Indeed. Part of me feels unfair in doing those kinds of comparisons, but on the other hand, the "standing on the shoulders of giants" should mean that newer films have a better chance of getting to the same heights. Though doing that while avoiding feeling derivative is also a challenge.

Aliens just happens to be one of those films where everything clicks, literally everything. Cameron spent a lot of post-production time on sound effects instead of assisting James Horner with the score as much as possible. The score, while not being all Horner wanted it to be, is still superb and fitting. And the time instead spend on the pulse rifle sound... Oh boy is it worth it. Such a thick, pulsing, iconic sound.

They used a film stock which yielded a quite grainy result. However that also ended up working completely in their favor. This is not the film to use a low-grain anamorphic canvas. This feels gritty, lots of handheld stuff, and the spherical process makes things undistorted and more intimate, it doesn't feel like there's a lens in the way, unlike anamorphic (especially around the time period where anamorphic could look very soft).

Perfect casting. Visual Effects are perhaps not 100% convincing all the time, especially in remastered high definition, but it's still designed to well that one can only marvel at the thought and time and care taken with all the matte paitings, miniatures, and practical FX.

That sentry gun sequence is still one of the most bang-for-your-buck tense sequences made, there's barely an alien visible in that sequence. It's all in the acting, sound, and short glimpses of carnage.

If anyone is interested, there's a 3 hour documentary on youtube for it. Looks like someone compiled DVD supplemental material. It's an excellent document of the making of the film with lots of interviews and interesting trivia and behind the scenes stuff.

A while since my last post in this thread, so pardon the length.

Birdman (2014) - 8/10 (8.5)

What a terrific film. The only thing preventing me from going higher in score is the somewhat quirky nature of it makes it perhaps not hit as hard as it could have on an emotional level.
Still, hugely satisfying with superb performances. This was just a joy to watch, and the illusion of a single take without cutting between cameras just made me sink into the frame and follow the film from first frame to last. Nothing gets in the way of just watching and enjoying the film, not even an editor. It also makes it feel very organic and real.
Definitely watch this. Keatong is superb, Ed Norton is even more so, and Emma Stone is also absolutely great.

The Equalizer (2014) - 6/10 (7.3)

Denzel plays humble man with a particular set of skills. Is it what you are likely imagining it will be? Probably. But still well-made, even if a standard action film. If you like action films in general might be worth watching.

The Monuments Men (2014) - 5/10 (6.1)

Clooney and co are hunting down art stolen by the nazis during the 2nd World War.
This movie is just all over the place, and still nowhere at the same time. It's fractured, bland, doesn't establish a particular tone, and is diffuse in geography, time and characterization. Plus the subject matter just isn't that interesting, possibly unless you are interested in art in general.
Most things in this film are wrong to me. It's saved by good, albeit mostly miscast or severely underused, actors like Bill Murray, Damon, Blanchett and more.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) - 9/10 (7.6)

Wow. Can't believe I didn't see this until now. The running time is close to Dark Knight Rises length, but wow. This is fantastic.
The film starts characters out in one perspective and then almost imperceptibly turns things around and moves them into a new light.
Excellent acting from Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Rockwell, and many others. And superb writing, imagine the dialog of Tarantino but without the underlying sense of humor, or extra twist or theatricality he usually puts on things.
Roger Deakins photography and lighting is gorgeous.

The film started and I soon thought "Casey Affleck got an Oscar nod for this"?
Then it ended and I thought "well, of course he fucking did".

Housebound (2014) - 6/10 (6.8)

Charming New Zealand horror/comedy/thriller film. Reminds me of Peter Jacksons early work, just has a carefree, playful vibe, while still playing to many horror/thriller cliches.
Girl gets in trouble with the law and is sentenced to house arrest... with her parents.
Starts out with the "is there something in this house" tropes, then moves on from there.

If you like horror films in general, or twists of the formula, worth seeing. A competent lower budget feeling movie with personality and charisma.

The Interview (2014) - 6/10 (7.2)

Makes you wonder what all the fuzz was about. Absolutely the type of Rogen/Franco film you'd expect. If you like "Pineapple Express", you'd probably like this. You see it mainly for the personalities of the leads, and they could just as well be playing the same characters from "Pineapple Express" or "This Is The End".
Harmless silliness.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006) - 6/10 (6.8)

Actually a quite good "chick flick" about the world of fashion. Hard to describe but I enjoyed it. Lighthearted for the most part, pretty well-written female characters when necessary.

Get Carter (1971) - 6/10 (7.6)

Michael Cain wants to find who killed someone.
Well-made, but feels old. I was struggling to maintain interest at times to be honest, it's not at all generous with any sort of substance, so most of the time you are left in the present moment, with little facts or information to use to reflect on what is going on.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) - 9/10 (8.1)

Wow, this was fantastic. Such a quick, snappy, witty, charming, delightful movie.
Ralph Finnes steals the show.
See it.

