dir. Kazui Nihonmatsu
dir. Ridley Scott
Showing posts with label alien series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alien series. Show all posts
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
The Radar
dir. Kinji Fukasaku
dir. Ridley Scott
"Dallas encounters the alien in the air shafts just as the computer depicted "sperm" and "egg" merge in the motion tracker, at which point we hear the baby-like Alien screech. The alien reaches out as if about to grab Dallas by the face."
Saturday, January 19, 2013
The Space Jockey
National Archives College Park Collection
Alien (1979)
dir. Ridley Scott
Saturday, January 12, 2013
The Encounter with the Alien
dir. Christian Nyby & Howard Hakws
dir. Ridley Scott
from Electronico6. I love this one.
Friday, December 7, 2012
The Gross Mouth Monster
dir. Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
dir. Ridley Scott
from Disappointed Owl
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
The Ecstasy and the Agony
Ecstasy of the Angels (1972)
dir. Koji Wakamatsu
dir. Koji Wakamatsu
Prometheus (2012)
dir. Ridley Scott
The Sketch
Polish poster art by Waldemar Swierzy
dir. Ridley Scott
Thursday, November 15, 2012
The Remoteness of Space
Alien (1979)
dir. Ridley Scott
Mars Exploration Rover Spirit for NASA/JPL/Texas A&M/Cornell
Monday, September 24, 2012
The Lifecycle
dir. Stanley Kubrick
dir. Ridley Scott
from Bugblatter, national hero with a copy of Prometheus.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
The Planets Aligned
dir. Stanley Kubrick
dir. Terrence Malick
dir. Ridley Scott
from Bugblatter
Monday, March 26, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
The Monster Movie Poster
dir. Christian Nyby and Howard Hawks
dir. Ridley Scott
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
The Out of Focus Conversation
dir. Ciro Ippolito
dir. Michael Rymer
Thursday, December 22, 2011
The Ship Piercing the Atmosphere
dir. Ridley Scott
dir. James Cameron
dir. James Cameron
dir. Ridley Scott
Okay this one is a little convoluted so bear with me:
In 1979, Ridley Scott films the landing sequence in Alien as a visceral bumpy, wind-whipped roller-coaster ride. It's the first time I've ever seen that in a film - a conscious rejection of the scientifically-smooth landings of prior science fiction. The ship seems to pierce through the atmosphere with physical exertion, punching through layers of shrieking clouds.
In 1986, James Cameron helms the sequel, Aliens, and embellishes that same visceral whip-whipped ride with an extended sequence of a small dropship piercing the atmosphere. The scene's central image is an all-too-brief eerily beautiful shot of the dropship suspended in the white plains of the clouds.
In 2007, Ridley Scott declares "science fiction is dead."
In 2009, James Cameron pushes the tech barrier and drops Avatar, a central image of which is a small dropship piercing the atmosphere. This time, Cameron lingers on the eerie beauty of it, emphasizing the majestic contrails and pulling back far enough that the bumpiness of the ride levels out.
Suddenly, in early 2010, Ridley Scott decides to return to science fiction, shooting a film on the same rig James Cameron invented for Avatar. Scott's project is Prometheus - a prequel to Alien and Aliens. The trailer, which was released today, includes a powerful image of a small ship piercing the atmosphere, pulled back even farther than Cameron's Avatar, cutting a line though the majesty of the cloud layer, but also framed between inhospitable rock faces which bring the image back to its rugged origins on the uninhabitable wasteland of Alien. To top it off, it's underneath title text which uses the same iconic reveal as Alien's does.
This central image of a lone ship in the clouds is at the heart of Ridley Scott's first major success, James Cameron's first big budget success, and James Cameron's record-breaking grand-slam which certainly inspired the latest film - Ridley Scott's return to the genre that made him, and to the film series which made them both.
It's a dizzy little ouroboros, isn't it?
Thursday, July 21, 2011
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