'Alien 3', Film Review, Jawad Mir & Ethan

0:00EthanI've never seen an Alien movie without her. I know all the later ones she's not in, but it'll be interesting to see how, like, Covenant, Prometheus, and now Romulus w… will function if they can be as engaging. Well, I think Cailee Spa… Spaeny, who's the lead in the new one, think she's good. She's a really great actress, but Sigourney Weaver is, like, Sigourney Weaver.

0:35Jawad MirWith Alien: Romulus coming out, to chat about the first three Alien films.

0:42EthanYeah.

0:43Jawad MirAnd I, after I had seen Alien several times. The last time I saw it probably last year. Aliens I've seen more than several times.

0:53EthanWow.

0:54Jawad MirAgain, last time I saw it was earlier this year. Alien 3 only once. And I had completely forgotten about it. Even though we're not gonna talk about the Prometheus, Covenant, and…

1:09EthanRight

1:09Jawad Mir... Resurrection, which I don't even know there was a film called Resurrection.

1:13EthanYeah.

1:14Jawad MirThat's for later. I was very surprised with Alien 3. I wasn't… ... Expecting it to be a good film.

1:25EthanRight? Me neither. I was very hesitant going into it, but I ended up, this is gonna be controversial, but I actually liked it more than Aliens.

1:36Jawad MirReally?

1:37EthanYes, I did. I don't know, I liked Aliens, but I didn't love it. It very much, maybe this is 'cause I'm not, like, I love Titanic, but I'm not the biggest James Cameron fan. And it felt very much like a James Cameron movie and didn't feel as much like an Alien movie, and that's what bothered me a little bit about it.

1:58Jawad MirI w… I s… I have had, John Rosengrant, he'd done puppeteer and visual effects work from films like Terminator…

2:07EthanWow

2:07Jawad Mir... Aliens, Jurassic Park, and all that stuff, and he explained it really well, the difference between the first and second Aliens film. The first was a horror movie…

2:18EthanYeah

2:18Jawad Mir... With the Ridley Scott direct. The second one that James Cameron did was a war movie.

2:24EthanYeah.

2:24Jawad MirAnd after watching Alien 3, I concluded it's a, like, a hunt movie. You know, like… ... A hunt, hunting for its prey.

2:33EthanOh, I see that.

2:34Jawad MirRight?

2:34EthanYeah.

2:34Jawad MirAnd it had a very much similarities, I don't know if you've ever seen the original Schwarzenegger Predator.

2:40EthanI've never seen Predator.

2:42Jawad MirWhoa.

2:43EthanI've never seen Predator. That, I know, I gotta watch that before I watch Alien versus Predator.

2:49Jawad MirOh, don't, I wouldn't even go in that world. Alien versus Predator…

2:54EthanDon't check that out

2:54Jawad MirI saw the trailers and I was done. I…... Have heard terrible things about it. But in terms of the Predator world, minus the Alien versus Predator… ... Obviously watch The Predator. It's probably one of the best movies of Schwarzenegger. One of the best…

3:08EthanWow

3:09Jawad Mir... If you wanna call it a thriller/horror, action, one of the best of the, at that genre. Predator 2 with Danny Glover is pretty good, too. And then after that they made couple of them which were just trash, in my view.

3:27EthanYeah.

3:27Jawad MirAnd then they made the most recent one called Prey

3:29EthanI did see Prey

3:30Jawad Mir... Which was amazing.

3:32EthanYeah.

3:32Jawad MirWhich was awesome.

3:32EthanThat was great.

3:33Jawad MirYeah. Yeah, so if you liked Prey you would love Predator, and you would like…

3:38EthanOkay, perfect

3:39Jawad Mir... Predator 2. Yeah. Sorry, we're going…

3:40EthanI just added that. No, I just added that to my watch list. I need to, there's so ma… I gotta, there's so many of these older movies I just gotta go back and watch, and that's why I like when there's, like, a new one coming out that can, like, kick me into the gear and I'm like, "Okay, there's a reason to go back and watch this entire franchise."

3:56Jawad MirSo tell me what you thought of the first Alien by Ridley Scott that came out in 1979 or '80, I believe.

4:05EthanI think '79. Yeah, it's…

4:06Jawad MirI mean, and when was the first time you saw it? What was your reaction?

4:09EthanFirst time I saw it was a few years ago, actually, so I wasn't, it wa… I should have seen it a long time ago. But it's, it's great. It's a classic claustrophobic horror movie. The visuals are great. The characters are great. I love, kind of the switch up of, doesn't really feel like there's a clear-cut protagonist for the first third of the movie…

4:35Jawad MirYeah

4:35Ethan... Until, like, Sigourney Weaver steps up. And obviously going into it I knew she was the lead, but still, it's that nice kind of…

4:41Jawad MirYeah

4:41Ethan... Feel, that switch up I like. And yeah, it's, it's a classic creature feature. I love it. What a…

4:48Jawad MirWhat was, what was the most favorite aspect of that film that appealed to you? Doesn't have to be a scene, or it can be.

4:55EthanYeah.

4:55Jawad MirBut just the whole feel and the aura of that film. Keeping in mind… ... This came out five years after Jaws, which was…

5:04EthanYeah

5:04Jawad Mir... Four years after Jaws, which was, again, a unique film in its own genre. Like, a creature… ... Feature, if you wanna call it.

5:10EthanYeah. I th… I love that it played into the Jaws of ha… you know, a creature and kind of having it in the shadows for a lot of the movie, and using that suspe… to build the suspense. So you can clearly see, I forgot that it came out, yeah, it would've been, like, five years after Jaws, so you could clearly tell there was some inspiration there, and it works for me. I think also it's, like, that's why those kinds of movies work, it's because the less you see it the more your imagination runs, and it makes it scarier. So I really enjoy that aspect.

5:46Jawad MirYeah, that technique which happened by an accident on Jaws because… ... The shark wasn't working, has been, you know, used by so many filmmakers including, what's that film? Oh, my God. My mind just went blank.

6:03EthanThe Thing?

6:04Jawad MirNo. Well, that too, but I was thinking more like Quiet Place.

6:08EthanYes.

