[Indi]

Aliens vs. Jurassic Park

Rules:
No polls, just a review and your opinion on why you believe the film you've chosen should stay higher up in the list. 50 words or more, 40 is accepted if you have expressed your opinion in a satisfactory standard.

Have fun!

[Indi]

I think I'm going to have to go with Aliens with this one.

Despite Jurassic Park being a really fun movie and the concept of the recreation of dinosaurs. Aliens, the film... keeps you tense and engaged throughout. I remember the first time I saw all 4 films with my father at once, and it really kept me wondering what the hell would happen next.

Aliens it is for me.

[Robinski]

Difficult choice. Both absolute classics and both childhood favourites of many here I'll assume, although not for myself. I only saw Aliens for the first time earlier this year, so it's still fresh in my mind.

Aliens, for me, while it was a brilliant film was too much of a departure from the original in terms of tone. If Alien had never happened, it'd be brilliant in every way, but with the context of the previous film it just pales slightly. I'm much more a fan of psychological horror than I am of straight up action in film, and I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive Cameron for taking one of the most bone-chillingly and unnervingly monsters of film into what is essentially glorified cannon fodder. Just like in a videogame when you finally kill one of those really hard special enemies early on in a game and then they pop up all over the place, the magic is gone. I will always respect Aliens for the good it did in terms of granting real credibility to the female action star as a main character.

Jurassic Park is too much of a childhood favourite of mine for me to not vote for it. Every 5 year old boy loved dinosaurs, and every 5 year old boy will enjoy Jurassic Park. It also marked a great step in terms of special effects too, the mixture of animatronics and early CGI produced some of the best, and most convincing, monsters of recent films for me. Speilberg knew exactly where to draw the line and make the jump from physical effects to virtual ones and it's pretty much perfect in my book.

I find it difficult to write critically about JP, because it's so personal to me in terms of the memories and ties it has to my childhood, but it's through those (possibly rose-tinted) glasses that I cast my vote for it.

[Tycek]

This battle is quite easy for me.

Aliens was the movie that you can't forget. It doesn't matter how many times you've watched it you always will be afraid of xenomorphs lurking in the dark, you always will be rooting for Ripley and you will always feel sorry for Newt. This movie will be always interesting even for hundredth time. Aliens is timeless masterpiece showing great work of Cameron, Scott and Giger. Great FX that made the atmosphere on LV426 as dense as possible isn't much outdated even in times of CGIs and movie can still make you sh*t bricks.

Jurrasic Park was great, it has nice acting especially from S. Neil (rest of the actors weren't so memorable), it has great dinosaurs, which were a real masterpiece at that time, has a nice story with reviving the reptiles and creating some kind of preservation for them and got nice atmosphere. Unfortunately here comes the end of the pros. Film was just a popcorn flick and wasn't memorable at all. I've seen it three or four times, but I can't recall any names of even actors playing there. It was good movie for these days, but time made it's job and the movie practically fade away.

My vote goes to Aliens.

[Otter]

Amazing match up!

This is going to be weird to admit, but I haven't always loved Aliens. In fact, I never really thought about it until my friends kept going on and on about it. I've never really been into guns, or the military, so that sort of sci-fi military porn never struck the same chord for me as resurrecting freaking dinosaurs.

It's tough to list off JP's strengths in comparison to such an obviously loved film as Aliens, but I'm going to try it anyhow. First of all - the premise and the original novel. I still have my copy that I think I read like 20 times back when I was 12. I literally wanted to become a geneticist so I could engineer my own dinosaurs back to life. Hell, I'd even take a miniature elephant.

Secondly, we've got to consider directing. Spielberg has emotional storytelling down to a fine science. His experience coupled with an obvious inherent vision have left us with a master storyteller who, in Jurassic Park, presents us with a fun, thrilling, and at times sh*t-your-pants scary experience, all the while working with somewhat pulpy characters. This is, obviously, an element shared between the films but Spielberg is just flat out better at it.

As for actors - the aforementioned pulpy characters are brought to life by great performances in both films but - and I know it was a horror film set in the dead of space - Aliens lacks a certain amount of charm, whereas Jurassic Park....spared no expense? Both films have fantastic ensemble casts however, so I can't say JP is a clearcut winner here.

The final thing I'll touch on is special effects. Now, to me, for art direction, Aliens stands far and away above. (Funny, I think both Alien and Lost World excelled over their counterparts in this regard, but that's another argument altogether) Giger's aliens are incredible and move so fantastically, they're a sight to behold, and the ship itself is incomparable. But Jurassic Park pretty much reinvented special effects. Even though we're looking at less than five minutes of dino screen time in the whole film, they were - and still are, even if the blu-ray transfer is a bit sh*t - some of the coolest creatures ever put on film. Quite simply, revolutionary. We've come leaps and bounds since, but this film made the first stabs into a new world gracefully.

Finally, I should mention that Jurassic Park is a perpetual favorite of mine. We've got a fan club at work. I still regularly quote it. It was a bit a of a waste of time for me to even barely begin to justifiy my decision as it was already made. ;P

Jurassic Park!

[DeeperRed]

If this was Alien Vs Jurassic Park. I would have no problem making a choice. Alien to this day remains to me, one of the best horror films made. However the opponent to my childhood movie is Aliens and thus to me, its an easier choice. Aliens is a great film don't get me wrong, however I never seemed to like it as much as others did. Jurassic Park on the other hand combined fun, terror and motherf*cking dinosaurs into one film. I admit the characters weren't strong but the story itself was wonderful and the animatronics looked, and still look fantastic.

Jurassic Park

[TheCacti]

QUOTE (DeeperRed @ Tuesday, May 8 2012, 21:07)

If this was Alien Vs Jurassic Park. I would have no problem making a choice. Alien to this day remains to me, one of the best horror films made. However the opponent to my childhood movie is Aliens and thus to me, its an easier choice. Aliens is a great film don't get me wrong, however I never seemed to like it as much as others did.

Just to kinda build off what you're saying here...

My initial knee-jerk reaction from seeing this matchup was "Aliens!" But you know what I think the best thing about Aliens is? Alien. The two complement each other to a tee, and they make each other great, more so for the latter than the former. Aliens is just about everything you can want from a gung-ho action film that does it right, and it deserves due praise.

Jurrasic Park, on the other hand, is a just a monumental film that stands all by itself. It set new standards for special effects while sparking the imaginations of a generation, and continues to do so. I feel almost funny talking so highly of it without having watched it in many years, but I did grow up with this film and I've no doubt that if I were to watch it at this moment that I'd enjoy it as much as I did when I was 10.

I vote Jurassic Park.

[Indi]

Voting stopped.

Jurassic Park wins.