TheyLive Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Some people might be wowing over Avatar and the blue-skinned peeps, but in the world of science fiction, I always dug what lurked underneath a whole lot more. Adding to the skin is tricky -- trying to make a hideous scar, a bald noggin, or a blue tinge look realistic always seemed a lot trickier than revealing what was trapped beneath the surface -- the robotic limbs ripping through torn flesh, or even the illusion of skin that masked some other sort of ugly truth.

So, while others might muse over the distinct details given to James Cameron's blue-skinned avatars, I can't help but stare at the image to the right from the upcoming Bruce Willis movie Surrogates. (Check out the larger version at Arrow in the Head.) My eyes keep following the teeth as they become hidden under the lips, the whites of the eye usually obscured by the eyelid. I imagine my attraction is due to the fact that while we may not all be robots underneath our skin, take away that outer layer and suddenly we look a little alien.

But still, there's something much cooler about revealing a piece of metallic hardware rather than a human's musculature -- whether it's the cold, hard metal of Terminator, or even special sunglasses revealing the aliens in They Live!

What's your favorite inhuman revelation, where the skin hides something unexpected?

Once you've remade John Carpenter's Halloweeen and The Fog, where else do you go? We've been hearing about an Escape from New York re-do for quite some time now, and we all know it's just a matter of time before someone re-remakes The Thing -- but what else? Starman? Could be. Big Trouble in Little China? Please, no. Prince of Darkness? Ye gods, no!

But They Live? Hmm, now there's a Carpenter favorite that actually COULD be good-lookin' in a shiny new suit. That's not a knock in the 1988 original, but I think the themes and ideas found in They Live could work extra-well in a modernized version. (For those who don't know, They Live is about decent homeless dude who happens to stumble across an outrageously elaborate "alien invasion.") Based on the Ray Nelson short story Eight O'Clock in the Morning, They Live has a fantastic concept and makes use of the consumer / comformity angle in rather clever fashion. Plus the flick has one of the nuttiest alleyway brawls you ever will see ... but the movie sort of falls apart in act III, doesn't it?

Anyway, The Hollywood Reporter informs us that Universal will bankroll the remake along with Strike Entertainment (who also did Dawn of the Dead and has the option on that remake of The Thing). No word yet on who'll do the writing or directing, but I could probably bang out a draft. Lord knows I've seen They Live enough times. And yes, Mr. Carpenter will be on board as a producer ... but he also wore that hat on The Fog and Halloween, so I don't think "quality control" is his main concern. Plus, how is the man ever going to feel inspired to make a NEW movie if people keep handing him checks for his OLD movies? Argh.

When I was growing up I was a huge fan of martial arts movies and Kung Fu movies, in particular -- still am, actually. Maybe its because we didn't have cable and only got a few channels with the rabbit ears perched on top of our 20' television. Fortuately, two of the channels we did get were 5 and 13 from Los Angeles. Back in those days when -- believe it or not -- there were only three TV networks, channels 5 and 13 were independent and showed pretty much whatever they wanted. One of the things they showed frequently were martial arts movies.

In fact, channel 13 even had a weekly showcase for these movies called "Kung Fu Theater" complete with over-done sounds effects and out-of-sync dialog -- what many people refer to today as "chopsockey" cinema. During that time I watched many fun movies including The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Five Deadly Venoms and several films featuring the great Bruce Lee, including Game of Death and the classic Enter the Dragon. So, as a big fan of martial arts films and well-choreographed fight scenes with guys kicking the crap out of each other, I was pretty interested to see this Double Viking article featuring the top ten mano-a-mano fight scenes of all time.

Some of the fights they list in their top ten include Rocky vs Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, Neo vs Agent Smith in The Matrix and one of my personal favorites: Nada vs Frank in John Carpenter's They Live. While I do agree with most of the choices, I'm not entirely sure about the order. I might have placed Nada vs Frank higher on the list due to its shear brutality and the fact that both the actors, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Keith David, did their own fighting without the aid of stunt doubles. Still, a pretty good list and, with the included videos, a great way to see some terrific fights scenes. Enjoy.

What's your favorite movie fight scene?

In honor of writer/director/composer John Carpenter's return to his roots with an updated version of his classic film Halloween (which, sadly, he won't be directing) and as I've already expressed my fondness for wrestlers-turned-actors, it should come as no surprise that one of my favorite films of all time is John Carpenter's classic They Live. Even though I love the movie, I do have a bit of a problem here. This is supposed to be a "guilty pleasure" piece, but I'm not so sure They Live qualifies. I do get a certain amount of pleasure from watching it, but I don't ever really feel guilty about it.

Dictionary.com defines "guilty" as "having or showing a sense of guilt, whether real or imagined" and "pleasure" as " enjoyment or satisfaction derived from what is to one's liking; gratification; delight." So, thinking about it in those terms, maybe we can call They Live a guilty pleasure after all. Here's why: the film is so good that you want to watch it over and over again spending quite a bit of your time with the movie and far less time on other things like taking out the garbage, work or talking to your family. You should probably feel guilty about not doing those things, so taking it that way, They Live does qualify. Glad we got that sorted. Now, let's get on with it.

They Live, which stars "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Keith "Don't call me David" David, George "Buck" Flower and Meg "No Nickname" Foster, is equal parts action, sci-fi and social commentary on the state of politics and the influence of the media in modern society. The story of the film is pretty simple. A drifter with a "checkered past" named Nada, played by Piper, arrives in Los Angeles looking for an honest day's pay for an honest day's work. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have too much luck with that plan.

Piper soon comes to realize that things in the City of Angels are not exactly what they appear to be. In fact, far from it. It seems an alien race has taken over the city with its sights on world domination. Their plan is to subjugate the human race through the use of subliminal messages all over the city forcing the humans to "marry and reproduce", realize that money is their "god", and above all, "obey." Piper stumbles on the alien's plans and with the help of a group of resistance fighters (and some cool sunglasses that allow him to see the aliens for what they are) he's off to work and ready to "chew bubblegum and kick ass." It's bad news for the aliens though, because he's " ... all out of bubblegum."