6:08Jawad MirQuiet Place, you know, M. Night Shyamalan movie Signs where… ... You don't see things happening until the end. So that element of not knowing plays into our fears and the cur… obviously you have to execute it properly…

6:24EthanYeah

6:24Jawad Mir... To build the suspense, right?

6:26EthanYeah, that's key.

6:26Jawad MirBut that's... Yeah, that… that's what I loved about the original Alien as well, and it was obviously the first Alien film, you know, I… I think it was like a Star Wars meet Jaws type approach…

6:37EthanYeah

6:37Jawad Mir... If you wanna call it. So it was very unique in that sense.

6:40EthanYeah. Yeah, it's... It was a very... I think I appreciated it even more. I saw it a few, a month ago now. I saw it, I got to see it at TIFF, at the Lightbox on the big screen. And…

6:52Jawad MirOh, you saw it on the big screen? Oh.

6:53EthanI did, and that was like such a cool experience. I love when I get to go see movies that I shouldn't be seeing on a big screen right now. On... It sc… it changes the whole thing, and seeing that with a crowd and seeing the crowd react as if it was... I think it was a lot of people's first time seeing the movie…

7:09Jawad MirI was gonna…

7:09Ethan... In the theater. But it was, it was an electric experience at like five out of five. It was like, it would've... Crazy to be there when it came out in '79 on opening weekend and see people's like reaction of never seeing anything like that before.

7:27Jawad MirWa… was it packed at TIFF Lightbox?

7:29EthanPacked. It was sold out. I couldn't see an empty seat.

7:33Jawad MirI'm pretty sure half of the... If it was sold out, I'm willing to bet more than half the crowd was, had seen the movie before a while ago…

7:41EthanYeah

7:41Jawad Mir... And just kind of came back to... And they'd forgotten the jump scare scenes and everything.

7:45EthanYeah. That was like me. I had forgotten some parts of it. I had forgotten the twist with Ash. And…

7:53Jawad MirYeah, see, now you're talking about it, now I've forgotten it too. I'm just thinking now.

7:57EthanWhat? Oh, well, that he's…

7:58Jawad MirWait.

7:58EthanOh.

7:58Jawad MirWait. I saw it last year.

8:06EthanYou gotta... You gotta remember.

8:06Jawad MirJust say it. It's okay.

8:08EthanThat he's an android.

8:10Jawad MirOh, right. Yes, thank you.

8:11EthanYeah.

8:12Jawad MirThank you.

8:12EthanYeah. 'Cause for the first eye w… he was like... I was like, "What is with this guy? He's so weird." And then he's... And I'm like, "Oh, how could I forget that?" But a lot…

8:19Jawad MirWith Ash.

8:21EthanYeah. Yeah, he w… that... So that was a great moment. I loved all that, and I loved the world building, but how it's so much in the background, but they still…

8:29Jawad MirYeah

8:29Ethan... Get it across. And they build the, kind of this company and what's happening behind the scenes. I thought that was really well done while still being so contained. So just, he was able to balance so much.

8:42Jawad MirAnd that's what I loved about the first film. I mean, we can talk about the second and third too in a bit, but the second and third had that element too that… ... The worlds were raw and real… ... As opposed to, you know, you watch like... I hate to this to give this example because I, e… every time I think of bad visual effects... Okay, I shouldn't say that's bad visual. Overuse of visual effects.

9:05EthanYeah.

9:06Jawad MirI think about episode I, II, and III, like Star Wars. Like…

9:09EthanYeah

9:09Jawad Mir... You know, when the one that came out…

9:10EthanFor sure

9:11Jawad Mir... Like…

9:11EthanThe prequels

9:12Jawad Mir... It was just, it was just ridiculous amount of visual effects. Having said that, compare that to what's m… made nowadays in terms of visual effects, that still seems pretty good.

9:23EthanYeah.

9:24Jawad MirBut you know, Alien, the first one, and Aliens, the second one, it was... There was no, there was no CGI. There was nothing.

9:32EthanYeah.

9:32Jawad MirIt was just all, everything was like puppeteer work/ you know, real sets…

9:36EthanAmazing

9:37Jawad Mir... Art direction. Amazing. And that's what makes it…

9:39EthanThat's…

9:39Jawad Mir... So authentic about it.

9:41EthanThat... And it, and you... I think nowadays we get so little of that when we see it done in these movies or even, we talked about Furiosa, they had a lot of, I felt like, practical…

9:52Jawad MirYeah

9:52Ethan... For their, as many of their bad effects, they had some good practical props and work done. And it's like you don't see it nowadays, that it stands out so much, and it really improves everything, and I don't know why, 'cause it seems s… special effects are just as costly, that I don't know why we're not using them more. But it's like that shot in Aliens when he's coming out of the water behind Newt, oh, it's phenomenal. And…

10:16Jawad MirYeah

10:16Ethan... I've seen some behind the scenes videos of how that was done. It's so cool.

10:22Jawad MirYou know, talking, and, everybody talks about this all the time. I've had this conversation on this podcast with so many different people about the… ... Practical versus, you know, CGI. And it's not even about the puppeteer work and the authentic environment. It's also how the actors interact with the environment…

10:40EthanYeah

10:40Jawad Mir... That shows on the camera.

10:42EthanFor sure.

10:42Jawad MirRight? Like you, I was watching this sequence I... On YouTube. It just kinda popped up, and I just played it just for the sake of it. It was some superhero movie. I have no idea…... Which one. I'm guessing…

10:54EthanCan't even name it.

10:55Jawad MirI'm guessing it was Guardians of the Galaxy, because I remember…

10:59EthanOkay

10:59Jawad Mir... What's his name?

11:01EthanChris Pratt?

11:02Jawad MirYeah, Chris Pratt.

11:03EthanYeah.

11:03Jawad MirBecause he's probably in... I'm guessing he's in one of the only ones, is... That's the only, his superhero movie. And you see four of these characters standing, and the camera's like going around them, and there's all this action sequence happening. And then they cut it to the actual take.

11:18Jawad MirAnd it was these four guys standing, and everything around them was green screen.

11:21EthanYep.

11:22Jawad MirAnd I'm like, man, like, you know... And you could tell on their faces, they're, they're just like, you know, looking everywhere even though, you know, they can use in the post the eye tracking system…

11:33EthanRight

11:34Jawad Mir... To sort of put the things that they're looking at. But it's still not the same, and I don't know why. And I know things are going back now because people appreciate it more. You're right.

