Film 201/365

Interesting if slightly unfocused documentary on the making of Alien. Plenty of interesting background but a bit of a scattergun approach.

Film 201/365

Interesting if slightly unfocused documentary on the making of Alien. Plenty of interesting background but a bit of a scattergun approach.

As someone who loves the imagery of Alien, I thoroughly enjoyed this

As someone who loves the imagery of Alien, I thoroughly enjoyed this

It’s interesting

It’s interesting

///informative.contextualising.solid

///informative.contextualising.solid

What do you want out an Alien documentary? Behind the scenes footage? Sorry, we don't have any of that. Interviews with the cast? Nope, not here. Significant conversations with the crew? Nah, maybe some tangential stuff. Ninety minutes of "flim historians" or "experts" in culture or mythology or whatever the fuck? Bet. A bunch of dipshits giving their ridiculous theories? You got it dude! This is not a documentary about the making of Alien. This is not about the creation of Alien (beyond maybe 15 minutes of "Oh, this movie was an inspiration for a very specific part of Alien"). This is Room 237, but for Alien instead of The Shining. It's 90% just a bunch of assholes spreading their dumb fucking fan theories that make no damn sense. We start off with little bits about Giger and Scott and O'Bannon and some stuff about where some of the ideas came from, but we very quickly switch to a bunch of arrogant dipshits getting a live mic to talk about whatever made up symbolism they forced into their viewing of the movie. The worst is the woman who is just convinced that every single thing that happens, every single sound, every square inch of the set is symbolic of "The Patriarchy" or feminism (she has the fucking balls to say "Ripley was created in 1979 and it is insane that we don't have that many great female characters since". Does she even watch movies?). Everything is the movie is apparently there specifically to bash men. Between her claiming that the Xenomorph sensually penetrates a guy and the other doofus who thinks the movie is about the dissolution of the American family, this doc was really hard to watch. At least with Room 237 it felt more like a character study of obsessed dick heads that we could laugh at. Room 237 didn't present itself as any kind of authority on the movie; Memory claims to be a real documentary about Alien and presents itself as a serious work of art that will educate you. Memory has very little to say about Alien and a lot of talking heads that have nothing to say of any importance. Of the 93 minutes, generously there is about 15 minutes of Alien documentary here and the rest is pure bullshit. I don't want to know what a film school dropout thinks the shape of the Xenomorph's hands means. I don't give a fuck what a gender studies major reads into the length of a hallway. Room 237 had my jaw dropping at the idiocy of it's speakers. Memory had me rolling my eyes and shouting at my TV. The other Alien documentaries talk about the origins of Alien and cover the tiny bit of actually interesting (and real) information that this one does. Don't watch this shit; it's unfocused, unorganized, and unimportant.

What do you want out an Alien documentary? Behind the scenes footage? Sorry, we don't have any of that. Interviews with the cast? Nope, not here. Significant conversations with the crew? Nah, maybe some tangential stuff. Ninety minutes of "flim historians" or "experts" in culture or mythology or whatever the fuck? Bet. A bunch of dipshits giving their ridiculous theories? You got it dude! This is not a documentary about the making of Alien. This is not about the creation of Alien (beyond maybe 15 minutes of "Oh, this movie was an inspiration for a very specific part of Alien"). This is Room 237, but for Alien instead of The Shining. It's 90% just a bunch of assholes spreading their dumb fucking fan theories that make no damn sense. We start off with little bits about Giger and Scott and O'Bannon and some stuff about where some of the ideas came from, but we very quickly switch to a bunch of arrogant dipshits getting a live mic to talk about whatever made up symbolism they forced into their viewing of the movie. The worst is the woman who is just convinced that every single thing that happens, every single sound, every square inch of the set is symbolic of "The Patriarchy" or feminism (she has the fucking balls to say "Ripley was created in 1979 and it is insane that we don't have that many great female characters since". Does she even watch movies?). Everything is the movie is apparently there specifically to bash men. Between her claiming that the Xenomorph sensually penetrates a guy and the other doofus who thinks the movie is about the dissolution of the American family, this doc was really hard to watch. At least with Room 237 it felt more like a character study of obsessed dick heads that we could laugh at. Room 237 didn't present itself as any kind of authority on the movie; Memory claims to be a real documentary about Alien and presents itself as a serious work of art that will educate you. Memory has very little to say about Alien and a lot of talking heads that have nothing to say of any importance. Of the 93 minutes, generously there is about 15 minutes of Alien documentary here and the rest is pure bullshit. I don't want to know what a film school dropout thinks the shape of the Xenomorph's hands means. I don't give a fuck what a gender studies major reads into the length of a hallway. Room 237 had my jaw dropping at the idiocy of it's speakers. Memory had me rolling my eyes and shouting at my TV. The other Alien documentaries talk about the origins of Alien and cover the tiny bit of actually interesting (and real) information that this one does. Don't watch this shit; it's unfocused, unorganized, and unimportant.