Predator

• I really need a "Weyland-Yutani Corp: Building Better Worlds" t-shirt.
• Stan Winston is God.
• If Michael Biehn is in your movie, there's a good chance it rocks: Aliens, The Terminator, The Abyss, Tombstone, etc.
• A measure of the strength and depth of the Alien universe -- it can support both a Ridley Scott and a James Cameron film.
• Perpetual motion "toys" moving while crews sleep in both first and second movies.
• I love the sounds the video screens make.
• Ripley says "I'm not a soldier," yet shows herself at every turn a better leader than Gorman and eventually a warrior in her own right.
• Bill Paxton, as mentioned on Wikipedia, "has the unique distinction of being the only actor who has played characters killed by an Alien (as Private Hudson in Aliens), a Predator (as Jerry Lambert in Predator 2), and a Terminator (as the punk leader in The Terminator)."
• Great moment: everything going silent as Ripley is saving Newt near the end. Standing in the middle of a field of eggs, then a pan to where the alien queen is revealed.
• Monsters with no eyes are particularly creepy.
• Another great moment -- Ripley sees the egg open, and her head tilts in disgust just before she starts shooting.
• Is it just me, or is the music similar to that of Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan? Either way, it's an awesome soundtrack.
• I remember the cheers in the theater back in the day when Ripley comes out in the loader. "Get away from her, you bitch!" Still gives me chills.
• However, whatever the happy ending seems to be, and with the opening scenes of the next movie in mind, this brings up Rule Two of Alien: It's Never Over.
• This film seems to stand up quite well. Nothing seems too out of date, and the aliens especially still look great. It's like the Puppet Yoda versus CGI Yoda design: Puppet Aliens still look awesome.
• Bishop the android is just about the most caring creature in the movie outside of Ripley.

Next, things get a mite depressing.

Main marathon page...

Tomorrow marks the 10th anniversary of The Matrix being released. Hard to believe it's been ten years already. As I mentioned last year, I decided to follow up my Star Wars marathon of 2007 with watching The Matrix trilogy in 2009*. In anticipation, I ordered The Ultimate Matrix Collection, which includes The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, The Animatrix, and more special features than I'll be able to watch in my lifetime.** So tomorrow after work I'll watch the trilogy. I've been looking forward to this for a long while and will be blogging it like Star Wars Day.

Morpheus: Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?

* I was also going to do a full-blown Alien Versus Predator marathon in May for the 30th anniversary of the original Alien, but have decided to make it an Alien Quadrilogy marathon instead, maybe including the two AvPs, but probably not. Even I have my limits. ;) This decision also neatly solves the "what order to watch them in?" question.

** Seeing as how it's only $25.99 now versus it's previous $52.98, I couldn't pass it up anyhow.

This is a pretty spiffy day.

• The Phoenix landed safely and is already sending back amazing photos.
• Clayton Kershaw had his major league debut for the Dodgers, and while he didn't get the win, he acquitted himself quite well, and the Dodgers wound up winning in the 10th inning off of Andre Ethier's first career walkoff hit. Luis Maza also hit his first career homerun.
• This is Towel Day, honoring Douglas Adams, the hoopiest frood ever.
• It is the one-year anniversary of my epic Star Wars Day marathon.
• It also marks the beginning of a one-year countdown to the even-more-epic Alien vs Predator Saga movie marathon in 2009.

Fresh off last year's successful Star Wars Day movie marathon, it occurred to us that an Alien vs Predator universe marathon would also be awesome. Between the Alien movies, Predator movies, and the crossovers, there are eight films, so it would require either an earlier start, or a multi-day commitment.

The first question is what order to watch them in:

by movie release date...

• Alien (1979)
• Aliens (1986)
• Predator (1987)
• Predator 2 (1990)
• Alien 3 (1992)
• Alien Resurrection (1997)
• Alien vs Predator (2004)
• Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007)

or by timeline...

• Predator
• Predator 2
• Alien vs Predator*
• Aliens vs Predator: Requiem
• Alien
• Aliens
• Alien 3
• Alien Resurrection

* Contains flashbacks to early visits by the Predators, but the main story line places it here.

(See also Alien and Predator Timeline.)

My inclination, as it was for the Star Wars marathon, is the latter: by timeline.

The next question is when to hold the marathon. Again, with Star Wars, I declared Star Wars Day as May 25th, which in 2007 was the 30th anniversary of the release of the original film.

Coincidentally, May 25th, 2009, will mark the 30th anniversary of the release of Alien, the first picture in the AvP universe. This gives me enough time to amass all the DVDs. Actually, I think I have the first three Alienses already, so I'm ahead of the game...unless I decide to get the Alien Quadriology set. ;)

So, more to come.