11:43EthanYeah. Because I think we've just had so much of, I think, also the volume like that I think drained people on Disney+. People were like, "Just shoot in a real place. Like, just do it. Why are you shooting outside of a, it's like a real, just a street, and you're using a s… volume to green screen the whole thing."

12:06Jawad MirYeah.

12:06EthanAnd you're right about how… The actor's performance is so much more genuine when they can interact with it. Like, take aside from the fact in the first one that they didn't know it was gonna happen, but the scene with the, obviously the…

12:18Jawad MirYeah

12:18Ethan... Alien shooting out of the chest. Like, imagine just being, shooting that and being an actor and having that actually happen in front of you practically. Like, you don't have to do much acting. Like, that's amazing, and nowadays you, it's rare you would get that as an actor, where they would fully do that. They're just like, "Imagine this, and you'll see it later."

12:37Jawad MirYeah. A… it's, it's, it's actually interesting you mentioned about the actors being... And nowadays a lot of, a lot of the directors or even actors improvise on location. Like, I was just watching this random interview, you know, on my feed when I was swiping. It was some actress, I don't know who she was, but she was in a movie with Sharon Stone, right?

12:59Jawad MirAnd Sharon S… and she's supposed to have this scene where Sharon Stone was supposed to get upset at her, and that was it. And as the s… camera started rolling, Sharon Sta… Stone came up to her and started arguing, and then she gave her a real hard slap on her face. And the one who got the slap, she was like, you know, because she wasn't expect…

13:20EthanYeah

13:20Jawad Mir... It wasn't in the script.

13:21EthanStunned.

13:22Jawad MirIt wasn't in the sc… she was stunned…

13:23EthanWow

13:23Jawad Mir... And then, but she kinda kept rolling with it.

13:26EthanYeah.

13:26Jawad MirAnd that stunned reaction is what makes it more real.

13:30EthanRight.

13:30Jawad MirI mean, it's good for her that she didn't slap her.

13:33EthanYeah.

13:35Jawad Mir'Cause that would've been ex… even more dramatic, but…

13:37EthanYeah

13:37Jawad Mir... But the fact is, like, you have to improvise, right?

13:40EthanYeah, you do. It's, it's, it keeps things authentic, it keeps things real, and it keeps things in the moment, which you want in a scene for that authenticity. So yeah, I think there's a ton of that throughout the Alien movies.

13:52Jawad MirAmazing. So why did you not like Aliens?

13:56EthanI liked it. I d… I didn't not like it. I just, it lacked, I think, what I liked about it, which was that kind of, I think your, the first one is a claustrophobic horror creature movie. The second one is a war action movie with aliens, and I just think I prefer a claustrophobic horror to a action movie personally. I think it was very inter… like, it was engaging. I had fun, but eventually after a while it was like, "Okay, we're doing these action sequences. We're doing it." And that's, but that's J… that's a lot of James Cameron. Like, I'm not a huge Avatar guy, and that's…

14:36Ethan... A lot of the Avatar. So I could see all of his touches there, it's just not what I love in the franchise, in these movies. And I felt III kind of went back to the roots a little bit more, and not only, like, added, it felt it added a threat by also making the human characters threatening, which I really enjoyed. So it didn't just feel like I was run… I was scared of the aliens, but also the prisoners and the other characters in that one. And I think, yeah, III just lacked that su… II just lacked that suspense for me. But I know everyone loves it, and a lot of people prefer it to Alien.

15:09Jawad MirMaybe. I mean, I don't know if I can prefer one over the other. They all have their own place. For me, Aliens, I think that was the first Aliens that I saw. I think it was in the early '90s. Back then, you know, there used to be, I don't know if you probably know. You obviously you know. Citytv, right? The local station.

15:36EthanYeah.

15:36Jawad MirSo there used to be this, 8:00 PM Friday night or Satur… and Saturday night great movies, like…

15:45EthanNice

15:45Jawad Mir... Thing. Like, it was like a…

15:47EthanRight

15:47Jawad Mir... You know, kinda like a matinee type of thing, if you wanna call it.

15:51EthanRight.

15:51Jawad MirAnd they always used to, you know, cut, beep out all the F-bombs or everything…

15:56EthanYeah

15:56Jawad Mir... And extra violent scenes or extra, you know, inappropriate scenes. And I remember watching Aliens for the first time that time, so that, because that was the first one that I saw.

16:09EthanAn interesting way to watch it.

16:11Jawad MirRight? I know, because it was…

16:12EthanYeah.

16:13Jawad Mir... 'cause it was all, like, F-bombs left, right, and center…

16:16EthanYeah

16:16Jawad Mir... Right? But it's interesting now. I, nowadays it's different because you know, you can watch anything and everything around 8:00 PM, you know…

16:25EthanYeah. No censors

16:25Jawad Mir... During the day. No censor. But the point is that was the first Alien film that I saw, and…

16:31EthanSo, yeah

16:32Jawad Mir... It was, so that holds a special…

16:34EthanI can get that

16:35Jawad Mir... Place. And I can't stand bugs and spiders especially. So seeing the bugs inside the webs and everything…

16:44EthanRight

16:45Jawad Mir... Especially in the second one, that wa… it was a lot, like, you know, the queen…

16:47EthanYeah

16:48Jawad Mir... And everything.

16:49EthanYeah, the queen.

16:51Jawad MirI don't know. I…

16:52EthanThe queen. That third act…

16:53Jawad MirAnd it had that…

16:53Ethan... Was really great.

16:54Jawad MirYeah. I mean, the la… in the final scene, there's this music that every trailer uses that I'm not sure if you ever came across it.

17:03EthanI'd have to rewatch the scene…

17:05Jawad MirYeah

17:05Ethan... To listen out for it.

17:07Jawad MirIt's, let me just Google it. I'll tell you what the track... It's the elevator scene. It's called, Bishop's Countdown. It's been reportedly used in 24 film trailers.

17:23EthanWow.

17:24Jawad MirYeah. And I think the soundtrack was done by Jerry Goldsmith, I think.