Predators (2010) - 6/10 (6.4)

Rewatched this again.
Am now actually quite stoked for the sequel that appears to be in the works.
This was probably the best type of sequel to the original they could have done. Same setup, but very re-contextualized.

Nightcrawler (2014) - 7/10 (8.1)

Excellent film, Gyllenhaals character is memorably slimy.
Could perhaps have had a bit more bite or taken things one step further, but it's a great film.
Also excellent photography by (edit) Robert Elswit.

Aliens (1986) - 10/10 (8.4)

Rewatch and a score bump. Fantastic. Incredible. Masterclass in pretty much all areas of filmmaking.

Why Don't You Play in Hell? (2013) - 8/10 (7.4)

I know some of you guys previously mentioned this film, so I had to track it down.
Wow, it's really something. It's like 3-4 films put together, where they start out separately, but then flows together towards the end into a quite spectacularly interesting mix.
Like a Tarantino film, if he was Japanese and on drugs, after falling and mixing together 3 different screenplays.
Hard to describe, but the components are all very good, acting, direction, cinematography.

Marty, I'd recommend the Rifftrax accompaniment for all Twilight movies if you haven't seen them already. Makes it a joy to suffer through them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOvWwlghpS0

If you've got a good cinema with good sound nearby, you have no excuse not to see it. It's a highly pleasurable experience, do not miss it.
Still not sure about the longevity of it, but one viewing it definitely deserves.

I'm 50-50 on alot of things about it.

It's incredible at times, and cringey at times.
All set pieces are superb, and Zimmers score enhance them so well. Some things rival Gravity in sheer awe and impact in the theater seat.

All the talk about love being the only thing able to transcend time and space, I just can't overlook the fact that it's complete mumbo-jumbo. Hate is just as valid a feeling as love, and logically would have just the same characteristics and suggested properties (being able to both hate and love someone across time and space). The bit about love was, I guess, supposed to ring emotionally true and not necessarily supposed to be taken literally, it was more about driving forces and what makes us do what we do, but it's so obviously such an over-simplified view and doesn't make sense even superficially.

Liked the hinted idea of the original timeline being that MM gets sucked into the black hole and dies, and Anne Hathaway populates the new planet alone, presumably creating a new set of humans that, long into the future, perhaps because of love, decide to honor their ancestors by reaching back through time and saving MM and allowing him to communicate a solution to the survival of humanity in that alternate timeline.

Though I don't know if I really feel it was necessary to spend all this time leading humanity to saturn, a wormhole, a black hole, only for MM to transmit some data back to his daughters bedroom. It just seems like such a waste of resources to end up right at the beginning. I guess technically the higher-dimensional future-humans couldn't interact themselves and needed MM to get to a wormhole to work as the mechanism for transmitting it, it just didn't ring logistically true for me. Maybe i'll have a different opinion of it.

What was Matt Damons motivation? I assume he wanted off the planet since it was dead. Why not just tell the guys who came for him, "yeah so this place is dead, let's move on to the other candidate planets". He wanted to leave and that would allow him to leave in the company of the new crew. Instead he leads them on with incorrect info, tries to kill MM, and then still leaves, which he could have anyways if he's just told them straight up when they found him.
Does anyone else understand his character actions better?

The end has MM and us realize Anne Hathaway is alone colonizing a planet on her own. Which was a bit clunkily delivered as his daughter finally saw her father again after so long, she was way too quick to just say "Hey, how's it going... So you should go". The entire film was about their connection and his promise to return, and I as an audience member got serious blueballs from that brushed-over interaction. There was barely time for a single tear to roll down their cheeks before it was over.

And then we're lead to assume MM borrows a very small, fragile looking space plane to go to Anne Hathaway. I guess the space station they were on was close to Saturn, but it felt like MM was just going to pop over to Wallmart to buy some groceries. Did he even pack lunch? Or was his pod capable of hibernation? Did he go to Anne Hathaway to bring her back to the space station, or to join her on the planet? Shouldn't MM atleast tell someone else he was going, just in case? Or was Brandts presence and isolation in the other galaxy common knowledge and other people around Saturn were already on the way there anyways with other expeditions to start life on that planet instead of earth. Surely it would be safer for MM to wait for a bigger ship or cruise to travel there, rather than taking a small plane himself? If he went there now himself, are the others humans coming along right behind him, or are they like 50 years away from mounting their exodus from our solar system to the new planet, and MM and Hathaway are going to die alone (which they may think is worth it, but it hardly seems in line with the more poetic, hopeful tone of the ending). Just one line about an expedition already being staged and everyone joining her shortly, and MM deciding to go slightly ahead of everyone else, perhaps subtly yet explicitly driven by love, would have given some well-needed exposition to make a more satisfying ending with a distinct emotional point, in this case hope of humans very soon reuniting again.

