Hey folks, Harry here... Today, Sir Ridley Scott came to Austin, Texas for the very first time ever - and he loved it, especially the tequila! This is one of those days where a childhood dream came true. I've wanted to have Sir Ridley here for ages. I haven't LOVED everything he's made... But since I saw ALIEN at the Capital Plaza Theater on opening weekend standing in what seemed like the longest line I'd ever seen not to get bread in the Soviet Union at that time. We were even with the ol Walgreen's - while in line, Dad & I left Mom, bought a case of ALIEN gum cards, which I instantly began opening and showing my parents the cards eagerly. I was really into trading cards as a kid, movies and comic cards mainly... Anyway, RIDLEY SCOTT came to Austin... For ALIEN reasons!
SXSW is such an amazing event. Where else do you get slam hugged by Clifton Collins Jr at a premeire of the new Terrence Malick film, then head right back into the theater for Ridley Scott to bring out Katherine Waterston dressed like Sean Young's Rachel from BLADE RUNNER, Michael Fassbender and Danny McBride - plus they were handing out Facehuggers, posters, T-shirts and other stuff too! I totally scored a facehugger!
Anyways... let's hop to it.
So Film Programming Maestro Jarod Neece hits the stage and... well...
OK - so - the camerawork sucks balls, cuz I aimed it generally at the screen, but from chest high, cuz I wanted no electronics between my eyes and Ridley Scott. I thought it turned out good enough to share. After that - the screen darkened and 3 extended sequences played. In the second and third sequences - some pretty big spoiler material takes place - so watch out what you read online, there are deaths seen - 5 of them by my count. Hopefully folks won't need to get real specific. There's also variations of ALIEN human cavity escape modes that were witnessed today. The audience properly shat itself cheering, clapping and laughing in that FUCKING BADASS kind of way.
The first sequence we saw... Was the ship approaching the planet. It's a planet to looks awfully stormy - and the coolest shit about it all was the topography of the storm peaks. The lightning flashes upon approach - and frankly - this new ship looks spectacular on film. Here - with this film - there's a lot of sharp work at every level. Beautiful sweeping majestic work here. All the actors doing their jobs, injecting witty and colorful cross-talk that really made me want to see rest of this thing right now.
The Second Sequence was after two different unfortunate teams seem to be coming back from different locations, but could just seem that way given our lack of context with the start of the scene. The first pair has someone they're helping to get back to the ship for medical attention and it's obvious that the injured party is... walking on borrowed time, if we know our ALIEN lore. We will see the, shall I say, births of both these characters in a short and violent and very graphic manner. The scenes remind of Ridley's glee with the gore since his HANNIBAL days. The first two "aliens" we see birthed seem to be a different variation of what we've come to know.
This sequence by the way, I feel, when seen in the context of the film, will be much more painful than seeing it out of context. The crew on this ship are a crew of couples... colonists - that are paired up and in love... so when the ALIEN shit hits the fan, you get very emotional and painful and debilitating reactions, where the emotion, the love... makes people do really terrible choices - and it snowballs quickly.
The the third sequence... Instantly confused - as something is up. Some serious shit is revealed that was FASCINATING STUFF that was directed with a since of awesome dark knowing humor. It's very much... Cask of Amontillado by Poe. Montresor, if you will is luring one's Fortunato, who is not fortunato one bit! But along the way - it's very Island of Lost Souls deliciousness. I mean, Fortunato is one curious tom cat that should not have done what they did. But it plays the audience masterfully. When you see the scene eventually - it's great old master material here.
All of these sequences were exceptional. The desire to have a 3-4 hour audience Q&A was higly desired. Here... watch what happens when Ridley brings out Katherine Waterson, Michael Fassbender and Danny McBride join him on stage...
After that, two things showed, but there's both online, so just enjoy!
Then Jarod and Ridley Scott came out to introduce ALIEN (1979) - which is the first time in maybe 10 years I've seen ALIEN in a theater with an audience again. There were definitely newbies in the house. The screams, cheers, laughs and STARK RAVING SILENCE OF RAPT ATTENTION TO TENSION were there like they were in 1979. The "Company" people took off after the ALIEN: COVENANT footage aired, but... Ya know, it was pretty great to see a packed audience, where people came rushing to fill empty seats - and then just watch the original masterpiece, ALIEN... Especially after this short, sweet and precisely perfect introduction from Sir Ridley Scott upon the Paramount Theater stage in Austin, Tx! First film I ever saw was in this theater, I was just days old and it was CLOCKWORK ORANGE according to Dad - and hearing Ridley giving Kubrick props for a direction he's taking with a character in this new ALIEN film - and what that means - based on what I saw was something delicious. I'm talking fork and fucking spoon spaghetti with meatballs and a fine bottle of wine, with Brandy chasers! It's great! Yes, I'm hungry, I've been at a film festival all day! Not in the Drafthouse, dammit! But awesome, as when I think movie theaters, Paramount is my first and most visited in lifetime. Now here's Ridley Scott to introduce ALIEN...
Now go fucking watch ALIEN (1979)!!!
Keep it cool,
Harry
