I've given my opinion on the Dune movies before, but I will reitrate that I find the Lynch version much less boring than the new one, but I don't believe that any amount of leeway on Lynch's part would have allowed him to make a really successful version. He's not the storyteller that Dune needs. At this point I'm sure that I'm not going to live to see a version of Dune that I'm happy with, and if I turn out to be wrong then it will probably be an Animae version or something.
Get Your Wings - I'd revers your pairs of best songs in order of priority. I think Seasons is the best song on the album and their best ballad. Pandora's Box is not a notable song, except for the trivia that Joey Kramer wrote the guitar riff, and the only other songs he's credited on as a songwriter are songs where every member is credited. They just named the box set after it because it has "box" in the title. Woman of the World isn't a favorite, but I can boast having been present at one of the two times that they played it live past 1974 (and even then it was just part of the song, if I remember correctly).
Technical Ecstacy is the only one of the original Ozzy era albums I don't remember well enough to discuss, but maybe I'll listen to it in the next few days and get back to you. Dirty Women is the song that they played live on the Reunion album. When that album came out I listened to a radio program where they played some cuts and interviewed the band about it, and when they were asked if that was the only song they ever wrote about sex and women Geezer [I think] said "I think Ozzy is the only one of us who has ever actually had sex."
Sorry but I think I'll pass on listening to that Moody Blues album just to discuss it.
I just bought that Alien Anthology bluray set that has two versions of each of the first four movies plus two discs of special features. I think it's out of print? It was between a "like new" used version of that, or for the same price I could have gotten Promethius (which I don't really like) and Covenant (which I haven't seen) but not the two discs of extra stuff, and I went with the extras.
I have seen the first two movies many times, but I'd been a really long time since the last time I watched them:
Alien (theatrical version) - Really happy that I still like this as much as I ever did. It's a movie that only really does a few types of things, but it does them really well. The sets are some of the best ever, and the suspense scenes are still really gripping. If I want something to complain about: the dialogue works, but I don't think there's a memorable line in the entire movie.
The cinematographer only made 4 movies?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Vanlint
Apparently he was happier making commercials.
Aliens (extended version) - holy shit, I always loved this, but it's even better than I remember. I now think this is the greatest of the breed of hard-R machine-guns-and-FX action movies. There are a few patches of hokey dialogue (some of the most conspicuous are only in the superior extended version), but this has alot more heart and more subtext than the original. It's almost perfectly constructed, and it has to have been years since I found any action movie as exciting as the last 40 or so minutes of this one. Carrie Henn, who plays Newt, is another person who barely did anything else, but she gives one of my favorite child performances. Ripley is the best action hero of the 1980s. What a great movie.
Alien 3 (theatrical version) - I've heard about the longer version of this one but I've never seen it. Well, I'll probably watch it next weekend and I hope it's at least kind of interesting, because this movies sucks and it pretty regrettable. This is only the second time I've watched it, and I mostly just remembered the setup and the ending.
First of all, the movie loses my goodwill right of the bat by killing Newt. I find that extremely cruel and distasteful, and it cheapens the ending of the previous movie. I understand that they couldn't bring her back without recasting her, but it's not as though this was the only way they could have set up a sequel. I also disliked that they killed hicks.
This story has alot of problems. I appreciate them not trying to outdo Aliens, but this really doesn't feel like it even had to be a sequel to the first two movies, and Ripley doens't feel like the same person. The sets are impressive, but I hate the drap color palate. And the CGI alien looks like shit. Is this the earliest attempt at doing extensive CGI to show a living thing that wasn't "liquid metal" or something?
Who's idea was it to make everbody bald?
This movie is not suspensful, scary, or exciting.
Ripley's death scene is beyond parody.
UGH.
Alien vs. Predator Classic 2000 - This PC game is the emulated re-release of AVP Gold Edition, which was an expanded version of the game from 1999. I had not played it before, but it's fun and playing this is what inspired me to pick up the bluray set. It's faithful to the movies aesthetics & weapons and all three campaigns are fun. I guess alot of people don't like the alien campaign, but I do. The alien and marine campaigns barely have any Predators in them, so maybe as an AVP game it's dissapointing, although I hear that this isn't the only entry in the franchise with that problem.
I haven't played through all the bonus missions yet. They let you play some levels from the other campaigns as a different species. Since the alien climps on walls, to do their levels they give the Predator a cool grappling hook, and the Marine a really janky jet pack. lol
I could talk more about this game, but I doubt anyone cares.
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