Yog's Notebook, blog edition
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Alien vs Disney
Our beloved Editor Audrey Eschright had a birthday earlier this week, turning 28 years old. To celebrate, we decided to rent some movies that were also made in 1979. There was quite a list to choose from, including some of our favorites (Muppet Movie, Manhattan, Apocalypse Now, e.g.). Being big sci-fi fans we decided on two that really struck a chord of nostalgia with both of us: The Black Hole and Alien. I can't think of two more different films, especially considering they are ostensibly in the same genre, and were made with the same resources available to the filmmakers.
The Black Hole is Disney's take on space exploration, and was far more kid-oriented than I remember it being when I watched it as...well, as a kid. There are some recognizable actors (the best being Robert Forster), the music is OK, and some of the special effects are still neat (hanging the actors on wires to simulate zero-gravity), but really this one hasn't aged well. I repeat: this movie was made for kids, and was shelved in the kids section at our local video store. But robots with Texas accents, twirling their laser guns like six-shooters? I don't know...
There are a couple of parts of Black Hole that gave me the jibblies when I was younger, like when the evil robot Maximilian kills Anthony Perkins' character by drilling into his chest (through a book!), or pretty much any scene with the mad scientist character (played, coincidentally, by a guy named Maximilian [Schnell]). These scenes still seem slightly creepy, but for the most part while watching the movie we were cringing from the corniness of it all, and not from anything intentionally spooky. And the final sequence, after the ship goes into the black hole? I have no idea why Maximilian turns into the devil with six arms and human eyeballs, or what exactly the whole heaven/hell thing is supposed to indicate. My guess is they hadn't written an ending and just thought, "screw it, go with mysticism and let's get lunch."
Alien remains a masterpiece of sci-fi/suspense/horror movie making. This is another movie I watched a lot as a kid (my Dad was a sci-fi nut, and my folks in general let me watch almost everything that wasn't pornographic), and like The Black Hole, there are scenes etched into my memory (I'm sure we all know which scene in particular a 12-year old boy found the most fascinating). Unlike that silly little film, though, Alien is probably better now than when I saw it at age 12.
The cast are brilliant, particularly John Hurt, Sigourney Weaver and Ian Holm; the characters are absolutely believable, complaining about their paychecks and making lewd innuendo to one another before crisis forces them into "adventure mode." The story itself, and Ridley Scott's direction, give just enough info to set a plausible scene, without going into too much banal, mood-killing detail. We know the Nostromo is a mining ship, it's not important to know what they're mining - in fact by the end of the film we know almost nothing about Earth society, what year it is, or anything about "The Company," beyond that they have a weapons division, and are pretty heartless (the Halliburton of the future?). By avoiding any long-winded exposition, the film concentrates your attention on 7 people (and a cat), and their ordeal with an intensely hostile ET.
Probably the most successful aspects of the film are the art and sets, which work so well because they're understated, like the story itself giving away only enough to draw us in, and let our own imaginations do the rest. Scott (Blade Runner, Gladiator), in maybe his best directorial effort, makes masterful use of good old shadow and smoke, and never really shows us more than select glimpses of the Alien itself (designed by Swiss artist H.R. Giger, for which he received a well-earned Academy Award for Visual Effects).
The Black Hole is goofy (Disney) movie, and has not stood up after 3 decades - not that it was ever seen as a masterpiece or anything more than kids' sci-fi fluff. Alien on the other hand is a seminal work of "new" sci-fi, and deserves recognition for more than just the visual aspects.
The Black Hole is Disney's take on space exploration, and was far more kid-oriented than I remember it being when I watched it as...well, as a kid. There are some recognizable actors (the best being Robert Forster), the music is OK, and some of the special effects are still neat (hanging the actors on wires to simulate zero-gravity), but really this one hasn't aged well. I repeat: this movie was made for kids, and was shelved in the kids section at our local video store. But robots with Texas accents, twirling their laser guns like six-shooters? I don't know...
There are a couple of parts of Black Hole that gave me the jibblies when I was younger, like when the evil robot Maximilian kills Anthony Perkins' character by drilling into his chest (through a book!), or pretty much any scene with the mad scientist character (played, coincidentally, by a guy named Maximilian [Schnell]). These scenes still seem slightly creepy, but for the most part while watching the movie we were cringing from the corniness of it all, and not from anything intentionally spooky. And the final sequence, after the ship goes into the black hole? I have no idea why Maximilian turns into the devil with six arms and human eyeballs, or what exactly the whole heaven/hell thing is supposed to indicate. My guess is they hadn't written an ending and just thought, "screw it, go with mysticism and let's get lunch."
Alien remains a masterpiece of sci-fi/suspense/horror movie making. This is another movie I watched a lot as a kid (my Dad was a sci-fi nut, and my folks in general let me watch almost everything that wasn't pornographic), and like The Black Hole, there are scenes etched into my memory (I'm sure we all know which scene in particular a 12-year old boy found the most fascinating). Unlike that silly little film, though, Alien is probably better now than when I saw it at age 12.
The cast are brilliant, particularly John Hurt, Sigourney Weaver and Ian Holm; the characters are absolutely believable, complaining about their paychecks and making lewd innuendo to one another before crisis forces them into "adventure mode." The story itself, and Ridley Scott's direction, give just enough info to set a plausible scene, without going into too much banal, mood-killing detail. We know the Nostromo is a mining ship, it's not important to know what they're mining - in fact by the end of the film we know almost nothing about Earth society, what year it is, or anything about "The Company," beyond that they have a weapons division, and are pretty heartless (the Halliburton of the future?). By avoiding any long-winded exposition, the film concentrates your attention on 7 people (and a cat), and their ordeal with an intensely hostile ET.
Probably the most successful aspects of the film are the art and sets, which work so well because they're understated, like the story itself giving away only enough to draw us in, and let our own imaginations do the rest. Scott (Blade Runner, Gladiator), in maybe his best directorial effort, makes masterful use of good old shadow and smoke, and never really shows us more than select glimpses of the Alien itself (designed by Swiss artist H.R. Giger, for which he received a well-earned Academy Award for Visual Effects).
The Black Hole is goofy (Disney) movie, and has not stood up after 3 decades - not that it was ever seen as a masterpiece or anything more than kids' sci-fi fluff. Alien on the other hand is a seminal work of "new" sci-fi, and deserves recognition for more than just the visual aspects.
Labels: 1979, Alien, Disney, Ian Holm, John Hurt, movies, Ridley Scott, Robert Forster, sci-fi, Sigourney Weaver, The Black Hole
posted by Lucas # 9:48 PM 
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