17:30EthanIt looks like…

17:31Jawad MirJames Horner.

17:32EthanJames Horner.

17:32Jawad MirJames Horner.

17:33EthanYeah.

17:33Jawad MirRight. Yeah, the one who did Titanic.

17:36EthanYeah. He's great.

17:37Jawad MirBut yeah, no. I think one of the key things with all the Alien films, at least the first three, Sigourney Weaver, like, was born to play Ripley.

17:45EthanYeah. For real. It's, could you imagine anybody else in that role?

17:50Jawad MirWell, I, after I watched, finished watching Alien 3, I'm like, oh, there's Alien Resurrection, so I played the trailer. And Winona Ryder is in it and Sigourney Weaver is back in it. I'm like, whoa.

18:04EthanYeah.

18:04Jawad MirYou know, how did that happen? But again, the, yeah.

18:06EthanYou don't, you don't know y… the plot of 4?

18:09Jawad MirI mean, the trailer gave it away.

18:10EthanOh, okay. Okay.

18:11Jawad MirThat she, you know…

18:12EthanI haven't seen it, but I've seen, like, the logline.

18:15Jawad MirI've, I've seen the trailer. I haven't seen the logline. I'll see it again. I mean, I'll see it the first time when I see it, but…

18:20EthanYeah

18:20Jawad Mir... Point is that she really carries the film, especially… In the first one and the second. I think she does in the third one too, but sh… there's a striking co… con… striking contrast with all the other characters in the third one.

18:33EthanYeah.

18:33Jawad MirBut she really carries the series.

18:35EthanOh, for sure. And it'll... I've never seen an Alien movie without her. I know all the later ones she's not in. But it'll be interesting to see how, like, Covenant, Prometheus, and now Romulus w… will function if they can be as engaging. Well, I think Cailee Spa… Spaeny, who's the lead in the new one, think she's good. She's a really great actress, but Sigourney Weaver is, like, Sigourney Weaver. And to… I don't know if she ever really did anything as iconic afterwards. Well, Ghost… Ghostbusters, but I don't think her character was, like, as iconic. She made these movies, and she had a lot of pull on the third one, and that was…

19:19Jawad MirYeah, the producer.

19:20EthanYeah.

19:20Jawad MirYeah.

19:21EthanYeah.

19:22Jawad MirDid y… have you ever seen, the series on Netflix, The Movies That Made Us?

19:27EthanNo. That's on my list, though.

19:30Jawad MirOkay. So there's, I mean, it's done in a very quirky way. They have done episodes on Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump… ... Even Aliens. And I'm not gonna say anything, but watch it and it will tell you the amount of craziness that happened on Aliens set, which almost shut down…

19:51EthanReally?

19:52Jawad Mir... The film.

19:52EthanWell, now I have to watch this right after…

19:53Jawad MirIt was…

19:54Ethan... We get off this

19:54Jawad Mir... It's, it's an insane amount of things that went wrong.

19:58EthanI, wow.

19:59Jawad MirYeah. Maybe you'll appreciate Aliens more after watching.

20:01EthanYeah. Maybe, I think I will. A good, nothing makes you appreciate a movie more than watching a making of that shows how disastrous its production was. And you're like…

20:13Jawad MirYeah

20:13Ethan... "Oh, now I gotta appreciate it a little more."

20:17Jawad MirYeah, but it's, it…

20:18EthanBut I, it's a great movie. I do really like it. It's just…

20:21Jawad MirI get it. I see what you're saying. It doesn't have that horror factor, right? It doesn't…

20:26EthanDoesn't, it didn't give me that thrill that I think the other…

20:29Jawad MirYeah

20:29Ethan... Two gave me, even in the third's gr… not great special effects and, stuff. It still had that, like, contained thrill. Like, even though it was those, like, those POV shots.

20:43Jawad MirOh, yeah. Yeah.

20:44EthanI didn't, I didn't love those, but I liked that entire sequence of them trying to trap the monster. And then I also saw some behind the scenes of, it didn't look great in the final product, but they had a miniature of the dog alien, and they were, had puppeteers doing it.

21:01Jawad MirYeah, you could tell. Yeah.

21:03EthanYeah. It's, it's cool. It didn't look great, but it was cool watching it behind the scenes. I do wanna watch the, they had a whole assembly cut for the third one. That's

21:13Jawad MirOh, they do?

21:13EthanOf, yeah, he fin… they released an assembly cut that apparently I think makes it quite different. I know it's not a dog, it's an ox that…

21:23Jawad MirHave you, have…

21:23Ethan... The alien hybrids with.

21:25Jawad MirHave you, have you seen the poster of Alien 3?

21:28EthanYes, it's the s… the circle, kinda looks like…

21:32Jawad MirYeah.

21:32EthanYeah.

21:33Jawad MirA dolphin.

21:34EthanA dolphin?

21:34Jawad MirTo me it looks like a dolphin. Seriously, every, anytime I see it, I'm like, "I see a dolphin. I don't see an alien."

21:40EthanA dolphin?

21:40Jawad MirIf you take a look, take a look at it.

21:41EthanThat's a new one.

21:43Jawad MirI'm not, I'm not joking. I see a dolphin. Like, if you see a fin on the top, obviously with a t… you know, it has a longer tail than a, different tail than a dolphin, but just the first half.

21:55EthanYeah. I can see it, sort of.

21:59Jawad MirYeah. Anyway.

21:59EthanIt's a dolphin without, it's a dolphin without fins on the bottom.

22:03Jawad MirYeah. But Alien 3, Alien 3, I started watching it this morning, right? After a long time. So one of the things that pulled me in right away, that it was shot anamorphic. And, I have an anamorphic monitor, so it looks, this looks fantastic on that.

22:22EthanYeah. Nice.

22:22Jawad MirAnd then the way David Fincher shot is pretty much the way he has shot every single thing after that.

22:29EthanRight.

22:29Jawad MirLike, the art, the cinematography, the art direction, the costumes, the characters, the idea of these big, tough guys, you know, taking up this alien, which is kinda similar to how Predator is. And then Sigourney Weaver in the middle of it.

22:47EthanYeah.

