TGME Round 1: The Shawshank Redemption Vs. Aliens

[GregMcduck]

How it works: Each poll will be open for two weeks, giving all of you time to watch each film. New polls added every Sunday and Wednesday.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994) vs. Aliens (1986)



The Shawshank Redemption is a critically-acclaimed American drama film, written and directed by Frank Darabont, based on the Stephen King novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The film stars Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding. The film portrays Andy spending nearly two decades in the cruelty of Shawshank State Prison, a fictional penitentiary in Maine, and his friendship with Red, a fellow inmate.

Darabont secured the film adaptation rights from author Stephen King after impressing the author with his short film adaptation of "The Woman in the Room" in 1983. Although the two had become friends and maintained a pen-pal relationship, Darabont did not work with him until four years later in 1987, when he optioned to adapt Shawshank. This is one of the more famous Dollar Deals made by King with aspiring filmmakers. Darabont later directed The Green Mile, which was based on another work about a prison by Stephen King, and then followed that up with an adaptation of King's novella The Mist. Rob Reiner, who had previously adapted another King novella The Body into Stand By Me, offered $2.5 million in an attempt to write and direct the project. He aimed to cast Tom Cruise in the part of Andy and Harrison Ford as Red. Darabont seriously considered and liked Reiner's vision, but he ultimately decided it was his "chance to do something really great" by directing the film himself



Aliens is a science fiction/action film starring Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, and Bill Paxton. A sequel to the 1979 film Alien, Aliens is set fifty-seven years after the first film and is regarded by many film critics as a benchmark for the action and science fiction genres. Ellen Ripley, the only survivor of the space freighter Nostromo, is rescued and revived after drifting for fifty-seven years in hypersleep. Interviewed before a panel of executives from her employer the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, Ripley's testimony regarding the Alien is met with extreme skepticism, as no physical evidence of the creature survived the destruction of the Nostromo. Ripley loses her space flight license as a result of her "questionable judgment" in destroying the Nostromo and learns that LV-426, the planetoid where her crew first encountered the Alien eggs, is now home to a terraforming colony. Ripley is visited by Weyland-Yutani employee Carter J. Burke, who informs her that contact has been lost with the colony on LV-426. The company is dispatching Burke and a unit of Colonial Marines to investigate, and offers to restore Ripley's flight status if she will accompany them as a consultant. Psychologically traumatized by her experience onboard the Nostromo, Ripley initially refuses to join, but accepts when she realizes the mission will allow her to face her fears. Arriving in orbit of LV-426 aboard the warship Sulaco, she is introduced to the Colonial Marines, including Lieutenant Gorman, Sergeant Apone and the android Bishop.

While completing pre-production of The Terminator in 1983, director James Cameron discussed the possibility of working on a sequel to Alien (1979) with producer David Giler. A fan of the original film, Cameron was interested in crafting a sequel and entered a self-imposed seclusion to brainstorm a concept for Alien II. After four days Cameron produced an initial forty-five page treatment, although management changes at 20th Century Fox resulted in the film being put on hiatus, as they felt that Alien had not generated enough profit to warrant a sequel. A scheduling conflict with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger caused filming of The Terminator to be delayed by nine months (as Schwarzenegger was filming Conan the Destroyer), allowing Cameron additional time to write a script for Aliens. While filming The Terminator, Cameron wrote ninety pages for Aliens, and although the script was not finished, Fox was impressed and told him that if The Terminator was a success, he would be able to direct Aliens.

Please take the time to watch or re-watch these two films before voting. You can use this thread to post reviews after having watched them, campaign for your preferred movie, or just discuss the movies in general.

[Rattrap007]

Aliens is fantastic, but Shawshank is so much better.

on a side note I'd love to see riffs of both. "Get busy riffin' or get busy diein'."

[mrbasehart]

Hmm...  Difficult one.  The fact that they're totally different from one another makes it harder.  I may have to go with Aliens for pure watchability.  I'm gonna mull it over a while.

[TeamRAD]

I LOVE Aliens, and it has played a big part in my life.....

That's it man, game over man, game over!

Aliens +1

[RoninFox]

Aliens is great and all, but it can't quite match the awesomeness of Shawshank.

[Tyrant]

Aliens for me. Maybe I'm biased but...well....I'm biased. 

[ScottotD]

Lucky I double checked this, I thought it said ALIEN (which is an untouchable masterpeice) and not Aliens



...will need to re-watch them both I think.

[Relaxing Dragon]

Never was the biggest fan of the Alien series (They're great movies, but I'm a Predator man, and The Thing trumps all of them), but it doesn't matter to me since Shawshank is so ridiculously awesome. It definitely gets my vote.

[Doktor Sleepless]

Shawshank.

[Tripe]

I'd like to tell you that Ripley fought the good fight and she won my vote. I'd like to tell you that.

[TeamRAD]

This is really funny, the re-cut trailer for Aliens...from the Xenomorph's POV...

The Express Elevator to Hell > Shawshank

[darthvedder81]

"Aliens" all the way. Still holds up awesomely too (Stan Winston's queen mother alien is an amazing piece of movie magic).

I'm pretty sure I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't like "Shawshank" at all. It's boring and pretentious and generally full of Darabont's "I love myself soooo much!" vibe. It's funny because everyone I've ever asked to articulate why they love it never can they just repeatedly say "It's great" and that I'm crazy for not liking it.

[jewishcarpenter]

Shawshank Redemption. I've watched that damned movie over and over, still not tired of it.

[Raven]

Shawshank Redemption. I've watched that damned movie over and over, still not tired of it.

The DVD is set on a loop so if you don't take it out right away, you might find yourself watching it back to back.   I've done that before.

Shawshank in this one.  Easiest decision yet.

[bettertomorrowamy]

"Aliens" all the way. Still holds up awesomely too (Stan Winston's queen mother alien is an amazing piece of movie magic).

I'm pretty sure I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't like "Shawshank" at all. It's boring and pretentious and generally full of Darabont's "I love myself soooo much!" vibe. It's funny because everyone I've ever asked to articulate why they love it never can they just repeatedly say "It's great" and that I'm crazy for not liking it.

I would agree with you about Shawshank if they had used any other actors.  I still voted for Aliens though.