When MM finds the NASA place they immediately recommend him as a pilot. MM asks why when they didn't even know about him an hour earlier. They explain they had pilots, but none as good. Obviously MM is an asset for them now.
But they also know who MM is when he arrives at NASA, they know his name and his record if I recall correctly. MM also drive max a day to get to them. Wouldn't NASA at some point contact him and ask him to pilot the craft? They need a pilot, they have one a days drive away. What gives? This is about the future of mankind, are they so secretive they cannot even contact a potentially very valuable asset and see what he thinks of the idea? It feels like "Well, now that you're here, you're perfect for this job. We just couldn't be bothered to drive a day ourselves and contact you, since we obviously know who you are and that you exist". Also they don't even seem to screen him for mental or physical health, they offer him the job on the spot pretty much. It feels like he leaves a week later at most. Matt Damon was supposedly a prime candidate and look how stable he turned out to be in space. NASA simultaneously has too little confidence in MMs necessity (they never specifically sought him out for the job), and too much confidence, offering him the job at a moments notice. Either seems the opposite of what would be expected from the people who are planning the continuation of the human race.

Stream of consciousness above, but I definitely need to see this a second time.

Gone Girl (2014) - 8/10 (8.5)

Very well executed film as usual from Fincher. Not sure how I'll like it with repeat viewings, watching it unfold was very enjoyable but the material isn't perhaps that interesting to go back to. Also not sure if Fincher really was the right person, he obviously brings a level of disconnect and dread where certain character actions might seem more cohesive in a more everyday feeling environment.
Very recommended film though.

Snowpiercer (2013) - 8/10 (7.0)

Had been putting this off for some time since I had an idea of what I thought the film was going to be.
Turns out it was pretty much that, but so much more. The main highlight here is the director Joon-Ho Bong, who also made "Memories of Murder", which is kind of the Korean equivalent of "Zodiak", and equally masterful in style and execution.

Snowpiercer is also very well directed, quirky, and most character and direction choices are always interesting on some level. Not sure it sticks the landing quite, most of it works on thematic levels and the literal events in the film can be hard to take seriously. It's a minor complaint though, very interesting film which keeps changing and evolving throughout.

Also really good control of tone throughout, one second they've got some black humor and absurdism going, then 2 seconds later they go for some emotional point and I found it very easy to go along with those turns.

The main Korean actor from "Memories of Murder" is in this one aswell, speaking Korean, and he is amazing in the role. Also amazing is Tilda Swinton who is almost unrecognizable.
Korean films, having a language barrier and to Westerners mostly unknown actors, can often have very interesting or memorable characters and performances because of this cultural difference, but director Joon-Ho Bong somehow manages to translate his Korean sensibilities and quirks and carry it over into this type of film, and making it work with English-speaking actors we are familiar with, rather than it ringing false or seeming overplayed. It doesn't seem like he had to diminish or change his style.

If you like me haven't seen it because you think you know the type of film it will be, definitely see it, it will probably be a pleasant surprise.

Blue Ruin (2013) - 8/10 (7.1)

Excellent revenge film, but it's so muted and restrained calling it a revenge film might be unfair just because you may get a certain film in mind that it isn't. I'd compare the overall downplayed style mainly to "No Country for Old Men", it's very matter of fact and procedural, and there's not much "cinematic" drama, things happen and you make of them what you will.
Great acting throughout, our main actor is superb. If you ever feel like a "No Country.." type film this is an almost flawless ride with a very emphatic performance by the main character.

Lucy (2014) - 6/10 (6.5)

Luc Bessons latest film. A bit too much style over substance for me, and it's only 90 minutes, which meot would consider a pro but here I would have wanted something a bit more "grand". Very interesting though and if you can buy the movie premise of someone "unlocking" their brain power and gaining superhuman abilities, well, it certainly never bores.

22 Jump Street (2014) - 4/10 (7.4)

Didn't really like it. Way too self-aware and mostly just the first movie all over again, which to be fair is part of the point of it, but it just felt kind of generic and not as genuine as the first entry felt to me.

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) - 8/10 (8.0)

Excellent entertainment. Well acted, directed, and shot. Not terribly deep, but it's big budget action with some familiar elements in an interesting mix, and it's filmed in a way where you can make out what is happening and be engaged. Probably closer to a solid 7/10 but I like Doug Liman after the first Bourne film, so I'm OK with an 8.

Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) 3/10 (6.0)

Transformers 2, minus some racism but also minus any shred of charm or entertainment that Shia Labeouf and his parents brought to the series. It has an ungodly long runtime for no good reason (Dark Knight Rises-long), and I had to watch it in 2 sittings to even power through it.
All annoyances are still here from the previous 2 (I kind of like the first one to be honest), and it's even more disconnected from any genuine emotion. Things happen and the music goes into emotional mode, but I found it impossible to care. There's even less "fun" here than before, if that was even possible.
If someone told me this was directed by Uwe boll, I'd believe them. The DP obviously knows how a camera and dollys and cranes work, but the motivation for every creative decision is lost to me.

The Witches of Eastwick (1987) - 8/10 (6.5)

Jach Nicholson is a joy to behold. The film is very well made by Mad Max director George Miller. At times the plot becomes absurd or hard to take seriously, but if that happens the filmmaking is always top notch and other qualities redeem it throughout.
Generally reminds me of the early sensibilities of Peter Jackson, with interesting direction, camera movements, and scene direction.
Can't wait for Millers Mad Max sequel.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) - 6/10 (6.2)

The Mad Max series to me is the 2nd one, "The Road Warrior". Seen it many times. Never saw this. It's an... odd story. Odd characters, odd events, odd act structure.
But again, really interesting. If the structure or plot confuses, atleast each scene has a certain captivating quality, and at times the camera moves and direction reach Spielbergian levels of choreography. The camera will move through a crowd, follow one character, then land on another character through some action, it's got a really nice flow most times.
If you haven't seen it, it's pretty good.

Haha, even better. They should have just taken the poster for Goldeneye and just photoshopped Beckners face on top of Brosnans.

I'm sitting in front of my computer on a saturday tearing up like a little girl:

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - 9/10 (8.3)

Wow, this was fantastic. It's been years since I was able to so thoroughly enjoy a blockbuster. Fantastic performances seeping with deep emotion from interpersonal aswell as internal conflicts, wonderfully enhanced by Bryan Singers direction, and especially John Ottmans musical score, and his great editing of wonderfully vibrant, restrained cinematography. Speaking of the cinematography, it's so incredible to see vivid, unrestrained color in a blockbuster. Some scenes are very "overlit" in that sense, and the use of distinct color is very obvious, but it's so gorgeous that it's impossible to dislike.
Also I could have sworn this was shot on film, but looks like it's the Arri Alexa. They've added some great texture and tone curves to mimic film, this film looks great.

2 Guns (2013) - 7/10 (6.8)

Mainly Action-comedy. Great chemistry between Wahlberg and Denzel. Interesting plot with multiple parties after a big chunk of money. Almost impossible to predict, very interesting ride. Bill Paxton plays a bad guy, and he does it very well.

The Expendables 3 (2014) - 4/10 (6.3)

Incoherent, unfocused, monotone, droning chaos. Doesn't work as a throwback action film, modern action film, or action film in general. There's some glimpses of what could have been when Mel Gibsons villain gets to have dialogue, and some short 1-minute segments that are kind of charming, but mostly this is a film that looks like an action film, but has none of the thought necessary behind it to make the on-screen visuals interesting or engaging in the slightest.

Take Shelter (2011) - 8/10 (7.4)

I only knew Michael Shannon as Zod from Man Of Steel. Then someone recommended this film, and it seemed kind of interesting. A guy gets increasingly worried something very bad is coming for the world.
Turns out this is a superb film. It's got alot of involvement from the FX company HydraulX, but unlike my expectations this is a wonderfully subdued and incredibly down-to-earth and powerfully acted film. Not saying anything else, but if you want a film with some very powerful, moving performances and a constant uneasy tension, this is great.

Star Wars (1977) - 8/10 (8.7)

Hadn't seen it in ages, and it's almost impossible to guess the same film-maker made the prequels. Such a simple, clear narrative, and distinct execution. Even more remarkable considering the risk involved in creating this universe and the characters, which on paper probably made more than one studio executive wonder just how this strange fantasy world could work.

Patriot Games (1992) - 7/10 (6.9)

Harrison Fords first film portraying Jack Ryan. Fine film. Not mindblowing, rather procedural, but perfectly entertaining. Feels nice and slow and "classic" in that sense. Enjoyable, it feels like you're entering a real universe.

Clear and Present Danger (1994) - 7/10 (6.9)

The follow-up to Patriot Games. In a similar vein to the film before it, the same director aswell. Jack Ryan is a bit more hands-on action-hero here, but also works well, and it's entertaining.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) - 7/10 (8.6)

I really enjoyed it. I like James Gunn, and he did a fine job. Good cast, and the plot is pretty good for a blockbuster, though it can get a bit overwhelming if you don't remember all the names and relationships between characters. It's not dissimilar from other Marvel tentpole movies, but here we atleast have a director who isn't afraid to put a distinct mark on the film with how individual scenes are directed and performed, aswell as using the soundtrack to create a nice and playful tone.