couldn't get what was going.

If you want some good reading on the material, pick up Full Metal Diary and The Half-Timers.

[Ben Thomas]

One of my favourite Stanley Kubrick quotes comes from the making of Full Metal Jacket.

Matthew Modine was struggling with a scene in the boot camp sequence and Kubrick was doing multiple takes. Upon asking Kubrick what exactly he wanted him to do, Kubrick replies, "Do something brilliant."

Ruckus: nice write up, man.

[Matt]

I took the entire movie as a riff on the meaning of the 'Born to Kill' slogan on Joker's helmet. It means one thing at the beginning of the film and another thing by the end. Ruckus expanded upon that further.

[Anderson]

I took the entire movie as a riff on the meaning of the 'Born to Kill' slogan on Joker's helmet. It means one thing at the beginning of the film and another thing by the end. Ruckus expanded upon that further.

It's a great companion piece to "Paths of Glory".