Director: James Cameron Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton Best quote: “Game over, man! Game over!” The killer scene: Ripley straps into a Power Loader suit to destroy the alien queen. Moms and ammo When James Cameron stepped into Ridley Scott’s space-horror boots to direct the sequel to the brilliant, he didn’t try to ape the sickening, paranoid, slow creep of the original. He just said “Screw that subtlety shit” and went big on explosions, big on aliens, and let the guns (and mech-robots) do the talking. Where before there was endless deep-space dread and grimness, now there was fully fledged big-screen action. Cameron was a relative newbie at the time, having previously only directed, but he took to big-budget work with gusto. Sigourney Weaver is pitted yet again against a vicious many-toothed foe, this time in an abandoned space colony, but now she’s surrounded by weapon-heavy Marines, hell-bent on kicking ass and taking no names.
Thank goodness that the film's bonehead moves are countered by Michelle Yeoh and Hiroyuki Sanada's presence, although it's not really about Hiroyuki Sanada. The man has got some great power moves and he does have this brooding thing going on. But ROYAL WARRIORS is clearly a platform for Michelle. New york asian film festival 2010 is a presentation of subway cinema and the film society of lincoln center. No films were hurt in the process.
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As in Alien, the plot centers around a male-dominated corporation’s obsession with developing bioweaponry, no matter what the human price may be. Yeah, it’s kind of a metaphor for the evils of big business, and sure, it’s an empowering fable about the strength of the female voice in a male world, but we all know what you’re here for: to watch Ripley stomp around in a huge mechanical suit and destroy some shockingly phallic alien bastards. And that’s awesome.— Eddy Frankel. Director: Akira Kurosawa Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Seiji Miyaguchi Best quote: “If we only defend, we lose the war.” The killer scene: The villagers’ rain-lashed last stand against the rampaging bandits—the very definition of iconic Playing the long game If you’ve never seen a Kurosawa film and wonder why he’s held in such high regard, this all-time classic is all the evidence you need—not least because it inspired Hollywood’s much-loved, if slightly simplistic, remake,. Running over 200 minutes, it’s also a textbook example of making action mean more, because we’re totally engrossed in the lives of the characters. We truly feel the fear and abject hunger of vulnerable farmers, so desperate to protect their new crop that they’re paying hired samurai with their last grains of rice.
You also feel the desperation of the masterless ronin prepared to take the job, since at least it means bed and board for a while. Kurosawa takes an hour to show us what’s at stake, and another hour showing how wise leader Takashi Shimura, volatile wanna-be samurai Toshiro Mifune and their cohorts plan to fend off their marauding foes. When the action does erupt, however, the ebb and flow of strategy is that much more absorbing, the casualties hitting hard, the payoff intense. Filmmaking of this breadth and depth takes courage, wisdom and the formal skills to put your ambitions on the screen. Utterly groundbreaking in its day, the kinetic energy with which Kurosawa’s mobile camera puts us in the midst of some hairy stunts and near-feral skirmishes has barely dated. Every action movie since owes him a debt for the hugely influential manner in which he distills space and movement into the enclosure of great cinema.— Trevor Johnston.