22:47Jawad MirRight? And there's the guy who is the priest, and there's… ... The guy, you know, who is always afraid, the crazy guy. It just had cer… interest… Like you said, I was totally surprised… ... By the characters in the film.

23:00EthanYeah.

23:00Jawad MirThe only thing that threw me off were those really fast scenes of CGI alien running around.

23:06EthanYes.

23:06Jawad MirLike, that you could tell it was just completely…

23:09EthanThat was rushed

23:10Jawad Mir... Computer. Yeah. And it came a year…

23:11EthanYeah

23:12Jawad Mir... Before Jurassic Park, so I wonder if it had come a year after, if the visual effects would be…

23:17EthanWell, I wonder if it was less something they couldn't accomplish 'cause the technology wasn't there at the time, and more just, like, 'cause of budget. 'Cause you look at, like, the early, like, Aliens and Alien are older, but they look 10 times better…

23:32Jawad MirYeah

23:33Ethan... Than Aliens does for a lot of the movie. And I think, like, I've read that Fox didn't really put a ton of money into it. Not that, like, the special effects in terms of CGI was advanced at that time, but they might have had more money for better puppets, bigger practical effects, and make it more in line with the earlier movies. 'Cause it definitely was like, "Oh, this is them testing out special effects for the first time."

23:58Jawad MirYeah. You know, the thing is, so, the first Alien, I don't know about the first Alien, definitely the second Alien, Stan Winston on, is wor… worked on it. Right? And Ja… and the gen… the gentleman I've spoken to a few times, John Rosengrant, he was a puppeteer. And so that, they basically specialize in that. And I didn't see…

24:20EthanYeah

24:21Jawad Mir... At least in the opening credits, any mention of that. So that takes it away You know, right off the bat from

24:28EthanYeah

24:28Jawad Mir... From there as well. And honestly, if it… there were so many scenes where they showed the full CGI, alien.

24:36EthanYeah.

24:36Jawad MirThey didn't, they didn't really need to show it.

24:38EthanNo.

24:39Jawad MirI don't know. Like, they could've gotten away with…

24:40EthanThat felt like s… that felt like studio executives being like, "Where's the alien? We're watching an alien movie and I'm not seeing an alien, and you need to shove that in there." 'Cause I don't know, I feel like Fincher has enough restraint that…

24:55Jawad MirYeah

24:55Ethan... That wouldn't be as much of a... Especially seeing how it looks, that feels like someone reminding them that they're making an Alien movie. Because a lot of the movie doesn't, it feels like an Alien movie and then it doesn't feel like an Alien movie.

25:07Jawad MirIt's, it doesn't. I mean…

25:09EthanYeah

25:09Jawad Mir... It's, that's what I love about it. Like, it…

25:12EthanMe too

25:13Jawad Mir... When I saw it, like, it was just, it could, it could be, like, a standalone movie by itself…

25:18EthanYeah

25:18Jawad Mir... Right? And it just had…

25:20EthanYeah

25:20Jawad Mir... Yeah, it just very fascinating characters. I wasn't expecting that.

25:26EthanYeah. The guy from, I can't remember the actor's name, g… Game of Thrones.

25:30Jawad MirOh, yes.

25:31EthanYes.

25:31Jawad MirIt took me a while to figure out. I'm like, "Where have I seen this guy?"

25:33EthanYeah. Yeah. And I was like, "Oh, he looks a lot younger." It, but I was, I was expecting him to turn out to be an android too, 'cause he was acting a little weird and was doing these looks. And I thought that when the alien came down and grabbed him, I was like, thought the white was gonna come out, and it wasn't. I was like, I kinda liked that it wasn't, 'cause then we got Bishop, who was my favorite android. And…

25:56Jawad MirYeah

25:56Ethan... I love… he's great character. There were lots of versions of Alien 3 before they landed on this one where all the characters from Aliens were in Alien 3, 'cause a lot of people were mad about that they killed them off…

26:11Jawad MirReally?

26:11Ethan... Right away. Yeah. Like, Bishop, there was one version I think, I've watched, like, a hour-long video on it on YouTube, I was very interested in it, and there was one version where I don't think Sigourney Weaver was really in it at all. It was Bishop and the other guy that escaped on their ship. They were together, and they sent Sigourney Weaver off 'cause she was pregnant with the alien or something like that. And so there were a lot of different versions, but that was one of the things I was reading about how people were mad when this one opened and Newt was gone, Bishop, and the o… the other guy, I can't seem to remember his name, from Aliens.

26:50Jawad MirYeah, I'm horrible with, I'm horrible with character names.

26:53EthanYeah. But it was interesting that they just, like, did away with that.

26:59Jawad MirWell, maybe that's why Sigourney Weaver is a co-producer on it too, right? Just because…

27:03EthanYeah

27:04Jawad Mir... She's probably like, "Let me just put my money into it, but I need to be in the story."

27:07EthanYeah.

27:09Jawad MirBut she doesn't really have a main role, I would say, because I felt, I was just reading up his name, his name is Twin Lannister, the guy who was also in G… Games of Thrones.

27:20EthanYes.

27:20Jawad MirLike, until, you know…

27:22EthanI think that's his character's name…

27:24Jawad MirWas it…

27:24Ethan... In Game of Thrones.

27:27Jawad MirCharles Dance. Sorry. I'm sorry.

27:28EthanYeah. Yeah. Yeah, no.

27:29Jawad MirSorry.

27:29EthanAll good. I was like, Lannister, I think that's…

27:31Jawad MirYeah

27:32Ethan... The yeah. All good.

27:34Jawad MirMy apologies.

27:34EthanIt's hilarious.

27:35Jawad Mir'cause I Google it says his Twin Lannister in, is Alien 3, so I thought that was his name.

27:41EthanYeah.

27:43Jawad MirBut for me, his character and the priest character… ... Were the most, were, somehow they were more, they stood out more than Ripley.

27:55EthanYeah.

27:55Jawad MirAnd…

27:55EthanWell, she was very, reserved in this movie, I felt, which…

27:59Jawad MirWhich is fine, because she's been in the first two, and I think it worked…

28:03EthanYeah

28:03Jawad Mir... Because you don't…

28:03EthanYeah

28:03Jawad Mir... How much more are you gonna explore her? Right? And her character…

28:06EthanExactly. She's also probably, like, numb to it at this point.

