Following up on the epic 10 minute rap summary of Robocop, the same team has released Aliens:
open at youtube.com
Watching this reminds me what a great film Aliens turned out to be and how Avatar (by the same director) pales in comparison. It’s not that Avatar was terrible but nobody is going to be making 10 minute rap songs about it in 25 years.
quick update: Hey, they’ve done Terminator 2 as well!
I am pretty sure they will be able to do a 10 minute rap song about Avatar.
My point is that nobody will want to. The Robocop, Aliens, Predator and T2 raps work well because those films have strong characters and memorable (and somewhat unique) plot lines. What does Avatar have?
Meh – regardless of whether they do make an avatar rap or not, I’m not convinced its the best way to measure the quality of a film.
Aliens eclipses the original movie imho, which is unusual in a sequel from Hollywood – particularly in sci-fi. Name another sequel that exceeds the original? Anybody?
Tron Legacy might be a candidate, but then the original Tron was pretty shallow – being essentially an 80′s teen nerd fantasy.
I look forward to not attending ‘Avatars’ btw.
Sequels that are better than the originals:
* Star Trek II : Wrath of Khan (and possibly IV and VI if you are feeling charitable)
* The Empire Strikes Back
* The Chronicles of Riddick (don’t pretend it’s not awesome)
* Blade II (but only just)
* Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey
* Terminator 2 : Judgement Day
I will concede that such films are few and far between.
Spoiler for “Avatars : Blue Fury” – Sully and a wacky team of Na’vi tribesmen must learn how to set aside their differences and work together in order to win the $10000 first prize in a galactic break-dancing tournament, otherwise an evil developer will bulldoze their tree (again) to make room for a shopping centre. Only in theatres – Summer 2012.
You heard it here first.
Oh come on, how can you miss Highlander II, when talking about sequels being better than the original… at least, as a comparison point or something….
You killed my son! You Klingon bastard! Ok. That’s one, I’ll give you that. Although the bald chick in Star Trek: The Movie was hot and I did like the V’ger tie-in.
Pitch Black was awesome! CoR? Less so I think. Indulgent and CGI laden more than anything. Did the story even make sense (I mean, you know, for a sci-fi film
)?
T1 was a fantastic chase/action movie with a great sci-fi twist and some superb animatronics/stop motion. T2 was primarily held together by the Sarah Connor character imho plus the SFX haven’t aged as well as T1.
Blade II I could also concede, although there was that whole questionable ‘death’ of a primary character who suddenly wasn’t dead in B2?? What?
Bill and Ted’s? Good god. I can only just vaguely recall those movies. In the second one they go to hell don’t they? Oh man I bet those matte paintings look like crap now
…
I actually miss the craft involved in old sci-fi movies like Aliens and Blade Runner. You know, building the scale models (Sulaco, load lifters, Spinners), constructing funny weapons out of WWII sub machine guns etc. I think modern CGI, no matter how life-like just somehow seems less tangible when it’s on screen. In the 80′s they had to do more with less I guess?
District 9 is a possible modern exception to that. The ‘prawn combat suit’ in particular was an amazing piece of CGI. Totally believable on screen…
@Chuck, you know…I -still- haven’t seen Highlander II. Friends told me it was so bad I shouldn’t bother.
I nearly avoided Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for the same reason, but succumbed recently and watched in on DVD. While it was shark jumping, it was less dire than I expected really.
Highlander II was a sequel so badly conceived that it retrospectively made the original worse just by existing. It’s so awful that even it’s own sequels (Highlander III and IV), themselves pretty shitty, just ignore it altogether.
I agree that Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was not a total disaster. I thought that the ending was weak, but the first half was pretty decent.
I miss the stop-motion SFX of yesteryear as well. Watching the Robocop rap again made me remember how effective the ED209 looked. It is still memorable 20 years later, even though I would guess that the ED209 appears onscreen for less than 60 seconds.