28:09Jawad MirYeah.

28:09EthanIt's like, third time around, I've already done this twice, like. Whereas the, I loved the priest. He was probably my favorite character.

28:18Jawad MirHave you ever seen, I'm going off topic, Stephen King's, based on Stephen King book, Frank Darabont's The Mist?

28:26EthanNo, I haven't seen The Mist. There's a lot I have not seen.

28:31Jawad MirDude…

28:31EthanSee…

28:32Jawad Mir... You gotta put this film on top of your list. It's one of the best…

28:36EthanI don't know whether or not to

28:36Jawad Mir... Movies ever made.

28:39EthanI've, yeah, I think, not the remake, or…

28:43Jawad MirI don't know if there's a re… no, the, there's a series I think, yeah.

28:45EthanOne from 2007?

28:47Jawad MirSounds about right. Yeah.

28:54EthanYeah.

28:54Jawad MirIt's, it's obviously, it's based on his book. It's similar to, I won't say anything, but it has, it has the element of thriller, horror, religion.

29:10EthanOoh.

29:10Jawad MirAnd there's a p… there's a priest in that movie too.

29:13EthanCool.

29:13Jawad MirAnd he reminded me of…

29:16EthanOf this…

29:16Jawad Mir... Her

29:17Ethan... This character?

29:18Jawad MirYeah, but, she was a little bit more ext… you know, more on the extreme side, but they were just…

29:24EthanRight

29:24Jawad Mir... Similarities.

29:26EthanWait, I'm trying to find the actor.

29:28Jawad MirYeah, you gotta watch The Mist. I mean, I, until the credits roll, like, you have no idea what's coming. Like, it's, that's just an amazing film.

29:37EthanAll right. Added that to… that was already on my watch list, actually. The Mist.

29:42Jawad MirYeah.

29:42EthanOkay, so the…

29:42Jawad MirThat might have been The Mist

29:42Ethan... The priest in this movie was Charles S. Dutton.

29:46Jawad MirHe was great. He was phenomenal.

29:47EthanHe was phenomenal. The scene where he's, they're all stressing out and she's just sitting there and he's like, "Come on, you were an officer. Weren't you gonna lead us?"

29:54Jawad MirYeah.

29:54EthanThat was great.

29:55Jawad MirYeah.

29:55EthanAnd when she comes to sit down at the table and he's like, "I'm a murderer, I'm a rapist," and she's like, "Okay, great," and just sits down anyways. You're like... So those were like, she had great moments, but you're right, she wasn't at, like, the forefront of... It felt more like an ensemble movie to me.

30:14Jawad MirYeah, it was.

30:14EthanWhich is interesting.

30:15Jawad MirAnd there was such different characters, right? And but, you know, there were some points where I kinda got confused who is who, because…

30:22EthanYeah

30:22Jawad Mir... A, all of them are bald.

30:24EthanYeah.

30:25Jawad MirB, you know, some of them looked alike, and especially if the characters, if they didn't get enough screen time, it's really hard to distinguish. But overall… I thought it was a fabulous movie. If you have proper special effects, I really think it would be up there right next to the first two film. It still is…

30:40EthanYeah

30:40Jawad Mir... But, you know, really loved it.

30:44EthanI agree.

30:44Jawad MirI was surprised. I was really surprised.

30:47EthanYeah. It was interesting. I like the twists they did with the story. I don't think they played it safe, which is…

30:54Jawad MirYeah.

30:54EthanYeah, it could have, like, just all the stuff with Ripley's character and what happens to her throughout the movie and the ending could have played it a lot safer with what they did with her character. But, and that kind of leads into the plot of 4, I think.

31:07Jawad MirI haven't seen Resurrection. I saw the trailer, so I'm imagining based on what I saw. That one is on the ship. The first one was on the sh… sh… ship, I think. Yes, the second one wa… you know, was a combination of both.

31:22Jawad MirThis one stands out to me, for another reason stands out more, there is no ship.

31:27EthanYeah. There is no location.

31:28Jawad MirYou know, that it…

31:28EthanAn actual planet

31:29Jawad Mir... Even though it looks like one, right? Like, it looks…

31:31EthanYeah

31:31Jawad Mir... Like one from art direction, but that's what makes it more, it makes it unique, it makes it different, so it's not like the same recycled script…

31:37EthanYeah

31:38Jawad Mir... Being played, right?

31:39EthanYeah. They switched it up a lot. It was... And I think that was refreshing after the second one. I was expecting... Whereas I know they were different, very, like, tonally, action horror, but I was expecting more along the plot, the story beats to be the same as the first two, and they just weren't at all, and I really like that. So I'm interested to see Resurrection, I'm interested to see Covenant. Or, and I've heard mixed things about Prometheus.

32:08Jawad MirYou know, I'll tell you this, Covenant and Prometheus, I can't figure out which one is which.

32:17EthanI think Prometheus came first.

32:18Jawad MirNo, I'm, I'm even talking…

32:20EthanOh

32:20Jawad Mir... About the, I'm just talking about…

32:21EthanOh

32:21Jawad Mir... I can't remember the story or the character.

32:22EthanDifferentiate them. Yeah.

32:24Jawad MirLike, I know what Alien is. I know what Aliens is. Now I know what… ... Alien 3 is. I can probably tell Alien Resurrection, you know, because it was shot in 1997, we know the writer is in it, Sigourney Weaver is, sure. But I've seen Prometheus, I've seen Covenant, and when I saw them, they were, they were decent. They were pretty good.

32:44EthanRight.

32:44Jawad MirBut what's missing from them, now that I think about it, is all the elements that the first three Alien films have.

32:50EthanYeah.

32:51Jawad MirYou know, that scare factor, that, art direction. Is it looks it's just way too many, again, visual effects of different worlds and…

33:01EthanYeah

33:01Jawad Mir... And again, that's something for later to be seen.

33:04EthanSo are you excited that Alien: Romulus seems to be completely going back to basics and because it's set in between the first two?

33:13Jawad MirSo that I didn't know.

33:14EthanOh, yeah.

33:15Jawad MirBecause I haven't read anything about it, which is fine.

33:18EthanThey call it an interquel.

33:20Jawad MirBut I'll tell you this, the first time the trailer I saw… ... I'm like, "Oh, here we go again," right? Like another Alien movie.

33:28EthanYeah.

33:28Jawad MirAnd as soon as they said, "From the director of Don't Breathe"… ... I was hooked because I think that's... I don't know if you ever seen Don't Breathe.

33:38EthanI did see it. I saw it at a drive-in.

33:41Jawad MirIt's, it's a crazy movie, right? Like it's…

33:43EthanYeah, it is.

33:44Jawad Mir... That element of suspense and fear and thrill. Perfect dir… I haven't seen his Evil Dead yet.

33:51EthanYeah

33:51Jawad Mir... But when I saw that, and then I saw obviously producer Ridley Scott, I mean, for me, that was en… and then as the…

33:57EthanOh, yeah. Yeah

33:58Jawad Mir... Trailer kind of just played itself, it looked… ... Very different from any of the other Alien films.

34:04EthanYeah. It, I'm super excited for it. I'm sad I can't be at the press screening, but it looks really promising. And yeah, Fede Alvarez is a great director. I love Don't Breathe. I haven't seen his Evil Dead. Did he do the first Evil Dead remake or was…

34:22Jawad MirNo, that was Sam Raimi.

34:24EthanRa… Sam, which one did he…

34:25Jawad MirI would like to guess that was Sam Raimi.

34:28EthanYeah. The Sam Raimi did the... So he did the…

34:31Jawad MirThat…

34:31Ethan... 2013

34:31Jawad Mir... That was in the '80s.

34:33EthanYeah. He did the remake in 2013.

34:35Jawad MirYeah, which apparently is supposed to be really good.

34:39EthanYeah.

34:39Jawad MirSo there's… ... Evil Dead 1981, there's Evil Dead 2, 1987, and then there's Army of Darkness, which is also part of the Evil… ... Dead series in 1992. I remember Army of Darkness.

34:52EthanYeah.

34:52Jawad MirBut yeah, no, I…

34:54EthanThere was one that came out last year or this year, I think.

34:56Jawad MirAnother Evil Dead movie?

34:57EthanYeah. It was Evil Dead Rise. It was, people said it was pretty good, actually. Yeah. Evil Dead Rise came out last year.

35:07Jawad MirOkay. I haven't seen it. But…

35:11EthanYeah

35:12Jawad Mir... Romulus does look great. I was just watching, again, because I'm reading, you know, I was watching Alien 3, searching stuff for Alien, just to kind of… ... So my feed became about Alien.

35:26EthanRight.

35:26Jawad MirSo I saw this, there was a screening this past few days somewhere… ... I'm guessing in LA or New York.

35:32EthanYeah.

35:32Jawad MirAnd they had this guy in the middle of the movie theater. Just think of it yourself sitting in the movie theater, right? Just, like… ... Waiting for the movie to start. It had Alien: Romulus poster on it, and this guy in the middle of the cinema before the seats are filled, starts, you know, shaking, and then he starts…

35:48EthanOh

35:49Jawad Mir... Puking. Obviously, it was a marketing stunt, and then…

35:52EthanYeah, I know

35:52Jawad Mir... Comes out of his stomach, obviously.

35:54EthanOh.

35:55Jawad MirIt was like actually…

35:56EthanGenius

35:57Jawad Mir... It looks, it was, it was such an amazing marketing. I'm like…

36:00EthanYeah

36:00Jawad Mir... "Holy crap." You don't even need to see the trailer. Just show this and that.

36:03EthanJust that. Did you see they were d… stationing them outside in, like, Times Square and stuff? They were having, like, people, like actors lying on the floor with the facehuggers on them and, like…

36:13Jawad MirOh

36:13Ethan... Up against walls on subway stations. They weren't doing the chest pop. That was unique to the screening, but they were doing some, like, in-person marketing that D… I've seen Disney's been doing lately with, they did it for…

36:25Jawad MirOh, okay. Yeah

36:26Ethan... Shang-Chi

36:27Jawad MirI'm just looking at it right now.

36:28EthanYeah. So and they did…

36:29Jawad MirI…

36:30EthanYeah. Sorry, go ahead.

36:32Jawad MirNo, you go ahead.

36:33EthanI was gonna say they also did another great marketing thing, which not as... They sent critics a scene of the movie, but it was in a VHS tape. So you could only watch it if you had a functioning VHS machine.

36:45Jawad MirOh, that's crazy.

36:45EthanAnd some people got it working, and it was all, like, this, a clip from the new movie, but in, like, it was, like, skipping, and it was, like, looked like a VHS. It was incredible. I was like, "That's genius."

36:56Jawad MirThat is genius. That…

36:58EthanYeah

36:58Jawad Mir... And I also think the poster of the film with the red… ... Sort of wrapped up around the face, the creature.

37:06EthanYeah.

37:06Jawad MirExcuse me. It is absolutely amazing. Like, it's, you know, it just basically tells you right off the bat what the hell is the film about.

37:14EthanYeah.

37:14Jawad MirYou know, it, even if you look at the original, movie poster for the Alien, it just shows, like, an, you know, a giant green egg, right?

37:25EthanYeah.

37:25Jawad MirAnd if you look at Aliens, it's Sigourney Weaver with a girl in her… ... Arms and with a gun pointing at something, which is, which is a good poster.

37:34EthanYeah.

37:34Jawad MirAlien 3, we already know, but I just think this…

37:38EthanThe dolphin.

37:38Jawad MirYeah, the dolphin. This is probably the best poster in my view…

37:42EthanYeah

37:42Jawad Mir... That tells you right off the bat what the movie's about, which is so important.

37:47EthanYeah. I think it's perfect. I'm, it's, I'm, I don't wanna hype it up too much, but I think it's, I think it's gonna live up to the hype a little bit. Not a little bit, a lot. I do. And I think it's got, not to say that Ridley Scott has been, like, amazing track record lately, but he did give his seal approval, seal of approval for the movie, and I think that's also important. I didn't remember seeing... Oh, he did the Alien: Covenant and Romul… and, Prometheus. Didn't he?

38:15Jawad MirDid he direct those?

38:18EthanI think he did Prometheus at least.

38:21Jawad MirI think he directed one of them. You're right. I just don't know…

38:23EthanHe did Prometheus. He did the, and then... No, he did both.

38:28Jawad MirNo, he did both. You're right.

38:30EthanYeah.

38:30Jawad MirHe did both. Yeah, they didn't really…

38:33EthanThat's interesting.

38:33Jawad MirYeah, I totally forgot about that.

38:36EthanYeah.

38:36Jawad MirBecause they are, now that makes sense. They're very much correct… connected to the first Alien. That's all I'll say. But here's my prediction for Alien: Romulus. I think it's gonna feel like the original one a lot…

38:54EthanYeah

38:54Jawad Mir... Based on what I'm seeing. And I sure hope so, and it seems like it, and I think it will be. I'm a huge fan of what I like to call the roaring silence with no music…

39:11EthanYes

39:11Jawad Mir... Just sound effects and just silence. You know? Kinda like Quiet Place.

39:15EthanYeah.

39:15Jawad MirAnd I think that's gonna be a lot in this film. That's just me.

39:19EthanYeah.

39:20Jawad MirI'm, I'm guessing that's what, how it's gonna be.

39:21EthanI think that's a pretty accurate guess, and I hope that's what it is 'cause those are often the scariest movies when you're just…

39:28Jawad MirYeah

39:28Ethan... Like sitting in the silence and the darkness. There was a small Irish horror movie I saw a couple months ago, or last month, that was amazing. Completely unexpected. It was called Oddity. And…

39:39Jawad MirOddity?

39:40EthanYeah. It was great, and it had a lot of those, what'd you call it again? The roaring silence.

39:47Jawad MirThe roaring silence.

39:48EthanYeah, had a lot of those moments. It was, it, and some horrific imagery. That's a great claustrophobic horror movie that's just weird if you, if anyone wants a recommendation for something like that. So I hope it pulls that.

40:02Jawad MirI'll check that out.

40:04EthanYeah.

40:04Jawad MirAnd, you know, speaking of all this, have you seen Trap yet?

40:08EthanYes. I saw it last week.

40:09Jawad MirWhat did you think?

40:11EthanI thought it was a really fun time. Not at all suspenseful or frightening or thrilling.

40:18Jawad MirYeah.

40:18EthanI thought it was a an unintentionally and sometimes intentionally hilarious comedy.

40:24Jawad MirI couldn't figure out if it was a comedy, it was scary, it was a serial. Like, I…

40:28EthanYeah

40:28Jawad Mir... I think that's the problem I had with the movie.

40:30EthanIt was wild.

40:31Jawad MirIt was just…

40:32EthanSome of the dialogue. It was all over the place.

40:34Jawad MirIt was all over the pl… But did you see something familiar in that movie? That's the reason I asked you.

40:39EthanSomething... Did I see something familiar? Oh.

40:42Jawad MirYou had to.

40:44EthanNow I, maybe. I'll give it some time.

40:46Jawad MirOkay. So obviously you know about…

40:47EthanI might remember

40:48Jawad Mir... The fact that it was shot in Skydome, that's where.

40:50EthanYes. Oh.

40:51Jawad MirOkay.

40:51EthanAt, like, the Rogers Centre.

40:52Jawad MirYeah. Well, I like to call it Skydome.

40:54EthanOh.

40:56Jawad MirBecause that's what it was before it was Rogers Centre.

40:58EthanYeah.

40:58Jawad MirHaving said that, there was a shot in the scene where you have been.

41:04EthanWhere I have been? TIFF? What?

41:08Jawad MirNo.

41:08EthanOh.

41:09Jawad MirOkay. I'm not gonna give it away.

41:10EthanOh, yes. Yes. I did. I screamed in my seat. The vault.

41:15Jawad MirYeah.

41:15EthanThe jewelry. Yes. I said to all my friends after, I was like, "I shot a commercial there. I was the PA." And, that's, yeah. I was like, "I'm gonna be on Jerwood's podcast this week."

41:29Jawad MirI, that was crazy.

41:31EthanWhere, so that was in…

41:31Jawad MirI…

41:31EthanWas that Milton?

41:33Jawad MirYeah. It was like…

41:34EthanYeah

41:34Jawad Mir... It's called Martin and Main Street. It's right at the corner. I mean, I'm in that area on every Friday. And I…

41:42EthanYeah

41:42Jawad Mir... Drive by it every single day, every Friday. But when that came up, well, first of all, I could tell the, when the film opened up, you know, I could tell it was Skydome, but… ... But then I read that it was Skydome. And then when that vault thing came up, I'm just sitting there, I'm like, "Where have I seen this logo before?"

42:00EthanOh, that's hilarious.

42:01Jawad MirYou know? Even though I have…

42:03EthanI, you didn't get it right away?

42:05Jawad MirNo, because I didn't even know that it was shot in Toronto. Like, I…

42:10EthanOh, really?

42:10Jawad MirI remember afterwards I re… I remembered that there was a announcement, here in, like, Milton newspaper that M. Night Shyamalan… ... Is gonna shoot a scene for his film.

42:20EthanOkay.

42:20Jawad MirThat's it.

42:21EthanYeah.

42:21Jawad MirSo I had completely forgotten that. And even though I had seen that logo so many times, it just didn't hit. So as soon as the car turned, like, it was a long shot. It was like a five…

42:32EthanYeah

42:32Jawad Mir... To seven-second shot. Then when I saw the turn and I saw, I'm like, "Whoa." You know, and that was really... And I actually made a point to email the owners. I'm like, "I don't know if you guys have seen it…

42:43EthanOh, amazing

42:43Jawad Mir... But you got, like, free publicity."

42:45EthanYeah.

42:46Jawad MirYou know?

42:46EthanThat's incredible.

42:47Jawad MirIn a major Hollywood movie.

42:48EthanDid they know that they were, they were…

42:50Jawad MirI don't know. He, they just replied back saying, "Thanks. Thanks for the email."

42:54EthanThat's, that's so cool.

42:55Jawad MirI'm... Yeah. But I thought that was pretty…

42:57EthanYeah.

42:57Jawad MirThat was probably the most exciting part about Trap.

42:58EthanYeah. Yeah. Honestly, it was. I was jump… It was the only time I jumped in my seat the whole movie.